# The Indian Mutiny of 1857/Chapter 24

CHAPTER XXIV.
THE STORMING OF LAKHNAO.
The army concentrated by Sir Colin Campbell before Lakhnao consisted of the troops which, as I have told, he had massed in the plains between Unáo and Banní, of the Nipál troops, of Franks's division, and of the men he had left in the Álambágh under the command of Outram. Of the three first I have written in the three chapters immediately preceding. It remains now to say a word regarding the last.
Outram had been left, on the 26th of November, with between three and four thousand men of all arms, twenty-five guns and howitzers, and ten mortars, to occupy a position which should remind the Lakhnao rebels of the presence of British troops. He did not locate all these in the Álambágh, but occupying that royal garden — a square of about 500 yards — with a sufficient number, he ranged the remainder in the open about half-a-mile behind it. He thus occupied a position across the Kánhpur road, touching the fort of Jalálábád with his right. Where this position was not naturally covered by swamps he placed batteries, dug trenches, and planted abattis to protect it.
The rebels in Lakhnao had been so severely handled by Sir Colin in his relief of the Residency that for some ​time they made no attempt to disturb Outram. But as time passed the memory of the losses they then sustained faded, and on the 22d December they made a skilfully conceived attempt to sever Outram's communications with Banní. But the British general was well served by his spies, and catching the rebels whilst marching to execute their plan, he inflicted upon them a very severe defeat.
About a fortnight later Outram despatched to Kánhpur a convoy of empty carts, guarded by 530 men and four guns. The rebels soon obtained information of this movement, and believing that the force resting on the Álambágh had been severely crippled, they determined to make a supreme effort to destroy Outram. Accordingly, on the 12th, they issued from Lakhnao to the number of 30,000. They massed this body opposite to the extreme left of Outram's position, then gradually extended it so as to face his front and left. To the front attack Outram opposed two brigades, the one consisting of 733 English troops, the other of 713, whilst he directed the ever-daring Olpherts to take four guns, and, supported by the men of the military train, to dash at the overlapping right of the rebels. Olpherts fell on them just as they were developing their overlapping movement, and not only compelled them to renounce it, but to fall back in confusion. The two brigades operating against the centre were equally successful. They not only drove back the rebels, but foiled an insidious movement which their leader was planning against the right of the British position. By four o'clock the rebels were in full flight. Their losses were heavy.
But the famous Maulaví, one of the chief authors of the rebellion, was in Lakhnao, and the Maulaví had sworn that he would capture the convoy despatched with empty carts to Kánhpur, but now returning with the carts laden. Accordingly, on the night of the 14th, he quitted Lakhnao ​with a considerable force, in very light marching order, turned the British camp, and occupied a position whence he could fall upon the convoy as it marched. Fortune seemed to favour him, for a violent dust-storm concealed his presence from the leader of the covering party, who, moreover, had no warning of his presence. But the careful watchfulness of Outram foiled him. Noting how the weather favoured an attack, he despatched Olpherts, with two guns and a detachment of infantry, supported by others troops, to aid in bringing in the convoy. Olpherts cleared the ground of the Maulaví and his troops, and the convoy reached the camp in safety. On the 16th another attack made by the rebels was repulsed with loss. From that date till the 15th of February they made no sign.
Then, directed by the Maulaví, they made an attack in force, only to be repulsed. They followed it up by a second the following day, with a like result. On the 21st they made a third, and on the 25th a fourth and very serious one. In all they were completely beaten. The last defeat apparently convinced them that it was hopeless to attempt to dislodge Outram.
Thus did that illustrious man, aided by his capable officers, by Berkeley, his chief of the staff, by Vincent Eyre, by Olpherts, by Maude, by Dodgson, by Macbean, by Moorsom, by Gould Weston, by Chamier, by Hargood, by Barrow, by Wale, and by that excellent officer of the Engineers, Nicholson, by Brasyer, and by many others, for the list is a long one, maintain, with a comparatively small force, the position assigned to him by the Commander-in-Chief. Towards the end of February his force had been increased, but it never equalled 5000 men. It was computed, on the other hand, that the rebels had at their disposal no fewer than 120,000 men. Of these 27,550 were trained sipáhís, and 7100 trained cavalry ​soldiers. Of the remainder, 5400 were new levies, 55,150 were Najíbs, or men drilled and armed in the native fashion, some 4000 gunners, 800 belonged to the camel corps they had organised, whilst the armed followers of the talukdárs numbered 20,000. Such was the force which guarded the city the storming of which by Sir Colin Campbell I shall now briefly describe.
