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1842-1843. IN PROGRESS TO JOIN
Chinsurah—Cholera—Start—Omissions—Relics
of mortality—Collision—Fire—Panic —Berhampore—The "garrison "—Crime and
punishment—Civilities—Progress resumed—A hurricane—Cawnpore—Attached to
5oth Regiment—The troops —Agra—Sind—Gwalior-39th Regiment.
FIRST impressions of this
our first station in India, recorded at the time, were :—Houses of mud,
roofs consisting of reeds, fronts open from end to end; members of
families within squatting, infants sprawling, in a state of nudity, upon
earthen floors made smooth and polished by means of cowdung applied in a
liquid state; while to outside walls cakes of the same material are in
process of drying, to be thereafter used as fuel by Hindoos. Gardens and
cultivated fields abound ; flowering trees and shrubs, cocoa palms,
banana bushes, clumps of bamboo, rise above dense undergrowth of
succulent plants. A heavy, oppressive atmosphere, pervaded by odours,
sweet and otherwise, has a depressing effect, as if conditions were not
altogether wholesome. European houses according to Holland model,
terraces and gardens giving to them an attractive and elegant
appearance, indicating the importance of the place while in the hands of
the Dutch, prior to date' of the treaty in accordance with which it was
by them exchanged for Java. An extensive range of spacious barracks and
supplementary buildings added much to the beauty of the station.
Before many days were
over several of our young lads had fallen victims to cholera. In this
our first experience of that disease we had access to no one capable of
giving aid and advice; we were left to individual judgment, and it
altogether astray as to the appropriate method in our emergency. For a
time, out of our small party death claimed several daily victims; young
wives were thus left widows, young children orphans.
Glad to receive orders of
readiness to resume progress by river to next stage of our journey. Then
arrived two senior officers,— one to take military command; the other,
departmental charge of our detachment. Country boats provided as before,
others of better kind for officers. Our unwieldy fleet started at the
appointed time; the boats comprising it straggled irregularly across the
river, and having gained the opposite bank, there made fast for the
night.
Early next morning it was
in movement. Mid-day heat became oppressive. One of the soldiers was
prostrated by cholera, another by sun fever. Inquiry revealed the
unpleasant fact that the "experienced" officer recently appointed for
the purpose had made no arrangements whatever for sick. Those fallen ill
were now sent in small boats back towards Chinsurah; and so we continued
our river progress, steps being taken to have deficient requirements
sent on without delay.
Next evening was far
advanced ere they arrived. The numbers of our sick had increased,
several deaths taken place, some with appalling rapidity in the absence
of means of help. The great heat prevailing made early interment
necessary. Graves had to be hastily made in groves of trees near the
river bank; to them the dead were committed, our fleet continuing its
progress, sailing or tracking according to wind and current. After night
had fallen, the blaze of funeral pyres on the river banks told their
tale of pestilence.
For several days
mortality was great in our small party, and among the native boatmen. As
deaths occurred among the latter, the bodies were simply left on the
bank to be devoured by jackals, dogs, and vultures, numbers of which
were in wait for prey. Some of our boats sprung leaks, and so became
useless; nor was it an easy matter to get them replaced. Men and stores
had to be got out as best they could and disposed of among
others—proceedings by no means easy under then present circumstances.
At last there came an
interval in which the malign influence of our invisible enemy seemed as
if withheld. While gliding upwards against the silent river current,
suddenly from one of the men's boats there burst a mass of thick smoke,
speedily followed by flame, and within the space of a few minutes
nothing except the charred framework remained. How, or by what means,
the occupants of the boat escaped did not transpire; that they did so
was fortunate for themselves and satisfactory to all, though the
accident, subsequently ascertained to have resulted from their own
carelessness, destroyed their entire kits and other belongings.
Short was our respite.
Suddenly and fatally was our detachment again struck, several deaths by
cholera occurring in quick succession. Our somewhat eventful "voyage"
was near its end, when in midstream two of our boats came violently in
collision with each other, considerable mutual damage being the result.
