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

THE FALL OF LUCKNOW
and his influence restored. After he was released, he was
asked his opinion about the military situation. He replied,
“The auspicious moment has passed. Things are out of
joint. Now, we should fight only because it is our duty.”
His influence over the populace of Lucknow was as great
as ever. And he ended the petty quarrels amongst the
troops and created in their minds a fresh inspiration and
enthusiasm and desire to take up their swords for the
destruction of the enemy knocking at their gates.
But he did not stop with this activity alone. Very often
he himself would personally lead them to the battles.
Whenever Hindusthanees attacked Alam Bagh, the Moul-
vie was always to be seen in the very forefront of battle.
On the 22nd of December, he had made a clever plan of
deceiving the English army at Alam Bagh and hemming
them in. He gave the slip to the English and marched
on the road to Cawnpore with his troops. He had given
orders that, as soon as he was behind the English army,
a charge was to be made against the front of the English
army by the division of the Revolutionaries that was at
Alam Bagh. The plan was admirable and bound to have
succeeded but for the other division. The leader of the
other division could not maintain discipline among his
followers. Everyone wanted to go by his own counsel,
conscious of his own wisdom and, before the first charge
had even commenced, they turned their back on the enemy
instead of meeting the charge. On account of such
cowardice and want of discipline, the Revolutionaries were
defeated even though the Moulvie had carried out his part
of the scheme most admirably.
But the Moulvie did not cease in his attempts to destroy
the English army. On the 15th of January, the Revolu-
tionaries received news that the English army was ad-
vancing from Cawnpore, carrying provisions and help to
the British troops at Alam Bagh. They began to discuss
the best means of stopping those supplies. But only dis-
405

THE CONFLAGRATION
cussions went on. No scheme was decided on, no arrange-
ment adopted. Disgusted at the cowardice of the rest,
the noble Moulvie swore before all that he would enter
Lucknow right through the British army after having
captured the convoy of the enemy. With this resolve,
keeping his movements as far as possible concealed from
the enemy, the Moulvie marched with his men on to the
road towards Cawnpore. But through Indian spies,
Outram was already informed of this and he had already
sent a party to attack the Moulvie's men. The battle
began. The Moulvie, in order to encourage his men to
do their utmost, himself fought in the front and did his
very best. In the course of the engagement he was shot
in the hand and fell down. The English had been most
anxious for a long time to capture him. But the Revolu-
tionaries skilfully placed him in a doli and brought him
to Lucknow in great haste. When it was known that the
Moulvie had been wounded, everybody was anxious about
his condition. But they felt that the best way of showing
their regard and respect for him was to complete the work
that he had begun; and, therefore, without a moment's
rest, Videhi Hanuman—a brave Brahmin—started on the
17th of January and made a desperate charge on the
English troops. From ten in the morning to six in the
evening, this brave man was fighting in the front ranks.
In the evening, however, he was dangerously wounded and
captured. The Revolutionaries were disorganised and ran
away completely routed. These defeats increased the dis-
organisation in the Revolutionary camp. Characterless
Sepoys demanded pay before fighting. Though their pay
had been given them in advance, they demanded more
before they would consent to take the field. That the
resolute, daring, and capable Begum still maintained, in
spite of all these disorders, the whole administration intact
is a sure indication of her grit.⁸ While these defeats were

8. Sir W. Russell says about this Begum : “ The great bulk of
   the Sepoy army is supposed to be inside Lucknow, but they will
   406

