CHAPTER XIII
CENTRAL INDIA, 1858–1859
[Sidenote: 1857.]
For the better understanding of the share taken by the Seventeenth Lancers in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny, it may be well to set down as briefly as possible the principal events that had taken place before their arrival--
First outbreak at Meerut 10th May 1857. Outbreak at Lucknow 30th „ „ „ „ Cawnpore 7th June „ Siege of Delhi opened 8th „ „ Cawnpore massacre 26th „ „ Capture of Cawnpore by Havelock 18th July „ Fall of Delhi 20th Sept. „ First relief of Lucknow 25th „ „ Second „ „ 17th Nov. „
In those days, when there was neither submarine cable nor Suez Canal, news from India took some time to reach England. Reinforcements destined for China were intercepted and sent to India on their way, and thus arrived early; but it was October 1857 before the reinforcements from England began fairly to pour into Calcutta. The Seventeenth was not of these first reinforcements; and did not receive its orders for embarkation before 2nd September. On the 7th of that month its establishment was raised from six to ten troops; and volunteers, to the number of 132, were received from other regiments, namely the 3rd, 4th, and 13th Light Dragoons, the 11th Hussars, and the 16th Lancers. It will be noticed at once that this list includes three regiments out of the five which had composed the Light Brigade in the Crimea. The other regiment of that Brigade, the 8th Hussars, sailed with the Seventeenth to India.
[Sidenote: 1857.]
On the 1st October the depôt was formed, and on the 6th the regiment moved by rail from Dublin to Cork and embarked on board the steamship _Great Britain_, wherein the 8th Hussars had already been embarked on the previous day. The strength of the Seventeenth was as follows:--
Field Officers. 3 Captains. 4 Subalterns. 9 Staff. 5 Sergeants. 37 Trumpeters. 6 Farriers. 8 Corporals. 23 Privates. 409
We may note among the officers the names of Captains White and Sir W. Gordon, whom we knew at Balaclava, and of Captain Drury Lowe and Lieutenant Evelyn Wood, whom we are in future to know better.
On the 8th October the _Great Britain_ sailed, and after touching at the Cape de Verdes and the Cape of Good Hope to coal, reached Bombay on the 17th December. A single casualty, the death of a private from heart disease, alone occurred on the seventy days’ voyage. The Colonel, who with one captain, the riding-master, the veterinary surgeon, and four rough-riders, had been sent out by the overland route, of course reached India earlier than the rest of the regiment. The Seventeenth disembarked in two divisions on the 19th and 21st December, and on landing were moved up first to Campoolee, at the foot of the Bhore Ghauts, and thence to Kirkee cantonments, where it arrived on the 24th and 26th.
[Sidenote: 1858.]
Then came a weary period of waiting until horses could be procured from the remount establishment in Bombay. Meanwhile, on the 6th January 1858, Sir Hugh Rose opened the extraordinary campaign wherein he marched from Indore, and fought his way without a check to the Jumna. But when he had closed this campaign, first at Calpee on the 24th May, and finally at Gwalior on the 20th June, the most strenuous of his enemies were still at large, and, as the event proved, not to be captured for another nine months. These were Tantia Topee and the Rao Sahib; the latter Nana Sahib’s nephew, the former his right-hand man. Of the two Tantia was incomparably the more formidable. After being present at the first siege of Cawnpore, and the subsequent defeat of the Nana’s troops by Havelock, he had been entrusted with the command of the Nana’s “Gwalior contingent.” With this he had beaten General Wyndham before Cawnpore (26th and 27th November 1857), and though immediately after defeated in his turn by Sir Colin Campbell, had by no means abandoned the struggle. Turning north from Cawnpore he first captured Chirkaree. He then tried to relieve Jhansi, at that time besieged by Sir Hugh Rose, and was defeated (1st April 1858); and meeting Sir Hugh Rose once more at Kunch, was again defeated. Still unquelled, he turned against Gwalior, routed Scindia’s troops, and captured the fortress. There he was for the third time defeated by Sir Hugh Rose, and his force still further dispersed by Sir R. Napier at Jowra Alipore (22nd June). He then tried to make his way northward, but was headed back by General Showers. Still undismayed, he broke away westward to Tonk; from which point begins the final act of the drama of the Mutiny. In this act, which may be called the hunting of Tantia Topee, the Seventeenth had its part, and played it on the old stage of the Pindari war--Malwa.
