The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-01 00:00:00

THE GARRISON AT LUORNOW.

The following is a letter from one of the officers
who were cooped up in Lucknow, and now depicts
the state of affairs before the relief :
Lucknow, Oct. 27.

Thanks to these wretched mutineers, my epistle
will have tobesmuggledout, and perhaps will never
reach its destination ; should it do so, it will sot
your mind at ease about - who is alive, and
what is wonderful with a whole skin, in spite of
the enemy's shot and shell. Danyets is here in
capital health and spirits, and untouched ; Captain
Willis of the 84th was wounded, but is now out of
hospital. We are still completely invested, though
the investment is not quite so perfect as it was
previous to the arrival of the relieving force. We
now get occasional messages from our friends out-
side, with letters concealed about their persons, but
nothing in the shape of food has yet been procured.
The enemy's troops still surround us, and aro close
upon our outposts, but the amount of musketry
and artillery fire is nothing to what we wore ac-
customed to formerly, and we can walk about our
garrison now with comparative safety. When the
mutiny broke out in Lucknow, on May 30,
I was then away in the neighbourhood of
Cawnpore, with a squadron of cavalry, two light
field guns, and a couple of companies of
native infantry on the Grand Trunk Road, en
route to Mynpoorie. The brigadier (Handscombe)
was killed, and an officer of the 71st, named Grant,
and the greater part of the mutinous troops made
their escape into the district ; fortunately all the
ladies had been removed from the cantonments two
or three days previously, and were packed together
in the city residency. When I returned to Luck-
now on the 4th June everything appeared quiet
again, and remained so until the end of the month.
On the 30th June we went out about daybreak on
the road to Fyzabad, hoping to come upon, and to
drive back, the advance guard of the insurgents,
who, we heard, were approaching in that d
liroeoco-
tion. We expected to meet only about ,
men or so, believing the main body of the enemy's
troops to be a day's journey in rear. We went
out about six miles to a place called Chinlut,
where we found the insurgent army in position
ned fire upon Us from
behind a village. They ope
their artillery in the centre of their line, to which
we replied with light field guns, and an S-inch
howitzer we took with us. Thanks to the howitzer,
their artillery was soon silenced and driven from
their original position, and had we only been pro-
perly supported by the native artillery, I verily
believe that, in spite of the immense numerical su-
periority of the insurgents, we should have come
off from the field victorious. As it was, when their
centre was driven in, the enemy deployed on either
side, and brought light guns to bear upon both
flanks of our small force, and sent their cavalry in
swarms in our rear, cutting off our communioation
with Lucknow. We began to retire, of course,

at once, and soon the whole affair became
perfect rout. Thanks to the cowardice of the in-
surgent cavalry, a great number of us succeeded
in reaching Lucknow ; but we left no less than
130 Europeans on the field, The enemy's force on
that day has been estimated at from 15,000 to
20,000 ; ours about 300 .of the 32d, about 200
natives, some 30 Volunteer Cavalry, 4 European
light field guns, an 8-inch howitzer manned by
Europeans, and I think six field guns, which were
manned by natives, which were worse than useless
to us. We lost the 8-inch howitzer and three field
pieces. The insurgents quickly followed up their
success, and before twelve o'clock that day round
shot and shell were flying into the rendezvous.
From that day to the day of the arrival of the re-
lieving force under Sir James Outram, we were
exposed to a continued fire day and night ; the
enemy were within 60 yards of our defences on every
side, and we were unable to stir in any direetion
without running the gauntlet with the insurgent
sharpshooters.
We had three regular attacks during the siege—
e first and boldest of which took place on the 20th
July ; they then came on in swarms ou all sides,
but were driven back with terrific loss by the
bravery of our handful of men. In spite:of their
perseverance, their numbers, their showers of shot
and shell, we never yielded an inch of ground,
and when the reinforcements arrived, we were
exactly on our original ground, though many of
the houses were reduced to mere heaps of ruin.
It would be impossible to give you anything
like a correct idea of the nature of our posi-

tion ; our defences were scarcely deserving of
the name ; we were merely defending a certain number
of houses in the very heart of a large city, with the
enemy in possession of the houses adjoining in the line
of defence between us, consisting only of hastily con-
structed ditches and barricades. Fortunately we had a
good supply of shot and shell, eight 8-inch howitzs-+,
eight 18-pounder guns, and about 30 light field-pieces,
with a plentiful supply of wheat, dal, and rice. In a
short time more we hope to be perfectly relieved, as we
bear troops are advancing with all possible speed. I
must not write more, or my epistle will exceed the pre-
scribed size, so I must postpone all further details until
I can write again.