CHAPTER XXII.
SIR COLIN CAMPBELL RECOVERS THE DUÁB.
As soon as Sir Colin Campbell had mastered the extent of Windham's disaster he recrossed the Ganges to Mangalwár, then pushing forward with his convoy of women and children, well covered by his troops, baffled an attempt of the rebels to destroy the bridge of boats, and re-entered Kánhpur. His convoy he encamped, on November 30, on the further side of the canal, near the mouldering remains and riddled walls of the position Wheeler had held so long, and then turned to look at the position occupied by the rebels.
It was a strong one. Numbering 25,000 men, of whom rather less than one-half were trained sipáhís, they rested their centre on the town, separated from the British force by the Ganges canal, and interspersed with bungalows, high walls, and cover of various kinds. Their right stretched out behind the canal into the plain, and was covered in front by lime-kilns and mounds of brick. Over the canal they had thrown a bridge, but the extreme right flank was uncovered. Their left rested on the Ganges. They were very resolute, and very confident.
Before attacking them Sir Colin spent two days in making preparations for the despatch of his large convoy of women and children, of sick and wounded, to Allahábád. He sent them off on the night of the 3d, then, waiting until they had placed some miles between themselves and Kánhpur, he carefully examined the rebels' position, and concluded that, strong as it was on the left and in the centre, it might be possible to turn the right and roll them up. He had with him, inclusive of recently arrived troops, about 5000 infantry, 600 cavalry, and thirty-five guns. The infantry of this force he divided into four brigades. The third, commanded by Greathed, counted the 8th, the 64th, and the 2d Panjáb Infantry. The fourth, under Adrian Hope, contained the 53d, the 42d, the 93d, and the 4th Panjáb Rifles. The fifth, under Inglis, counted the 23d, the 32d, and the 82d. The sixth, led by Walpole, was formed of the 2d and 3d Battalions Rifle Brigade, and a part of the 38th. The cavalry, commanded by Little, consisted of the 9th Lancers, and details of the 1st, 2d, and 5th Panjáb Cavalry and Hodson's Horse. The artillery counted Peel's Naval brigade, the troops of Blunt and Remmington, the batteries of Bourchier, of Middleton, of Smith, of Longden, and of Bridge, under the chief command of Dupuis. To Windham was consigned the charge of the intrenchment.
With this force Sir Colin attacked the rebels on the morning of the 6th of December. After an artillery fire, which lasted two hours, he directed Greathed to make a false attack on the centre whilst Walpole, Hope, and Inglis should turn the right. Walpole thereupon crossed the canal, and attracted the fire of the rebels, whilst Adrian Hope, supported by Inglis, took a long sweep to the left, and then, wheeling round, charged the unprotected flanks of the rebels' right. In this movement the 4th Panjáb Rifles and the 53d covered themselves with glory. They drove the rebels from mound to mound despite a resistance resolute and often fierce. At length they reached the bridge which the rebels had thrown over the canal. This the enemy had well cared for. Upon it they had concentrated so strong an artillery fire that it seemed almost impossible to force the way across. But the gallant men, who had pushed the rebels before them up to that point, were not to be daunted by appearances. They rushed at the bridge with a stern determination to carry it. The rebels seemed equally resolved to prevent them. For a moment the struggle seemed doubtful, when a rumbling sound was heard, and William Peel and his sailors, dragging a heavy twenty-four-pounder, came up with a run, planted the gun on the bridge, and opened fire. The effect was decisive. Whilst it roused the assailants to the highest enthusiasm, it completely cowed the rebels. With loud shouts Highlanders, Sikhs, and 53d men rushed past the gun, dashed at the rebels, and drove them before them in wild disorder. The Gwáliár camp was now almost within their grasp. But before they could reach it the gallant Bourchier, always in the front, passed them at a gallop, and, unlimbering, opened fire. A few minutes later the assailants repassed the guns, and the Gwáliár camp was their own.
The victory was now gained. The Gwáliár portion of the rebel force made, in wild flight, for the Kalpí road. In that direction they were pursued by Sir Colin in person to the fourteenth milestone. They had lost their camp, their stores, their magazines, a great part of their material, and their prestige.
The remainder of the rebels, composed for the most part of the armed retainers of revolted princes, had fallen back on the Bithor road. The pursuit of these Sir Colin had entrusted to the chief of his staff. General Mansfield. Mansfield advanced to a position from which he might have forced the surrender of the whole of the rebel force as it passed him. But Mansfield was shortsighted, and he cared not to trust to the sight of others. Consequently, to the intense indignation of his men, he allowed the rebels to defile close to him, unpunished and unpursued, taking with them their guns. What Sir Colin said to the chief of his staff may not be known. But he despatched, on the 9th, a force under Sir Hope Grant to remedy his tremendous mistake. Hope Grant marched in pursuit of them, discovered their line of retreat by the articles which the heavy roads had compelled them to abandon, caught them on the banks of the river just as they were about to escape across it into Oudh, and completely defeated them, taking all their guns. He pushed on further to Bithor, found it evacuated, and, as far as it was possible, destroyed it.
Thus did Sir Colin avenge the defeat sustained by Windham. He was anxious to push on at once to recover the Duáb, but he had to wait a fortnight for the arrival of carriage. It reached him on the 23d. Meanwhile, learning that Seaton was advancing from Áligarh with a portion of the Dehlí force, he detached Walpole's brigade to occupy Itáwah and Mainpúrí. Seaton, about the same time, defeated the rebels between Gangárí and Kásganj, and had pushed on to Patiálí, where they were reported to be in force. Here he attacked, and inflicted upon them a defeat which crushed the life out of many and the heart out of all. Advancing rapidly towards Mainpúrí, he defeated on the way a rebel Rájá, and by means of a very daring expedition made by Hodson and McDowell opened communications with Sir Colin, then with his force at Mirán-kí-sarái (December 30). Four days later Seaton effected a junction with Walpole.
Meanwhile, the necessary carriage having arrived, Sir Colin had marched from Kánhpur, the 24th December. He had reached, we have seen, Mirán-kí-sarái on the 30th. On the 2d of January he forced a passage across the bridge over the Kálí Nadí, in face of a very strong opposition, and drove the survivors of the rebels into Rohilkhand. The next day he occupied the fort of the rebel Nuwáb of Fathgarh, a man who had almost equalled Náná Sáhib in his cruelties towards Englishmen, and who was now a fugitive. There, the following day, the junction of Walpole and Seaton's divisions raised his force to more than 10,000 men. Sir Colin was anxious now to push on at once to the recovery of Rohilkhand. But Lord Canning, who now unfettered by the mischievous Calcutta councillors who had misled him, was at Allahábád, strongly insisted, and rightly insisted, that the reconquest of Oudh demanded the earliest consideration. Sir Colin gave way, and made immediately preparations for carrying into effect the determination of the Governor-General. Manœuvring so as to induce in Rohilkhand the belief that he intended to invade that province, he directed Seaton to hold Fathgarh and the Duáb, Walpole to make a demonstration against Rohilkhand, whilst, on the sandy plain between Unao and Banní in Oudh, he massed infantry, cavalry, engineers, artillery, commissariat waggons, and camp followers. By the 23d of February he had collected there seventeen battalions of infantry, fifteen of which were British; twenty-eight squadrons of cavalry, including four English regiments; fifty-four light and eighty heavy guns and mortars. There we must leave them waiting for the order to advance whilst we examine the events which had occurred in the interval in Eastern Bengal, in Eastern Bihár, and, finally, in the Banáras districts, and in Eastern Oudh. The operations in these latter served as adjuncts to the great movement Sir Colin was contemplating against Lakhnao.