The Pacification of BurmaCrosthwaite, C. H. T. (Charles Haukes Todd)
History
The Pacification of Burma
Crosthwaite, C. H. T. (Charles Haukes Todd)
Burma -- History -- 1824-1948
The main body reached Lwèseng on the 22nd of December. A stockade
across the road a mile from the village was defended by Kachins, and in
taking it a native officer was killed and five men wounded. The village
was found deserted, and was occupied by our men. There was some sniping
from the hill-slope afterwards, and two were wounded. Next day the
force advanced to Ton Hon. Two stockades erected across the road were
defended, but were turned, with the loss of two men wounded, and Ton
Hon was occupied without further fighting. But again the Kachins fired
from the hills into the village, and one Gurkha was killed and another
wounded. A halt was made at Ton Hon for some days in order to open
communications with the Kachins, in the hope of bringing them to terms.
The elders of Lwèseng and Ton Hon and other neighbouring villages came
in. The Deputy Commissioner selected seven villages which had opposed
the troops and harboured rebels, and imposed on them a fine of money
(Rs. 2,500) and guns (50). By the 30th of December all the villages
belonging to these tribes had submitted and part of the fine had been
paid. The chiefs, however, still held aloof.
On the 3rd of January, 1890, the column left for Manton, leaving a
Burmese civil officer, supported by a detachment of the 17th Bengal
Infantry, to collect the balance of the fine. Manton was reached
without any fighting on the 11th of January; and the column from Möng
Mit marched in on the same day. The village was found deserted, and Saw
Yan Naing had fled. He made his escape, it was said, into the Chinese
territory of Chefan. On his road through Northern Hsenwi he just missed
falling into the hands of Mr. Daly, who arrived at Manton on the 16th
of January. Thus the three parties met and were able to exchange
information. After a few days' halt Mr. Daly continued his tour through
Hsenwi territory, while the Möng Mit and Bhamo columns waited at Manton
for supplies. Some villages which had been hostile were visited; and
as a large body of Kachins and Palaungs was reported to have gathered
at Lanchein, a few miles south of Manton, where Saw Yan Naing had
stayed on his flight, two detachments were sent out to disperse them.
Stockades had been built across the road and were stubbornly defended
by the enemy. Here Major Forrest, in leading one of the detachments,
was severely wounded. The village was taken and destroyed, while the
troops returned to Manton.
It was now decided that the Möng Mit party under Major Greenaway, with
Mr. Daniell as civil officer, should move south to Manpun, while the
Bhamo column remained at Manton. On the way Mr. Daniell was met by
the headmen of the villages between Manton and Manpun who had come to
tender their submission to the British Government. They were told that
if Saw Yan Naing was with them he must be given up, and fines were
imposed on those groups or circles of villages which were known to have
given the rebel leaders active help.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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