The Press.
London, England, 1857-10-03 00:00:00

rHE PRE S S, OCTOBER 3, 1857.

close to me, and it fizzed for a second or two (which
seemed like so many hours), and then burst. I was
so near as to feel the force of the explosion, but,
providentially, we all got off without being touched.
I picked up a large fragment, which I have now—it
weighs six pounds: There was vary heavy musketry
firing on the right, in the suburbs called Subzee
Mundee, the niggers having brought out field-guns.
Brigadier-General Chantherlayne and fifteen or six-
teen officers were wounded. We were ordered to
move to support the right, under fire of the enemy's
batteries, and when we got into about the hottest
place we were ordered home. Our force altogether
lost 209 men killed and wounded (30 killed). We
were not in the thick of it, and had only one man
touched. It is most dangerous work fighting in the
suburbs, where the enemy k under cover until
we get near, and then bolt, firing all the time ; and
although we kill ten times the number we ourselves
lose, still our small force gets weaker and weaker
every scrimmage in greater proportion than theirs.
We had quiet until the 18th, when we were sent
down with guns to clear the Subzee Mundee of the
enemy, who were bullying our pickets. We had
some hard fighting among houses, walls, trees, and
inclosures. We charged two or three times, but they
always ran away to fresh cover. The bullets were
whistling about in great numbers. I galloped round
one inclosure, and was fired at by some scoundrels
trying to take us in flank. I got some of our rifles
and a gun up, and soon turned them out of that.
Having got as fa: as advisable towards the walls, we
were ordered to retire through a heavy fire. P---
was close to me when struck on the ankle by a
musket-ball. A sergeant was killed, shot through
the head, two yards in front of me, and my horse
was hit almost at the same moment. I had just
dismounted, and was holding him by th 3 bridle at
the time. I)-- had a narrow escape, a bullet
having passed through the folds cf a turban he had
round his waist. Altogether, we had rather severe
work. On the 10th we were on the alert all day,
and ready to turn out, but nothing happened. On
the 20th we had another skirmish in the Subzee
Mundee, but the Guides and Sikhs did all the work,
and we had only the grind of marching there an I
back. It is very pretty to look at ; beautiful trees
and gardens, with orange trees in blossom and rho-
dodendrons in full bloom, with thick hedges of
cactus ; but all these things don't favour the Eng-
lish soldier. We saw lots of sepoy skeletons. I saw
one with irregular cavalry jack-boots on—all the rest
bones ! There is no quarter given to the wounded;
they deserve no mercy, being rebels, and having
killed all our women and children in a most hor-
rible manner. Although one gets used to bloody
sights, and to a certain extent callous, I confess—it
may be a weakness—but I could not kill a man
lying wounded. On the 22nd we were awakened by
sound of guns and musketry, and were ordered to
fall in at the rendezvous. It turned out that the
enemy, being alarmed at our blowing up a mine in
the Subzee Mundee, fired all his guns, and his mus-
keteers on the wall fired, too, all at nothing ! On
the 23rd there was a very heavy cannonade, and the
sepoys tried to throw shells into our camp, in return
for our trying to shell the King's palace. At about
ten a.m., we were ordered to support time pickets and
capture some field-pieces. We moved down towards
the walls, the enemy firing at us, and our batteries
filing over our heads. A shell burst forty yards in
front of us, sending the dirt about. We drove the
sepoys before us, but they had not the pluck to
stand to their guns, and withdrew them. We were
ordered to halt and get under cover, and, being
within range of grape from 18 and 24 pounders, it was
very necessary. We had two killed and two wounded
out of about sixty men. The grape flew over our
heads like hail ; it sounds like a covey of quail or
partridge, and tears up the ground most angrily.
We were ordered to retire gradually, and first made
a dash at a house at the gateway of which 1 and
some few others were. They sent a shell into the
house, which one of the men picked up, thinking it
was a round shot. Somebody told him to take it
outside, which he did, and then he was told it was a
shell! As it happened, the fusee was out, and it did
not explode, otherwise it would have killed a lot of
fellows. Colonel Seaton was shot through the body,
Major Drought ditto, Major Money through the knee,
and other casualties. One of our men was awfully
mangled by a grapeshot which smashed his leg. I
was sent to the rear by Colonel —, with a message
to another regiment to help our wounded, and
having got into an inclosure with high walls, I could
not get out. So I left my horse and climbed over,
gave the message, and came back for him; and there
I was, with my horse on one side and myself on-the
other, looking rather foolish, for the bullets were
flying about. I, however, dodged along the wall,
and found an exit at last, though I fully expected
my horse would be hit. I was safe enough myself
behind the wall, with the bridle in my hand. I
think you would have laughed, but I was not going
to lose my horse, which was a trooper's, too, my own
being hors de combat since his wound on the oth.