A MEMOIR

OF

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL

SIR GARNET J. WOLSELEY,

K.C.B., G.C.M.G., B.C.L., LL.D.

CHARLES RATHBONE LOW,
I.N., F.R.G.S.
AUTHOB Or THE " HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY," &C.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY & SON.
^uilisljrrB in ffirohrarjj to get M^mtu tie ffiwm.
1878.
All rights reserved.

CONTENTS

THE FIRST VOLUME.

CHAPTER I.
THE BTJKMESE WAS.
Introduction — Parentage — Early Life — The Burmese War — The Ad
vance on Myat-toon's Position — Ensign Wolseley Leads the Storming
Party on the 19th of March, 1853 — Is Wounded — Returns to
England . . . . . . . .1
CHAPTER II.
THE CRIMEAN WAR.
The Crimean War — Work in the Trenches — The Bombardment of the
9th to the 17th of April — The Attack on the Quarries — Gallant
Services of Captain Wolseley — The Assault of the 18th of June —
The Third, Fourth, and Fifth Bombardments of Sebastopol — The
Affair of the 30th of August — Captain Wolseley severely Wounded
— Service in the Quartermaster-General's Department — Return to
England . . . . . . . .33

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.
THE IN DI AN MUTINY.
Captain Wolseley proceeds on Service to India— Wrecked at Banca—
Arrival at Calcutta— Proceeds up-country— In Action near Cawn-
pore— March to Alumbagh— The Relief of Lucknow— Wolseley
storms the Mess-house— Occupies the Motee Mahul, and effects
Communication with the Residency of Lucknow— The Defence of
Alumbagh— Campaigning in Oude— Actions at Baree and Nawab-
gunge — Service on the Nepaul Frontier . . . 109
CHAPTER IV
THE CHINA WAR.
The Occupation of Chusan — The Disembarkation at Peh-tang — The
Action at Sinho — The Capture of the Taku Forts — The Advance on
Pekin — Narrow Escape of Colonel Wolseley from Capture — The
Looting of the Summer Palace, and Surrender of Pekin — Wolseley's
Visit to Japan and Mission to Nankin — Return to England 189
CHAPTER V.
CANADIAN SERVICES.
The Trent Affair — Wolseley Embarks for Canada, and is employed
on Transport Duty — His Visit to the Head-quarters of Generals
Lee and Longstreet, and Impressions of the Confederate Armies
— Wolseley's Services during the Fenian Invasion, in 1866 239

PREFACE.

SOME explanation appears necessary in publishing
the Biography of a man still living. On the
6th of May, 1874, immediately on the return of Sir
Garnet Wolseley from Ashantee, I commenced to
write this Memoir of his military services. The task
was a difficult one, for Sir Garnet had lost all his
papers and journals. During the Indian Mutiny they
were stolen, and what remained to him were burnt
at the great fire at the Pantechnicon, where all his
furniture and effects were consumed. Thus, when I
applied to him for assistance, he expressed his regret
that he had no private papers whatever in his posses
sion, but, with characteristic kindness, consented to
give me all the information in his power. Thus, at
numerous interviews, whenever he had a spare hour

vi PREFACE.
from his duties at the War Office, as head of the
Auxiliary Forces, he told me
"The story of his life,
From year to year ; the battles, sieges, fortunes
That he had passed.
He ran it through, even from his boyish days
To the very moment that I bade him tell it."
As I was not unfamiliar with the military events of
the Wars in which he had participated, I was enabled
to put to him what lawyers call " leading questions,"
and these, as he frequently owned to me, assisted a
naturally retentive memory in reviving his recollec
tions of the past. In this story of an eventful life, he
" Spoke of most disastrous chances,
Of moving accidents by flood and field ;
Of hair-breadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach."
By correspondence and personal acquaintance with
officers of his staff, and others who had served under
his orders, I learned anecdotes illustrative of traits of
character, which will lend an additional interest to the
narrative. In this manner the book was written, and
Sir Garnet Wolseley, after perusal, testified to its
absolute veracity in a letter addressed to me. The
Memoir, especially the earlier portion, may, therefore,
almost be regarded as an Autobiography, though, owing
to the modesty of our hero, it required an assiduous
process of " pumping," based on despatches and the
information derived from comrades, to enable me to
make a connected narrative of the incidents of a

PREFACE. vii
singularly stirring and eventful career. And here
I would thank him for the unfailing good-nature he
displayed during the ordeal, and his friends and
brother officers for the assistance they so obligingly
afforded to me.
The question of the publication of the Memoir in
book form, slumbered until early in the present year,
when war with Russia being imminent, and Sir
Garnet having been placed under orders as Chief of the
Staff to the Expeditionary Army, it was thought the
present would be a favourable opportunity for pub
lishing the military experiences of an officer whose
name was in every one's mouth, as that of a General
of established reputation, from whom great things
were expected. The Press and periodicals of the day
were full of speculations as to his chances' of success,
and the events of his past career, so far as they were
known, were eagerly discussed, thus showing the public
interest in him. The writer, accordingly, revised the
work, and completed it up to date, including an account
of the Natal Mission, derived from papers supplied by
Sir Garnet Wolseley. However well or ill, from a
literary point of view, the author may have acquitted
himself, at least he claims for the book the merits of
authenticity and completeness, and, as his hero's life
has been a changeful scene of adventure, such as falls
to the lot of few men in this prosaic age, no novel
could be more exciting or full of incident.
In writing of one still among us, it would be
unseemly to speak in the terms of eulogy warranted

PREFACE.

by the circumstances of his career, but, at least, it is
allowable to quote despatches and the opinions of those
who have served with him. As a young officer, wherever
the danger was greatest and the fire hottest, there he
was to be found. In Burmah he led two storming
parties in one day, and was dangerously wounded at
the moment of victory. In the Crimea he was once
so severely wounded, that the surgeon passed him over
for dead, and he was twice slightly wounded, while
he was, perhaps, oftener in the trenches than any
officer in the British Army. At the Relief of Luck
now he again led a storming party ; and, in the China
Campaign, he was in the thick of the fire at the
capture of the Taku Forts. The bare enumeration
of the occasions on which he won " the bubble repu
tation," obviates the necessity of our dwelling on the
fact that his courage was of the order that is absolutely
destitute of fear, and these pages will show that his
generosity, though less obtrusive, was equally remark
able, for he loved best to dwell on the gallantry of
others, particularly of his humble comrades. More
admirable than the fierce courage — "the rapture of
the strife" — is the calm lofty spirit that retains its
equanimity when failure appears certain and all men
despair of success. That Sir Garnet Wolseley pos
sessed this noblest and rarest of the attributes of those
who claim to be leaders of men, is testified by those
who served with him in the Red River and Ashantee
Expeditions. A distinguished officer assured us that
when, in the advance through the Canadian wilderness,

PREFACE.

every one resigned all hope of reaching Fort Garry, so
many, and, seemingly, insurmountable were the natural
obstacles, the Commander alone retained his sanguine
anticipations of success, and nerved all hearts by his
encouraging words and example. The same we know
was the case in the Ashantee Campaign, when, at one
time, it appeared that the task of reaching Coomassie
and returning to the Coast within the limited period
available for hostilities, was an impossibility. But his
indomitable will removed all obstacles, and the Cam
paign was a brilliant success. We are accustomed to
applaud such acts of heroism and devotion, when told
of the warriors of Greece and Rome, but they are not
less worthy of chronicle and admiration when narrated
of our fellow countrymen and contemporaries. More
over, the narrative of deeds such as we are about to
recount, is useful as an example to the rising genera
tion of young Englishmen, who will learn that the
age of chivalry, notwithstanding Burke's magnificent
lament, is not yet over, but will last as long as there
are brave hearts to illustrate the page of our history,
and generous instincts to applaud them.
Sir Garnet Wolseley carries self-reliance almost to a
fault, if that is possible, though the absolute confidence
he inspires in his staff, who rally round him as he
passes from one triumph to another, willing tools in
the hands of the master workman, shows that it is
founded on just appreciation of his own powers. Swift
to form his plans, he executes them with unfaltering
tenacity of will, and the correctness of his judgments

PREFACE.

amounts almost to instinct, as appears in his conduct
of affairs at crises during the Red River and Ashantee
Expeditions. Scarcely less remarkable than the aptitude in war,
developed by experience in six campaigns, is the states
manship and tact he displayed in the delicate task of
inducing the people of Natal to surrender to the Crown
their predominance in the Government of that Colony.
This success, doubtless, led to his selection for the
duty of evolving order and good government, out of
the chaos and misrule of a Turkish province. That
Sir Garnet Wolseley will succeed and add a fresh leaf
to the laurels he has gained as a victorious Warrior
and successful Administrator, no one can doubt who
peruses this imperfect Memoir of one of England's
greatest and most patriotic sons.

Chelsea, July, 1878.

SIR GARNET WOLSELEY.

CHAPTER I.
THE BURMESE WAR.
Introduction — Parentage — Early Life — The Burmese War — The Ad
vance on Myat-toon's Position — Ensign Wolseley Leads the Storming
Party on the 19th of March, 1853 — Is Wounded — Returns to
England.
SIR GARNET WOLSELEY is one of the foremost
and most trusted of England's soldiers. In his
conduct of the Ashantee Expedition, he presented a
rare combination of dash and foresight, patience and
energy, strategical skill and diplomatic sagacity. He
made no false step from that day of October, 1873, when
he landed at Cape Coast Castle, to find affairs in our
Protectorate in a state of perplexity and confusion,
to that day of the following March, when he embarked
from the same fortress, a victor fresh from the field
VOL. I. B

THE B URMESE WAR.

of his glory. During those few anxious months, he
had driven across the Prah— a river which a native
tradition declared no white man could cross and live—
the army of the most warlike and ferocious tribe in
Western Africa ; he had worsted these savage warriors
in every encounter on their own chosen battle ground
—the impenetrable forest which afforded at every foot
a vantage ground for the deadly foe lurking within
its bounds — and these defeats he had inflicted under
the eyes of their King, to whom discomfiture was an
unknown humiliation ; he had followed the panic-
stricken columns to the banks of the Ordah, and forced
them over that stream in headlong rout, converting
a disciplined army into a demoralised mob; he had
entered the capital, which, it was no idle boast to
say, its savage but gallant defenders had kept inviolate
from the foot of the invader for centuries ; and, finally,
after committing to the flames this " charnel house "
of Western Africa — as he graphically described the
Ashantee capital — and the palace of the monarch with
its ghastly trophies of the skulls of his enemies slain
in battle, he retired into British territory, his retrea^
ing columns followed only by the emissaries of the
King. This wily, but astute, potentate — finding his
empire crumbling under his eye, owing to the seces
sion, one after another, of his tributary Kings, and,
at length, humbled to the dust by the awful visitation
that had befallen .him, with the prospect of still further
chastisement from another British column, commanded
by Captain Glover (the dreaded " Golibar" of his

INTRODUCTION.

swarthy soldiery) — hastily despatched envoys to plead
with the victorious British general, for the peace he
had rejected under circumstances of treachery so
characteristic of his race.
But not only for the consummate skill with which
he conducted this Ashantee War does Sir Garnet
Wolseley merit the thanks of his countrymen, and the
commendation of military critics. He has seen much
and varied service during the quarter of a century he
has passed in that Army, whose marvellous roll of
achievements from Cressy to Abyssinia, he has still
further enriched by the names "Red River" and
" Ashantee ;" and the galaxy of medals he wears on
his breast, attests the fact that, in every quarter of
the globe, and in every great, and almost every
" little " war, in which the British soldier has been
engaged since his entry into the Service, he has parti
cipated ; while the official records of these campaigns
and sieges, show that he has earned the encomiums
of his commanding officers and the thanks of his
Government. Sir Garnet Wolseley served as a subaltern officer in
the Burmese War of 1852-53, and showed in his " first
appearance " on that stage where soldiers achieve dis
tinction — the field of battle — that he was made of the
stuff of which heroes are fashioned; again, in the
trenches before Sebastopol, which may be said to have
run with the blood of England's best "and bravest, he
manifested, under the most trying circumstances, a
calm intrepidity which extorted the admiration of all
B 2

TEE BURMESE WAR.

witnesses. He participated in some of the most
striking episodes of that terrible struggle, known as
the Indian Mutiny, which, doubtless, future historians
will regard as exhibiting in their strongest light the
patient endurance and stubborn valour of the British
soldier ; and again, the orders and despatches of the
General Commanding in the China War of 1860, show
the estimation in which he was regarded by his
military superiors. In the Expeditions to the Red
River and the Gold Coast, when Sir Garnet Wolseley
was first entrusted with independent command, he
manifested talents for organisation and thorough prac
tical knowledge of the art of war — of which he had
already exhibited a theoretical familiarity in his
" Soldiers' Pocket-Book" — and that peculiar aptitude
of inspiring confidence in those under his command,
which are among the chief attributes of military genius.
His successful conduct of these arduous operations
placed him in the foremost rank of that small band
of Generals from whom any Government, jealous only
of the honour of its country, without any regard to
aristocratic connections or political claims, would feel
bound to select the Commander of an army, in the
event of political complications embroiling this country
in an European war.
Sir Garnet Wolseley is the eldest son of the late
Major G. J. Wolseley, of the 25th King's Own Bor
derers, and was born at Golden Bridge House, County
Dublin, on the 4th of June, 1833.
The family of Wolseley is one of the most ancient

WOLSELEY'S ANCESTRY.

in the County of Stafford, the manor of Wolseley
having been in their possession before the Conquest.
Among their progenitors was Sewardus, Lord Wisele,
fifth in descent from whom was Robert, Lord of
Wolseley in 1281; and Ralph, another descendant,
was a Baron of the Exchequer in the reign of Edward
IV. There are two baronetcies in the Wolseley
family. The senior title was among the first creations
of James I., and dates from the year 1628. Sir
Charles Wolseley, the second Baronet, represented
the County of Stafford in the Parliaments of Charles I.
and Charles II. ; he was also high in favour with the
Protector, and was a man of much consideration in
those times. Richard Wolseley, a younger son of
the second English baronet, was a captain in the
service of King William III., and had three sons, the
eldest of whom, on the death of his uncle, succeeded
as fifth baronet to the English title and estates.
Captain Wolseley devised his Irish property to his
youngest son, Richard,' who, in 1744, was created
baronet of " Mount Wolseley, Carlow," in Ireland.
His eldest son, Sir Richard, succeeded to the title and
estates ; and the younger, William, Sir Garnet's
grandfather, entered the army and became a captain
in the 8th Hussars, in which regiment he served on
the Continent. Subsequently he retired from the
Service, took holy orders, and became Rector of Tully-
corbet, County Monaghan.
Sir Garnet is not the first of his family who has won
military fame, his ancestor, Colonel William Wolseley,

6 THE BUR MUSK WAV.
having greatly distinguished himself during the Irish
war. Wnip. William III. This otlieer, on the 2\H\\ of
July, 1(580. relieved the hardly pressed garrison of
Enniskillon,* defended by Custavus Hamilton, and
advancing with the Enuiskillenors, numbering about
three thousand men, defeated the Irish Army, live
thousand strong, with gums, commanded by Maearthy
(Lord Mounteashel) at. Newtown Butler. In those
fanatical days, " the sword o( the Lord and of Oidoon "
was the watchword alike among Protestants and
Papists; no quarter was given by the stout colonists
of Ulster, and one thousand live hundred of the enemy
fell by tho sword, and live hundred were driven into
Lake Erne, where they perished miserably. Colonel
Wolseley also commanded the Enniskillenersf at tho
* Lord Maoaulay (son his " History of ICnglmul," Vol. 111., p. 2-13)
writ os of Colonel Wolseley : — " Wolseley soonis to have boon in every
respect well quoliftod for his post. Uo was a staunoh Protestant, hud
distinguished himself aiuon^ tho Yorlishiromon who rose up for tho
Prinoo of Orange and a free Parliament, and had, if ho is not belied,
proved his zeal for liberty and truo religion, liy causing tho Mayor of
Scarborough, who had made a apoooh in Car our of King .lames, to bo
brought into tho niiirkot-plaoo and well tossed there in a blankot.
This vohoniont. hat. rod of Popery was, in the estimation of the men of
Enniskillon, tho first of all qunlilloations of command ; and Wolaoloy
had other and more importunl, qualifications. Though himself regularly
UBod to wai', ho seems to have had a poouliar aptitude for the nianago-
mont of irrogular troops."
t Tho KnniskiUonors oommandod by Colonel Wolseley, eonsist.od of
horso and foot, and are now known as the (ith Dragoons and 27tli
Bogimont. They were raised, respectively, hy Colonel Colo (aftor-
wards Earl of Enniskillon) and Gustavus Hamilton, sou of Sir

SIS EARLY LIFE.

ever memorable battle of the Boyne, on the 1st of
July, 1690, when the star of King William, of " pious,
glorious, and immortal memory," rose in the ascen
dant, and that of his pusillanimous rival, James II.,
set for ever in defeat and ruin.
Sir Garnet Wolseley was educated at a day school
near Dublin, and later had private tutors. As a boy
he was remarkable for his studious habits, and,
when a mere child, had read all the chief works on
military history. It was always his own wish and
that of his parents that he should enter the military
profession, and his name was put down for a com
mission when fourteen years of age. His predilection
for study was not confined to a liking for one branch
of learning, and he was remarkable for aptitude in
mathematical studies, and used regularly to go out
four or five times a week surveying and acquiring a
knowledge of the art of military engineering. He was
also versed in fortification and astronomical science,
and exhibited his versatility by the proficiency he
acquired in such practical pursuits as carpentering and
the use of the lathe. His aptitude for military en
gineering and fortification, and the practical knowledge
Frederick Hamilton, one of the Generals of Gustavus Adolphus, the
great Protestant champion, who, for his great services as Governor of
Enniskillen, at the Boyne, and the capture of Athlone, (which he
effected by surprise,) was raised to the peerage as Baron Hamilton and
Viscount Boyne. The author of this work hopes it may be considered
a pardonable pride that induces him to note his descent from this
nobleman, with whom 'Wolseley's ancestor was so closely associated,
Richard, fourth Viscount Boyne, being his great-grandfather.

THE BURMESE WAR.

he acquired of these sciences, as well as of the cognate
study of land surveying, was of great service to him
during his career in the Crimea, where he performed
the duties of Assistant-Engineer during the siege of
Sebastopol, and afterwards was employed surveying
in the Quartermaster-General's Department. A high
historical authority has said that no " commander-in-
chief is fit for his post who is not conversant with
military engineering," and if we are to accept the
dictum, then the successes achieved by Lord Napier
in Abyssinia, and Sir Garnet Wolseley in the Red
River and Ashantee campaigns, may be greatly
attributed to their practical knowledge of the science
of military engineering.
Sir Garnet Wolseley's military career commenced
in March, 1852, when he was appointed Ensign in the
80th Regiment, at that time engaged in the Second
Burmese War. As reinforcements were required for
the Regiment, owing to the great losses it had sus
tained by disease more than at the hands of the enemy,
he was ordered out from the depot to the seat of war
with a detachment of recruits.
Ensign Wolseley, therefore, had not been many
months in the Army, before he saw his first shot fired
in anger. He arrived at a time when the almost
unbroken series of successes achieved by the British
land and sea forces, was dimmed by a sad disaster —
we refer to the failure at Donabew, which necessi
tated retributive operations, in which Mr. Wolseley
first exhibited those soldierly qualities which

A BRITISH REPULSE.

have made his name renowned in our military
annals. A noted Burmese leader, Myat-toon by name — whom
it was the fashion of despatch writers to style a
" robber chieftain," though his countrymen, doubtless,
regarded him as a self-sacrificing patriot — having esta
blished himself near Donabew, a force of three hundred
men of the 67th Bengal Native Infantry, under Major
Minchin, and a strong detachment of one hundred and
eighty-five seamen, sixty-two Marines, and twenty-five
officers of Her Majesty's ships ' Fox,' ' Sphinx,' and
' Winchester,' were despatched to disperse the enemy,
the chief command being entrusted to Captain
Loch, C.B., of the ' Winchester.' The combined force
arrived at Donabew on the 2nd of February, and, on
the following morning, Captain Loch, leaving forty-
two men and five officers with the boats, marched
inland with the remainder of the force. The march,
through fifteen miles of jungle, was uninterrupted on
that day ; but, on the following morning, after they
had advanced five miles, they came to a deep and
broad nullah, from the opposite bank of which the
enemy, concealed behind a breast-work, opened a
heavy musketry fire. Captain Loch made repeated,
but unavailing, efforts to cross the creek, and received
a mortal wound ; at length, when Mr. Kennedy, First
Lieutenant of the ' Fox,' and many brave men had
fallen, the force retired, the Grenadier Company of
the 67th bringing up the rear, and, after a fatiguing
march of twelve hours, reached Donabew.

10 THE BURMESE WAR.
General Godwin and the whole Army were eager to
wipe out the stain of this disaster, and to that able
soldier, the late Brigadier-General Sir John Cheape —
an officer of the same distinguished corps that has
produced Lord Napier of Magdala — was entrusted the
honourable, but arduous, task. Every European soldier
that could be spared from Rangoon, or elsewhere,
was hurried up to Prome, and Ensign Wolseley, who
had arrived in November with a detachment of about
two hundred men of his Regiment, chiefly recruits,
found himself under orders to embark from Rangoon.
On the 18th of February, previous to Wolseley's
arrival at Prome, Sir John Cheape had left that place,
with eight hundred men, for the purpose of attacking
Myat-toon's stronghold ; and, four days later, quitted
Henzadah, on the Irrawaddy, some thirty-five miles
north of Donabew, and began the march inland, but
owing to defective information, and a failure of sup
plies, he was obliged to fall back on the river, and
reached Zooloom on the 28th of February. Thence,
on the following day, the greater part of the force
moved to Donabew, where they were joined, on the
6th of March, by reinforcements, consisting of one
hundred and thirty men of the 80th Regiment, under
the command of Major Holdich, with whom was En
sign Wolseley; three hundred of the 67th Native
Infantry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Start; two mortars,
with a detail of artillerymen, under Lieutenant
Percival, R.A., and a large supply of Commissariat
stores.

ADVANCE OF THE COLUMN. 11
Again, on the 7th of March, the Brigadier-General
started to beat up the quarters of Myat-toon, who had
shown himself the most redoubtable of all the leaders
of the "Golden Foot," as the monarch of Burmah
styled himself. All the sick being left at Donabew,
with a small party to garrison the place, the force now
consisted of about six hundred Europeans, six
hundred Natives, two guns of the light field battery,
three rocket tubes, and two mortars, with a detachment
of Ramghur Horse, and seventy Sappers. Being now
assured that three days would bring them in front of
Myat-toon's stronghold, they started in the following
order, at two p.m., on the 7th, taking seven days pro
visions with them. The right wing, under Major
WigBton, consisting of the detachments of Her Ma
jesty's 18th and 80th Regiments, with the 4th Sikhs
in front ; then came the guns, followed by the Irregular
Cavalry, rocket tubes, and mortars. The left wing,
consisting of detachments of Her Majesty's 51st and
the 67th Bengal Native Infantry, was under the com
mand of Colonel Sturt.
The direction taken by the force was almost due
west, and, about five p.m., the column reached the bank
of a broad nullah, at least one hundred and thirty yards
wide, seven miles distant from Donabew. Here the enemy
opened a fire of jingals and musketry, but the guns
came to the front and silenced them for a time. The
troops passed the night behind a belt of jungle parallel
with the nullah, and the rafts having been put together
by the Sappers, the following day was occupied in

12 THE BURMESE WAR.
crossing the guns and baggage, which operation was
not concluded till late at night. The force marched on
the 9th, but, about noon, it was said they were on
the wrong road ; the guide was accordingly flogged,
sent to the rear, and another one called up to take his
place. The new guide turned to the left, and, after a
most tedious round, under a glaring sun, brought the
wearied troops back to the identical spot from which
they had started. After a halt of two hours, the
column marched to a nullah at Kyomtano, where they
encamped; during the night the Burmese showed
themselves from the jungles on the left, but the guns
opening on them, they soon disappeared; they then
came down under cover of the fog, and fired into the
camp at a point where the nullah was about fifty
yards wide. On the following morning a bridge was
extemporized by connecting the rafts with planks,
and, with the assistance of an old boat found in the
nullah, the greater part of the troops, and all the
baggage, passed over. The bridge was then broken
up, and the guns taken across on the rafts ; the empty
hackeries were also driven into the water, and floated
across. Everything being now on the other side, the
rafts were packed again by five p.m.
On the 11th, the force started at the usual hour
(nine a.m.) and every one expected to reach Myat-
toon's position that day. They had not proceeded two
miles when the rear-guard were attacked by a strong
party in the long grass, upon which Lieutenant John
son, commanding, charged into the jungle and dis-

A N A MD UO US M. I It C 11. 13

porsod tho Burmese, with small loss. From this spot
the road lay tiirough a Ihick forest, where the Burmeso
had only to throw down a troo or two with their usual
skill in such matters, and a completely now road
would havo to be cut round tho obstacle. As they had
done this in several places, there was very hard work,
particularly for the Sappers, and tho advance was
tedious. Shortly after entering tho forest, a small
breastwork was taken, and, about two p.m., tho Bur
mese disappeared front tho front, and tho road was
unobstructed. Two hours later, tho force crossed a
piece of water, and soon tho advance found that tho
road turned into a. footpath. Kvory one was now tired
out, and as the Artillery horses were staggering in
their harness, the (ieneral determined to encamp on
the spot, there being water a short distance a-head.
Tho hackeries, as they eatne up, were either pushed
right and left into (lie jungle, or remained on the road,
and tho troops lay down on either side. Cholera made
its first appearance in camp this night.
Myat-toon's position was said to be only two miles
to the left, but. there was no road to it. The guide.
who had committed himself on the 9lh, and who was
now with tho rear-guard, had pointed out a spot,
shortly after passing the first, breastwork, where ho
declared the road to Myat-toon's position diverged to
the left; and his statement, afterwards proved to be
correct. Tho Commissioner, Captain Smith, informed
Sir John that he did not know tho road, and had no
moans of gaining information; but still the tumoral

14 THE BURMESE WAR.
was determined to persevere. The force retraced its
steps on the morning of the 12th, without rations
having been served out, the rear of yesterday moving
in front to-day. On passing the spot where the road
branched off, there were serious thoughts of still
advancing on Myat-toon ; but provisions were failing
again, so it was thought prudent to return to Kyom-
tano, about nine miles from Donabew, and wait for a
supply. On the 13th, Colonel Sturt, with all the
hackeries, and some eight hundred men, as also the
sick and wounded, went into Donabew for provisions,
and, until the 16th, when he returned with ten
or twelve days' provisions, the column was put on
half rations.
It would be difficult to exaggerate the difficulties and
obstacles encountered on this march. When the small
force had, with infinite toil, and suffering severe priva
tions owing to the intense heat and want of water, taken
up its position, and commenced to close in towards Myat-
toon's stronghold, it was found that the approaches
had to be made through a dense forest with thick
jungle and heavy brushwood, through which it was
necessary to cut every inch of the paths along which
the hackeries, (or bullock-carts,) the guns, and the troops
had to pass. This dangerous and fatiguing duty had
to be performed under a hot sun, for throughout the
entire time occupied by the operations, it was impos
sible to march until nine, a.m., on account of dense
fogs, which rose about two in the morning. These
fogs were, moreover, like " Scotch mists," and wet the

SIR JOHN CHEAPE'S PLANS. 15
men's clothes as effectually as rain, and as there was
no such luxury as a change of clothing in the camp,
the clothes had to dry on their wearers' backs, only to
be drenched again on the succeeding night. There
was not a single tent with the force, and the men
bivouacked in the fog and dew all night, and marched
and fought under the tropical sun all day. Thus,
although all arms, from the General downwards,
worked with untiring zeal and energy, the advance
was very slow; and, at length, after several days'
laborious marching across the creeks and through
almost impervious forests, the unwillingness or
treachery of his guides and the failure of provisions,
forced Sir John Cheape, sorely against his will, to
retrace his steps to Kyomtano.
The heat and hardships the troops had endured during
this trying march, induced fever, dysentery, and worse
than all, cholera ; thirteen succumbed in one day, and
many more perished from this fell disease, which is
the invariable accompaniment of Indian campaigns in
which the troops are much exposed.*
While halting at Kyomtano, Sir John Cheape ascer
tained that the jungle to the westward was quite im
penetrable, and that there were only two routes to the
position occupied by Myat-toon at Kyoukazeen, one to
the southward, and the other to the northward by
* The 67th Native Infantry buried twenty-six men, the Sikhs thirty-
one, the 18th Koyal Irish, three colour-sergeants and ten men, the
80th about the same number, but the 51st had only a few cases. (See
Sir John Cheape's Despatches, dated the 3rd and 13th of March.)

16 THE BURMESE WAR.

Nayoung-Goun. As there was no choice between these
routes as regarded distance, and the same obstacles
and opposition were to be anticipated, Sir John re
solved to adopt the northerly route.
In the life of young Wolseley had now arrived that
most critical and anxious time for which every soldier
most earnestly prays— the hour had struck in which
he was to receive his " baptism of fire." Every man
who has worn a sword, knows full well how many
gallant hearts there are in both Services, who have
prayed for this most honourable opportunity, but have
been denied the distinction they would have earned
had a hard fate been more propitious. In his incom
parable " Elegy," Gray sings how
" Hands that the rod of empire might have swayed,"
are bent only on the plough in the painful struggle,
continued day by day, to gain a bare subsistence. So,
in some remote country town or cheap watering-place,
may be seen gallant gentlemen on the Half-Pay or
Retired List, who drag out their remaining years in
obscurity, " unhonoured," as far as medals and
decorations go, " unsung" by the muse of history, but
who, had they been born under a luckier star, would
have been immortalized in history as the possessors of
qualities that we recognise in a Napoleon, a Welling
ton, and a Lee.
If Ensign Wolseley was fortunate in the circum
stances of his military career, it is equally certain that
he never missed an opportunity. Whenever a chance

MARCH ON MYAT-TOON'S POSITION. 17
offered for earning distinction, he eagerly grasped at
it, and — being blessed with a sound constitution and
an equable temperament, the mens sana in corpore sano,
so much lauded by the Roman poet — was enabled to
pass with unbroken health through the hardships of
campaigns conducted in the most deadly climates of
the world, or to return to duty after being wounded,
and that he received some ghastly reminders of the
hot work in which he participated, will soon appear.
As Sir John Cheape considered it desirable to give
the enemy as little time as possible to strengthen still
further the almost impregnable fortress they occupied,
he directed Major Wigston, of the 18th Royal Irish, to
occupy a position of importance some three miles in
advance, so as to enable the main force to move early
on the following morning, without waiting for the
clearing of the fog, which always lay thick at that
hour. Major Wigston, accordingly, marched at two
p.m., on the 17th of March, with the right wing,
consisting of his own Regiment, the 80th, (with
which was Ensign Wolseley,) the 4th (or Major Arm
strong's) Sikhs, a detail of Sappers, and some rockets.
The road was found to be quite clear till within a
mile of a breastwork, which was situated in the
middle of the forest, and on the verge of a large
lake ; but the last mile was full of obstructions, such as
felled trees and abattis, which had either to be re
moved, or, where this was a labour of time, a new
path had to be made round the obstacles. The breast
work was carried in good style by the 18th Royal
VOL. I. o

18 THE BURMESE WAR.

Irish, who were leading, supported by the Sikhs,
whose gallant commander particularly distinguished
himself. Major Wigston bivouacked here for the
night, and was undisturbed.
Sir John Cheape moved early on the morning of
the 18th, with the left wing— consisting of the 51st
Light Infantry and the 67th Bengal Native Infantry
in front, followed by the guns — the entire force* carry
ing seven days' provisions, the remainder being left
behind, together with the sick, at Kyomtano.
After going about two miles through forest, and
passing breastworks from which only an occasional
shot was fired, the guides, instead of proceeding further
by the road which had been followed on the 11th,
turned sharp off to the left, along a path bristling with
obstructions and felled trees, so that it occupied two
hours to perform the distance of one mile.
* From the " East India Army Magazine and Military Register,''
it appears that the following was the exact strength of the force
engaged : — Etteopeans.
Bengal Artillery, 4 officers and 64 non-commissioned officers and men.

Madras „

11

3J

)J

H.M. 18th E. Irish 9

»

200

3J

33

H.M. 51st Regt. 6

>t

200

JJ

3)

H.M. 80th Regt. 3
»
130
Natives.
a
>J
Madras Sappers 1
»
33
jj
JJ
67th B.N.I. 8
»
380
si
JS
4th Sikhs 3
>»
190
3J
Total force engaged,
605
Europeans and 22 officers;
608 Sepoys
and 12 officers.
MARCH ON MYAT-TOON'S POSITION. 19
As they drew nearer to Myat-toon's stronghold, it
was found that his dispositions for defence exhibited
considerable skill, and were admirably adapted to the
nature of his position. The entire country, or rather
forest, was defended with strong works, such as
stockades, abattis, stakes or fences, according as the
nature of the ground seemed to require, while the
presence of the enemy was constantly made apparent
by a straggling and worrying fire on every side.
They had not proceeded more than a mile from
their mid-day halting place when a sharp fire opened
from the left; but the troops, advancing with great
gallantry, carried a breastwork. In this affair the
51st Light Infanty, and the 67th Native Infantry,
distinguished themselves, Captain Singleton, of the
51st, leading the advance. Ensign Boileau, of the
67th, was killed while gallantly attacking the enemy
on the left flank. The Burmese, who numbered one
thousand, suffered severely ; and unfortunately, Myat-
toon, who commanded in person, effected his escape to
his main position about midway between the Bassein
river and the Irrawaddy.
Sir John Cheape lost no time in following up the
enemy : but, after proceeding along the road for about
a mile, thought it advisable to halt at a piece of
water, the surrounding jungle being reported as full
of the Burmese. At eight p.m. the General fired
three rockets as a signal to Commander Rennie, I.N.,
who, with eighty blue-jackets from his ship, the
Honour ble Company's steam- frigate 'Zenobia,' and
02

20 THE BURMESE WAR.

Captain Fytche, with his Native levies, were acting
in co-operation in the neighbourhood, and the shots were
replied to by guns. All that night cholera raged in
the camp, and the position of affairs looked very gloomy.
At seven a.m. of the 19th of March the force moved,
the right wing leading, with the 80th as the advance
guard, followed by the Sappers clearing the road ; the
left wing being in rear of the artillery. This eventful
day was not to close without some warm work, in
which young Wolseley was destined to play a prominent
part. A storming party was told off, consisting of the
80th Regiment, supported by the 18th Royal Irish
and the 4th Sikhs. On coming opposite the enemy's
left flank, the firing commenced, and the rockets were
advanced and opened fire. The Sappers worked away
at the path, which was much entangled with wood,
and the guns were shortly got into position and
opened ; the enemy, however, were not idle, but com
menced a heavy fire, under which both the senior
officers, Majors Wigston and Armstrong, and many
men, were wounded. " On reaching the front," says
the General in his dispatch, " I found that Major
Armstrong was also wounded, as well as many other
officers and men, and that the fire of the enemy on the
path leading up to the breastwork was so heavy, that
our advanced party had not succeeded in carrying it :
the most strenuous exertions were made, and Lieu
tenant Johnson, the only remaining officer of the 4th
Sikh Local Regiment, persevered most bravely, but it

xms snuuHy© juxft. 21
only increased the loss. The $0th and Sikhs thai
wait on in the hope of gating round the extreme
right of the enemy. The jungle, however, was sv>
thkk, and the abattis so strong, that our men got dis
persed, and could not get through it.8"
Ensign Wolseley's personal share in this first effort
to storm the enemy s works was eat short, doubtless
fortunately for himself, by a trewtretaKjos. He speaks
with admiration of his associate in the perilous honour
of leading the stormers, young Allan Johnson of the
4Mb Sikhs. He himself being well in advance of Ms
men, had reached within twenty yards of the breast-
work.* when, suddenly, the earth gave way under him.
and he found himself precipitated into a covered pit,
technically known as a trow <fc Imo* baring pointed
stakes at the bottom, with which, among other ob
structions,, the Burmese had studded the narrow
entrance to their position. When his men were beaten
back, he was in great danger of being kiUed by the
enemy : but after a time, he managed to rejoin the
detachment, which had fallen back and got scattered.
The task attoted to the 80th. was certainty a very
trying one for a body of men consisting ahnost entirely
of recruits who had never before been under fire; to
carry an aloMst inaccessible position, held by a
numerous and invisible enemy, was a duty that was
calculated to put to the test the steadiness of veteran
soldiers. The General now determined to try the 18th Koyal
Irish, but the fire of musketry and grape was so

22 THE BURMESE WAR.
heavy, that they also fell back having sustained loss,
including Lieutenant Cockburn,* who was wounded.
Although it was difficult, from the dense smoke, and
under so heavy a fire, to discern exactly what was
between the assailants and the breastwork, the General
— who was now joined by Major (now General Sir)
Edward A. Holdich, of the 80th, who succeeded to
the command of the right wing on Major Wigston
being wounded — at length ascertained that there was
no water, and no obstacle that could not be easily sur
mounted, if only the troops could pass through the
enemy's fire, a distance of some thirty yards. The
" assembly" was, accordingly, sounded, with a view
of getting together as many men of the right wing as
could be collected.
In the meantime, Major Reid, of the Bengal Artil
lery, brought up, in the most gallant manner, his
24-pounder howitzer, which was dragged through
the bushes by the hand, (chiefly by men of the 51st
Regiment, who volunteered their services,) and opened
with canister within twenty-five yards of the enemy,
with deadly effect. The gun was, however, in a much
exposed position, and Major Reid was almost imme
diately wounded, upon which the command devolved
upon Lieutenant Ashe, who kept up the fire with
spirit. "Finding," says the General, "the right wing
much weakened from the loss they had sustained,
and the number of men it was necessary to employ as
* This gallant young officer died shortly after of his wound.