While Sir Hugh Rose was fighting, horses began to arrive at Kirkee--Arab, Syrian, Australian, and Cape horses for the most part; and as each squadron of the Seventeenth was mounted, it was hurried up to the front to join in the chase of Tantia. The first squadron was despatched from Kirkee on the 27th May, under the command of Captain Sir William Gordon, to join Major-General Michel’s force at Mhow. This squadron, in spite of many obstacles, lost no time upon the road. The first difficulty was the desertion, after two or three days’ march, of the _baboo_ who was in charge of the Commissariat arrangements. [Sidenote: 1858.] His place was taken by the only officer who could speak Hindustani, Lieutenant Evelyn Wood; and the squadron marched on without a day’s halt for the whole of the five hundred miles to its destination, learning much on the way, and arriving in perfect condition. At whatever hour of the day or night the march might close, Sir William Gordon, with or without the help of a candle, inspected every horse’s back, and if the hair appeared to be in the least degree ruffled, shifted the stuffing of the saddle from the tender place with a homely but effective instrument, a two-pronged steel fork. If the back were actually sore the trooper could look forward to the pleasure of tramping with the rear-guard on his own feet until it was healed; for this was the “golden rule” from which the Captain never departed. And such a tramp was not altogether enjoyable at that season. On the day before the squadron ascended the table-land whereon Mhow stands, the heat was so intense that the backs came off the brushes, and the combs contorted themselves into serpentine shapes. But there was not a sore back in the squadron when, at the end of June, it reached its destination, nor through the whole of the arduous service that subsequently fell upon it.
By that time Tantia had already travelled over a large extent of country. Closely followed by two flying columns under General Roberts and Colonel Holmes, he struck southward from Tonk, and was overtaken and defeated by Roberts at Sanganir on the 7th August. A week later (14th August) he was again attacked by Roberts at Kankrowlee, again defeated, and pursued for seventeen miles. Then he struck east towards the Chumbul, where he evaded a third column under Brigadier Parke and reached Jhalra-patan. Here he was joined by the Rajah’s troops, whereby his force was augmented to 10,000 men, and gained possession of forty cannon as well as of considerable treasure.
Thus strengthened, he conceived the idea of marching on Indore; but General Michel, divining his purpose, sent two columns, under Colonels Hope and Lockhart, to cut him off. Tantia then retired leisurely to Rajghur. [Sidenote: 1858.] General Michel thereupon moved up to Nulkeera, about a hundred miles north of Mhow, and there added his troops, including Sir W. Gordon’s squadron of the Seventeenth, to the united columns of Colonels Hope and Lockhart. [Sidenote: September.] On the 14th September Michel, having obtained information of Tantia’s movements, marched on Rajghur, some five-and-thirty miles distant.
His force consisted of the following troops:--
Seventeenth Lancers 80 3rd Light Cavalry 180 71st Highland Light Infantry and 92nd Highlanders 600 15th and 4th Rifles, N. I.} 4 guns, Bengal Artillery } 240 ---- 1100
Heavy rain was falling, and the cotton soil of Malwa was a sea of black mud. With great difficulty Michel reached Chapera, about half-way to Rajghur, and there halted. Next day the rain ceased, and the heat was so terrible that one-third of the European infantry fell out exhausted, several of them actually dying of sunstroke, while many of the artillery horses dropped dead in the traces. The march that day lasted from 4 A.M. till 5 P.M., when Michel at last arrived in sight of the enemy; but his infantry were then three miles in rear of the mounted men, and so much spent that attack was out of the question.
At 2.30 next morning Michel advanced, but found that Tantia had retired. The Seventeenth and the native cavalry, the whole being under the command of Sir W. Gordon, were pushed forward on the track of Tantia’s retreat, and presently came upon his whole force, 8000 men and 27 guns, drawn up for battle in two lines. After a trifling skirmish the cavalry was halted to permit the infantry and guns to come up; but the rebel army, on seeing the advance of the British, forthwith gave way and fled. Then Sir W. Gordon, who had been posted on the extreme right, was let loose with the cavalry, and dashing to the front, dispersed (to use Michel’s own words) all symptoms of an organised body. The pursuit was kept up for four or five miles till men and horses were tired out. [Sidenote: 1858. 15th Sept.] The heat was terrible; the infantry fell out in great numbers under the midday sun; and when the cavalry finally halted under the shade of some trees, an officer of the native cavalry died then and there from sunstroke. But not a drop of blood was shed on the English side; and the losses of the Seventeenth consisted of a single horse killed. The trophies of the cavalry consisted of Tantia’s whole park of 27 guns.
After one day’s halt Michel resumed the pursuit, passing eastward through Nursinghur; but between that place and Birseeah the rain came down with such violence that further progress was impossible. For two days the torrent never ceased to fall. The camp became a swamp, and the unfortunate horses stood fetlock deep in mud. Meanwhile Tantia moved away through dense jungle to the north-eastward, and on reaching Seronge, fifty miles from Rajghur, halted there for eight days. He then moved northward sixty miles to Esaughur, one of Scindia’s forts, which he stormed and plundered, capturing some supplies and seven guns. He used one of these guns for the purpose of blowing his chief artillery officer from its mouth, and then took counsel with the Rao Sahib as to future operations. The pair then agreed to divide their forces--Tantia moving eastward to Chunderi, and the Rao Sahib northward to Tal Bahat.
