other on the massive buildings of the Huzrut Gunj, all of which were
strongly fortified and flanked the street in every direction. The
artillery of the defence was believed to consist of about one hundred
and thirty guns. Apart from the normal population of Lucknow, which
was reckoned about two hundred and eighty thousand, a turbulent and
bitterly hostile community, the rebel garrison was estimated to
amount to one hundred thousand fighting men, consisting of mutineers
of the sepoy army, the Oude force, irregular regiments, and the
levies of disaffected chiefs.
On March 2nd the Commander-in-Chief, with Lugard's division,
a cavalry division, four heavy guns and three troops of
horse-artillery, moved forward to the Dilkoosha by way of the
Alumbagh and the fort of Jellalabad, sweeping aside as he marched
some trivial opposition. When all the forces had come up, his camp
in rear of the Dilkoosha extended to Bibiapore and the Goomtee on
the right, to the left as far as the Alumbagh. Franks arrived on
the 5th and his column became the Fourth Infantry Division. The
position was strongly garnished with heavy guns on the edge of the
Dilkoosha plateau to keep down the fire from the canal front and the
Martinière, and with others down on the river side on the outer flank
of the Dilkoosha park to enfilade the Martinière and command the left
bank of the Goomtee.
For the important duty of operating on the left bank the Chief had
selected Sir James Outram, who for the last three months had been
gallantly holding the Alumbagh against overwhelming odds. While he
was receiving his instructions from the Commander-in-Chief, two
cask-bridges were being thrown across the Goomtee near Bibiapore.
As by a mistake they were constructed within range of the fire from
the Martinière, Outram was ordered to cross with his division before
dawn of the 6th. Hope Grant, who was Outram's second in command and
had charge of the passage of the river, records that, "Sir Colin,
being anxious to get the division across before the enemy could
discover our position and open upon us, rode down to the river side,
and pitched into everybody most handsomely, I catching the principal
share. But this," he frankly says, "had a good effect and hastened
the passage materially--everything was got over in safety just as
daylight appeared." Sir Colin understood the art of "pitching in"
better than most people; he did not frequently resort to it, but the
impression it created was immediate and stirring.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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