The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-02 00:00:00

THE MASSACRE AT CAWNPORE.

The first.accounts of the mutiny at Meerut and
of the reception of the rebels at Delhi reached
Cawnpore about the 16th of May. The garrison
of that station, the European regiment having been
transferred to Lucknow, consisted of three native
infantry regiments, the Ist, 53d, and 56th, one
native cavalry corps (the 2d), and about 50 Euro-
pean Artillerymen. The station is built on a dead
level, possesses no fort or place of refuge, and is in
every respect ill-adapted for defence. When,
therefore, the news of the Meerut reyolt reached
Cawnpore, and it became evident that that example
would shortly be followed by the native garrison
there, Sir Hugh Wheeler at once turned his atten-
tion towards the provision of a fortified position,
in which, at all events, he might await the arrival
of succours. He pitched upon the hospital barrack,
in the centre of the grand parade, for the purpose.
He intrenched it, armed it with all the guns of
the battery, placed in it the women belonging to
the depot of Her Majesty's 32d Foot, the ladies of
the station and others, and himself remained pre-
pared to act on the first sound of alarm as circum-
stances might dictate. From the 15th of May to the
sth of June, the feelings of the Sepoysvi re manifest-
ed in an unmistakeable manner. The men of the 2d
Light Cavalry sent their families to their homes.
Punchayets, or native meetings in the lines, were
of nightly occurrence, and some of the men of
the Ist Native Infantry showed by their insolent
gestures that the example of Meerut and Delhi had
not been lost upon them. Had the measure been
possible, Sir Hugh Wheeler would hive disarmed
them at once, but with 50 Europeans to back him
he was well aware that such a proceeding would
only precipitate a revolt. He therefore carefully
bided his time. In order, however, to be quite
ready for any emergency, he begged Sir Henry
Lawrence, who had about 600 Europeans to control
the whole province of Oude, to send h►m one com-
pany of her Majesty's 32d to remain at Cawnpore
until reinforcemen.4s, then on their way, should
reach him. Air Henry sent him 70 men—all that
he was able to'spare, as he hinigelf was in a very
critical position.
Matters went on in the same unsatisfactory way
—constant alarms and yet no actual crisis, until
the end of May, when about 80 Eur )peans, belong-
ing partly to the 84th Foot, partly to the Madras
Fusileers, reached Cawnpore. The 70 men of the
32d were then returned to Luckno

On the 31st letters were written to Calcutta to
state that an outbreak was imminent, that Sir H.
Wheeler had no means at his disposal to put it
down, that there were from 400 to 500 women and
non-combatants at the station, and t defend these
not more than 150 fighting men. The utmost he
could do would be to defend them all in the en-
trenched hospital, which he had victualled for throe
weeks, until reinforcements could arrive from Cal-
cutta. The Ist, 2d, 3d, and 4th of Juno .passed
away ; not one day without alarm ; and yet there
was no outbreak. On the morning of the sth an
officer, the only one who, from the first, had
pooh-pooh'd the idea of an insurrection, wrote to
a friend in Calcutta, ridiculing the precautions
that had been made. In the afternoon of the same
day he wrote to the same friend enclosing his will,
and stating that the crisis had arrived or would be
upon them that evening. He, poor fellow, WAS one
of its first victims. The particulars of the insurrec-
tion have not yet been told. We only know that
many officers were killed on their way t 3 the en
trenched camp, that one of the first acts of the
mutineers was to seize the treasure, about 160,000/. ;
to open tha gaols, and let loose the pr,soners. They
then gutted and set fire to the houses, murdered
every Christian they came across, and finally pro-
ceeded to attack the entrenched barracks.
Here, however, General Wheeler had au advan-
tage. The rebels had no guns. He had several,
though of small calibre, and with their assistance
he would have been able to keep any amount of
insurgents, armed only with old. Brown Bess, at
bay till the end of time.
-

