Guns to the Far East (24 page)

“
I
told you?” Phillip questioned, feeling the colour drain from his cheeks. “I don't recall that I—”

“You let it out, sir,” Edward Daniels explained apologetically. “When we were in that house where—the one they call the Bibigarh—and I remembered. Captain Thomson remembered too, of course, and he—he gave me this to give you. An officer of Havelock's Force found it in the Bibigarh and entrusted it to him for safe keeping, it … it's a Bible, sir.” He held out the leather-bound book, opened at the flyleaf and Phillip saw, as he took it, that both binding and flyleaf were ominously stained. Written on the flyleaf was an inscription and he felt a lump rise in his throat as he recognised the neat, masculine hand and read:
“For my darling Lavinia … with fondest love from Tom.”

“I do hope, sir …” Daniels's anxious and still slightly slurred voice broke into his thoughts and Phillip roused himself, forestalling the boy's question.

“You were right to give me this,” he said, forcing himself to speak without emotion. “I'm grateful, my dear lad, I …” A vision of the room in which Lavinia's Bible had been found swam before his eyes, in all its remembered horror. He had prayed, often and fervently, that she had died in the entrenchment or even in the attack on the boats and might thus have been spared the final appalling torture of confinement in that darkly shadowed room and death, at the hands of brutal, merciless butchers, at the end of it. But now … He looked at the little leather-bound book and could not suppress a shudder as he thrust it into the breast pocket of his frock coat. Dear God, how could he say that he would treasure the hideous, bloodsmeared relic? How could he … He met Daniels's unhappy gaze and managed to smile at him reassuringly. “I shall always keep it. I'm only sorry it caused you so much heart-searching and … distress.”

Young Daniels looked relieved. “I wasn't sure if you'd want it, sir. But Captain Thomson said you would. He also said, sir, that Lieutenant Hill was a very gallant officer.” He rose, obviously thankful that his self-imposed task had been completed and added, before taking his leave, “He was one of those who formed a guard of honour for poor old General Wheeler, Thomson said. The terms of the surrender granted them the honours of war, so the guard formed up outside the entrenchment when the General was leaving to go down to the
ghat.
They presented arms to him and then marched ahead of him to the boats and most of them were killed, trying to push the boats out into the channel. Thomson thinks that your—your brother-in-law was among them. I … that is goodnight, Commander Hazard.”

“Goodnight, Mr Daniels,” Phillip responded automatically. “And … thank you again.”

Left alone he sat for a long time, his head resting on his hands. He must seal his letter, he knew—the Chaplain was collecting mail for dispatch and would be here soon, asking for his, and he had not yet written to Graham. That could wait, of course—in all probability, Graham and Catriona had not yet returned to Calcutta—and in any case, mail to Calcutta was getting through fairly regularly and quickly now, thanks to the re-establishment of the
dak
and the recently opened rail link from Lahonda to Allahabad. But the letter to his father must go and … He opened it, to read through what he had written. It was a cheerful letter, he decided, and was better so. He picked up his pen again and added a postscript.

“One thing may amuse you, Father,”
he wrote.
“The natives apparently have a wholesome fear of our Jacks. They believe them to be ‘little men, four feet high and four feet in the beam, always laughing and dragging their guns about.' Some wag—I suspect one of our younger lieutenants—spread the story that we are cannibals, who salt down the bodies of the slain for future use and, for this purpose, each man carries a clasp-knife at his side! Despite its patent absurdity, this tale has gained credence even among our native camp followers who, it seems, will believe anything.”

They also believed that the kilted 93rd were the ghosts of the women massacred at Cawnpore, Phillip recalled, and a knife twisted in his heart. But the cannibal story would undoubtedly give the old Admiral a quiet chuckle, so he signed his name and sealed the letter. It was ready when the Naval Brigade's Chaplain, the Reverend Edward Bowman, came to collect it.

At daybreak the following morning, the advance began. After marching for some three miles, the advance-guard came under attack by a body of rebel infantry with two guns, positioned near the old fort of Jellalabad on the right. Captain Bouchier's Field Battery, from the Delhi Column, swiftly and efficiently silenced the enemy's guns, while a squadron of Hodson's Horse, under the command of Lieutenant Hugh Gough, made a detour and under cover of some fields of cane, came up unseen on their left flank. Although there were an estimated two thousand sepoy and
zamindari
troops opposed to them, the squadron made a spirited charge through swampy ground and, taking them completely by surprise, succeeded in routing them and capturing both guns.

