History Of The Indian Mutiny Of 1857-8 – Vol. VI [Illustrated Edition]

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Text originally published in 1911 under the same title.

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Publisher’s Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

History of the Indian Mutiny of 1857–8

in six volumes

Volume VI

By Colonel G. B. Malleson

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

DEDICATION 5

Preface to the Sixth Volume 6

Book 18 – The Civil Districts 9

Chapter 1 – The Territories under the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal 9

Purpose of this Final Volume – General Description of the Lower Provinces – Detail of the Divisions comprising those Provinces – Description of Orisa and Katak – Peacefulness of the Orisa Division in 1857-8 – Bardwan and the Presidency Division – Calcutta and the Government – Sound views of the English Mercantile Community regarding the repressing of the Revolt – Lord Dalhousie’s opinion regarding the action of the Government and Sir P. Grant. Note to Mr. J. P. Grant and Sir Patrick Grant – Major Orfeur Cavenagh – Great services rendered by Orfeur Cavenagh to the Government in the early part of 1857 – Formation of the Volunteer Guards – Colonel Montagu Turnbull – Cavenagh and the Volunteers – The Eve of Panic Sunday – How the Body Guard was disarmed – How the Yeomanry Cavalry was formed – Précis of Major Cavenagh’s service and character – Mr. Samuel Wauchope – Great services rendered by Mr. Wauchope – Mr. Daniel Mackinlay – The Twenty-four Parganahs – Murshidabad – Jalpaiguri and Colonel Sherer – Dhakah and its dangers – The Khwaja Abdul Gani – Capacity and Conduct of Mr. Davidson – Precautions taken by Mr. Halliday – The Sipahis break out and escape – Chitragaon – Asam – Western Bihar – Mr. William Tayler, Sir Vincent Eyre, and Mr. Vickers Boyle, the saviours of Bihar and Bengal – Eastern Bihar and Mr George Yule – Chutia Nagpur and Captain Dalton – The principal dangers to, and importance of, Bengal – How these dangers were averted 9

Chapter 2 – The Territories under the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces 35

What the North-Western Provinces were – Banana and Mr H. C. Tucker – Mr. Frederick Gubbins – Mr. Lind, Mr. Archibald Pollock, Mr. Jenkinson – Initial Difficulties at Hatteras in 1857 – Devotion of Surat Singh – And of the Rao, Devnarain Singh – Loyalty of the Rajah of Banaras and of Pandit Gokal Chand – Energy of Mr. F. C. Chapman – The District and Station of Mirzapur – Energy of St. George Tucker and Prudence of Colonel Pott – Revolts in the District – Mr. Moore is killed at Pali – Arrival of the Revolted Sipahis from Danapur – And of Mutineers from Chutia Nagpur – Renewed energy of Tucker, of Walker, of Elliott, and of F. O. Mayne – Jaunpur – Energetic conduct of Mr. Lind and Mr. Jenkinson – Loyalty of the Dubé Clan and its Chief – Gallantry of Venables and Dunn – Gorakhpur – Mr. Wynyard and the Difficulties of his position there – He receives extra powers to act independently – The Sipahis manifest discontent and the Prisoners try to escape from the Gaol – Wynyard amid great difficulties bolds his own – Fugitives from Oudh arrive – Some Gurkhas reach Gorakhpur – Wynyard receives from the Governor-General an Autograph Letter of Thanks – The Mutiny at Sigauli necessitates the evacuation of Gorakhpur – All the Officials save Mr. Bird quit the place – The result to Mr. Bird of his remaining – Credit due to Wynyard and his Companions – Ghazipur and Mr. A. Ross – Good Services rendered by Mr. Bax – The District continues to be disturbed till the end of 1858 – Azamgarh – Conduct of Mr. Astell, Mr. Home, Mr. Venables, Mr. Dunn, and of Ali Baksh – Disordered state of the district – Mr. Venables and Mr. Dunn organise measures to restore Order – They are joined by Messrs. Davies and Simson with Troops of sorts – Venables, forced to retreat, covers his retreat in a manner worthy of Massena – Mr. H. C. Tucker, of Banaras, orders the evacuation of the District – Fidelity of certain Native Officials – The subsequent history of Azamgarh – Credit due to Venables, Dunn, Archibald Pollock, and Hercules Ross 35

