Part 17

It is noteworthy that the infantry did not receive more than two bars, and that it was impossible for any participant in the war to obtain more than four, and very few received as many. This is a very striking medal, a very dignified figure of Britannia being represented on the reverse holding a wreath in the outstretched right hand, and an oval shield with the Union Jack thereon on the left arm, which also holds a laurel wreath; INDIA is arranged above following the line of the medal, and ~1857-58~ in the exergue. The obverse bears the same head of Queen Victoria as the Military General Service medal. The names were impressed on the edge in capital Roman letters, and the suspender and fishtail bars are of the same kind as those used with the China medal of 1857. The ribbon, which is 1¼ in. wide, consists of scarlet and white stripes arranged alternately, three of white and two of red. This was the last medal issued by the H.E.I. Co., and it might be said almost the last of the classic medals (L. C. Wyon modelled the reverse).

=Reissues of Earlier Medals.=--On January 21st, 1859, the Government of India sanctioned the reissue of medals gratis to all officers and men who had lost their decorations through the mutiny. This is an important fact to remember when considering war medals issued prior to the mutiny, as reissues are not generally considered as valuable as originals.

SECOND CHINESE WAR

=Fatshan, 1857.=--The seizure by the Chinese of a small trading-vessel, the "Arrow," led to the second Chinese War, the first stages of which were confined to operations by seamen and marines under Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, who, attacking the Chinese fleet in Fatshan Creek with 11 gunboats and about 50 ships' boats from the fleet, defeated the enemy's fleet of 80 junks armed with 800 guns, and manned by 6,000 seamen; only 3 of the junks escaped destruction.

=Canton, 1857.=--Having defeated the fleet, it was considered that there was little chance of obtaining satisfaction without resort to arms, and a force of 5,000 men was dispatched to the Far East, but the mutiny breaking out they were diverted to India. The 59th Regiment, however, was on the China station, and with a body of marines took part in the bombardment and storm of Canton on December 29th, 1857, and the blockade of the fort until some semblance of satisfaction had been obtained. With the deportation of the late Imperial Commissioner Yeh to India the possibility of a satisfactory treaty was imminent, and when the treaty of Tientsin was signed, on June 26th, 1858, it was hoped that peace was assured.

=Taku Forts, 1860.=--The signature of a treaty was one thing, the ratification another; and when the British Envoy was proceeding up the Peiho River, in order to obtain the ratification, the forts at the mouth of the river opened fire upon the ships accompanying him, and they had to retire. It was therefore determined to achieve by force of arms what diplomacy had failed to do. An army of 10,000 British troops, and a force of 7,000 French, were organised to take the offensive against the Celestials. The British were under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Hope Grant, and the French under General de Montaubon, a "beau sabreur." At the end of July 1860 the British and French fleets were ready, and on August 1st the allied troops were disembarked a couple of thousand yards from the Pehtang Forts in the Gulf of Pecheli, and they marched towards Sin-ho, where a battle was fought in which the new Armstrong guns were used in warfare for the first time. In this battle the allies outnumbered the enemy by two to one, and their steadfastness in the face of the most modern artillery and seasoned troops called forth the praise of General Sir Robert Napier, who stated that the enemy "had behaved with courageous endurance." After another engagement on the following day, and the rout of the enemy, the way was clear to attack the Taku Forts. The northern forts were assailed on land and bombarded from the sea on August 21st; the assault was made difficult by an arrangement of spiked bamboo stakes that had been planted over a space 20 feet wide, and while the allies were gingerly creeping over it missiles of all kinds were hurled at them. Ultimately the walls were reached, and a daring French soldier planted the tricolour on the parapet, only to fall dead with the cry of victory on his lips. Lieutenant Rogers of the 44th and Ensign Chaplin of the 67th were more fortunate, and the Queen's colours were firmly fixed over the fort. In their retreat from the first northern fort the unfortunate Chinamen had to cross the ground they had so ingeniously staked out as an obstacle for their enemy, and were spitted on their own stakes. The fall of the first fort advised the commander of the second fort that opposition was useless, and he hoisted a white flag; later the troops took possession of it, and then the southern forts were likewise surrendered, and the capture of the Taku Forts effected with the loss to the British force of 67 rank and file killed, and 22 officers and 161 men wounded; and to the French of 30 killed, and about 100 wounded. The Chinese are said to have had at least 2,000 killed.

