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

THE CONFLAGRATION
write what followed. We began flying out of the jungles,
leaving the battle-field and being constantly beaten by the
enemy. Our people, dying of thirst, rushed forth at the
sight of a wretched, dirty pool of water, in the most con-
fused manner possible. Just then, the horses of Kumar
Singh closed upon our rear. Henceforth, there was no
limit to our disgrace, and the disaster was complete. No
sense of shame was left in any one of us. Everyman ran
wherever he thought his safety lay. Orders were thrown
to the winds. Discipline and drill were dead. In all
directions, nothing could be heard but sighs, curses and
wailings. Bands of Europeans dropped dead in the flight
by sunstroke. Nor was it possible to ask for medicine ;
for, the dispensary was already captured by Kumar Singh.
Some died there and then ; the rest were cut down by
the enemy ; the carriers dropped the dolis and fled ; all
was confusion—all terror ! Sixteen elephants were all
full-laden with the burden of the wounded. General Le
Grand himself was shot dead by a bullet in his breast !
Soldiers running for their lives for five miles and more
had now no strength, even for lifting up their guns. The
Sikhs, accustomed to the heat of the sun, took off the ele-
phants and fled away ahead of all. None would be with
the white. Out of a hundred and ninety-nine whites, about
eighty alone could survive this terrible massacre ! We
were led into this jungle like cattle into the slaughter-
house, simply to be killed ! ” ⁵
The forces of Kumar Singh were thus completely success-
ful. They had, in spite of the fact that they had no artil-
lery to speak of on their side, routed the British forces
with a terrible loss and slaughter, and had captured even
the two guns which the British had so proudly brought.⁶
5. Charles Ball's Indian Mutiny, Vol. II, page 288.
6. “ The English sustained on this occasion a complete defeat
of the worst kind.” White's History of the Mutiny.
434