On June 29 Lawrence determined to undertake the offensive, and he moved out to Chinhut, where the mutineers were massed, to attack them. He met with a sharp reverse, losing some of his guns, whilst the wing of the 32nd, who were with him, lost 115 killed out of 300 men engaged. The following morning Lawrence blew up the magazine, containing 249 barrels of powder and 594,000 rounds of ammunition, which it was found impossible to carry into the Residency, and made final preparations for the siege. His garrison consisted of under 2,000 men, of whom 100 were civilians and 765 loyal natives--men of the mutinied regiments who had determined to throw in their lot with the Sirkar. With them were nearly 200 pensioners--men mostly past work. It is not within the scope of this work to deal with the details of that heroic defence, where civilian vied with soldier, native with Englishman, to uphold the honour of our name; where delicately-nurtured women and the no less devoted wives of the privates shared all the dangers, all the privations, of the humblest sepoy. Many women and children died from want of the bare necessaries of life; more than one babe was shot in its mother's arms, and more than one woman fell a victim to the bullets of our foes. For a long eighty-seven days did the siege last, and then the little band under Havelock forced its way through the many thousands of the besieging force, and brought the welcome reinforcement of British bayonets to the beleaguered garrison. The figures below tell the sad tale of the severe losses which were endured by the heroic garrison of Lucknow: CASUALTIES IN THE DEFENCE OF LUCKNOW. +----------------------------------+-----------+-----------+ | |_Officers._| _Men._ | | _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+ | | K. | W. | K. | W. | +----------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+ |32nd Corn. L.I. | 7 | 8 | 192 | 171 | |Royal Bengal Artillery | 1 | 2 | 52 | 18 | |84th York and Lancs (one company) | - | 1 | 12 | 8 | +----------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+ No fewer than eighty-nine women and children also perished. _Relief of Lucknow by General Sir Henry Havelock._