=Pekin, 1860.=--The Buffs were left to garrison Taku, and the 44th Shanghai, which was threatened by the Taiping rebels, while the army marched on to Tientsin, from which on September 8th the 1st Division and about half the French force set out on the advance to Pekin. At Changdia-wan there was a sharp skirmish, and the enemy abandoned their entrenchments with 74 guns, and offered to sign a convention. Mr. (afterwards Sir Harry) Parkes, Lord Elgin's secretary, together with four officers and an escort, set out to arrange preliminaries, but were treacherously taken prisoners, and all the officials, with the exception of Mr. Parkes, barbarously murdered. Sir Hope Grant then prepared to meet the Chinese attack, and in the action which was fought at Chow-ho the Chinese were put to rout, and a great number cut down in the pursuit by the Dragoons and Probyn's Horse. The allies then advanced on Pekin, and the French army occupied the Summer Palace of Yuan-ming-Yuan. At the Bridge of Palichaio a last desperate effort was made by the Chinese Imperial Guard, but the vigorous French attack drove them back with the loss of 25 guns, and gained for General Montauban the title of Comte de Paliko.

On October 7th the enemy was informed that unless the prisoners were restored and one of the gates of the city given up to the allies, the city would be stormed. The Chinese agreed to this, and the Au-ting gate of the city was occupied without opposition by 200 British and French troops on October 13th. It was found, however, that twenty of Mr. Parkes' party had succumbed to the terrible treatment of their Chinese captors, and Lord Elgin having given his word to spare the city if it were surrendered, ordered the Summer Palace, where the atrocities had been committed, to be razed to the ground. The Summer Palace consisted of thirty buildings in grounds extending for about 6 miles, and although the troops set to work with a will to burn--and to plunder--it took two days to destroy the buildings by fire. Of the loot of the Summer Palace at Pekin many fabulous stories have been told, but there can be no doubt that in this wilful destruction of the palace, and the indiscriminate dispersal of its valued contents, gems of art and wonderful pieces of jewellery and goldsmith's work were annexed by men who had not the faintest notion of their exceeding value. It is said that a French officer found a string of beautiful pearls, each about the size of a small marble, and sold it for £3,000! The loot taken by the British troops, such as was given up, was sold at public auction by order of Sir Hope Grant, and it is recorded the share of each private soldier was not less than £4 sterling. The city of Pekin was then occupied by the allies, and, the Chinese having agreed to cede the island of Kowloon, opposite Hong Kong, to Britain, to make Tientsin an open port, and to pay an indemnity of £100,000 to the relatives of the murdered men, the war was concluded.

[Illustration: BOER WAR MEDALS FOR COMPARISON. THE BARS ON CENTRE MEDAL ARE UNOFFICIAL.]

The following regiments were engaged: 1st, 2nd, 1st Batt. 3rd, 31st, 44th, 59th, 60th, 67th, 99th; Royal Artillery; Sappers and Miners, and two squadrons 1st Dragoon Guards; 11th and 19th Bengal Lancers; 20th and 23rd Bengal Cavalry.

