For these services he received the brevet of lieutenant-colonel, and in 1849 he was gazetted to the command of his regiment.
During these operations, Grant on one occasion observed that an officer far his senior was manifestly intoxicated when the regiment was awaiting orders to move against the enemy. The day after he formally reported this fact to the second in command, who declined to meddle in the matter. Grant at once went to the offender and said to him, 'Unless you resign at once, I must report the fact that you were drunk.' The senior put his junior in arrest on the spot for insurbordinate language. A court of inquiry was assembled, Grant was kept in arrest for six weeks, and was only released by the finding of an open verdict which practically justified the action taken by the accuser. In May 1857 Grant was at Umballa on the outbreak of the mutiny. To describe the important part which he took in its suppression would be almost to narrate the history of the Sepoy war of 1857-8. He was appointed brigadier of the cavalry which marched from Umballa to relieve Delhi; he was in the action at Budlee-ka-Serai; in the operations before Delhi, and at the storming of the town; he commanded a movable column marching on Lucknow; was present at the engagement at Kallee Nuddee; the relief of the Alumbagh, and the first relief of Lucknow; the battle of Cawnpore; commanded a flying column which fought engagements at Serai Ghat, Goorsaigunj, and Meangunj; was at the second relief of Lucknow; commanded movable columns at Moosa Bagh, Koorsie, the Baree road, Sirsee, Nawabgunj, and Sooltanpore; and commanded the Trans-Ghogra force which fought the numerous engagements attending the final suppression of the revolt.
Many characteristic incidents occurred during these operations. The hand-to-hand fighting in which Grant was often engaged was of a most desperate nature. In one encounter before Delhi, when darkness was closing in and the overwhelming masses of the enemy were surrounding Grant's exhausted little knot of horsemen, a sepoy at a distance of five yards shot his charger dead, in the hope of capturing the rider alive. His native orderly instantly urged him 'to take his horse.' The general refused, but grasped the tail of his orderly's charger, and was thus dragged unharmed out of the throng. The four months spent on the Delhi ridges taxed his physical and moral energies to a greater extent than any other period of his life. Daily and nightly his rapidly dwindling cavalry was called out to repel the attacks of an enemy tenfold his number, and he used to quote his constant experience with the three successive generals in command, Anson, Barnard, and Archdale Wilson, as instances of the failure even of brave men to resist the strain of tremendous responsibility. No human being could have had a greater aversion to the infliction of the punishment of death than Grant. But on one occasion he did not hesitate to order the instant execution of twenty-five rebels who had been convicted on the clearest evidence of atrocities. Yet, with a justice rare in those days, he flogged twelve men of the 53rd regiment, although in actual presence of the enemy, whom he had caught looting. This very regiment so fully recognised the righteousness of the retribution, and became so warmly attached to their general, that when going into action they would on his approach laughingly warn each other, 'Now, boys, take care of your backs; here is the provost-marshal coming.' Grant was one of Lord Clyde's most trusted lieutenants, especially in the conduct of outposts. Whenever he was entrusted with this duty, Lord Clyde was wont to omit visiting the covering force. For his services throughout the mutiny Grant was raised from C.B. to K.C.B. (1858), and was promoted major-general, a reward which cost him the value of his commission, 12,000l.
In 1860 Grant sailed from Calcutta for Hongkong, having been appointed to command, with the local rank of lieutenant-general, the expedition sent out to China, in conjunction with the French. In three months the Chinese army received three defeats in the open, and was finally dispersed with a loss of 120 guns. The strong forts of Taku, mounting six hundred guns, were captured; Pekin surrendered, and a new treaty of peace was signed, the provisions of which have been maintained up to the present date (1890). This campaign is universally admitted to have been the most successful and the best carried out of England's 'little wars.' In recognition thereof, Grant's K.C.B. was changed to G.C.B.
The co-operation of his French allies proved a greater obstacle to his success than the antagonism of his Chinese enemy. Thus, the French commander, Montauban, insisted that the vulnerable point of the Taku forts was the earthwork south of the Peiho, whereas Grant was resolute that the attack should be directed against the north fort. The English general adhered to his determination, in face of the opposition of all the French and of some of the English officers. Montauban, in a formal written protest, washed his hands of all responsibility, and declined to participate in,
