The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-03 00:00:00

After remaining a few days, and being convinced
that the Gurhee of Dhurrumpore was not in a posi-
tion which could afford any effectual protection
against any armed force, it was determined to re-
turn to the station on the 13th of June, and we
commenced sleeping at the fort and returning tc
our duties. Each morning preparations were made
to secure boats and have them ready for flight, in
case the regiment again mutinied.
Early en the morning of the 18th of June we were
suddenly roused by one of the officers (Lieutenant
Swettenhare), who informed us that the regiment
was in open mutiny, the Sepoys having broken the
gaol and released the prisoners. This event took
us by surprise, for a couple of days previously the
10th had handed to their commanding officer, Col.
Smith, a letter written by the Subandar of the 41st,
who had come from Sect spore, via Shabjehanpore,
and were there a few miles distant across the river,
requesting the 10th to murder all their officers as
they had done theirs, seize the treasure and join
them. The Subalelar informed the Colonel that
they had said in reply that they had
served the Company Bahadoor too many years
to turn traitors, and that they were deter-
mined to abide faithful to their salt, and advised
the 41st not to come in their way, as they
would certainly oppose them. The sepoys had also
assisted their officers in breaking up the bridge of
boats and sinking all other boats at different ghats
to prevult in every way possible the mutineers
crossing to the Futteghur side. All this, however,
was merely a blind, for no sooner did the 41st cross
and enter the city walls than a company of the 10th
and the artillerymen, with two guns, stationed on
the parade guarding the treasure, marched to the
Nawab, placed him on the guddee
at his feet, and fired a salute of 21' laid the colours
guns. From all
accounts the Nawab declined to accept of their
colours, but said if they brought him tee ti easure he
would have no objection to receive them into his
service. The sepoys, however, were not to be done
out of their money, so they returned to the parade
ground, saluted their colours, and shared the money
among themselves. Up to this time a few had re-
mained with us as a guard in the fort ; these now
departed quietly ; one or two returned now and
again to fetch away their lotas and other articles
they had left in the fort. The regiment then di-
vided into two parties. The Purbees crossed over at
once to Oude, with intention to make for their
homes, accompanied by Capt. Bignell—we after-
wards learnt that this body had been plundered by
the villagers and Capt. Bignell killed ; others went
off by twos and threes to their homes, and those
who remained were killed by the 41st because they
were not allowed a share iii the public money.
Thus this regiment was completely disorganised and
destroyed.
It wets now suggested by some to take to the
boats, but the river was much too low, so that idea
was abandoned, and it was resolved to bold the fort.
Out of 100 Europeans, including women and chil-
dren, there were but 33 abli-bodied men, and
these proved our sole available force for defence.
We then endeavoured to prepare against any attack.
A. 6-pounder loeded with grape was mounted over
the gateway, and about 300 muskets, stored iu the
fort, were brought out, loaded, and placed ready for
immediate use. While Mr. Thornhill was loading
his it accidentally went off and wounded him
severely in the hand and arm, incapacitating him
from further duty.
The godowns were next searched for ammunition
for the guns and muskets, but only a few muster
round shot and shells were found, together with
six boxes of ball cartridge and an equal quantity of
blank. The latter we broke up and used for the
guns, and a lot of nuts, screws, hammer heads,
ac., were collected to serve as grape and round.
We were then mustered and divided into three
parties, each under the orders of a military officer,
and the whole under the command of Col. Smith,
of the 10th.
Our first day passed very quietly, but we heard
that the 41st were encamped on Lackparah, a large
tope about a mile to the west of the fort, and were
making preparations to attack us. At nightfall
pickets were posted at each bastion, but the night
passed without any attack. In the morning we
mounted a 3-pounder, and by the evening a 9-poun-
der was brought into position. Provisions were
also stored, and we busied ourselves in strengthen-
ing our position as much as possible, and by the
time the 41st attacked us we had seven guns
mounted, viz., 3-pounder, 6-pounder, 2-pounder,
12-pounder, 18-pounder, and a 24-pouuder, the
as
On the evening of the 26th or 27th of June a
party of our coolies, who were employed in pulling
down some walls close to the fort, were fired on by
the enemy. An alarm was immediately sounded,
which brought every man to his pest ; few shots
to aim with any certainty, so after a
were exchaeged, but nothing particular occurred.
Next morniug before daybreak the mutineers
tdhsemthey stopped and recommenced firing
opened upon us with their two guns, but it was too
a heavy musketry fire, and
The Sepoya took up their positions
fdbaetaewhr daylight.
rounds
riltglrhe trees, , bushes, and anything which afforded
gave us little or no chance for a shot at them.