THE STORMING PARTY. 23
skirmishers on the banks of the nullah for the pur
pose of keeping down the enemy's fire, I ordered a
reinforcement from the left wing ; they were joined by
the men of the right wing that had been collected by
Major Holdich, and who were led by Ensign Wolseley,
and the whole advanced in a manner that nothing
could check. The fire was severe, and I am grieved
to say that gallant young officer, Lieutenant Taylor, 9th
Madras Native Infantry, doing duty with Her Majesty's
51st Light Infantry, fell mortally wounded. Ensign
Wolseley, Her Majesty's 80th Regiment, was also struck
down, as well as many other gallant soldiers ; but the
breastwork was at once carried ; and the enemy fled
in confusion, the few who stood being shot or bayo-
netted on the entrance of our men."
In this second attempt to storm the enemy's posi
tion, which ended in a complete and glorious success,
the chief honours were borne off by Lieutenant
Taylor, who fell a sacrifice to his gallantry, and
Ensign Wolseley, who nearly shared a like fate,
though, happily for his country, a merciful Providence
bore him through that terrible fire to increase her
renown on many battle fields. Taylor led the men of
the 51st, and when Major Holdich called for volun
teers of his own regiment, Wolseley immediately
responded, and, though much shaken by his accident,
offered to lead the storming party. In a few minutes
he had hastily collected such of his men as
were within call, and was ready for a second attempt.
The two young officers, without a moment's hesita-

24 THE BURMESE WAR.
tion, made a rush up the' path leading over the
breastwork, which was so narrow that but two men
could advance together. Almost at the same moment,
while well in advance of their men, and racing for the
honour of being first in the enemy's works, they were
both shot down, and, strange to say, were wounded
exactly in the same spot. A large iron jingall ball
struck Wolseley on the left thigh, tearing away the
muscle and surrounding flesh. Feeling the blood flow
ing from the wound, with great presence of mind he
pressed his fingers on the veins, and so slightly
staunched the bleeding. Fortunately, in his case,
the artery, which was laid bare, was not severed,
whereas, with poor Taylor the artery had been cut,
and so he bled to death in a few minutes before
assistance could come.
As Wolseley lay helpless on his back, he, with un
abated resolution, waved his sword, and cheered on his
men, and though some of them offered to carry him
to the rear, he refused, and lay there until the position
was gained by the gallant fellows, who emulated the
example of their youthful leader.*
Mr. Wolseley received the most prompt attention
* Speaking of his own mesj^Wolseley says that, after he received
his wound, Sergeant Quin greatly distinguished himself by the in
trepid manner in which he led the detachment. ThiB gallant soldier,
who afterwards served in the 78th Highlanders, was offered a commis
sion for his bravery on this occasion, which, however, he declined.
The General wrote in his despatch :— " Lieutenant Trevor, of the
Engineers, with Corporal Livingstone, and Private Preston, of Her
Majesty's 51st King's Own Light Infantry, first entered the enemy's

CAPTURE OF THE POSITION. 25
at the hands of Assistant-Surgeon Murphy, who imme
diately applied a tournaquet to the wound, and to his
skill and care he attributes, under Providence, his re
covery. For six months he had a soldier in constant
attendance upon him, as there was great danger of his
bleeding to death. During all that time his constitu
tional strength was severely taxed, owing to the sup
puration, which was constant and profuse, and he was
given to understand that his condition was one of
grave anxiety, for had the sloughing extended to the
¦artery, which was much apprehended, nothing could
have saved his life. But, thanks to a sound constitu
tion, unimpaired by youthful excesses and hard living,
he gradually gained strength, and though he had to use
crutches for some time after his arrival in England, no
permanent injury was sustained either to his general
health or to the limb affected.
In the captured works were found the two guns
which fell into the enemy's hands on the 4th of the
previous month. They had been well served to the
last, and in attempting to carry off one of them, twelve
Burmese were killed by a well directed discharge from a
9-pounder gun. The enemy sustained heavy loss in
killed and wounded. His whole force and means were
concentrated in this position, and the General was of
breastwork, the two former each shooting down one of the enemy
opposing their entrance. The lead devolved on them and on Sergeant
Preston, of Her Majesty's King's Own Light Infantry, and Sergeant-
Major Quia, of Her Majesty's 80th, when Lieutenant Taylor, Ensign
Wolseley, and Colour-Sergeant Donahoe fell in the advance."

26 THE BURMESE WAR.

opinion that he must have had about four thousand
men in the breastworks, which extended some twelve
hundred yards in length. Myat-toon, the Burmese
leader, escaped with about two hundred followers, and
owing to the active assistance of Captains Tarleton, R.N.
and Rennie, I.N., by one p.m. of the 21st, a sufficient
number of boats were ready in the nullah, for the con
veyance of the artillery, and the sick and wounded,
Ensign Wolseley being of the party. The whole
were shipped on board the steamer on the following
morning, and arrived at Donabew the same day. Mr.
Wolseley, with all the bad cases of the sick and wounded,
was then transhipped to the ' Phlegethon,' which was
despatched to Rangoon.
On the evening of the 24th of March, the whole
force had arrived at Donabew, and thus ended the last
service of importance of the Burmese war. The loss
in killed and wounded during the operations, between
the 27th of February and the 19th of March, were two
European officers* killed, and twelve wounded; one
* The following were the officers killed and wounded : — Killed :
Lieutenant Taylor, 9th Madras Native Infantry, Ensign Boileau,
67th Bengal Native Infantry. Wounded: Bengal Artillery, Major
Eeid, severely. Madras Artillery, Lieutenant Magrath, slightly.
Bengal Engineers, Lieutenant Trevor, Blightly. Her Majesty's
18th Royal Irish, Major Wigston, severely, Lieutenant Cockbum,
mortally, and Lieutenant Woodwright, slightly. Her Majesty's 80th
Regiment, Lieutenant Wilkinson, severely, Ensign Wolseley, severely,
and Assistant-Surgeon Murphy, slightly. 67th Bengal Native In
fantry, Lieutenant Clarke, severely. 4th Sikhs, Major Armstrong,
severely, and Lieutenant Rawlins, severely.

LOSSES OF THE ARMY. 27
Native officer killed and one wounded ; eighteen non
commissioned officers and rank and file killed, and
ninety-three wounded. Of these casualties, eleven were
killed, and nine officers and seventy-five men were
wounded, in the action of the 19th of March.
The conspicuous gallantry of the 51st Light Infantry,
on this occasion, as on every other from the capture
of Bassein in the previous May, extorted the warm
commendation of the General ; and not less praise
worthy were the efforts of the 18th and 80th Regiments,
which had borne their share of the dangers of this war,
from the day they stormed the Dagon Pagoda, and on
this occasion they bore the first brunt of a fire, pro
nounced by Sir John Cheape — a veteran soldier who
had conducted the engineering operations at the
second siege of Mooltan in 1849, and was present at
the " crowning mercy " of Goojerat — to be " the most
galling he had ever seen." Myat-toon, styled a robber,
and for whose head a reward of one thousand rupees
was offered, though he asserted that he had a com
mission from his sovereign, displayed military capacity
of a high order in the choice of his position, the
manner in which he strengthened it, and the resolution
with which he withstood the assaults of a disciplined
force with guns. He inflicted on the first Expedition
the severest check and the heaviest loss we had ex
perienced throughout the war, and was not routed by
Sir John Cheape until the gallant band under his com
mand had lost a large proportion of their numbers, and
then confessedly only by a final desperate effort ; though

28 THE BURMESE WAR.
the arena of the encounter was in a remote jungle,
where special correspondents, unknown in those days,
had not penetrated, it is certain that British heroism
has not often received a brighter illustration than in
the stubborn efforts, at length crowned with victory,
made by that handful of soldiers.*
This service, which was the last performed by Sir
John Cheape, was also the first seen by young Wolseley,
who received here a scar which he will carry to his
grave, the first of those honourable mementos of valour
and patriotism. It was a service that merited the
Victoria Cross ; and had the order " For Valour," been
instituted in those days, most surely Ensign Wolseley
would have added the magic letters V.C, after the
numerous other distinctions he is entitled to bear.
Doubtless he would have appreciated the honour as
highly as another gallant soldier under whom he
served in India during our desperate struggle with the
mutinous Bengal Army. We refer to Sir James Out-
ram who coveted beyond any earthly distinction the
Victoria Cross, which he had fairly earned during
* The Burmese War cost the Indian Government two millions
of money, though the great sacrifice of life was a high price to pay,
even for the fertile province of Pegu. Between January, 1852, and
May, 1853, no less than fifty-four officers, and one thousand three
hundred and fifty-three European soldiers, and two thousand Sepoys,
died from the effects of climate and disease alone, exclusive of the
large number who fell in action during the military operations. The
military and naval forces engaged in Burmah received a medal and six
months batta, together with some prize money which was not dis
tributed until ten years later.

ANECDOTES OF WOLSELEY. 29

the memorable advance on Lucknow, in September,
1857, when he acted simply as leader of the handful of
volunteer cavalry ; but though recommended for the
Cross for repeated acts of personal gallantry, by Colonel
Vincent Eyre, commanding the cavalry and artillery
brigade, the honour was never conferred, much to the
mortification of this chevalier sans peur et sans
reproche. An officer of the 80th Regiment, who at the forcing
of Myat-toon's position, received a severe wound in the
arm, gives some interesting anecdotes of our hero.
When Mr. Wolseley accompanied his regiment from
Rangoon to take part in the operations against Myat-
toon, a soldier who was bathing with some comrades
in the Irrawaddy, was carried away by the current.
Seeing the man in imminent danger of drowning, young
Wolseley plunged into the stream, which ran with
great velocity, but, notwithstanding all his exertions,
the unfortunate soldier perished.
In the severe fighting on the 19th of March, Ensign
Wolseley, says Mr. W  , seeing his men hang back,
headed the advance guard, which consisted of only
three or four men ; it was then that he fell into the pit
as mentioned in the preceding chapter, and to this cir
cumstance he doubtless owed his preservation from
death. After Wolseley made his retreat under a hot
fire, and returned to his regiment, Mr. W  was
severely wounded in the arm ; and Wolseley bound up
the wound, arid attended him when, owing to the heat
of the sun and loss of blood, he became faint. When

30 THE BURMESE WAR.
volunteers were called for by Major Holdich, Wolseley,
in company with Taylor, headed the second storming
party, and received his severe wound in the leg. On
seeing him go down, Lieutenant W  , who had lent
him the only shirt he had besides the one on his back,
mentally ejaculated, " There goes my change of linen !"
for he never expected to see any more of either his
friend or his garment, a loss almost equally to be de
plored in a campaign when an officer's kit consisted of
little more than the shirt and bit of soap, considered
sufficient by Sir Charles Napier. The two officers, with
the other wounded, remained all night in the stockade,
and, on the following morning, were put into a canoe
and escorted down the river to a place of safety. The
sailors prematurely set fire to the stockade, and Sir
John Cheape and others narrowly escaped death. It
was owing to his remembrance of this circumstance
that Sir Garnet Wolseley, during his Ashantee cam
paign, issued an order that no stockades or other en
trenchments were to be fired before instructions had
Jbeen given by himself, or some other responsible
authority. As it was apparent, on Ensign Wolseley's arrival at
Rangoon, that his wound was of so serious a nature as
to render his return home necessary, in May he em
barked for England in the 'Lady Jocelyn,' steamer.
The voyage home was performed without any note
worthy incident beyond the circumstance that during
the four months of the passage, he suffered greatly from
his wound, and was only convalescent and out of dan-

ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND. 31
ger shortly before his arrival in England. In the Autumn
of 1853, Wolseley proceeded to Dublin to stay with his
family,, and, on having sufficiently recovered his health,
proceeded to Paris, accompanied by a brother officer.
He did not rejoin his old Regiment, but was posted to
a lieutenancy, without purchase, in the 90th Light
Infantry, with which his name and fame are identified,
although the officers of the 80th have cause to remem
ber with pride that he made his debut in the arena of
arms in their Regiment.

CHAPTER II.
THE CRIMEAN WAR.
The Crimean War — Work in the Trenches — The Bombardment of the
9th to the 17th of April— The Attack on the Quarries— Gallant
Services of Captain Wolseley — The Assault of the 18th of June—
The Third, Fourth, and Fifth Bombardments of Sebastopol— The
Affair of the 30th of August — Captain Wolseley severely Wounded
— Service in the Quartermaster-General's Department — Return to
England.
THE Winter of 1853 was a momentous period.
Already were audible the distant mutterings
of the storm brewing on the Turkish frontier, which
was destined soon to break over Europe and deluge
a remote corner of the Continent with the blood of the
bravest of three great Powers.
It was the eve of the Crimean War, a memorable
contest in which was broken the spell of a forty years'
peace, and which was destined to be the precursor of
an era of conflict, which there is too much reason to
fear has not yet been closed. Within the quarter of a
century since passed, how many and vast have been

EVE OF THE CRIMEAN WAR. 33

the changes that have occurred, and how stupendous
the conflicts we have witnessed ! An Empire has been
founded, and a petty Kingdom has risen to the rank of
a great Power; our ally of Crimean days has been
humbled to the dust by her ancient foe, and a great
nation — whose boast it was that Europe could only be
at peace when she was satisfied, has expelled from her
soil the dynasty of her mightiest soldier, and, after
having drunk to the dregs, the bitter cup of defeat,
spoliation, and dismemberment, which she undertook,
" with a light heart," to force upon a neighbour who
had once suffered all these humiliations at her hands —
has risen Phoenix-like from her ashes, under the aegis
of the same form of government which produced a
Hoche and a Dumouriez to lead her armies to victory.
The first Power to take upon itself the great respon
sibility of breaking the long peace was Russia, or,
rather, its autocratic ruler, the Czar Nicholas ; but, had
our Government displayed the firmness and resolution
of Lord Palmerston in 1836, on the question of the
evacuation of the fortresses on the Danube after the
payment of the indemnity for the Turkish War of
1828, the Crimean War would have been an unwritten
page of history, and this Empire would have been
saved a loss of prestige, no less than of tens of thou
sands of lives, and one hundred millions of treasure.
The combined British and French Expedition sailed
from Varna on the 3rd of September, 1854, and landed,
without meeting any opposition, at Old Fort, near
Eupatoria, on the 14th of that month. The troops at
vol. I. D

34 THE CRIMEAN WAR.

this time numbered fifty-eight thousand* men, of
whom twenty-five thousand were English, and thirty-
three thousand French. The former were under the
orders of Lord Raglan, a tried veteran who had won
the good opinion of his former chief, Wellington;
and our Allies were commanded by Marshal St.
Arnaud, who, dying soon after the Alma, gave place
to General Canrobert. The fleet of war-ships and
transports formed the most mighty Armada the world
had seen ; but, on the element where Britain and Gaul
had so often fiercely contended, there was none to
oppose them, and the laurels won by our sailors were
gained on shore in the trenches before Sebastopol, or
at the bombardments of Kertch and Kinburn.
On the 19th of September, the Allied Army quitted
their encampment at Kalamita Bay, and, after a weary
march, bivouacked on the right bank of the Bulganak.
That night many brave men slept their last sleep,
for, ere the morrow's sun had set, was fought and
won the victory of the Alma. Six days later Balak-
* According to Major Reilly, R.A., C.B., the number of the Allied
Force was sixty-one thousand four hundred, with one hundred and
thirty-two guns. The British siege train consisted of eight companies
of Artillery, with sixty-five pieces of ordnance, with about five hundred
and twenty rounds per piece. To assist in the operations of the siege,
a Naval Brigade of seven hundred and thirty-two seamen, and thirty-
five officers, under Captain Lushington, was landed, with fifty guns,
only twelve of which were at first got up to the front. Reinforcements
continued to arrive, and at the first bombardment, on the 17th of
October, of the seventy-threepieces of ordnance, the Royal Artillery
manned forty-three, and the Navy thirty.

THE FIRST BOMBARDMENT. 34

lava surrendered after the memorable and much dis
cussed flank march, and the siege of Sebastopol was
undertaken. On the 10th of October, the first parallel, about
one thousand yards in extent, was traced at a distance
of one thousand three hundred and fifty yards from the
Russian works ; and, soon after dark, a working party
of one thousand two hundred men of the Line, under
Captain (now Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick) Chap
man, R.E., commenced work along the whole extent.*
At half-past six a.m. of the 17th of October, the whole
of the French and English batteries, the latter mount
ing seventy-three guns and mortars, commenced to
bombard the Russian works, which replied with spirit,
the number of guns opposed to the British batteries
alone being no less than one hundred and nine. The
Fleet also attacked the forts on the sea face at one p.m.,
but, after most gallant exertions, withdrew towards
dusk, having suffered more injury than they inflicted.
At this time the Malakhoff had been reduced to a ruin,
and the Redan was completely silenced, but unfortu
nately, although the troops were told off to storm,
the attempt was not made. With wonderful energy
and resource, the Russians repaired and strengthened
their works, and, in a few days, possessed an artillery
fully double that of the Allies.
On the 25th of October was fought the Battle of
* See " Journal of the Military Operations, conducted by the Corps
of Royal Engineers." Part I. By Captain (now Sir Howard) Elphin-
stone, R.E.
D 2

3B THE CRIMEAN WAR.
Balaklava, and, on the following day, the Russians
made their first sortie on a large scale, but were driven
back with great loss. The 5th of November will ever
be a glorious anniversary, for on that day took place
the most sanguinary and hardly-fought battle of the
war. The obstinate valour and bull-dog pertinacity
of our soldiers never received a brighter illustration
than in the desperate hand-to-hand conflict at Inker-
man. As it was now apparent that the siege would he
prolonged, probably, throughout the Winter, prepara
tions were made to withstand the onslaught of enemies
far more dreaded than the Muscovite. Cold, the bitter
cold of an almost Arctic winter, attacked the soldier
without, while disease, the result of privation, gnawed
at his vitals.
After the Battle of Inkerman, Lord Raglan made
urgent requests for reinforcements to fill up the gaps
caused by that sanguinary struggle and the demands
of the siege. At this time that gallant soldier and ex-
Governor-General of India, Viscount Hardinge, was
Commander-in-Chief, and his Lordship had determined
very wisely to abolish an exemption enjoyed by Light
Infantry Regiments and the Rifle Brigade, by which
they were relieved from service in the East. The 52nd
and 43rd had gone out to India, and the 90th were
warned for service there in the following year. How
ever, Lord Raglan's demand for every soldier that
could be spared, shook the expressed determination of
the Horse Guards' Chief that the 90th should go

WOLSELEY SAILS FOR THE CRIMEA. 37
nowhere, not even to the Crimea, until they had first
served in India ; and, yielding to the inevitable, that
Regiment, then quartered in Dublin, was ordered to
embark forthwith for the seat of war. Lieutenant
Wolseley was so disgusted by the prohibitory order
regarding service in the Crimea, that he and a brother
officer, Captain Barnston, had made all arrangements
to exchange into a corps before Sebastopol, when the
orders arrived for immediate embarkation. Mr. Wolse
ley describes how they were at church when the colonel
received telegraphic news of Inkerman, accompanied
by the peremptory orders of the Field-Marshal Com-
manding-in-Chief. And so our hero, who had by this
time quite recovered from his wound, was again placed
in a position to win that distinction for which every
soldier sighs.
The Regiment sailed from Dublin on the 19th of
November, 1854, and, landing at Balaklava on the 4th
of December, immediately proceeded to the front.
The first object that greeted Wolseley's eyes as he
stepped out of the boat on to the inhospitable shores
of the Crimea, was a firelock which lay half in and
half out of the water. Lifting it up, he found it marked
" G Company," and identified it as one of the Minife
rifles that lately belonged to his own company. In
those days when " Brown Bess," with her well-known
proclivity of " shooting round corners," was the arm
with which the British soldier was marshalled for
battle, only a small proportion, about twenty men of
each company, were supplied with the Minie rifle ; and,

THE CRIMEAN WAR.

as the demand for these weapons during the Crimean
War was greater than the supply, the 90th gave up
their rifles, and placed their trust once more in " Brown
Bess." Probably this arose from their being destined
for India, where, we suppose, our experiences during
the Afghan War had failed to teach the authorities
how infinitely superior was the native " juzail" to that
antiquated, but, in the eyes of martinets of the old
school, infallible weapon. The 90th, accordingly,
landed at Balaklava armed with the musket, and, on
the following day, marched down to the trenches.
The mismanagement which was so conspicuous in
almost every military department, was apparent at
this early stage of the Crimean experiences of the 90th
Regiment. The distance from Balaklava, the base of operations,
to the camps by way of the Col de Balaklava— which
was the road we were forced to adopt in preference to
the Woronzoff Road, after the Russians occupied the
Turkish redoubts on the 25th of October— was about
nine miles, and, until the construction of a tramway,
the road was quite unformed, and without any metalling.
The traffic was stated to be equal to that along
Piccadilly, but yet to form and macadamize such a
road, the working party consisted at first of four
hundred, and subsequently only of one hundred and
fifty sickly Turks, some of them too weak even to
dig, and none working more than four hours a-day.
Besides the difficulty of procuring labour, the road
itself passed through a rich, alluvial soil, while the

ARRIVAL AT BALAKLAVA. 39

stones, which were only procurable about three-quarters
of a mile distant, had to be carried by manual labour,
the transport being insufficient to supply the troops with
provisions. Such was the road along which the 90th
Regiment marched when proceeding to the front, and
such their first experience of service before Sebastopol.
Their arrival, and that of other reinforcements,
must have been hailed with joy by the troops investing
this fortress, if that could be called an investment in
which the enemy's forces were literally surrounding
the position of the allies and blockading the base of
supplies at Balaklava* Before the landing of these
reinforcements, the French Army mustered thirty-nine
thousand four hundred and fifty men, while the British
who held an extent of ground, including the Right and
Left Attacks, of nine miles, numbered about twenty-
two thousand three hundred and sixty-nine effectives,
there being no less than ten thousand and ninety sick
on the 30th of November, 1854. When we contrast
the numerical inferiority of the Allies with the strength
of the Russians, we cannot but be filled with admiration
at the constancy and courage that animated every man,
from Canrobert and Raglan to the drummer and private
in the ranks. Prince Menschikoff had under his orders,
after the arrival of the 4th Corps d'Armee and other
reinforcements, an army of eighty-two thousand men,
and though, according to what Fluellen would call
* In the laBt days of December, the Russians withdrew from the
valley of the Tchernaya, and abandoned the old Turkish redoubts, con
centrating their troops in Sebastopol.

40 THE CRIMEAN WAR.

"the true disciplines of the wars," the investing force
should be double or treble that of the besieged, the
latter was more numerous, and possessed a more
powerful artillery. At this time the Allied Generals
had it in contemplation to storm Sebastopol as soon as
the new armament of the French and English Attacks*
had been completed. The latter, which was divided
into the " Right Attack," under Major (the late General
Sir) J. W. Gordon, and the "Loft Attack,' directed by
Captain (now Genera] Sir) F. E. Chapman, was to be
armed with ninety-six pieces of ordnance, exclusive of
the armament proposed for the defence of the position
above Inkorman ; and it was decided — after the re
jection of Sir John Burgoyne's proposalf that the
* " The English Left Attack begins," says Mr. H. Russell, Corres
pondent of the Times, " on the rise of •the ridge which springs up from
tho right of a ravine, as we face Sebastopol, and the advanced works
in front of it run close up to the Garden Battery and to the Redan.
Tho Attack itself faces these two Rmhhuui buttorios, and is directly
opposite the pile of Government offloos and dockyard buildings.
Between our Left Attack and our Right Attack is another deep ravine,
along the riglitsideof which the Woronzoff road zigzags into Sebastopol.
On the ridge, on the right side of this ravine, is our Right Attack,
and on the right and roar of it is the Soa Sorvice Mortar Battery. To
the right-front of this attack are the works of tho Round Tower,
flanked by tho Mamelon on the right. To tho right of the Right
Attack, springing from the plateau betwoon tho 4th and Light
Divisions, there is another deep ravino called the Middle Picket
Ravine, and the French works on their Right Attack begin at the fall
of the hill, at tho right of this ravine, and thonce spread away to
the right of Inkerman."
t See Sir John Burgoyne's Memoranda of tho 23rd and 25th of
November, 1854. Unfortunately, for the public service, the same
fortune attended the proposals made by this sagacious voteran in his

FIKST HAY IN THE TR KXCJJ KS. -H
English attack should be directed exclusively against
tho Malakholf Tower— that the liritish tiro was to bo
directed "as much as possible to tho proper right of
the salient, of tho Redan."
Tho 510th arrived in tho linos before Sebastopol on
the 5th of IVeembor, and, on tho following morning,
went down to the trenches. In those days stall' ollieers
did not coino up to the standard now exacted at Sand
hurst, and Wolseley recounts how when his Regiment
was ordered to the front, no stalf-otlieer appeared to
show them tho way to the trenches. However, they
managed to find their way down, and proceeding to
the foremost, rille-pits, four or live companies, including
Wolseley's, atoneo became engaged with theenemy, who
opposed their rillos to the antiquated British musket.
Presently tho Russians opened lire with shot and shell,
when the order came for the 901 h to cease firing.
The first serious lighting that took place after Mr.
Wolseley's arrival before Sebastopol, was on the night
of tho 11th of December, when the Russians made
sorties against both the English and the French
positions, and. again, on tho 201 h of December against
the English linos. In this second sortie they managed
to penetrate as far as tho second parallel, on tho Left
Attack, but only obtained temporary possession of the
third parallel on the Right Attack. Had tho enemy
Memoranda of tho 11th and 20th of Oocenter, to tho otlVvt that
tho oporut ions of tho allies should ho directed against tho quarter of
Sebastopol containing tho dockyards and arsenals, which sido, when
oneo in tho possession of tho Allies, would give them tho command of
tho head of tho harbour, so that their ships could bo destroyed.

42 THE CRIMEAN WAR.

been in sufficient force, they could have penetrated to
the first parallel — for the entire guard of the trenches
of the Right Attack did not exceed six hundred men—
and might have succeeded in spiking the guns ; hence
forward, to guard against the possibility of a surprise
rifle-pits were dug some distance in front of the third
parallel, and occupied by sentries in the manner
practised by the Russians. The remainder of this
eventful year passed without any incident of note, and
so 1855 was ushered in.
Since his arrival before Sebastopol, Lieutenant
Wolseley had been employed with his Regiment in
trench duty, but was soon selected for the post of
Acting-Engineer, the number of officers of that distin
guished corps being unequal to the severe work entailed
upon them by the protracted siege. He was posted,
accordingly, to the Right Attack on the 30th of
December, and did duty for the first time as Assistant-
Engineer on the 4th of January, 1855. On that day
he was employed- in "Gordon's Battery," and the
working party, consisting of only thirty-one men and
twenty-eight sappers, " finished laying two platforms,
relaid the sleepers of a third, and cleared out the drains
in the third parallel."
On the 1st of January, 1855, the effective of the
British Army, according to Returns furnished at the
time to Lord Raglan, numbered only one thousand
and forty-five officers and twenty-one thousand nine
hundred and seventy-three men. The French Army,
meanwhile, had received considerable reinforcements,

ENGINEERS BEFORE SEBASTOPOL. 43
and mustered at the same date about sixty-seven
thousand men. Their arrangements were also further
advanced than ours. Their batteries were armed, their
trenches had approached to within one hundred and
eighty yards of the Flagstaff Bastion, and they ex
pected soon to be in readiness to assault Sebastopol in
conjunction with their Allies. On our side, however,
the insufficient number of workmen had retarded the
construction of the defensive and offensive works, and
the engineering operations were greatly hindered for
want of such essentials as timber for the platforms and
magazines, which could not be removed from Balaklava
where it was stored, owing to the limited supply of
transport. Throughout the siege the Engineers had to carry on
their duties under the greatest difficulties, and, generally
without obtaining that support which was essential
to the success of their operations. Irrespective of the
inclemency of the weather, and the rocky nature of
the soil, which rendered the construction of siege-
works a task of great labour, the Engineers had to
make up for their numerical paucity by increased
exertions. The term of duty for Engineer officers was
never less than twelve, and sometimes even twenty-
four hours; and, after returning from the trenches,
they had to write the Report of the day's proceedings.
Although skilled labour was in great demand for the
construction of wharves, hospitals, and store-houses at
Balaklava, also for the road to the front, and the
hutting of the troops and horses, as well as to carry

44 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
on the siege and defensive works, yet the total effective
force of Engineers on the 1st of January, was only
twenty-eight officers and three hundred and ninety-five
non-commissioned officers and men.
Between New Year's Day and the 13th of January,
the weather was very unfavourable. At times the
snow-storms and heavy drifts rendered it necessary to
suspend the works entirely, and on the 13th of
January, the frost set in with so much severity that it
was difficult to make any impression on the ground
even with a pickaxe. The snow lay on the plain from
twelve to eighteen inches in depth, and the drifts were
in some places dangerous. Owing to the disappearance
of all fuel, even roots were eagerly grubbed up by the
starving soldiers, and sold at a high price. The ap
pearance of the camp was cold, dreary, and miserable ;
and no blazing fires could, to seen to cheer the men or
dry their clothes on their return from the trenches or
other fatigue duty.
Owing to this great scarcity of wood, the sufferings
of the troops on the exposed plateau of Sebastopol
were much aggravated ; and when a large supply of
charcoal arrived at Balaklava, as no means of transport
was available other than by manual labour, the Turks
employed in the trenches were withdrawn from the
Engineers, and the siege works in consequence suffered.*
During {he latter half of January the British Attacks
* See Part II. of the "Journal of the Operations conducted by the
Corps of Royal Engineers." By Major-General Sir Harry D. Jones,
K.C.B., R.B.

THE GUARD OF THE TRENCHES. 45
had been so feebly guarded, owing to sickness, that " the
covering party for the entire Right Attack, upwards of
a mile in extent, never had exceeded, during this period
of the siege, three hundred and fifty men, and, on the
night of the 21st of January, it mustered only two
hundred and ninety men. The guards for the other
attacks were equally small." As, according to Sir
John Jones, the eminent Engineer officer of the
Peninsular War, "the guard of the trenches ought
never to be less than three-fourths of the garrison,"
and allowing one half of the besieged, or between
thirty-six thousand and forty thousand men, to have
been opposed to the British Attacks, it follows that the
guard instead of being three-fourths, was less than
one-twentieth of the strength opposed to it. Such
were the adverse circumstances under which this un
paralleled siege was prosecuted ! Fortunately the
Russians were deficient in enterprize.
The guard being so small, it often happened that
all repairs of importance had to be performed by the
Sappers alone;* but when, on the 21st of January, a
French Division relieved the Light and Second Divisions
from the guard of the extreme right flank, they were
enabled to furnish more adequate parties for the pro
tection of the batteries and the assistance of the
Engineers. * Between the 16th and the 21st of January, the number of work
men in the Right Attack never exceeded thirty-nine. According to
M. de Bazanoourt's L Expedition de la Crimee :— "The French em
ployed daily four thousand men on the works, and sometimes the
n umher exceeded six thousand."

46 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
The duty in the trenches* was also very severe, and
the enemy, by frequent sorties during the night, kept
the troops on duty constantly on the alert.
The effective strength of the British Army before
Sebastopol on the 1st of February, 1855, had dwindled
to one thousand one hundred and ninety-eight officers,
and eighteen thousand and twenty-one men of all
arms, a force totally inadequate to undertake
its part in the siege operations which the allied
commanders had decided to prosecute. Pending,
therefore, the arrival of the reinforcements, the
Engineers employed the first few days of February in
expediting the transport of their siege materiel.
They transferred one hundred thousand sandbags to
the French, prepared the platforms and magazines re
quired for the two batteries on the right, and carefully
reconnoitred the ground along which approaches could
be effected towards the Redan and Malakhoff. On the
8th of February, Major-General Jones, R.E., (the late
Sir Harry Jones, K.C.B.), who had led the stormers at
San Sebastian, and recently successfully conducted the
engineering operations in the Baltic, landed in the
Crimea, and took over the charge of his branch of the
service from Majors J. W. Gordon and F. Chapman,
R.E., who, subject to the advice of Sir John Burgoyne,
had from the 20th of October up to that date, under
the most trying circumstances, and with the most in-
* In the month of January, Wolseley was on day duty in the
trenches, on the 4th, 14th, and 24th ; and on night duty on the 7th,
10th, 16th, 20th, and 27th.