After wasting three days in the vain attempt to capture Chunderi from Scindia’s garrison, Tantia moved south about twenty miles to Mungrowlee--as fate ordained it, straight into the jaws of his pursuers. Michel having marched since daybreak thirty-five miles north-eastward from Seronge, was in the act of pitching his camp at Mungrowlee, when a lancer of the picquet galloped in with the report that the rebels were close at hand. Michel’s force was made up as follows:--
Seventeenth Lancers 90 H.M. 71st and 92nd 510 19th N. I. 429 Bengal Artillery, 4 guns 62 ---- 1091
[Sidenote: 1858.]
Tantia Topee had 5000 men and 6 guns. His advanced guard alone was visible when Michel moved out to meet him, [Sidenote: 9th Oct.] and he himself was quite unaware of Michel’s proximity. Tantia’s position, as it happened, was strong; his advanced guard having reached an elevated village, surrounded by high scrubby jungle, in which it was impossible for infantry to perceive an enemy, while his guns commanded the ground over which the British must advance. With unusual boldness Tantia sent his cavalry forward and menaced both flanks of the British. Just at that moment an alarm was raised in the British rear. A party of Velliattees had contrived, owing to the thickness of the jungle, to steal up unperceived in rear of Michel’s support, and had succeeded in murdering a wounded Highlander. Sir W. Gordon at once galloped up with his troop of the Seventeenth; whereupon the Velliattees promptly vanished into the jungle. With some difficulty Sir W. Gordon espied some of their heads through the foliage, and forthwith gave the order to open out and pursue at the gallop. In an instant the handful of men dashed into the jungle, heedless of what might be there, and was in the midst of the Velliattees. Order of any kind on such ground was impossible, so every man worked for himself; and with such effect did the lances play that when the Seventeenth finally emerged from the jungle they left over eighty of the rebels dead on the ground. Every man of the forty-three that were present of Sir William Gordon’s troop killed two, and Gordon himself, galloping like the wind, killed four with his own sword, and knocked over as many more with his horse’s chest. He had, however, a narrow escape; a rebel, who was just about to fire at his back, being killed in the nick of time by Sergeant Cope. Tantia’s main army as usual turned and fled when the British infantry fairly advanced against them. Had Michel’s cavalry been more numerous he might have cut the whole of the rebels to pieces; but, as things were, he had to be content with one hundred of them left dead on the field, a large number of prisoners, and Tantia’s six guns. [Sidenote: 1858.] “I solicit to bring Sir William Gordon’s services prominently to the notice of His Excellency,” wrote General Michel after this
## action, “and those of the squadron under his command, who did their
duty admirably.”
After his defeat at Mungrowlee Tantia fled eastward across the Betwah to Lullutpore, where he rejoined the Rao Sahib. There he remained while the Rao Sahib marched eastward with 10,000 men and six guns. General Michel meanwhile divided his force into three columns, intending to move himself with the centre column in a direction due east; but finding that his intended route lay through jungle infested by predatory tribes, he made forced marches southward in order to join with his right or southern column once more. [Sidenote: 18th Oct.] Overtaking this column at Narut on the 18th October he had ordered a march north-westward towards Lullutpore, when at 1 A.M. he received intelligence of the presence of the Rao Sahib at Sindwaho, fifteen miles to the north. [Sidenote: 19th Oct.] In an hour Michel had started to meet the enemy, and at daybreak his cavalry came into sight of one of the rebel picquets close to Sindwaho. His force was composed thus:--
R. H. A. (4 guns) 68 8th Hussars 118 Seventeenth Lancers 90 1st Bombay Lancers 93 3rd Bombay Cavalry 98 Mayne’s Horse 150 --- 617
71st Highland Light Infantry 210 92nd Highlanders 320 19th N. I. 500 Bengal Artillery (4 guns) 60 3rd Bombay Cavalry 50 ---- 1140
The village of Sindwaho lies between the Jamnee river and its tributary the Sujnam. The country round it has a general elevation of about fifteen hundred feet, with an undulating surface broken by numerous detached hills and peaks. There is very little cultivation on the high land, the greater part thereof being covered with dense jungle. The Rao Sahib had drawn up his force, 10,000 strong, on rising ground, and so disposed it as to conceal his exact numbers. His artillery was just over the skyline, with cavalry on either flank, and some squares of infantry in the jungle, which here and there was partly open. [Sidenote: 1858.] He awaited attack, having sent down to the edge of a watercourse detached bodies of infantry to annoy Michel’s force as it went into the broken ground at the bottom.
