The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-06 00:00:00

THE LAST STAND OF THE REBELS.

The position occupied by the enemy, who have
been gradually forced from place to place from the
extreme east to the furthest west of Lucknow, is
sititat3d outside the verge of the city close to the
Goomtee, and was occupied by them probably be-
cause theyhad no other post to go to.
The troops under General Outram which were to
assault the Mousabagh were detailed as follows :
One troop of Royal Horse Artillery, Middleton's
field battery—two 18-pounders, four 8-inch mortars;
Douglas's brigade, consisting of the 53d Regiment,
79th Regiment Highlanders, Ist Bengal Fusiliers,
and Green's Sikhs. As the troops debouched from the
gateway across the road in front of the Imaumbar-
rah the enemy were observed retiring in haste from
their advanced posts in the house in front, and re-
treating on the Mousabagh, from which as we
pressed on there soon was visible a similar exodw.
they were saved by an accident. In order to enable
our troops to get at them it was necessary to break
through a strong pucka wall right in our front,
and the sepoys used the time to such purp se
hat they cleared out before our soldiers had a
chance of engaging them. The combination so well
levised had not been carried out. Campbell's
force was not visible. It is believed he must have
come across another body of the enemy, and that he
is engaged in the pursuit. Away went the enemy in.
broken masses, mingled with the townspeople of
the lower orders, pursued by the Lancers and by the
tire of Middleton's guns, which did the duty of the
troop of Horse Artillery. Owing to some mistake
the troop of Royal Horse Artillery did not appear i❑
time, nor was the cross fire of Grant's guns available
in punishing the fugitives. A few of their Sepoys
and matchlobkmen kept up a feeble fire, and their
guns were opened to cover the retreat as far as pos-
sible. At first the fire was directed against Grant's
force, and there was au artillery battle on a small
scale at long range. Then the enemy turned their
guns against us, and one of their shot plumped
into the ground within a few yards of Sir Colin
Campbell. They formed upon the left of the Mou-
sallagh, with their left resting on the river, but they
rapidly gave way as we advanced, and their mus-
ketry fire only wounded a few of our men. As
they broke they turned to their right with our in-
fantry in ebase, and the Lancers catching up the
rear disposed of a few of them ; but the country
is covered with enclosures and corn fields, and
natives on the run soon distance our troops. In
the attack Capt. Hutchinson received a wound in
the head, which will, it is feared, prove fatal ; but
our casualties were few. And now, as the runaways
fled, every eye was strained to see if our cavalry
were advancing upon them from the Korkoorie
road, but the acutest sight could not detect their
presence. However, later in the day guns were
heard in that direction, and it is very likely indeed
that some large body of the enemy eudeavouring to
escape from the south-west of the city were sud-
denly confronted by Campbell's force. That officer
received orders to occupy the Mousabagh in the
evening with the sth and 78th, but as he did not
)bey orders, and nothing has been heard from him,
it is to be presumed he is engaged in the grand ob-
ject of pursuit and utter dissipation of the enemy.
A Sikh regiment held the Mousabagh in lieu of
Campbell's troops, but the enemy have quite with-
drawn from the neighbourhood. Outram's force,
in their advance, came upon the camp which the
,nervy had just' abandoned. They took some ele
ohants and a silver howdah, supposed to belong to
the Moulvie, and 12 guns, some in a very efficient
tate. Thus the last host heti by the enemy came
into our hand 4, and Luckuow fell—never to rite
again.