The city of Lakhnao stretches, in an irregular form, on the right bank of the Gúmtí for a length from east to west of nearly five miles. The extreme width of it on the western side is a mile and a half. The eastern side diminishes to the width of rather less than a mile. Two bridges, one of iron, the other of masonry, span the Gúmtí, whilst a canal of deep and rugged section, enclosing the city on the east and south sides, bears away to the south-west, leaving the approach there open, but intersected by ravines. Towards the north-east, where the canal joins the Gúmtí, its banks are naturally shelving and easy.
The strong positions held by the rebels within the city were the Kaisarbágh, a palace about 400 yards square, containing several ranges of buildings. It had been completed only in 1850, and was not originally fortified. The rebels, however, had greatly strengthened it. To the east of the Observatory, overlooking the river, were the Farhatbakhsh palace and the palaces adjoining, the Residency, the ruins of the Machchí Bhawan, the great Imámbárah, the Jamániabágh, the Shésh Mahall, Alí Naki's house, extending to the west along the banks of the river, the Musábágh, a mile and a half beyond it, the little Imámbárah, and a range of palaces stretching from the Kaisarbágh to the canal. Beyond the canal, on the east of the city, was the Martinière. Overlooking this and the eastern suburbs, on the brow of a table-land, stood the Dilkushá.
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Whilst thus protecting the city on three sides, the rebels had neglected the northern side. Sir Colin detected this error, and resolved, in his plan of attack, to take full advantage of it.
Whilst, then, he determined to cross the Gúmtí with his main force, and to march by the Hazratganj on the Kaisarbágh, he would employ a strong division, under Outram, to turn those defences. He could not, with the force at his disposal, completely hem in the city, but he hoped that, as he pushed on the main body in the line indicated, Outram would be able to move round the angle on one side, whilst Jang Bahádur and the force at the Álambágh would close up round the corresponding angle on the other.
Having resolved on this plan, he advanced, with his main body, on the Dilkushá park and captured it. Whilst he erected batteries there to keep down the rebels' fire, he continued to bring up his troops. By the 4th he had assembled there the whole of the siege-train, and had the bulk of his force, Franks's division and the Nipálese excepted, thoroughly in hand. That force now occupied a line which touched on the right the Gúmtí, at the village ​of Bibiápur, then, intersecting the Dilkushá, stopped at a point nearly two miles from Jalálábád. The interval was occupied by Hodson's Horse, 1600 strong. Outram still continued to occupy his former position. On the 5th Franks and the Nipálese arrived.
During the night of the 4th Sir Colin had directed the throwing of two bridges over the Gúmtí near Bibiápur. One of these was completed by the morning of the 5th, and across it a picket had been sent to cover the completion of the remaining works. These were finished by midnight on the 5th. Sir Colin then sent Outram and his division across the river. He was very anxious for the success of the movement he had consigned to that officer, for he had resolved not to stir a step until Outram, charged to turn the rebels' position and to take them in reverse, should have marched beyond, and thus have turned the first line of defence.
Outram crossed and marched up the Gúmtí for about a mile. The river makes a sharp bend at that point; so Outram left the sinuosities of the river, and marched straight on in the direction of the city. He encamped that evening about four miles from it, facing it, his left resting on the Faizábád road, about half a mile in advance of the village of Chinhat.
The following day and the 8th were spent in skirmishing, but on the 9th Outram. made his spring. Preluding it with a heavy fire from the batteries he had constructed, he sent Walpole to attack the rebels' left, whilst he led his own left column across the Kokrail stream. Waiting there till Walpole had completed the task allotted to him, he then stormed the Chakar Kóthí, the key of the rebels' position, and thus turned and rendered useless to them the strong line of intrenchments they had thrown up on the right bank of the Gúmtí. In the attack on the ​Chakar Kóthí, Anderson of the Sikhs and St George of the 1st Fusiliers greatly distinguished themselves, whilst, in opening communications with Adrian Hope's brigade on the opposite bank, young Butler of the 1st Fusiliers performed a deed of cool intrepidity which won for him the Victoria Cross. The result of the day's operations was that Outram occupied the left bank of the Gúmtí as far as the Bádsháhbágh. His position took the rebels completely in reverse.