Chapter 3 – The Allahabad Division 58

Locality and Early History of Allahabad – Early days of the Mutiny at Allahabad – The Arrival of Neill gives the first check to the Rebels – The Three Natural Divisions of Allahabad – Means taken to preserve and to restore Order – The lawlessness of Amateur Judges contrasted with the measured justice of Trained Officials – The Monetary Arrangements of the Division – Mr. M. H. Court’s great services – The Collector on the spot and his Superior in Calcutta – Fathpur – Kanhpur, Mr. Sherer, and Captain Bruce – Difficulties with the District Landowners – Judgment and merciful policy of the Conquerors on the restoration of Order – Bandah – The Nawab and Mr. F. O. Mayne – Resolute conduct in difficult circumstances displayed by Mr. Mayne – He is forced to quit Bandah – Consequent Anarchy in Bandah – Painful position of the Nawab of Bandah – The English re-occupy Bandah – Justice and Mercy of Mr. Mayne – his high qualities recognised by his countrymen – Hamirpur – Slaughter of Europeans at Hamirpur – Anarchy prevails there until Sir Hugh Rose re-conquers Central India 58

Chapter 4 – The Agra and Rohilkhand Divisions 69

The Districts of the Division of Agra – Mathura, and Mr. Thornhill – The Winter of 1856-7 is unmarked by any extraordinary event in the Mathura District – The Circulation of the Chapatis breeds suspicion – On receiving news of the Mutiny at Mirath, Thornhill despatches the Ladies and Children to Agra – The Situation becomes perilous – Troops from Bhartpur arrive – Captain Nixon who commands them proposes to suspend his movement on Delhi to render Mathura secure – At length the Bhartpur Troops start fur Delhi, Thornhill following them to the verge of his district – When he hears of the Mutiny of the Sipahi Guard at Mathura – Sends information to Agra – The Troops of the Bhartpur force mutiny – Thornhill and Joyce set out for Agra – Incidents of the Journey – They reach Agra, the first bearers of ill news – Mr. Colvin’s mind waning – Thornhill returns to Mathura and puts up with the Seths – By great striving succeeds in maintaining order – The toils close around him – Flight being necessary shall they take the Land-route or the River-route? – Thornhill and Joyce make for Agra by the Land-route – Incidents of the Journey – Final recovery of Mathura – Farrukhabad and Fathgarh – Mainpuri and Itawah – Rohilkhand – Bijnaur and Mr. Shakespear – The effect produced by the Mutiny at Bijnaur – Mr. Shakespear takes measures to meet the difficulties of the situation – He secures, as far as he can, the Money of the State – Mahmud Khan, Nawab of Najihabad, gives trouble – The Successful Mutiny at Bareli greatly increases the difficulties of the situation – Shakespear and Gough manage to send a portion of the Money to Mirath – Shakespear, by tact and temper, controls the Nawab – Is forced at last to place that Chief in charge of the District – And returns with the Officials and Ladies to Rurki – The Nawab installs himself as Ruler for the King of Delhi – And begins to persecute the Hindus – Shakespear transfers charge of the District to two loyal Muhammadans – But these are driven out by the Nawab – The Nawab massacres the Hindus and carries his raids across the Ganges – Boisragon attacks and defeats the Rebels at Khankal – Jones’s Force enters Rohilkhand – Shakespear resumes his Duties and renders great service to General Jones – He reorganizes the District with tact and judgment – The Mirath Division – Dehra Dun, Mr. Keene, and the European Population – Mr. Keene organizes defensive Measures – He receives bad news from outside his District – Marches against the Rebels, who escape – Practical manner in which Keene surmounted the difficulties regarding Food and Money – Dehra Dun, under his guidance, passes through the ordeal – Saharanpur and Mr. Spankie – Testimony of Baird Smith to the splendid services of Spankie – Muzaffarnagar and Mr. Edwards – Energetic action of Sir. Edwards – Mirath and Mr. Wallace Dunlop – Mr. Dunlop sets out from the Himalayas, where he hears of the Mutiny – Adventures on the Road – He reaches Mirath, enlists Sikhs, and raises Volunteers – Formation of the famous Khaki Risala – The Khaki Risala marches against and attacks the Gujars – Atrocities of the Gujars – Devastations of Sah Mall – Dunlop sets out to check them – Initial success of his march – Dunlop’s single combat with the nephew of Sah Mall – Defeats Sah Mall, who is slain – Receives, and effectively answers, an insolent message from Narpat Singh – With the fall of Delhi the necessity for the labours of the Khaki Risala cease – Who and what were the volunteers of the Khaki Risala – Revolt at Bulandshahr – Splendid exertions of Mr. Brand Sapte, Mr. Ross, Mr. Alfred Lyall – General revolt of the district – Recovery of the district – Curious case of a Christian girl who married a Muhammadan trooper – Justice rendered to Mr. Brand Sapte – Aligarh – Splendid exploit of eleven Englishmen – The Delhi division – Gurgaon and Hisar – Panipat and Rohtak – The sympathy was with the Mughul 69