Michel at once sent off the cavalry to his extreme right in order to cut off the enemy from their ascertained destination. By chance the rebel artillery found the range of the British at once, and by three or four lucky shots caused some slight loss to the Seventeenth while executing this movement. The English guns, with a strong escort, occupied Michel’s centre. As at Mungrowlee, the rebels made a show of taking the initiative, their infantry advancing against the guns while their horse hovered about the flank of the British cavalry, which charged them with great effect. Then Michel’s infantry came up, and was actually so far pressed by the enemy that one flank needed to be reinforced, while the artillery in the centre was obliged to fire grape. But as usual the rebels did not stand long; and presently Sir William Gordon, with the Seventeenth, the 8th, and the Bombay Lancers was in the thick of them. For nine miles the pursuit was continued, though, from the heavy condition of the cultivated land and the broken nature of the ground, it was inevitably slow. None the less 500 dead rebels and 6 captured guns made the victory tolerably complete.
While the bulk of the cavalry was thus engaged on the right, an escort of the 3rd Bombay Cavalry, in attendance on a couple of guns on the left, was fired at by a small body of rebels from a field of high _jowarree_. Several horses having been wounded, the escort was withdrawn for a little distance; and thereupon these rebels, many of whom were mutinous Sepoys of the 36th Bengal Native Infantry, drew themselves up into a kind of rude square. Lieutenant Evelyn Wood of the Seventeenth, who had been doing duty with the 3rd Light Cavalry since they left Mhow, no sooner saw this square than he attacked it singly and alone, selecting the corner man as his first opponent. While he was engaged with him a sowar of the 3rd Light Cavalry, Dokal[13] Singh, came up, and, [Sidenote: 1858.] having narrowly escaped a cut from a two-handed sword which shore through his saddle into his horse’s spine, presently made an end of the corner man. Then a small party of the 8th Hussars, under the Adjutant, Mr. Harding, was brought up to Lieutenant Wood’s assistance by Lieutenant Bainbridge of the Seventeenth, and the rebels began to disperse. Harding called out to Wood to fight one of them, and himself selected another. The sepoy waited for Harding until he was so close that the fire of the musket singed his stable jacket, and shot him dead. Lieutenant Wood’s opponent also waited for him with the bayonet, till finding the chest of his horse almost on the top of him, he clubbed his musket and was at once run through the body by Wood’s sword. This was one of two gallant actions for which Lieutenant Wood (better known as Sir Evelyn Wood) received the Victoria Cross.
For the rest the rebels made a better resistance in this action of Sindwaho than in any other of the many that were fought during the chase of Tantia. The total loss of the British did not exceed 5 officers and 20 men killed and wounded; but the brunt of the day’s work and the whole of the loss fell on the cavalry. Of the Seventeenth one sergeant and four privates were wounded; three horses killed and four wounded. Sir William Gordon was again honourably mentioned in despatches; and Lieutenant Wood distinguished himself as has been already told. The cavalry, when the day’s work was done, had been in the saddle from 2 A.M. till 5 P.M., and was not sorry to rest. Still, they had more than ordinary consolation, for on one native saddle were found gold mohurs to the value of £150, which were distributed among the men. Let us not omit to mention, also, that the infantry almost kept up with them during the twenty mile march that preceded the action, and that among the infantry regiments, in this as in the two previous engagements, was the 71st Highland Light Infantry, which had worked through so many hard marches with the Seventeenth in the Carolinas three-quarters of a century before.
After one day’s halt General Michel marched from Sindwaho northward to Lullutpore. [Sidenote: 1858.] Then Tantia made a desperate move. Starting from the northward of Lullutpore he doubled back suddenly to the south, passing unobserved within four miles of the British column, and between it and the Betwah. Michel, on learning of this new departure, instantly followed him by forced marches from Lullutpore; but being unable to pursue him directly by the mountains and jungly track that Tantia had selected, he was compelled to move by Malthor (a thirty mile march) and Khimlassa, where on the evening of the 24th he heard that Tantia had but just passed before him. [Sidenote: 25th Oct.] On the 25th at 2 A.M. Michel resumed the pursuit, and at Kurai overtook the wing of Tantia’s army, 2000 strong. This force made hardly even a show of fighting, but forthwith fled and was hotly pursued by the British cavalry in three separate columns. Sir W. Gordon, with the Seventeenth and the 3rd Light Cavalry, pressed the rebels hard for six miles, and as usual (to quote General Michel’s despatch) did his work efficiently and well. In the course of the pursuit, while hastening with all speed after some cavalry that was covering the retreat of some rebel leader, the Seventeenth were brought up, as is so often the case in that country, by a nullah. Sir William Gordon, as was, of course, his invariable rule, waited until he had seen every trooper pass over before him, and then gave the word to open out and pursue at the gallop, adding that the first man up should have for his reward whatever the leader carried on him. Well mounted, and an admirable horseman, Sir William won the race, killed the leader with his own hand, and divided the gold bracelets and other ornaments of great value that were on his body among the men that were first after him. It is hardly surprising that his troop did wonders under such a Captain. Let us, however, do justice to all, and record the extraordinary marches accomplished by the infantry of the column just at this time--twenty-nine miles on one day, twenty-seven on the next, and twenty-five before they came into action at Kurai.
[Illustration:
_G. Salisbury._ Review Order. Marching Order.
OFFICERS. 1852–1841.]