Their fire, heavy though it was, did us no harm ;
and kept up
past noon, when most
aimed it till little
tothhfeetmyit
atmaintained
cover,aji
and by the evening only
some randorn shots were heard now and again.
Next morning the guns began to play again, but
began to retire,
from a different direction, still doing no harm, as
the shots either passed over or hit the bastions.
The discharge of musketry was heavier this morn-
ing than on the preceding. Several ladders were
seen being borne towards the fort, but the bearers
were shot down by us as soon as they came within

range.
FSletoeense.cl:l3:dse, On the fifth day
played on in this manner, andg
several
117 and
ineffectual muskets
was observed ; a com-
pany of the riflemen had taken up their positions
aaotndtFeetiocrhrlePdtetf:odpillvdsreerodcefraeYinadecrease
housesof fi.
i nr 1 ntg
h e 13 oosai n p o r e village,
and kept up a deadly fire upon us. Captain Phil-
' lamore, Mr. Sutherland, and one or two of the
servants were thus wounded. Some of the riflemen
had also taken up their ,positions in a small out.

house about 70 or 80 yards from the fort.
They loop-holed the walls and kept up a harass-
ing fire front them, which rendered our guns
perfectly useless, as we dared not lift our heads
to fire. It was here my poor brother while
covering one of the gunners (Conductor Ahern)
with his rifle, was mortally wounded by a ball in
the head, which killed him a few hours after. Col.
Tucker was killed on the same spot the day after
my brother was wounded, and they were buried
together in one grave. On the following morning
Mr. Ahern blew away, with a discharge of grape,
some dozen men who were constructing a breast-
work for their riflemen on the woodyard wall, which
place they had reached by means of a covered way
they had erected with jhow and sandbags under the
protection of the fire of their riflemen. They did
not attempt the same again, but procured the as-
sistance of some Sappers and Miners, and cut a hole
through the woodyard wall, and b/this means got
into the yard. There was a large store of firewood
and straw in it, so we allowed them to get in and
work away, for they were unable to do us any harm,
and when they had fairly worked for two - days we
fires the wood and drove them out baffled. They
commenced a mine and worked two nights, and
early on the third morning they sprung it ; the ex-
plosion was awful, it shook the whole fort, we all
thought it was over with us, but an examination
proved that it had blown down only five or six
yards of the wall, leaving the inner half standing.
The bastion where I was happened to be the next
to that where the explosion took place ; I at once
ran to the spot to see what mischief was done ;
seeing, however, several of our party engaged in
moving a gun to the breach, I returned to my own
post, and noticed from 100 to 150 Pathan and
Sepoys congregating below the breach, ix order to
attempt an escalade, as soon as the dust and smoke
cleared off. lat once sent notice to the others to
get aid, and in the meantime by pouring the fire of
two double barrels and eight muskets, already
loaded, into them, aid discharging them as they
were reloaded by a native, managed to disperse
them before any of my comrades came to my aid.
Somewhat later in the day a second assault was
attempted, which was defeated by Mr. Fisher's
shooting the leader of the party, which caused his
followers to fall back. We this day lost our best
gunner, Mr. Ahern, who was shot through the
head while laying a gun.
The enemy had now brought a gun to bear upon
the bungalow containing the ladies and children.
The shots generally passed over, but two or three
struck the house ; another gun they got to bear
against the gate, and contrived to break a hinge
and knocked several holes through it, but little
harm was done, as we had piled up the archway
with timber, which effectually stopped the shots.
Two of our guns were soon after disabled. The
enemy then commenced. another mine close to the
first. The determination thus shown by them, as
also the loss of three of our best men, disheartened
the garrison, already worn out by fatigue and watch-
ing. It was also certain that if the second mine
was completed and fired, the enemy would attack
us by both breaches, which we could not possibly
defend ; our position became desperate ; we began
to look to the boats as our only mode of escape, the
river having risen considerably by the rains. After
due consideration it was determined to evacuate
the fort. No time was lost in getting everything
ready for a start. The ladies and children were
divided into three parties. At midnight they
were got safely into their respective boats ; one of
the party was then sent round to the pickets to call
them in. At about 2 a.m. of the 4th of July we
had all embarked. The guns in the fort had been
spiked, and the little ammunition we had left de-
stroyed. The order was given to let go ;we started
in very good order, but no sooner did we pass the
fort wall than showers of bullets were sent after us,
and a cry raised that the Feringhees were running
away. The Sepoys followed us about a mile, firing
all along, but doing no harm, for we were a long
way out of range.