An unfortunate panic occurred among the recruits on board, one of whom
leapt overboard and so disappeared. Soon afterwards our journey was at
an end, it having occupied eleven days; we arrived at Berhampore.
Near to the spacious
range of barracks in which our young soldiers were accommodated were
lines occupied by a native regiment,—at that time reputed to be of
distinguished loyalty to Jan Kompanee, with whose liberal dealings
towards its own proper servants all were so well pleased. In others were
invalids, soldiers' wives and children pertaining to regiments employed
in the war proceeding against China; many as yet unaware that they had
been made widows and orphans by the climate of Chusan and coast
generally.
Here the conduct of our
lads—for they had scarcely become men —became so reckless that military
discipline had to be rigidly enforced, while in many instances severe or
fatal illness seemed to be the direct result of their own misconduct. As
a ready, and as thought at the time effectual, means of coercion,
corporal punishment was awarded by courts-martial. The ordeal of being
present during its infliction was nauseating; but constituted as the
detachment was, the punishment seemed to have been in all cases well
deserved.
General Raper was the
officer in political charge of the Nawab of Moorshedabad, then a boy of
some ten years old. Several civilians high in rank, and a few
non-official residents, for the most part connected with the manufacture
of tussar silk, resided at Berhampore. From several of them we young
officers received much attention and kindness, not only in their own
houses but on excursions organized by them for our special benefit.
Prominent among those who thus befriended us, young "griffs" as we were,
General Raper and Charles Du Pré Russell are remembered gratefully—even
while these notes are penned, many years after the date and incidents
referred to.
In due time the order
arrived for us to resume our river journey, our destination Cawnpore;
again country-made boats our means of transport. In the early days of
August we started on what was to be in many respects a monotonous
voyage, though not altogether without its excitement and stirring
incidents. The general manner of our progress was that with which we
were now acquainted. We were doomed, as before, to be at intervals
stricken by cholera, which seemed to have its favourite lurking-places,
generally at the foot of a somewhat precipitous alluvial bank. Night
after night rest was disturbed or altogether banished by the sound of
tom-toms, songs, barking of dogs, cries of jackals ; sight and smell
offended by funeral fires as they blazed in near proximity to us.
More than half our
journey was got over without special mishap. Our boatmen observe that
signs of coming storm appear in the sky; they prepare as best they can,
but soon the hurricane is upon us. Boats are dashed against each other,
and against the river bank; waves break over them, tearing away their
flimsy gear, battering some to pieces, their inmates obliged to escape
and save themselves as best they could. After a time there came a
downpour of rain; then gradually the storm ceased, leaving several of
our number boatless, and destitute of greater or smaller portions of our
respective kits. Among others, I suffered considerably. A friend in
need, more fortunate than myself, gave me hospitality on his boat until
sometime thereafter, when, with others similarly situated, I chartered a
budgerow. A few days after our mishap news reached us that a similar
fleet to our own, with troops, [Of the 50th and 62nd Regiments; more
than 100 men were lost at Seckreegullee, that being the place where the
typhoon occurred.] some thirty miles ahead of us, suffered very severely
from the same hurricane that had struck us, a considerable number of the
men in it having perished in the river.
Without further incident
of importance we arrived at Cawnpore in the early days of November, our
journey by river having occupied more than two months and a half, the
date fourteen years before the terrible year 1857, when that station was
to acquire the sad memory ever since associated with it. Anticipating
the return to India of the force commanded by General Pollock from
Jellalabad, the march to which place had restored British prestige from
the temporary eclipse at Jugdulluck, Orders were issued to honour that
army by an appropriate military display on the left bank of the Sutlej.
Among the regiments assembled for that purpose, at Ferozepore, the then
frontier station, were the Buffs. Orders had also directed that on
completion of that duty they should march towards Allahabad and there
occupy the fort, the detachment with which I was connected joining
headquarters en route. For the time being we were attached to the 50th
Regiment, and so continued during the remaining four months of the cold
season.
