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

THE CONFLAGRATION
Outram were still shut up in the Residency at Lucknow.
Therefore, with the resolve to deal personally with the
obstinate town of Lucknow which fell but rose again, he
set out from Calcutta on the 27th of October.
About the same time, a naval brigade had been formed
under Colonel Powell and Captain William Peel and sent
up the river to Allahabad. From Calcutta right up to
Allahabad and Cawnpore, near all the big roads, small
bands of Revolutionaries were constantly harassing the
English army. If these bands had been found together,
the English could have possibly attacked them all ; but
the Panday forces, trained in the school of Kumar Singh,
hovered round the English army, always avoided battle,
never gave the English any indication of their existence
except when attacking them and, by these guerilla tactics,
had created consternation in the English camp in the
whole province. While trying to drive away such a band
from the Kajva river, the colonel of the naval brigade was
killed. On the day on which the Panday sword drank the
blood of Powell, the Commander-in-Chief arrived at Cawn-
pore. The Commander-in-Chief had himself had a terri-
ble experience as to how the Revolutionary bands harassed
the armies on their march.
Sir Colin Campbell was driving in a carriage from Allaha-
bad to Cawnpore. Though the English had tremendous
difficulties in obtaining transport and the Commander-in-
Chief had to sit in a third-class cart, on the same road
was marching a detachment of a Revolutionary regiment
of infantry mounted on about a dozen elephants. There
were, also, twenty-five horsemen accompanying them. Sir
Colin was alone. When the driver of the cart came near
Sher Ghati, he saw the Revolutionary band coming to the
same place by another road. Though the Pandays did not
pay any attention to the freight on the cart, because they
had no idea of it, still, the freight itself was considerably
anxious ! The commander-in-chief going towards Cawn-
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