=The China Medal, 1857-60.=--This medal was granted on February 28th, 1861, to commemorate the successes of Her Majesty's British and Indian forces, both naval and military, employed in the operations in China which terminated in the capture of Canton on December 29th, 1857, and in the operations which terminated in the capture of the city of Pekin. The bars issued with the medal were, CHINA 1842 to those who had been in the first war; CANTON 1857, TAKU FORTS 1858, TAKU FORTS 1860, PEKIN 1860, and FATSHAN 1857 to seamen and marines only. The medal, which is the same size and design as that issued for 1842, but with the date left out on the reverse, is affixed to an ornamental clasp for suspension; the ribbon is also the same, and the names of the recipients, their regiments and rank, are impressed on the edge in Roman capitals. The medals given to the navy were mostly issued unnamed, with the exception of those awarded to the Indian navy, and sometimes those to the marines. The suspender and bars of this medal are of the same pattern as those used with the "Mutiny Medal." A bar, or bars only, was granted for the second China War, 1857-60, to be affixed to the medal of those who had also served in the first China War, 1842, but such specimens are of the greatest rarity.

The medal given with the two bars TAKU FORTS 1860 and PEKIN 1860 to the 1st Dragoon Guards is rare, as only two squadrons of the regiment were present, no other British cavalry being engaged, and because of the brilliant action of the men on September 21st in riding at "a very ugly place," and scattering the Tartar cavalry. Lord Cheylesmore has in his collection the only five-bar medal issued for the war; it was awarded to a gunner in the Royal Marine Artillery, and has the bars for FATSHAN 1857, CANTON 1857, TAKU FORTS 1858, TAKU FORTS 1860, and PEKIN 1860.

NEW ZEALAND, 1860-6

War again broke out in New Zealand in 1860, and so serious did it become that at one time as many as 10,000 regulars and 15,000 colonials were under arms. At Taranaki, on June 13th, the Maoris were defeated, and again at Mahoetaki on November 6th. In order to protect New Plymouth, or the Taranaki district, a chain of redoubts was built, and from one of these, on the Waitara River, a little party of men of the 40th Regiment moved out to locate the Maories known to be in the bush. Directly they entered it a number were killed and wounded by the fire of the hidden enemy, and in a very short time hardly a man was unhurt. In this unfortunate affair, on March 18th, 1861, Sergeant Lucas gained the V.C. for his heroic conduct in assisting Lieutenant Rees, who had been wounded, into cover, and, although himself wounded, remaining at his post under a galling fire. Next day the Maoris surrendered, and for a short spell peace was restored.

In 1863 war again broke out. The Maoris in the North Island had elected a young, characterless man as King, and established a capital at Ngaruawahia, near the junction of the Waikoto and Waipa Rivers. British law was defied, and when the supporters of the weak and pliant "King" had interfered in a dispute affecting Europeans and Maoris, it became necessary to take strong measures. Lieutenant-General Sir Duncan A. Cameron, learning that the Waikoto tribe had planned to invade Auckland, advanced into the wild country north of the Waikoto River, where at Kohera, above the Mangatawari Creek, the rebels had taken up a strongly fortified position. Attacking them on July 12th, 1863, Cameron drove them out and into the swamps, but owing to difficulties in transport was unable to follow up his success. An instance of the chivalry which characterised the brave Maori warriors throughout the war may here be mentioned; the Maoris at Meri-Meri, hearing a rumour that Cameron and his men were short of food, sent a little fleet of canoes under a flag of truce with potatoes and milch goats for their enemy. When he was able to move, Cameron set out to attack Meri-Meri, but on his arrival he discovered that the Maoris had retired southwards across country, whither, owing to the condition of the land caused by the heavy rains, they could not be followed. Cameron pushed on up the river, and at Rangireri attacked the strongly fortified Pah on November 20th; but owing to the assault being made before the artillery had completed its work, the troops, after their repeated assaults, were only partially successful, and during which 6 officers were killed and 9 wounded, and 120 men killed and wounded. At night a number of the enemy escaped from the Pah, and the remnant of 183 surrendered at daybreak.

