After the fall of Lucknow Canning insisted that Sir Colin
Campbell should take immediate action against the rebels in Oudh and
Rohilkhand, and a number of petty and harassing operations were carried
out by detached columns; but Campbell moved too slowly to bring his
guerrilla opponents to book, and the rebellion was really brought to a
conclusion by Sir Hugh Rose's brilliant campaign in Central India.
The Central India Campaign.
Though the two great princes of Central India, Sindhia and Holkar,
wisely and fortunately remained true to the British, troops belonging to
both of them joined the mutineers. The Gwalior contingent of Sindhia's
army mutinied in the middle of June, and on the 1st of July Holkar's
troops revolted at Indore, and the resident, Henry Durand, was forced to
leave the residency. The rani of Jhansi also rose in rebellion, to
become known as "the best man upon the side of the enemy." The rising in
this quarter received little attention until January 1858, when Sir Hugh
Rose was given the command of two brigades, to act in concert with Sir
Colin Campbell, and he immediately began a campaign which for celerity
and effectiveness has rarely been equalled in India. His principle was
to go straight for the enemy wherever he found him, and pursue him until
he had exterminated him. He was hampered by none of that exaggerated
respect for the rebels which earned Sir Colin Campbell the nickname of
Old Khabardhar (Old Take-Care); but carried to an extreme the policy of
audacity. Advancing from Bombay Sir Hugh Rose relieved Saugor on the 3rd
of February, after it had been invested by the rebels for upwards of
seven months. On the 3rd of March he forced the pass of Madanpur, and
took the whole of the enemy's defences in rear, throwing them into
panic. On the 21st he began the siege of Jhansi, the stronghold of the
mutineers in Central India, with a garrison of 11,000 men. During the
course of the siege Tantia Topi, the most capable native leader of the
Mutiny, arrived with a fresh force of 20,000 men, and threatened the
British camp; but Sir Hugh Rose, with a boldness which only success
could justify, divided his force, and while still maintaining the siege
of the fort, attacked Tantia Topi with only 1500 men and completely
routed him. This victory was won on the 1st of April, and two days later
Sir Hugh carried Jhansi by assault. On the 1st of May the battle of
Kunch was fought and won in a temperature of 110° in the shade, many of
the combatants on both sides being struck down by heat apoplexy. On the
22nd of May the battle of Kalpi was won, though the European troops were
hampered by defective ammunition and Sir Hugh himself here received his
fifth sunstroke. In five months he had beaten the enemy in thirteen
general actions and sieges, and had captured some of the strongest forts
in India. News now arrived that the rebel army under Tantia Topi and the
rani of Jhansi had attacked Sindhia, whose troops had gone over to the
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