The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-16 00:00:00

THE SECOND SIEGE: OF CATTNPORE.

The following letter from an eye- witness of the
events which have recently occurred at Cawnpore
has been forwarded to us for publication
CAWNPORE CAMP, DEC. 3.
" As I was leaving Futtehpore, a place about 40
miles further down, on the 25th ult., the magistrate
advised me to remain for a day at least, as the
G'walior rebels were supposed to be on the road
near Cawnpore. I left next day with the bullock-
train, accompanying a detachment of 102 Riflemen
under command of Capt. A-, and by 9 o'clock
on the morning of the 27th I overtook Col. F--,
about eight miles from Cawnpore, with 300 of the
2d battalion of Rifles. I intended to put myself
under his escort for the remainder of the journey,
but he had an important message to convey to Gen.
Windham, and as I had a horse vehicle I came on
at once with the message.
" The 12 o'clock gun struck as I reached the in-
trenchment, and this was followed by a general
cannonade. General Windham had gone out to
meet the enemy, and I was directed to Brigadier
Wilson, as commanding-officerin the intrenchment.
When I had delivered my message he sent for Cap-
tain Morphy, the brigade-major, to whom I re-
peated it. Capt. Morphy advised me to take up
my quarters at the hotel. As I sat there, after a
comtortable breakfast, a doolie was brought up to
the verandah. The man in it had his head shat-

tered, and was roaring. It was a horrid spectacle—
my first glimpse of military glory. The rolr of
artillery and the sharp crack of rifles; continued,
and I proceeded to the gate of the fort to see why
my baggage had not come after me. Between the
fort and the hotel the garrison provost (who told
me he bad had the pleasure of flogging and superin-
tending the hanging of several uaiscrelnts concerned
in the massacre), showed me the house and veran-
dah bespattered with blood where the ladies and
children were murdered by order of Nana Sahib—
the tree against which the poor children were
dashed—at d the hideous well, now closed up, into
which the mutilated and reeking bodies were cast.
On the wall of the house I found an inscription
with a pin by one of the murdered women. I copied
it :—" Countrymen and women, remember the 15th
cf July, 1857. Your wives and families are here
in misery and at the disposal of savages, who has
[sic] ravished both young and old, and then killed.
Oh, oh, my child, my child. Countrymen, revenge
it." The underlining is in the original.
" On arriving at the gate of the fort I found that
the people, civil and military, were rushing from
their houses and tents with whatever clothes and
furniture they could snatch up. I ordered my
Barry-waggon into the fort. The driver went away
with the horse, and I saw him no more. He lett
the vehicle in a most exposed place, but I could not
get it moved afterwards, as it was heavy.
3.20 P. M. —S a w our troops retreating into the
outer intrenchment. A regular panic followed.
Trains of elephants, camels, horses, bullock-wag-
gons, and coolies came in at the principal gat;
laden with stuff. The principal buildings in the
Fort are the General Hospital, the Sailors' Hospi-
tal, the Post-office, and the Commissariat-Cellers.
Around these houses, which are scattered, crowds
of camels, bullocks, and horses were collected, fas-
tened by ropes to stakes in the ground, and among
the animals piles of trunks, beds, chairs, and mit.-
cellaneous furniture and baggage. There was
scarcely room to move. The Fort may cover three
or four acres, I should say, Met one of the chap-
lains, hastening into the intrenchment. He had
left everything in his tent outside. The servants
almost everywhere abandoned their masters when
they heard the guns. Mounted officers were gal-
loping across the rough ground between the inner
and outer intrenchments, and doolie after doolie,
with its red curtains down, concealing some poor
victim, passed on to the hospitals. The poor fel-
lows were brought in, shot, cut, shattered, and
wounded in every imaginable way ; and as they
went by, raw stumps might be seen hanging over
the sides of the doolies, literally like torn butcher
meal. The agonies which I saw some of them en-
dure during the surgical operations were such as no
tongue or pen can describe. The surgeons, who
did their utmost, were so overworked that many
sufferers lay bleeding for hours before it was possi-
ble to attend to them. Here and there, both out-
side the hospitals and within them, a man lay on his
bloody litter breathing out his life. The groans and
cries were heartrending. I saw one sailor carried
in a litter on the shoulders of four men ; he was
severely wounded but kept up his spirits amazingly,
and spoke to his comrades as he passed quite jo-
cularly.
"But I must be brief, else I shall lose the
The retreat is thus explained. General Windham,
who repulsed the enemy yesterday, went out to-dAy
about noon to attack the three divisions of the
Gwalio.t rebels under Nana Sahib. Windham was
routed, I regret to say, and lost his camp with 500
tents, the mess-plate of six regiments, no end of
tents, saddlery, and harness in an unfinished state,
and private property valued at 50,000/. So it is
said. He left his flank exposed, and made no pro-
vision for the safety of his camp. This has been a
most disastrous affair. Felt the want of something
to eat in the evening, but could procure only some
biscuit from the commissariat. Slept in my
waggon.