THE FALL OF LUCKNOW
following one upon another, the chief minister of revenue
of the Begum, Raja Balkrishna Singh, died. Hardly was
his wound healed when the Moulvie again rushed into the
field—on the 15th of February. He was anxious to finish
Outram before Sir Colin was able to return from Cawn-
pore. But, day by day, the cowardice of the Sepoys was
increasing beyond measure. All the Moulvie's efforts were
thus baffled and, on that day too, the Revolutionaries
were defeated. But he went on fighting still. Amazed
at the bravery of this man, the historian Holmes records
in his book ; “ If, however, the mass of the rebels were
cowards, their leader was a man fitted both by his spirit
and his capacity to support a great cause and to command
a great army. This was Ammadullah—the Moulvie of
Fyzabad.”⁹ All those who were fighting with the incom-
parable strength of calm philosophy fought bravely. The
brave Subahdar of the 60th regiment swore to drive away
the English from Alam Bagh in eight days and worked
hard in the field to effect his purpose. One day, the Begum
herself came on the field with all the army. But the un-
fortunate Lucknow could not get any victory.
not fight as well as the match-lock-men of Oudh who have followed
their chiefs to maintain the cause of their young king, Birjis Kadir,
and who may be fairly regarded as engaged in a patriotic war for
their country and their sovereign. The Sepoys during the siege of
the Residency never came on as boldly as the Zemindari levies and
Nujeibs. The Begum exhibits great energy and ability. She has
excited all Oudh to take up the interests of her son and the chiefs
have sworn to be faithful to him. We affect to disbelieve his legiti-
macy but the Zemindars who ought to be better judges of the fact
accept Birjis Kadir without hesitation. Will Government treat these
men as rebels or as honourable enemies? The Begum declares un-
dying war against us. It appears from the energetic characters of
these Ranees and Begums that they acquire in their Zenanas and
harems a considerable amount of actual mental power and, at all
events, become able intrigantes. Their contests for the ascendency
over the minds of men give vigour and acuteness to their intellect.”
—Russell's Diary, page 275.
9. Sepoy War by Holmes.
407

THE CONFLAGRATION
At last, Sir Colin joined the English troops before Alam
Bagh. The English were straining every nerve to take
Lucknow. But despite their innumerable attacks, that
town had proudly stood so far under the flag of Swaraj.
But now the English had determined not to move without
taking it. As the English had concentrated all their forces
at this place, so the Revolutionaries, too, were straining
every nerve to give a good fight. All the fighting force
of Oudh was there. From every village and every field
came the patriotic rural population, with determination to
drive away the Feringhis or die in the attempt. Charles
Ball writes, "The whole country was swarming with
armed vagabonds hastening to Lucknow to meet their
common doom and die in the last grand struggle with the
Feringhis."¹⁰ There were thirty thousand Sepoys and fifty
thousand volunteers gathered together in that city. All
those who had taken the oath before the Revolutionary
war, all those who had eaten the chapatee, all those who
had smelt the red lotus flower, all those to whom had come
the sacred messenger of the Revolution, all these patriots
swarmed into Lucknow armed to the teeth with the object
of fighting for their country and for their king. At least
eighty thousand men were armed in that city.¹¹ In street
and lane, barricades and entrenchments were erected ;
houses had ramparts made and holes bored in the walls
for muskets or guns to be mounted ; heroic spirits were
posted on every wall ; to the east, large canals were dug
from the Gautami river and guns were stationed to com-
mand them ; huge ramparts, three in one row, were

10. Charles Ball's Indian Mutiny, Vol. II, p. 241.
11. How the imagination is relied upon in giving the exaggerated
    numbers of the Revolutionaries will be best seen from the following
    example. Sir Hope Grant says that there were "thirty thousand
    Sepoys and fifty thousand volunteers" at Lucknow. Colonel Mal-
    leson records: "The total army of the mutineers was one hundred
    and twenty-one thousand;" and the civil commissioner who ac-
    companied Sir Colin says: "Their army was exactly two lakhs."
    Poor Holmes is simply bewildered at these amazing contradictions.
    408