Camp was pitched that evening in the rear of the Alam Bagh, a large walled palace four miles from Lucknow, which had been held by three hundred men of Havelock's first Relief Force, under the command of Major McIntyre of the 78th Highlanders, since 25th September. McIntyre had maintained contact with the Residency by means of a semaphore, mounted on the roof and, whilst waiting for the arrival of Sir Colin Campbell, his garrison had been supplied and substantially reinforced from Cawnpore and by Hope Grant's Delhi Column, which had evacuated his sick and wounded. Now his gallant garrison, formed into a batallion of detachments from the regiments besieged in the Residency and commanded by Major Barnston of the 78th, marched out to join the Relief Force, their places being taken by the three hundred-strong 75th Regiment
*
and fifty Sikhs.

Baggage, tents, and reserve supplies were moved into the Alam Bagh and each man of the Relief Force was issued with three days' haversack rations as, by semaphore, Sir Colin Campbell signalled to Sir James Outram in the Residency that it was his intention to continue the advance at first light on the 14th. William Peel, returning from a brief unit Commanders' conference next day, explained the plan of action that had been decided upon to his assembled officers, a map of the area spread out before him.

“We are to advance due east from the Alam Bagh, gentlemen,” he told them. “Across flat country, much of which is under cultivation, to the Dilkusha, which is a double-storied palace standing on a plateau near the river—here, to the northeast.” His finger jabbed at the map, as he went into details concerning the terrain. “When the Dilkusha is occupied, the advance will continue northwards for half a mile, to the Martinière, which is a vast pile of buildings with a central tower and four turrets. This, in turn, will be occupied and Sir Colin intends to use it as his base for the next part of the operation with which we shall be directly concerned—the capture of a very formidable obstacle indeed, the Sikanderbagh Palace. This, I am told, is a very extensive building of strong masonry set in a large garden and encircled by a twenty-foot-high wall— loopholed, for musketry, of course, and with bastions at each angle. To reach it, the canal must be crossed—here—we must follow the river bank for about a mile, and then swing sharply to the left—or west—to join a road which runs to the rear of the Sikanderbagh.” He paused, inviting questions, and Lieutenant Vaughan asked about expected opposition.

“Sir Colin expects little from the Dilkusha and the Martinière.” Peel grinned. “The worst you'll have to contend with will be getting our guns across the fields and streams, whilst the advance guard and the Horse Artillery clear the way ahead to the Martinière. There's a bridge over the canal but some villages will have to be cleared—here and here—before it can be used. Two of our twenty-four-pounder guns are to take up position to cover the leading infantry brigade as it passes the Martinière and heads towards the canal … here. We shall have to use our best endeavours to get them there by noon, which is the time Sir Colin estimates that the Martinière will be in our hands. He intends to make a strong reconnaissance towards the Char Bagh Bridge—here—in the hope of deluding the Pandies into the belief that he'll follow General Havelock's route to the Residency but he'll call on the horsed guns for that, because the terrain is difficult.”

Again he went into details and Phillip listened with rapt attention, peering over his shoulder at the map.

“As to opposition,” Peel went on, “that is expected to be heavy at the Sikanderbagh. It is said to be held by about two thousand trained sepoy troops and there's a village, also occupied by Pandies, close to it, so the advance may be held up there. However, once it's been taken, Sir Colin intends to use the shortest route to the Residency—the one Havelock took—westwards, to aim at joining up with Outram at the Moti Mahal … here. He'll make a sally and set up gun batteries to cover our advance. Between us and the Moti Mahal is a flat plain … here. It's approximately twelve hundred yards wide, gentlemen, crossed by a good road. About three hundred yards along it is a village, with garden enclosures round it, which is expected to be held and a mosque, called the Shah Nujeef, beyond and about a hundred and fifty yards east of the Moti Mahal, which we know to be very strongly held. Well …” He paused. “We need not to go into that part of our route in detail now, because Sir Colin doesn't expect today's advance to take us further than the Martinière.”

