Heavy artillery firing and shelling was already going on from the night before their final assault. The rebels had already chalked out their best-laid plans. However, Havelock's force had been partially successful to secure the residency, and was just waiting for the ultimate day to arrive. The effects for the crusade were completely uncalled for and unprecedented. At last the decisive day dawned. The final scheme adopted was to force the Charbagh bridge, then to follow a meandering lane skirting the left bank of the canal. From there the soldiers had to take a sharp turn to the left and push through the fortified palaces and bazaars which covered the ground extending to the very gates of the Residency. It was certain that the Charbagh bridge and every inch of ground beyond it would be dreadfully defended. The sick and wounded, the hospital, the baggage, and the food and ammunition reserves would meanwhile be left in Alambagh. It was to be guarded by 300 men, mostly fatigued, commanded by Major M'Intyre of the 78th. At half-past eight the advance sounded, and the first brigade, with Maude's battery in front, accompanied by Outram, moved off towards the Yellow House. Soon the rebel fire opened upon them. Maude, however, quickly cleared the way with his guns, and the men pushing on, drove their way to a point near the bridge. There they were halted, while Outram, with the 5th Fusiliers, made a detour to the right to clear the Charbagh garden. The 5th Fusiliers were with the view of bringing a flanking fire to bear on the strong defences of the bridge. The position of the rebels, indeed, could scarcely have been stronger. The Charbagh Bridge was defended on its farther side by an earthen rampart approximately seven feet high. The rampart stretched completely across the bridge, but having in the centre an opening through which only one man at a time could pass on foot. On this parapet were mounted six guns, two of them twenty-four-pounders. To the right of the bridge, on the side of the canal by which the British were advancing, were some enclosures occupied by the rebels. Such was the position. The men behind it were numerous, their guns were loaded, and there was every appearance that it would be desperately defended. On the British side were Maude's two guns in front. To their left, thrown forward, twenty-five men of the Madras Fusiliers, under Lieutenant Arnold, was striving to beat down the musketry fire from the tall houses on the other side. Behind Maude's guns, close by, were the remainder of the Madras Fusiliers, lying down and waiting till Maude's guns should have done their work. To the right, Outram was leading the 5th Fusiliers. In a bay of the wall of the Charbagh garden stood Neill and his Adjutant, waiting until Outram's flank movement should make itself felt. On the other side of the road, mounted, was young Havelock. The duel between Maude's guns and those of the rebels had raged for some time. The enemy had all the advantage of fighting under cover, and they had wrecked deadly havoc with Maude's gunners. One after another these had fallen, their places being supplied from the infantry behind them. So gruelling was the pressure that Maude and his Lieutenant, Maitland, were doing the work themselves. At the end of half-an-hour, Maude recognised that he was making no impression. Then he shouted out to young Havelock that he could not fight his guns much longer, and begged him to 'do something.' Havelock rode at once to Neill and suggested that he should charge the bridge. But Neill, feeling himself strangled by the presence of Outram, with his brigade, declared that in his absence he could not take the responsibility. Outram needed to turn up soon. Tytler then attempted to persuade him to give the order, but with the same result. Meanwhile, nothing had been heard of Outram and the 5th. The position was critical. Maude could not hold on much longer. A charge alone could repair the position. Recognising this, young Havelock, full of zeal, attempted a subterfuge. Riding to the rear, he suddenly turned his horse, and galloping back, rode up to Neill and, saluting him, stated the order to charge. Neill gave the order, directing Havelock and Tytler to form up the men. At the word, Arnold dashed forward with his handful on to the bridge, and made for the barricade. Young Havelock and Tytler were by his side in a moment. Then the tempest opened up. Arnold fell, shot through both thighs. Tytler's horse was killed, and he himself shot through the groin. Of the twenty-eight men who had dashed forward, Havelock and a private named Jakes alone were unwounded. Unable to pass the barricade, Havelock, erect on his horse, waved his sword and called on the main body to come on. Jakes stood by his side, loading and firing as fast as he could. There they stood unharmed, for fully two minutes exposed to the full fire of the enemy. Then suddenly there was a rush, and the Madras Fusiliers dashed forward. They cleared the bridge, stormed the barricade, and bayoneted the rebel gunners where they