It is at this point of the narrative that Dhoon-
doopunt Nenajee, quasi Rajah of Bithoor, appears
upon the scene. This fiend in human shape was
the adopted son of the late Peishwa. On the
demise of that fiinctionary he applied to the Go-
vernment of India, and subsequently to the Court
of Directors, for the continuation to him of the
enormous pension assigned to the deceased. By
both parties he was refused, but Lord Dilhousie
allowed him to keep six guns at his castellated
palace at Bithoor. These guns turned the scale
against our unhappy countrymen at Cawnpore.
This man, generally styled the Nena Sahib, was
well known to the residents of Cawnpore, and in
prosperous times was always glad, or appeared
glad, to receive them at his castle, and to accom-
pany them on their shooting excursions. He is
a middle-aged man, dark-complexioned, and but
for a dishonest expression would have ben consi-
dered a good-looking man. The writer has seen him
and shot in his company. The moment, however,
that he heard of the mutiny at Morrut, and had
felt the pulse of the troops at Cawnpore, his mind
was made up. We had refused him his rights
he determined to gain them himself or perish in the
attempt. His first hostile act was committed on the
persons of fugitive ladies and children from Futtey-
ghur and elsewhere, about a hundred in number.
Bithoor is only six miles above Cawnpore, and as
they were passing the former place en route to the
latter he stopped their boats, brought them on
shore, and remorselessly shot every one. He then
tied their bodies together and threw them into the
river. This was Dhoondoopunt Nonajee's declara-
tion of war against the British Government. This
occurred early in June. The revolt broke out at
Cawnpore on the sth. No sooner had intimation
of it reached the Nena than he took his guns and
joined the rebels, assuming the command in per-
son. Guns were procured also from other quarters
of large calibre, and with these he commenced pound-
ing Wheeler's intrenchment, to which, with his
small calibre guns, he could not adequately reply.
Notwithstanding this, and that in the first fortnight
he lost about one-third of his force, Wheeler's heart
never failed hlm. Sally after sally did he make, and.
always drove the enemy before him. Had not
there been so great a crowd of ladies under his
charge he could with ease have cut his way to Alla-
habad. At length, on the 26th June, they had but
two days' supply of food left ; they had no water ;
thir ammunition was at its lowest ebb. From being
confined, 600 in number, in a barrack originally
designed to contain about 200, and from the bodes
lying unburied all around them, disease in a bad
form had come among them, and was decimating
their ranks. But the heart of the gallant Wheeler
rose with the crisis. On the 26th he was deter-
mined to make one last effort—one grand assault
on the enemy's position, and to take from them
the necessary supplies. He came out with his
half-starved band, charged the enemy, and drove
them from their position ; but he had no cavalry.
The enemy had been joined by a second regiment
from Oude, and the two coming upon his flanks
just as he drove the infantry More him—coming
with a proportion of 12 to 1, compelled him to
fight his way back. He himself was mortally
wounded, and lost many men in this act.o.n. Its
result and the death of Wheeler the next day
damped the hopes of the garrison. They had
neither food, water, nor ammunition ; to remain
there was to die. In this emergency they sent Mr.
Stacy, the deputy-collector, on the 27th of June to
treat with Nena Sahib. He was received by that
victorious leader with great civility. The following
most favourable conditions were agreed upon :
The garrisok(including women, children, and camp
followers) were to be permitted to take their arms,
property, and a lac and a half of rupees with them
into country boats provided for their reception,
in which they were to proceed to Allahabad.
The ingenuity of hell never before devised a blacker
scheme of treachery than that deliberately
planned by the Nena and shared in by a 1
the rebels at Cawnpore, those rebels being Sepoys
who for years had eaten our salt. Our poor,
miserable, half-starved countrymen were conducted
faithfully enough to the boats—officers, men, wo-
men, and children—and pushed off into the stream
in full confidence in the good faith of these devils ;
but they had scarcely done so when, on a signal
given by the Neua himself, guns were opened upon
them from the bank and out of the 40 boats taey
embarked in some were sunk, others set on fire,
and the rest pushed over to the Oude side, where
cavalry in waiting for them, in their eagerness to
slay the Caffres (infidels), rode their horses belly
deep into the river to meet the boats and cut and
hack at our unhappy countrymen and women, who
vainly tried to escape. One boat, however, actually
did manage to run the terrible gauntlet sucmsfully,
and got ten miles down the river, but they were
pursued, overtaken, captured, and brought back in
triumph to the barracks, where the men were all
shot, and the women reserved for a worst f ite.
Meanwhile, while unknown to the authorities at
Calcutta these fearful attrocities were being per-
petrated' at Cavinpore, every effort was b,.iug made
to send European troops up the country. As fast
as they came in from Madras, Ceylon, Burma'',

