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

THE: CONFLAGRATION
more ! Morphy, Major Stirling, Lieutenant Gibbins, all
are down ! Aye, Asiatics can produce a Tatia, after all !
The third day, then, saw a victory for Tatia and his
followers, for they fought hotly and well till late in the
evening and they had routed what remained of the Eng-
lish army. The English army was more completely routed
than even on the day before, both the wings having been
actually driven from the field on this last day. And Tatia
had now captured the whole of Cawnpore and thus the
third crown was shining on the sword of the brave
Mahratta.²
Just when the English army was being routed, the com-
mander-in-chief, Sir Colin, arrived in their camp. He
realised the extent of the injury done to British prestige
by Tatia ; he saw, with his own eyes, the English troops
flying for their very life and the victorious troops of the
Revolutionaries pursuing them ; and he heard, with his
own ears, the trumpets and drums proclaiming the victory
of the Revolutionaries ! He saw the importance of the
struggle Tatia was carrying on at Cawnpore.
Tatia on his part realised that Sir Colin was enabled to
march back to Cawnpore, just at this juncture, to the help
of the English army, only through the utter failure of the
Revolutionary party to hold their own at Lucknow. But
he did not get disheartened. He smashed the bridge near
Ayodhya to render it impossible for the English army to
cross the Ganges ; he also stationed guns near the place.
2. The following graphic picture is given of the defeat by an
English officer : " You will read the account of this day's fighting
with astonishment ; for it tells how English troops, with their tro-
phies and their mottoes and their far-famed bravery, were repulsed,
and they lost their camp, their baggage and position to the scouted
and despised natives of India ! The beaten Feringhis, as the enemy
has now a right to call them, have retreated to their entrenchments
amidst overturned tents, pillaged baggage, men's kits, fleeing camels,
elephants and horses, and servants. All this is most melancholy
and disgraceful."—Charles Ball's Indian Mutiny, Vol. II, page 190.
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