Sir Colin had waited the three days, the 6th, 7th, and 8th, whilst Outram was making his preparations; but, on the 9th, he too advanced, carried the Martinière, and moved Adrian Hope's brigade from the vicinity of Banks's house to a point whence, some six hundred yards from the river, it could communicate, as thanks to the gallantry of Butler it did communicate, with Outram on the opposite bank. Sir Colin completed the operation the next day by storming Banks's house. The two army corps were then in complete communication.
During the night of the 10th Outram erected batteries to cover his projected movement of the following day; then, when that day dawned, he carried all the positions leading to the iron bridge – the bridge leading to the Residency – and established batteries close to it. In this operation he lost two most gallant officers, Thynne of the Rifle Brigade, and Moorsom of the Quartermaster-General's department. He continued to carry out the operations entrusted to him on the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th. He established himself, that is to say, in a position which enabled him, during those days, to rake and attack, by artillery fire in flank and rear, the positions which Sir Colin was assailing in front. It is impossible to overestimate the value of the assistance which Outram thus rendered to the main attack.
​Meanwhile, Sir Colin, having stormed Banks's house on the 10th, occupied without opposition the Sikandarábágh on the 11th, and, owing to the happy audacity of three engineer officers. Medley, Lang, and Carnegy, took possession, also without fighting, of the Kadam Rasúl, and of that Sháh Najaf which had almost foiled him during his advance in November. But the Begum Kothí promised to offer a fierce resistance. It belched forth fire and flame, and it was so strong as to seem capable of repelling a direct attack. Lugard, however, who commanded the force in front of it, resolved to attempt one. The troops he employed were those companions in glory, the 93d Highlanders and the 4th Panjáb Rifles, led by that model of a soldier the chivalrous Adrian Hope. The assault, made at four o'clock in the afternoon, though opposed with a fury and discipline almost equal to that of the assailants, was successful. But, to use the language of Sir Colin, 'it was the sternest struggle which occurred during the siege.' Six hundred corpses testified to the unerring force of the British and Sikh bayonet.
The capture of the Begum Kothí gave to the Chief Engineer, Brigadier Napier, the opportunity of pushing his approaches, by means of sappers and of heavy guns, through the enclosures, to the mess-house, the little Imámbárah and to the Kaisarbágh. The 12th, then, was chiefly an engineers' day. Some changes, however, were made in the disposition of the troops; Franks's division relieved that of Lugard as the leading division, and the Nipálese troops were brought into line. They were placed on the extreme left, so as to hold the line of the canal beyond Banks's house. The 13th was, likewise, an engineers' day. On that day the Nipálese were moved across the canal against the suburb to the left of Banks's house, so as to attract the attention of the rebels to that quarter. By the evening ​the engineers' work was completed. All the great buildings to the left, up to the little Imámbárah, had been sapped through, and by nine o'clock the next morning the heavy guns had effected a breach in its walls. Franks was then directed to storm it. He carried out the operation with brilliant success.