The wing thus caught by Michel was simply dispersed; and (in the words of the historian of the Mutiny) Tantia and the Rao Sahib purchased their retreat by the sacrifice of one-half of their followers.
[Sidenote: 1858.]
None the less Tantia pushed on with such force as he had saved. He was again attacked on the following day by a single regiment--that now known as the Central India Horse--and suffered some loss; but still he pushed on. Within a few days he had crossed the Nerbuddha, to the great alarm of the Governments at Madras and Bombay, and was pointing towards Nagpore.
Headed back from thence by a British force, he turned sharp to the west, [Sidenote: November.] hoping to find some unguarded pass by which he might pierce farther south. It was useless; every outlet to south and west was already occupied. He then turned north-westward into Holkar’s country, forced a certain number of Holkar’s troops to join him at Kargun (19th November), and then hurried away towards the west.
Meanwhile Michel had followed him across the Nerbuddha, reaching Hoshangabad on the 7th November. Feeling sure of the security of the south and west, he sent Brigadier Parke on to Charwah, and followed in the same direction more leisurely himself. Sir William Gordon’s squadron was left for a time at Hoshangabad, where it was presently joined by further portions of the Seventeenth. It is now necessary to pause for a moment and go back to the rest of the regiment, which we left at Kirkee awaiting its establishment of horses.
The second squadron, under Major White, left Kirkee on the 11th June and marched to Sholapore, where it was kept halted for some time. We shall, however, see this squadron in action in due season.
The third squadron, under Major Learmonth, left Kirkee on the 11th September, and proceeded to Mhow, where it was placed at the disposal of General Michel.
Headquarters and the remaining squadron, having left a small depôt at Kirkee, marched from that station on 22nd September, in company with D troop of the Royal Horse Artillery and some infantry, [Sidenote: 1858. November.]the whole being under the command of Colonel Benson of the Seventeenth. On arrival at Mhow they were immediately pushed forward towards the Betwah, and having picked up first Major Learmonth’s squadron at Bhopal, and next Sir William Gordon’s at Hoshangabad, united three-fourths of the regiment at the latter place on the 6th November.
Meanwhile Tantia was still pressing on with all speed to westward. On the 23rd November he crossed the great highroad from Bombay to Agra, plundered some carts laden with mercantile stores for the army, cut the telegraph wires, and hurried on in the hope of recrossing the Nerbuddha unperceived. The British were quickly on his track. Major Sutherland, with a handful of 200 infantry, caught him at Rajpore, attacked him, though against odds of fifteen or twenty men to one, and put him to flight. Nevertheless, though the pursuit was resumed next morning with all possible swiftness, it was only to find that Tantia was safe across the Nerbuddha. Tantia then moved rapidly north in the hope of surprising Baroda; but the British were beforehand with him. Brigadier Parke, moving by extraordinary marches, met him at Oodeypore on the 30th of November and defeated him once more. Tantia then fled eastward into the Banswarra jungle, and the British commanders thought that they had caught him at last. He was not caught yet by any means. The next that the Seventeenth heard of him was that he was advancing on Indore, and that they must move up to Mhow with all speed. Colonel Benson left his encampment, twelve miles south of the Nerbuddha, crossed the river in boats, and was at Mhow in twenty-six hours--a march of fifty-two miles, to say nothing of the passage of the river.
Tantia, however, prudently remained in the jungle; and on the 3rd December Colonel Benson, with his three squadrons of the Seventeenth, again left Mhow and marched north-westward for Ratlam, in order to meet him whenever he might issue from his hiding-place. [Sidenote: December.] A small column under Major Learmonth was detached from Ratlam, but after three days’ search discovered nothing of the enemy; [Sidenote: 1858.] and Colonels Benson and Somerset, who had united their two flying columns at Ratlam, then moved up together to Partabghur. At this point, however, a new ally for Tantia, Feroz Shah, appeared upon the scene, and Somerset’s column was detached to Ashta to cut him off. Emboldened by Feroz Shah’s diversion, Tantia finally emerged from the jungle, after a month’s wandering, at Partabghur, on Christmas day 1858. But meanwhile Colonel Benson had been moved from Partabghur; and a very weak force of native infantry alone was on the spot to stop the famous rebel. Tantia held this little force engaged for a couple of hours until his baggage and elephants were clear of the passes, and then marched quietly away. Halting for the night within six miles of Mundesoor he struck eastward, and in three days had reached Zeerapore, one hundred and ten miles as the crow flies from Partabghur.
Meanwhile Colonel Benson had lost no time in starting on his track with 210 men of the Seventeenth and 37 men of the Horse Artillery with 2 guns; and after a march of one hundred and forty-eight miles in one hundred and twenty hours, he finally caught Tantia at Zeerapore. This being, so to speak, a strictly regimental affair, we may give an abridged journal of the march:--
_Friday, 24th December._--Left Ninose for Nowgaum (seventeen miles).