WOLSELEY AS A SURVEYOR.

efficient means in men and materiel, carried on the
engineering works of this memorable siege.
Two days before the arrival of General Jones, Lieu
tenant Wolseley. whose talent for sketching and for
topographical studies, was well known, was requested to
prepare for the General a plan of the position of Inker-
man, including the trenches. It was required to be
done in water-colours ; but so intense was the cold that
the water froze on his brush, and he had to use char
coal to melt the ice and keep the water from freezing.
He succeeded in completing the survey, and preparing
the plan to the complete satisfaction of the General.
The engineering work now commenced was in ac
cordance with the plan laid down in the paper of the
2nd of February, as proposed by the French Engineers.
consequent upon the Council of War* held on the pre
vious day ; this plan embraced an attack upon the
Malakhoff and Mamelon. as recommended by Sir John
Burgoyne. At this period the weather was very severe
and unfavourable for siege operations, so that little
progress could be made. The trenches were knee deep
* About the middle of January, the late Marshal Xiel. a distin
guished Engineer officer, and high in the confidence of the French
Emperor, arrived on a special mission at the French head-quarters ;
and, immediately alter, th? Engineers- in-Chief of the Allied Armies
held several conferences to consider the course it was most desirable to
pursue. On the 26th of January, General Biiot, commanding the
French Engineers, prepared a paper showing a proposed plan 01 attack,
which was submitted to Generals 2^iel and Sir John Burgoyne. This
Memorandum, as well as that of Sir John, in reply, dated the 30th of
January, are published in Sir Harry Jones's work.

48 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
in snow, which, when a shower of rain came on, was
converted into liquid mud, employing the men in
clearing it out from the trenches, or cutting drains as
outlets for the water.
At this time occurred a singular circumstance in con
nection with Lieutenant Wolseley's promotion to a cap
taincy. He was gazetted to his Company in December
1854, but fourteen days after, the authorities, considering
him too young — he was exactly twenty-one and a half
years of age — cancelled the promotion they themselves
had authorised. Considering this as a slur cast upon
him, Mr. Wolseley at once wrote expressing his inten
tion to resign his commission unless he was immediately
reinstated, and fortunately for his country, the order
was rescinded. Some time afterwards, Captain
Wolseley learned the true cause of this extraordinary
freak of the authorities ; and it was this. The father
of an officer of the 77th, went to the Horse Guards, and
asked why his son, who was older than Captain
Wolseley had not been promoted to his Company.
The answer the anxious parent received was, that his
son was too young, and that Captain Wolseley's pro
motion was an exception to the rule, because he rose
from the ranks. Subsequently finding out the blunder
they had committed, and that Wolseley had not risen
from the ranks, the said authorities cancelled his pro
motion, only to reinstate him as before mentioned, and
so ended this Comedy of Errors.
On the night of the 3rd of February, Captain
Wolseley was employed with a working party of fifty

DUTY IN THE TRENCHES. 49

men and four Sappers ; he was again on duty on the
7th of February,* and the working party, which since
the beginning of the month, had been greatly
strengthened, was divided into two reliefs, and was
under the command of himself and an Engineer officer.
During that day the men were engaged in improving
the trench of the right communication, building ban
quettes on it, and getting more cover on the left of the
advanced work ; while the Sappers widened the rocky
parts of the trenches, and excavated for the mortar
magazine, and the Turks cleared up the 21-gun battery
and carried gabions from the park. The night of the
11th was very stormy, and so inclement was the
weather that no work was done in the Left Attack.
Captain Wolseley, who was in sole charge of a small
party of men in his (the Right) Attack, was busily em
ployed, but on applying to the field officer on duty
for a larger number of men, his request was refused
on the ground of the inclemency of the weather.
On the 13th of February, Captain H. C. Owen, R.E.
arrived from England, and was appointed to duty with
the Right Attack. On the first occasion of his pro
ceeding to the trenches, which was in company with
* The day duty was generally from eight or nine a.m. to four or
six p.m. ; and the night duty from seven p.m. to four a.m. During the
month of February, Captain Wolseley was on duty in the trenches —
day, 7th, 15th, 22nd ; night, 3rd, 11th, 18th. The working party on
this night, the 7th of February, which may be considered of an average
strength, was constituted as follows :¦ — Line, first relief, one hundred
and thirty-four men ; second relief, one hundred and forty men.
Sappers, four brigades, or thirty-two men. Turks, fifty-two men.
VOL. I. E

50 • THE CRIMEAN WAR.
Captain Wolseley, the gallant officer proposed that
they should proceed at once to trace out a new battery,
the work then in hand. Wolseley vainly tried to dis
suade him, as it was still light and the attempt might
draw the enemy's fire upon them. However Captain
Owen was full of ardour, and Wolseley was not the
man to throw cold water on any adventure, however
risky ; so they set to work. But, speedily, the Russians
opened fire from all the surrounding rifle-pits ; two
men were killed, and Wolseley's coat was pierced by a
ball. So the work was postponed till nightfall, when
it was successfully accomplished.
On the 15th of February, when Captain Wolseley
was on duty with Captain Craigie, R.E., the weather
being more favourable, the working parties were in
creased to four hundred men (besides one hundred
French troops employed at No. 9 battery) and six
brigades of Sappers, or forty-eight men ; and on the
18th and 22nd, when an almost equal number were
employed, the work in the trenches progressed rapidly.
On their part the Russians were not idle in their works
facing the Right Attack. On the night of the 22nd,
they threw up a redoubt* (Selinghinsk) which the
French attacked on the night of the 23rd of February,!
* These, with other works, were afterwards known by the name of
" Ouvrages Blancs," from the colour of the earth, which being white,
made them very conspicuous throughout the siege.
t During the month of February, the Russians assumed the offen
sive at Eupatoria, which had been fortified, but their attack of the
17th of February, though made with nearly forty thousand men, was
repulsed with considerable loss. While the hostile cannon were

PROGRESS OF THE SIEGE WORKS. 51

but were repulsed with great loss ; and, on the 28th,
they commenced a redoubt (Volhynian) in advance.
Early in March, upwards of three thousand yards
of parallel and approach had been made in the Right
Attack ; and, in the Left, upwards of four thousand
two hundred yards. All this had been done on very
rocky ground,* with the enemy's works only six hun
dred yards distant at the nearest point.
On the night of the 10th of March, the Russians
established themselves upon the Mamelon, which we
had neglected to occupy, erecting thereon heavy
batteries, with trenches, rifle pits, and screens running
replying to each other on the plateau of Sebastopol, smooth-tongued
envoys were discussing " points " at Vienna, which, however, were
only taken up to be dropped. During this month a railway was con
structed between Balaklava and the trenches, thereby greatly facilitating
the transport of war materiel. A Council of War was held on the
6th of March, and, on the 8th, Sir John Burgoyne prepared two
Memoranda, one on the plan of operations then agreed on, and the
other on the circumstances of the operations against Sebastopol.
General Bizot's paper of the 28th of February, and Sir John
Burgoyne's Memoranda, may be found in Sir H. Jones's work.
* The country was intersected with deep ravines, whose sides being
nearly inaccessible, afforded an additional strength to the place by
breaking the Attacks into distinct portions, and interfering with the
communications of the besieging force. It was also extremely difficult
to establish enfilading batteries, owing to the gullies and ravineB. The
French works at this time extended from our left to the sea at
Quarantine Bay, and upon our right from the ravine of the Careening
Creek to the causeway across the Inkerman Valley ; this latter formed
the first parallel, and a second had been made in advance of it. The
total extent of the first parallel, French and English, from_ Quarantine
Bay to the extreme right on the Inkerman Heights, was eleven
thousand yards, or six and a quarter miles.
E 2

THE CRIMEAN WAR.

down to the foot of the hill within one hundred yards
of the French parallel. These works, from their com
manding position on the right flank of the English
Attack, seriously retarded the operations of our Engi
neers, and a line of the same description was thrown
up between the Mamelon and Great Redan opposite
the English works. This completely altered the posi
tion of affairs, and lengthened the duration of the siege.
Captain Craigie, R.E., the Engineer officer in charge
of the trenches on the 13th of March, was killed in a
somewhat singular manner. Captain Wolseley, on
relieving him, asked if anything particular was going
on. " No," said Craigie, " matters are much as usual."
And so, bidding each other " good night," they parted,
he to return to his quarters, and Wolseley to take
charge of the trenches. At this time an Artillery duel
was in progress, but the Russian practice was wild
and their shells mostly burst short, causing the officers
and men much diversion. They were in the middle of
their merriment, greeting each discharge with roars
of laughter, when a sergeant came running back, say
ing that Captain Craigie* was killed. He was several
hundred yards in rear of the batteries, and was in the
act of giving a light to a sapper from his pipe, when
one of these erratic shells killed him instantly.
* Of this officer, Major Gordon, R.E., says :—" Throughout the
whole of the operations of the Army in the Crimea, this officer has
never once been absent from his post. Oftener on duty in the trenches
than any other officer of his rank, he never even during the worst of
the Winter, allowed a murmur to escape hiB lips."

A DAY'S WORK IN THE TRENCHES. 53

On the morning of the 17th of March,* when Cap
tain Wolseley, accompanied by Captain King of the
Engineers, went on duty, it was discovered that the
enemy had formed new rifle pits in front of the French
on our right, which enfiladed the British new right
advance. As it was impossible to employ the working
partyf of one hundred and fifty men, application was
made to the officers commanding the Royal Artillery
and Naval Brigade batteries, to open fire on these pits.
The former fired only a few shots, but the sailors made
such good practice with their 8-inch guns, that they
knocked over the parapet, and sent the occupants flying
out of the pits. A good day's work was then begun,
under the directions of Captains Wolseley and King,
" improving cover in right advanced parallel ; form
ing magazine in 21-gun battery ; a new 10-inch mortar
battery, No. 7 ; altering line of fire of 8-inch gun in
21-gun battery, and bringing two 24-pounders to bear
on Russian rifle pits. The working party of the Line
also filled eight hundred and twenty sandbags and
cleared drains."
The Russians} continued to receive reinforcements,
* Captain Wolseley was on duty during this month ; day duty, 10th
and 17th ; night duty, 13th, 19th, and 30th.
t Tho total number of men employed in the trenohes at this time,
was two thousand one hundred, from which were furnished the work
ing parties, as well as the guards necessary for the defence of the
batteries and parallels.
X The Russian Infantry in Sebastopol, in April, numbered thirty-
six thousand six hundred. There were besides, near the town, thirty-
five thousand four hundred; at Eupatoria, thirty-four thousand six

54 ' THE CRIMEAN WAR.
while their supply of guns was practically in
exhaustible ; their fire on the Right Attack during the
latter part of March, was officially described as
" very heavy," and among the casualties was Major
J. W. Gordon, second in command of the siege opera
tions, who was severely wounded on the night of the
22nd, when the Russians made a determined sortie,
not inaptly styled " Inkerman on a small scale," but
were repulsed. During the early part of April, the
Engineers were very busy preparing for the bombard
ment, which had been decided on by the Allied Com
manders. On the 3rd, when Captain Wolseley was on
duty, the enemy kept up a heavy fire, one of the
casualties being Captain Bainbrigge, R.E., who was
killed during the night by the explosion of a shell.
At this time, Captains Stanton and Armit, R.E., being
respectively in charge of the Right and Left Attacks,
Major Chapman, replacing Major Gordon, being in
command of the whole, Major-General Jones notified,
in General Orders of the 4th of April, his " great
satisfaction with the manner in which the works were
executed, reflecting great credit upon them, and the
other Assistant-Engineers employed under them."
On the morning of the 9th of April, the whole of the
Allied Artillery opened fire. The British batteries,
which at the first bombardment mounted seventy-three
guns and mortars, were now armed with twenty 13-
hundred ; and in other parts thirteen thousand. Total, including
fifteen thousand cavalry, and eight thousand artillery, one hundred and
forty-two. thousand six hundred men.

THE SECOND BOMBARDMENT. 55

inch, and sixteen 10-inch mortars, and eighty-seven
guns, giving a total of one hundred and twenty-three
pieces of ordnance, — of which forty-nine were manned
by the Naval Brigade, and seventy-four by the Royal
Artillery. The French, on their part, opened fire
with three hundred and three pieces on the left, and
fifty on the right.
The morning of the 9th of April broke in thick fog
and drizzling rain, but shortly before half-past five
the mist partially rolled away, permitting the out
lines of the Redan and Malakhoff to be seen. Exactly
an hour later, the first gun was fired from the British
batteries, and, in a few seconds, the whole of both
Attacks, with the exception of one battery, were in
action ; shortly afterwards the French opened fire, and
the south side of Sebastopol, from the sea to Inkerman,
was encircled in what Prince Gortschakoff well called,
afeu d'enfer. The Russians appeared to be taken by
surprise, but, about six o'clock, their batteries began
to reply ; though at no time of the day was their fire
heavy or effective. The continuous rain and bad
weather made the work very laborious, some of the
platforms being under water and all very slippery.
At dusk the fire on both sides ceased, with the exception
of an occasional shell from the mortars. On the follow
ing day all our batteries opened fire at daylight, the
Russians replying with spirit. Some heavy rain fell
during the early morning, but, about ten, the weather
cleared up, and the sun shone bright and warm. The
fire of the Mamelon was soon checked, and that of the

56 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
Malakhoff Tower slackened ; but, according to the
report of the Engineer officers of the Right Attack,
" our fire made no material impression upon the Redan
and Garden Batteries, by which alone it was answered.
Much damage was done to the embrasures, magazines,
traverses, &c, by the enemy's fire, which can, how
ever, be easily repaired. The Sappers behaved very
well in repairing the embrasures, and even recon
structing them, under fire."
Lieutenant Graves,* R.E., who, with Captains
Owen, R.E., and Wolseley, was on duty, was wounded,
and Wolseley himself had a narrow escape. The
Russian fire had been very heavy, and the Artillery
officers reported an embrasure as unserviceable. This,
of course, it was the duty of the Engineer officers to
repair, but, from the proximity and precision of fire
of the Russian batteries, it was a service of extreme
hazard, for directly a man showed himself above
the parapet, he became a mark for the Russian
gunners. However, Graves and Wolseley, with two
or three Sappers, set to work to repair an embrasure,
and while they were building up one cheek with
gabions, a round shot from the enemy carried away
the other cheek, to which Wolseley had his back
turned, killing a Sapper. At the time he was holding
on to a handspike, prizing up one sandbag to put
another under it, and it was, in racing parlance, " a
near thing" for him ; indeed, he received a slight
* This gallant young officer was killed by a rifle bullet, on the
18th of June, in the Assault on the Redan.

A NARROW ESCAPE. 57
wound from the debris scattered by the round shot,
though he did not report himself as wounded, it being
a point of honour among the Engineers not to leave
their post until disabled.
On the night of the 12th, Wolseley was again on
duty, the working party consisting of three hundred
Linesmen and forty-one Sappers ; much was done in
effecting repairs, laying platforms, and other necessary
work. Though our batteries had kept up a hot fire
all day, little permanent effect was visible ; and, so
inexhaustible were the Russian resources, that fresh
guns opened fire from embrasures whose guns had
been dismounted or silenced. When next on duty,
the night of the 15th of April, with a working party
of three hundred men and thirty-two Sappers, the
enemy were very active, and Lieutenant-Colonel
Tylden, R.E., in charge of the Right Attack, re
ported : — " Captain Wolseley, Assistant-Engineer, who
was in charge of the working party in the advanced
trenches, retired the party from the most advanced
part between twelve and one, finding it impossible to
keep the men at work under the fire the enemy
poured in." Our loss on this occasion was heavy,
being three officers killed, and one officer and twenty
rank and file wounded.
The following incident, which happened on this
night, is one of many such during the siege :— Captain
Wolseley was with Captain (now Lieutenant-General)
E. Stanton, R.E., who was sitting behind the Engi
neer park giving orders to two Sappers standing at

58 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
attention before him. Suddenly a round shot took
one man's head off, and drove his jaw bone into the
other man's face, to which it adhered, bespattering
the party with blood. Men got into the way of con
sidering these incidents as almost common-place, and
scarcely noteworthy, but, though such horrors bred a
feeling of indifference to danger and death, few could
lay claim to the possession of such imperturbable
sang-froid as Captain W. Peel, R.N , of Her Majesty's
ship 'Diamond,' then serving on shore in the Naval
Brigade. Wolseley, who saw much of Peel and his
sailors, confesses that he never saw any man so in
different in the presence of seemingly certain death
as this gallant sailor, and gives the following instance,
among others, of this characteristic. He was walking
one day during the bombardment with Captain Peel,
in rear of the line of batteries, when a 13-inch shell,
hurtling through the air, lit on the entrance of a maga
zine and crushed it in. Just for a passing second,
Wolseley stood still, paralysed as it were, while he
waited for the whole party to be blown to atoms, a
fate which seemed imminent. But Peel's undaunted
heart quailed not even for that infinitesimal portion of
time, and he dashed into the magazine, full as it was
of powder, without a moment's hesitation or a thought
of danger. A second later and Wolseley was by his
side, and they were engaged pulling down the sand
bags, which guarded the entrance, and were all on
fire, and soon the magazine was built up again.
The subject of this Memoir has, however, a more

INSTANCES OF COURAGE. 59
modest opinion of his courage than other people who
know him well, and have seen him under fire. A
distinguished officer of Engineers, who served in the
trenches with Captain Wolseley, perhaps on more oc
casions than any other man, and therefore had more
ample opportunities of observing his bearing under the
most trying circumstances, declared to us that he
considered him " the bravest man he ever knew." He
also mentioned that he was noted for always turn
ing his face towards an approaching Russian shell ;
and on being interrogated as to his reason for doing
so, replied, that in the event of his being killed it
could not be said of him, that he turned his back on
the enemy, or fell while running away from a shell.
Such little traits as these give the clue to a man's
character. After eight days' incessant firing, the second bom
bardment ceased on the 17th of April, without any
decisive result having been achieved, and, though the
Mamelon and Malakhoff suffered considerably, the guns
destroyed, or silenced, by day, were replaced at night.
On our side, twenty-six pieces of ordnance were dis
abled, and our expenditure of ammunition amounted
to forty-seven thousand eight hundred and fifty-four
rounds, of which upwards of fifteen thousand were
shell.* * During the bombardment the Artillery lost five killed and eighty-
six wounded ; and the Naval Brigade, which suffered more severely,
owing to their practice of not retiring behind the parapet after firing,
lost two officers and twenty-four men killed, and six officers and
ninety-two wounded.

60 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
On the 19th of April, the 77th Regiment, led by
Colonel Egerton, carried, by assault, the rifle pits in
advance of the Right Attack. These they most
gallantly maintained, notwithstanding a determined
attempt by the enemy to recover the ground. In this
affair, the gallant leader and Captain Lempriere were
killed, and, of the Engineer officers on duty, Captain
Owen, R.E., lost a leg, and Lieutenant Baynes received
a wound, from the effects of which he died in a few
days. Ten rank and file were also killed, and four
other officers and fifty men wounded. The dearly-won
pits were always known throughout the siege, as
" Egerton's Pits," in compliment to the gallant colonel
of the 77th.
During the month of May,* the Russians, who had
increased the number of rifle pits and screens in front
of the Right. Attack, and connected them by lines of
trenches, thus forming a regular parallel, made two
determined sorties on the advanced parallel of the
Right Attack, which, as Lord Raglan reported, " were
on each occasion most nobly met, and repulsed with
considerable loss owing chiefly to the judicious arrange
ments of Colonel Trollope." On the 18th of May,
Lord Raglan, accompanied by General de la Marmora,
in command of the newly arrived Piedmontese Division
of seventeen thousand men, and General Jones, in-
t During this month, Captain Wolseley was on duty : day, 1st,
5th, 14th, and 18th ; night, 25th, 28th, and 31st. On the three last
occasions he was the only Engineer officer with the working parties,
which numbered one hundred and fifty men, and twenty Sappers.

THE THIRD BOMBARDMENT. 61

spected the works of the Left Attack; and, on the 18th,
when Captain Wolseley was on duty, those of the
Right Attack. On the following day, General Can-
robert resigned the command of the French Army to
General Pelissier, who had earned great distinction on
the 22nd and 23rd of May, by his pertinacity and
valour. The working parties of the Right Attack
having completed the new communication with the
right of the third parallel, the troops were able to
circulate freely without being exposed to the musketry
fire from the enemy's works in advance of the
Mamelon. On the 28th of May, it was decided, at a meeting
held at General Pelissier's head-quarters, that, after
the Russian works had been bombarded, the French
should assault the Mamelon, and the " Ouvrages Blancs"
which supported it, and the English, the Quarries in
front of the Redan ; and, on the 31st, General Jones
handed to Lord Raglan a Memorandum of the proposed
attack, which was approved by his Lordship, and
communicated to Generals Pennefather and Codrington,
from whose Divisions the assaulting columns were to
be drawn.
On the 6th of June, when the third bombardment
took place, the English batteries mounted one hundred
and fifty-four mortars and guns. Of these, there were
in the Right Attack fifty-five pieces, twenty-two of
which were manned by the Naval Brigade; and ninety-
nine in the Left Attack, of which thirty-six were
worked by the sailors. The whole fire of the right of

62 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
the Right Attack was to be directed on the Mamelon and
the Malakhoff, whilst the left of the Right, and the
Left Attack engaged the Redan and Barrack Battery.
The English batteries opened fire at half-past two p.m.
of the 6th of June, on the Russian works, which stood
out in bold relief under a cloudless sky, offering a
strong contrast to the dismal circumstances of the last
bombardment. The enemy replied vigorously at first,
but about half-past four the Mamelon and Malakhoff
were almost silenced, and at dusk, when our fire,
except from the mortars, ceased, the Russian works
showed unmistakable evidences of the severe handling
they had undergone. Our batteries reopened on the
7th, and, on that evening, was delivered the memorable
assault on the Quarries by our troops, and that on the
Mamelon by our Allies.
All that day a heavy cannonade was kept up ; but,
at six o'clock, when the French and English assault
ing columns were formed in the trenches, it burst
forth with an intensity literally unparalleled. Major
Reilly, R.A., says, " The sailors and gunners, rivalling
each other in their exertions, worked the heavy guns
and mortars with almost incredible rapidity. For the
hour that it lasted, the fire was the heaviest during the
siege."* The Russians had massed men on the Redan,
evidently anticipating an assault, and so tremendous
was the fire directed on that work, that " the shells
* During the day the Royal Artillery had forty-seven killed and ..
wounded, and the sailors forty ; being the heaviest loss on one day
during the siege.

CAPTURE OF THE QUARRIES. 63
could be seen plunging and cutting gaps in the ranks,
blowing the bodies of their victims into the air."
At half-past six the French captured the Mamelon,
aud the " Ouvrages Blancs," which had been rendered
almost untenable by the fire from our batteries, but,
advancing towards the Malakhoff, were driven back.
The Mamelon was now retaken by the enemy, but,
after a renewed fire from the British batteries, once
more changed hands.
A few minutes after the French had attacked the
Mamelon, the British columns advanced on the Quarries
and the Russian trench leading to the Karabelnaia
Ravine. The column consisted of detachments of the
Light and Second Divisions, who were supported at
night by the 62nd Regiment. The command of these
troops was entrusted to General Shirley, of the 88th,
who was acting general officer of the trenches ; and
Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell of Wolseley's Regiment,
the 90th, led the storming party, and remained in the
Quarries all night in command of the troops. On the
Engineer officers of the Right Attack, however, devolved,
according to custom, the honourable and deadly duty ot
" showing the way" to the storming column, and also
of forming the lodgment after the enemy's works were
won, and the communication from the parallel in our
occupation, a trying and perilous task, as it would
have to be completed in the open and under the
enemy's fire. Colonel Tylden, R.E., an officer who had
been assiduous in his duties during the siege, advised
as to the attack and distribution of the troops, but the

64 THE CRIMEAN WAR.

Engineer officers who actually accompanied the assault
ing columns, were Captains Browne, R.E.,* and
Wolseley; and Lieutenants Elphinstone, R.E.,t Lowry,
R.E., and Anderson, (Kith Regiment. Already one
officer of the corps, Captain Dawson, R.E., who had
been in charge of the engineering duties during the
day, had fallen, but he was not destined to be the only
Engineer officer sacrificed on the altar of duty and
patriotism in litis memorable struggle.
The Quarries were carried with a rush, though the
Russians made three desperate attempts to retake them J
during the night, and, again, soon after daylight on the
following morning, and it was in resisting these re
peated efforts on tho part of the enemy that the Army
sustained its chief loss. Among the officers who thus
fell, was Lieutenant Lowry, R.E., who was killed by a
round shot whilst gallantly cheering on the men.
Notwithstanding the frequency of the endeavours of
the Russians to regain possession of the Quarries, and
the interruptions to which these attacks gave rise, the
Engineers made a lodgment of gabions and barrels,
and also established the communication with their
advanced sap, which, says Lord Raglan, " redounds to
the credit of Colonel Tylden, and that of the officers
* Wow Major-Genoral J. F. M. Browno, C.B. On tho 24th of
August this officer was severely wounded in the shoulder by a rifle-
bullet. t Now Colonel Sir Howard Elphinstone, V.C, K.O.B., C.M.G.
X The Engineer officer in charge of tho Right Attack, says : — " The
enemy aotually expelled us throo times and removed soino of our
gabions, which were immediately retaken."

THE ENGINEERS AT THE QUARRIES. 65

and men employed as the working party; and I cannot,"
adds the Field-Marshal, "miss the opportunity to
express my approbation of the conduct of the Sappers
throughout the operations."*
* Colonel Tylden, in his Report of the Engineering operations of
the 7th, whioh is derived from materials supplied to him ohiefly by
Captain Browne, the officer iii immediate command, says : — " The
Quarries, and the adjoining trendies in front of the left of the Right
Attaok, were stormed and carried yesterday evening about seven p.m.,
by a party of four hundred men from the Light and Second Divisions.
A good lodgmont has been formed on our right of the Quarries, and
the communication thereto from the left advanoed sap has been made
good. Our troops are at piesont in occupation of the Quarry lodg
mont covering their left, extending from thence to the right, along
tho revcrso of the enemy's trench to his salient rifle-pit at the centre.
The whole of these works of the enemy have been appropriated for
our use. The enemy's rosisfamoe was euergetio and determined,
evinced not only in his defence of the Quarries, but in the repeated
efforts he made during the night to retake his trenohes, by turning
their right, as well as by direot attacks. A reserve of six hundred
men formed the immediate support of the assaulting party, and a
working party of eight hundred men, dotailed for the forming of the
lodgment, communications, &e„ were divided into four different
parties, each for a special port of the work. Three of these parties I
brought forward in readiness to commence work directly the enemy's
trenches were taken; but such was the vigour of the enemy's resistance,
and his numbers, that the assaulting party and their reserve were
insufficient to hold the captured trenches, and I quite concurred in the
necessity of those portions of the working party who were armed being
appropriated for this purpose. The last portion, two hundred and
fifty men, I kept hi reserve in the right ravine communication, not
withstanding that their services were more than once urgently required
as an armed party in front ; and as soon as the advance had been rein
forced and regularly posted, I brought this party forward, and with
them made the lodgment and coniniunieation."
VOL. I. F

66 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
Colonel Tylden eulogised the services of Captain
Browne and Lieutenant Elphinstone, and says the
former " speaks in high terms of the conduct of Captain
Wolseley, 90th Regiment, Assistant-Engineer, who
was employed in forming the communication to the
lodgment." Captain Browne,* who was the senior
Engineer officer accompanying the assaulting column,
after passing a high encomium on the gallant young
Lowry, proceeds : — " I beg to report most favourably
on the conduct of Lieutenant Elphinstone, R.E., and of
Captain Wolseley, 90th Regiment, Assistant-Engineer,
who was employed in forming the lodgment and com
munication. Lieutenant Anderson, 96th Regiment,
Assistant-Engineer, was unfortunately wounded in the
leg early in the evening." .But the highest honour a
soldier can receive, next to the approval of his country
and his sovereign, was in reserve for Captain Wolseley,"
who was specially mentioned in the despatch of the
Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief,t as one of the
* By the courtesy of General Browne when Deputy Adjutant-
General at the Horse Guards, we have been enabled to peruse the
originals of the reports of the Engineer officers of the Right Attaok
throughout the siege, including those of Sir Garnet Wolseley.
t In a General Order to the troops, of the 8th of June, Lord Raglan
says : " The Commander of the Forces hastens to congratulate the
Army upon the achievements of last night. The attack was vigorously
conducted and nobly executed, and although no detailed Report has
yet been made, he considers it due to the officers and men engaged in
the assault on the Quarries to thank them for their gallant exertions,
and to assure them that he will not fail to represent them to the
Government, for Her Majesty's information, in the terms that their
eonduct so fully justifies. He laments most deeply the loss of those

WOLSELEY AT THE QUARRIES. 67
officers, " who distinguished themselves on this
occasion." The casualties on the 7th of June were propor
tionately heavy as the result attained was glorious.
Ten officers and one hundred and seventeen rank and
file were killed, and thirty-six officers and four hundred
and eighty-six men were wounded, besides eighteen
missing. Of the six Engineer officers engaged during
the 6th and 7th of June, two were killed, and one was
wounded. Captain Wolseley's personal share in the dangers
and glories of this memorable day was arduous, and no
officer was exposed for an equal length of time, or to
a similar extent, to the perils incident to a bombard
ment and an assault. The cause of his having this
double share of duty, entailing a corresponding increase
of fatigue and exposure, we will now detail, as well as
his experience of the assault of the Quarries. For
twenty-four hours before the time named for the at
tack on the Russian works, all the officers detailed for
service were kept off duty, so as to be fresh for the
perilous work in store for them. Among them, of
course, was Wolseley; but in the morning, Captain
Dawson, who had gone on duty for the first time that
day, was killed by a round shot, and he was ordered
to take his place. Wolseley was, therefore, all day
hard at work as the only Engineer officer of the Right
Attack, and the bombardment was in full progress,
who have fallen upon this memorable occasion, and sympathises moBt
sincerely in the sufferings of the wounded."
F 2

68 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
requiring all his energies, besides entailing that great
mental wear which is incidental to the performance
of duties under such a terrific fire as raged on that
day. When evening came, and the hour named for
the assault arrived, most men would have had enough
of it, but not so Wolseley ; and though he had never
quitted the trenches, when the hour struck — big with
the fate of so many gallant hearts throbbing with
eager expectancy, while they waited for the signal to
quit the protection of their batteries to run the gauntlet
of the open space ploughed by the death-dealing shells
and bullets — Captain Wolseley took his place with the
small band of Engineer officers, whose perilous duty it
was to accompany the assaulting column.
There were two communications to be made — one
between the parallel on the right and the Quarries,
which he was directed to carry out ; and the second
direct between the Quarries and the parallel in rear,
under the direction of Lieutenant Lowry. The
difficulty of doing much towards effecting the lodgment
and communications was enhanced by the fact that of
the eight hundred men detailed as a working party,
only two hundred and fifty were actually available, the
remainder being engaged with the enemy. And so it
was throughout this unparalleled siege; the British
Army was expected to perform, and, as a matter of
history, did actually perform duties that required the
exertions of a foree at least treble their numbers. It
was a dictum of Nelson's that a British sailor was
equal to three Frenchmen, and the saying certainly

WOLSELEY AT THE QUARRIES. 69

holds good of the relative value of the British soldier
and his Russian foeman.
Wolseley began working the lateral communication
too soon, and the enemy's fire was so hot, that the
party was driven back with loss. Just then he was
sent to take the place of poor Lowry, and proceeded
to make the direct communication on the open,*
between " Egerton's rifle-pits " and the captured
works. While so engaged, he lost one-third of his
working party, and on the three occasions when the
enemy expelled our soldiers from the Quarries, only
in turn to be themselves driven out, he entered the
Quarries with the victorious column. Not often has
more desperate hand-to-hand fighting taken place than
on that eventful night, and Wolselej's penchant for such
work was amply gratified. That the position was re
tained in the end was perfectly marvellous, considering
the persistent attacks made by the Russians with over
whelming numbers. Between these assaults he busied
himself with building up, on the reverse side of the
Quarries, a little parapet composed of anything he
could lay his hands on, among the chief ingredients
being the bodies of the fallen, friends or foes indis
criminately, the latter thus affording in death the wel
come protection they would have denied while living.
Just before daybreak, Wolseley saw a dense column of
* Gunner and Driver Thomas Arthur received the Victoria Cross
for " carrying barrels of infantry ammunition for the 7th Fusiliers
several times during the evening across the open." On this very
"open," Captain Wolseley and the other Engineer officers and Sappers
were engaged throughout the night.

70 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
Russians " so long that he could not see the end of it,"
issue from out of their works with the object of mak
ing a final dash to recover the lost Quarries ; and had
they known the real position of affairs they might have
accomplished their purpose, temporarily at least. Our
soldiers were so overcome with fatigue by the night's
fighting and hard work, that it was in vain the officers
made the utmost efforts to rouse them from their sleep
to resist the enemy. British officers have seldom failed
to do their duty under the most trying circumstances,
and they did not belie this characteristic of the race on
this occasion. Finding their efforts useless, the officers,
to the number of twenty, with some few non-com
missioned officers and men, certainly not more than
sixty, opened fire, the former with their pistols, on the
advancing column ; at the same time the bugler
sounded, and the little band shouted and cheered to
their utmost capacity. Never did the famous British
cheer stand in such good stead to British throats as on
this occasion. The Russian soldiers, remembering the
bloody repulses'they had already suffered, first wavered
and finally refused to advance. Wolseley saw the
officers by turns imploring and threatening them, but
all in vain ; they could not be induced to proceed, and
the British officers redoubling their efforts, the Rus
sians gave up the task as hopeless and retired, and so
ended their last effort to regain the Quarries. But it
is the opinion of officers present, that had the Russians
shown any enterprise they might have easily overcome
the only opposition that awaited them, as there was no

WOLSELEY AT THE QUARRIES. 71
force in the Quarries capable of an effective resistance.*
It will not be surprising that after his indefatigable
exertions both by word of mouth and example, Captain
Wolseley completely lost his voice, and could not speak
above a low whisper ; also that when he was relieved
in the morning, so overpowered was he with the exer
tions of the past twenty-four hours, and the strain
upon his faculties, that he fell down from fatigue out
side the Quarries, and lay there among a number of
dead bodies, himself having the appearance of one
numbered with the dead. So thought an officer of his
Regiment, who, passing by, found his friend lying on a
heap of slain covered with blood. Though he had not
reported himself wounded, Wolseley had been hit on
the thigh by a bullet from a canister shot which tore
his trousers, and caused considerable loss of blood. He
received this wound just as he got outside the parapet
on his way to the Quarries to relieve Lieutenant Lowry.
His friend of the 90th roused him with much difficulty,
and then assisted him to the camp at the Middle
Ravine, a distance, allowing for the zigzag road, of
* This is not the only instance in war where a bold face has changed
the position of affairs as effectually as a large reinforcement could
have done. A notable instance occurs to one's memory when, after
the first day of the sanguinary struggle at Ferozeshuhar, in 1846, a
fresh Sikh Army of twenty thousand men, with a powerful artillery,
feared to attack the small British force led by Lords Gough and
Hardinge, which decimated by Sikh shot, and worn out by their un
paralleled exertions, must have succumbed to a determined attack.
But the pusillanimous leader of this force, Lail Singh, if we remember
right, mistaking the audacity that comes from despair for the assurance
of victory, after a, brief cannonade, retreated with his whole force.

