The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-26 00:00:00

THE IIVDIAN MUTINIE

(FROM A CIVIL SERVANT.)
ALLAHABAD, JuNE.2B.

Here I am well and safe, thanks be to God, who
has m-rcifolly preserved me and °thus from a cruel
fate which has overtaken many of our dear friends.
We have had a try;ng time of it, but, as far as
Allahabad is concerned, all is well, for we have a
large force of European soldiers, who would fight
and beat off all creation if necessary, and which is
being daily increased by reinforcements coming up
from Calcutta. We have been so bewildered lately
that I have lost all recollection of dates and of when
I last wrote to you. We were incarcerated in that
horrid fort from the 6th to the 18th of this month,
and a fearful time we had of it. God grant that I
may never pass such a time again ! Better to die
by the sword fighting than to see such sights of hor-
ror and pass such a time of anxiety. I do not think
that I told you in my last letter of the treachery of
the 6,h Native Infantry, or of the fearful night of
the 6th of June. I can hardly write it, so sad and
miserable is the story. God, in His infinite mercy,
preserved me from a dreadful death at the hands of
the bloodthirsty Sepoys. I told you in my last let-
ter that we were apprehensive of an outbreak on
the part of the city people, and that I bad taken up
a position at the gaol ready to make ast ; that
the officers of the 6th Native Infantry had all con-
fidence in their men, though we had not, for now
no oue can trust those wretched natives. Well,
matters went on quietly enough till Friday, the
sth, when news of the disturbance at Bonares came

