A Fortune to India by Tony Foot

Author:Tony Foot
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Indian Mutiny, 1857, Rifle Brigade, Cawnpore, Lucknow, Agra, sepoys, military, adventure
ISBN: 9781911105312
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited 2018
Published: 2018-03-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

As we resumed our march back, a small troop of Lancers caught us up and gave the captain some urgent despatches. The rest of the battalion would catch up with his men at Lucknow. I was ordered to assist another officer on a reconnaissance mission: I was told that I would be accompanying Major Axelby and six picked riflemen.

Our task was to slip through the enemy’s lines surrounding the fort at Khamasgarh on the River Yamuna. The garrison there was really hard-pressed, according to reports brought back by spies. The major would then assess the situation and if necessary call for help. Apparently we did not yet have enough soldiers in India to react to every siege or situation and soldiers would only be taken from around Lucknow if it looked as though the Khamasgarh fort would be overrun by rebels.

The spies had reported - though not all spies had proved to be reliable in this campaign - that heavy guns were pounding the walls and mutineers had already made several assaults. So far, they had been driven back and had suffered heavy losses. They could decide just to move on, lift the siege and thus save the need for the fort to be reinforced. There still seemed to be no rhyme or reason about some of the tactics the sepoys deployed: at times they would stick doggedly to besieging a fort or a town, then when it seemed about to fall, they would just leave. This did seem to bear out the view that the mutineers lacked an overall plan and were disadvantaged by having a divided command. Their shortcomings did help us, though.

We managed to slip into the fort through their rather haphazard siege lines without too much trouble.

The following morning I decided to reduce the effectiveness of the besieging artillery a little more by picking off a few rebel gunners.

I moved down to the south wall and for five minutes watched the enemy artillerymen as they prepared to fire what looked like a couple of 18-pounders. I loaded and was about to raise my Enfield to my shoulder, ready to permanently remove one of the gunners, when a voice from one of the other infantry regiments manning the fort called my name.

“Follow me please, sir. The commissioner and your officer want to see you urgently.”

He then ducked low and rushed off. Following, I was soon bounding up the steps of the Residency and being ushered into an office. So far it seemed to be free from the attention of the besieging artillery. There was still plaster on the walls and ceilings, with no apparent damage to mirrors and other hangings.

“Ah, just the man,” said an officer in the uniform of a brigadier in the Company. He waved me to a seat and then moved to stand in front of a large wall map.

“Major Axelby tells me you’ve some experience of spying and moving in and out of besieged towns.

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