72 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
over two miles. The kind Samaritan had almost to
carry our hero, who was so fatigued that he fell down
many times, and had to be roused up again, just as a
man might who was intoxicated. It must have been a
relief to them both, as it was a cause of thankfulness
to Wolseley, when they met Major (now Lieutenant-
General) Maxwell, who dismounted and lent him his
horse, on which, with assistance, he rode the remainder
of the way, often nearly tumbling off with fatigue. His
position was all the more trying, as he had completely
lost his voice, so that when he mustered up sufficient
energy to speak, he was totally inaudible. And so
concluded what Wolseley himself emphatically declares
was " the hardest day's work he ever did in his life."
" It may be said," writes Major-General Sir Harry
Jones, " that until the 7th of June, when the Quarries,
Mamelon, and ' Ouvrages Blancs' had been captured and
lodgments made in them, the Allies had scarcely gained
an advantage over the enemy since October, 1854, a
period of seven months." By the capture of these
works, the besiegers were placed in a more favourable
position for carrying on ulterior operations, while every
man in the Allied Armies was inspired with increased
spirit and energy, for they regarded these important
successes as only the prelude to the fall of the great
stronghold that had so long defied their utmost efforts,
and attributed them chiefly to the substitution of
Pelissier, emphatically a fighting general, for the more
easy-going Canrobert. Considering the great strength
of the enemy, it is surprising the want of energy they

D UTY IN THE TRENCHES. 73
displayed. This numerical superiority rendered it
necessary to be prepared with strong reserves to
repel an assault on the trenches by a powerful
column ; but to do this effectually would have been
a task of great difficulty, there being no cover for troops
in the immediate rear of the trenches, while the dis
tance to the nearest camp was too great to afford any
hope that a body of men could arrive in time to render
immediate support. As this circumstance necessitated
a stronger guard than is usual at an ordinary siege, the
Engineers were unable to obtain the complement of
men necessary to carry on the required works. After
the success of the 7th of June, Lord Raglan and
General Pelissier determined to press on the siege
with redoubled energy, and preparations were made
for a fourth bombardment, and the assault of the
enemy's works extending from the Redan to Careen
ing Bay. Two days after the capture of the Quarries,
Captain Wolseley was again on duty,* accompanied
by Lieutenant Darrah, R.E. The working party
was, as usual, divided into two reliefs, consisting
respectively of four hundred and two hundred
men, with three brigades of Sappers, or twenty-four
men. Captain Wolseley says in his Report :— " I had
a special working party of four hundred men, fifty of
whom, with half brigade of Sappers, repaired the em
brasures in the 21-gun battery; one hundred men,
* During the month of June he was on duty as follows : day duty,
4th, 7th, 12th, 21st, and 28th ; night duty, 7th, 9th, 14th, 17th,
23rd, and 26th.

74 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
with a brigade of Sappers, revetted all the embrasures
in Nos. 9, 12, and 14 Batteries; fifty men, with half
brigade of Sappers, were employed mending and placing
in a fighting condition the old third parallel and Left
Advance ; the remaining two hundred men, with a
brigade of Sappers, were engaged in the Quarries and
the communication to them. They completed a rifle-
screen overlooking the Woronzoff Ravine on our left.
At two, a.m., the battery parties were relieved by one
hundred and fifty men from the guard of the trenches,
and the Quarry party by fifty men. All the batteries
were placed in admirable repair, and our new lodgment
considerably strengthened. The Russians were found
to be working outside the proper right of the Redan."
The Russian fire during the day had been very heavy,
and our casualties proportionately great. Thus we
had lost three officers and seven rank and file killed,
and thirty-eight officers and men wounded, a severe
loss for what might be called an " off day."
A good many casualties were also caused on the
12th, when Captain Wolseley was on duty, " by shells
from a 2-gun battery under the Garden Batteries, which
likewise annoyed the parties in the Quarries during the
forenoon," so that they had to be withdrawn. " In the
afternoon," continues his Report, " some of the enemy's
riflemen climbed up among the rocks on the opposite
side of the Woronzoff Ravine under the advanced
trenches of the Left Attack, and caused us some an
noyance." The working parties of four hundred men,
besides Sappers, employed on the night of the 14th of

THE FOURTH BOMBARDMENT. 75

June, " worked well, but were annoyed by shells from
the Garden Batteries, and grape and canister from the
salient gun in the Redan, which caused about ten
casualties. The enemy were heard working through
the night inside the Redan." During this time, while
our Engineers worked hard preparing for the attack
which it was hoped and anticipated would decide the
fate of Sebastopol, the Russians were also busied
strengthening the Redan, large parties of troops being
seen bringing up gabions and pieces of timber.
Between the 14th and 18th of June, the Engineers
were employed improving the lodgment in the Quarries.
The Russians had, before our occupation, entrenched
this position with great care ; emplacements for field
guns had been prepared, and about twenty yards in
advance of them, large cubical boxes, filled with pow
der, had been buried in the ground, to be exploded by
the pressure of a single man passing over them. For
tunately no accident had been occasioned by them
during the assault, though two or three subsequently
exploded, when several men were wounded.
At daylight on the morning of the 17th of June, the
British batteries* opened fire for the fourth general
bombardment of the defences of Sebastopol, the fleet
* In the Right Attack were mounted sixty-two pieces of ordnance ;
and in the Left Attack one hundred and four. Total one hundred and
sixty-six guns and mortars. The following was the calibre of these
pieces : eight 10-inch guns, eight 68-pounders, forty-six 8-inch guns,
forty-nine 32-pounders, thirty 13-inch mortars, seventeen 10-inch
mortars, and eight 8-inch mortars.

76 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
 w  .  —
also co-operating against the sea defences. The Royal
Artillery were directed, as they had been throughout the
siege, by Major-General (now Sir Richard) Dacres ;
and the Naval Brigade by Captain Sir Stephen Lush-
ington, K.C.B., who, on his promotion to flag rank, was
succeeded, on the 21st of July, by Captain Honourable
(now Admiral Sir) Henry Keppel.
Our efforts were chiefly directed against the Redan
and its flanking works, although the British gunners
afforded powerful aid with the mortars of the Right
Attack against the Malakhoff Tower. The Russians
replied from both these works with a steady fire. The
French battery of the Mamelon, assisted by our mortars,
told with great effect against the Malakhoff, which was
silenced about nine o'clock, sending only an occasional
shot during the rest of the day. The Redan almost
ceased firing an hour before noon, but caused a con
siderable number of casualties in the Quarries by its
fire from Coehorns and showers of hand grenades.*
But though the Redan presented a shattered appear
ance, it was only temporarily silenced, for at night
fresh guns were mounted wherever they were disabled
by our fire during the day. In the evening, Captain
Wolseley, accompanied by Lieutenants Graves and
Murray, both of whom fell in the assault on the
Redan on the following day, went on duty with a
working party of four hundred men and twelve
Sappers. * "Account of the Artillery Operations before Sebastopol," by
Major M. N. Reilly, C.B.

THE ENGINEERS IN THE TRENCHES. 77

The responsibility of the engineering duties, even
upon an "off day," devolving upon a young officer
in his twenty-second year, may be gathered from the
report of the day's work:— "One hundred and forty
men and two Sappers, with Major Campbell of the
46th Regiment, were employed carrying materials ; one
hundred and twenty men with Lieutenant Graves, one
hundred men and two Sappers with Lieutenant Murray.
All these parties were employed carrying materials to
the places assigned for them; twenty men and four
Sappers revetting embrasures in 21-gun battery ;
twenty men and four Sappers revetting embrasures
in Nos. 9, 13, and 14 batteries. These parties worked
until two o'clock, a.m., after which none were em
ployed. There were three considerable fires in the
town in the rear of the Flagstaff Battery. The enemy
were working all night at the Redan, and seemed to
be strengthening the abattis in its front."
The night of the 17th passed without anything
remarkable occurring; a heavy fire was kept up on
the works from the mortars, and at daylight all the
guns joined in the bombardment. It. had been arranged
at a meeting held at Lord Raglan's head-quarters on
the 15th, that the assault should not take place
until the obstacles in advance of the works had
been destroyed, and the works themselves, which
had been strengthened during the night, subjected for
three hours to a heavy fire. The assault was, accord
ingly, fixed for the 18th of June, a singular choice,
for though the anniversary of Waterloo is a day the

78 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
memories of which must always exercise an inspiriting
effect on British soldiers, the influence must be cor
respondingly depressing, not to say exasperating, to our
Allies when acting in concert with us. However this
may be, at the last moment the French General made
a change in the plan, which exercised a potent influ
ence for evil on the result. Late in the evening of
the 17th, General Pelissier, after having explained to
his Generals who were to command the several columns,
the details of his plan of attack, sent word to Lord
Raglan that he should assault the works at three on
the following morning. Though Lord Raglan had
worked with the utmost loyalty with the French Com
mander-in-Chief, this disarrangement at the last moment
of a plan adopted after much discussion, boded ill for
the success of the movement of the morrow, and never
did the evils of a divided command receive a more
impressive and disastrous illustration.
Before three a.m., Lord Raglan was at the signal
post, accompanied by the Head-Quarter Staff, Generals
Jones and Dacres and their respective staffs, Colonel
Warde, commanding Siege Train, and Captain Lush-
ington, R.N., commanding Naval Brigade. Captain
Wolseley was also there, having charge of the third
parallel of batteries, in which Lord Raglan and staff
were assembled. From this position he witnessed one
of the most gallant attempts to carry an enemy's works,
and at the same time one of the most sanguinary
repulses of which we have any record in the annals of
war.

THE ASSAULT OF THE V&th OF JULY. 79
No sooner had the three assaulting columns *
shown themselves beyond the trenches than they
were assailed by a most murderous fire of grape
and musketry, such as Lord Raglan declared he had
never witnessed before. The superiority of the fire of
the Allied batteries on the previous 17th, had led the
Allied Commanders, as Lord Raglan wrote in his des
patch, " to conclude that the Russian Artillery was, in
great measure, subdued," whereas it appears, from
Prince Gortschakoff's voluminous Report to the Emperor
Alexander, that the Russians expected and were fully
* The following were the arrangements for the assault. The English
were formed into three columns, drawn from the Light, Second, and
Fourth Divisons, under Lieutenant-General Sir George Brown. The
right column was to attack the left face of the Redan, between the
flanking batteries ; the centre, the salient angle ; while the left was to
move upon the re-entering angle formed by the right face and flank of
the work ; the first and last preceding the centre column. Each
column was to consist of one thousand seven hundred and fifty men,
of whom four hundred were for the assault, a working party of four
hundred to cover them in case of a lodgment and to reverse the work,
eight hundred men as a support, and one hundred riflemen preceding
the assaulting column to keep down the enemy's fire. On a given
signal the columns advanced, each preceded by covering parties of the
Rifle Brigade, and by sailors carrying ladders, and fifty soldiers with
wool-bags. The ladder-men consisted of four parties of sixty sailors each,
of whom only two, or one hundred and twenty men were engaged : of
these fourteen were killed, and forty-seven wounded, being more than
one half. Among the wounded was the gallant Peel, who volunteered
to lead his men, and himself carried the first ladder ; and Mr. Midship
man Wood, now Colonel Evelyn Wood, V.C, 90th Regiment, who
has since played a prominent part under Wolseley during the Ashantee
War.

SO THE CRIME AS WAR.

prepared lo meet the assault with a determined
resistance. Those in advance were either killed or wounded, and
the remainder found it impossible to proceed. The
Light and Fourth Divisions were I ho chief sufferers.
Major-Coneral Sir John Campbell, who led the Loft
Attack, Colonel Sluulforlh, of the (>7lh, who com
manded the storming parly under thai (ieneral, and
Colonel Yea, of I he 7th Fusiliers, who led the right.
column, were killed. While the direct all tick upon Iho
Redan was in progress. Major-Conoral YY. Fyro* moved
down the Havine, separating tho left of the British
from tho right of the French advanced works, and
made a demonstration on the head of tho Dockyard
Creek. This service was performed with I he utmost
gallantry, and, notwithstanding that they were ex
posed to a most galling lire, his troops maintained
themselves in the position they had taken up during
tho day. and, in the evening, withdrew unmolested,
leaving a post af tho Cemetery, which had boon ono of
the objects of the attack.
The French wore not more fortunate than ourselves
in the result of their operations. Conerals May ran and
Brunei, commanding Divisions, were killed, and though
the eiwi.i'iih! of the Malakhoff was entered, and the
French eagles planted on the Russian works, I lie
enemy brought up powerful reserves, and Marshal
Pelissier ordered a retreat. Tho French loss, in
# Tim late Miijor-Oenoml Sir William ICyro, whoso noil was killed
in tho Ashantoo War.

BRITISH 1 0 USES. si

killed alone, was thirty-nine olfieers and one thousand
live hundred and forty-four men.
In this disastrous affair the Russians,* no less than
the Allies, lost heavily. Our casualties were, twenty-
ono officers and two hundred and thirty men killed ;
seventy officerst and one thousand and fifty men
wounded; two officers and twenty men missing; total
casualties, exclusive of the Naval Brigade, ninety-three
officers and one thousand three hundred and eighty
men. Tho Engineers suffered heavily on this occasion.
Throe officers. Captain Jesse and Lieutenants Graves
and Murray, were killed; and Major-General Jones,
Major Bourchier (Brigade-Major), and Colonel Tylden,
Director of the Right Attack, were wounded. The
Utter officer, who had taken part in the Engineering
operations from the commencement of the siege, was
shot through both legs while directing the assault of
the Redan, and died trom tho effects of these wounds
on his passage to Malta in the following August.
Captain Wolseley was near General Jones when he re
ceived his wound. Ho was standing at the time in
* Prince OKirtsehako.fr gives the Russian loss as follows : two superior
otHoors, fourteen subaltern otlieers, and seven hundred aud eighty-one
men killed; four superior otlieers, forty-three subaltern officers, and
thro* thousand, one hundred and thirty-two men wounded; five
superior otluvrs, twenty-nine subaltern otlieers, and eight hundred and
flftoon men contused ; fourteen superior otlieers, titty-seven subaltern
oineers, and wgai hundrod and seventy-nine men slightly wounded,
but not sullte.iently to quit the ranks.
f Among tho wounded were General Kytv, Colonel (uow General
Siri Daniel Lysons, of the SSrd Koyal Welsh Fusiliers ; and Colonels
Johnstone, SSrd ; Gw ill, S4th ; and Cobhe, 4th Regiments.

82 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
rear of Lord Raglan, with whom General Jones was in
conversation, when the latter, whose head was over the
parapet, received a bullet wound in the temple, which,
with his white hair, was all dabbled with blood.
Almost at the same time another officer received a
severe wound. Wolseley was in conversation with
Captains Beresford and Browne of the 88th, when a
round shot carried off the arm of the latter, covering a
new jacket Wolseley had put on that morning with
blood. Captain Browne jumped up from the ground,
and actually did not know of the loss he had ex
perienced. To Wolseley's hurried question, " What's
the matter?" he replied, "Nothing."
So exposed was the position occupied by Lord
Raglan, that officers and soldiers as thej^ passed, cried
out to his staff, " If you want Lord Raglan to be killed,
you'll let him stop there."
The disastrous failure of the 18th of June told
severely on the already failing health of Lord Raglan,
and though he was assured of the sympathy of his
Sovereign,* he grieved over the loss of so many gallant
officers and men, and expired on the 28th of June, four
days after the death of General Estcourt, his Adjutant-
General. His death, which was unexpected, evoked
expressions of regret and sympathy from all quarters,
* Her Majesty, on receiving news of the repulse, telegraphed the
following message, which was read to the troops by order of the Com
mander-in-Chief. " I have Her Majesty's commands to express her
grief that so much bravery should not have been rewarded with
success ; and to assure her brave troops that Her Majesty's confidence
in them is entire."

DEATH OF LORD RAGLAN. 83
and Pelissier issued a General Order to the French
Army, in which he spoke of the " calm and stoic
grandeur of the character " of the late Field-Marshal.
Thus, one by one, all the chief actors of this tremendous
drama, had been removed. Nicholas, Menschikoff,
St. Arnaud, and finally, Raglan, all were gone ; while
the world watched with breathless interest, the struggle
progressing in that hitherto obscure peninsula.
Lord Raglan was succeeded in the chief command
by Lieutenant-General Simpson,* his " Chief of the
Staff," although there was present with the Army a
soldier who had served with distinction in almost
every war in which our troops had been engaged from
the Battle of Corunna to Chillianwallah ; while at the
Alma and Balaklava he had showed that he possessed
military capacity of a high order. But the " seniority"
system, which had been the curse of this war, placing
in the highest commands, officers' whose sole claim to
lead our soldiers rested on the accident of birth, or
service forty years before in the Peninsula, prevailed
at this critical emergency, and General Simpson was
requested, by the Ministry at home, to retain the chief
command. The return to England of Sir George
Brown and General Pennefather necessitated other
changes, and General Codrington succeeded the former,
and General Barnard the latter officer, in the command
of the Light and Second Divisions respectively.
* General Simpson was a Peninsular officer, and served as second in
command to Sir Charles Napier in his famous campaign in Scinde.
Both Napier and Lord Ellenborough entertained a high estimate of the
capacity of General Simpson, though he scarcely justified their opinion.
G 2

84 THE CRIMEAN WAR.

Captain Wolseley was on duty in the trenches on
the 21st of June, and again on the 23rd, 26th, and
28th of June ; but nothing of exceptional importance
occurred, except a violent storm on the 23rd, which
caused great damage to the batteries and trenches,
which were inundated with water. After the assault
of the 18th, he and the other Engineer officers were
employed in effecting the necessary repairs to the
parapets and platforms consequent upon the damage
they had sustained ; a trench was also dug from the left
of the Quarries to the edge of the Woronzoff Ravine,
and a Russian trench was altered so as to afford cover
to our advanced pickets. The parapets of the fourth
parallel were improved, and a battery for three guns
(No. 14) was constructed.
The enemy, on their side, were busily employed in
retrenching the Redan, and strengthening the fronts
between the Malakhoff and Careening Bay. Large
convoys were seen daily entering the town from the
north, bringing in supplies and munitions to any
extent. As the siege progressed, the place increased in
strength; and never, perhaps, was an investment
carried on under such disadvantages, but still the
determination of the Allied Commanders to prosecute
the enterprise to a successful conclusion never faltered ;
like Cato, whose only cry was " Delenda est Carthago,"
the British and French Generals, rendered more
obstinate by resistance, resolved that the great strong
hold in the Chersonesus must fall.
During the month of July, the efforts of the Engi-

THE RUSSIAN DEFENCES. 85
neers were directed towards working up to the enemy's
entrenchments. The French, considering that the
state of the Russian works from the Malakhoff to
Careening Bay, presented smaller difficulties against
entering the town on this side, and that there were
fewer obstacles to overcome before reaching the gorge
of the Malakhoff Tower, decided to make their great
attack on this side, while not abandoning the intention
previously entertained of assaulting the Great Redan
and works on the town side.
Meanwhile, our troops, situated as they were be
tween the two Attacks of the French, and exposed to
heavy artillery fire on both flanks, also from the
Garden, Malakhoff, and intervening batteries, including
that of the Redan, could make but little progress in
their Attack. The enemy, guided by the genius of
Todleben, did not fail to profit by the time thus
afforded them for strengthening their works, and
strong parties were constantly to be seen employed
upon the Malakhoff and retrenchments in rear of the
Little Redan, extending towards the Great Harbour ;
thus they formed, in this part, an interior and second
line of defence, which every day presented a more
formidable appearance.
Captain Wolseley was on duty on the 1st of July,*
each relief of the working party numbering four
hundred men and twenty-four Sappers, and the works
were carried on under a heavy fire, the enemy shell-
* During this month Captain Wolseley was on day duty 1st, 6th,
12th, 15th, and 22nd ; night duty, 3rd, 8th, 15th, 19th, and 22nd.

86 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
ing the Quarries and the new fourth parallel. On the
8th of July, when he was on night duty in the
trenches, the working party numbered nine hundred
and fifty men, besides twenty Sappers ; on this occa
sion Lieutenant Graham, of the Engineers, was
severely wounded. He says in his Report, the original
of which is lying before me : — " Lieutenant Graham
having been, unfortunately, struck in the face with
some stones from a round shot, and, consequently,
forced to leave his party on the Left advanced sap,
the officer of the 62nd Regiment, who commanded the
party, withdrew his men, telling the Sapper then in
charge, that he considered it too dangerous for Lines
men. The enemy kept up a continual fire of shell and
grape, and then a number of light balls, which greatly
interrupted our work."
The Engineers of the Right Attack completed battery
No. 18, for six mortars, and commenced No. 19. They
also converted, for the occupation of our troops, the
Russian trench nearest the third parallel, a work of
great labour, many parts being of rock, and requiring
the addition of earth to form a parapet ; and extended
the right of the advanced works in front of the Quarries,
to form a junction with this trench, which now became
a fourth parallel, a perilous and difficult task, owing to
the numerous light balls, which burnt nearly half-an-
hour. Traverses were thrown up in the Quarries to
protect the working parties and guard of the trenches,
from the fire of the Garden batteries and Bastion
du Mat. The casualties were heavy, owing to the

THE ENGINEERS AT WORK. S7

proximity of the British works to the Redan, from
which the enemy maintained a vertical fire from
mortars, and discharges of grape and grenades.
As this cannonade contiuued day and night,
causing great loss to our troops, aud hindering the pro
secution of the Engineering works, all our batteries
that bore upon the Redan opened fire on the 10th of
July, which had the desired effect.
The Engineers now being more free from annoyance,
extended the fifth parallel as far as the small Quarry,
and ran out a sap from its left. The works were
pushed on with the utmost alacrity, and at no time of
the siege were the Engineer officers harder worked,
Wolseley being the only one on duty, on the 12th of
July, to direct the two reliefs of the working party,
each of • which numbered four hundred men, with
twenty-four Sappers. In conjunction with Major
Stanton aud Lieutenant Somerville, he was on duty, for
twenty-four hours on the loth of July. During the
afternoon, the enemy opened a very heavy, well-directed
fire on the right of the fifth parallel, and the working
party was obliged to be partially withdrawn. Most of
the damage was. however, made good during the night;
but the labour was very great in consequence of the
party having to carry the earth some distance, and
there were several casualties from grape and case-shot
fired from the left of the Redan.
The night of the 19th, when Wolseley was again on
duty, passed off more quietly, and the working parties
were enabled to do a fair average of work. The para-

88 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
pets and batteries were put in a thorough state of repair
during the latter part of July, and the platforms for the
guns were removed to batteries more in advance, while
new communications were made from the third parallel
and the Quarries to Battery No. 19. At this time,
orders were issued by General Simpson, that the night-
guard in the trenches of the Left Attack was to be
increased to one thousand four hundred men, and in the
Right Attack to two thousand four hundred, under a
General of the day, and three field-officers. Of this
number, six hundred were to work, if required by the
Engineer officers, from four to eight a.m., when they
were to return to camp, if they could be spared ; the
remainder were to furnish working parties during the
day. There was also to be a special working party of
four hundred men, independently of the guard, who
were to return to camp at daybreak.
On the 22nd of July, Major Stanton and Captain
Wolseley were on duty for twenty-four hours* There
were no less than one thousand and fifty men at work
in the trenches under their orders, besides fifty-two
Sappers and sixteen carpenters, and the work was very
heavy. During the day, the Right Attack kept up a
fire on the Redan for some hours with mortars, and a
shell from the enemy, falling among a heap of carcasses
* The officer commanding the Royal Engineers in his Remarks on
the progress of the siege, says : — " The young officers of Engineers and
of the Sappers lately joined from England, suffer very much from the
heat. They soon fall ill with fever. This makes the duty in the
trenches very severe upon those who are able to bear the fatigue."

ILLNESS OF WOLSELEY. 89
in the new batteries of the Right Attack, ignited about
fifty of them, and the gabions being very dry, they also
were set on fire; but the flames were extinguished
by earth being shovelled over them. Again, during the
day and night of the 22nd, when Wolseley was on duty
for twenty-four hours, there was hot work, and his
exertions, under constant fire from cohorns, and
grape, and shell, were too much even for his constitu
tion. He had been suffering for some time from dysen
tery, but with that devotion to duty which had
characterised him since he joined the besieging force in
December of the previous year, he battled against his
ailment, and could not be induced to go on the sick list.
This arduous and prolonged duty of twenty-four hours,
however, quite incapacitated him for further exertion,
and the medical authorities directed his removal to
Balaklava, thence to proceed on board ship for a period
of a fortnight at least, or until the restoration of his
health had been established. But Wolseley could not
be persuaded to remain beyond a week, and returned
to duty not much better than when he quitted the
scene of his labours.
The Home Ministry, impatient at the delay in the
capture of Sebastopol, and urged by political considera
tions, telegraphed instructions to the Commander-
in-chief, forthwith to " hold a Council with General
Pelissier and the Admirals, to consider the actual state
of the siege, the chances ofarrivingatthe destruction, or
the capture of the southern side of the town, and what
it will be possible tp^do failing these two alternatives."

90 THE" CRIMEAN WAR.
Accordingly, on the 15th of August, it was decided
that the necessary batteries being on the eve of com
pletion, the fifth bombardment should be opened on
the 17th of August, without waiting for two hundred
mortars which were on their way from France, and
fifty from England, the batteries for which were nearly
ready. The Russians, meantime, maintained a heavy
fire of shot, shell and grape, causing numerous casual
ties in the guard of the trenches and working parties.
On the 16th of August, Prince Gortschakoff made a
desperate assault on the lines of the French and Sar
dinians on the Tchernaya,* in the hope of raising the
siege, but was driven back with a loss of five thousand
men, that of the victors being one-fifth of the number.
Captain Wolseley was in charge of the trenches,
with a working party of four hundred men and twenty
Sappers, on the night of the 16th of August, and on
the following morning, when the fifth bombardment of
Sebastopol commenced. He says — "The enemy ap
peared to be working at, and in the neighbourhood of
the 6-gun Battery to their left of the Karabelnaia
Ravine. Their vertical fire was heavier than usual, as
they fired salvoes from three mortars on the left flank
of the Redan. Upon a signal of three mortar shells
from No. 13 Battery, fire was opened this morning at
daybreak from all our batteries." During the night
there were thirty-nine casualties in the Right Attack.
* The Black River, or river of the Tchernaya, after leaving the valley
of Baidar, runs from east to west through numerous ravines, and
falls into Sebastopol roads.

1*RE fifth: BOMBABDMEXT. 91
At this time, the British batteries mounted one hundred
and eighty-six pieces of ordnance, of which seventy-
seven were in tho Right Attack, and one hundred aud
nine in the Left Attack. Our gunners directed their
fire chiefly against the Redan and Malakhoff. so as to
enable the saps to advance, aud soon obtained a decided
superiority over the Malakhoff: but so heavy was the
firo from the Town. Garden, and Barrack batteries,
that our advattced batteries in the Left Attack were
partially destroyed, and at noon the detachments were
withdrawn. During the day. the casualties in the
Royal Artillery were thirty officer* and men, and in the
Naval Brigade, twenty-four.
At daybreak on the 18th of August, fire was re-
opeued on the enemy's works from all the batteries,
with the exception of the advanced batteries of the
Left Attack, until the morning of the 19th. when the
Redan being much damaged, and the Malakhoff almost
silent, orders were issued to cease firing.*
During the 21st of August. Captain Wolseley was
on duty with two reliefs of three hundred men each,
besides a strong body of Sappers and carpenters, the
latter being engaged in making platforms and placing
frames for magazines. The men worked well and much
progress was made, though under a brisk fire from the
» During tho forty-eight hoxurs between the morning of the 17th,
and six a.m. of the 19th of August, the British batteries had expended
no less than twenty-six thousand two hundred and seventy rounds of
ammunition, of which eleren thousand, two hundred and forty -throe
were 10 and lS-inch shell , tie total weight being ei^ty-one tons.

92 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
enemy. He was again on duty on the night of the 23rd
of August, when they were on the qui vive, as the
Russians made a sortie upon the French in front of the
Malakhoff. On the previous evening a sap was com
menced from the fifth parallel in advance upon the
capital* of the Redan. Fifty-eight yards were executed
without interruption from the enemy, and during the
night of the 23rd, Wolseley managed to execute about
fourteen more yards, but under a heavy fire from the
Redan. In consequence of their proximity to this
work, there were fifty-two casualties among our men
on this day.
Captain Wolseley was on duty in the trenches, with
a working party of eight hundred men from five a.m.
to seven p.m. on the 27th of August, when, under
orders from General Simpson, a heavy fire was opened
by the batteries! of both Attacks on the salient angle
of the Redan. Of the effect of this fire, Wolseley says
in his Report : — " The salient of the Redan was con
siderably injured towards the evening by our fire. The
enemy's fire during the day was heavier than usual,
and they kept up a continual fire upon the several
working parties."
Preparations for the final assault were pushed for
ward with much energy, and the Engineer staff were
* The capital is the centre line which divides a bastion into two
equal parts.
t The return of guns and mortars in position on the 27th of August,
signed by Colonel St. George, commanding the siege train, showed
that there were seventy-seven pieces of ordnance in the Right Attack,
and one hundred and twenty in the Left Attack.

THE SECOND ILIAD. 93
worked to the utmost, making up by their good will and
indomitable perseverance for their numerical inferiority.
The time since the repulse of the 18th of June had
been utilised by the Allies, and an incredible amount
of work had been performed. The French had a very
difficult task before them, but by dint of perseverance,
and regardless of great loss of life, aided by the power
ful and well directed fire of our artillery, they succeeded
in establishing themselves close to the crest of the
counterscarp of the Malakhoff, the key of the position.
Scarcely less difficult was the task our troops under
took in their advance against the Redan, while, owing
to the features of the ground, the fire from the Malakhoff
and the Bastion du Mat could not be silenced by counter
batteries on the glacis, or by enfilade fire from distant
batteries. During the month of August, the Russians, rendered
desperate by the sight of the iron ring which was
growing in strength day by day, made repeated efforts
to break through the toils thus encircling them within
its fatal embrace. Frequent sorties were made all
through the month, and the fighting in that confined
and blood-stained arena became fast and furious. The
genius of a second Homer— "whose verses," says
Bacon, " have a slide and easiness more than the verses
of other poets," — would be worthily taxed in describing
the numberless heroic deeds of our gallant soldiers and
their Allies. Failing the pen of " the blind old bard of
Scio's rocky isle," we will, in homely prose, depict an
event in the life of our hero who, like Achilles in his

THE CRIMEAN WAR.

ardour for the fight, was " impiger, iracundus, inex-
orabils, acer." In any future epic having for its theme
this war of the giants, the achievements of the Allied
Army might be compared with that of the Grecian host
beleaguering the classic city on the banks of the
Scamander ; while the Russians in their valour and the
obstinacy of their defence, would worthily fill the role
of their Trojan prototypes. Again some of our leaders
would compare not unfavourably with the Homeric
heroes. Raglan, whose " antique heroism " at the
Alma extorted the admiration of St. Arnaud, was an
Agamemnon, the "king of men," and no braver warriors
landed from the Grecian ships than Gordon and
Lysons, Peel, whose fire-eating proclivities were in
satiable, and Hewett, of Lancaster battery renown, and
Blake and Yea, who fell in "the imminent deadly
breach," and Egerton, Cathcart, and the three Camp
bells—Sir Colin, Sir John, and the young Colonel of the
90th — and numberless others whose self-sacrificing
devotion will live for all time in the memory of their
countrymen. However, to our account of an event in Wolseley's
life which, at length, after his many narrow escapes,
incapacitated him from taking part in the closing scene
of the struggle in which he had been engaged since the
preceding December. At eight p.m. on the night of the
30th of August, Wolseley, accompanied by Lieutenant
Dumaresq, R.E., proceeded on duty, and had charge of
the advanced flying sap, which he was directed to carry
on as far towards the Redan as the time at his disposal

A RUSSIAN SORTIE. 95

before daylight, and the endurance of his working party
of four hundred men and twenty Sappers, would permit.
The work progressed as satisfactorily as could be ex
pected, but there was very little earth, and most of
the gabions had to be filled with rubble and stone as
substitutes. However, he managed to place sixty
gabions when the moon rose, and her unwelcome light
put a stop to all further proceedings for that night,
when, taking advantage of this enforced period of idle
ness, he proceeded to make a sketch of the ground in
order to give his successor an idea of the topography,
so that he might carry on the work in hand. Wolseley
was thus engaged, when suddenly the Russians made a
sortie, and he found himself surrounded by the uncouth
visages and strange forms of the soldiery of the Czar,
who looked more formidable by the pale and uncertain
moonlight. The sortie was made under circumstances
and at an hour to call for the exercise of that prompti
tude and presence of mind which the great Napoleon
once described as " two o'clock in the morning courage,"
and said he rarely found even among the bravest of his
soldiers. This serious state of affairs had arisen through
the neglect of the field-officer in command, who could
not be induced to cover the working party properly,
notwithstanding the repeated representations of Captain
Wolseley, who begged him to take a rifle-pit that was
annoying his men, and showed how it might be done
with most advantage. However, this officer would not
do as he was requested, and as the Russians kept firing
volleys from it all night, ^Wolseley's men had to work

96 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
lying down. As a further consequence, the front was
not protected by sentries, so that a sortie or surprise
of some sort was just what might have been anticipated.
As we have seen, there was a sortie, and the surprise
was complete, but Wolseley was equal to the occasion.
In a moment the working party of one hundred and
fifty men, finding themselves surrounded, cast down
their tools or arms and bolted to a man. In vain the
officers did all they could to stop the stampede.
Wolseley seized by the belt one man who was in the
act of flying, but was instantly knocked down by
another fellow who took this irregular method of
releasing his comrade. On recovering his feet, Wolseley
found there was nothing between himself and the
Russians but the. gabions, which they were pulling
down with all celerity. Looking about him with the
intent of making an effort to rally his men, he found
that he was alone ; all had fled, the officers, recognising
the futility of resistance without their men, being the
last to retire. Another moment's hesitation on Wol
seley's part and it would have been too late for him to
secure his own safety, and he had barely time to spring
over the work and run back to the nearest parallel
about one hundred and fifty yards in the rear. British
soldiers do not often, or for any length of time, forget
themselves ; and the same men who, taken by surprise,
had just fled in panic from the face of their enemies,
rallied in a few minutes, and, led by their officers,
drove the Russians pell mell out of the advanced sap*
* " At about half-past twelve a.m. a party of the enemy, apparently

A NIGHT ENCOUNTER. 97
The field-officer whose negligence had caused this
unfortunate business, now asked Captain Wolseley,
"What was to be done?"
" I will do nothing," replied Wolseley, " until you
have carried the rifle-pit I requested you to take
before." A gallant officer, Captain Pechell,* of the 77th, who
was standing by, hearing this colloquy, said, " I will
take the rifle-pit." And this he did with a small party
of his own men, who carried it with a rush.
about twenty or twenty-five in number, made an attack on the advance,
up the little ravine from the fifth parallel. The working party
retired in great confusion, in spite of repeated attempts on Captain
Wolseley's part to rally them, and the Russians threw down about
fifty gabions into the trench ; they then retreated, keeping up a fire of
musketry, which caused considerable loss. The guns also from the
batteries below the Malakhoff opened and caused numerous casualties
by stones. Amongst the wounded, I regret to say, was Captain
Wolseley, who was severely cut in the face and leg by stones. The
guard of the trenches was very strong in the fifth parallel, and there
were abundance of men near the entrance to the sap ; but the attack
was so sudden, that unless the working party themselves repulsed the
enemy, the mischief done to the trench could not be prevented. Cap
tain WolBeley had placed about fifty gabions, and was proceeding to
fill them when the attack took place, all of which, and a considerable
quantity besides, were overturned into the trench by the enemy. No
more work was done there, on account of the precision of the artil
lery fire from the Malakhoff batteries, and also the incessant fire of
musketry, as the enemy only retired about two hundred yards down
the ravine. The casualties among the working party were very great,
amounting to twelve out of sixty-five, and these in a very short space
of time." {See Official Narrative)
* Two nights afterwards this promising officer was killed when re
taking this same pit.
 H

98 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
The Russians had not only pulled up some of the
gabions, which had been filled at such great cost of
time and labour, but they had rolled others down the
hill ; Wolseley, therefore, taking with him a strong
party of men, recovered most of these gabions, and was
engaged in the task of putting up and refilling them
when he received his wound. He was at the end of the
sap talking to two Sappers, who were assisting him
to fill with stones one of the gabions ; one hand was
stretched back, and the other was resting on a spike of
the gabion, when a round shot dashed into the middle
of the group. He had just time to call " Look out !"
when down went both the Sappers, while he felt him
self hurled to the ground with resistless force. The
round shot had struck the gabion, which was full of
stones, and scattering its contents with terrific violence,
instantaneously killed the poor fellows by his side,
the head of one man being taken off while the other was
disembowelled. As for himself, he lay senseless until
a sergeant of Sappers picked him up, and, after a time,
he rallied sufficiently to avail himself of the assistance
of this man and of Prince Victor Hohenlohe,* who,
coming up, helped him to walk towards the doctor's hut
in the trenches. He just managed to totter so far, and
* His Serene Highness is a sailor who has shown high courage at
the hotly-contested boat action at Fatshan Creek in China, in May,
1857, as well as in the batteries before Sebastopol. When, after the
lapse of many years, Prince Victor again met Sir Garnet at a public
dinner, after his return from the Gold Coast, he reminded the suc
cessful General of the circumstances of their last meeting.