_Saturday, 25th December._--Made a reconnaissance, and discovered that the enemy had marched on Mundesoor; made a forced march thither, and arrived that night (thirty-six miles) to find the enemy encamped but four miles away.
_Sunday, 26th December._--Marched at daybreak, leaving behind all infantry, artillery waggons, led horses, and baggage of every description, and all grass-cutters. Moved first towards Seeta Mhow on false information, but, discovering the true direction, turned towards Caimpore, and halted for the night on the left bank of the Chumbul (twenty-six miles).
_Monday, 27th December._--Marched at daybreak, crossed the Chumbul, and came up with the rebels encamped at Dug; bivouacked in sight of their fires.
_Tuesday, 28th December._--Marched at 4 A.M. so as to attack at daybreak; found that the enemy’s main body had retreated. Drove in the picquets and pursued, crossing the Kollee Sind River on the way (twenty-eight miles).
_Wednesday, 29th December._--Marched at 3 A.M. from the right bank of the Kollee Sind; after an eight-mile march came in sight of the rebel camp; advanced over the ploughed land, so as to make as little noise as possible, and waited for daylight. Found the main body had retired two miles; trotted on and came up with it; and on emerging from a wooded lane found the rebel army, apparently about 4000 strong, drawn up in line of battle on rising ground, with a ravine and jungle to their rear.
[Sidenote: 29th Dec.]
Colonel Benson advanced to the attack in columns of divisions, and, on the commencement of the rebel fire, moved the leading column to the right, thus uncovering his guns, which opened fire at four hundred yards with grape and shell. The rebels soon gave way, and Benson then attacked with two divisions from his right, and drove them into the jungle. The Seventeenth then pursued them through the jungle and across the ravine, and on emerging from the latter found them rallied and drawn up in a new position. The Seventeenth then advanced in line, with the two guns in the centre, and after a vain attempt of the rebels to make a counter-attack, Sir William Gordon charged with his squadron and drove the enemy once more into the jungle and across the ravine. With some difficulty and delay the guns were taken across in pursuit; and after one or two more feeble attempts to rally, the rebels were dispersed and pursued in all directions. The action closed with the capture of four of Tantia’s elephants by Captain Drury Lowe. The ornaments of these elephants still remain in the regiment’s possession as trophies of this regimental day. The whole affair lasted about two hours; and the distance covered before the day’s work was ended was thirty-six miles, making a total of one hundred and seventy-eight miles, including the passage of two large rivers, in six days, accomplished without European supplies, without protection against the bitter cold of the nights, and, above all, without a murmur. The casualties were as usual trifling enough. The Artillery and Seventeenth each lost one man wounded and two horses killed.
[Sidenote: 1858.]
On the very next day (30th December) Colonel Somerset’s column, consisting of 4 guns of the Royal Horse Artillery, 100 of the Seventeenth under Major White, and 150 of the 92nd Highlanders on camels, arrived likewise at Zeerapore. Major White had just missed Colonel Benson at Dug by three hours; and had then been summoned to join Colonel Somerset at Soosneer. In consequence of information as to a junction between Tantia Topee and Feroz Shah, Colonel Somerset decided to push on at once. He had marched forty miles on the 29th, [Sidenote: 30th Dec.] and started at 3 A.M. on the morning of the 30th, but he hurried on none the less, and reached Kulcheepore at 5.30 P.M. At midnight (12.5 A.M. 31st December) he started again and [Sidenote: 31st Dec.] marched on without a rest, except of an hour and a half to feed the horses, until 6.15 P.M., when he reached Satul after a forty-mile march. The rebels were now reported to be seven miles ahead, and it was determined, somewhat unfortunately, to march up to their encampment at once. As the British approached they were fired on by a rebel picquet; so that they could then do nothing more than lie down and wait till daylight. A small picquet of infantry, who had been riding on camels at the head of the column, was posted by the staff officer, and the Seventeenth then lay down on the ground, with their bridles in their hands. In a few moments every man was sound asleep. The staff-officer, waking an hour before daylight, found the bivouac like a camp of the dead--every soul so exhausted as to be overcome with sleep. The force was awakened without noise, and just at daylight the advance was resumed, but too late to overtake the rebels, who had moved off some time before. The British column, disregarding some dismounted soldiers and followers in the rebel camp, pushed on with all haste. The only track was of the worst possible description, and was necessarily allotted to the artillery, two troops of the Seventeenth trotting along, one on each flank of the guns, over the open. After thus traversing some seven miles, in the course of which the camels were left far in rear, the column came upon a village. [Sidenote: 1858.] The ground on each side thereof became impassable, so that the cavalry was compelled to bend outwards; and thus it came about that the guns, without escort, were actually the first to pass through a village with high walls, and with only just sufficient roadway to enable the guns to move. Fortunately the rebels made no effort to defend it; and it was only on debouching from the village that the gunners found, five hundred yards before them, three or four thousand rebel cavalry drawn up in line. Brigadier Somerset quietly turned to Major Paget, who commanded the half battery, and said “Gallop out towards them”; and so with the word “Leading gun, gallop,” the formation of the British line began. The other guns then followed, and a staff officer galloped back to hurry forward the camel corps. Meanwhile the rebel cavalry advanced at a walk, one of their leaders on a gray horse endeavouring with all his might to induce his men to charge the guns. But the guns had unlimbered, and their very first shot swept away the gray horse. Some few rebels dismounted to pick up their chief, and the remainder of the force moved away to the British left. Then up came half a dozen of the 92nd on their camels; and then from each side of the village appeared the two troops of the Seventeenth. They numbered between eighty and ninety men all told, and came on in rank entire with lances at the “carry”--two small slender lines of pennons four hundred yards apart. “It was a pretty sight,” says one who was there, “and the odds (4000 to 90) were so great that it became exciting also.” Straight onward they galloped; and then suddenly the pennons swept forward like a flash of light, every lance came down to the “engage,” and the Seventeenth with a yell dashed on to the charge. The rebels slackened pace, halted, and, before the lances had reached them, broke and fled; and the Seventeenth, plunging headlong among them, was swallowed up in the huge mass, and fairly vanished out of sight. Presently they appeared again, every lance still busy, and for seven miles the chase and the slaughter continued till men and horses could do no more.