stood. The bridge was gained. The entrance gate into Lakhnao (Lucknow) was won. On the regiments of the second brigade closing up, in pursuit of the plan indicated, turned sharp to the right along the canal. There was one exception to this movement. The 78th was sent with orders to hold the end of the direct Kanhpur (Kanpur) road, cover the advance of the heavy guns, and then to follow the column as its rear-guard. The main body meanwhile, followed the lane along the canal for two miles, then turned northwards near the Dilkusha Bridge. Its progress was suddenly checked by a formidable obstacle. Before them, under leeside of Kaisarbagh, was a narrow bridge across a nullah (Indian usage for a deeply dug drainage system), commanded by guns and musketry fire from that building. The bridge could not hold more than two alongside each other. However, a rush was made, and the men who crossed, opened a fire on the rebels to cover the passage of their Comrades. Many men were struck down here, when suddenly the situation was mended by the 78th. The crossing was accomplished, and the men, reuniting, halted under cover of some deserted buildings near the Chatr Manzil. Darkness was now coming on. Outram had found the clearing of the Charbagh garden more serious than he anticipated, and had arrived after the bridge had been stormed. He then proposed that the force should halt where it was-at the Chatr Manzil-to await the arrival of the rearmost guard, of which they had no news, and of those it was escorting. There were numerous considerations in favour of such a plan, and there was only a sentimental reason against it. But Havelock considered that the importance of joining the beleaguered garrison overshadowed every other consideration. So they pushed on through the Khas bazaar, teeming with the enemy. From an archway in this bazaar Neill was shot dead in the act of giving an order to his Adjutant. Still the British forced their way, despite the uninterrupted musketry fire, until at last they emerged from the bazaar. Then they were exhilarated by the sound of cheering from the Residency. The 78th, and others who had pushed their way through other streets, appeared on the scene directly afterwards and joined in the cry. They were not yet, however, within the Residency. The night was dark, and a way had to be made for them before they could embark. Not all entered that night. Many of the men lay on the ground between the Baillic guard gateway and the Farhatbakhsh palace, and rejoined their comrades early in the morning. The 78th regiment had had a hard time of it. Directed by Havelock to see to the safety of the heavy guns, it had deviated from the main body, and reached a point indicated on the Kanhpur (Kanpur) road. There, for a time, the men remained undisturbed, when suddenly hordes of natives set upon them. For three hours they resisted every attack. Then, the number of the rebels increasing, they ramped a temple, and held it against the enraged enemy. Vainly did the latter bring up three brass guns. The British soldiers, led on by Webster, Herbert Macpherson, and other gallant officers, charged and captured these, and threw them into the canal. Still the clash went on, and it required another charge before the rebels could be compelled to relinquish their hopes of victory. The Highlanders then, seeing nothing of the heavy guns, pushed on, with the idea to rejoin their comrades of the main body. But taking a shorter road through the Hazratganj quarter, they arrived in close vicinity to the Kaisarbagh just as the guns from that building were playing on the Fusiliers. The 78th dashed into the battery, and made the road smooth by its capture. They then pushed on in a coalition with the rest to the Baillic guard. The English progress had been rendered very difficult by the deep trenches which the rebels had cut across the road. But under the guidance of Lieutenant Moorsom, they had deviated from the main road and went by a shorter route, unopposed, to the Baillic guard. The rearmost guard, however, with two big guns, still remained unaccounted for. To search for and rescue these, Outram despatched, on the 26th, a force under Colonel Robert Napier. Napier found them holding the passage in front of the Moti Mahal, and brought them in the following morning. The wounded who had reached that palace were not so fortunate in their attempt to reach the Residency. The volunteer escort mistook the way, and some forty helpless men were done to death, some by the daggers of the rebels, some by the fire applied in a trifling manner to their band. The losses sustained in this glorious operation were heavy. The official return puts them at 196 killed and 535 wounded. Those losses were obtained in the hope that, as a satisfactory result of them, the defenders of the Residency would be relieved. As it was, they were merely reinforced. At first Outram inclined to the belief that it would be possible to fall back upon Kanhpur (Kanpur). But his better judgment triumphed. |
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