A Year's Campaigning in India: From March, 1857, to March, 1858 |
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2nd Punjab 2nd Punjab Cavalry 4th Punjab 4th Punjab Infantry advance Agra Allyghur Alumbagh amongst arms army arrived assault attack battery Bengal Bozdars breach bridge Brigadier camp campaign cantonments Captain Cawnpore Chief Engineer close column Commander-in-Chief commanding officer corps Delhi Dera Ghazee Khan Derajat ditch duty enemy enemy's European fight fire flank force front frontier garrison Goorkhas Government Grand Trunk Road ground head-quarters heavy guns hills Huzrut Gunge India Kaiser Bagh knew Koodsea Bagh Lahore light guns Lucknow Ludlow Castle marched Meerut ment miles military morning musketry mutiny Native officers night nullah o'clock Oude palace Pandy parapet party pass Peshawur picket Poorbeah position Punjab Cavalry Punjab Infantry Punjab Rifles rear rebels regiments retreat ridge river road rode round shot Sappers Secundra Bagh Sepoys shell siege siege of Lucknow skirmishers soldiers strong THACKER troops Umballa walls whole wounded yards
Popular passages
Page 98 - ... watch, and we heard several men running from the left towards the breach. We therefore reascended, though with some difficulty, and throwing ourselves down on the grass, waited in silence for what was to happen. A number of figures immediately appeared on the top of the breach, their forms clearly discernible against the bright sky, and not twenty yards distant. We, however, were in the deep shade, and they could not apparently see us.
Page 82 - They were merely the unarmed native pioneers, and not meant to be fighting men. With the passive courage so common to natives, as man after man was knocked over, they would stop a moment, weep a little over their fallen friend, pop his body in a row along with the rest, and then work on as before.
Page 97 - Creeping quietly through the garden, we quickly found ourselves under a large tree on the edge of the cover ; and here we halted for a moment, conversing only in whispers. The enemy's skirmishers were firing away on our right, some thirty yards from us, and the flashes of their muskets lit up the air as if they had been fireflies. The shells and rockets of the enemy at one moment illumined the space around, as they sailed over our heads, and then left us in total darkness.
Page 99 - ... extreme hazard of the attempt, and the utter impossibility of rescuing any one that might be wounded in the ditch, made me abandon the idea, when I further reflected that we had, in reality, gained all the needful information. After waiting, therefore, some minutes longer, I gave a signal ; the whole of us jumped up at once, and ran back towards our own ground. Directly we were discovered, a volley was sent after us ; the balls came whizzing about our ears, but no one was touched.
Page 109 - Burgess, bidding him light the fusee. Burgess was instantly shot dead in the attempt. Sergeant Carmichael then advanced, took up the port-fire, and succeeded in the attempt, but immediately fell, mortally wounded. Sergeant Smith, seeing him fall, advanced at a run, but, finding that the fuse was already burning, threw himself down into the ditch, where the bugler had already conveyed poor Salkeld. In another moment a terrific explosion shattered the massive gate. The bugle sounded the advance, and...
Page 98 - A number of figures immediately appeared on the top of the breach, their forms clearly discernible against the bright sky, and not twenty yards distant. We, however, were in the deep shade, and they could not apparently see us. They conversed in a low tone, and presently we heard the ring of their steel ramrods as they loaded. We waited quietly, hoping they would go away, when another attempt might be made. Meanwhile, we could see that the breach was a good one, the slope easy of ascent, and that...
Page 98 - Lang and I emerged into the open, and pushed straight for the breach. In five minutes we found ourselves on the edge of the ditch, the dark mass of the Cashmere Bastion immediately on the other side, and the breach distinctly discernible. Not a soul was in sight. The counterscarp was sixteen feet deep, and steep. Lang slid down first, I passed down the ladder, and taking two men out of the six, descended after him, leaving the other four on the cope to cover our retreat.
Page 98 - H and rockets of the enemy at one moment illumined the space around, as they sailed over our heads, and then left us in total darkness. We now left the Rifle officer, Lieutenant H , and his twenty men in support, and with the six men who were to accompany us, L and I emerged into the open, and pushed straight for the breach. In five minutes we found ourselves on the edge of the ditch, the dark mass of the Cashmere Bastion immediately on the other side, and the breach distinctly discernible. Not a...
Page 99 - We knew by experience, too, that the ditch was easy of descent. It was, however, desirable, if possible, to get to the top ; but the sentries would not move. At one time the thought occurred to me of attempting the ascent by force. We might have shot two or three of them from where we lay, and in the surprise the rest might have run, and we could have been to the top and back before they had seen how small our party was ; but the extreme hazard of the attempt, and the utter impossibility of rescuing...