( 43 )
few days, rendered utterly untenable ; the basement rooms were consequently crammed to suffocation ; there the enervated sick and wounded of the feeble garrison languished and died amid all the miseries engendered by wounds, foul atmosphere, disease, confinement and, worse than all, suspense and its companion despair. Further, the lower story was not secure from the enemy's round shot and musketry : many of the sufferers were shot in their beds. None but those who witnessed that scene, can form an adequate idea of the anguish, misery and horror that existed. Let it be said here, that those who were able, in any way, to afford assistance in mitigating the sufferings of the doomed unfortunates, did so most readily and cheerfully ; and may it be remembered to their honour. The Reverend Mr. Polehampton ministered to the spiritual wants of the sick and wounded with creditable assiduity, until at length he was carried off himself; but in what manner, history is conflicting ; one account says that he received a bullet in the breast while sitting beside a wounded man, another account states that he died from cholera : his widow, however, survived the siege.
A short distance in advance, between the Residency and the Banqueting Hall, on the summit of a grassy mound, stands the " LAWRENCE MEMORIAL," a simple but handsome pillar of chunar stone, designed by, and executed under the superintendence of Mr. Cuthbert Thornhill, Commissioner of Allahabad. It was inaugurated in 1864, and the address, delivered on the occasion by Sir George Couper, was thrilling in the extreme ; penetrating to the hearts of the survivors, who knew Sir Henry and had fought with him, and of whom many were present. The spot upon which the monument is erected is not remarkable for any incidents connected with the siege : it was an open space, very dangerous to cross, and it was in attempting to cross this plain, that poor Captain Graidon was literally riddled with bullets, causing instantaneous death.