We had not proceeded far when it was found that
Colonel Goldie's boat was much too large and
heavy for us to manage. It was accordingly deter-
mined to be abandoned, so all the ladies and child-
ren were taken in Colonel Smith's boat. A. little
delay was thus caused, which the sepoys took advan-
tage of to bring a gun to bear on the boats; the dis-
tance, however, was too great ; every ball fell
' short. As soon as the ladies and children were all
safely on board we started and got down as far as
Singheerampore without accident, although fired
upon by the villagers. Here we stopped a few
minutes to repair the rudder of Colonel
Smith's boat, and one out of tw ) boatmen we had
was killed by a matchlock ball. The rudder
repaired, we started again, Colonel Smith's boat
taking the lead. We had not gone beyond a few
yards when our boat grounded on a soft muddy
sandbank ; the other boats passed on, all hands got
into the water to push her ; but, notwithstanding
all our efforts, we could not manage to move her.
We had not been in this unhappy position half an
hour when two boats, apparently empty, were seen
coming down the stream. They came within 20
yards of us, when we discovered that they carried
Sepoys, who opened a heavy fire, killing and
wounding several. Mr. Churcher, sen., was shot
through the chest ; Mr. Fisher, who was just be-
hind me, was wounded in the thigh. Hearing
him call out, I had scarcely time to turn round
when I felt a smart blow on my right shoulder ;
bullet had grazed the skin and taken off a little
flesh. Major Robertson was wounded in the face.
The boats were now alongside of us. Some of
the Sepoys had already got into our boat.
Major Robertson, seeing no hope, begged the
ladies to come into the water rather than to fall
into their hands. While the ladies were throwing
themselves into the water, I jumped into the boat,
took up a loaded musket, and, going astern, shot a
Sepoy. I loaded again, but' fiding no cap, was
obliged to retreat, as the enemy were now coming
in in great numbers. Lieut. and Mrs. Fitzgerald
were at this tine sitting in scorner of the boat with
their child. Lieut. Fitzgerald had a loaded musket,
with the bayonet fixed, in his hand. Mr. Churcher,
sen., st.ll lay weltering in his blood. The others
had all got out of the boat into the water. Major
and Mrs. Robertson, with their child and Miss
Thompson, were standing close to each other be-
side the boat ; Limit. Simpson and Mr. Churcher,
jun., were near them also ; I all this time lost
sight of Major Philpot, Ensign Eckford, and a few
others. I suppose they were killed. Mr. and Mrs.
Fisher were about 20 yards from the boat ; he had
his child in his arms apparently lifeless. Mee. Fisher
could not stand against the current • her dress,
which acted like a sail knocked her down, when
she was helped up by Mr. Fisher. I now resolv ed
to make an escape, if possible, to the leading boat,
which I knew could not have proceeded far, so at
once I struck out into the stream. Mr. and Mrs.
Fisher continued in a distressing position when I
passed them unable to render any assistance.
I saw Mr. Fisher again, alone, floating on his
back, but soon lost sight of him, as it was getting
dark. I continued swimming for about an hour
or more, when at some distance I saw the other
boat. On reaching her I found everything in con-
fusien. Mr. Rohan, the youngest Miss Goldie, a
child, and the only manjee who was on board, were
killed. Lieut. Swettenham, Dr. Maltby, and one
or two others, were severely wounded opposite
Singheerampore by heavy fire of grape front two
guns planted on the heights by the Sepoys who had
followed us. We repaired the rudder which had
been damaged, and continued ma voyage with
heavy hearts all that night. Early the next morning
a voice hailed us from the shore, which we reoog-
nised as Mr. Fisher's. He came on board and in-
formed us that his poor wife and child bad been
drowned in his arms; his wound was very painful, the
ball having passed through the middle of the left
thigh. We continued our voyage the whole of that
day till we reached a village opposite Koosoom-
khore, in the Oude territories. Here the villagers
offered us assistance and protection. We at first
feared treachery, but soon, convinced they were
friends, accepted their kind offers and put to shore
for the night. We were all hungry, and begged
the villagers to bring us some food, which they soon
did, giving us chupatties and buffalo's milk, which
greatly refreshed us.
My wound had now become very painful, anti
my naked back having been exposed to the sun and
rain all day was smarting severely. The boat, now,
as I supposed, was anchored for the night. I deter-
mined to find rent in the village, as I had bad none
the two previous nights. I asked one of the thac-
koors if he could accommodate me with a
charpoy for the night in his village. He at owe
took me with him, and gave me plenty to eat and a
charpoy. By this time my back had become so
very sore that I could find no ease in any position.
At night a message came from Col. Smith, saying
that the boat was going to leave. I was too weak,
however, to pay any attention to it. A second and
third came, but I would not go. I had determined
to stand my chance, happen what might. The boat
left. I heard nothing more of it for several days,
till their manjee who took her down returned aed
gave out that Nana Sahib had fired upon them at
Bithoor, and all on board were killed. I remained
and subsequently
in the Tillage for about a month,