On the morning of September the 14th, after six days of bombardment, two breaches were considered practicable in the walls of the city, one in the curtain to the right of the Cashmere Gate, the other to the left of the water bastion. The assault was delivered at three points, namely upon the two breaches and the Cashmere Gate, while a fourth column followed as reserve. The whole of the Battalion was split up in skirmishing order to cover the advance of the assaulting columns, and in this appropriate and congenial duty they greatly distinguished themselves. The assaults were successful, and after an heroic struggle the city was partially occupied by night-fall. But it was not until September the 20th that the place and its defences were completely in the hands of our troops, and then only after continuous and desperate hand to hand fighting in the streets. Nothing could exceed the determined valour of the Regiment, and every Rifleman will remember with justifiable pride and pleasure that, having joined the army before Delhi, its services were officially pronounced to be “preeminent in the memorable siege and capture.”[32] “All behaved nobly,” writes Lord Canning, the Governor-General of India in his final despatch upon the siege and capture of Delhi (dated November the 9th, 1857), “but I may be permitted to allude somewhat to those Corps most constantly engaged from the beginning, the 60th Rifles, the Sirmoor Battalion,[33] and the Guides. Probably not one day throughout the siege passed without a casualty in one of these Corps; placed in the very front of our position, they were ever under fire. Their courage, their high qualifications as skirmishers, their cheerfulness, their steadiness were beyond commendation. Their losses in action show the nature of the service. The Rifles commenced with 440 of all ranks; a few days before the storm they received a reinforcement of nearly 200 men; their total casualties were 389.” We may conclude this page of the Regiment’s history by citing the judgment of the General under whom they served, who described the Battalion as “a glorious example both in its daring gallantry and its perfect discipline.”[34] [Sidenote: 1858, ROHILKUND OUDH.] In the following year the 1st Battalion formed part of the Roorkee Field Force under Jones, now promoted Brigadier-General, which operated against the rebels from the 11th of April until the 24th of May, 1858.