Chapter 5 – Sindh and the Native States of India 109

Sindh and Sir Charles Napier – Frere becomes Chief Commissioner in 1850 – Splendid work accomplished by Frere – Rough description of the Province – Frere goes to England and returns on the eve of the Mutiny – Clear diagnosis of Frere as to the course to be adopted – Denudes his own province to save the empire – The Native States of India – Their position prior and subsequent to the year 1818 – Sindhia, and Holkar – What is Rajputana? – Bikanir – Jaisalmir – Krishngarh – Karauli – Alwar – Tonk – Dholpur – Udaipur – Dungapur – Banswara – Partabgarh – Jaipur – Jodhpur – Bhartpur – Bundi – Kota – Jhalawar – Sirohi – Summary of the attitude of Rajputana in 1857 – Similar conclusions to be drawn from the attitude of Central India – The Nawab of Jaura – The Begam of Bhopal – Rewah, Urchhah, Chhatarpur, Datia, Samptar – Jhansi and Bundelkhand – Western India – Southern India – How in the places in which no attempt had been made to supersede native customs by the crude ideas of western doctrinaires the people remained loyal – And – the opposite 109

Chapter 6 – The Indian Navy 129

The officers of the Indian navy – Lewis and Mayo at Dhakah and in the Abor Hills – Carew and Batt in the Shahabad district – Chicken gains the Victoria Cross – Services of Duval, Wray, Scamp, Barron, Burbank, and Windus – Chitty and Sweeny render excellent service on the western coast – Appreciation of the services of Griffith Jenkins – Official appreciation of the services of the officers of the Indian navy – One final military episode – Devotion, unselfishness, and death of Tomkinson 129

ILLUSTRATIONS 134

DEDICATION

I would dedicate this volume to the memory of Samuel Wauchope, C.B., Commissioner of Police in Calcutta during the Mutiny of 1857, as a small testimony to his many excellent qualities as a man and as an official.

Preface to the Sixth Volume

In the original edition of this work I attached to the fifth – in that styled the third – volume an account in detail of the events of the Mutiny in five civil districts. There was no special reason why five districts only should be selected, and my publishers yielded readily to a suggestion I made them that in this complete edition, a short sketch should be given of the occurrences in other civil stations in which mutiny was rampant. I have endeavoured to accomplish this task amid many difficulties, for during the ten years which have elapsed since the first edition appeared, many of the actors have been removed, leaving no journals and no record of the scenes through which they passed. The reader, however, will, I think, find in this volume much information, which, if not altogether new, is now, for the first time, allotted its proper place in a history of the Mutiny.

