Brave British soldiers and the Victoria Cross: a general account of the regiments and men of the British Army, and stories of the brave deeds which won the prize "for valour"
History
Brave British soldiers and the Victoria Cross: a general account of the regiments and men of the British Army, and stories of the brave deeds which won the prize "for valour"
Great Britain -- History, Military -- 19th century; Great Britain. Army -- Biography; Soldiers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Victoria Cross
A week was spent in restoring the country around Arrah to order; martial
law was proclaimed; the people were disarmed; about thirty wounded
Sepoys, and several native officials who had aided the mutineers, were
hanged. Meanwhile Major Eyre had applied to the authorities at Dinapoor
for some reinforcements to enable him to follow up his victory, and on
the 8th of August a detachment of two hundred men of the 10th Regiment,
under the command of Captain Patterson, arrived at Arrah. This regiment
had suffered severely on the occasion when Mr. Mangles so greatly
distinguished himself, and the men were burning with the desire to avenge
their comrades, and obliterate the remembrance of that disaster. Major
Eyre was not the man to balk them in their purpose; he resolved to lead
them at once against Judgespoor, the stronghold of Koer Singh, where
he and the mutineers had taken shelter. He was joined by eight of the
garrison of Arrah, and the fifty Sikhs who had shared in the defence
under the command of Mr. Wake, and by a further reinforcement of one
hundred of Rattray’s Sikhs, under Lieutenants Roberts and Powers. The
attack on Judgespoor was generally considered to be a dangerous, if not a
desperate undertaking, but at two P.M. on the 11th of August, Major Eyre
marched forth from Arrah with the certainty of victory.
After a march of eight miles they reached an open plain, where they
bivouacked for the night. The following morning they resumed their march,
and found the road more difficult as they advanced. At ten o’clock
they halted an hour for refreshment. Two miles farther on they came in
sight of the enemy, who had taken up a strong position in the belt of
jungle surrounding Judgespoor, with a river in their front. In their
centre was the town of Dulloor, before which some breastworks had been
raised; between it and our army was a native village, occupied by an
advanced picket, which soon retired before the fire of our skirmishers.
The mutineers lay so close in the jungle and broken ground as to be
almost invisible; but a few discharges of grape made them shift their
position more to the right. Now was the time for the 10th to wipe out the
remembrance of the ambuscade, and such was their impatience that almost
before the order to charge could reach them they rushed forward with a
cheer, and charged to within sixty yards of the enemy, who broke and fled
for refuge to the town of Dulloor, and the adjacent jungle. Meanwhile
their left and centre had been repulsed by the detachment of the 5th
Fusiliers under Captains L’Estrange and Scott, who now took part in the
pursuit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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