A number of questions were asked and answered, with admirable lucidity, by Peel; commands were allocated and the order of march settled. As First Lieutenant, Jim Vaughan was officially designated second-in-command and Phillip, to his own surprise, was appointed to act as naval liaison officer to the Commander-in-Chief … the same role that he had played, three years before, at Balaclava, when Sir Colin Campbell had commanded the Highland Brigade.

At dawn on 14th November, the column began to form and at nine o'clock the advance began across a wide, flat plain, well cultivated with corn and sugar-cane and dotted with clumps of trees. Screened by cavalry, the advance guard moved forward steadily for three miles and encountered the first opposition at the wall of the Dilkusha, which was lined by musketeers. They were quickly driven back by the guns of the Horse Artillery; a gap in the wall was found and cavalry and guns galloped through, the enemy retreating before them. The Dilkusha Palace was occupied with scarcely a shot fired but, on reaching the crest of the plateau, the cavalry advance guard came under a heavy fire of artillery and musketry and was compelled to halt until Captain Remmington's horsed battery, a Royal Artillery howitzer, and Captain Bouchier's eighteen-pounder Field Battery could unlimber and reply to the enemy guns.

Under cover of their fire, the main body of the British infantry continued the advance, driving the rebels from the Martinière at the point of the bayonet, and the cavalry—led in a stirling charge by Lieutenant Watson's Punjab Horse— chased them right up to the canal bank. By noon, as Sir Colin Campbell had estimated, both the Dilkusha and the Martinière were in British hands and Phillip—who thus far had been a mere spectator—was sent to guide the Naval Brigade's two 24-pounders into position between the wall of the Martinière and the canal. Scarcely had they reached the wooded compound, however, than guns and gunners came under a very heavy fire of roundshot and musketry and Phillip, after making a swift reconnaissance, rode back to advise Peel to change their position. This was done rapidly and the enemy driven off before they could inflict any casualties and, when Captain Bouchier's eighteen-pounder battery came up in support, all opposition ceased. With night coming on, the men were ordered to bivouac, the gunners sleeping beside their guns.

Unhappily, the accidental explosion of one of the howitzers caused the death of a petty officer named Cassidy and wounded two others and Peel—learning that the same explosion had also killed one of the Highlanders—was beside himself with distress.

Next day, while stores and reserve ammunition were brought up and small holding forces took over the two newly captured palaces, Sir Colin Campbell's feint attack on the Char Bagh Bridge was launched, the artillery being massed on the left front, with orders to keep up a continuous bombardment of the city throughout the night. The Naval Brigade's rockets were used with great effect and the howitzers shelled the Begum's Palace and the rebels' defences along the canal bank whilst, in the rear, the 93rd beat off a number of heavy infantry attacks on the baggage and ammunition waggons, making their slow way from the Alam Bagh to the Dilkusha Palace.

Sir Colin Campbell was at his most abrasive, angered by the delay in sending up the ammunition, without which he could not advance, and Phillip—in common with the rest of his staff—spent the day galloping from post to post with orders and bringing back reports which, if they did not please the Commander-in-Chief, resulted in the man who delivered them receiving the rough side of the C-in-C's tongue. By evening, however, all was in readiness for an advance on the Sikanderbagh; it was ordered for eight o'clock the following morning and Campbell made amends to his staff with apologies and compliments.

*
The 75th had suffered very severe casualties in the siege of Delhi and was reduced to three hundred officers and men.

L
ittle sleep was possible
that night; disturbed by the ceaseless roar of cannon fire, Phillip tossed and turned restlessly, and Sir Colin Campbell paced, only partially dressed, on the steps of the Martinière as he anxiously awaited the arrival of the last convoy of camels, laden with small-arms ammunition, which he had ordered up from the rear. By eight o'clock, the advance guard of Hodson's Horse, Blunt's troop of Bengal Horse Artillery, and a company of the 53rd, was in motion. Brigadier Hope Grant's main body—the 93rd, the rest of the 53rd and the 4th Punjab Infantry—followed, with the Lancers, the 23rd, and two companies of the 82nd, under Brigadier Russell, in support.