In Times of Peril: A Tale of IndiaHenty, G. A. (George Alfred)
History
In Times of Peril: A Tale of India
Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
India -- History -- Sepoy Rebellion, 1857-1858 -- Juvenile fiction
Then the guns ceased their fire, and the infantry with a wild cheer
burst into the garden of the Shah Nujeeff, and filled the mosque and
garden with the corpses of their defenders. The loss of the naval
brigade in this gallant affair was not heavy, and Dick Warrener escaped
untouched.
Evening was approaching now, and the troops bivouacked for the night.
The Ninetieth and that portion of the Fifty-third not engaged in the
assault of the Secunderbagh and Shah Nujeeff were now to have their
turn as leaders of the attack.
The next point to be carried was the messhouse, a very strong position,
situated on an eminence, with flanking towers, a loopholed mud wall,
and a ditch. The naval guns began the fray, and the heavy shot soon
effected a breach in the wall. The defenders of the post were annoyed,
too, by a mortar battery in an advanced post of the British force in
the Residency--for the space between the garrison and the relieving
force was rapidly lessening. The word was given, and the Ninetieth,
Fifty-third, and Sikhs dashed forward, surmounted all obstacles, and
carried the position with the bayonet; and the observatory, which stood
behind it, was soon afterward most gallantly carried by a Sikh regiment.
In the meantime the garrison of the Residency was not idle. On the day
of the arrival of the British at Dil Koosha flag-signals from the
towers of that palace had established communication with the Residency,
and it was arranged that as soon as the relieving forces obtained
possession of the Secunderbagh the troops of the garrison should begin
to fight their way to meet them.
Delighted at taking the offensive after their long siege, Havelock's
troops, on the 16th, attacked the enemy with fury, and carried two
strong buildings known as Hern Khana and engine-house, and then dashed
on through the Chuttur Munzil, and carried all before them at the point
of the bayonet.
All the strongholds of the enemy along this line had now fallen; and on
the 17th of March Sir Colin Campbell met Generals Outram and Havelock,
amid the tremendous cheers of British troops, which for awhile drowned
the heavy fire which the enemy was still keeping up.
The loss of the relieving column during the operations was far less
than that which had befallen Havelock's force in its advance--for it
amounted only to one hundred and twenty-two officers and men killed,
and three hundred and forty-five wounded. The loss of the enemy
considerably exceeded four thousand. The relieving force did not
advance into the Residency, but were stationed along the line which
they had conquered between the Dil Koosha and the Residency, for the
enemy were still in enormously superior force, and threatened to cut
the line by which the British had penetrated.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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