WOLSELEY IS WOUNDED. 99
was laid down outside the hut in a semi-unconscious
state. Prince Victor called the attention of the surgeon to
his newly arrived patient, and the reply was, after a
hasty glance, for he was too busy just then to examine
him, " He's a dead 'un."
This roused up the wounded officer, who, though
half-unconscious, seemed to regard the remark in the
light of a reflection ; and turning himself as he lay
there all smothered in blood, he made answer, " I am
worth a good many dead men yet." This remark
caused the doctor, who fancied from his appearance
that his injuries were mortal, to turn his attention to
Captain Wolseley, and from the nature of the wounds,
and the shock to the system their number and extent
would have caused in most cases, it seemed as if the
surgeon had only been a little premature in his rough
and ready diagnosis.
Wolseley's head and body presented a shocking
appearance. His features were not distinguishable as
those of a human being, while blood flowed from in
numerable wounds caused by the stones with which he
had been struck. Sharp fragments were imbedded all
over his face, and his left cheek had been almost cut
completely away. The doctor fancied, after probing
the wound, that his jawbone was shattered, but
Wolseley made him pull out the substance in his
mouth, when a large stone came away. The surgeon
then lifted up and stitched the cheek. Both his eyes
were completely closed, and the injury to one of them
H 2

100 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
was so serious that the sight has been permanently
lost. Not a square inch of his face but what was
battered and cut about, while his body was wounded all
over, just as if he had been peppered with small shot.
He had received also a severe wound on his right leg,
so that both limbs had now been injured, the wound in
left thigh, received in Burmah, rendering him slightly
lame. For many years afterwards the wound on the
shin, received on this 30th of August, caused him much
suffering, and, when on duty in Canada, nearly ten
years after the event, he was under the necessity of
returning to England for medical advice regarding
the bone which was exfoliating. Considering the
extent of his wounds, which in many cases would have
caused collapse, or induced erysipelas or other sequelae,
Captain Wolseley's recovery must be chiefly attributed
to his wonderful constitution, and, in a scarcely less
degree, to his strong vitality and buoyant courage.
After the surgeon had dressed his wounds, Captain
Wolseley was placed on a stretcher, and carried by four
soldiers to St. George's Monastery, situated on the sea
coast not far from Balaklava, and there he passed some
weeks in a cave, as the sight of both eyes was too much
injured to subject them to the light. While he was
pent up in this gloomy cavern, meditating on the sad
prospect of being totally blind for the remainder of his
days, news arrived of the fall of Sebastopol. The
great Russian stronghold which had, for so many weary
months, defied the utmost efforts of two Great Powers,
was, at length, carried by assault on the 8th of Sep-

NATURE OF HIS WOUNDS. 101
tember, and Captain Wolseley had the additional morti
fication of feeling that all his devotion and suffering
had not received the reward he most coveted — that of
participating in the storm of tho Russian stronghold.*
The Siege of Sebastopol stands in many respects
without example in the annals of war. Tho Russian
works extended for nearly fifteen miles, while the
besiegers' trenches were no less than fifty-two miles in
length, and comprised ono hundred and nine batteries,
armed with eight hundred and six pieces. The expen
diture of ammunition during the siego, according to
the estimate of our Artillery officers, nearly amounted
to one million five hundred thousand rounds. Tho
trenches were open three hundred and thirty-four days,
and the batteries, in the most advanced of which were
placed guns and mortars of a calibre seldom before
used in siege operations, were open for three hundred
and twenty-soven days. The Russians opposed to the
* Our loss on the 8th of September was twonty-nine oflloers, thirty.
six sergeants, and three hundred and twonty rank and file killed ;
ono hundrod and twenty-four offioers, ono thousand seven hundred
and sixty-two uon-oommissionod oflloers and mon woundod j and ono
offloer and ono hundrod and seventy-fivo men missing ; total loss, two
thousand four hundred and forty- seven. The Fronoh lost five general
offloors killed, four wounded, and six oontused ; twenty-four superior
oflloers killed, twonty woundod, and two missing ; one hundred and
sixtoen subaltern oflloers killed, two hundred and twenty-four
woundod, and eight missing ; also ono thousand four hundred and
eighty-nine non-commissioned oflloers and men were killed, four
thousand two hundred and fifty-nine wounded, and one thousand four
hundrod missing ; grand total, sevon thousand five hundred and fifty-
one.

102 THE CRIMEAN WAR.

Allies an army numerically superior, intrenched behind
formidable defences, mounting no less than one thou
sand one hundred cannon, and protected by the guns of
their fleet.
Immediately on learning the news of the fall of
Sebastopol, Captain Wolseley resigned his post of
Assistant-Engineer, and his name was removed from
the list from the 7th of November. He had been
ordered to England for the recovery of his health and
to seek the best medical advice for his eyes, the sight
of both of which it was feared was permanently lost.
Sir Harry Jones, in a confidential Memorandum to
the Secretary of State for War, brought to his Lord
ship's notice the names of the officers whom he recom
mended for promotion, among them being that of
Captain Wolseley. Throughout the siege the duties of
the trenches fell with great severity on the Engineer
officers, of whom the. General said he " could not speak
too highly in praise of the zeal and intelligence they
displayed ;" day and night they were constantly under
fire in the most advanced positions, directing the work
ing parties, and it is surprising that any of those who,
like Wolseley, served continuously for many months
escaped with their lives.
The total number of non-commissioned officers and
men of the Royal Engineers employed throughout the
siege, amounted to only nine hundred and thirty-five ; of
these two hundred and eighteen were killed or died,
and one hundred and nineteen became non-effective
from various causes, leaving five hundred and ninety-

LOSSES OF THE ENGINEERS. 103

eight in the Crimea on the 9th of September. During
the same time, sixty-nine officers of the Royal En
gineers, and nineteen other officers acting as Assistant-
Engineers, served with the corps; of the former,
eighteen were killed or died, (exclusive of Lieutenant
H. G. Teesdale, who died of wounds received at the
Alma,) and fourteen were wounded, while two Assistant-
Engineers were killed and six wounded.*
During the nine months he served uninterruptedly
before Sebastopol — with the exception of a week's sick
leave at Balaklava— Captain Wolseley, was, perhaps,
as often on duty in the trenches as any officer in the
British Army ; while as one of the Engineer officers of
the Right Attack, he was in the post of the greatest
danger, as evidenced by the fact that of the fourteen
officers killed at the siege, twelve belonged to the
Right Attack, or were killed when doing duty there.f
* The total loss of the British Army in the Crimea was one hundred
and fifty-seven officers, one hundred and sixty-one non-commissioned
officers, and two thousand four hundred and thirty-seven drummers
and rank and file, killed in action ; and eighty-six officers, eighty-five
non-commissioned officers, and one thousand eight hundred and forty-
eight drummers and rank and file, died of wounds. The wounded
numbered five hundred and seventy-seven officers, six hundred and
forty-five sergeants, and ten thousand one hundred and fifty-five men ;
the missing, thirteen officers, twenty-three sergeants, and four hun
dred and sixty-eight men. The Naval Brigade, out of a total force of
one hundred and thirty-five officers and four thousand three hundred
and thirty-four seamen and marines, had five officers and ninety-five
men killed, and thirty-eight officers and four hundred and thirty-seven
men wounded.
+ The reason is obvious, whjjhe mortality in the Right Attack was

104 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
The preceding pages show the nature of the duty per
formed by Captain Wolseley during those eight months.
In the dreary Winter of 1854-55, he, in common with
every officer and man, suffered the pangs of hunger
and cold, but though for weeks his diet was an in
sufficient allowance of unwholesome biscuit, and still
more unwholesome water, he cheerfully performed his
tour of duty in the trenches, and faced the Russian fire
and the biting cold of an Arctic Winter, which proved
fatal to so many gallant officers and men. While the
greater than in the Left. The Eight Attack was on the slope of the
Redan, while a ravine intervened between the Russian batteries and
the Left Attack. The following are the names of the twenty Engineer
and Assistant-Engineer officers who were killed before Sebastopol, or
died of their wounds, or of illness contracted during the operations,
with the dates of their deaths. Captain A. D. Craigie, 13th of March ;
Lieutenant E. Bainbrigge, 4th of April; Captain J. E. Crofton,
(wounded 12th of April) died 15th of April ; Captain F. W. Eing,
(wounded 17th of April) died 22nd of April; Lieutenant C. E.
Baynes, (wounded 19th of April) died 7th of May ; Lieutenant J. S.
Carter, (Left Attack) 2nd of May ; Captain J. F. Dawson, 7th of
June ; Lieutenant J. G. Lowry, 7th of June ; Brevet-Colonel R.
Tylden, (shot through both legs on 18th of June) died in August ;
Captain W. H. Jesse, 18th of June ; Lieutenant J. Murray, 18th of
June ; Lieutenant J. M. Graves, 18th of June ; Captain Anderson,
(31st Regiment) 5th of September ; Major S. Chapman, (Left Attack,
20th Regiment) wounded on the 8th of September, died 20th of
September. Died of disease, or by accident — Brigadier-General V. B.
Tylden, of cholera, on the 22nd of September, 1854 ; Lieutenant-
Colonel Alexander, of apoplexy, 19th of October, 1854 ; Captain W.
M. Inglis, drowned in 'Prince' on the 14th of November, 1854;
Captain Belson, of typhus fever, on the 5th of August, 1855 ; Lieu-
tentant Somerville, of typhus fever, on the 3rd of September ; Major
Ranken, killed by the fall of a wall on the 27th of February, 1856.

ESCAPES DURING THE SIEGE. 105
Army was perishing from want and cold in the trenches,
ship after ship arrived at Balaklava, stowed with boots
too small for use, and great-coats that would not
button ; and when officers, even at head-quarters, were
fain to be thankful for mouldy biscuit, preserved meats
and vegetables were rotting on the quays of Balaklava.
Routine and red-tapeism reigned supreme, and the world
wondered at the astounding display of mismanagement
in every department of our complicated military
machine. The one satisfactory feature was the valour
and patience of our soldiers, who doggedly fought on,
and never murmured when affairs looked their blackest.
It was a point of honour among the Engineer officers
and Sappers to bear up against sickness, and hold out
as long as they could stand on their legs ; and Wolseley,
though he frequently suffered from illness and over
work, with the exception of a brief interval in July,
remained at his post until severe wounds incapacitated
him for further duty. Speaking of the officers and
men of the Royal Engineers, he has expressed an
opinion that, " he never saw men work like them," and
considers their conduct in this unparalleled siege, as
" beyond all praise."
During its progress, Captain Wolseley was wounded
severely on the 30th of August, and slightly on the
10th of April and 7th of June. On the 15th of
February his coat was pierced by a ball; on the 10th of
April a round shot struck the embrasure at which he
was working, and his trousers were cut; and, on the
7th of June, a ball passed through his forage cap from

106 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
the peak to the back, knocking it off his head. It may
be said, without exaggeration, that he bore a charmed
life, for, at the termination of the siege, of three messes
of four members each to which he had belonged, he
was the only officer remaining in the Crimea, all the
others being either killed or forced to leave through
wounds. Captain Wolseley was about to return to England
for the recovery of his health, when he was offered an
appointment in the Quartermaster-General's* Depart
ment. As there was a great improvement in the sight
of one of his eyes, though he regarded that of the other
as hopelessly gone, he resolved to remain in the
Crimea, and, accordingly, accepted the offer. He was
employed on the Quartermaster-General's staff, in
conjunction with two other officers of the 90th Light
Infantry, Major Barnston, (who, in December, 1857,
died of wounds received at the Relief of Lucknow, of
whom Wolseley speaks as " the best officer he ever
knew,") and Captain Crealock, whose gallantry on the
disastrous 8th of September, and in the China Cam
paign of 1860, and whose skill as an accomplished
artist, have made his name famous. Captain Wolseley
and Major Barnston were attached, for surveying
duties, to a French Army of twenty thousand men and
a small force of English Cavalry, which had taken up a
* Sir Richard Airey, who had been Quartermaster-General through
out the War, was succeeded in November by Colonel Percy Herbert
who had been head of that Department in Sir De Lacy Evans'
Division.

ON SERVICE WITH THE FRENCH. 107

position in the valley of the Belbec, menacing the left
flank of the Russians, who, after the fall of the south
side of Sebastopol, occupied a line extending from the
Star Fort to the extreme left on the Mackenzie Heights.
At this time the Allies had in the Crimea an army of
about two hundred and ten thousand men, of which the
British portion numbered, on the 16th of October, fifty-
six thousand men,* of whom only four thousand five
hundred were ineffective through wounds or sickness.
While employed with the French corps d'armee in
the valley of the Belbec on surveying duties, Captain
Wolseley had many narrow escapes of being captured.
Every morning, he aud Major Barnston would leave
the French camp on their expeditions, either alone, or
escorted by a few troopers, and many a hot chase they
had when the Russians, annoyed at seeing British
officers reconnoitring and sketching close up to their
advanced posts, sent some of their hardest-riding
Cossacks in pursuit. When the French Force fell
back, and it became too cold for surveying, Wolseley
was appointed Deputy Assistant-Quartermaster-General
to the Light Division, then under the command of
* This total was composed of fourteen regiments of Cavalry, about
five thousand sabres ; fifty-two battalions of Infantry, about thirty-
three thousand bayonets ; and fourteen batteries of Artillery and nine
companies of Sappers, about nine thousand men. The remaining ten
thousand were made up of non-combatants, as Land Transport, Army
Works, and Medical Staff. Besides the Turkish Contingent of twenty
thousand men, there were in the United Kingdom only seven regi
ments of Cavalry, exclusive of the Household Brigade, and eight regi
ments of Infantry, besides five in the Mediterranean.

108 THE CRIMEAN WAR.
Lord William Paulet; its former leader, Sir William
Codrington having succeeded to the chief command on
the resignation of Sir James Simpson.
Captain Wolseley remained in the Crimea until, on
the conclusion of Peace with Russia, the Allied Army
was directed to return home. As Deputy Assistant-
Quartermaster-General he assisted Colonel Hallowell
at Balaklava in despatching homewards the troops of
his Division, a great portion of the Army embarking at
Kasatch Bay, near Kamiesch, where the Fleet lay. On
5th of July, 1856, Marshal Pelissier, with his staff,
sailed from Kamiesch, under a salute of nineteen guns
from our ships in port ; and, on the 12th of July, Sir
William Codrington, having made over the Dockyard
of Sebastopol and Port of Balaklava, to the officer in
command of the Russian troops, (a Colonel of Gendar
merie at Kamiesch), embarked on board Her Majesty's
Ship ' Algiers.' The honour of handing over the town
was delegated to a wing of the 50th — the famous
"dirty half-hundredth," which had been one of the
first Regiments to land in the Crimea, — and, under the
usual salutes, they gave place to a Russian Guard,
composed of about sixty Cossack cavalry, and an equal
number of Cossack infantry. After the departure of
all the Regiments, Captain Wolseley embarked for
England, being one of the last men to quit the land
where he had done and suffered so much in his country's
service.

CHAPTER III.
THE INDIAN MUTINY.
Captain Wolseley proceeds on Service to India — Wrecked at Banca —
Arrival at Calcutta — Proceeds up-country — In Action near Cawn-
pore — March to Alumbagh — The Relief of Lucknow — Wolseley
storms the Mess-house— Occupies the Motee Mahul, and effects
Communication with the Residency of Lucknow — The Defence of
Alumbagh — Campaigning in Oude — Actions at Baree and Nawab-
gunge — Service on the Nepaul Fro ntier.
ON his return from the Crimea, Captain Wolseley*
rejoined the 90th Regiment, then stationed at
Aldershot, but was soon after employed in reporting on
a new system of visual telegraphy. For this purpose,
he came up to London in order that he might acquire a
knowledge of the system from the German Professor,
who sought, but unsuccessfully, to introduce it into our
* For his meritorious services during the Siege of Sebastopol, and
notwithstanding that he had been specially mentioned in Despatches by
Lord Raglan, and recommended for promotion by Sir Harry Jones,
K.C.B., Wolseley did not receive the brevet-majority to which he
might have been considered entitled. The French Emperor nominated
him a Knight of the Legion of Honour, and the Sultan conferred on
him the Fifth Class of the Medjidie.

110 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
Army. On his return to Aldershot, he was attached to
the staff of Lord William Paulet, then commanding a
Brigade at the camp, as " galloper," which, to the un
professional reader, may be defined as an extra aide-de
camp without, however, the extra pay.
In the beginning of February, 1857, the 90th, being
one of the Regiments under orders to proceed to India,
was sent for a few months to Portsmouth to enjoy the
pleasures and relaxation of a garrison town, to which
it had certainly earned a title after its sufferings in the
Crimea. The Regiment, however, had only been a few
days at that famous seaport, when orders were received
for it to proceed to India at a week's notice. But the
authorities at the War Office altered their determina
tion, and a reprieve of a week was allowed ; finally,
the officers, who had all been hastily recalled from
leave, were given to understand that positively the
Regiment would not embark for foreign service until
June, the usual period for the despatch of Indian re
liefs, so that the troops might land after the monsoons,
in the cool season.
But we were too hasty in penning the word " finally"
above; a British soldier, who may be called upon at
any moment to defend the most distant dependency of
an empire " upon which the sun never sets," can never,
even for a few months, consider his destination "finally"
settled, while the War Office twenty years ago — there
is more consideration for officers and men now-a-days
— habitually hated finality in making up its mind to
anything, and cared little for the expense and incon-

WOLSELEY EMBARKS FOR CHINA. Ill

venience it caused to officers who drew the munificent
pay of a grateful country. The present afforded a
notable instance of this lordly disregard of other
people's comfort; for about three weeks after all had
been settled, the Regiment received orders toxoid itself
in readiness to proceed forthwith to China.
At this time the 90th was commanded by Colonel
Campbell, an officer whose brilliant defence of the
Quarries on the night of the 7th of June,— when our
troops, acting alone and without the assistance of our
Allies, achieved almost the only striking success
throughout the siege— gained him the well-merited
honours of the Bath. The Regiment now mustered a
thousand bayonets, and it was a goodly sight to see the
90th on parade, as smart a corps as any in Her Ma
jesty's service. Captain Wolseley's company, like all
the others, numbered a hundred non-commissioned
officers and men, and he had three subalterns, Lieu
tenants Herford and Carter, and Ensign Haig. Of the
entire strength . of the Regiment, seven hundred men,
with head-quarters, embarked in the ' Himalaya,'
under command of Colonel Campbell, C.B., and Major
Barnston, with the three remaining companies, under
Captains Wolseley, Guise, and Irby, sailed in the
' Transit,' whose history from her cradle to her grave,
bore a singular resemblance to that of the ill-fated
' Megaera.'* * Lieutenant (now retired Captain) J. S. A. Herford, to whose
work, " Stirring Times under Canvas," and information, always readily
accorded, I am much indebted, describes the ship in the following

112 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
Besides three hundred men of the 90th, the ' Transit'
embarked for Hong Kong a detachment of the 59th
Regiment and two hundred men of the Medical Staff
Corps, a body recently organised for furnishing military
hospitals with attendants ; the whole party being under
the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Stephenson, who
had been appointed Assistant Adjutant-General to the
China Expedition, then fitting out under the command
of the late Major-General the Honourable T. Ashburn-
ham, C.B. The troubles of the ' Transit ' commenced
before she had lost sight of land. Directly after quit
ting Spithead, a dense fog coming on, Commander
Chambers, her Captain, brought-to in the Solent ; and,
on weighing anchor the following day, found the ship
making water so fast that he had to run back to Spit-
head, flying the ensign " with the Union down," as a
signal of distress. The ' Transit ' managed to creep
terms : — " The ' Transit ' had always been an unfortunate ship.
Bought, if not literally on the stocks, yet in an unfinished state, from
a private company, she was completed by the Royal Navy authorities,
by which ingenious plan, whenever anything afterwards went wrong,
the original builders and the finishers were able to shift the blame on
each other. She was continually breaking down in her various voyages
to and from the Crimea with troops. Those who were so unfortunate
as to be embarked in her knew well enough that something was certain
to happen in the course of the voyage. Yet the Authorities had still a
firm belief in her merits ; bo, putting a new pair of engines in her, they
determined to send troops in her a short way — only to China ! The
new engines were smaller, but more powerful, than the lasfhad been,
and, to steady the ship and keep her together, two large iron beams,
running fore and aft, were added. To these beams we, probably, at a
later period, owed our lives."

AN UNLUCKY SHIP. 113
into Portsmouth Harbour, and, discharging the troops
into a hulk, hauled off to the dockyard, nearly sinking
before she could be pumped out and docked. It was
then discovered that she had knocked a hole in her
bottom, which was probably occasioned by her settling
on her anchor at low water when in a tideway. On the
necessary repairs being effected, the ' Transit,' having
re-shipped the troops, and the guns and military stores
which formed her cargo, once more proceeded on her
long voyage. But it was only to encounter further ill-
luck. A strong gale came on in the " chops of the
Channel," and the rigging having been loosely set up,
the masts swayed about to such an extent that the
Captain made all preparations to cut them away. The
gale moderating, the ' Transit ' put into Corunna,
where Captain Wolseley and the other officers pro
ceeded ashore, and visited the grave of one of England's
bravest and best soldiers, Sir John Moore. The rig
ging having been set up, the ' Transit ' proceeded
once more to sea, and, on May-day, anchored at St.
Vincent, where they were joined by the 'Himalaya,'
which had sailed from Portsmouth a few days after the
' Transit.' On their arrival at the Cape on May the
28th, it was discovered that the ship had sprung a leak
near her stern-post, but, on examination by a diver, it
was pronounced as of no consequence, and so the
' Transit ' proceeded on her long flight across the
Indian Ocean, her donkey-engine working the whole
time to keep the leak under. When near St. Paul's,
the island on which the ' Megaera, ' of evil memory, left
VOL. I. I

114 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
her bones, the 'Transit' encountered a hurricane, and
it seemed as if the ship was to add another to those
mysteries of the deep which are every now and then
chronicled in the public papers.
Wolseley says : — " For three days and three nights
the cyclone lasted. All our sails were carried away,
and the mainyard went to pieces. An enormous leak
showed itself; some plates were supposed to have
burst so that the water poured in like a sluice. We
had on board the ' Transit ' nearly nine hundred souls,
and it was as much as all hands could do, by constant
pumping, to keep her afloat."* But Providence des
tined the gallant hearts on board the ' Transit ' to
fight their country's battles in a great crisis, and the
gale moderated, when matters looked so serious that it
only seemed a question of how many hours they could
keep afloat the worn-out hull in which " the authori
ties " had so perversely sent them to the other side of
the world. By dint of hard pumping the leak was kept
under, and the ship, having passed through the Straits
of Sunda, headed north for Singapore, when officers
and men began to count the days before they might
expect to sight the rich and varied foliage amid which
* Captain Herford, after describing the havoc aloft, writes of the
state of affairs : — " The ship strained and groaned like a chained giant
in agony. Soon we began to notice the long faces of some of the ship's
officers. It turned out that there was a rent, twenty-four feet long, in
the ship's side, and that the water was rushing in ! The heads of some
of the rivets had come off; one might have passed half-a-crown through
the opening easily. Five hundred tons of water were pumped out in
one day."

THE SHIPWRECK. 115

that city is embosomed. Soon they were steaming
rapidly through the Straits of Banca, whose well-
wooded shores and sandy coves excited their admira
tion, as we remember it did ours when cruising in those
seas. But their acquaintance was destined to -be not
altogether of a pleasurable tinge, for at ten o'clock on
the morning of the 10th of July, as the ' Transit ' was
passing through the Straits, the Island of Banca being
on the starboard hand and Sumatra on the port side,
and the sea as smooth as a mill-pond, the crazy old
ship suddenly crashed on a coral reef, on which she
remained immovable. Then it was seen what dis
cipline could effect among men whose lives were not
passed, like sailors, amid the perils incidental to a nau
tical profession, but who suddenly found themselves
confronting a novel danger.
" The majority of the troops," says Captain Herford,
" were on the main-deck at the mess-tables. On feel
ing the first shock they naturally rose en masse, and
were about to rush on deck, when Major Barnston — who
was quietly writing in his cabin — appeared before them,
and lifting his hand, said in his usual undisturbed voice,
' It's all right, men ; stay where you are !' These few
words coming from an officer who inspired confidence
and was generally beloved, acted like magic. The
men, like so many children, obeyed and sat down."
The ship's company, meanwhile, lowered the boats,
and it was found on taking soundings that there was
not less than nine fathoms all round. In the mean
time the ship began to settle by the stern, and there
I 2

116 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
was great danger of her sliding off the rock and sinking
in the deep water alongside, when a lamentable loss of
life must have ensued. The engine-room was soon full
of water, which rushed in with great velocity. While
the soldiers were busy bringing up on deck the provi
sions and arms, the sailors lowered the remaining boats,
and prepared them for the reception of the troops, who
were landed on a reef distant about a mile and a-half,
as it was considered desirable to remove all hands from
the wreck with the utmost dispatch, the Island of
Banca being about two miles further away. When
this had been completed, the crew first proceeded to
the mainland with what provisions they could save,
and, having deposited these on the sandy beach, re
turned to the reef, which was now nearly submerged
by the advancing tide, and removed the soldiers to the
neighbouring shore. Here large fires had been lit, and,
as a fine stream of water was close at hand, the gallant
light-hearted fellows of both Services were soon making
themselves merry over biscuit and water, thankful that
they had escaped with their lives.
Captain Wolseley lost everything he possessed in
the world except the clothes on his back, for strict
orders had been issued by Captain Chambers that
nothing was to be passed into the boats except pro
visions, so that officers and men saved only their arms,
each man taking with him also four rounds of ammu
nition. This was the first time Wolseley had suffered
this misfortune, one of the most trying of the chances
of war, but it was not destined to be the last, for, not

ON SHORE AT BANCA. 117
many months later, when the rebels defeated General
Windham and burned Cawnpore, he and his brother
officers lost the second kit they had provided them
selves with in Calcutta ; among his losses at Cawnpore
were his Legion of Honour and Crimean medal, which
were afterwards found on the body of a dead " Pandy."
Again, during his absence from England on his Ashan
tee Campaign, Wolseley had the misfortune to lose all
his furniture and goods, which he had warehoused in
the Pantechnicon, in the great fire which, in a few
hours, reduced to ashes that vast building and its
costly contents.
On the following morning, when it was found that
the bows of the ' Transit' were still visible above
water, an attempt was made to secure some baggage
and necessaries, but the salvage from the wreck was
inconsiderable and almost valueless.
The spot on which the shipwrecked crew and pas
sengers of the ' Transit' had landed, was not without a
certain historical interest for soldiers and sailors, for,
on examination, there were found among the trees and
brushwood, the remains of ditches and embankments,
indicating that it was at this spot the British con
structed a fort during the Expedition to Java in 1811.
The Island of Banca is under the protection of the
Dutch, whose settlement at Minto was some eight
miles distant. To this place Captain Chambers, on
the morning after the disaster, sent the cutter to ask
for assistance ; and the Governor immediately des
patched one gunboat to Singapore to advise the autho-

118 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
rities there, and another to protect the wreck from the
depredations of the natives, who had commenced seiz
ing all they could pick up. As all the fresh provisions
and live stock had beer*1 lost, the shipwrecked people
had to subsist on salt meat and biscuits, a fare which
was varied by the flesh of baboons which they shot,
and made into a nutritious, if not very palatable, soup.
The natives also drove a good business in the sale of
pine-apples, yams, bread, eggs, and poultry, though the
supply was limited, and the price demanded so great
as to be almost prohibitory. With such eatables, and
sheltered by the sails of the 'Transit,' which were
spread between the trees, officers and men passed a
not unpleasant Robinson Crusoe sort of life for eight
days ; and, just when the sense of novelty had worn
off, and this mode of existence began to pall, Her
Majesty's gunboat 'Dove' arrived from Singapore, and
brought some startling news that altered the destina
tion of the 90th Regiment, and opened a new chapter
in the adventurous career of Captain Wolseley. This
was the announcement that the Bengal Native Army
was in full mutiny, and had inaugurated the movement
by the destruction of Meerut and the seizure of Delhi,
while massacres were perpetrated throughout the land,
coupled with an urgent demand for the aid of every
European soldier to uphold the banner of British
supremacy and withstand the mighty uprising to
"drive the British leopard into the sea," as Napoleon
would have styled it. Already the head-quarters of
the Regiment, which had sailed in the ' Himalaya,' had

ARRIVAL AT CALCUTTA. 119
been despatched to Calcutta, and, at once proceeding
up-country, formed part of the reinforcements brought
up by Sir James Outram, when that most distinguished
of Indian Generals, fresh from his Persian triumphs,
marched to joined Havelock, then battling against
tremendous odds ; and thus a portion of the 90th
were fortunate enough to participate in the first
Relief of Lucknow.
Two days after the arrival of the 'Dove,' Her
Majesty's ship ' Actaeon,' Captain Bates, steamed up to
Banca, and embarked the three companies of the 90th,
which, on arriving at Singapore on the 23rd of July,
were quartered in some large roomy huts about three
miles outside that picturesque-looking town, whose
situation on one of the chief highways of commerce,
surely marks it out for a great future. On the 29th, Her
Majesty's ship ' Shannon,' Captain William Peel, with
Lord Elgin on board, arrived from Hong Kong, and, on
the following day, she and Her Majesty's ship ' Pearl,'
Captain Sotheby, embarked the 90th for Calcutta,
Captain Wolseley's company sailing in the latter ship.
The arrival of these reinforcements was most oppor
tune. Delhi had not yet been captured, and Lucknow
was closely besieged by the enemy, while every day
brought fresh news of rebellion, and the air was thick
with rumours of disaster. Men's hearts failed them
for fear, and Fort William itself presented the aspect
of a fortress in an enemy's country.
On the morning after their arrival at Calcutta, the
detachment proceeded in a river steamer to Chinsurah,

120 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
and here they remained for some weeks, during which
the soldiers received a new outfit, and exchanged their
arms, which had been damaged, for more serviceable
weapons. The officers ordered new outfits in Calcutta,
and Captain Wolseley expended .£100 in restoring his
lost kit ; but though they sent in their claims for
compensation for lost baggage, which, according to
the War Office Regulations, would be immediately
honoured, three years elapsed before the expenses
they had incurred were refunded.
At length, all the arrangements for the transport of
the detachment being complete, on the 29th of August
Captain Wolseley's company left Chinsurah by rail for
the long journey up-country. The first halting-place
was Raneegunge, about one hundred and twelve miles
from Calcutta, and as the rail went no further, the com
pany started in bullock "gharees" for Benares. The
detachment marched by companies, each "bullock-
train" accommodating eighty men, and each " gharee"
either six men, or two officers with their baggage;
one-third of the men with an officer, as a guard,
proceeded on foot. The average pace was about two
miles an hour, and the bullocks were changed every
ten miles. Thus the company marched until, on the
following morning, a halt was made for some hours
at the staging bungalow ; as time was of importance,
and they were occasionally delayed by the rivers,
which were swelled by the heavy monsoon rains,
forced inarches had sometimes to be made during

MARCH UP-COUNTRY. 121
the heat of the day, which, at first, was found to be
very trying to unacclimatized soldiers.
After passing Dehree, burnt bungalows and devas
tated villages afforded signs that they were approaching
the scene of operations, and, on the 10th of September,
Captain Wolseley and his company crossed the Ganges
in a paddle-boat worked by manual, or rather pedal,
labour, and proceeded to a palace of the Rajah of
Benares, situated about three miles from that city,
which had been prepared for their reception. The
Holy City of the Hindoos was, at this time, the hot-bed
of sedition. Earthworks mounted with guns com
manded the town, and it was intimated to the inhabi
tants that any overt act of rebellion would be the
signal for the destruction of their chief temple.
On the following day the company started from
Benares, again by bullock-dak, and, after two days'
marching, re-crossed the Ganges, and entered the fort
of Allahabad, which, situated at the junction of that
sacred river with the Jumna, is a place of the greatest
strategical importance, though, like Delhi and other
arsenals in Upper India, at the time of the Mutiny it
was denuded of white troops by the insane policy that
dictated our military dispositions.
Proceeding by forced marches through Futtehpore,
Captain Wolseley arrived about the 27th of September
at Cawnpore, whose very name arouses sad memories
in the minds of every one who was in India in that
terrible year, 1857. Formerly one of the largest and
finest military stations in India, Cawnpore now pre-

122 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
sented a desolate appearance. On every side were
burnt cantonments and bungalows, and the company
passed the entrenchment defended with so much per
tinacity by Sir Hugh Wheeler and his handful of
British troops, and the small low-roofed row of houses
in which was consummated the butchery of the helpless
women and children, and the neighbouring well in
which their still palpitating corpses were cast by the
orders of the monster Nana Sahib. All these sights
were viewed by the officers and men of the 90th, and
aroused in them, as in every Regiment, which, on
arriving up-country had visited in succession the
accursed spot, feelings of hate and revenge, which
found ample vent at the Relief and Siege of Lucknow in
the following November and March.
In October Captain Wolseley had his first brush
with the Pandies. A report reached Cawnpore that
the insurgents were mustering in force at Sheo Rajpore,
some miles from Bhitoor, the residence of Nana Sahib.
At midnight on the 17th of October, Brigadier Wilson,*
of the 64th Regiment, taking with him a field battery,
a few Native horse, and six hundred and fifty bayonets,
— made up of detachments of the Madras Fusiliers and
the 64th and 90th Regiments — carrying four days'
provisions, moved off rapidly towards Bhitoor. It was
the time of the Native festival of the Dewalee, or Feast
of Lamps, and hopes were expressed of inflicting a severe
blow on the rebels. The force proceeded all night, the
* This gallant officer fell on the 27th of November, when the Gwalior
troops attacked General Windham in his entrenchments at Cawnpore.

