The Irish standard., 1900-03-31

wounded and without medicine; the!
were starving, and yet they had til,
fortitude to hold out and hope for5res
Ecue. The Indian government mad,
every effort to relieve them, but the re
lief parties were not equal to the task
1t was General Havelock who finally
undertook the rescue with 1,4oo mel
lagainst an enemy numbering into thu
hundreds OF thousands. 1855
Defeating the enemy OH July I2 a
Fnttehpore, he advanced inch by inch
pushing a rebel army of vastly superior
force ahead OF him. At Futtehpore he
had lost 500 OF his tiny band. Out
maneuvered, outflanked, beaten al
every point, the rebels retreatcd slowly
leaving a crimson trail behind them
English women and children were
hacked to pieces. The public well al
Cawnpore was filled with the bodies Of
these victims, and it was this terrible
spectacle which spurred General Have.
locks force onward. They pushed
through to Lucknow, an avengine
band, showing neither fear nor mercy
Two weeks before General Havelock
reached Lucknow he was superseded III
command OF Dude by Sir ]. Outram
who had just returned from Persia,
Generously Sir Outram wrote:
TO you, Havelock, shall be left the
glory OF relieving Lucknow. l shall
accompany you only in my civil ca
pacity as commissioner, placing my
military service at your disposal, should
you please, and serving under you as a
volunteer"
So it happened that General Have
lock, after gaining twelve battles with
his meager force, reached Lucknow on
Aug. rs and saved the garrison from
impending massacre. The highlanders
were the first to reach the fort Hardly
had Havelock's band gained the resi-
dency when the enemy recovered and
renewed the siege. Sir Colin Camp
bell, then commander OF the Indian
army, started from Cawnpore, Nov 9,
with 5000 men to the second relief OF
Lucknow. Delayed for reinforce
mcnts on the way, it was five days be-
lore the bagpipes cried "The Campbells
Are Coming to the garrison. The
garrison was withdrawn in the night
and retreated to Dil1asl1a. There Have
lock, the skilled general and indon1it-
able soldier, died from exhaustion
caused by months OF care and anxiety
Petersburg, the "cockade of the
SOUTH" as it was called after the war Of
1879, and the "citadcl OF the confeder-
acy," during the civil war, lay open to
siege when General u S. Grant led the
army OF the Potomac to its gates on
June IA, 1864. For four days the city
held against the fire, its garrison cndur-
ing stubbornly General Grants vigor-
Gus attacks. Each day the army OF the
north fought from sunrise to sunset
with little success. By the 18th the
fighting, with its terrible loss of life,
had awaited nothing, and that night the
siege lines were set. From then until
the following April the besieging army
lay around the city. The siege trenches
worked wornlile to the left, where the
railways conferred. Months were spent
in laying mines that when finally ex-
plodcd were unsuccessful in accom-
plishing the purpose for which they
were laid. That terrific explosion
which occurred, wrccking the southern
entertainments of the city has been
named the Battle OF the Crater" Pow
der weighing 5000 pounds caused this
uplleaval, which took place late in the
summer and was followed by fairly
successful assault by the federal army
Confederate officers and soldiers num-
boring 900 were buried under the debris
Their attack not having been sustained,
the union forces withdrew, leaving 1900
OF their men prisoners within the city
The total union losses resulting from
this five hours action was 1000; the
confederatcs' loss was estimated at
1000. Months of engagements fol-
lowed. General Lee, who had divided
his army OF 10000 between Richmond
and Petersburg, was able to hold his
railway communication and receive
supplies and re-cnforcements. So the
city endured the privations OF an eS-
trcmely cold winter, suffering less, il
possible, than the union forces in
swamps along the James river.
On March "a Grant issued orders for
renewal OF l,ostilities General Sheri-
dan, with 10000 cavalry, joined a detail
OF 10000 infantry and began the attack
upon the confederate right. Pushing in
this direction, he was met at Five
Forks, on March 80, by a confederate
force of'ao,ooo. General Lee threw all
his forces into the. outlying country;
seeking a means to escape from Peters,
burg. The meager force within the city
forts was attacked by the main arm OF
the federal army, and Lee, recognizing
the impossibility OF holding the town
longer, withdrew on the night Of April
3. Retreating. slowly, the confederate
forces crossed the Appomattox, burn
ing. bridges and destroying their maya