the Isle of France, Persia, and other places, they
were packed into steamers and dak garrees (post
carriages), and sent off. But other stations too
had mutinied. Benares had been almost, Allaha-
bad entirely, in the hands of the rebels, and it
was necessary to settle those two places, the
latter being especially necessary as the base of
future operations, before any movement could
be made upon Cawnpore. All this was done
as quickly as possible. Colonel Neill came up to
Allahabad, and, with the assistance of the hang-
man's rope, soon succeeded in restoring order at
the station. As soon as possible, he sent off a
force of 400 Europeans and 600 Sikhs, under Major
Renaud, in the direction of Cawnpore, and on the
10th of July, General Havelock, with 1,200 Euro-
peans, followed. I shall touch very briefly on
their subsequent operations, as they will be fully
described by your other correspondents. On the
12th General Havelock joined Renaud, on the 13th
surprised and defeated the rebels at Futteypore,
on the 15th again, at a nuddee 20 miles from Cawn-
pore, and on the 16th at Cawnpore itself, after a
very obstinately contested engagement, after which
the Nena, protected by his cavalry, retreated upon
Bithoor, which is of difficult access and strongly
fortified. To complete the, account of the catas
trophe of the unfortunate remnants of the Cawn-
pore garrison, 1 may here state that the commis-
sioner of the district reported to the Government
that their bodies were found in a well in the As-
sembly-rooms compound, bearing upon them marks
of the most indecent and inhuman treatment it is
possible to conceive.
" Meanwhile Lucknow, besieged by a force vari-
ously computed at from 12,000 to 20,000 men, es-
pecially strong in cavalry, has lost its best head in
Sir H. Lawrence. That gallant officer and thorough.
Englishman, against his own judgment, and yield-
ing to the entreaties of some of the civilians who
were with him in the fort, made a sally on the
2d of July, with two companies of her Ma-
jesty's 33d Foot and the native troops
who had remained faithful to him up
to that moment. No sooner had he come
up with the enemy than his native troops turned
upon him ; others attacked his rear. He was com-
pelled, th,,,refere, to abandon his guns and fight his
way back. He did this at the expense of several
officers and 60 men killed (amongst the former
Major Case, of her Majesty's 32d Foot), and, what
was of infinitely more importance, of his own
valuable life. He was brought in mortally wounded,
and died a few days afterwards. One consequence
of this unsuccessful sortie was that be had to aban-
don a great part of his defences, give up the city of
Lucknow to the insurgents, and confine his efforts
to the preservation of the Residency. The possi-
bility of such a catastrophe had been foreseen, and
that place been strongly fortified. Major Banks,
who has succeeded Sir Henry in a political capa-
city, writes that lie is prepared to hold out for six
week?. This was written en the Bth inst.