THE FALL OF LUCKNOW
erected right from Dilkhwush Bagh to Kaisar Bagh ; the
palace itself was reinforced with armed Sepoys and mount-
ed with guns. In short, all parts except the northern
portion of the city were fortified admirably by the Revo-
lutionaries.
Sir Colin recognised the weakness of the northern side
and, from this very side, he began the attack. Before
this, neither Havelock, nor Outram, nor Colin himself
had attacked Lucknow from that side and, as the Gautami
was on that side, the Revolutionaries naturally thought
that the north needed no protection. But Outram took
full advantage of this weak link to the chain of their
defences and, as this point gave way under the charge of
Outram, the other defences were rendered useless. On the
6th of March, the British began their operations on the
north of Lucknow. Soon after, the troops under Sir Colin
had increased to nearly thirty thousand, and so the Eng-
lish attacked simultaneously from the north and the east.
Sir Colin had so divided his army that not a single Revo-
lutionary should escape alive from Lucknow. Though all
the plans of the Pandays had been upset on account of
the attack on the quarter least expected, namely, the
northern side, they carried on their struggle, day and night
from the 6th to the 15th of March. For the third time
in a single year, blood flowed freely in this unfortunate
city. The British troops stormed one fort after another
—Dilkhwush Bagh, Kadam Rasool, Shah Najeef,
Begum Kothi, and others—and continued their ad-
vance. On the 10th, Hodson was killed by the
Revolutionaries. It was this man that had shot
down in cold blood the surrendered, innocent, un-
armed Mughal princes of Delhi. Lucknow then
avenged Delhi by killing this wicked criminal. On
the 14th, the British army entered right into the Palace.
Giving a description of this triumph, Malleson writes :
“ Its greatness and magnificence were due mainly to the
Sikhs and the 10th foot ! ”
409

THE CONFLAGRATION
But, while Sir Colin was overjoyed at this unique triumph
in Kaisar Bagh, the news from Outram’s side disconcerted
him not a little. For, though Lucknow had fallen, its
thousands of Revolutionaries did not surrender or give up
the fight ; but, with their King and with the resourceful
Begum, they had broken through the troops which tried
to hem them in.
And while, in Lucknow, streams of blood are flowing pro-
fusely on every side, while the triumphant British army
is looting the palace, secure from danger, and while the
Queen-mother and the King have left Lucknow, where,
the reader asks, is Ahmad Shah ?
Let everyone bow down his head to do honour to this hero
of heroes ! The proud Moulvie is making his entrance
again into the city, with his handful of followers. His
proud heart hates like poison the idea that Lucknow
should fall, and that right in Lucknow English bayonets
should cause bloodshed ; he wants that, though Lucknow
should fall, its name should not lie low ; and so he leaves
his post outside the city—and, while the Feringhis are
laughing and joking and talking in the streets of Luck-
now, attempts an entry into Lucknow ! Annoyed by
insults offered to his king, careless of his life, mad with
devotion to his country, this Ahmad Shah Moulvie, only
in order that history should record that Lucknow did not
fall without a glorious fighting, entered a small part of the
town, known as Shahdat Ganj, and there began to fight
the enemy with his handful of followers. As Mazzini had
clung to Rome, all alone, though the enemy had entered
it and taken complete possession of it, so this Moulvie
too, when all the other Revolutionaries had left Lucknow,
when thousands of British troops were in it, continued the
fight with the strength that despair gives ! He thrust his
hand right into the jaws of this Feringhi serpent, for it
had swallowed Lucknow, and he wanted to snatch
it back !
410

THE FALL OF LUCKNOW
Malleson writes : “ Something remained to be effected
even in the city itself. The Moulvie, the most obstinate
of the rebel leaders, had returned to Lucknow ; he was
still there, at Shahdat Ganj, in its very heart, occupying,
with two guns, a strongly fortified building whence he bade
defiance to the British. To dislodge him, Lugard was
detached, on the 21st, with a portion of the division which
had conquered the Begum Kothi, the first day of the
attack. The troops employed were the 93rd Highlanders
and the 4th Panjab Rifles. Seldom did the rebels display
so much pertinacity and resolution as on this occasion.
They defended themselves most bravely and were not
driven out until they had killed several men and severely
wounded many others on our side.”¹²
That was the last fight of Lucknow !
When the heroic impulse of this struggle and those who
carried it on had calmed down, they felt that the flag of
Swaraj for which they were fighting, was no more at
Lucknow but that it was awaiting their uplifted swords in
the wilds of Hindusthan. So, they moved away from the
building. The enemy pursued them for six miles. But
the Moulvie again effected his escape.
Now, Lucknow had completely fallen into the hands of
the English. One must really dip one’s pen in blood to
write the history of the vengeance that they wreaked on
Lucknow ! How the palace and the city were looted, how
the citizens were massacred wholesale, how even dead
bodies were insulted is a sad, sad story to tell. If, while
reading the description of the atrocities given by men like
Russell, we bear in mind that this description is given by
Englishmen, we would be able to have some faint notion
of the terrible vengeance that was taken by the English.
How different was the conduct of the Revolutionaries !
12. Kaye and Malleson, Vol. IV, page 286.
411

