Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1858-05-20
THE GAZETTE.
THURSDAY MORNING, MAY 90, 1855.
LUCKNOW. AFTER lis CAPTURE.

LUCKNOW, AFTER lis CAPTURE.
From court to- court Of the huge pile OF
buildings we wandered through the same
scenes-desd Sepoys-blood sp'ashed gar
deps---groaps of eager High Ianders looking
out for the enemy's lool -n9les-more eager
groups OF plunderers searching the oeao'
many of whom lay on the top OF each other,
amid the ruins Of rooms brought down upon
them by tho cannon shot. T~o Of these
we're veritable chambers of horror. IL must
be remembered that the sepoys aod match
lock mep wear cotton clothes, many at this
time Of year using sbickly quilted tunics; and
in each room there were q number of resdas
or quilted cotton coverlids, which serve as
beds and quilts to the natives The explosion
Of powder sets FIRE to this cotton very reaoiiy'
and it may be easily conceived bow horrioie
are the consequences when number OF taese
sepoys and nujeebs get into place whence
there ia no escape, and where they fall IN
heaps by our shot. The matches OF the men,
the discharges Of their guns, set ire TO
their cotton clothing; it is fed by the very
fat Of the dead bodies; the smell Is pungent
and oyerpowering, and nause 'as to q de-
oree | looked 10 at two such rooms, where,
through the dense smoke. could see piles
of bodies, and was obliged to own that
tho horrors of the hospital at Sebastopol
were far exceeded by what l Witnessed
UPWARDS Of 300 dead we're found in the
courts Of the pslaoe. and, if We put the
wounded carried of at 100, We may reckon
that the capture Of the place cost the enemy
1000 men at least.
Here end there some wour ded wretch hao
mia
able old women still lurked in the buts.-
One sat by the side of a body covered with
clotted blood, and tenderly caressed the
dreadful form. Aootber was creeping along
with besp Of rags on her back-her journey
near its close. Inside one Of the enclosures
one of tho officers told me there lay dead q
pretty little boy of some seven or eight years
of age, bis back torn open BY grapeshot,
aud beside him shrieked and chartered hi1
pet psrroquet in cage, just "a 1t had fallen
from bis bspds, as he was flying With 1t
across the oorn6elds. Some kind hand libe-
rated the poor bird. These are the acciden-
til but necessary incidents Of war. Our SOL
diers are not unmoved by them, and the OH
Ger who discovered tho sad sight have men
toned, told me that be was greatly pleased
the day before by the kindness Of some SOL
diess Of the 10Th, to very ugly and dirty
little Hindoo, whom they bad found in one
of the villages. With their rough bands
they washed him, patted him kindly on the
bead, and fed him, drying up bis tears, and
telling him in their Vernacular, "not to be
afrsid-that no one should hurt him."
A few hundred yards Of there came in
sight one Of those high square enclosures,
surrounded by psrty.colored walls With gate
ways and towers, which are the general type
of country residences or pleasure palaces In
Dude. Near one Of the angles was drawn
up battery of field artillery. and red-coat-
cd sentry stood on the shade of the angle
tower to which We were approaching 1t
was the angle at which the breach was made
and where most of the stormers entered on
that terrible day. We found q party Of the
53rd regiment. to which these quarters were
not new, posted inside the building. Their
sentries were watching q battery of the enc
my's, and number of their men, in q vii
l.ge or suburb on our front, but there was no
FIRE on either side.
l never recollect encountering any odor 30
disgusting and intolersble as that which as
called our postrils on approaching the north
erp side Of the enclosure. The ground was
covered with grinning skulls and fragments
Of burnt skeletons. 1t was q veritable Col
goths. In this spot 1000 Sepoys met ter
rible Punishment for their crimes. The most
callous of men in smell and sight must have
been glad to leave the place, and the officers
declared to Us that they could not keep
the men on that side of the square. Re-
tracing our steps, my friend and myself
crossed the bridge of boats, and came upon
the camp Of Douglass brigade of Outram's
iorcs.-Later from Lucknow.