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

LUCKNOW
the main army. And, before the pools of blood accumulat-
ed in the streets in the course of the day's fight had dried
up, the freedom-loving city of Lucknow, discarding the
discouragement and despair caused by their defeat and the
victory of the English, again besieged and bottled up the
English power in Oudh.
It was not only the English army at Lucknow that was
placed in a fix by this firm and determined stand of the
Pandays in the War of Independence. The whole English
army from Peshawar up to Aligarh had to suffer a severe
strain. All the troops had been despatched under the
command of Havelock to fall upon Lucknow ; and when,
in spite of the help of these troops, not only the besieged
army in the Residency was not set free but the army was
beleaguered there, then, the English power in the pro-
vinces below Lucknow became considerably enfeebled.
Though, just then, Delhi had fallen and the English army
there was free, it had enough work on its hands in 'restor-
ing order' in the provinces around Delhi. In these cir-
cumstances, the English Commander-in-Chief left the
armies at Lucknow and Alam Bagh to fight it out them-
selves for the present with the Revolutionaries, and began
to attend to the lightening of the strain on the British
power as the more important task.
The new English Commander-in-Chief, Sir Colin
Campbell, had arrived at Calcutta on the 13th of
August. From that day till the 27th of October,
he was straining every nerve to prepare for the
vast campaign to reconquer Hindusthan from the
hands of the Revolutionaries. He portioned out the
English army as it arrived from Madras, Ceylon, and
China. He cast new guns in the Cassim Bazaar arsenal.
He made excellent arrangements as far as possible for
arms and ammunition, provision, clothes, and transport.
He spent two months in these preparations for the next
great campaign when the news arrived that Havelock and
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