THE CONFLAGRATION
We give below two extracts, both from English writers,
so that the reader might judge for himself the difference
between Indian and English vengeance.
In the prisons at Lucknow, there were several English
women and officers. For six months, their lives were
spared. But when the English army entered the city at
the first onslaught of Sir Colin, massacring all—innocent
and guilty alike, the angered Revolutionaries went to the
palace and wanted to take vengeance on some of the Eng-
lish prisoners. Accordingly, Lieutenant Orr, Sir Mount
Stuart, and five or six other Englishmen were given over
and they were immediately shot down. But when they
insisted that the English women-prisoners also should be
killed, "to the honour of womanhood, the demand was
imperatively refused by the Begum so far as the females
were concerned, and they were immediately taken under
her care in the Zenana of the palace."$^{13}$
We give below, for comparison and contrast, one or two
examples of the vengeance of the English. These have
been given by Russell himself, the famous correspondent
of the London Times. "While the massacre was going
on in the palace, a frightened child was leading an old
man. The old man came before the English authorities
and, prostrating himself before them, asked that their lives
should be spared. As if in answer to this wailing request,
the English officer took out his pistol and shot him on
the temple! Again, he pressed the trigger but the shot
missed. He pressed again but the shot again refused to
kill the innocent boy. The fourth time—thrice he had
time to repent—the gallant officer succeeded and the boy's
life-blood flowed at his feet!"$^{14}$
This incident has come out, because there was someone
13. Charles Ball's Indian Mutiny, Vol. II, page 94.
14. Russell's Diary, page 384.
412

THE FALL OF LUCKNOW
who would write about it. Many an other incident has
not come to light, because there was no pen to record
these. These atrocities were going on to such an extent
that distinctions were actually drawn up between a merci-
ful death and a cruel death ! A murder, such as the one
above, was a merciful death. The cruel death which ren-
dered even cold-blooded murder merciful meant something
like the following : “Some of the Sepoys were still alive
and they were mercifully killed ; but one of their number
was dragged out to the sandy plain outside the house ;
he was pulled by his legs to a convenient place, where he
was held down, pricked in the face and body by the
bayonets of some of the soldiery, while others collected fuel
for a small pyre ; and when everything was ready—the
man was roasted alive ! These were Englishmen, and
more than one officer saw it ; no one offered to interfere !
The horrors of this infernal cruelty were aggravated by
the attempt of the miserable wretch to escape when half-
burned to death. By a sudden effort he leaped away and,
with the flesh of his body hanging from his bones, ran
for a few yards ere he was caught, brought back, put on
the fire again, and held there by bayonets, till his remains
were consumed ! ” ¹⁵
* * *
Delhi has fallen. Lucknow, too, has fallen. But the War
of Independence did not flag. Seeing this unexpected
result, the English were convinced fully that they had
made a mistake in imagining that this Revolution was
caused by the Sepoys and only for one or two grievances.
This was no mutiny, it was a War of Independence ! One
or two grievances are not responsible for this rising, but
political slavery, the source of all the innumerable griev-
ances suffered—that alone was the cause. The selfish-
ness of personal gain lay not at its root, but the sacred
flame of liberty, the glorious ideal of Swaraj and Swa-
15. Russell’s Diary, page 302.
413