I have been specially glad to bring more prominently to notice the services of men whose splendid conduct had been more or less overshadowed, in the preceding volumes, by the glare of the military operations. Prominently amongst these I would mention the conduct of Major (now Sir Orfeur) Cavenagh, and of the late Mr. Samuel Wauchope, of the Civil Service, in Calcutta; of Mr. Frederick Gubbins, of Mr. Lind, and of Mr. Jenkinson, at Banaras; of Major Court at Allahabad; of Mr. Sherer at Kanhpur; of Mr. Wynyard at Gorakhpur; of Mr. Robert Spankie and of Mr. Robertson, at Saharanpur; of Mr. Dunlop at Mirath; of Mr. Thornhill at Mathura; of Mr. Allen and Mr. Cockburn in eastern Bengal; and of Mr. (afterwards Sir Bartle) Frere, in Sindh. There are many others, whose deeds, so far as I have been able to collate them, are recorded in this volume. My only fear is lest I should have omitted many details which, from the interest of the occurrences and from the long-suffering and gallantry of the actors, ought to be recorded. I shall hope, if such should prove to be the case, to have an opportunity hereafter of remedying the short-coming.

I have thought it desirable, moreover, in justice to the splendid administration of British India by our countrymen, in the past and in the present, to add to this volume a sketch of the actual conduct in the most trying crisis India has experienced under British rule, of the several native chiefs who occupied semi-independent positions throughout the peninsula, under the protection of Great Britain. Many details giving ample evidence of their attachment to their overlord on the part of the chiefest among them have been given in preceding volumes. But I thought that a short survey of the conduct of those who, in central India, in Rajputana, in western and in southern India, had an opportunity, such as their ancestors at the beginning of the present century would have eagerly clutched at, of rooting out the sway of the western foreigner, would tell, more eloquently than a laboured defence, the secret of the success of the British rule. When the Mutiny broke out, not forty years had elapsed since the forces of Holkar had been ranged against the British at Mehidpur; and since the Peshwa had struck his last blow for independence. Not fourteen had passed since the troops of Sindhia encountered their final defeat at Maharajpur; not fifteen since Sindh had been conquered; not eight since the Sikhs had been arrayed against Lord Gough at Chilianwala and Gujrat. On each and all of these occasions, the successful blow struck by the British had been followed by a policy so lenient, so restorative, so inspiring of confidence in British justice, that when the Mutiny broke out, and the Sipahis, the landowners in the provinces of the North-West, the Talukdars of Oudh, and the King of Delhi, made common cause against the British, the latter found their strongest adherents in the Sindhia, whose ancestors had vowed their destruction; in the Sikhs, who had given them a very hard nut to crack in 1849-50; in the Rajputana, which they had rescued thirty-nine years before; in the Haidarabad, which, since the time of Clive, had never deviated from its fidelity; and in the Sindh, held together by the powerful grasp of Mr. Frere. These are facts more eloquent than words. No more complete justification for the presence in India of the foreign islanders, who base their tale on justice and toleration of the widest character, could possibly be given. Within fourteen years of the last war in India south of the Satlaj, the Pretorians of the paramount power suddenly rose in revolt. The native princes, whom we had first conquered, then protected, far from making common cause with the revolters, hastened to huddle together round the scattered remnants of that paramount power, and aiding it with all their resources, helped to maintain it, until it should receive renewed strength from its island home. It is hard to say, indeed, how the British would have fared, if Sindhia – second in descent from the Sindhia who had fought Wellesley and Lake, and third from the Madhaji who died just as his plans for a Maratha Empire had ripened – had moved against us in June and July, 1857.