Here took place the first
initiation into their several duties connected with regimental life of
the young men belonging to our detachment, myself among them. Among the
officers in the "Dirty Half-Hundred" who had served with it during the
Peninsular War, when, on account of the continuous severe work performed
by it, the corps obtained its honourable soubriquet, three remained,
looked up to with the respect due to, and then accorded to,
distinguished veterans. Alternate with duties assigned to us, amusements
filled up our time pleasantly. Gaiety was in full flow. Many were the
joyous gatherings by which were filled the Assembly rooms—some years
thereafter to be the scene of very terrible doings. Outdoor games and
sports were the order of the day, the tract of jungle in Oude that
stretched along the opposite river bank proving our most happy hunting
ground. So it was that time passed pleasantly, if in an intellectual
sense not very profitably. At the time alluded to traffic and
communication with Oude was by means of a long bridge of boats, that
bridge from their attack on which in subsequent days the Gwalior
mutineers were to be driven by the forces under Sir Cohn Campbell.
A large force, comprising
all arms, then occupied that important station. The impression made upon
us, as for the first time we beheld the magnificent spectacle presented
by general field-day parades and exercises, was never to be forgotten.
The swarthy visages of the sepoys; their quaint uniforms attracted our
notice. The solidarity of the 5oth gave the impression of irresistible
force. The rush of cavalry, as, like a whirlwind, they went at full
charge, to a great extent concealed in a cloud of dust raised by their
horses' hoofs; the magnificent and unsurpassed Bengal Horse Artillery,
in performing the evolutions pertaining to them,—these incidents struck
us with amazement and admiration. Little did we think that not many
months thereafter we were to be even more struck with admiration at the
brilliant performance of some of those very troops in actual fight.
A trip to Agra introduced
me to the experiences of palkee dák. Travelling by night, the distance
got over was about fifty miles; alongside trotted torch-carriers, the
odours from those "pillars of flame" foul and offensive. During the day
a halt was made at bungalows provided by Government for the use of
travellers. Thus were four days occupied in making a journey of two
hundred miles. In and near Agra various excursions were made and places
of interest visited. In the fort had recently been deposited the gates
of Somnath, in connection with the removal of which from Ghuznee the
bombastic proclamation by Lord Ellenborough was still subject of
comment. The tomb of Akbar and the exquisite Taj Mahal were visited on
several occasions. The scene presented by the latter, more especially as
seen by moonlight, was extremely beautiful. The minarets and domes of
the mausoleuin, consisting of lure white marble; the long avenue of
cypress trees by which it is approached ; the fountains in full play;
the ornamental flower pots,—made upon us an impression never afterwards
to be forgotten.
With the regiments
returned recently from Kandahar, aided by troops from Bombay and Bengal,
Sir Charles Napier undertook an expedition against the disaffected
Ameers of Scinde. In February, 1843, the battles of Meeanee and
Hyderabad ended in defeat of their forces, Hyderabad occupied, the
country being conquered during the succeeding month of March. Of that
war it was said : "The Muhamadan rulers of Sind, known as the Ameers,
whose chief fault was that they would not surrender their independence,
were crushed."
In the neighbouring State
of Gwalior events were in progress, the issue of which was destined to
affect the 39th, the 50th, and the Buffs in a way not at the moment
anticipated by either of those regiments. Early in February, the distant
boom of heavy guns intimated to us at Agra that the Maharajah of Gwalior
was dead, and had been succeeded on his throne by his adopted son in the
absence of a lineal heir. In such events there did not appear anything
to interfere with the routine of pleasure in which so many young
officers indulged; that routine went on uninterruptedly, for as yet with
them the serious business of life was in the future.
Those were indeed the
days of India's hospitality, alike in respect to individuals and
regiments. For example: Three weeks had I been an honorary member of the
"Dorsets" mess, when the time of my departure arrived; yet to my request
for my mess bill I received the reply, "There is none." Among the
officers whose hospitality I had so long unconsciously enjoyed were two,
father and son, both of whom I was shortly to meet under circumstances
very different from those in which I had made their acquaintance. |