THE CONFLAGRATION
dharma, it is these that were burning there. Not only
had the Sepoy risen to give his life's blood with almost
selfish eagerness to this sacred principle of Liberty.
but the whole civil population all over the country, from
villages as much as from towns, had also risen. Without
that, this strength, this resolution, this selfishness, this
grit would not have been displayed. For, Lord Canning
had now issued a proclamation that those who would join
the Revolution thereafter would see their lands and estates
confiscated, while those who surrendered at once would
be forgiven. Yet the Revolutionary would not lay down
his sword. Still Oudh persisted in her fight. Lucknow
had fallen. But, Sepoy and shopkeeper, Brahmin and
Moulvie, Rajas, Zemindars, and Talukdars, villagers and
agriculturists—all Oudh was still making a rush forward!
Dr. Duff writes about this terrible popular rising : "Why,
if it had been a merely military mutiny, in the midst of
an unsympathetic, unaiding population, a few decisive
victories, such as we have already had, might quash it or,
as the phrase goes, stamp it out. But so far from being
quashed or stamped out, it seems still as rampant and,
in some respects, more wide-spread and formidable than
ever. And, it is a fact that it is not a mere military revolt,
but a rebellion—a revolution, which alone can account
for the little progress hitherto made in extinguishing it and,
at the same time, precludes any reasonable hope of its
early suppression. That it is a rebellion, and a rebellion,
too, of no recent or mushroom growth, every fresh revela-
tion tends more and more to confirm. And a rebellion,
long and deliberately concocted, a rebellion which had
been able to carry the Hindu and Mahomedan in an
unnatural confederacy, a rebellion which is now manifestly
nurtured and sustained by the whole population of
Oudh and, directly or indirectly, sympathised with
and assisted by well-nigh half of the neighbouring
provinces—is not to be put down by a few vic-
tories over mutinous Sepoys, however decisive and
brilliant.
414

THE FALL OF LUCKNOW
"From the very outset, it has been gradually assuming
more and more the character of a rebellion—a rebellion
on the part of vast multitudes beyond the Sepoy army,
against British supremacy and sovereignty. Our real
contest was never wholly, and now less than ever, with
mutinous Sepoys. Had we only Sepoys for our foes, the
country might soon have been pacified.
" Never has the enemy been met without being routed,
scattered, and his guns taken. But, though constantly
beaten, he evermore rallies and appears again, ready for
a fresh encounter. No sooner is one city taken or relieved
than some other one is threatened. No sooner is one
district pronounced safe through the influx of British
troops than another is disturbed and convulsed. No
sooner is a highway reopened between places of import-
ance than it is again closed and all communication is for
a season cut off. No sooner are the mutineers scored out
of one locality than they reappear with double or treble
force in another locality. No sooner does a moveable
column force its way through hostile ranks than these
reoccupy the territory behind it. All gaps in the number
of the foe seem to be instantaneously filled up and no
permanent clearance or impression seems to be made
anywhere. The passage of our brave little armies through
these swarming myriads, instead of leaving the deep
traces of a mighty ploughshare through a roughened field,
seems more to resemble that of the eagle through the
elastic air or a stately vessel through the unfurrowed
ocean ! ” 16
The truth described so picturesquely by Duff was realised
by the English only at the end ; but every individual of
the Panday party had thoroughly realised it long, long
before. Those who died on the field for their country
and their king were, of course, giving expression to such

16. Dr. Duff’s Indian Rebellion, pages 241-243.
    415

THE CONFLAGRATION
thoughts ; but, even their women showed an equal deter-
mination. When the "brave" English attacked the
Zenana of Lucknow, some Zenana ladies fell into their
hands. Feringhi soldiers opened fire as soon as the door
was forced and some of these ladies were killed ! Those
who survived were put in prison. Lucknow city was soon
razed to the ground. The English were overjoyed at the
prospect, as they thought, of the early surrender of the
Revolutionaries. The jailors of these Ranees, sharing to
the full the general feeling of joy of their compatriots,
asked them mockingly, "Do not you think that the strug-
gle has come to an end ?" "On the contrary," replied the
Ranees, "we are sure that in the long run you will
be beaten."¹⁷
17. Narrative of the Indian Mutiny, page 338. Russell's Diary,
page 400.
416

CHAPTER VIII
KUMAR SINGH AND
AMAR SINGH
HUNTED out of the valleys of Jagadishpur by
General Eyre, Kumar Singh, the old but ener-
getic lion of the territory of Shahabad, was
roaming restlessly but always on the alert for
every chance to spring at the neck of those who
had deprived him of his liberty. Under his
banner had united his brother Amar Singh and two other
chiefs, Nisswar Singh and Jawan Singh. They were now
lying in wait in the forests. With them were their beloved
wives, heroic women, but ready to join in the fight, comb-
ing their hair not with the delicate combs of the Zenana
but with sharp arrows, flourishing in their delicately
27 417