ACTION AT BHITOOR. 123
infantry being mounted on elephants and camels ; at
daybreak they dismounted, and, marching briskly,
approached Bhitoor early in the morning. On the way
they learned that the enemy occupied a grove of trees
half a mile in front, with two guns, a 9-pounder and a
24-pounder, in position. The British column was
marching along a hard "pucka"* road, when, the
enemy beginning to open fire, Brigadier Wilson de
ployed his force. Wolseley's company — which, with
the detachment of Native cavalry, formed the advanced
guard — was marching in column of sections, when the
round shot and shell began to fly down the road pretty
freely. One shell passed through his files, and, bursting
in front of the other companies of the 90th, which were
in the rear and in the act of deploying, killed and
wounded seven men. The cavalry -thereupon turned
and bolted, charging through Wolseley's company.
He now quickly threw his men into skirmishing order,
and Major Barnston proposed to the Brigadier that he
should advance upon the guns, for like most soldiers
who had served at Sebastopol, and had been daily under
shell fire, he had not that dread of attacking guns
which generally characterizes inexperienced soldiers.
But Colonel Wilson, though personally as gallant a
soldier as any in Her Majesty's service, feared to incur
the responsibility of the act, and, though Wolseley was
already advancing on the guns, countermanded the
* " Pucka " is a word of very general use and many significations in
Hindostanee ; here it denotes " permanent," as opposed to cutcha, raw

124 THE INDIAN MUTINY.

attack, and, halting his force, brought up his battery and
opened fire on the enemy. This occupied some time
as the guns were drawn by bullocks, and, before
he had fired many rounds, the enemy had limbered
up and made off with their guns, leaving behind
only two waggons and three country carts with
ammunition. During this action, which lasted about
an hour, our casualties were two killed and six severely
wounded, all, with one exception, belonging to the
90th ; while the loss of the enemy was computed at
about one hundred.
The 19th of October was occupied in destroying
Bithoor, the troops bivouacking that night in Nana
Sahib's compound, and the " bawachee " of Wolseley's
mess cooked his masters' dinner by means of the legs
of the Nana's billiard tables. On the following day
the column returned to Cawnpore, having first destroyed
Sheo Rajpore, where a party of the 64th bayoneted
some rebels they found concealed in straw.
At this time, though Delhi had fallen, and a portion of
the Army — which, at the time of the assault, numbered
less than ten thousand effectives — was free for ulterior
operations, the position of affairs at Lucknow was still
most critical. On the 25th of September, General
Havelock and Sir James Outram bad effected the relief*
of the Residency, but little had been accomplished
beyond increasing the strength of the garrison, whereby
* In this desperate affair the chief sufferers were the 78th who had
forty-five killed and eighty-one wounded, and the 90th, which lost
thirty-seven killed and forty-nine wounded.

THE ALUMBAGH. 125

all immediate danger of its being overpowered was
averted, and occupying the Furreed Buksh and Chuttur
Munzil Palaces, and other buildings. The entire
British Force only numbered three thousand effectives,
and the rebel hordes were swelled to some seventy
thousand fighting men ; still had there been no convoys
of women and children, and sick and wounded, Outram,
who now resumed the command, would have cut his
way out, and retired upon Cawnpore, and he was only
dissuaded from adopting this desperate course by his
sagacious chief of the staff, Colonel Napier (now Lord
Napier of Magdala) who expressed his opinion that any
attempt to encounter once more the perils of a mile and
a half of street fighting, with a convoy of some three
thousand non-combatants, would most probably involve
the destruction of the entire force.
On the day preceding his entry into Lucknow,
Havelock left at Alumbagh (" Garden of the World")
all his baggage and some one hundred and thirty sick
and wounded, under a guard of four hundred men, with
some guns, under the command of Colonel Mclntyre,
of the 78th Highlanders.
On the 3rd of October a convoy of provisions was
thrown into Alumbagh, and, on the 11th, orders were
issued that five hundred men, under Major Barnston,
including the detachment of the 90th, with four guns,
was to march to Alumbagh with supplies ; as they were
to return in a few days, this force was ordered to leave
behind at Cawnpore all their impedimenta, which, how-

126 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
ever, none of the officers were destined to be encum
bered with any further.
Accordingly, on the 21st of October, three hundred
waggons, laden with stores, and eight camels, were sent
across the river ; and, early in the ensuing morning,
the column crossed over the bridge of boats, and, after a
march of a few miles, halted under some trees, no tents
being taken for the same reason that the baggage was
left behind. At midnight Major Barnston started
again, and marched till eight in the morning. On the
second day he learnt that the rebels, seven hundred
strong, with two guns, intended to dispute the passage
of the river Sye, at the Bunnee Bridge, the centre arch
of which they had undermined. Having made his dis
positions, Major Barnston advanced his small force,
Captain Guise's company forming the advanced guard ;
" but," writes Captain Herford, " Wolseley, who fol
lowed, told Guise that he must let him go in and take
one of the guns."
However the gallant officers were disappointed of
their game this time, for on reaching the Sye it was
found that a battery had indeed been built, but the
birds were flown I Nothing remained but to cross the
river without the excitement of performing the opera
tion under fire, and this was a work of much difficulty,
and requiring considerable time. It took eight hours
of hard work before the long train, which covered nearly
two miles of ground, was transported across the river
and pulled up the steep bank on to the road on the
opposite side. Proceeding three-quarters of a mile

THE MARCH TO ALUMBAGH. 127
further on, the force halted under a " tope" of trees.
Alumbagh was only about eight miles distant, and the
small column marched on the following morning, Cap
tain Wolseley's company forming the rear-guard, which
was destined to be the post of honour. The force had
just cleared two topes and debouched on a large plain,
when the enemy opened fire upon the rear-guard. The
road along which they marched was a " pucka" road,
and extended through the centre of a vast plain forming
a dead level, and admirably adapted for the operations
of cavalry. The enemy's horse galloped up in a threat
ening attitude, but Wolseley received them with a
volley, and they hung back. Some desultory fighting
then ensued, and the Enfield proved its efficiency at long
ranges. Major Barnston ordered the centre column to
fall back and assist Wolseley's company ; this was
done, and the enemy, after a show of resistance, re
treated, deserting two stockades they had constructed.
Soon after the long convoy was passed in safety into
Alumbagh. Alumbagh, which stands almost three miles due south
of Lucknow, was formerly a palace standing in a beau
tiful garden, and had been a favourite residence of one
of the Queens of Oude. At this time it consisted of a
walled enclosure, five hundred yards square, and having
a turreted building at the four corners, in each of which
were mounted two guns. Its defences consisted of an
abattis of felled trees, a trench of earthworks, aud the
walls were loop-holed, while a 32-pounder at the prin
cipal entrance commanded the road ; but the place was

128 THE INDIAN MUTINY.

incapable of resisting artillery, had the rebels possessed ,
sufficient enterprise to attack it. From the turrets of
the building in the centre, were visible the domes and
minarets of Lucknow, as well as the Residency, to
which the garrison cast many longing eyes as the goal
of their aspirations. The maintenance of this post
proved of essential benefit to the beleaguered garrison,
as it was the means of securing their communications
with Cawnpore : one set of " kossids" carried corres
pondence, worded in French, but written in the Greek
character, from the Residency— a work of the greatest
difficulty and danger, and which only very large bribes
could induce natives to undertake— and another set
performed the comparatively safe task of conveying
messages thence to Cawnpore.
Major Barnston had received orders to return to
Cawnpore three days after his arrival at Alumbagh ;
but Colonel Mclntyre, requiring the aid of the column
to defend the post, obtained leave for them to remain
with him. This officer, who was deficient in enter
prise, considered that he was only justified in conform
ing to the exact letter of his instructions. It was his
duty to defend Alumbagh, and consequently, notwith
standing the representations of his officers, he refused
to undertake any offensive operations. Thus the
enemy, emboldened by the pusillanimity of the British,
planted heavy guns within range of the enclosure, and
very greatly annoyed the garrison, who, though anxious
to sally out and capture or spike the cannon, were not
permitted to quit the walls, except on foraging expedi-

ADVANCE ON LUCKNOW. 129
tions for the supply of the half-starved herd of camels
aud elephants.
So passed a short period of inactivity, until, at length,
the hearts of the 90tb were cheered by the news that
when the army, assembling at Cawnpore under the
Commander-in-Chief, Sir Colin Campbell, was ready to
make a forward momement on Lucknow, they were to
form part of the relieving force. Brigadier-General
(the late General Sir) Hope Grant crossed the Ganges
on the 30th of October, with some four thousand men,
and, on the 4th of November, the road to Cawnpore
being open, all the waggons, with the camels, elephants,
and other animals, which were in a half-starved state,
were sent thither from Alumbagh, while the convoy of
provisions escorted by Grant was thrown into the
place. On the 9th of November, a semaphore communication
was opened with the Lucknow Residency from the roof
of the building in the centre of Alumbagh, and the first
use to which it was put was to announce, on the follow
ing day, the arrival of Mr. Kavanagh, of the Uncove-
nanted Civil Service, who, disguised as a Native, carried
a message from Outram to Sir Colin Campbell. It was
a most gallant deed, and Kavanagh received the Victoria
Cross, was admitted into the Covenanted Service, and
awarded a grant of .£2,000.
On the 12th of November Sir Colin Campbell arrived
at Alumbagh with some additional troops, and, on the
following afternoon, the detachment of the 90th re
ceived the welcome order to march out of Alumbagh,
VOL. I, K

130 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
and join the 4th Brigade camping outside, under the
command of Brigadier Honourable Adrian Hope, of the
93rd Highlanders. The brigade was composed of the
53rd, 93rd, and a battalion of about six hundred men,
made up of companies of the% 90th, 84th, and Madras
Fusiliers, under the command of Major Barnston.
The Alumbagh garrison was relieved by the 75th
Regiment, which had seen much hard fighting and suf
fered heavily at Delhi. The Commander-in-Chief had
under his command, far the proposed operations for the
relief of the Residency, only some four thousand five
hundred and fifty men aud thirty-two guns.
A direct route, known as the Cawnpore Road, by
which Havelock advanced on the 25th of September,
runs due north from Alumbagh, crosses the canal at
right angles at a point called the Charbagh (" four gar
dens") Bridge, and, leading through the heart of the
city, stops at the Residency, which abuts on the River
Goomtee. The canal, which runs nearly east and
west, falls into the river, where it makes a bend towards
the Martiniere School. From this there is a route
through tortuous streets past the Barracks, Secundra-
bagh, Shah Nujeef, and 32nd Mess-house, to the Motee
Mahul and other palaces. The enemy, expecting that
Sir Colin Campbell would adopt the same route as
Havelock, and pass through the heart of the city, had
not strengthened the south side of the Martiniere with
any care, and Sir Colin resolved to reduce it with artil
lery fire from the Dilkhoosha (" heart's delight"), a brick
palace composed of two rectangular buildings, forming

A SUDDEN ATTACK. 131

half a square, situated near the banks of the Goomtee,
about two miles from Lucknow.
On the 14th of November, about nine a.m., the
British Army started on its momentous mission of
effecting the final relief of our countrymen, the Fourth
Brigade bringing up the rear of the main column. The
Dilkoosha and Martiniere were carried with small loss,
and the latter was occupied by the 90th. Wolseley, on
ascending to the roof, had presented to him for the first
time a magnificent view of the, superb Eastern city
spread at his feet.
A little later, the 90th were directed to encamp in a
tope in rear of a mud wall, behind which the rebels had
taken up a position, and the men were about to dine,
when a heavy musketry fire denoted that the enemy
was making an attempt, in great force, to retake the
position. The battalion were at once hurried off to
support the 93rd Highlanders, who were out skirmish
ing to their left, and, forming line, advanced to where
two heavy guns of the Shannon Brigade, under Captain
Peel, were pounding away at the enemy. Wolseley,
profiting by the halt, was snatching the luxury of a
" tub," when he was summoned to the front. Hastily
dressing himself, he turned out with his company, and
came up just as Peel began firing. As he passed
between the guns the charge in one of them exploded —
owing to the vent not being " served " — and carried off
the head of a sailor. Bullets began to fly about plenti
fully, and a brass shell rolled down and exploded quite
close to Wolseley ; round shot were also fired from some
K 2

1J2 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
guns posted over the canal, and the 90th received orders
to advance and take them. On reaching the canal,
however, it was found that the rebels had dammed it
at this point, and, instead of being only ankle deep, the
water came up to a man's shoulders. It was now
getting dark, and as Sir Colin determined to bivouac
on the banks of the canal for the night, Captain Wol
seley received orders to " picket " his company on the
spot, the rest of the force retiring. Sentries were
placed on the canal bank, and Wolseley enjoined the
greatest silence as they were so close to the rebel sen
tries posted on the opposite side, in front of Bank's
house, that every word these latter said could be heard.
So passed the night, which was dark and cold, for
though the sun was overpoweringly hot during the
day, the temperature fell very considerably after night
fall. All the following day, during which the troops
remained stationary, waiting for a fresh supply of
ammunition, Major Barnston's battalion was on picket,
retiring a few yards info a hollow, while musketry fire
raged over their heads. At length, after being on con
tinuous duty for thirty-six hours, Wolseley was relieved,
and he and his men enjoyed a night's rest.
On the following morning (16th of November) the
Commander-in-Chief, having left all his baggage at
Dilkhoosha, crossed the canal and resumed operations.
At ten o'clock, he rode up to Major Barnston, and,
calling the officers of his battalion together, told them
that when fired at in the streets it was best not to stop
and return the fire, but to fix bayonets and rush on.

A WARM CORNER. 133
It was decided that Barnston's battalion was to have
the honour of being the first of the main body, but,
subsequently, this was changed, and Brigadier Hope
arranged that they were to follow the 93rd, the 53rd
forming the advance-guard. At twelve o'clock the
battalion started, and, crossing the canal, made a detour
to the right ; soon they were in the thick of the firing,
but Barnston pressed on, and reached some houses on
the edge of an open space, across which ran a road, now
commanded by the guns of the rebels. Captain Wol
seley was directed to double across this open, a run of
about three hundred yards, and occupy some ruined
houses on the other side. This he did amid a perfect
shower of shot and bullets. After keeping up a mus
ketry duel from behind the remains of some walls
scarcely breast high, Wolseley advanced with the inten
tion of driving out the enemy.
Marching rapidly along a narrow lane, his company
led into the town. The enemy retired, keeping up a
hot fusillade, and, as they gave ground, the guns were
brought forward, Wolseley, with a party of his men,
himself assisting in dragging them to the front through
the sand, which lay ankle deep. At this time, he says,
the enemy's fire was so hot that " the bullets hopped
off the tires of the guns like peas off a drum." How
any man of the score or so of his company, who assisted
him, escaped with their lives was marvellous. Among
those who particularly distinguished themselves, were
Sergeant Newman (now Quartermaster of the 90th),
and another, of Wolseley's sergeants who, though

134 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
wounded by a musket ball, which carried away his
upper lip, and passed clean through his face, refused to
leave, and remained till the close of the action.
Wolseley was now ordered to protect the flank of
Captain Blunt's troop of Horse Artillery, which came
into action in brilliant style. While the rest of Major
Barnston's battalion advanced towards the Secundra-
bagh, he pushed past that enclosure, and, leaving it
untaken in the rear, advanced to a line of huts. Here
he remained for the rest of the day, protecting the flank
of the forces engaged in taking the Shah Nujeef, and
fighting from house to house. That night Wolseley's
company bivouacked outside the Secundrabagh. Thus
he had his share of the hard fighting that rendered this
day the most memorable during the operations con
nected with the Relief.
When he retired in the evening with his company,
and joined the rest of the battalion, he was grieved to
learn that his friend and brother officer, Major Barnston,
had been severely wounded in the thigh. Like so many
others who were wounded, he ultimately sank under the
effects of climate, and, though he spoke cheerfully of his
recovery to the last, was destined never more to draw
his sword in his country's service.
Meanwhile Sir Colin Campbell had been conducting
the main operations of the Army with signal success.
The enemy had fortified the Secundrabagh, a garden,
one hundred and twenty yards square, surrounded by
a high wall of solid masonry, which had been carefully
loopholed. The artillery having effected a breach, the

THE SECUNDRABAGH. 135
93rd Highlanders and 4th Sikhs stormed the enclosure,
and the rebels, mostly Sepoys of the regular service,
were slaughtered like rats in a barn.
In the evening, when the bayonet had completed its
fatal work, the men were employed in burying the dead
in two large pits. Captain Wolseley, who was engaged
on this unpleasant task, mentions as a singular coin
cidence, that when counting the corpses, as they were'
flung into the pits, it was found that they numbered
one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, the date of
the year; this number was exclusive of others who
were killed outside when seeking to make their
escape. From the Secundrabagh, Sir Colin proceeded against
the Shah Nujeef, a tomb of one of the kings of Oude,
and here ensued the sternest struggle of the Relief.
Lieutenant Wynne and Ensign Powell, of the 90th,
were wounded, and it was while bringing up the re
mainder of his battalion, that Major Barnston received
his death-wound from a shell. Peel now battered the
place with his heavy guns, after which the 93rd
stormed it.
On the morning of the 17th operations were resumed,
and the services of Captain Wolseley during the day
were of so marked a character that he had the coveted
honour of seeing his name specially mentioned in the
Commander-in-Chief's Despatch. This was in con
nection with the attack on the 32nd Mess-house,*
* The late Mr. Martin Gubbins, at this time Financial Commissioner

136 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
formerly known as the Khoor-sheyd Munzil, (" Happy-
Palace") a building of considerable size, 'defended by a
ditch and loop-holed wall.
During the morning of the 17th, Sir Colin was
engaged in pressing back the enemy, and, about noon,
Captain Peel brought up his guns, and kept up a
heavy fire on the Mess-house. After the building had
been battered for about three hours, Sir Colin deter
mined to storm, and sent for Captain Wolseley, whom
he had known by repute in the Crimea. The Com
mander-in-Chief, addressing him, said that he had
selected him to command the storming party, and that
he would be supported by a company of Sikhs and the
detachment of his Regiment, which was led by Captain
Guise, the officer next in seniority to Major Barnston.
On Wolseley's expressing his extreme gratification at
being selected for this honourable task, Sir Colin des
cribed the work as being surrounded by a ditch, about
twelve feet broad and scarped with masonrj', and
beyond that a loopholed mud wall; there were also
drawbridges, but he did not know whether they were
down. His instructions were that, in the event of the
drawbridges being up, and his not being able to effect
of Lucknow, in his " Mutinies in Oude," describes the Mess-house in
the following terms : — " Its structure is massive ; all the windows on
the ground-floor are furnished with strong iron gratings, and it is sur
rounded by a moat all round, passable only at the two entrances, of
which the principal immediately faces us. All those windows are
bricked-up inside the iron grating for three parts of their height, and
the maBonry is most carefully loopholed."

WOLSELEY STORMS THE MESS-HOUSE. 137
an entrance, he was to leave his men under cover and
return and report to him.*
Wolseley left the Chief, and proceeded to carry out
his instructions. Captain Peel, who was battering the
Mess-house with his heavy guns, was requested to
cease firing, but just as Wolseley gave the order,
" Double," to his men, Peel, characteristically turned
to Sir Colin Campbell, and asked leave just to give
" one more broadside." The favour granted, Wolseley,
amid a hot fire from the neighbouring buildings, out
stripping his men with the fierce energy that distin
guished him in the assault of Myat-toon's position,
ran over the intervening space ; arrived under the
garden wall, he halted to get breath, and then clam
bered over it. Inside the garden he found many
matchlockmen, who fired at him, but, though the
bullets flew about him, he ran on unscathed and
entered the Mess-house without opposition. As he
gained the drawbridge, which was down, he called to the
bugler to sound the advance to show that he had done
the work entrusted to him, and then bounded up the
steps to the roof of the building, on which he planted
the British flag. The enemy opened fire from every
* We have been assured by an officer of the 90th, who accompanied
Wolseley on this occasion, that the Commander-in-Chief promised him
the Victoria Cross before he dismissed him from his presence.
While on this subject of the Victoria Cross, we may mention that,
during the Crimean War, the late Sir W. Gordon, of "Gordon's
Battery," recommended Captain Wolseley for the distinction, for his
conspicuous gallantry on the 7th of June, and on the occasion of his
receiving his wound, on the 30th of August.

138 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
gun they could bring to bear on the Mess-house, and so
heavy was the fire that twice the flag was struck
down, only to be replaced, and, finally, he had to
retire with his men under cover.*
At this time Captain Irby came up with his company
of the 90th, and Wolseley directed him to take some
houses to the left, while he proceeded to attack those to
the right, the fire being heavy from both directions.
* Mr. Gubbins, who, in company with General Havelock, witnessed
this exploit from their post of observation, the roof of the Chuttur
Munzil Palace, thus graphically describes it : — " It is now three o'clock,
and if the enemy have any men concealed in that massive pile, the
Mess-house, we shall soon see, for the red-coats are approaching ; they
are moving down in regular order along the road leading from the Shah
Nujeef, and now are lost to- view. Presently a part of them are seen
advancing in skirmishing order. They have reached the enclosing
wall ; they are over it, through the shrubbery, and now the leading
officer enters at the door which we have been watching ; and while a
larger body follow, rushing at a double up the building, he reappears
upon the roof, and presently a British ensign floats on the right-hand
tower of the Khoorsheyd Munzil. It is Captain Wolseley, of the 90th,
who has placed it there.
" The building was indeed, as we supposed, abandoned, but the fire
is so heavy from the Tara Kotee and adjacent buildings that it is no
easy work that our noble fellows have to do. See ! the ensign is struck
down, and; now it is again raised and fixed more firmly than before.
But again a shot strikes it down, and probably the staff is damaged,
for they have taken it down through the garden to that group of
officers — probably Sir Colin himself and staff, whose caps are visible
inside the enclosing compound wall. To the right, this wall is lined by
the captors of the Mess-house, and a heavy fire of musketry, with
occasional shot and shell, is directed from the Kaiser Bagh upon them ;
and now they cross the wall, enter the Tara Kotee enclosure, charge
up its main avenue, and are hid from us by the trees."

ADVANCE ON THE MOTEE MAHUL. 139
Irby succeeded in occupying the Tara Kothie,* or con
servatory, without meeting with any opposition, though
during the latter part of the day he had hard work in
holding the position.
And now one more task remained — the occupation of
the Motee Mahul,f situated on the banks of the Goom-
tee, the last post which separated the besieged and their
deliverers. While Irby held the Tara Kothie, Wolseley
proceeded to the attack of the Motee Mahul, and the
success he achieved with only his company, forms one
of the extraordinary episodes of the War. Quitting the
garden of the Mess-house, he ran the gauntlet across
the road under a heavy fire, but, on arriving at the
Motee Mahul, found that the gateway was built up and
loopholed. He was met by a volley, but proceeded
with his company to subdue the enemy's fire, and, at
* Tara means " stars," and Kothie, " pucka," or permanent building.
t This Motee Mahul (" Pearl of Palaces "), which, like all similar
edifices, is enclosed within a high wall, is one of the most spacious and
graceful buildings of its kind in Lucknow. Here the king was wont
to regale his European guests ; and it was within a walled passage, on
the south side of this enclosure, that, on the 25th of September, during
Havelock's advance, our wounded, under escort of the 90th, were left ;
and here fell many gallant officers and men, including Major Cooper
and Captain Crump, of the Artillery, killed ; also Colonel Campbell,
of the 90th, who received a severe wound in the leg, which necessitated
amputation, from the effects of which he expired on the 13th of
November. Close to the Motee Mahul stood a building, called
Martin's House, the enclosure of which was separated from the
advanced garden post of the Lucknow garrison by a small open space,
swept by the fire of the Kaiser Bagh, distant about four hundred and
fifty yards.

140 THE INDIAN MUTINY.

length by dint of hard fighting, won the loopholes,
though with the loss of many of his brave fellows.
He now sent back an officer with a few men, to bring
up crowbars and pickaxes to force the newly-made
brickwork of the gateway. This was a service of some
danger, as the road was still swept by musketry and
canister. In the meantime, Wolseley kept his company
as much under cover as possible. Soon the men were
seen returning with the tools, and private Andrews, a
gallant fellow who had been Wolseley's servant in the
Crimea, ran out from under shelter to show his com
rades the way across. No sooner, however, had he
darted into the street, than he was shot through the
body from one of the loopholes. Wolseley had a par
ticular regard for this fine fellow, and, though he was
lying out in the street within five or six yards of the
loophole from whence he had been shot, sprang out and
bore him back in his arms. As he was carrying
Andrews, a Pandy took deliberate aim at the officer,
but the bullet passed through the body of the soldier.*
At this time, while Wolseley was busy with his men
in knocking a hole in the wall of the Motee Mahul, Mr.
Kavanagh arrived on the scene and offered to guide
him to a place where an entrance could be effected.
* Andrews, we may observe, still lives, and, for his services and
wounds, enjoys the magnificent pension of eightpence per diem. Like
the greater portion of the 90th, of Crimean and Indian Mutiny days,
he was a cockney, as the regiment recruited largely in the metropolis ;
and, in the opinion of Wolseley, your Londoner is peculiarly adapted
for light infantry work, by reason of his superior intelligence and
general smartness.

WOLSELEY CAPTURES THE MOTEE MAHUL. 141
Wolseley gladly closed with the proposal, and, leaving
injunctions with his subalterns to get on as fast as
they could with the work in hand, accompanied
Kavanagh on their perilous mission. Proceeding down
the street about one hundred yards with the "whish" of
a rifle-bullet occasionally ringing in their ears, they
passed through broken walls, and gardens, and deserted
courts, but their endeavours to find an entrance into
the palace were unsuccessful. After an absence of
about ten minutes, during which Kavanagh found that
all the entrances he knew of were built up, they
returned, and arrived just as Ensign Haig was wrig
gling through an aperture knocked in the wall.
Soon the hole was sufficiently enlarged for Wolseley
and all his men to make their way into a court
yard of the Motee Mahul, whence, proceeding into
the Palace, they drove the enemy from room to room,
and from yard to yard, firing and receiving their fire as
the fight progressed towards the river, on the banks of
which the Palace was built. At length they drove
them all out of this great agglomeration of buildings,
and, closely following the fugitives, forced them into
the Goomtee, where a number of them were shot as
they tried to swim across.*
Having cleared the Motee Mahul, Wolseley proceeded
with his company, which nobly responded to the calls
* Kavanagh says of Wolseley, in his work " How I Won the Victoria
Cross ¦." — " Captain Wolseley, who delighted in dash and danger, fell
upon the enemy as they tried to escape, and in half an hour he was
seen on the top of the inner buildings, waving the British banner."

142 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
made upon them by their chief, to force his way into the
Residency itself. Now it so happened that the 90th,
which, under the command of Colonel Purnell, the
successor of the lamented Colonel Campbell, formed a
portion of the Lucknow garrison, held the most ad
vanced post in the Residency ; and, just at this time, a
company of the Regiment made a sortie, so that,
strange to relate, the first of the relieved and their
deliverers to join hands, were the officers and men of
the gallant 90th Light Infantry! It was a singular
coincidence, and "terque, quaterque, beatus," to borrow
a Virgilian phrase, was Captain Wolseley, in being the
undoubted claimant to the distinction of first effecting
a junction with the heroic garrison of the Lucknow
Residency. And now the three noble chiefs, Campbell, Outram,
and Havelock, at length met, and there was presented
the group delineated by the artist, Mr. Barker, in his
great painting of the Relief of Lucknow.*
Fortune had certainly smiled on Wolseley. It was
so at the Quarries, when he participated in almost the
only successful assault of the English Army, and now
on this memorable occasion', the " fickle jade " again
favoured her favourite child ; on his part, this young
* The engraving of this painting, with the heads of Hope Grant,
Mansfield, Napier, Inglis, Greathed, Peel, Adrian Hope, Alison, Little,
David Russell, Hope Johnstone, Norman, Anson, Hodson, Probyn,
Watson, Kavanagh, and other gallant soldiers, is well known to old
Indians. The painting itself fetched, on the 24th of April, 1875, at
the Manley Hall Sale, £1,018.

THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW. 143
soldier eagerly seized each opportunity for winning her
favours as it was presented to him, and, by his judg
ment and impetuous valour, justified the choice.
All was now gratulation and hand-shaking ; and the
British soldiers and sailors of the relieving force
eagerly greeted their comrades and the women and
children they had dared so many perils to rescue from
the clutches of the rebellious Sepoys surrounding them.
The detachment of the 90th, which lately had Major
Barnston for its leader, welcomed their comrades, who,
embarking in the 'Himalaya,' had marched up-country
with Sir James Outram, and earned for the old Regi
ment immortal renown by their bearing throughout
those trying days in September, when Havelock forced
his way through the heart of Lucknow with only two
thousand six hundred men. Wolseley now learnt, with
sincere regret, of the death of Colonel Campbell, who
had expired only four days before, and also of other
friends and gallant soldiers of humbler rank. The
loss sustained by the Relieving Army, which only
numbered four thousand five hundred and fifty men,
between the 14th and 25th of November, was ten officers
and one hundred and twelve men killed, and thirty-five
officers (of whom three died) and three hundred and
seventy-nine rank and file wounded.
It will be allowed that Wolseley had good reason to
anticipate the congratulations and thanks of the Com
mander-in-Chief for his conduct, but what was his
astonishment on learning from his Brigadier, the Hon.
Adrian Hope, that Sir Colin was furious with him for

144 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
having exceeded the letter of instructions, in that
when he was only ordered to take the Mess-house, he
actually, of his own motion, had driven the enemy out
of the Motee Mahul. The Brigadier advised him to
keep out of the way as the Chief was asking for him,
and he never saw a man more enraged in his life.
Captain Wolseley's company passed the night of the
17th of November in the Shah Nujeef, where the Com
mander-in-Chief and his Staff had taken up their
quarters ; the building was commanded by the enemy,
who still occupied the Kaiser Bagh, from which they
kept up a cannonade, but the British soldiers slept the
sleep of the weary, having learned to disregard such
interruptions provided they were not too personal.
* Wolseley's adventures on this 17th November did not end when
he effected a junction with Captain Tinling's company of his regiment.
Being desirous of showing in a practical form his regard for his old
comrades, he had brought with him some tobacco, which he distributed
among the offioers and men of this company, to whom it was a real
godsend'. But there was still one desideratum which was requisite to
make the gallant fellows happy, and that was — rum. This also their
thoughtful comrade had not forgotten, but the liquor, being bulky, had
been left behind at the place from which he had started in the morning,
when proceeding to storm the Mess-house. It was now between six
and eight in the evening, and getting dark, but Wolseley, though his
exertions had been of a sufficiently arduous character to tire most men,
started off on his charitable errand, with four or five men, who volun
teered to accompany him. At length, having secured the rum, he
slung it on a pole between two men, and commenced his return march.
It was pitch-dark as he passed through the Mess-house gardens, and
suddenly, as he was proceeding along, himself leading the way, he
heard a scream. Turning round, he found that one of the pole-bearers
had been run through the body by a Pandy, who was prowling about

WIGGING." 145

After the warning he had received from his Briga
dier, Wolseley, on the following morning, kept out of
the way of the " Lord Sahib," but Sir Colin espied him,
and calling to him, began to administer a severe
' wigging.' He commenced by asking him what he
meant by exceeding his instructions ; that he had
ordered him to take the Mess-house, and how dared he
attack the Motee Mahul ? He then told him that he
was very angry with him on the previous night ; indeed
he did not think he was ever so much incensed against
any man in his life, and it was lucky for him that he
the grounds, and whom he had himself just passed. In the dark
Wolseley lost his way, and it was some hours before he gained the
garden of the Furreed Buksh, where he was told his brother officers
were assembled, in a summer-house in the centre of the grounds.
Proceeding there, he put his head in and glanced round the room,
where he saw a number of men sitting at a table in the centre, but he
did not recognise any of them. As he was going away, one of the
number, Captain (now Sir Harry) Goodricke, called out : " Why,
that's Wolseley." He turned, and then recognised his old mess-mates,
who were so altered by privation and constant duty that, at first, he
actually did not know them.
An amusing circumstance happened during the night. Wolseley
heard Lieutenant Carter raging and swearing at some one, and, on
inquiring the exciting cause of his subaltern's wrath, learned that, in
the dark, some " beastly nigger " had attempted to place one of the
legs of a charpoy, or light wooden bedstead, on his stomach. Lieutenant
Carter naturally resented this indignity, but the language in which
he couched his protest was far from parliamentary, or complimentary
to the native in question. After a laugh at this slight contretemps, the
officers went to sleep. On awaking in the morning, Carter's consterna
tion may be imagined when he discovered that the " beastly nigger "
of the previous night was none other than His Excellency the Com
mander-in-Chief, the lord of many legions.
VQL. I L

146 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
could not be found. The ire of the old Chief now
began to cool, and his tone became half jocular. He
invited Wolseley by a gesticulation to pace up and
down with him, and, after warning him against the
heinousness of exceeding instructions, the veteran, who
could not but admire gallantry, such as he himself had
displayed throughout his fifty years' service, ended by
congratulating him on the courage and ability he had
displayed, and expressed his intention to recommend
him for promotion.
Sir Colin Campbell having resolved to withdraw
from Lucknow, contrary to the advice of both Outram and
Havelock, the 90th and other Regiments were engaged
in making a direct road from that portion of the Resi
dency where the ladies and children had been confined,
to the ground occupied by the Relieving Force. In order
to effect this, walls and houses were broken down, and
all open spaces between Martin's House and the Motee
Mahul and Secundrabagh, were screened from fire by
means of shutters, doors, and anything that came to
hand. In the evening, after being thus engaged all
day, Wolseley's company and the remainder of the
detachment were sent back, and placed on picket on
the side of the road close to the Shah Nujeef. On the
19th commenced the withdrawal to Dilkhoosha of the
ladies and children, who numbered about five hundred,
and some of the sick and wounded, one thousand five
hundred more.
The 90th pickets had received orders to wait till the
garrison had passed out, and cover the retreat as far as

