On the 11th the Begum's palace (Begum Kotee), sheltering 5,000 sepoys, was stormed, the regiments rushing forward under "a perfect storm of musketry," but "not a man wavered." The rebels had cunningly devised "every obstacle that could be opposed to the stormers," but the 93rd and the 4th Punjab Rifles were not deterred, and they fired their muskets and plied their bayonets for two hours, until, with the aid of a party of the 42nd, the enemy was forced to disperse, and the Begum Kotee, the key of the position, was won after the most sanguinary fight in the siege of Lucknow, nearly 1,000 rebels being killed. In this fight Adjutant (later Lieutenant-Colonel) McBean, an Inverness ploughman who rose from the ranks to the command of the 93rd, gained the V.C. for his intrepid conduct in forcing his way through the breach and killing eleven of the enemy with his own hands. Here the 93rd lost a captain, a lieutenant, and 13 men killed, and 45 men wounded, several dying afterwards of their wounds. Here, also, the dauntless Major Hodson, of Hodson's Horse, met his death. Some of the flying sepoys had taken refuge in the rooms abutting on a narrow lane, and Sergeant Forbes Mitchell, of the 93rd Highlanders, records that Hodson, sabre in hand, demanded of him "Where are the rebels?" The sergeant pointed to the door of a room, and Hodson, shouting "Come on!" heedless of Mitchell's entreaties to wait, made a step forward and was shot through the body. The Secundrabagh (Alexander's Garden) was again taken, this time with comparatively little opposition, two companies of Highlanders being conspicuous by the alacrity with which, on being faced by a wall, they obeyed Sir Colin Campbell's command to "Tear off the tiles, and in at the roof!" The Imambarrah was next stormed, and Brasyer's Sikhs rushed the Kaiser Bagh, or King's palace; the different smaller points of defence were carried, the mutineers scattered in all directions, and the outworks of the city were soon in the possession of the besiegers. It only remained to take the city itself, and this was effected by a combined effort on the part of Sir James Outram, Sir James Hope Grant and Brigadier Campbell, and after a stiff fight on March 21st Lucknow was again under the British flag. The defeat of the retreating mutineers by Sir Hope Grant about 12 miles out of the city removed all fears for its safety.