I would crave leave to add a few words regarding the spelling I adopted when writing of places in India. My system has been cavilled at by some, has been supported by others. I have been glad to find that whilst among the former are retired Indians, disinclined to break with the haphazard system dear to them from long connection, the modern school has ranged itself on my side. How, indeed, in this age of progress and enlightenment, could it be otherwise? I have simply spelt names as those names are written in the vernacular language of the country to which those names belong. It is the more necessary that this system should be adopted, as, in India, every name has a meaning, and that meaning would be utterly lost, if the no-system, originated by men ignorant of the native languages, and blindly accepted by their successors, were adhered to. I will add another reason for adopting the Indian nomenclature, which, to my mind, is unanswerable. That nomenclature is adopted now, with a few exceptions, which I regret, by the Government of India in its official Gazette. It is to a great extent adopted, with the same exceptions, by the press of India; and it is adopted by the Guide-Books and Gazetteers, which constitute the principal sources of information regarding the country to the tourist. In these days the number of tourists who visit India in the winter is increasing. Let us take the case of one or more of these intending travellers. Before starting on their tour they buy a Murray’s Handbook, and possibly a Forbes’s Guide to Conversation. Certainly, Murray’s Handbook is indispensable, for the descriptions, especially in the Handbook for Bengal, which includes the North-Western Provinces and Delhi, are just what the traveller requires. Probably he begins to read the Handbook before he sets out, or, certainly, on the journey, and becomes familiarized with the names. Now, Captain Eastwick, who wrote Murray’s Handbook, is a very purist in the way of spelling. All his places are spelt as the natives write them. They are spelt so, likewise, in Forbes’s Manual, and in his dictionary; so, generally, though nut absolutely, in the new and revised edition of Thornton’s Gazetteer. When the traveller lands in India, and, speaking to natives, pronounces names and things as he has found them spelt in the Guide-Book he has studied, he finds he is understood. He sees, on the other bond, that the native can with difficulty comprehend those who pronounce native names as the adherents of the time-honoured, indeed, but utterly haphazard, system spell them. That system may, I am thankful to say, be numbered with the past. No published writer of the present day who has any knowledge of India and its people would dream of using it. It is dying out, and will shortly disappear. Future generations will wonder that a people who call themselves enlightened should have tolerated the barbarism so long.

In conclusion, I would with great respect lay the last volume of this work before the public as the concluding words of an attempt to describe, faithfully and without prejudice, the most marvellous episode of modern times. There had been nothing to equal it in the world’s history before. I repeat here, what I have said in a previous volume, that no harder task was ever suddenly thrown upon a nation than that cast upon the British in 1857. In achieving it, they literally conquered the impossible: that is, they performed a task which, I believe, no other people in the world. could have accomplished. They conquered, because, in the darkest hour, they never despaired; because, believing in their own energies, they dared to be great.

G. B. Malleson

27, West Cromwell Road

1st October, 1889

Book 18 – The Civil Districts

Chapter 1 – The Territories under the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal

Purpose of this Final Volume – General Description of the Lower Provinces – Detail of the Divisions comprising those Provinces – Description of Orisa and Katak – Peacefulness of the Orisa Division in 1857-8 – Bardwan and the Presidency Division – Calcutta and the Government – Sound views of the English Mercantile Community regarding the repressing of the Revolt – Lord Dalhousie’s opinion regarding the action of the Government and Sir P. Grant. Note to Mr. J. P. Grant and Sir Patrick Grant – Major Orfeur Cavenagh – Great services rendered by Orfeur Cavenagh to the Government in the early part of 1857 – Formation of the Volunteer Guards – Colonel Montagu Turnbull – Cavenagh and the Volunteers – The Eve of Panic Sunday – How the Body Guard was disarmed – How the Yeomanry Cavalry was formed – Précis of Major Cavenagh’s service and character – Mr. Samuel Wauchope – Great services rendered by Mr. Wauchope – Mr. Daniel Mackinlay – The Twenty-four Parganahs – Murshidabad – Jalpaiguri and Colonel Sherer – Dhakah and its dangers – The Khwaja Abdul Gani – Capacity and Conduct of Mr. Davidson