The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-19 00:00:00

TILE MUTINIES IN INDIA.

THE MASSACRE AT CAWNPORE.
' TO THE EDITOR. OF THE TIMES.
SIR,—As the accompanying is the first authen-
tic account that I have read of the horrible tragedy
at Cawupore, I send it to you for publication if
you think fit,land I hope that the horrors it depicts
will awaken the minds of the most mawkish to the
3iecessity and justice of deep vengeance.
Youis faithfully,
Bath, Sept. 17. L.

" Cawnpore, July 18.
" My own dearest Brother,—God Almighty has
been graciously pleased to spare my poor life. I
am the only individual saved among all the Euro-
pean and Christian community that inhabited this
station. My poor dear wife, my darling sweet
child Polly, poor dear Rebecca and her children,
and poor innocent children Emmelina and Martha,
as also old Mrs. Frost and poor Mrs. Osborne, were
all most inhumanly butchered by the cruel insur-
gents_ on the day before yesterday, and thrown
into a well, together with a great number of other
ladies and children, reported to be about 150 in
number. lam distracted. I am most miserable '
and wretched. lam like one in a dream. You
could not recognize me if you saw me. My life
has been spared by a miracle. The will of the Lord
be done. He also can give me comfort, for lam
in a terrible state of distress of mind.
" I will write you a detailed account of all our
sufferings and distresses, such distress as has never
before been experienced or heard of on the face of
this earth. At present I cannot write, I cannot
eat or drink—l am perfectly wretched.
" I escaped only yesterday from my miserable
prison, where I had been confined with heavy
fetters on my legs for 24 days by the rebels, who
nearly took away my life, but God alone prevented
them and spared me. hey gave me only parched
grain to eat daily, and that in very small quantities.
"The English troops have come in and restored
peace. They had retaken Cawnpore. Their arrival
here yesterday was the means of my release, as my
terra of imprisonment was three years with hard
labour. The enemy had from 10,000 to 15,000
troops, and have done great destruction ; but the
British with 2,400 Europeans and 700 Sikhs have
driven them away, and not a soul of them is to be
seen now anywhere.
" I know not whether these few lines will reach
you, nor do I know if you and your dear children
at Agra are still in the land of the living. But I
have made this effort, to send this letter in the
earnest hope that it will reach you. If it do I beg
you will send me a reply per bearer, and also write
by po,t, if such is established by that time.
"Every officer and soldier and every merchant,
writer, or Christian drummer, kc., that had gone
into tie intrenchments here under General Wheeler
on the 4th of June, has been killed. The cannon-
ading of the enemy was very, very severe. Twelve
guns, taken from our magazine, were brought to
play upon us. They had a very large quantity of
powder at their disposal, for the magazine was not
blown up, and 30 boats' of ammunition reached the
enemy by the Ganges Canal just in time for them
to annoy us. The artillery barracks, where we
were intrenched, have been scattered to atoms by
the 24-pounder balls that were incessantly fired by
the enemy, and many died under the walls. Day
aril night the guns were kept playing upon us
without ceasing for a moment, ani the musketry
of the enemy poured millions of balls upon us up
to the 25th of June—that is for 20 days. The
enemy made several attempts to charge upon us ;
three times they surrounded us on all sides under
cover of the compound walls of bungalows in our
vicinity, and sounded their bugles to charge, but
were driven back by our artillery firing canister
upon them. We had only six small guns with us,
and not a single howitzer.
" Had we even had one 24-pounder a great deal
could have been done, or had our general taken
up his position in the magazine we might all have
escaped the very severe calamity that has befallen
upon this station, for without guns the enemy
could not have done anything. On the 24th of
June I was sent out as a spy, oncertainlconclitions,
and as I was dressed like a common Chinaman I
was not killed, for I was taken prisoner almost as
soon as I came oat of the intrenchment, particu-
lars of which I shall give you in my next, but kept
in confinement until the day ,of my trial, when
fetters were put upon me, as stated above. After
I ovine out on the 24th it appears the rebel rajah
sent a letter to our general the day after, offering
to let him and all his people go to Allahabad, on
condition that:he would give up all his treasure,
ammunition, (t-c., and vacate Cawnpore within
three days. This was accepted by the General,
and the usual oaths were taken that no treachery
would he used. The Rajah supplied 24 boat%, and
carriage to the river side. On the morning of the
27th our people went on board the boats—(Oh
how I felt, when in confinement I heard the Eng-
lish were going in safety. I could not keep my
secret, and I told the Subadar of the prison guard
that was a Christim, and nearly lost my life by
the exposure, of which more hereafter ;)—but had
not time to let the boats go, when the enemy
fired cannon upon them, and upset some ; others
they set fire to. Only one boat, I am told, managed
to gat away, but was afterwards picked up at a
short distance and brought back. About 150 women
and children, and about 100 European soldiers and
officers and men of all classes were taken alive.
The former were kept as prisoners up to the 16th
of July, but the meu (among whom was our poor
Dauiei) had their hands tied behind them, were
killed with swords and muskets, and thrown into
a ditch. The women received parched grain for a
few clays, but afterwards they got dall and chu-
paties in small quantities. The rascals have bad
motives for sparing them so long.
" At the time of their being murdered (on the
16th inst.) I am told that a number jumped alive
into the well that was intended to receive their
corpse?, rather than be butchered and insulted so
unmercifully as the hard-hearted brutes were using
them.
"Oh I when I think of it how my heart breaks.
I get beside myself, and wish I had not been spared
to hear of such dreadful accounts. Ohl my poor
dear Polly ! how must they have killed you. So
sweet a child never existed. How will I ever for-
get you ! The faces of all I have lost are ever be-
tore me. Oh how dreadful is my state of mind.
God Almighty have mercy on me ! Oh, God, help
Thou me, whom Thou halt spared.
"Thine affectionate, but miserable,
"H. J. SHEPHERD.
" P.S.—My infant was shot in the head by a
spent musket-ball on the 12th of June, while we
were iutrenched, and died in great agony after
43 hours. I was also wounded on the 7th of June
with a spent musket-ball in the back, and very
nearly lost my life, but I soon got over it. The
worn 1 is now nearly
,healed. L 6 H. J. S."
" Thaccoraneet is alive. She was all the time
with us in the entrenchment, but g.)t off on the day
the boats were supplied by the Rajah. Every
Louso in the station has been destroyed by fire. I
had not a fraction left. lam taken care of at pre-
sent by my office treasurer, who is very kind to
pre-
se