THE CONFLAGRATION
fashioned hands, "tenderer than the very flower," the flash-
ing Damascus blade, "harder than adamant." They
were, also, waiting to drink the blood of the enemy ! To
drink the blood of the enemy, we say again ; for, old as
Kumar Singh was and proudly insolent as his opponent
was, the ambition of Kumar Singh was nothing short of
drinking the enemy's blood ! For, though "reduced to
extremities with hunger, besieged by age,—a picture of
hard misery, with no position, and courting death," as
the lion of the famous poem, our Kumar was still the
king of the forest ! And, therefore, whatever the reverses,
how would he eat the dead grass of slavery ? His ambi-
tion was—one ambition alone could be the ambition of
the lion of the poem referred to—to break open, with his
steel-claws, the skull of the elephant !
With the land belonging to his family for generations as
far as your memory could go now usurped by the stranger,
with his very palace of Jagadishpur in the hands of the
foreigner, and his temples and images pulled down by the
desecrating hands of the enemy, Kumar Singh did not
show any excitement. He did not make a dash for Jaga-
dishpur, nor did he persist in holding Shahabad. His
capital was strictly guarded by the English and his army
was small—only a thousand and two hundred Sepoys
and five hundred untrained volunteers. He did not show,
therefore, the least anxiety to recover his capital imme-
diately. But his great desire was to hold aloft the bright
golden banner of the War of Independence ! The very
day that he gave up Jagadishpur without serious resist-
ance—that very day he had made up his mind to take
to a different mode of warfare altogether. That mode of
warfare is the one mode that goes farthest to secure
success in any War of Independence. It is guerilla warfare.
Therefore, enraged as he was at the loss of his capital,
Kumar Singh sent not his army against the enemy, for
then his soldiers would have perished like moths before
418

KUMAR SINGH AND AMAR SINGH
the rushing enemy ; but he moved quietly into the forests
of West Behar and along the river Shon, carefully noting
the weak points of the enemy. In the meanwhile, news
reached him that troops, Nepalese and English, were being
sent from Azimgarh into Oudh to destroy Lucknow. As
soon as with his keen scent he scented the prey, the lion
of Jagadishpur took one leap out of the forest. Unlike
those who would still, in fallen days, hover round their
capital without the least chance, and unlike those weak
persons who give way completely to passion and emotion
to console themselves, our Kumar Singh was the very
genius of guerilla warfare. Though the British army was
marching on to Lucknow, they still had an eye on Jaga-
dishpur, where his activities might be expected to be cen-
tred. Kumar Singh, therefore, postponed indefinitely his
operations there and started for eastern Oudh, to make
one spring for that part where the British army was
weakest, hoping to surprise Azimgarh by uniting together
all the Revolutionaries that were scattered in eastern Oudh,
and then to make a dash, if victorious, on Benares or even
Allahabad and, thus, to avenge the Jagadishpur insult.
On the 18th of March 1858, even the Revolutionaries of
Beeva joined him ; and the united armies encamped near
the fort in Atrolia.
Azimgarh is twenty-five miles' run from Atrolia. Learning
that Kumar Singh was so near, Milman marched on Atro-
lia with three hundred infantry and horse and two guns.
Before the morning rays of the sun of the 22nd of March
had lighted the field of Atrolia, the vanguards of Milman
and of the Revolutionaries were within sight of each other.
Milman gave them not even a moment's time to recover
themselves, taken aback as they seemed to be by the
sudden appearance of the British troops. He began the
fight at once. But, of course, how long could the Revo-
lutionaries fight against the British ? They were soon
totally defeated. What an ending to the vainglorious
boast of Kumar Singh ! All glory to the British army
Published by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 2014.
419