[Sidenote: 1859. 1st Jan.]
Thus did the one squadron, so far unengaged, of the Seventeenth obtain its opportunity at last and take brilliant advantage thereof. A single man of the Seventeenth, wounded, summed up in himself the casualties of the whole column; but every soul was fairly worn out. Before the rebels were overtaken at Barode (for by this name the action is known), Somerset’s column had marched a hundred and forty-seven miles without a halt except to feed the horses: the last fifty-two miles had been covered in thirty hours. The action with its pursuit of twelve miles made, with the return to camp, twenty-four miles more. All baggage and European supplies were left hopelessly in the rear: the nights were bitterly cold; and to bring discomfort to a climax, rain fell heavily for three days and three nights. Yet no one complained. On the morning after Barode men and horses were so numbed and stiff through cold and rain that they could hardly rise from the mud in which, through sheer fatigue, they had slept; and when after a few hours’ painful march the sun at last broke through the clouds, the men gave him three cheers.
But to Tantia, Barode was a mortal blow. The pursuing columns were now, so to speak, running for blood. General Michel shortly after the action formed a column wherein the whole of the Seventeenth was united, and pressed the chase with greater rapidity than ever, covering fifty-four miles and forty miles in two marches, and two hundred and fifty-six miles in eight days. On the 16th January, Tantia, flying northward, was caught and defeated by Brigadier Showers at Dewassa; on the 21st he was again caught and beaten by Colonel Holmes at Sikur. The Rao Sahib now abandoned Tantia in a rage, and Feroz Shah deserted him likewise. The former fled southward and was overtaken and defeated by Brigadier Honner’s column near Koshani on the 10th February. On the 13th Brigadier Somerset took up the chase with three and a half squadrons of the Seventeenth in his column, and achieved a march which threw even his previous efforts into the shade. In six days and a half the Seventeenth covered no less than two hundred and thirty miles; [Sidenote: 1859.] they had their enemy dead-beat before them, and they knew it. Ghastly tokens met them on the march--hoof-tracks filled with blood, helpless innocent horses with their feet worn down to the quick, and, at the last, three hundred rebels who gave themselves up without a blow, being literally unable to run away any farther. The leaders alone escaped; but from that time the Rao Sahib’s following ceased to exist; and he himself fled into the Banswarra jungle to be heard of no more. Tantia Topee, deserted, and since Sikur almost alone, hid in the Paron jungle until April, when he was betrayed by Rajah Man Singh to the English. He was tried by court-martial and hanged.
So ended this extraordinary chase, whereby the dying embers of the Mutiny were finally trampled out. In following the track of Tantia on the map, in and out and round about Malwa, one is reminded of nothing so much as the hunting of a rat in a barn. Though unendowed with the qualities that win success in a pitched battle, the man possessed a positive genius for guerilla warfare; and as he carried neither tents nor supplies, but satisfied his army’s wants by the simple process of looting and stealing, he enjoyed always an advantage over his pursuers. His methods, in fact, differed little from those of the Pindaris, with whom the Seventeenth had to do in 1816–19; and but for the treachery of Rajah Man Singh he might have disappeared for ever into the jungle like his comrades the Rao Sahib and Feroz Shah, or met his fate at the jaws of a tiger like the Pindari chief Cheettoo.
Of the part played by the Seventeenth Lancers much has already been said in the course of the narrative. It now remains to add a few details which, lest the thread of the story should be unduly broken, have been reserved to the last.
First, we must note that in this campaign the Seventeenth wore its English clothing: blue tunic, overalls strapped with cloth, and forage cap protected by a white curtain, this last being preferred to the white-covered lance cap.