EVACUATION OF LUCKNOW. 147
Secundrabagh, a duty which the detachment performed
with perfect order and regularity. At midnight of the
22nd, leaving all lights still burning, Outram's soldiers
marched silently out of the post they had so long de
fended, being followed by Hope's Brigade, which had
been quartered in the Motee Mohul, the 90th bringing
up the rear, while the sullen boom of the cannon told
that the enemy, unaware of what had happened, were
^till firing into the position which was now unoccupied.
On arriving at Secundrabagh, the Force continued its
movement of retreat in the same order towards Dilk
hoosha, which was reached at half-past three in the
morning. At noon of the 23rd of November, the
detachment drew up in line opposite the Martiniere,
and the non-effectives, baggage, and ammunition, form
ing an immense convoy, were passed through it.*
Early in the morning of the 24th of November, the
detachment paraded, and Sir Colin's General Order of
the previous day, complimenting the Relieving Army,
was read to the men ; aud then, as they were about to
rejoin the head-quarters of the Regiment, under the
command of Colonel Purnell, Brigadier Hope rode up,
* Captain Wolseley was witness to a ourious and suggestive scene
that happened on this night. Captain Magennia, of the 90th, was
in oharge of some State prisoners of high rank, including the King of
Oude's brother. As they passed, Wolseley, whose company was the
last picket in the direction of Lucknow, heard Magennis ask a sergeant
where was his prisoner. " Oh, Sir, he wouldn't come on, and so I
just shot him," replied the non-commissioned officer, who seemed to
think it the most natural, as it was the easiest, way of curing a fit of
obstinaoy.
L 2

148 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
and addressed the officers and men on leaving his
brigade. This the gallant brigadier did in a graceful,
manly speech, which was responded to by three hearty
cheers. The 90th was attached to Outram's Division,
which it was decided should remain at Alumbagh.
The object of this occupation was three-fold, viz., to
avoid the appearance of having abandoned Oude ; to
keep the insurgents around Lucknow in check ; and to
secure a point on which our advance for the re-conquest
of Oude might be made.
The entire Army halted at Alumbagh on the 26th of
November, and, on the following day, the Commander-
in-Chief commenced his march for Cawnpore with
General Grant's Division, and the whole of the sick
and wounded, and Lucknow refugees.
Sir James Outram took up a position about one
thousand five hundred yards from Alumbagh on the
vast plain which, smooth as a billiard table, extends
without a break to the Bunnee Bridge. The Alumbagh
enclosure was one of his outposts, as were also the
neighbouring villages, which were all fortified ; and, at
these posts, strongly occupied by our troops, desultory
fighting took place almost daily. The Division — which
numbered only four thousand four hundred of all
arms, inclusive of those at Bunnee— consisted of Her
Majesty's 5th, 78th, 84th, and 90th Regiments, and
Captain Brasyer's Ferozepore Regiment of Sikhs, eight
hundred strong, the whole being organized into two
brigades, under Colonels Hamilton (78th), and Stisted
(64th). The Artillery, under the command of Major

THE ALUMBAGH POSITION. 149
Vincent Eyre, included the batteries of Captain Maude
(Royal Artillery), and Captain Olpherts (Bengal Artil
lery), and many guns of position, forming a total of
about forty pieces. The cavalry consisted of Major
Robertson's battalion of Military Train, which now
acted as light horse, and some of the 12th Native
Irregulars, the whole numbering not more than two
hundred and fifty sabres. But any deficiency of num
bers was made up by the gallantry of these veteran
soldiers, the remarkable capacity of the staff and
other officers, and, more than aught else, by the pres
tige attaching to He name of the Commander, to which
doubtless, was due the fact that a force of little more
than four thousand men, was able successfully to
defend an open position against the attacks of one
hundred thousand rebels, of whom half were trained
soldiers, for this was the number of armed men Out
ram, on one occasion, assured Wolseley were assembled
in Lucknow and its neighbourhood according to reli
able information he had received.
Outram did not think it beneath his dignity to seek
to make his soldiers regard him with personal affec
tion, as well as with that respect which he inspired in
the minds of every one who came within his influence;
rarely indeed has any character afforded such an ad
mixture of dignity and amiability, of heroism and
gentleness, of a high and noble ambition and a yet
loftier and purer self-sacrifice, of which his whole life
afforded many memorable instances.* Every officer
* Such high authorities as Lord Napier of Magdala, Sir Garnet

150 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
and man of the 90th loved the General, who, in return,
showed his appreciation of their regard by numerous
acts of kindness and thoughtfulness. Among such
traits, Wolseley mentions that he would, when visit
ing the Alumbagh or other outposts, read out to the
officer in command any intelligence he had received
from Cawnpore or Calcutta in a sufficiently loud tone
of voice for the men about to hear the news. His con
cern also for the honour and interests of the officers
under his command was remarkable, and he would
never desist pushing the claims of such as he con
sidered had been overlooked or insufficiently rewarded.
Outram possessed one of the attributes of genius in the
discernment he displayed in the choice of his staff and
other officers,* while a notable instance of his far-seeing
Wolseley, and Sir Vincent Eyre are agreed as to Outram's distinction
as a General. Lord Napier once said of him : — " Of all those whose
names are borne in the annals of the history of India, or enshrined in
the hearts of its people, there is none more noble, none more worthy
of love, admiration, and gratitude than Sir James Outram." Sir
Garnet Wolseley has declared that Outram was " the finest soldier
he ever served under ;" and Sir V. Eyre says, " As a commander in
the field, he possessed a rare and most valuable combination of pluck
and caution, and he knew exactly the time for bringing each quality
into play."
* His brigadiers, Hamilton and Stisted, were fighting men like
their gallant chief, and Vincent Eyre had already earned a great
reputation as the man who had achieved the relief of the garrison of
Arrah at a time when a larger force had been almost annihilated.
Maude was a fine artillery officer, and Olpherts was distinguished for
his reckless personal valour, which had earned him the soubriquet of
" Hell-fire Jack." No eulogy is needed of Outram's Chief Engineer,
Colonel Robert Napier, who had given evidenoe of his military capacity

SIR JAMES OUTRAM. 151
and statesmanlike judgment, was displayed in the just
view he took of the amalgamation of the Royal aud
Indian armies, and the masterly Minute in which he
enforced his opinions.
Almost daily there was fighting at the outposts near
Alumbagh, but the enemy shrank from continuous and
determined attacks in full force on the standing camp,
and there was no rebel leader of sufficient enterprise to
attempt to repeat the tactics of Cawnpore. The camp
had Alumbagh in front, the small fort of Jellalabad to
the right front, some villages to the left front, and out
posts at villages on the right and left rear ; a strong
detachment also was at Bunnee Bridge, about eight
miles on the road to Cawnpore, under command of
Colonel Fisher.
Wolseley had not been long at Alumbagh when he
was ordered to do outpost duty at the fort of Jellalabad,
which was decidedly the pleasantest post in the posi
tion, some ten miles in circumference, which Sir James
Outram undertook to defend with his small Division.
Jellalabad was an old mud fort of some extent, and
was formerly used as a depository for the powder of the
Oude Force, but had fallen into decay and disrepair.
The wall which surrounded the enclosure, was of great
thickness, and studded at unequal intervals with bas
tions and towers, which commanded an uninterrupted
during the Sutlej and Punjaub Campaigns, and especially at Mooltan ;
while during the advance on Lucknow and in the defence of the
Residency, he estabUshed his fame as a scientific engineer and able
leader.

152 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
view of the surrounding country. After the recent
hard service before Lucknow, the week's tour of duty
in the Jellalabad fort, with its well-wooded and pictu
resque enclosure, was regarded in the light of a
pleasant interlude. On the north side of the fort was
a jheel, or large piece of water, the favourite resort of
wild fowl, to which the officers would occasionally
resort with their guns, and agreeably vary the regi
mental fare. To place the fort in a state capable of
resisting a sudden attack, Brigadier Napier, who was
busily employed putting the outposts in the extended
position in a proper condition of defence, erected a
battery at the principal entrance, and repaired the
breach made by our gunners during the advance on
Lucknow. In the middle of December, a convoy arrived from
Cawnpore, and then Wolseley and his brother-officers
who sailed in the ' Transit,' learned that the kit which
they had deposited there, had all been burnt by the
Gwalior mutineers who first defeated General Windham
— " Redan Windham," as his admirers called him— and
then besieged him in his entrenchments. Thus for
the second time, Wolesley was a heavy loser by the
chances of war.
On the 20th of December, information was brought
to Sir James Outram by his spies, that the rebels in
tended surrounding his position, with the object of
cutting off his supplies and intercepting his communi
cations with Bunnee ; and that with this view they had
taken up a position at Budroop. He also learned on the

ACTION OF THE 22nd DECEMBER, 1857. 153
following day, that they had been reinforced to a strength
of four thousand infantry, four hundred cavalry, and
four guns. Outram determined to anticipate them and
strike a blow, and, at half-past two, a.m., of the 22nd of
December, a column of a thousand men, including
cavalry, and two guns, marched out under his personal
command to attack the enemy, who, having left a space
of about half a mile intervening between their position
and the gardens skirting the canal and the Dilkhoosha,
Outram, seeing his advantage, resolved to take them by
surprise, and cut off their retreat from Lucknow.
It was very cold and rather dark when Captain
Wolseley proceeded with his Regiment, which formed
the right column of the attacking force. Favoured by
a heavy mist, Outram was enabled to approach quite
close to the left flank of the enemy, whose cavalry
vedettes challenged, and then, firing their carbines,
galloped off to the main body. Outram gave the order
to deploy, and with a loud hurrah, the right column,
under the command of Colonel Purnell, of the 90th,
charged the enemy in line, and, in spite of a heavy fire
of grape and musketry, carried the position with a rush.
The left column, under Colonel Guy, of the 5th Fusi
liers, was equally successful, and soon the rebels were
in full retreat across the plain, pursued by the cavalry,
until they found refuge in a village, from which they
opened a heavy fire of grape and musketry. Olpherts
now came into action with his guns, and speedily dis
lodged the enemy, who, changing their line of retreat,
endeavoured to reach the city by the Dilkhoosha. The

154 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
Military Train, detached to make a flank movement,
followed them up so rapidly that they dispersed their
cavalry, and drove their guns into a ravine, where they
were captured. The British loss was only three killed
and seven wounded, that of the enemy being fifty or
sixty killed, besides four guns and ten ammunition
waggons, with elephants and baggage, which fell into
our hands. Outram's arrangements were rewarded
with the success they merited ; the surprise had been
complete, and in the village were found the children
and women cooking their chupatties, or oat-cakes. The
houses were fired after the non-combatants were driven
away, and the column returned, the men carrying vege
tables and dragging or leading away all the live stock
they could lay their hands on, such as goats, sheep,
and bullocks. As they were moving off, a large body
of the enemy advanced towards the burning village, but
finding that they were too late to be of assistance,
halted and retraced their steps to Lucknow. Before
noon Outram had returned to his camp, having taught
the Natives a severe lesson regarding the danger of
attempting to interfere with his communications.
On the following day, Captain Wolseley proceeded
to Cawnpore, with his company, to escort supplies.
The journey occupied three days, the force marching
about fifteen miles a-day. The first night the escort
halted at Bunnee, up to which point there was desultory
fighting with the enemy, The second night they halted
at Busserutgunge, a walled village with a high road
running through the centre. Qn^arriving at Cawnpore,

ACTION OF THE 12th JANUARY, 1858. 155
Wolseley learnt with deep sorrow the death of Major
Barnston,* who had been wounded five weeks before.
The escort returned immediately to Alumbagh with
the convoy, and, on New Year's Day, there was a great
exhibition of athletic sports on the open space to the
left of the camp, Sir James Outram and the officers
having subscribed liberally for prizes for the men.
On the 12th of January, 1858, the rebels made a
most determined assault on Sir James Outram's posi
tion. On the previous evening he had received inform
ation from his spies that the enemy would attack at
sunrise on the following morning. He, therefore, made
the necessary dispositions, and, at daybreak, the troops
breakfasted, and were held in readiness for immediate
service. About sunrise, large masses of the enemy, calculated
by Outram to amount " at the lowest estimate to thirty
thousand men," were seen on the left front, and they
* Though young in years, Major Barnston had displayed during
his service in the Crimea and India, many of the qualities we recog
nize as peculiarly the attributes of those who are leaders of men. Calm
and composed in the presence of imminent danger, he possessed a
thorough mastery of his profession, and inspired complete confidence
in all those placed under his command. In peace time he had gained
the love of his men by his kindly manner and thoughtful consideration
for their comfort and well-being ; and, in the stern ordeal of battle,
recognizing in him a superior genius, they would, at his bidding, have
followed him anywhere. Among his brother officers Major Barnston
was beloved as an amiable and accomphshed companion, and respected
as a high-bred gentleman and first-rate officer. Wolseley sincerely
mourned his death, and felt that in him he had lost his dearest and
most intimate friend.

156 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
gradually surrounded the whole front and flanks of the
position, extending from opposite the left rear outpost,
to the right near Jellalabad, a distance of at least six
miles. As soon as their movements were sufficiently
developed, Outram marshalled his small array, which
was decreased by the absence, on convoy duty, of five
hundred and thirty men and four guns, in front of their
lines — two brigades, the right mustering seven hundred
and thirteen Europeans, and the left, with which was
Wolseley's company, seven hundred and thirty-three
bayonets, with one hundred of Brasyer's Sikhs. Fight
ing commenced all along the line about half-past eight
a.m., and it was not until four p.m. that the enemy,
who suffered very considerably from the fire of the guns,
finally withdrew, and returned to Lucknow or to their
original positions in the gardens and villages in front
of the British camp.
Again, only four days later, the rebels made a deter
mined attempt to overwhelm the small band of English
men whom it must have been most galling to them to
see entrenched within a few miles of the great strong
hold of rebeldom.
Captain Wolseley was on picket at the left-front
village, on the morning of the 16th of January, when the
enemy were seen advancing in great numbers. They
made repeated attempts throughout the day to carry the
village, but were driven back with severe loss by the
small force under the command of Major Gordon, 75th
Regiment. After dark they assembled in great strength
in front of the village, and, about eight o'clock,

ACTION OF THE 16th JANUARY. 157
" screwing their courage to the sticking-place," advanced
to the attack to the inspiriting calls of many bugles,
sounding the " assembly," the " advance," and the
" double." They were distinctly heard encouraging
one another with " Chelow-bhye," (go on quick, brother,)
and other exclamations by which the "mild Hindoo" is
wont to prompt his neighbour to deeds of gallantry,
and keep up his own failing heart. They occupied a
" tope " of trees, to the left of the village, and advanced
into the open as if to carry the battery of three guns,
which as yet made no sign. On they came in dense
array, but the guns and the infantry reserved their fire ;
at length, when they had approached to within seventy
yards of the position, they were met by discharges
of grape and shell from the battery, and a volley from
one hundred rifles delivered with fatal precision. Still
they hesitated, thus giving time to reload to their oppo
nents, whom they might have annihilated, had they
mustered only sufficient pluck to charge at this critical
moment, when only one hundred British bayonets inter
vened between them and the revenge they thirsted for.
That hesitancy of a moment was fatal. A second
volley of grape and rifle bullets swept through their
ranks, when they broke and fled in the utmost con
fusion, carrying away, according to custom, most of
their killed and wounded. " After they had retired,"
says Lieutenant Herford, " we wandered over the ground
near the topes, and found a few dead bodies, some pools
of blood, and heaps of shoes, which had been kicked off,
lying about everywhere."

158 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
On the same morning the enemy also made a sudden
attack on the Jellalabad picket, led by a Hindoo
devotee, who was attired as Hunooman, the " monkey
god," but were repulsed.
An attack was expected on the 22nd, but the day
passed without a shot being fired on either side : and
so the month of January "dragged its slow length
along," and February was ushered in. The two
enemies from whose attacks the gallant Alumbagh
garrison most suffered at this time were ennui and dust.
The former was irksome, after the excitement of long
marches and hard campaigning : but the latter was un
bearable, and caused the greatest discomfort, almost
amounting to positive misery. The dust, which lay
some six inches deep, was blown in great clouds and
eddies, which swept over the plain, searching out every
chink and crevice of the flimsy tents, and filled the
mouth and eyes and entered into the composition of
every dish.
Nothing of importance occurred until the 21st of
February, when the enemy made the long threatened
" grand attack," which was not only carefully designed,
but was so well matured that had they evinced deter
mination the Alumbagh garrison would have been hard
pressed. The Moulvie, Mansoob Ali, and the Begum,
Huzrut Mahul, wife of the ex-King of Oude, agreed to
set aside their differences for that day ; and the Oude
local troops, and the regulars, entered heart and soul
into the matter. The plan was to surround the British
Force by making a detour to the rear of Alumbagh.

ATTACK ON THE ALUMBAGH GARRISON. 159

When the circle was completed, which thoir great
numerical superiority would enable thorn to accomplish,
thoy wore to close upon their prey, and desperate
assaults wore to bo made simultaneously at five or six
different points, while demonstrations against the inter
mediate portions of the wide-extended enceinte wore to
prevent a concentration of Outram's troops, and, at the
same time, distract his attention and embarrass his
defensive operations. But Outram was not the man to
wait quietly on the defensive and allow the enemy to
dovolop thoir plans. Ho had received intelligence the
night before of tho intended attack; and, though he
could not learn their detailed plan of operation, he
intuitively guessed what it would be, and took steps to
bufllo tho designs of the rebel loaders.
lie moved out with cavalry aud guns to meet both
thoir right and left advances, taking care to let them
complete thoi r intended circle till it formed ahorseshoe,
when ho attacked with spirit, and a rout ensued.
Meantime some sharp fighting took place at Alumbagh,
whore Wolseley was stationed. Trenches aud zigzags
connected tho centre building with tho front gateway
and the corner towers, and tho enclosure had now be-
como a strong position. The first intimation the gar
rison rocoived of the advance of tho enemy, was the
liring of heavy guns at three in the morning. A few
shots struck the centre building, and soon the whole
camp turned out, and every man was at his post.
At seven o'clock the enemy camo on at all points,
lining every shrub and tree whore they could get cover.

160 THB INDIAN MUTINY.

But they were deficient in spirit and dispersed under
the musketry fire and discharges of grape.
Towards evening the enemy withdrew, and the rebel
commanders confessed to the Durbar that their losses
were between four hundred and five hundred ; but their
intentions were praiseworthy and their preparations
complete, for Outram's spies reported that they
had scaling ladders all ready for storming Alum
bagh. Sir James Outram went out with some cavalry and
guns on the 24th of February, and, again, on the fol
lowing day, proceeded beyond Jellalabad, when he en
countered and defeated the enemy, who had come out
under the leadership of the Begum. During the night
the rebels attacked all along the British front and left
flank, where Wolseley's company was posted, and were
bold enough to fire grape from the " tope " on the left
front picket where the fighting took place on the 16th
of January. They, however, soon retreated, and this
was the last time the Alumbagh Force, as such, received
molestation from the enemy.
In the meantime, Sir Colin Campbell had been
organizing his " grand army "* for the reconquest of
* On the 2nd of March the effective force consisted of: Artillery,
one thousand six hundred and thirteen officers and men ; Engineers,
two thousand and two ; Cavalry, three thousand six hundred and
thirteen ; Infantry, eleven thousand nine hundred and forty ; Total —
nineteen thousand seven hundred and seventy-one. On the 5th of
March it was joined by General Franks' Division, numbering five
thousand eight hundred and ninety-three effectives, the Goorka por-

LUCKNOW. 161

Lucknow and Oude, and on learning that Rose's and
Whitlock's columns were well on their march towards
Jhansi, he pushed his troops across the Ganges, and
arrived at Buntara, about four miles from Alumbagh,
on the 1st of March. During the latter part of Feb
ruary, Generals Grant and Franks had been operating
in Oude, and, on the morning of the 2nd of March, Sir
Colin, who had visited Sir James Outram on the pre
vious day, moved up from Buntara to Dilkhoosha with
the Second Division of his Army under General Lugard,
and the cavalry commanded by General Grant, who
had joined him on the previous day. In the meantime,
Jellalabad had been formed into a commissariat depdt
on tho largest scale, there being attached to the ad
vancing army no less than sixteen thousand camels, a
siege train park covering a square of four hundred or
live hundred yards, with twelve thousand oxen, and a
following of sixty thousand non-combatants.
Since the Commander-in-Chief had evacuated Luck
now, taking with him the women and children of tho
Residency, tho rebels had fortified tho city with no
little care and Hkill. Behind tho canal they had thrown
up earthworks, while tho Martiniere, Secundrabagh,
Shah Nujeef, Mess-house, and Motee Mahul, were for
tified ; the Kaiser Bagh also was a perfect citadel, and
the streets and houses had been loop-holed.
tion of whioh, throo thousand bayonoti, joined the Nepaul Maharajah
when ho arrived before Lucknow with hi» division, nine thousand
strong. VOL. I. M

162 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
Between the 3rd and 4th of March, the Third Divi
sion, under General Walpole, came up to Alumbagh,
and, at the same time, Sir James Outram was directed
to take command of the corps oVarmee, which the Com
mander-in-Chief had determined to detach across the
Goomtee to operate on Lucknow from that side. And
so the 90th was parted from the General with whom
they had associated, to their mutual satisfaction, during
many months, and whose name will ever be held in
affectionate reverence by every officer and man of the
Regiment, who were engaged in the defence of Alum
bagh.* Even after thus was severed the connection that
had been cemented on the battle-field and the bivouac,
the good General showed that he did not forget the
gallant fellows who had fought and bled under him,
for he used regularly to send the 90th a liberal supply
of newspapers and periodicals for the use of the men.
* The garrison of Jellalabad in Afghanistan, gained the title of
" illustrious " from Lord Ellenborough for their gallant defence of a
position protected by walls and bastions. Though the Afghans are a
fiercer race than the natives of India, yet the 37th Bengal Native
Infantry — which mutinied in 1857 — repeatedly encountered and de
feated them ; and Akbar Khan, in his great effort against the Jellala
bad garrison, on the 7th of April, 1842, only mustered six thousand
warriors to his standard, while Outram's force was assailed by thirty
thousand, including some of the finest regiments of the Sepoy army.
Again, the Afghans were unprovided with artillery, while the Lucknow
rebels had among them guns and experienced artillerymen. Sir
Vincent Eyre, in a letter addressed some years ago to the author,
then employed on a biographical article on Sir James Outram, says : —
" Outram's prolonged occupation of Alumbagh plain, comprising a

A LONG MARCH. 163
On the afternoon of the 6th of March, the 90th left
their old camping ground at Alumbagh, and started to
join the Commander-in-Chief at Dilkhoosha. The
night was very dark, and the road bad, and, being en
cumbered with baggage and ammunition, it was not
until the morning, after a march of nearly twelve
hours, that they reached the camping ground marked
out for them in rear of the artillery park. Scarcely
had they arrived, and were counting upon breakfast
and a little rest, than they received fresh orders to
move again, as it was decided that the 90th should be
brigaded* with the 42nd, 93rd, and 4th Punjaub Rifles,
frontage of two miles, and a circuit of seven, with a small army of
occupation never exceeding three thousand five hundred men, within
cannon range of Lucknow, to hold in check an enemy mustering one
hundred thousand strong within the walls, was a masterpiece of
cautious warfare, to which justice has never yet been done, because
his precarious position there, in obedience to Sir Colin Campbell's
commands, has never up to this moment been properly understood."
Again, Lord Napier of Magdala, when unveiling the Outram statue at
Calcutta, said in reference to this defence of Alumbagh : — " No
achievement in the events of 1857 surpassed in skill and resolution the
maintenance of the position of Alumbagh with a, mere handful of
troops against overwhelming numbers, well supplied with artillery.
There were no walls or ramparts, merely an open camp, protected by
a few well-selected intrenched out-posts, and a scanty line of bayonets,
ever ready, day and night, to repel attack." The Alumbagh Force and
its heroic chief have never had justice rendered to them, for their
defence of this position.
* This Brigade formed part of the Second Division under Major-
General Lugard, which consisted of the above Brigade, and the Third
Brigade, composed of the 34th, 38th, and 53rd Regiments.
M 2

164 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
forming the 4th Brigade, under the command of their
old Brigadier, the Hon. Adrian Hope. On the follow
ing day,the whole Regiment was sent on picket about five
p.m., with orders to line some of the walls surrounding
the Dilkhoosha Park.
During the morning of the 9th of March a heavy fire
was maintained on the Martiniere, by six mortars and
ten heavy guns and howitzers, manned by the artillery
and sailors ;* and GeneralLugard received instructions to
hold his Division in readiness to carry the position in
the afternoon. The Commander-in-Chief's orders
specified that "the men employed in the attack will
use nothing but the bayonet. They are absolutely for
bidden to fire a shot till the position is won." For this
duty the 42nd Highlanders and 4th Punjaubees were
selected, supported by the 53rd and 90th, which was
relieved from the position it had occupied in the
Mahomed Bagh, near the Dilkhoosha, by the 97th,
from General Franks' Division. The first intimation
the 90th received that they were to be specially en
gaged, was the order to go to dinner at twelve o'clock ;
and, after finishing the meal, they were drawn up, with
the other Regiments, in rear of the Dilkhoosha. At
two o'clock the Highlanders and Sikhs stormed the
Martiniere, with slight loss, and the 90th, who were
supporting the Highlanders and Sikhs, did not fire a
* During the day Sir Wilham Peel was wounded in the thigh by a
match-lock ball, and soon after caught the small-pox, to which he
succumbed.

THE KAISER BAGH. 165
shot, only losing one man from a discharge of grape.
During the afternoon, Hope's Brigade, including the
90th, seized on the enemy's abandoned works, searched
by Outram's fire from the opposite bank of the Goom-
tee, and pickets were established on the canal parapet
though the advance towards Banks' House was checked
by their fire. The 90th passed the night of the 9th in
the Martiniere, and, on the following day, was divided
into detachments, which were placed on picket in
different places.
At sunrise of the 10th, the heavy guns opened fire
from a battery outside the Martiniere Park, on Banks'
House, and, by noon, the enemy evacuated the position,
which was occupied by our troops. Thus the rebels
were steadily driven back to their second line of de
fence, the Mess-house, barracks, and other buildings.
Captain Wolseley was employed with his company
during the day, covering the pontoon bridge which had
been thrown across the Goomtee just beyond the
enemy's first line of works. While the Commander-in-
Chief was pushing on slowly but steadily, Outram kept
up a vertical and direct fire on the defences in the
interior of the Kaiser Bagh, from ten mortars and ten
guns, while two more enfiladed the Mess-house. The
engineering operations of the army were under the
direction of Brigadier Napier, who displayed his wonted
capacity in pushing the approaches through the line of
buildings towards the Kaiser Bagh, without exposing
the troops to any great loss. During the night of the

nti; tiik ixdias Mrrrxv.
10th. tho Mrd and 901 h, with llto oxcoptiou o( Wol
seley's ttnd two other companies, wore sent in advance
to occupy a. building near tho Secundrabagh; and. on
the following morning, I he Secundrabagh itself was
seized by the oord, without any opposition, (lie rebels,
probably, having a lively recoiled ion of the terrible
scenes in this Oolgotha. when one thousand nine hun
dred Painties bit the dust tn a »iouv<nn i/niirt tflt<'fii'<>.
Marly on the morning of the Iith, Wolseley '« (J ho 1
Company) with two olhers of his Kegiment. was
directed to cover some horse-artillery guns engaged in
Ihe open. Wliile thus employed a round shot carried
away llto end oi' an elephant's trunk, when lite poor
beasl. Irani ic with rage antl pain, canto rushing down
through the skirmishers. After this service, Wolseley
proceeded on picket in the open space in front of the
Secundrabagh,* where ho remained till night. Tho
Begum Kothie was Nlorniod on the 11th by the 9,'lrd
Highlanders, supported by the -lilt Sikhs and ono
thousand Ooorkhas. Nothing of groat importance
occurred during the 12l.li or BUb. Tho Mrlflsh were
now inside the lirsl, lino of works, and tho KnginccrN,
under Brigadier Napier, proceeded from Iho Begum
* VVhllfl imdi«i' the (>nomv'n Itiv, YVolnc'lov wan atlrncloil liv n imii'Ioiiii-
loolihig ]iii)ji<i<|.iln which dropped near lilni, TiiIiImk it up, ln> found
thai, it wim A largo iMit ^Iiink IuioIi, wliicli llm nnliw gunui'i'pi, lii'ing
luml |niiliril for round allot, linil iliiiihtlomi bi'olu'ii nll'lVuiu oim of Llm
ningnilloiMil. i<lui.uili>liiii'n of tlm Knii)i<r IIiihIi. Till* nitigulnr |ii'ii|i<i<lili<
lie priwiilnd to Sir llnpo Unml, liv whom it wiia lined aa m li'lli'i'
woij^lit..

TAKIX9 OF TUE KdlSSJt BJL&X. 16?

Kothie to sap «p through the adjacent enclosures,
towards the Imaiunbarra, or Great Mosque, which was
the next stronghold to be assaulted.
During the night of the 18th, a very heavy fire was
kept up on the Kaiser Bagh and Imaumbarra, which
latter was carried with Httle opposition by the 10th
Foot and Rrasyer s Sikhs, who, pressing on, followed
the flying enemy through the detached houses and
conns, and with them entered the Kaiser Bagh itself ;
and thus on Sunday morning, the 14th of March, the
chief stronghold of Lucknow was won.
The 33rd. and the three detached companies of the
90th, having been relieved by the 97th, were ordered
to proceed to the Kaiser Bagh in support. Passing up
loopholed streets, round by batteries, the guns of
which still threatened them, and over a bridge of loose
planks past burning timber, they reached the enclosure
of the Kaiser Bagh, where they found that the re
mainder of the 90th Kegiment were already estab
lished, they having rushed in by one entry while the
Sikhs and 10th Foot etleeted an entrance by another.
The scene that presented itself within the building, or
rather collection of palaces, courts, and gardens, which,
for magnificence and costliness of fittings, enjoyed a
reputation that was not belied by the reality, baffles
description* * Mr. Hvvwawt RwsseU, -wta entered tte Kaiaw Bagh sx** after
Wob*JI*y, a^f*. — " Ow »w» w«t»g^B» erehiag through th* «***»* «f
th* j*b»,x*» wfcteh w» »* y*t fitted with th* *wkae* of tartatfe

168 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
The Kaiser Bagh was given up to plunder, and there
ensued a scene of vandalism and wilful destruction
that can only be paralleled by reference to those pages
of Gibbon wherein he describes the sack of Ctesiphon,
in the year 027, by the Saracenic hordes led by the
ruthless Caliph Omar. Sikh and Briton vied with each
other, as with clubbed muskets they shivered to frag
ments the costly glass chandeliers, battered to pieces
the statues and gilt furniture, and strewed the floor
with the mirrors they could not remove. Filled with
the wanton spirit of mischief they broke into atoms on
the floor " large boxes of japanned work containing
literally thousands of cups and vessels of jade, of
crystal, and of china." Entering the library, they tore
into fragments the books, and lit their pipes with the
beautifully illuminated MSS., and coloured minia
tures, while boxes, swords, and pistols, were shattered
niagnifioence and splendour, and the erios of the dying were not yet
stilled when we entered. In every room throughout the endless
series there was a profusion of mirrors in ponderous gilt frames. A
universal gilding of oornices, furniture, and everything that would
bear the process, seemed the prevailing tnste in the Koyal Court.
From every ceiling hung glas9 chandeliers of every age, form, colour,
and design. As to the furniture, in many instances it looked like
collections from the lumber-rooms of all the old palaces of Europe-
Louis Quatorze cloaks and cabinets, Eenaissanco mirrors and chairs,
buhl-worked ebony chests, marqueterio tables, solid lumpy old Gorman
state chairs, gilt all over ; but these were relieved by the richest
carpets, by sumptuous divans, by oushions covered with gold embroi
dery, by rioh screens of cashmere shawls, and by table-olotli9 pon
derous with pearls and gold."

PLUNDER OF THE KAISER BAGH. 169
to pieces for the jewels with which they were inlaid.
Ludicrous mistakes occurred in many instances, when
men refused large sums of money for paste and glass
ornaments under the impression that they were
diamonds, or sold for a few rupees, priceless jewels,
believed to be worthless on account of their size and
bad setting.* Officers in many instances were seized
with the desire to grow rich, though Wolseley was
among the number of those who could contemplate
the loot with Platonic indifference, and he did not
appropriate a gold mohur, or any article whatever.
His men secured their fair share of plunder, and one
officer, who had a bundle of thirty Cashmere shawls,
gave him, unsolicited, one of great value ; however, he
did not long retain the gift, for while sleeping on it
that night, he hurried out on the occasion of an alarm,
and upon his return the shawl had been appropriated.
On the following day, the men of his company pre
sented him with two large silver bowls, but he was
equally unfortunate with these mementoes, for one
night some thieves stole from the head of his bed the
box in which they were deposited.
After the capture of the Kaiser Bagh, Captain
Wolseley's company rejoined the head-quarters of the
Regiment, which was operating in the immediate
neighbourhood. During the day, the Mess-house, Tara
Kothie, Motee Mahul, and the Chuttur Munzil, were
* In one instance, a soldier sold for £10 ready money, some bracelets
and jewels which fetched £7,500 at a jeweller's.

170 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
rapidly occupied by our troops, and the 15th was em
ployed by the Engineers in securing the position'
which, presented a combination of massive palaces and
walled courts, every outlet of which had been covered
by a work, with barricades and loopholed parapets on
every side.
On the 10th of March, the 90th — which had been
employed with other troops in extending the area of
the portion of the city in our possession, sometimes
meeting with no resistance, and then again having
struggles in driving the enemy out of the strongly-
fortified houses around — were relieved by the 07th, and
returned to camp near the Dilkhoosha.*
After the capture of Lucknow, Sir Hope Grant was
placed in command of a Division, called the "Lucknow
Field Force. ;" and, on the 1st of April, the 90th, which
was to form part of the force, struck their tents at
Dilkhoosha, and marched into the city. They were
* During the day, Sir James Outram crossed the Goomtee opposite
the Secundrabagh, and, moving rapidly forward, captured the Resi
dency, took the Iron Bridge in reverse, and, advanoing about a mile
beyond it, seized the Muchee Bhawan and Great Imaumbarra. On
the morning of the 19th, » combined movement was carried out, by
which Outram carried the Moosabagh, held by six thousand men and
thirteen guns, the last position of the enemy on the line of the
Goomtee. The losses of Sir Colin Campbell's Army between the 2nd
and 21st of March inclusive, were as follows : sixteen officers, three
Native officers, and one hundred and eight men killed; fifty-one
officers, four Native offioers, and five hundred and forty men wounded j
grand total, including thirteen men missing, seven hundred and thirty-
five. The 90th Eegiment had thirty-two casualties.