THE CONFLAGRATION
which showed such fine front even after the all-night
march of the previous day. Ye have earned your break-
fast, British soldiers, by the sweat of your brow, nay, by
the free flow of blood from your bodies ; so, enjoy your
breakfast, with your commanders, in the cool shade of the
mango groves ! The rays of the morning sun are wel-
coming you, gay because of the great victory earned so
lately. Arms were arranged all around, breakfast was
ready, the hungry mouths were chewing the first morsel;
the cups of drink were filled ready,—and then !
Boom, boom ! What is up ? The cups are dashed down
from the lips, the morsels of food have slipped off the
mouths, the breakfast dishes are shattered and, instead,
the army has to take up the arms only this hour laid down
with a sense of relief ! Has Kumar Singh come after all?
Yes, yes! Kumar Singh has descended like a thunderbolt
upon the English, who had been contemplating with de-
light their supposed victory. As soon as Milman was com-
pletely enticed into the security of a false victory, the hero
—old in age but youthful in spirit—came out of the fort
of Atrolia and smiled with contempt at the prey, now
completely his. Malleson says : “ What more could a
general long for ? Everything was in his favour. Kumar
Singh, then, marched to a victory which he deemed assur-
ed. The imagination can almost picture him making to
the confidant by his side an exclamation near akin to that
which burst from the lips of Wellington when he noticed
the false movement of Marmont which brought on the
battle of Salamanca ! Mon cher Alva, Marmont est
perdu !” ¹ Still Milman struggled to escape and marched
on with boldness, hoping to frighten Kumar Singh by
keeping up a good and steady attack. But a regular
shower of bullets was kept on from the avenues of sugar-
cane, from the trees of the mango grove, and from the
mud--banks everywhere. The army of Kumar Singh

1. Malleson's Indian Mutiny, Vol. IV, p. 319.
   420

KUMAR SINGH AND AMAR SINGH
numbered five or six times that of Milman and, seeing
that his enemy threatened to surround him completely,
Milman was obliged to stop weakly in the midst of his
bold attack. This weakness increased the determination
of Kumar Singh to surround him. Now the British army,
frightened and almost suffocated, began to fall back. Now
began the wolf-like warfare of Kumar Singh's troops,
moving forward to shoot at stray soldiers and the flanks
of the enemy. The temporary triumph did not turn
Kumar Singh's head. He did not attack unitedly the
retreating troops of the enemy ; for, he knew well the
nature of the troops under him. He could not be sure how
long they would have held on in a hand to hand fight.
Hence, shrewd as he was, he determined only to continue
the guerilla tactics. He drove the army of the enemy,
hunting them from Atrolia straight to their camp
at Kosilla.
But the British army was destined not to get a safe refuge
even in the Kosilla camp. Already the news of the defeat
of the army had reached there and the Indian servants
had left with their oxen and everything else that was in
their keeping. No servants ahead, no provisions near, with
Kumar Singh's army preying on the stray unfortunates
like wolves, Milman began his retreat leaving the camp
behind him. Kumar Singh pursued—pursued even after
he had taken complete possession of everything the enemy
had, and hunted the British army and the miserable Mil-
man from Kosilla right up to Azimgarh. At Azimgarh,
Milman's hopes revived again ! for, there he had aid of
three hundred and fifty fresh forces from Benares and
Ghazipur, who had come in response to his express mes-
sage. Colonel Dames was the commander of the united
forces. With a strong base like Azimgarh, with
the British army reinforced to double the former
number, with Colonel Dames to lead them—they
determined to take revenge for the temporary defeat,
come what might !
421