The storm of the little Imámbárah had whetted the martial instincts of the men. Following up the rebels as they evacuated it, they forced their way into a palace which commanded three of the bastions of the Kaisarbágh. Thence they brought to bear on the rebels below them so heavy a fire that one by one they deserted their guns. Their flight left the second line of defence virtually at the mercy of the British. It was turned. A daring advance alone was necessary to gain it. The rebels, recognising this, had no thought but to save themselves. They ran then for security into the buildings between the little Imámbárah and the Kaisarbágh. But the 90th and Brasyer's Sikhs, who were in the front line of stormers, had equally recognised the advantages of their position. Led by young Havelock and Brasyer, they forced their way, cheering, under a terrible fire, into a courtyard adjoining the Kaisarbágh, driving the rebels before them. At this conjuncture young Havelock, seeing with a soldier's eye the extent of the possibilities before him, ran back to the detachment of the 10th in support and ordered it to the front. Annesley, who commanded it, led it forward with alacrity, nor did his men halt till, driving the rebels before them, they had penetrated to the Chíní bazaar, to the rear of the Tárá Kothí and the mess-house, thus turning the rebels' third line. The rebels, congregated in the Tárá Kothí and mess-house, numbering about 6000, realising their position, evacuated those buildings, and made as though they would re-enter the city through an opening in the further ​gateway of the Chíní bazaar, and thus cut off the Sikhs and the 90th. But Havelock, with great presence of mind, advanced with some Sikhs to the support of Brasyer, and seizing two adjoining bastions, turned the six guns found upon them with so much effect against the rebels that their attempt was checked, and they abandoned it. By this time the fourth note sent by young Havelock had reached Franks, and that gallant officer pushed forward every available man in support of the advance. The results already achieved far surpassed in importance those which had been contemplated for the day, and the question arose whether the advantage should be pursued. After a brief consultation Franks and Napier decided in favour of pushing on. Some necessary rearrangement of troops followed. Then, whilst those on the right advanced and occupied in succession, with but little resistance, the Motí Mahall, the Chatar Manzil, and the Tárá Kothí, Franks sent his men through the court of Saadat Ali's Mosque into the Kaisarbágh itself. The resistance there was fierce, but of short duration. The stormers were wound to a pitch which made them irresistible. They stormed, one after another, the courts and the summer-houses which made up the interior of the palace, and drove the rebels headlong into the garden. There those who failed to escape — and they were the majority — soon found the rest from which there is no awakening.
I will not attempt to describe the plundering which followed the capture of this newest of the palaces of the Kings of Oudh. Rather would I dwell on the great military result thereby obtained. In the morning of that 14th of March the British line had stretched from the Sháh Najaf to Hazratganj. That evening it ran from the ​Chatar Manzil to the Residency side of the Kaisarbágh. Two strong defensive lines of works, including the Citadel, on which the second line rested, defended by nearly 40,000 men, had been stormed. All honour to the men who planned and carried out so magnificent a work: to Havelock and Brasyer, to Franks and Napier, to Annesley, to the men of the 10th and 90th, and to the Sikhs. All honour, also, to those who gave their lives in the noble enterprise.
The rebels would have been completely destroyed, and the whole of Lakhnao would have lain, helpless, the next morning at the feet of Sir Colin Campbell if, whilst Franks and Napier were storming the Kaisarbágh, Outram had crossed by the iron bridge and cut off those who escaped from the several places as they were stormed. That this did not happen was no fault of Outram. He recognised the advantage to be gained, and applied during the day for permission to execute such a manœuvre. The reply was the most extraordinary ever received by a general in the field. It consisted of a short note from Mansfield, chief of the staff, telling him he might cross by the iron bridge, but that 'he was not to do so if he thought he would lose a single man.' Such a proviso was a prohibition, for not only were guns posted to defend the bridge, but the bridge was commanded by a mosque and several loopholed houses. The loss, then, would have greatly exceeded that of one man. That the proviso was dictated by a very shortsighted policy can be realised by the slightest reflection. The ultimate pursuit of the rebels who escaped because Outram did not cross caused an infinitely greater loss of men to the British army than the storming of the bridge and the taking of the rebels in rear would have occasioned.
On the right bank of the Gúmtí Sir Colin devoted the ​15th to the consolidating of the position he had gained. On the left bank, sensible, too late, of the error he had allowed to be committed by the despatch to Outram of the absurd order on which I have commented, he despatched Hope Grant, with his cavalry, and Campbell, with his infantry brigade and 1500 cavalry, to pursue the rebels on the Sítápur and Sandílá roads respectively. But the rebels had taken neither of these roads; the pursuit, therefore, was fruitless. It was not till the 16th that Sir Colin directed Outram to cross the Gúmtí, near the Sikandarábágh, and to join him, with Douglas's brigade, at the Kaisarbágh, leaving Walpole, with Horsford's brigade, to watch the iron and stone bridges. Outram crossed as directed, was joined by the 20th and Brasyer's Sikhs, and was then ordered by Sir Colin in person to push on through the Residency, take the iron bridge in reverse, and then, advancing a mile further, storm the Machchí Bhawan and the great Imámbárah. Outram carried both places without much opposition; but before he had accomplished his task the rebels, with the design of retreating on Faizábád, had made a strong attack on Walpole's pickets. They had been unable to force these — probably they never seriously intended to do so — but they held them in check whilst the bulk of their comrades made good their retreat on to the Faizábád road. I need not point out how impossible retreat by that road would have been had Sir Colin permitted Outram to cross on the 14th.