" SATURDAY, Nov. 28.
" 9.40 A.m.—Heavy firing on our right.
" 9.50 A. m. —Heavy firing on our left.
"11.15 A. a.—Brigadier Wilson has been carried
iuto his tent mortally wounded, shot through the
back and left lung. He lived for two hours, and
then calmly sunk to his rest. His last moments
proved him to be a hero and a Christian. The
chaplain remained with him till he (led,
" The conduct of the 64th Regiment this morn-
ing ha% justly excited admiration. Brigadier Wilson
asked General Windham to allow him to charge
the enemy with the 64th, of which he was colonel.
Permission was gran ed. The regiment athesneed
in the face of the enemy, and under a murde,ous
fire, for more than half-a-mile, up a ravine cona-
nia,nded by high ground in front as well as on the
light and left. From the ridge, in front
four 9-pounders played upon them as they went
forward. The left flank of tee Gwalior rebels
re led on the Ganges, and their guns
were protected by dense columns of troopg,
who lay under cover, and were strongly suppor t,d
by cav,ilry on their left. A f,er dispute eg evei y itch
of the ground their from Inc: was (1.•,.:v,u h-ek hy
the a each arid de erniitied ii:e of t',e 64111. I to. n
eppe Lied tint overwhelming Ltuniie sof the le
fora] lay concealed in three or Liar p :ranch b
These ro,e and met the 64th as coin as the foiem•-s*,
officers, Major Stirling, Captain Saunders, C
Moiphy, Captain Macrae, Lent- Parsons, Lew.
O'Grady, and others reached the crest of the ridge,
and charged upon the guns followed by the column.
Major Stirling fell gloriously in front of the batt ry.
fighting hand to hand with the enemy, of whom he
killed several. Captain Morphy was shot through
the heart, and seemed to bound from his saddle,
falling heavily upon his head. Captain Macrae also
met his fate like a soldier with his face to the foe.
Captain Saunders, commanding the leading divi-
sion dashed forward, followed by Parsons and
O'Grady. Parsons instantly received a severe
wound in the sword aim. O'Grady cheered the
men on, waving his cap in the air, until he had the
honour of laying his hand on one of the guns. The
regiment took up the cheer, and hurried on to the
support of Saunders and O'Grady, now fiercely en-
gaged in personal conflict wrth the Gwaliors. The
fine old Brigadier (whose horse, wounded in t.vo
places, carried him with difficulty over the rough
ground (was pushing on with all possible speed to
the front, shouting, "Now, boys, you have them !"
when he received his mortal wound. As he was un-
able to keep his seat in the saddle, some of his brave
fellows carried him to the rear, while he continued
to urge the troops to maintain the honour of the
corps. At this juncture the enemy fell back on
their reserve, which lay concealed in the parallels
behind. Then occurred one of those blunders which
neutralise the effect of the bravest actions. Two
of our own guns opened fire on the 64th Regiment
from the left, and at the same instant the enemy's together with the overwhelmingoenemy'st force
of
infantry in front poured down upn the right,and
compelled our troops to retire. Strange to
say,
Captain Saunders, and (I believe) Lieut. O'Grady
escaped unhurt. After the death of Brigadier
Wilson and Major Stirling Captain Saunders
became the senior officer present, and his con-
spicuous gallanty to-day deserves not only honour-
able mention, but such reward as a soldier covets.
The hospital to-day is a perfect Aceldama.
"SUNDAY, Nov. 29.
"At dawn great guns began to play upon us.
Soon afterwards the cannonade became general,
and by 7 a.m. it was something tremendous—s.hot
and,
astll fliinglover us in all directions.
—'Good news! Sir Colin Campbell
with a strong reiforcemeni, and 470 women and
children from Ltt ow, are on the other side of the
Ganges, which floe underT the northern parapet of
our intrenchmenwt6
Com-
mander-in-Chief,troops with the
said tohe number 3,000, are much
needed here to-day, Lookingsafe to
over the wall for an
instant (it is not very
ino showi one's head) I see
two bodies of horsemen
elephants,
and an ex-
tended line of troops, ele
tccatimels, bullock-
waggons, and camp followers, str-,
to the horizon. The banging
gduns just
of our 'o'ng far way
to
Grapewna at our ears is most deafening,
shot have been falling on the tree close to our
Some shells, I believe, have fallen on the hospietnAtl.
which is, unfortunately, much expesed. Ever;
square foot of the floor and verandah of the tieue-
. ral Hospital is covered with wounded officers and
men.
" 11.40 a.m.—Horse Artillery, 9th Lancers, 32d,