page_title: Siege of Arrah
section_title: Second attempt
hierarchical_section_title: Siege of Arrah / Battle / Second attempt
caption_attribution_description: English: Sketch entitled "House at Arrah fortified against the Dinapore Mutineers" from the Illustrated London News, 1857
context_page_description: The Siege of Arrah took place during the Indian Mutiny. It was the eight-day defence of a fortified outbuilding, occupied by a combination of 18 civilians and 50 members of the Bengal Military Police Battalion, against 2,500–3,000 mutinying Bengal Native Infantry sepoys from three regiments and an estimated 8,000 men from irregular forces commanded by Kunwar Singh, the local zamindar or chieftain who controlled the Jagdishpur estate.
  An attempt to break the siege failed, with around 290 casualties out of around 415 men in the relief party. Shortly afterwards, a second relief effort consisting of 225 men and three artillery guns—carried out despite specific orders that it should not take place—dispersed the forces surrounding the building, suffering two casualties, and the besieged party escaped. Only one member of the besieged group was injured.
context_section_description: Major Vincent Eyre, a Bengal Artillery officer in command of the East India Company's Number 1 Company, 4th Bengal Foot Artillery—now 58 (Eyre's) Battery, 12th Regiment Royal Artillery, British Army—then stationed in Buxar, was under orders to head to Cawnpore with his battery. He had heard news of the situation in Arrah and, unaware of any relief expedition, decided on his own to collect troops to reinforce the expedition he believed would take place. Finding no troops available at Buxar, Eyre went to Ghazipur and was able to attach 25 men from the 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot to his party. Upon returning to Buxar, Eyre found that 154 men from the 5th Regiment of Foot had arrived in his absence and he convinced their commander, Captain L'Estrange,  to join him with the understanding that Eyre bore full responsibility. At this point, Eyre felt so confident of victory that he dismissed the men from the 78th Foot and went ahead without them. Unable to locate horses to move his battery's guns, Eyre used bullocks (neutered bulls) instead and was able to procure two elephants to move the party's baggage. After assembling a force of 225 men (including civilian volunteers) and three of his battery's guns, Eyre wrote to General Lloyd at Dinapore informing him of his intentions and requesting reinforcements. On 30 July, at about 4:00 pm, Eyre's expedition started for Arrah.
  Lloyd's reply, informing Eyre of the failure of the first relief attempt and ordering him not to commence his mission, or to return to Buxar to await further orders if he had already started, arrived while the party was en route. Eyre disregarded Lloyd's order and continued towards Arrah. On 2 August, still over 6 mi (9.7 km) from his objective, Eyre's force encountered an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 mutinying sepoys accompanied by Kunwar Singh's forces—including Kunwar Singh himself—headed to intercept him. Greatly outnumbered, Eyre's party became surrounded. He then ordered the infantry to charge with bayonets and the artillery to fire on the mutineers. This caused the mutinying sepoys to retreat, with an estimated 600 casualties. Eyre's party, with only two killed, then continued towards Arrah. Blocked by a river, they built a bridge which they completed the following day. When they crossed the river on the morning of 3 August, a villager gave them a letter from Wake telling them that the besieged men had heard about their approach, stating "We are all well."
  Throughout the day of 2 August the besieged party heard distant cannon fire and saw people in the town hurriedly loading carts with their belongings. The constant fire from muskets on the building lessened and finally ceased; it was approached by two men, who told the occupants that the besiegers were defeated and a relief force was expected to arrive in Arrah the following day. The occupants were sceptical, despite visual evidence, and sent out a small party at midnight to reconnoitre the area—they found no sign of the mutineers and brought in a large quantity of gunpowder and the mutineers' two artillery pieces. They then sent a party under cover of darkness to destroy a number of outhouses which the mutineers had been using as cover. This party discovered a mine dug directly under the foundations of the building by the mutineers, charged and ready to be primed, so this charge was destroyed by them. The following morning at about 7:00 am, two members of Major Eyre's expedition arrived at the house and the siege was officially broken. Eyre, in his official report, wrote that Wake's defence of the building "seems to have been almost miraculous." About the outcome of the first relief attempt, he wrote: "I venture to affirm, confidently, that no such disaster would have been likely to occur, had that detachment advanced less precipitately, so as to have given full time for my force to approach direct from the opposite side, for the rebels would then have been hemmed in between the two opposing forces, and must have been utterly routed."
  According to Wake's official report about the siege, "Nothing bu
caption: House at Arrah fortified against the Dinapore Mutineers – From a sketch by Sir Vincent Eyre, 1857 from the Illustrated London News (1857)
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