It was on this day that the officer whose exploit we this month illustrate gained the Victoria Cross. An officer, who also gained the Cross on the same day, had led a portion of his company against a two-gun battery and spiked the guns; thus the most advanced position of the troops was secure from artillery fire. It was of great importance that the skirmishers on the opposite side of the river should be made acquainted with this success, and Lieutenant Thomas Adair Butler, 1st Bengal Fusiliers, swam across the Goomtee, climbed the parapet, and remained for some time exposed to a heavy fire of musketry. He, however, gave the information that he wished, and was prominently mentioned by Major-General Outram in general orders. For this act of coolness and bravery he was allotted the Victoria Cross: an honour well deserved. There are many men who, in the heat and excitement of action, will take a prominent lead, and will then perform more than they would be disposed to do in moments of calmness; but when a man swims across a broad river in the face of an enemy, and remains by himself exposed to a severe fire, he must indeed possess those characteristics entitling him to be called brave. Sir Colin Campbell was well acquainted with the peculiar style of fighting preferred by the mutineers. If behind stone walls, earthworks, or in buildings, the rebel sepoys would remain under fire all day. If, however, they were brought into close contact with cold steel, their courage deserted them, and they made the best use of their legs. In his orders for the attack on the Martinière, he particularly insisted on the application of cold steel. “The men employed in the attack will use nothing but the bayonet. They are absolutely forbidden to fire a shot till the position is won.” The description of the Highlanders’ advance is thus graphically given by Dr. Russell:—“Our guns were now thundering away, mortars, howitzers, and 24-pounders, at the pits, huts, and Martinière, from which the enemy kept up an incessant fusillade of the weakest sort, the only thing remarkable about it being its pertinacity. The time wore on, and at last the Highlanders and Sikhs came marching from their camp, and drew up behind the Dilkoosha. The enemy had remained steady in their trenches under the fire of six mortars and ten heavy guns and howitzers. But the instant they caught sight of our bayonets, and that the lines of the Sikhs and Highlanders came in view, we observed them, by twos and threes and groups, and at last in masses, running and marching at the double, as fast as they could clear out of the works, and moving to the rear, or stealing off under cover of their parapets. We saw the Highlanders, with skirmishers thrown out in front, advancing rapidly, without a sound in their ranks, towards the Martinière, while the Sikhs, on their flank, agile as panthers, ran at full speed towards the trenches, from which the enemy, firing a few hurried shots from their