=Four V.C.'s in 1863.=--In this fight about 50 artillerymen, armed with swords and revolvers, led by Colonel Mercer, made a brave effort to enter the Pah, but the Colonel was mortally wounded and the gunners had to retire: brave efforts were made by some of his men to rescue him, and Surgeon Temple of the artillery well earned his V.C. for dressing the dying man's wound while the bullets showered around him. Prior to this, Sergeant McKenna of the 65th had gained the V.C. for his coolness and excellent handling of a small detachment of men after the officers had been mortally wounded near Cameron Town on September 8th, and Ensign Donn and Drummer Stagpoole of the 57th had won theirs by a very gallant action in bringing in a wounded man under a heavy fire at Pontoko, on October 2nd. On December 9th General Cameron occupied Ngaruawahia and the Maori "King" surrendered.

=The "Gate Pah."=--On February 21st, 1864, Rangiawahia was taken, and on March 31st Orakau was invested by a force under Major-General Carey, and captured on April 2nd. Sixteen officers and men were killed and 52 wounded in this engagement. The Maoris then fortified Tauranga, which, on April 29th, after the artillery had played on the place for several hours, a party of the 43rd and about 150 seamen and marines stormed, and thinking the enemy had deserted the Pah, took little precautions for their own safety. The Maoris, however, breaking from the inner entrenchments, mortally wounded the officers, and the storming party, which had entered the "Gate Pah" with ringing cheers, poured out again in confusion. The Pah was evacuated during the night. The "Fighting 43rd" lost 7 officers killed and mortally wounded, and 97 men killed or wounded, the naval brigade losing its Commander, also 4 officers and 40 seamen and marines killed or wounded. In the assault on the Gate Pah Samuel Mitchell, Captain of the Foretop of H.M.S. "Harrier," gained the Victoria Cross for refusing to leave Commander Hay when ordered by him to do so, and, under a shower of bullets, carrying him in his arms out of the Pah. Surgeon Mauley of the R.A. also earned the V.C. for his gallantry in succouring the dying Commander and the wounded generally under the most dangerous circumstances.

[Illustration: Distinguished Service Order.

Albert Medal (3rd Class).

Jubilee Medal.

Zulu War Medal.

Queen's South Africa.

Royal Humane Society's Medal.

DECORATIONS AWARDED TO THE LATE MAJOR EDWARD DENMAN THORNBURG CROOPER, D.S.O.]

On June 21st the 43rd and a detachment of the 68th marched against the Maoris at a Pah they had started to fortify at Te Ranga. After a short but stubborn fight the enemy was worsted and routed, among the killed being the chief, Rawhiwi, who had led the Maoris at the Gate Pah. In this affair Sergeant J. Murray of the 68th gained the V.C. for his bravery in charging one of the enemy's rifle pits and, singlehanded, killing or wounding the eight or ten men who occupied it.

=V.C. and three D.C.M.'S.=--On January 25th, 1865, a daring attack was made on the British camp at Nukumaru, but was repulsed with great loss. At this place, on the 24th, Captain Shaw of the 18th Royal Irish gallantly won his V.C., and Privates John Brandon, George Clampitt, and James Kearns Distinguished Conduct Medals for the daring rescue of a comrade who had been wounded within about 30 yards of the Maori position.

After the repulse at Nukumaru the Maoris retired upon Wereros, a Pah considered by them to be impregnable and apparently also by General Cameron, for he moved slowly up the coast; and it was not until July 20th, 1865, that the place was attacked, and then under orders from Sir George Grey, the Governor of the Colony. One hundred of the 14th and a like number of the 18th Royal Irish were deputed to threaten an attack on the front of the position, while the 470 colonials and friendly Maoris worked round the rear. This strategy disconcerted the enemy and they abandoned their fortress without firing a shot. During the rest of 1865 and 1866 the fighting was restricted to the West Coast.

In January 1866 an expedition was organised against the Hau-Haus, a body of fanatics whose religion was a strange mixture of cannibalism, paganism, and Christianity. The force consisted of 139 of the 14th, 100 men of the 18th Royal Irish and a like number of the 50th, 45 Forest Rangers, and 300 native auxiliaries under Major Rocke of the Royal Irish. This little army captured the palisaded village of Otahuhu and the Putahi Pah, a fort in the top of a hill 500 feet high covered with dense and primeval jungle. On the night of October 17th Papoia, a native village in the depths of the primitive forest, was captured, and the Hau-Haus no longer offered serious resistance. This was the last serious engagement in which the regular troops took part, and for the rest of the campaign, which terminated in 1869, the Colonials were engaged under the direction of Colonel (afterwards Sir George) Whitmore.

