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

THE MUTINIES IS INDIA.

THE MASSACRE AT CAWNPORE.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
SIR,—A3 the accompanying is the first authen-
tic account that I have read of the horrible tragedy
at Cawnporo, 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
necessity and justice of deep vengeance.
Yours faithfully,
L.

Bath, Sept. 17.

" Cawnpore, July 18.
"My own dearest Brother,—God Almighty has
bsen graciously pleased to spare my poor life. I
am the only individual saved among a'l the Euro-
pean and Christian community that inhabited this
station. My p3or dear wife, my darling sweet
child Polly, poor clear Rebecca and her children,
and poor innocent children Emmeline 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
b 3 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 ve:ty sm. ll quatitities.
" The English troops have come in tied restored
peace. They had retaken Cawnpore. Their arrival
here yesterday was the means of my release, as my
term of imprisonment was three years with hard
labour. Thp enemy hid from 10,000 t 3 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 st;11 in the land of tie living. But I
have made this effort to send this letter in the
earnest hope that it will reach you. If it do I b'g
you will send me a reply par b !are:' and also write
by post, if such is established by that time.
"Every officer and soldier and every merchant,
writer, or Christian drummer, tic., that had gone
into the intrencbments 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 -0
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 Gang: s 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
and night the gums were kept playing upon us
without ceasing for a moment, and the musketry
of the enemy poured millions of balls upon us up
to the 25th of June—that is for 20 days. The
enemy male 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 bad 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, oncertain:conditions,
and as I was dressed like a common Chinamen I
was not killed, for 1 was taken prisoner almost as
soon as I came out 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 came 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 thatihe would give up all his treasure,
ammunition, &c., and vacate Cawnpore within
three days. This was accepted by the General,
and the usual oaths were taken that no treachery
would be used. The Rajah supplied 24 boats, 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 I was a Christian, 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 get away, but was afterwards picked up at a
short distance and brought back. Ab 'ut 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 men (among whom was our poor
Daniel) had their hands tied behind them, were
killed with swords and muskets, and thrown into
a ditch. The women receive I parched (train for a
few days, but afterwards they got Ball and chu-
paties in small quantities. The rase +ls hive bad
motives for sparing them so long.
" At the time of their b iing 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 insulte I so
unmercifully as the ha d-hearte 1 brutes were using
them.
" Oh ! when I think of it how my he IA breaks.
get beside myself, and wish I had not been spared
to hear of such dreadful accounts. Oh ! my poor
dear Polly ! how must they have killed. you. So
sweet a child never existed. how will I e'er for-
get you ! The faces of all I have lost are ever be-
fore me. Oh I how dreadful is my state of mind.
God Almighty have mercy on me ! Oh, God, help
Thou me, ,whom Thou bast spared.
"Thine affeclioafee, 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 intrenched, and died in great agony after
48 hours. I was also wounde lon 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
wound is now nearly healed. " H. J. S."
" Thaccoranee+ is alive. She was all the time
with us in the entrenchment, but g )t of on the day
the boats were supplied by the Rajah. Every
house 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
me."