The Press.
London, England, 1857-09-12 00:00:00

BENARES.

A corporal of the 10th, writing home, gives a vivid
description of the fight at Ben ares

We left Dinapore on the 22nd of May by steam, and
arived on the 31st. Everything remained quiet until
the afternoon of the 4th of June, when word was brought
that the sepoys were going to give us a clipping that
night. We were ordered to load, and shortly after we fell
in on our parade ground with the artillery and thirty men
of the Ist b'usiliers, who were the covering party for the
guns. We marched down the 37th Native Infantry lines.
The moment they got us about fifty yards to their lines
they opened fire upon us, killing four of my company and
wounding ten; but they suffered for it, for never did a body
of men in the British army fire so quick and with such
precision ' • we were well app'anded by every officer on the
ground. The Sikh regiment turned on the artillery ; but
you never saw such a sight in your life—they were mowed
down, and got several rounds of grapeshot into them when
out of our range. Well, the next job was the cavalry ; but
they killed their officer, Major liaise, before we gut any
chance of touching them, which we did in gallant style.
I'll just tell you the number of European fighting men
on that evening—merely '2OO, fighting against 1,300
sepoys, and that accounts for their showing such courage
in murdering women and children. The affair with the
sepoys lasted from half.past four to half-past seven o'clock
p.m., but we got no rest that night. I was nearly catching
it myself after escaping on the plain. I went on to the
main guard belonging to the 37th Native Infantry. We
brought out all the killed and wounded sepoys of the guard
and threw them on the plain. We thought everything was
quiet in the guard-room, but one of my sentries cried out
that there was a sepoy under one of the cots. I went to
where the cot was, turned it over, and saw a 37th sepoy
lying there. 1 asked him who he was in his own language,
" Toom Koon, hi sepoy," says he; I then says, " Koonpul-
tan, what regiment ?" and he said, " Burrel ka pultan," at
the same time cocking his piece, but I was not to be got
easy, so I gave the contents of my piece to him, and he
died almost instantly, heaping curses on the Hoorah sol•
diers in the country. Well, the next affair we had was on
the 6th of July with a body of the mutineers encamoed
about five miles from our intrenchments. You must
know that Benares is a holy city, one that never was be-
sieged. We were the first who ever fired a shot in
Benares in anger. Well, a body of us went out with two
guns and gave them another beating. We set fire to the
village and took forty prisoners, whom we tied together,
and a company was ordered up to them, who shot and
bayoneted every one of them.
The corporal writes in good spirits, but the work
be says is hard:—
The duty is very hard ;-the men get two nights in bed,
but the non-commissioned officers don't get one. You
come off day guard, and you are named for night guard.
With sixty rounds on your back and a loaded musket in
the hot season is not very pleasant, I can assure you.
The following letter, upon the authority of the
Edinburgh Daily Express, is from a medical gentle-
, man, a native of Edinburgh, attached to General
, Havelock's division :

Camp, Futtypore, July 13, 18:57.
We are going on with a large force of Europeans and
Royal Artillery, and the vagabonds are flying before us.
Yesterday, immediately after we encamped, three regiments
of infantry and two of cavalry, formerly our own, with s
body of artillery, attacked us. Our artillery opened upon
them with the guns beautifully pointed, and away the whole
force scuttled, leaving us in possession of oven guns, one

888

of them a 24-pounder, another an 18 ditto (we had only 13-
pounders). The Enfield rifle frightened them : the fellows
at the guns were spotted off at 700 yards without seeing
an enemy or hearing a shot. On we went, capturing our
own ammunition, treasure, tents—all their food and car•
riage, even to their cooking materials ; went right through
the town, and encamped on the other side, without losing
a single European. A good many of the enemy were
killed and wounded. The sun knocked up our own men
a good deal. We have the 78th Highlanders with us ;
they joined us at twelve a.m. of the 12th. We were drawn
up to receive the force, which in all gave us about 1,200
men to ours of 800 (400 Sikhs and artillery, and 400
Europeans). All of a sudden the bagpipes struck up
" The Campbells are Coming." The surprise to me was
such that 1 could scarcely stand ; twenty years before,
and under different circumstances, I had heard the same
tune, probably played by the same bagpipes in Edinburgh.
Our men (Sikhs) are true as steel, and 1 am proud to
have medical charge of such a regiment. Whatever in the
way of brovery a European can do they can. The Euro.
peen soldiers know it, and yesterday they cheered us in
passing. The Sikhs were delighted at the compliment,
for the name of European troops is so great in this
country that the people say they are half gods, half devils.
like the life very well, and would not have missed yester-
day for something. As usual, when anything is going on,
lam into it. 1 am the only surgeon in charge of the
regiment, and am entirely on my own hook. The Euro-
peans have about one to every 200 men.