=The New Zealand Medal.=--This, the second in the chronological order of the series facing page 188, was granted to the troops and seamen who had taken part in the Maori Wars of 1845-6-7 and 1860-1-2-3-4-5-6. The medal, however, was not authorised by a general order until 1869, and there are twenty-two different dates for the army and ten for the navy in raised letters in the centre of a laurel wreath, above which, following the outline of the medal, is "NEW ZEALAND" and below "VIRTUTIS HONOR." On the obverse is the bust of Queen Victoria with a coronet, in which fleur-de-lis stand out prominently, holding a veil which falls upon the shoulders, and the legend VICTORIA D. G. BRITT. REG. F. D. The suspender is fashioned after the manner of a fern frond. This type is only seen with this medal, which is 1⅖ in. in diameter. No bars were issued, but the dates of service were struck as stated above, for example: 1845-7, 1860, or 1860-6; the rank, name, and ship or regiment being impressed on the edge. The medallists were Joseph S. and Alfred B. Wyon, but their names are not always found on truncation of the bust on the obverse of the medals. The ribbon, 1¼ in. wide, is dark blue with dark-red centre of equal width to the blue which borders it.

=North-West Frontier.=--Between the end of 1849 and the beginning of 1868 no less than seventeen expeditions had been sent to deal with the turbulent inhabitants on the North-West Frontier of India, but the troops which took part in the operations were not granted a medal until 1869, when by a general order dated July 1st it was decided to issue a medal for the services rendered, and then the India General Service Medal, with a bar inscribed NORTH WEST FRONTIER, was given to those who had taken part in fifteen of the expeditions enumerated below; to those who already possessed the medal the bar was added. The names and the regiments were impressed on the edge of the medal in Roman capitals.

The following regiments took part in the various expeditions. Regiments present, 1849: 60th and 61st. 1850: 60th, 61st, and 99th. 1852: 32nd, 53rd, and a battery of Royal Horse Artillery. 1853: 22nd, Guides, 66th Goorkas. 1857: 81st and 98th. 1863: bar for UMBEYLA--7th and 101st Fusiliers; 71st and 93rd Highlanders; half a battery of Royal Artillery and a Mountain Mule battery; the Guides, both Foot and Horse; a squadron of Probyn's Horse; 4th and 5th Goorkas; 3rd and 14th Sikhs; 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 20th Punjab Infantry; 23rd and 32nd Punjab Pioneers and a company of Native Sappers. End of December 1863 to January 1864: 79th Highlanders; 3rd Batt. Rifle Brigade; "D" Battery 5th Brigade Royal Horse Artillery; 7th Hussars and Native Corps.

=Umbeyla.=--At the end of 1863 a somewhat serious trouble again broke out on the borders of the Aklumd of Swat by the fanatical outbreak of Hindustanis, and a very arduous campaign had to be undertaken between October and December before the district settled down. This little war in Umbeyla (Ambela) was responsible for the death of a great number of officers; first the Buner people refused to allow Sir Neville Chamberlain's army to pass, and the commanding points on the mountains were repeatedly taken and retaken, despite the bravery of the Punjabis and the general gallantry of the troops. Around the Eagle's Nest and the Craig Piquet the most desperate fighting took place, and at the latter post Lieutenants Fosbery and Pitcher won the V.C. for their daring, but to little avail until the force was increased to 9,000 men, and then through strenuous opposition it pushed on, and the Hussanzaie tribes were dispersed. In this expedition 36 British and 31 native officers were killed, and 150 British and 689 native soldiers killed or wounded. A bar for this expedition was not authorised until July 1st, 1869.