up, with a report that a number of the insurgents
were on their way to attack teis station. On the
same day an order came from the Brigadier at
Cawnpore to "man the fort with every available
European, and make a good stead." We non-mili-
tary men were instantly ordered into the fort,
being formed into a militia under the orders of the
officer commanding the garrison. We Slept in
the fort on that Friday, the sth, doing duty upon
the ramparts, and returned to the station the
following morning, but only for the morning,
going into the fort again in the, afternoon.
At this time we had in the fort about
30 invalid artillery soldiers, some few commissariat
and magazine sergeants, and we volunteers muster-
ing above 100 men. There wore also 400 Sikhs and
80 of the wretched 6th guarding the main'gate. A
great number of the European tnercheuts and half-
castes remained outside, believing the report to be
only tee cry of " wolf," and supposing it to be a
false alarm. The report of the appi oash of the in-
surgents was false ; but, alas ! would that the poor
creatures had taken advice and joined us in the fort.
Among those out ide were poor Capt. Birch, the
Fort Adjutant, a married man, poor fellow, with a
family ; Innes, the executive engineer, ho had
the previous day resigned his appointment in the
fort from ill-health, and had. gene up to his bunga-
low. My poor dear friend, Abxandor, of the Irre-
gel era, was in a garden near tile fort wish 150 of
his troopers. Two guns, under Harward, of the
Anillery, had been sent down to the river to guard
the bridge of boats over the Gaines towards Benares.
Hick., of the 6th Native Infantry, and two little
grills were also stationed there in charge of two
companies of that regiment. Well, all these poor
fellows were out and wo were inside the fort,
through the mercy of the Almighty. We were told
'off on our guard and had laid ourselves down on
our beds (those who were riot on watch), when,
about half-past 9, we heard wring in the station,
and on the alarm bugle being sounded we ran up
to the ramparts in breathless silence. The firing
grew heavier, and we all thought that the insur-
geuts had entered the station, and were being beaten
off by the regiment. So steady was the musketry,
regular file firing ; on, on, it continued, volley after
volley. " Oh,' we all said, " those gallant Sepoys
are beatingoff the rebels,', for the firing grew fainter
in the distance, as if they were driving a force out
of the station. But before long the sad truth was
known. Harward rode in bringing tidings that
the Sepoys had risen, had seized' his guns, and had
marched them up to the station. He had escaped,
and had run up to poor Alexander's camp, who
jumped on his horse and rode towards the lines,
with as many of his men ascould be got ready ; he
had been caught in an ambush by a body of the
Sepoys lying in wait it an empty tank, and
hid been killed by a musket being placed to his
side, blowing out his heart. His poor body was
br ,ught in later in the night, and I gave his hand
a last shake, and shed teas over his last bed.
The officers were at tress when the wretches
sounded the alarm bugle to bring them to the pa-
rade, and shot them dom.. right and left ! Wretched
murderers, may they revive their reward ! Nine
poor little ensigns doing ;duty with the regiment
were bayoneted to deati in the mess-room, and
three of the officers who escaped heard their cries
as they passed ! Poor boys,,who had never given
offence to any native, btu caused dissatisfaction to
the Sepoye Five officers were shot belonging to
the regiment, besides the nine poor boys. Birch
and Innes, with the sergeant-major, in all 17 mi-
litary men, many merchants, and others were most
cruelly butchered—in all 502 Europeans fell that
night by the hands of the murderous Sepoys. Thal
Treasury was plundered, the prisoners release I
from gaol, and the work ce destruction commenced.
The whole station was destroyed, house after house
plundered and fired. What a night I Each moment
we expected the Sikhs would turn on us, and then !
But the Almighty mercifully decreed
otherwise. We disarmed. the Gill guard, at the
main gate, and found the Tillains with loaded and
capped muskets, ready.to tan out!
What an escape we had !
Five officers came in,
all having escaped in a wonderful maner—three
naked, having had to swim the Ganges. We were
all night under arms, and in the morning lay down
on our cots sad and weary, etch moment expecting
to be called up. The streets of the city are about
half a mile from the fort, and during the four or
five following days troops of ihe rioters were to be
seen rushing from place to glace plundering and
burning. Day and
night we manned the ramparts
in the hot blazing
sun, and day and night the guns
and mortars belched forth, throwing shell and
grapehot, tearing down houses, and scattering the
demons wherever they were sew.
We dared not leave the fort, far who knows what
the Sikhs would have doneif ititadbeen left empty?
However, let us not breathe one word of suspicion
against them, for they behaved splendidly, though
they are regular devils. We lived on in this way
till the Madras Fusiliers came up and then our fun
umble
began. We "volunteers" were parted off into divi-
sions, three in number, and your h servant
was promoted to the rank of one, the "Flagstaff
Division," with 30 railroad men under his com-
mand, right good stout fellows, every one of whom
had been plundered, and were consequently as
bloodthirsty as any demons need ire. We sallied
forth several times with the Sikhs into
spared no one. We had several volleys
the city, and
had several skirmishes in the streets, when we
poured into
us, but their firing was so wild that their bullets
passed over and around us harmleeilY•
staff w.ts always to the front they were so
, and The flag-
daring and reckless that the "flagstaff boys" be-
came a byword in the fort. Every rascality that was
performed was put down, to them, and in the end
the volunteers got a bad name for plundering. The
Sikhs were great hands at it,' and,
in spite of all
precaution, brought a great amount of property
in' o the fort. Such scenes of drunkenness I never
beheld. Sikhs were to be seen drunk on duty on
the ramparts, unable to bold their muskets. No
one could blame them, for they are 'such jolly,
jovial fellows, so different from other Sepoys.
When we could once get out of the fort we were
all over the place, cutting down all natives who
showed any sign of opposition ; we enjoyed these
trips very much, so pleasant it was to get out of
• that horrid fort for a few hours. One trip I en-
joyed amazingly ; we got on board a steamer with
a gun, while the Sikhs and Fusiliers marched up to
the city ; we steamed up. throwing shot right and
left, till we got up to the bad places, when we went
on shore and peppered away with our guns, my
old double-barrel that I brought out bringing down
several niggers, so thirsty for vengeance was I. We
-fired the places right and left, and the flames shot
up the heavens as they spread, fanned'by the breeze,
showing that the day of vengeance had fallen on
the treacherous villains.
The wicked 6th had marched out on the 7th,
leaving two guns, and a Mussulma.n had set him-
self up in the city calling himself the agent of the
King of Delhi, and calling on all natives, Hindoos,
and true believers, to massacre all Europeans, and
many poor fellows who }lad been in hiding fell into
his hands and were murde. el.
At last, when reinforcements came up, we all
marched out, drove the insurgents out of the city,
took possession of it end the station, where we have
remained ever since in the collector's house—about
20 of us ; others are in the pucka (brick-built)
houses that were not burnt ; and the FusilierS and
89th (Queen's) in the church.
Every day we have had expeditions to burn and
deetroy disaffected village,, and we have taken our
revenge.
I have been appointed chief of a commission for
the trial of all natives charged with offences against
Government and persons ; day by day we have
strung up eight and ten men. We have the power
of life and death in our hands, and I assure you
we spare not. A very summary trial is all that
takes place ; the condemned culprit is plated under
a tee with a rope round his neck on the top of a
carriage, and when it is pulled away off he swings.
All is now well and quiet, but where smiling
homes once existed are now only blackened walls
and desolation. My old house is in ruins—it had
Ijust been repaired for me—and my little house into
which I had moved for a season is in the same