Cawnpore & Lucknow by Donald Richards

Author:Donald Richards
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2007-01-19T16:00:00+00:00

After ten days of being drenched to the skin and floundering ankle deep through mud, sickness and exhaustion had reduced the 1,200 British contingent – already weakened by drink – to the extent that unless reinforcements were available, Havelock’s attempt to relieve Lucknow must be abandoned. On 29 July, a day of such intense heat that it led Lieutenant Groom to admit that he felt ‘as if all my bones were dried up’, the General’s men fought a successful if minor engagement on the Lucknow road near the town of Unao. ‘Four hours of good hard fighting,’ enthused Major Bingham. ‘Having displaced the enemy and captured five guns, we made an advance to a tope of trees under which we bivouacked for three hours during the great heat, the insufferable heat of the day. We had breakfast, and afterwards fell asleep, how refreshing! … Men and officers completely exhausted.’

Before the day ended Havelock had followed up this success with another at Bashiratgunj, a walled village some 6 miles beyond Unao. Here, the attackers met with stronger opposition in the form of a brisk cannonade and withering musketry from the loopholed houses. The flooded state of the roads prevented the use of mounted troops, but supported by the Madras Fusiliers and the 78th Highlanders, the 64th of Foot were able to force their way between an enemy strong point and a bridge, to turn the rebel’s flank. By sunset Bashiratgunj was in British hands. Havelock’s men were now within 30 miles of Lucknow but with their ranks decimated by sickness in addition to battle casualties, General Havelock recognized the folly of maintaining the advance. On the 31st he withdrew from the town after sending a telegraph to the acting C-in-C, Lieutenant General Sir Patrick Grant, in Calcutta:

My force is reduced by sickness and repeated combats to 1,364 rank and file with two ill equipped guns. I could not therefore move on against Lucknow with any prospect of success, especially as I have no means of crossing the Sye or the canal. I have therefore shortened my communication with Cawnpore, by falling back two short marches. If I am speedily reinforced by 1,000 more British soldiers and Major Oliphant’s battery complete, I might resume my march towards Lucknow or keep fast my foot in Oudh, or I might re-cross and hold the head of the Grand Trunk Road at Cawnpore.

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