THE CONFLAGRATION
So, Colonel Dames set out from Azimgarh resolving to
revenge himself on Kumar Singh on the 28th of March.
He thought he had his revenge, for he was victorious over
Kumar Singh ; but it was only to find the old game re-
peated again, perhaps better than before. The fresh
soldiers with their fresh commander got such a sound
beating that Colonel Dames ran from the field right to
Azimgarh and took refuge within the fortifications of the
city. No one now even spoke of attacking Kumar afresh.
Kumar now entered Azimgarh and leaving the work of
annihilating the few Englishmen in the fortifications to a
few of his followers—and to famine—he pushed on trium-
phant to Benares !
The governor-general who, as we have said before, was
now at Allahabad, was filled with terror, now that the lion
had opened wide his jaws. “ Knowing what sort of a man
Kumar Singh was, that he possessed audacity and courage,
and that he knew the value of time in military operations,
Lord Canning realised at once the danger of the situa-
tion.”² He who had just imprisoned the English forces
at Azimgarh and, having marched with wonderful rapi-
dity the eighty-one miles of the way, had threatened to
cut off Allahabad from Calcutta by attacking the city of
Benares, he—the Rana Kumar Singh, reinforced as he
now was by the Sepoys flying away after the defeat at
Lucknow and knowing full well the art of keeping together
and in discipline even such demoralised forces as he had,
was not to be lightly treated by Lord Canning. It was
owing to the firm grip on the cities of Allahabad and
Benares which the English could maintain through the
loyalty of the Sikhs in the first part of the mutiny, that
the rebellion was nipped in the bud in the provinces round
Calcutta ; and when it seemed the design of Kumar Singh
to catch again the lost opportunity by dashing on Benares
and Allahabad, Lord Canning ordered Lord Mark Kerr
2. Malleson’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. IV, page 321.
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KUMAR SINGH AND AMAR SINGH
himself to march on this ‘ rebel ’ chief in all haste.
Lord Mark Kerr, well known in the Crimean campaigns
and well experienced in Indian military matters, marched
off at once with five hundred men and eight guns and
arrived within eight miles of Azimgarh. After a little rest,
he started onwards on the morning of the 6th of April.
At about six o'clock in the morning, he learnt that
Kumar Singh's men had been watching his progress. But
pretending ignorance of this fact, he ordered his army to
advance in readiness and at once commenced the attack
on Kumar's left flank. No sooner did the English com-
mence the attack than Kumar's left began a veritable
shower of bullets on the enemy. On that day, the old
Kumar was seen fighting lightning-like in the thick of
the battle, seated on his favourite white horse. Knowing
full well that the strength of his army was not so much
in their number which was simply swelled as a threat to
the enemy by allowing all sorts of camp-followers to enter
the fighting ranks, Kumar Singh solely relied upon his
own skill and courage and intrepidity.
He spread out his force to attack Lord Mark Kerr on his
flanks. The guns of the enemy were vomiting fire upon
him and he had no guns to silence them, still did he suc-
ceed in bringing his army right to the rear of Lord Mark!
This movement upset the plan of the enemy so totally that
their guns had to fall back ; and this was the signal for
the Revolutionaries to rush forward with a triumphant
war-cry. Kumar Singh had, by this time, tightened his
grip on the English rear so firmly that the English ele-
phants began to run amock, the conductors on them lost
all hope of life and clung round their necks with both
hands, and the servants and all began to run wheresoever
they found a way. Yet Mark Kerr said “Let us hold on
for a while—victory might still be ours !” He had cap-
tured some houses on the Revolutionaries’ front, while
they had totally routed his rear.
423

THE CONFLAGRATION
Thus was this strange battle fought. In the beginning,
the front of Kumar was opposed to the front of the English
army and now the rear of the British army is opposed to
the front of Kumar ; now he has even set the rear of the
enemy on fire ! When Mark Kerr saw the rear surround-
ed in flames of fire, he determined to leave the battlefield
and began to press on to Azimgarh. For, if not victory,
at least the secondary purpose of carrying succour to
Azimgarh should be accomplished if possible. His guns
did him a splendid service, especially as Kumar Singh had
none with him. At midnight, Lord Mark brought his
army to Azimgarh. About this battle and the strategic
movements and errors of Kumar Singh and the difficulties
under which he laboured, Malleson says :—" That leader
had showed himself greater as a strategist than a tacti-
cian. His plan of campaign was admirable but, in carry-
ing it into execution, he committed many serious errors.
Milman gave him a great, an unexpected opportunity.
He had that officer at his mercy. When Milman's men
were waiting for their breakfast in the mango grove near
Atrolia, it was in the power of Kumar Singh to cut them
off from Azimgarh. He preferred to attack them in front.
Then, when he had forced him to fall back, he did not
press the pursuit with sufficient vigour. A capable com-
mander would still have cut them off. Once having seen
them housed in Azimgarh, he should have left a portion
of his force to blockade them, pressed on with the remain-
der towards Benares, and occupied a position in which he
could have engaged Lord Mark Kerr with advantage. He
had at his disposal, it subsequently transpired, about
twelve thousand men. To oppose these the few men led
by Lord Mark were alone available. Everything was
within his grasp had he dared to stretch out his hand.
The chances are that, capable man as he was, he saw all
this. But he was not supreme master of the situation.
Every petty leader who had brought his contingent to
serve under him wished to dictate a programme. The
counsels of the rebels tended, then, almost always to a
424