१८५७ का स्वातन्त्र्य समर (वीर विनायक दामोदर सावरकर - अंग्रेजों द्वारा छपने से पूर्व प्रतिबन्धित महाग्रन्थ)

LUCKNOW
remain encamped at Mangalwar till the 4th of August.
Instead of Havelock driving the Revolutionaries within a
week to the banks of the Gotami, Nana Sahib had made
Havelock stick to the Ganges. Just then the Revolution-
aries in his front came up again to Bashiratganj. Irritated
by the persistent harassing, Havelock became desperate
and started towards Lucknow with his troops. At Bashi-
ratganj he again gave battle to the Revolutionaries and
drove them away. But here, also, the question was whe-
ther it was a victory or a defeat. For, in this fight, Have-
lock lost three hundred men and his troops were so fatigued
that, instead of advancing towards Lucknow, he began to
retire on the Ganges. On that day, out of the one thou-
sand and five hundred men that started with him there
remained only eight hundred and fifty !
Hearing that Havelock had again retreated to Mangalwar
on the 5th of August, the Revolutionaries once more
captured Bashiratganj and encamped there. In this army
of the Revolutionaries, the greater number were well-to-do
Zemindars. "All the men killed yesterday were Zemin-
dars."³ For the sake of their country, for the sake of
independence and Swaraj, those rich and happy men had
discarded their soft beds and had resolved to go to the
battle-field and risk all its dangers and risks. Seeing this
enthusiasm on their part, the English historian Innes
says : "At least, the struggle of the Oudhians must be
characterised as a war of independence." The Revolu-
tionary army was constantly hovering round Havelock's
camp, destiny-like. As soon as Havelock retired to
Mangalwar, the Revolutionaries, as we said before, again
encamped at Bashiratganj. Therefore, on the 11th of
August, Havelock pushed forward to Bashiratganj for the
third time—and for the third time there was a fight and
the Revolutionaries fled away ; but Havelock asked him-
self, for the third time, "Is this victory or defeat?"
3. Kaye and Malleson's Indian Mutiny, Vol. III, p. 340.
357