The bulk of the active work, as has been seen, fell upon Sir William Gordon’s squadron. [Sidenote: 1859.] When, after six months’ hard work, Sir William rejoined the headquarters of the regiment, General Michel sent Colonel Benson the following letter:--
CAMP, MHOW, HEADQUARTERS, M.D.A., 1st _December_ 1858.
SIR,--I am directed by the Major-General to state that as the Seventeenth Lancers are again proceeding to take the field, he is desirous to express his strong approbation of the conduct of the squadron commanded by Sir William Gordon, which alone has accompanied the Mhow column through the whole of the late operations in the field.
2. Notwithstanding the most severe service in the worst weather, this squadron, owing to the unremitting attention of Sir W. Gordon, is almost as efficient as on the day when it left Mhow.
3. The Major-General has remarked that this officer’s care was extended to the comfort of his men, the care of baggage animals, and even to the well-being of camp followers.
4. His leading in the field was as gallant as was his unremitting zeal; and in gallantry his officers and men emulated his example.
5. The Major-General, during the short time he has had under his personal observation the headquarters of your corps, has remarked with great pleasure that the general system of the regiment is one which must lead to efficiency; but this squadron has come so repeatedly under his observation in action and otherwise, that he cannot let it depart without specially recording his observation of its merits.
6. The Major-General directs that this letter may be read on parade of your regiment.--I have, &c.,
J. H. CHAPMAN, Capt., A.A.G., Malwa Division.
The most notable statement in this letter will be admitted to be that of the second paragraph:--
After the most severe service in the worst weather, this squadron, owing to the unremitting attention of Sir W. Gordon, is almost as efficient as on the day when it left Mhow.
This was no exaggeration. The squadron, for all its hard work, literally brought back every horse with which it had started fit for duty, excepting only those that had been killed or wounded in
## action; surely a performance of which any officer might well be
proud. [Sidenote: 1859.] The troop-horses, it may be added, were mostly Arabs, and stood the work, by Sir William Gordon’s testimony, remarkably well; and it is worth noting that in the supreme trial of two hundred and thirty miles in six days, several “walers” dropped dead under their riders, one or two Cape horses gave out, but no Arab was ever off his feed. We have already seen how Sir William Gordon took care of his horses, and we may now, by his kindness, catch a glimpse of his method of providing for those of whom he was even more careful--his men.
He writes as follows:--
As a rule we had not much difficulty in getting supplies for men and horses, but occasionally had to resort to force. I remember on one occasion marching into a town called Samrood at 7 A.M. The head-man of the town kissed my feet in the saddle and promised that I should have all supplies at once. I thanked him, but as no supplies came I sent Evelyn Wood into the town with six men about 11 o’clock. They found abundance of everything required for men and horses, but no preparations to let us have what we wanted. So I ordered the head-man three dozen; after which he could not do enough for me, and supplies were plentiful. All was of course paid for; and the occurrence was reported by me to the authorities.
Let us not omit to add that the officer who took such care of his men and horses was himself a perfect horseman, having won the Regimental Challenge Cup within a few months of joining as a cornet; that, as we have seen, he fought the Russians at Balaclava till his head was almost cut to pieces; that at Mungrowlee he killed three men with his own hand, and throughout the Central Indian campaign frequently distinguished himself in personal combats; and that he has characteristically left the present writer to gather these latter details from any source except from himself.
[Illustration: INDIA 1858.]
Lastly, it must be remarked that this was the second if not the third campaign of its kind wherein the Seventeenth had been engaged. We saw it within twenty years of its foundation scouring the Carolinas and Virginia under Tarleton and Cornwallis, covering on one occasion one hundred and five miles in fifty-four hours, and traversing by constant forced marches a total distance of fifteen hundred miles. [Sidenote: 1859.] We found it next in Malwa in 1818 chasing the Pindaris; once making a forced march of thirty miles, and cutting Cheettoo’s bandits to pieces at the end. Finally, forty years later, we follow it to this same Malwa through the mazy pursuit of Tantia Topee. In all three cases these incessant forced marches were accompanied by every hardship that could be inflicted by climate, privation, and fatigue; and whether we follow the Seventeenth in long-skirted scarlet and black helmet under the blazing sun of South Carolina and the drenching rain of the Alleghany slopes; or first in French gray jacket and white shako, and next in blue tunic and pugareed forage cap, through the burning days and bitter nights of the Malwa--in all three cases the story is the same. General Michel in 1858, no less than Lord Cornwallis in 1782, bears eloquent witness to the cheerful spirit and unconquerable patience with which these hardships were endured. Nor does the parallel hold less good of the action at the close of the march. It was when worn out with marching that a troop of the Seventeenth stood alone, after all others had given way, and cut its way through twenty times its number at Cowpens; it was when worn out with marching that a squadron of the Seventeenth charged and dispersed forty times its number at Barode.
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