LEAVES FROM AN INDIAN DIARY.

Evening Star, Issue 7473, 17 March 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

LEAVES FROM AN INDIAN DIARY.

[liy a Veteran.] No. XXVI. The force that was sent againßt Delhi in January, 1857. after fighting the battle of Badli-ka-Serae, left the main road, and advancing by its left pitched camp in the old cantonments with outposts on the ridge facing the city. The position was a good one for defensive purposes—the left resting on the river Jumna. The ridge crowned by our outposts and batteries in front; a broad deep ditch, the outlet of the Nujjafghur Jheel, in our rear; on our right flank were some gardens with a couple of high mounds on which a few light pieces were placed. They said, indeed, that had we pushed our advantage after Badli-ka-Serae we might then and there have taken Delhi, for the beaten rebels had swept clean through the town and did not return till the next day; but it is easy to be wise after the occurrence. The men had been fighting the greater part of the day under a blazing June sun, and were quite exhausted. The force was very weak, and to get entangled in the streets was a great risk, especially as the fate of India hung on the result. It was therefore deemed prudent to recruit before attacking the Imperial City, which was supposed to. be full of fighting men. The ridge which our outposts occupied ran across our front at an angle, the left being retired, whilst the right approached to within a thousand yards of the Moree Bastion, against which our principal battery, situated at the extremity of the ridge, was directed. From the position of the right battery the ground fell away to front aud flank ; but at a distance of 1,000 yards it began to rise again to another ridge which ran at about right angles to our front line. An active enemy would have taken possession of this second ridge, and by enfilade aud reverse fire have rendered our position on the first ridge untenable. Any attempt then on the part of the mutiueers to occupy ridge No. 2 was strongly resented by us, and we used to sally forth and drive them away; but, alas ! we were too weak to hold that position. The Investing Force, as it was called, varied from 4,000 to 0,000 men of all arms ; so much depended upon the strength of the reinforcements which were constantly coming to fill the gaps in our ranks caused by the fire of the enemy and by disease. The latter was quite as deadly amongst us as the former. Cholera, fever, dysentery, and, worst of all, gangrene played fearful havoc amongst our handful of men, who were only as one to ten of the enemy. Just think of 4,000 to 6,000 men pretending to invest a town holding 40,000 to 60,000 soldiers, whom we ourselves; had trained and armed—men who, when led by English officers, had repeatedly proved themselves both brave and* efficient, some of them having crossed bayonets with and routed the French under Lally. The investment then was merely nominal, for three-fourths of the town was open, and the besiegers were themselves on several occa-. sions attacked on front, flank, and rear, and were thankful far their strong position, which they had some difficulty in maintaining. Surgery was not so far advanced in 1857 as it is in 1887. We had no anaesthetics or antiseptics. Any man undergoing an operation had to do so without chloroform, and there was no carbolic dressing to prevent gangrene. The consequence was that anyone at all severely wounded was pretty certain to succumb. Even those who were not wounded had a hard struggle, for the food was bad, the work excessive, and the exposure great. Again our war material had to be carted down several hundred miles from Ferozepore and Phillour, whereas the rebels, having seized our premier arsenal, had at hand an unlimited supply of both guns and ammunition; so that whilst we had to economise and limit pur rounds they could fire as much as they liked. In fact, they very frequently commenced ft cannonade in the hopes of enticing us to waste our small supply of shot and; shell. Often when we were enticed to return a few shots i did the field-officer of the day come and inquire what all the firing was about, and peremptorily order us to 86 ut up. Under these circumrjtaaoes, we were sometimes a couple of days without firing a shot. On one of these, what we used to call off days, I was setting on the parapet of the right battery about 5, p.m., getting a, little air after the great heat of the day. I was facing the with my feet dangling over the front, thinking of, I do not know what, when I saw a puff of 1 smoke on ridge No. % to our right front, and immediately perceived a great big round thing coming through the air towards me. You know, if you are standing behind a gun when it is fired, or if a shot i$ coming straight at you, it inay he i but you cannot see it from one sjcte. On came the shot towards me, and plumped into the parapet a pouple of- feet below my heels, so I thought discretion the better part of valor, and left my position with decent alacrity ; besides, by remaining wlmre I was, I was offering a tempting and was drawing the fire of the enemy upon my i battery. How often had Sir J. B. ■ pitched into us for exposing ourselves. He ■ himself would go and stand in the most ex- : posed position he could find ; but if any of ' us showed our noses oyer th,e parapet how ! he would walk into us, ~| could not tell the i size of that shot as ft came towards roe. I 1 was sure it wa.a something very big—some- > where between a foot and a yard; it reminded i me of S rto tiger when we were out one I day near the foot of the Himalayas partridge shooting. Suddenly I saw S retiring, not to say making a bee line for the rear. I shouted to inquire the oavsse, when he said he had come on a. tiger which looked at him, and its head was the size of, well, I should say, two or three feet, from the way he held his hands. However, after descending from the parapet I got the position of the new battery, w»d as none of my guns would bear on it I marked the diroctien on the glacis with a couple of twigs, and during the night the engiaeer officer had a couple of now embrasures out. As these were not completed by daylight they were majsksd with gabions, whilst a few sipoew were engaged finishing them off\ One* of them 1 was standing at the movith of the embrasure 1 with a spade, smoothing off some of the earth inside, when a round shot came [through the gabions and took the man's i neok off. 1 say neck, for his head sat down on his shoulders as you have seen a coin re--1 main on the, end ot-a man\ fipger* after a,

card has been flipped from under it. The man looked such a comical figure that I am sorry to say I burst out laughing. There he stood for a minute or two, till the muscles in his body relaxed, when he sank' down. As soon as the embrasures were ready I opened a smart fire on the new battery to crush it. fiach time as my guns were laid I went over to the left epaulement to get out of the amoke and watch the effect of my shots. Leaning against or half sitting on the top fascine of the revetment, I watched with my telescope how each shot went. I had been doing this a few times when a gun in the Cashmere Bastion on my left flank sent a shot at me, and striking the top fascine a couple of feet in rear of me, sent me flying into the middle of the battery. My men ran and picKcd me up, and looked mc all over to see where I was hit; and as soon as I had recovered my senses a little—for I was half-stunned by the fall—l looked round to see if I had anything left to sit upon, for that was where the fascine had struck me. I found I had beaueoup de quoi, and had not yet assumed the form of a cherub. Of course I was pretty well bruised and my hands and knees were cut by thefall, otherwise I was all right. All were not as fortunate, for Colonel G ,of my regiment, was walking through one of the batteries when a round shot touched the tail of his frock coat, and the wind of that shot killed him, for he went to his tent black and blue; sloughing ensued, and he died. Doctors now say that the idea of a wound occurring from the wind of a, shot is a fallacy; but, after all, they are mere theorists in the matter, and it is difficult to get vile bodies on which to experiment. The tremendous velocity of the shot must disperse the air with excessive force ; if, then, the shot passes within say a quarter of an inch from a body, there being insufficient room for the air to disperse, the force with which it is suddenly driven against the body must be very great, and sufficient to cause a bruise.