The rebels attempted the same day another diversion, by suddenly attacking the Álambágh, but Franklyn, who commanded, Vincent Eyre, with his heavy guns, Robertson, with the military train, and Olpherts completely foiled them.
Whilst the operations I have described had been ​carried out in the advance, Jang Bahádur and the Nipálese had, on the 14th and 15th, moved up the canal and taken in reverse the positions which, for three months, the rebels had occupied in front of the Álambágh. Jang Bahádur performed this task with ability and success. One after another the positions held by the rebels, from the Chárbágh up to the Residency, on that side, fell into his hands.
On the 17th Outram, pursuing his onward course, occupied without resistance the Huséní Mosque and the Daulat Kháná. In the afternoon he caused to be occupied a block of buildings known as Sharif-ud-daula's house. The rebels evacuated it hastily, but an accidental explosion, caused by the careless unpacking of gunpowder found there, caused the deaths of two officers and some thirty men. On the 18th he proceeded to clear the streets in front of the position he had secured, when he received Sir Colin's orders to drive the rebels from the Músábágh. Whilst he should march against that place, Campbell of the Bays was to take 1500 cavalry, and a due proportion of guns, and be ready to pounce upon the rebels as Outram should drive them from the Músábágh. The Nipálese were likewise so placed as to cut off their retreat in the other direction.
Outram, as usual, did his part thoroughly. He captured Alí Nakí's house and the Músábágh. The rebels fled from the last-named place by the road which Campbell should have guarded. But Campbell was not to be seen. He had engaged a part of his force in a small operation which had given Hagart, Slade, Bankes, and Wilkin, all of the 7th Hussars, an opportunity of displaying courage of no ordinary character, followed though their splendid deed was by the severely wounding of the second and the death of the third; but as to the main object of ​his mission he did nothing. It was officially stated that he had lost his way. The rebels, consequently, escaped.
Not all, however. Outram was there to repair to a certain extent Campbell's error. Noticing that the rebels were preparing to escape from the Músábágh, he had despatched to cut them off the 9th Lancers, followed by some infantry and field-artillery. These killed about 100 of them, and captured all their guns.
This was the concluding act of the storming of Lakhnao. The day following was issued Lord Canning's proclamation confiscating the entire proprietary right in the soil of Oudh, save in the case of six comparatively inferior chiefs. To rebel landowners who should at once surrender immunity from death and imprisonment was promised, provided that they could show that they were guiltless of unprovoked bloodshed. To those who had protected British fugitives special consideration was promised. The principles embodied in the proclamation were just, and when the time came they were acted upon with such consideration as to secure the loyalty which had been alienated by the enforcement of the stern code which had immediately followed the annexation; but at the moment the effect was to embitter the hearts of those against whom the proclamation was directed.
It having been ascertained that the famous Maulaví was still in Lakhnao, and that from Shádatganj, in the heart of the city, he still bade defiance to the conqueror, Lugard was sent, on the 21st, with the 93d and 4th Panjáb Rifles, to attack him. He and his followers were effectively dislodged, and were pursued by Campbell, this time on the spot. But the Maulaví escaped. Two days later Hope Grant sent after the rebels who had fled by the ​Faizábád road, caught a considerable number of them at Kúrsí, cut up many, and captured thirteen guns.
Lakhnao had fallen, but the province of which Lakhnao was the capital still remained to be subdued How this was accomplished, how Rohilkhand was recovered, and how the rebels were driven from Ázamgarh into Western Bihár, and there annihilated, I shall show in the next chapter.
* ↑ The number was close upon 4000, but of these about 500 had been sent to guard the Banní bridge.
* ↑ The 'young Havelock' alluded to in the text is the present Sir Henry Havelock-Allan, son of the general who first relieved the Residency.
* ↑ Hope Grant (Incidents of the Sepoy War) is very, but not unjustly, severe on Campbell.