" Now, General Havelock was at Cawnpore on
theel7th July. Lucknow is 52 miles distant. He
has, therefore, a full month before him to reach
that city. Let us calculate his chalice of success.
"Ist Should he cross the river at once, or march
upon Bithoor ? If he prefer the former alternative
we must suppose that the means of crossing are at
his disposal. We will go further, and imagine
him on the left bank of the Gang. s. He must
take his whole force with him, for he has but 1,600
Europeans, and he has to face 20,000 men. H•
cannot leave a man for the protection of Cawn-
pore. What, then, would be the result of his
crossing at once ? Why, that Ca.wnpore would be
immediately reo !cupied by the Nena with his 6,000
or 7,000 men, that be would'cut off all Havelock's
communications, meet and destroy the 280 men
advancing under Neill and leaving Havelock to be
dealt with by the Oude mutineers, march himself,
avoiding Allaliabad, upon the undefended Mirza-
pore and Benares districts, where everything is
ripe for a rebellion. It is plain, then, that General
Havelock cannot advance into Oude so long as the
Nana remains with his force lying on his flank in-
tact at Bithoor, only six miles distant from Cawn
pore. Xe must inquire, then, what are his chances
of success against Bithoor ? Bithoor is a very
strong position, commanding the river and the road.
This latter lies over a series of ravines artificially
bridged. We must suppose that the Nena has
taken the precaution of breaking down the bridges.
This will render the place itself very difficult of
access. However, General Havelock has, as far as
I can see, to make the choice between attempting
a very difficult task, or leaving our countrymen at
Lucknow totheir fate. He is not the man to hesitate.
The sight of our murdered, violated, and mutilated
countrywomen has been quite sufficient, we may
be sure, to infuriate our soldiers. They will dare
anything in advancing against such a monster, and
we may expect to hear in a few days that he has
been hanged on a turret of his own castle, and that
Havelock, perfectly easy as to his communications,
is in full march to Lucknow.
• The effect of such a measure and such a move
would be incalculable."

The following extracts from the letter of an
officer whoio position enables him to have the best
information, addressed to his wife in England, con-
tains, perhaps, the most authentic list of those
who have perished. We still believe, however
that many returned as murdered will be found to
have escaped :

"JULY 1.

" A letter from Sir H. Lawrence, dated the 26th
of June, with news from Cawnpore gives the fol-
lowing :

" ‘Sir M. Jackson, two sisters, Mrs. Dorin,
Captain Hearsey, and Captain Orr, are safe. The
Cawnpore casualties are Brigadier Jack, Colonel
Williams, Major Prout, Sir G. Parker, Lieutenant
Quin (sen), Major Lindsay and many ladies ;
among the rest, Mrs. Wiggens died from heat and
exposure. Mesgrs. Halliday, Reynolds, Poole,
Smith, Redmond, Supple, Eckford, Demster,
Jervis, Chalwin, Hilleradon, and many others
killed. Lieutenant Bax, 48th, killed ; most of the
Seetapore party saved. Colonel Birch, the
Christians, Gowans, and Snells, killed.'
" This finishes Sir H. Lawrence's letter.

" The Gwalior Contingent have risen to a man.
It appears Brigadier-General Havelock, with a
force, had pushed on from Allahabad as far as
Futteypore, 60 miles on, and exactly half way be-
tween Allahabad and Cawnpore. He had expected
to be opposed by rebels, but found no enemy, so he
sent on men to ascertain the truth of a report of
the fa?l of Cawnpore. They returned, said it was
true, that General Wheeler had been wounded in
the leg an Wednesday, the 2d, and on the follow-
ing day was mortally wounded ; that most of the
officers had been killed iu the narrow intrenchment
which they held. Seeing all further resistance was
useless they surrendered. Nena Sahib barbarously
murdered all the women and children, the remnant
of the Cawnpore garrison, whom it appears he had
kept as hostaga,.
" Agra is gone, that the city is in the hands of
the rebels. The Europeans are, as far as we know,
in the fort, which is strong enough to hold out for
some time. At Saugor the Europeans are in the
fort. Brigadier Sage, with great forethought, has
laid in six months' provisions. At Jubbulpore
there is no fort, but the Europeans have intrenched
themselves in the Residency under the political
agent, Erskine. Futteyghur is gone ; in fact, in
the central provinces we now hold Meerut, Luck-
now, Agra, and Allahabad. The good news is,
General Havelock reports the enemy before him are
running short of caps, which they cannot manufac-
ture. The last accounts from Lucknow stated the
enemy there' were short of round shot, also of
powder, but of this last they continue to manufac-
ture some within the city walls.
" The Eckford named as killed at Cawnpore must
be Ensign Eckford, of the 56th. His father, Gen.
Eckford, was, wheal last heard, at Landour, in the
hills.
" The Jervis, too, must
Engineer officer, as
I have heard Captain Jervis, nof the 56th, came
home two months ago.
possibly
IC
think,ap t i
Tire Prenderpst mentioned
at Agra as being
n
Prendergast, of the 44
stationed at Agra. •
killedth may
which corps
was,e