SIR HOPE GRANT. 171
quartered in a palace called Zoor-Buksh, situated near
the Kaiser Bagh, which may be described as a collec
tion of seven quadrangles contained within a surround
ing Avail, each building consisting of corridors and
verandahs on the ground-floor, and large rooms up
stairs, with a fountain in the centre of the quadrangular
space. But Wolseley's good fortune in always sharing
in whatever fighting was in progress, again favoured
him, and he did not for any length of time occupy his
new quarters.
When the arrangements were in progress for forming
the Staff of Sir Hope Grant's Division, Colonel the Hon
ourable William Pakenham, (now the Earl of Longford),
an excellent officer who succeeded General Estcourt as
Adjutant-General in the Crimea, and held the same
office for the Royal Troops of the Bengal Army, re
commended Captain Wolseley, with whose service he
was familiar, for staff employ. Wolseley was, accord
ingly, appointed to the charge of the Quartermaster-
General's Department of the Oude Division ; and had
not been many days in his new post, when, on the 11th
of April, he accompanied Sir Hope Grant in an expe
dition, or dour, to Baree, a village twenty-five miles
from Lucknow, on the Seetapore road, where Mansoob
Ali — known as " the Fyzabad Moulvie " — who had dis
played great ability and energy in the defence of
Lucknow, had taken up a position with a strong body
of rebels.
On the 13th of April, the column, numbering three

172 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
thousand men of all arms, came up with the enemy,
who, numbering at least six thousand Infantry and one
thousand Cavalry, had taken up a strong position on
the banks of a stream, having hills on either side. As
the General had received intelligence of the close prox
imity of the rebels, Captain Wolseley,* as Quarter
master-General of the Force, proceeded to reconnoitre
their position, taking with him a guide, and an escort
of some Native Cavalry.
It was three o'clock in the morning when he started,
the rest of the troops following soon after. About day
break he suddenly came upon the enemy's Cavalry,
which, led by the redoubtable Moulvie in person, was
seen charging down the road. Wolseley, who at this time
was in advance with only five troopers, galloped back
to the advanced guard, consisting of a squadron of the
7th Hussars, a detachment of Wales' Punjaub Horse,
two guns, and about one hundred and fifty Infantry,
under Colonel Hagart. There was barely time to un-
limber the guns, and fire a round of grape into the
enemy, before the rebel horsemen were down upon
* On Wolseley devolved the task of learning the roads, marking
out the camping ground, and securing the services of guides. The
following was the method he adopted for acquiring trustworthy guides.
In the evening he would send out a chuprassie, or one of the Native
police, to the next village. The first four men he encountered in it
were asked if they knew the way to such and such a place ; if they
answered in the affirmative, they were immediately seized and brought
into camp. When the march was over they were dismissed ; but woe
to them if they misled the column.

A BUSY DAY. 173

them. Wolseley had to draw his sword, and a sharp
hand-to-hand affair ensued. The enemy's Cavalry
charged the guns, but were repulsed by a well-directed
fire, and by the Sikh Cavalry, under Lieutenant Pren-
dergast, who was wounded. Sir Hope Grant soon came
up with the Infantry, and the enemy's Cavalry now
moved round to the rear, and attacked the baggage,
but were again repulsed and driven off by a troop of
the 7th Hussars, under Lieutenant Topham, which met
the enemy at the charge, that officer and seven men
being killed and wounded.
Wolseley was hard at work all day, which was a
busy one for all arms of the small force, and very
trying, owing to the excessive heat ; and he met with an
accident which caused him considerable inconvenience
and pain. While jumping over banks carrying orders,
and seeing to the disposition of the force, his sword
tilted up, and struck the elbow-joint, inducing the
formation of a large abscess, which caused him much
suffering, though he refused to lay up and continued
his duties with his arm in a sling.
The column visited various places, and, on the 23rd
of April, Sir Hope Grant returned to Lucknow. On
his arrival there Wolseley was gratified to learn that he
had been gazetted Brevet-Major for his distinguished
services during the Mutiny.
Sir Hope now received orders from Lord Clyde to
make a dour to disperse a large rebel force. Leaving
Lucknow on the 27th of April, the column visited

174 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
Poorwah, Parthan, Dhoundhea Keira, and other places,
and at eleven p.m. on the 11th of May, proceeded on
its march to Nuggur, over a broken country. On the
following day — after a killing march of seven miles in
the blazing sun, over ploughed fields, standing crops,
and brushwood, when many men suffered from sun
stroke — Sir Hope arrived about five o'clock at Sirsee,
where he was informed the rebel leaders, Bene Madhoo
and Shewrutten Singh, had assembled an army of
fifteen thousand Infantry, one thousand six hundred
Cavalry, and eleven guns.
On his arrival at Sirsee, he found the enemy had
taken up a strong position along a nullah with a jungle,
containing the village and fort of Towrie, in their rear.
The rebels opened fire about five o'clock, but, forming
his column with the Cavalry and Horse Artillery cover
ing his right flank, the General attacked them with
such boldness and vigour that they gave way, and were
driven into the jungle, leaving two guns in the hands
of the victors. Owing to their superior numbers, the
enemy at one time almost surrounded the small British
force, but the Cavalry and Artillery succeeded in clear
ing the right flank, while Brigadier (now General Sir
Alfred) Horsford, with the Second Battalion Rifle
Brigade and Sikhs, supported by the 90th, drove them
away from the left flank, the 38th meanwhile support
ing the guns. In this affair, Shewrutten Singh, the
rebel talookdar who held the neighbouring lands, was
killed, and the enemy experienced considerable loss.

THE KILLED AND WOUNDED. 175
On the following morning— 13th of May— the column
returned to Nuggur, and, proceeding by easy marches,
encamped near the Martiniere on the 21st of May.
This dour was attended with serious loss to our troops,
for out of less than three thousand five hundred men,
thirty-two had died outright of sunstroke, and five
hundred were sick, being nearly one-sixth of the entire
force.* But Sir Hope, ever active, was not disposed to allow
even the hot weather that had set in with unusual
intensity, to deter him from resuming active operations,
and, learning that the enemy, under Bene Madhoo, were
threatening the Cawnpore Road, marched on the
25th of May. He visited Jessenda and Poorwah, but
hearing that the enemy were gathering in force at
* Of this number the 90th lost four men died, and seventy -five who
went into hospital. Since the Regiment left England early in the
preceding year, death had wrought havoo in its ranks. Thirteen
officers had died, viz. : Killed — Lieutenants Graham, Nunn, and
Moultrie. Died of wounds — Colonel Campbell, C.B., Major Barnston,
Brevet Major Perrin, Captain Denison, and Lieutenant Preston. Died
of sickness — Lieutenant Carleton, Ensigns Knox, Chute, and Gordon,
and Assistant-Surgeon Nelson. The losses of this gallant Regiment
since Wolseley joined them five years before, had been heavy indeed.
During the Crimean War, between the 4th of December, 1854, when
it landed at Balaklava, to the fall of Sebastopol, the 90th lost four
officers and fifteen men killed ; thirty-seven men missing ; and seven
teen officers and two hundred and sixty-one men wounded, many of
whom died. This is exclusive of the large number who died from the
effects of disease in hospital.

176 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
Nawabgunge Bara Bankee,* a village on the Fyzabad
road, about eighteen miles from Lucknow, Sir Hope, at
eleven o'clock on the night of the 12th of June, formed
up his column on the Fyzabad road, and, having left his
baggage and supplies in charge of Colonel Purnell,
proceeded across country with great rapidity, his inten
tion being to accomplish the distance of twelve miles
while his movements would be shrouded by darkness,
and his men would escape the fearful effects of a
forced march in the hot sun. Major Wolseley had a
busy time making the necessary inquiries regarding
the route, procuring guides, and seeing to the other
arrangements of his department.
The enemy, who numbered sixteen thousand men,
had taken up a strong position on a large plateau, sur
rounded on three sides by a stream, which was crossed
by a stone bridge at a little distance from the town, on
the fourth side being a jungle. The General's object
was to turn their right, and to interpose between them
and the jungle. The forced] march across country
was made with the loss of several men from heat
apoplexy, and the stone bridge was reached about
half-an-hour before daybreak.
After a short rest, the troops fell in at daylight, and
the advance having crossed the stream, the enemy were
soon driven from their first position, upon which Sir
Hope immediately advanced against what appeared to
* The "big'- Nawabgunge, so called to distinguish it from the
Nawabgunge on the Cawnpore Road.

THE ACTION OF NAWABGUNGE. Ill
be the centre of the position. Though the enemy had
been surprised by the celerity of the attack, they
opened fire with much determination on the front and
both flanks, and tried to surround the force, but they
were repulsed by Johnson's guns, supported by the
Bays, while their attack on the right rear was met by
the third Battalion of the Rifle Brigade and Hodson's
Horse, which had just crossed the stream. A severe
struggle ensued, and the enemy stood their ground well,
but they were driven back, the Rifles attacking with
the bayonet, and Hodson's Horse charging over broken
ground in gallant style. Meanwhile Mackinnon's troop
and the 7th Hussars, were hotly engaged to the front,
and, supported by the remainder of the Rifle Brigade,
under Colonel Glyn, drove the enemy with serious loss
from their position on the left. At this time a body of
Ghazees displayed the most desperate courage ; after
sustaining the fire of Major Carleton's battery, they
withstood two charges of two squadrons of the 7th
Hussars, led in gallant style by Sir William Russell,
and some one hundred and twenty-five corpses were
strewed round two guns they defended. During the
action Brigadier Horsford attacked the enemy on the
extreme left and captured two guns, and Colonel Hill
with the second Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, pro
tected the rear.
The action lasted three hours, and the troops were
thoroughly exhausted, having been under arms from
ten p.m. on the previous night, to nine a.m. on the
VOL. I- N

178 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
morning of the 13th, when the enemy finally quitted
the field of battle, on which they left six hundred dead
and nine guns. The British loss in killed and wounded
was sixty-seven ; and, in addition, thirty-three men
died from sunstroke, and two hundred and fifty Avere
taken into hospital.
In his despatch, the General, Avho had before
specially mentioned the serA'ices of Major Wolseley
during the action at Baree, speaks of him as having
again afforded him great assistance. After the battle,
Major Wolseley surveyed the ground, and drew a plan
which was sent to the Commander-in-Chief. Indeed, at
Baree, and after every action throughout the campaign
in Oude, of which province there were no maps in
existence, Wolseley executed plans, which were for
warded to head-quarters, and were of essential use to
Lord Clyde when he went over the same ground.*
After gaining this important success, which had a
* Wolseley was in the habit of keeping a journal of all the marches
and movements, which were posted up daily, the book being stowed
away in a large pocket on his person. In this journal he entered the
hours of marching and halting, and minute details of the towns and
villages, their inhabitants and capabilities. These particulars were
transferred to a weekly report, which was sent to the Quartermaster-
General of the Army ; hut it was so injured by damp while kept in store,
that some years after, upon his applying to the Quartermaster-General
in Oude, portions of the writing were found to be obliterated ; what
could be deciphered was copied out, at his request, and sent to England,
but unfortunately it was destroyed, with the rest of his papers and effects,
at the fire at the Pantechnicon. Wolseley also kept a private journal
of his Indian experiences, hut this he unluckily lost in China.

SIR HOPE GRANT'S STAFF. 179
marked moral effect upon the rebels, greatly dispiriting
them and their leaders, the column emcamped on the
large sandy plain in rear of the village of Nawabgunge,
where they erected huts with straw-thatched roofs.
But Sir Hope's energy was untiring, and, thanks to
a strong constitution and a spare habit of body, he
appeared to be exempt from the evil effects of cam
paigning during the four monsoon months. While his
forces melted away under the fervent heat, and the
members of his personal and divisional staff, one after
another, suffered from its effects — the gallant Anson,
his aide-de-camp, being ill Avith dysentery, and Hamil
ton, his Assistant-Adjutant-General, dying while pro
ceeding to Calcutta on his way to England — the veteran
General knew not what it was to have a day's illness,
an immunity also enjoyed by Wolseley, whom wounds
and exposure to Arctic cold and torrid heat appeared
to have hardened to the point necessary for a soldier
whose fortune it was to fight his country's battles in
the four quarters of the globe.
On the 21st of July, Sir Hope Grant marched to
Fyzabad to the assistance of Maun Singh, a powerful
chief, who, after being one of the main-springs of the
rebellion, had deserted a failing cause, and was besieged
by a large body of the enemy at Shahgunge. But before
the arrival of the British column at Fyzabad on the
29th of July, the rebels had dispersed, and Sir Hope
pushed on to Ajudia, four miles lower down on the
Gogra, where his guns opened fire on a portion of the
N 2

180 THE INDIAN MUTINY.

fugitives as they were crossing the river. On the
9th of August, the General despatched Brigadier Hors-
ford towards Sultanpore to follow up the rebels, who
had been besieging Maun Singh. The Brigadier drove
the enemy across the Goomtee, and occupied that town,
but as the rebel force, which was increased to a strength
of twenty thousand men and fifteen guns, opposed his
passage to the right bank of the river, Sir Hope
marched from Fyzabad, to which he had returned, with
the main body of his troops, and after an irksome
march across cultivated fields and through marshes, in
which the guns sunk to the axle, joined Brigadier
Horsford at Sultanpore on the 22nd inst.
The Engineers having constructed a raft from some
small boats and canoes, the General crossed the greater
part of his force over the Goomtee, between the 25th
and 27th of August, an operation which was skilfully
performed in the face of the enemy, who, led by Bene
Madhoo, opened fire with their guns posted on high
ground on the opposite bank. At three a.m. on the
29th of August, Sir Hope, after repulsing an attack on
the previous night, moved on the enemyr, who, however,
evacuated the position they had taken up.
Sir Hope entrusted all the arrangements for the pas
sage of the river, which, owing to the heavy rains, was
greatly swollen, to Major Wolseley, who had no rest
for two nights and one day, while superintending the
transport of the little army. The manner in which
was accomplished the difficult operation of crossing a

CROSSING THE GOOMTEE. 181
swiftly-flowing and broad stream (the Goomtee at
Sultanpore being four hundred feet wide), in the face
of a strong rebel army, with a powerful artillery, and
with only three rafts made from dinghies, was creditable
to the General, his two Engineer officers, Lieutenants
Scott and Raynsford, and particularly to Major
Wolesley, " who," says Sir Hope Grant, " as Deputy
Assistant-Quartermaster-General, had the superinten
dence of the arrangements for crossing the river, and
who performed them to my perfect satisfaction."
The country was now tolerably clear, and the force
remained at Sultanpore, further operations against the
rebels being deferred until the cold weather in October.
The interval was employed in throwing a bridge across
the Goomtee, in which Wolesley gave his advice and
assistance to the Engineer officers. Sir Hope Grant
marched on the 11th of October with a small column
towards Tanda, but returned to Sultanpore on the 23rd,
proceeding thence again to Kandoo Nuddee, were four
thousand of the enemy were posted with several guns.
But the rebels fled on the approach of the British
force ; and, a few days later, the column returned to
Sultanpore. The Lucknow Field Force was not allowed a
lengthy period of repose, and, on the 3rd of November,
Sir Hope marched to Amethie to operate against the
rebel Rajah, in conjunction with Lord Clyde, and, ac
companied by Major Wolseley and his staff, recon
noitred the fort, which he found to be of great strength

182 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
and extent. However, the Rajah surrendered on the
following day, and Sir Hope proceeded to Purseedapore
on the 11th of November, and, on the following morn
ing, took possession of the strong fort of Shunkerpore,
belonging to Bene Madhoo, whom he had defeated at
Nawabgunge. Under instructions from Lord Clyde,
Sir Hope proceeded to Fyzabad, on the Gogra, which
he crossed before daylight on the 27th of November,
and, under fire of his heavy guns, carried the enemy's
position. The cavalry and field-artillery went in pur
suit, and six guns were captured and brought into
camp. On the 3rd of December, the column, which had
returned to Nawabgunge, marched in the direction of
Bunkussia, and, whilst proceeding to reconnoitre, sud
denly came upon the main body of the Gondah Rajah's
troops, about four thousand men. The enemy opened
fire from three guns, upon which Sir Hope advanced
and drove them through the jungle, a distance of two
miles, capturing two guns. On the 7th, the column
reached Bunkussia, the principal fort of the Gondah
Rajah, which was destroyed, after which Sir Hope
crossed the Raptee, and visited Bulrampore and Tool-
sepore. As his great object was to prevent the enemy
escaping to the Goruckpore district, he marched to
Dulhurree, close to the Nepaul frontier, where he
awaited Brigadier Rowcroft's column, which had been
employed preventing the rebels from passing between
the hills and the north of the Goruckpore district. Sir

CAMPAIGNING IN OUDE. 183
Hope then proceeded to Pushuroa, and, after disposing
two small columns under Brigadiers Rowcroft and
Taylor, to cut off the escape of Bala Rao, who, with a
force of six thousand men and fifteen guns, had retreated
to near Kundakote, moAred forward to attack the rebel
chief on the 4th of January, 1859. While a small
column advanced through the jungle in a westerly
direction towards Kundakote, the General, shortly after,
followed in the same direction with the main body,
until he came to where the principal force of the rebels
was posted in thick cover. The enemy were, however,
so thoroughly disheartened by the continuous defeats
they had sustained, that neither Bene Madhoo, Bala
Rao, nor any other of their leaders (the Fyzabad
Moulvie, the most able of them, having fallen) could
succeed in bringing them to face our troops, and they
once more adopted their usual tactics, and fled, leaving
fifteen guns in the hands of the victors. Thoroughly
discouraged at the loss of their guns, the force, led by
Bala Rao, now dispersed, most of them making their
way into Nepaul.
As, notwithstanding Jung Bahadoor's proclamation
to them to lay down their arms and submit themselves
to the British, the rebels continued to occupy a menac
ing position near the Sitka Ghat beyond the first pass,
Sir Hope Grant, accompanied by Major Wolseley,
marched to Fyzabad, whence he proceeded by boat to
Amorha, on the opposite side of the Gogra. Here he
received information that four thousand of the enemy

184 THE INDIAN MUTINY.

had taken up a position near Bunkussia, and another
party of one thousand eight hundred had made for the
Gogra. The General, determined to give the rebels,
who were moving from Nepaul into the Terai, " no
rest for the sole of their feet," continued to chase and
harry them, laying plans, in conjunction with his staff,
to head them off a ford or a village with one or more
columns, while he made a dash on them with his main
body. Now dividing his forces, he sent one portion by
Rampore Thana to scour the jungles, himself following
in their track along the banks of the Gogra, while a
third column was despatched into the jungle about
Bunkussia. At midnight of the 20th of May, the
General marched from Burgudwa, and arrived soon
after sunrise at the jungle covering the entrance to the
Jerwah Pass, with Colonel Beauchamp Walker's Field
Force. Here he received information that the Nana and
Bala Rao, with two guns and two thousand men, were
at the mouth of the Pass, and Mummoo Khan, with
five hundred followers, a little to the west, on the same
ground where he had inflicted a severe defeat on Bala
Rao on the 4th of January. Sir Hope, having ordered
the cavalry and artillery to encamp, sent Colonel
Brasyer with his Sikhs against Mummoo Khan, who,
however, dispersed on his approach, and himself moved
with the 7th Punjaubees into the Pass. The enemy
occupied the spurs of the mountain stretching into the
jungle on either side of the Pass, from the gorge of
which their two guns opened fire. One company of

THE LAST STRUGGLM, 185
the Punjaubees climbed the hill to the left and drove
the enemy before them, and the remainder of the Regi
ment cleared the ridge on the right and captured the
guns, but owing to the troops having marched twenty
miles, they were not able to overtake the retreating
enemy. Sir Hope writes in his Journal: — "I sent
a company up the hill to turn the enemy's right ; but
finding they were not clever in their ascent, I directed
Biddulph, together with Wolseley and Wilmot, both on
my staff, to lead them up. These three officers did
their work well."
Thus ended almost the last conflict of this great and
memorable struggle, which had lasted two years, as it was
on Sunday, the 10th of May, 1857, that the 3rd Bengal
Cavalry mutinied at Meerut. As the last band of the
rebels, deprived of their only remaining guns, was now
driven into the Nepaul frontier, the General, leaving
some small columns to meet any attempt on their
part to break through, proceeded to Lucknow on the
4th of June, and, with his staff, took up his residence
in the Dilkhoosha.
In the distribution of honours on the conclusion of
the Mutiny, Wolseley received the brevet of Lieute
nant-Colonel. He was young to have attained so
high a rank, for it was on the twenty-sixth anniver
sary of his birth, that, in company with his chief,
he entered Lucknow, and, for a brief period, enjoyed
the " blessings of peace." He was now employed in
laying out the new cantonments, those formerly in

186 THE INDIAN MUTINY.
use by our troops having been utterly destroyed by
the rebels. Henceforth it was decided that Europeans
should form a large proportion of the garrison of this
important city, and his experience in quartering troops
was of essential service when this question of the new
cantonments came up for consideration.
Wolseley had only been established some five months
in his comfortable quarters in the fine old palace
near LucknoAv, when he was once more offered a
position on the staff of an army about to take the
field, and, action being to him as the breath of life, he
gladly accepted the proposal.
Early in October, Sir Hope Grant was informed by
Lord Clyde, then at Cawnpore, that the Duke of Cam
bridge had nominated him to the command of the
troops about to proceed, in conjunction with a French
army, to the north of China, to bring to terms the
Imperial Government. Sir Hope Grant was desirous
of appointing Colonel Wolseley to the head of the
Quartermaster-General's Department, but Lord Clyde
nominated the late Colonel Kenneth McKenzie, a most
able and distinguished officer, and Wolseley went as
Deputy Assistant-Quartermaster-General in charge of
the topographical department.
Had it not been for the sudden outbreak of the
Indian Mutiny, Wolseley would have been serving
during the past two years in China, to which country,
by a singular coincidence, he found himself once more
under orders. And what an eventful period in the

INDIA AT PEACE. 187
history of this country, and of her great Asiatic de
pendency, as well as in his own life, had been those
two years just concluded !
India has over afforded tho grandest field for the
display of thoso talents and qualities which have ren
dered this country the Rome of modern history. In
India, whether in Avar or statesmanship, the Anglo-
Saxon race has appeared to the greatest advantage ;
this may in part be due to the superiority over natives,
which Ave share with all European nations, but we do
not think wc should be guilty of self-laudation, if we
chiefly attribute it to that peculiarity of the Anglo-
Saxon family, by which resistance and difficulties only
increase the determination to succeed. It is morally
certain that no other Power save England could have
retained her hold of India during the year 1857, with
a military force which, at the time of the outbreak,
ouly numbered thirty-eight thousand soldiers in the
three Presidencies. To use Canning's phrase, " India
is fertile in heroes," and probably at no previous period
of our history have the attributes which peculiarly dis
tinguish our countrymen and couutrywomen received a
more striking illustration. Our women were heroines,
and our incomparable rank and file nobly did their
duty ; Avhile as for the officers throughout the long-
drawn hardships, the dramatic episodes, and the glori
ous triumphs of the Indian Mutiny, we cannot do better
than repeat, the saying of that great leader who may he
regarded as the type, as he was the greatest representa-

18S THE INDIAN MUTINY.
tive, of the class. '• Brave," would the great Duke of
Wellington impatiently say, when any one spoke in
commendatory terms of the courage of British officers,
" of course they are ; all Englishmen are bravo ; but
it is the spirit of the gentleman that makes a British
officer." Those who were privileged to take part in those
glorious feats of arms, the Siege and Storm of Delhi
and the Defence and Relief of Lucknow, may be con
gratulated in having been actors in one of those his
toric scenes, the record of which — like the deeds of
"the three hundred'' at Thermopylae, and the "Re
treat of the Ten Thousand " under Xenophon — will
never fade from the page of history.

CHAPTER IV.
THE CHINA WAR.
The Occupation of Chusan — The Disembarkation at Peh-tang — The
Action at Sinho — The Capture of the Taku Forts — The Advance on
Pekin — Narrow Escape of Colonel Wolseley from Capture — The
Looting of the Summer Palace, and Surrender of Pekin — Wolseley's
Visit to Japan and Mission to Nankin — Return to England.
COLONEL WOLSELEY accompanied Sir Hope
Grant to Calcutta, and, with the other members
of his staff, sailed on the 26th of February, 1860, in
the 'Fiery Cross,' one of Jardine's steamers, which
cast anchor at Hong-Kong on the 13th of March. As
the transports arrived from England, India, and the
Cape of Good Hope, the troops were disembarked and en
camped at Kowloon, opposite Hong-Kong, which Colonel
Wolseley surveyed, the other officers of the Department,
under Colonel Kenneth Mackenzie, being engaged in
clearing out and preparing the ground for the reception
of the British troops. In a very short time, with the
assistance of the Engineers, the required space was
converted from a rocky waste, having a few patches of

190 THE CHINA WAR.

garden cultivation, into a neat camp, with tents and
lines for the horses and batteries. There was some
uncertainty at first as to whether an ultimatum,
couched in very mild terms, and addressed by our
Minister, Mr. Frederick Bruce, to the Imperial Govern
ment at Pekin, would have the effect, of averting a war,
but all doubts were soon set at rest by the receipt of
an insolent despatch, rejecting the British demands.
The first step was the joint occupation, by the British
and French Forces, of the island of Chusan, which was
accordingly undertaken under instructions from the
Home Government, who, in this, followed the precedent
of the war of 1840-42, though Colonel Wolseley has
expressed his opinion that the step was of little use,
either from a military or political point of view.* The
expedition rendezvoused off King-tang, opposite the
town of Chin-hai, at the mouth of the Ning-po, and, on
the 21st of April, dropped anchor in the noble harbour
of Ting-hai, the capital of Chusan, which immediately
capitulated. On the following day, the naval and military com
manders, with their staffs and a small guard, landed
and made an inspection of the town and its vicinity, at
which Wolseley, being the only officer of the Quarter
master-General's department, was present with the
General. * See Colonel Wolseley's valuable and trustworthy "Narrative of
the War with China, in 1860," written daily while the operations were,
in progress.

THE SURRENDER OF CHUSAN. 191
One thousand soldiers only were landed, there being
great difficulty in finding accommodation in the various
yamuns, or official residences, and three hundred
Marines were placed in the Custom-house and adjoining
buildings. Wolseley took over the requisite buildings
from the native * officials, and made the necessary
arrangements, in conjunction with the French staff-
officer, for the quartering of the garrison. He returned
with Sir Hope Grant to the ' Grenada,' on the evening
of the "23rd of April, and, on the following mtirning, the
steamer proceeded to Poo-too, an island lying to the east
ward of the Chusan group, and which, it was considered,
might be suitable for a military sanatarium. Wol
seley proceeded on shore with the General, and visited
the temples and monasteries, of which this sacred city
alone consists. In the evening the party returned to
the ' Grenada,' which then proceeded to Hong-Kong.
One of the chief difficulties that had to be encoun
tered in the organization of the Army destined to pro
ceed to the north of China, was that of transport, but
at length, in May, every preparation being completed,
some sailing transports left Hong-Kong for the seat of
war, with a portion of the Infantry, and the main body
followed on the 8th of June.
The British Army, of which the Divisional Com
manders were Sir Robert Napier and Sir John Michel,
Brigadier Pattle, being in command of the Cavalry,
numbered about fourteen thousand men, and that of the
French, under General Montauban, which was mustering

192 THE CHINA WAR.

at Shanghai, about seven thousand. The fleet, under
Admiral Sir James Hope, consisted of seventy ships of
war, including gunboats, and the hired transports num
bered one hundred and twenty sail.
On the 16th June, the ' Grenada,' in which Colonel
Wolseley had embarked with the Commander-in-Chief,
and some troop- ships, proceeded to sea, and put in at
Shanghai, where, at the earnest entreaty of the Euro
pean residents and Chinese authorities, some troops
were landed to protect the town against the rebels,
better known as Taipings, who, for the past eight years,
had desolated the country.
Three days after quitting Shanghai, the ' Grenada '
cast anchor off the town of Wei-hei-wei, on the western
shore of the Gulf of Pechili, the transports, with the
greater portion of the troops, having already arrived at
Talien-wan, on the eastern side. Wolseley and other
officers landed at Wei-hei-wei, and visited the town,
which is of considerable extent. On the following
morning he explored the neighbouring country, but its
capabilities for supplying water were unpromising in
the extreme.
According to the plan of operations agreed upon
between the allied commanders, the French were to
rendezvous at Chefoo,* in the province of Shantung,
and the British at Talien-wan.
* Che-foo and Talienwan were fixed upon as the respective bases of
operations of the French and English armies, because it was known
that along the coast near Takoo the ice in winter prevented all approach

UNDER WEIGH FOR THE PEIHO. 193
Sir Hope Grant, with his staff, remained on board
the ' Grenada,' in Victoria Bay, whence a small steamer
daily went the round of the great bay or harbour,
carrying orders to the various encampments.
Lord Elgin arrived at Talien-wan on the 9th of July,
in the Indian Navy steam-frigate ' Feroze,' and, after
many conferences, it was decided by Sir Hope Grant
and General Montauban that both Armies should sail
for Peh-tang on the 26th July.
Accordingly, on that day, the vast Armada weighed
anchor, and started with a fair wind for the general
rendezvous, twenty miles south of the Peiho, affording
a grand and soul-inspiring sight ; and in the evening
of the same day, the French fleet of thirty-three sail
hove in sight, passing round the Meatow Islands. On
Saturday, the 28th of July, the entire Expedition was
assembled at the appointed rendezvous, and, on Monday,
weighed and stood in for the mouth of the Peiho river.
A Memorandum was issued by the Quartermaster-
General for the guidance of the officers superintending
the disembarkation of the troops, and, on the 1st of
August, the Honorable Company's ship ' Coromandel,'
having on board Sir James Hope and Sir Hope Grant,
with his staff, including Colonel Wolseley, led the way,
followed by the gunboats, with their decks crowded
with men, each towing six launches, full of troops,
for several months ; but there was deep water at these placeB, which
were free from ice all the year round. Colonel Wolseley visited Che-
foo, and speaks in the highest terms of the order and regularity that
existed in the French Camp near that town.
VOL. I. 0

194 THE CHINA WAR.

The French flotilla also put off at the same time.
Soon after two o'clock, the gunboats anchored about
two thousand yards from the famous Taku forts, all
the embrasures of which were masked, and no troops
visible. These forts are about three miles from the
mouth of the river, the passage of which they command,
the town standing immediately in their rear.
It was decided by Generals Grant and Montauban
that a reconnaissance should be made in the direction
of a causeway running. towards Taku, and four hundred
men, drawn equally from the English and French armies,
were landed on a soft, sticky, mud flat, through which,
for nearly a mile, the men floundered and struggled be
fore reaching a hard patch of ground., "Nearly every
man," says the Times correspondent, " was disembar
rassed of his lower integuments, and one gallant
brigadier led on his men with no other garment than
his shirt." The Tartars now retreated along the cause
way, and the rest of the force was disembarked by five
o'clock. " Never," says Mr. Bowlby, " did more hopeless
prospect greet an army. Mud and water everywhere,
and ' not a drop to drink.' Pools of brackish water
were scattered about here and there, but perfectly un-
drinkable, and not a well or spring could be found.
" The English Army then advanced, the Rifles to the
right, the 15th Punjaubees in the centre, and the 2nd
Queen's on the left. They Avere on an island cut off
from the causeway by a deep ditch forty feet wide,
through which the tide flowed. In plunged the

THE LANDING AT PEHTANG. 195
brigades, and sank middle deep in the vilest and most
stinking slush; but .the men struggled gallantly on,
and in a few seconds the whole force was on the road."
The bridge and gate of the town were occupied, but
the greater portion of the troops rested for the night
on the causeway, and Colonel Wolseley and a large
party halted on the hard ground cut off from it by a
deep ditch. They were all in a plight calculated to
try the temper of Mark Tapley himself, for not only
were they destitute of water, every man having long
before consumed the pint he carried in his water bottle,
but they were cold and wet, and had to lie on the damp
ground. It is under such circumstances that the real
nature of a man reveals itself. As Wolseley says : —
" The noble-hearted come to the front, at once ready
to help others, and being themselves generous and
jolly, make the best of untoward events ; whilst the
selfish man stands out in his true colours, whining and
pining like an ill-tempered child, a picture of misery
himself, and likely to make others so, by his captious
ill-humour. We were a large party of people, odds
and ends, of all sorts, including some who, in the dark,
could not make their way any further to the front. All
were horribly thirsty. To go back to the boats for
water, through the slush, was really a fatiguing
journey; but the task had to be accomplished, and
never did the weary traveller in an arid desert hail a
spring with greater joy than we all did our Judge-
Advocate-GeneraPs return with a small barrel of water,
after his trip there. Subsequently the invaluable
O 2

196 THE CHINA WAR.
Coolie corps* made their appearance with breakers of a
like nature, which supplied every one."
But Wolseley in his published work omits to men
tion that he accompanied Major Wilmot on his errand
of mercy — for such it really was, as many of the men
were so fatigued and overcome by thirst, that their
tongues were hanging out of their mouths — and on
their return from their long tramp through the mud,
laden with the precious liquid, the gallant officers were
cheered heartily by their comrades.
The night was as unpleasant a one as Colonel Wol
seley ever spent, even bearing in mind his Crimean
and Indian bivouacs. He had, of course, no bedding,
and it was impossible to lie down on the wet mud with
any hope of obtaining rest. So he walked about and
shivered through the night without closing his eyes.
In the morning the town was occupied, but " looting "
was strictly prohibited, and any men found indulging
in the unlawful pursuit, were instantly tied up and
flogged on the spot.
Our men landed with three days' provisions, but
after the fourth day, supplies of food and water were
regularly issued to them. The French arrangements
not being so complete or successful, our gallant Allies
had exciting sport in chasing and killing all the pigs
they could lay hands on, not even disdaining to regale
themselves on such deceased porkers as they found in
* The Coolie corps, which was organised and led by Major Temple,
of the Indian Army, consisted of two thousand five hundred Chinamen,
recruited at Canton and Hong-Kong.

THE RECONNAISSANCE- 3rd AUGUST. 197
ditches ; indeed, for the first week, they seemed to
subsist on little else. Our military system also ap
peared in favourable contrast to that of our Allies, as
regards strictness of discipline and employment of the
troops, for while their officers and men were sauntering
about the town with their hands in their pockets, our
men, of all ranks and arms of the service, were busily
employed constructing wooden wharves and piers, and
improving the principal thoroughfares for the passage
of guns.
The Allied Generals having decided on a recon
naissance in force of the enemy's position, on the 3rd of
August, a strong column, consisting of one thousand
French and as many English, under the command' of
General Collineau, moved out along the raised cause
way leading towards the Taku Forts. Colonel Wol
seley was selected by Sir Hope Grant to accompany
the force, and indeed throughout this war, so highly
did the General estimate his services, that whenever he
decided to undertake some duty requiring tact or
capacity, he would always inquire, " Where's Wolseley ?
Send him." And Wolseley, ever ready to undertake
any charge entailing responsibility, would respond to
the call with cheerful alacrity. His duties as the
officer in charge of the topographical survey of a
country totally unknown, naturally required his
presence in the van of the Army, and whether there, or
sweeping round the flanks with a handful of Native
Cavalry for an escort, he carried his life in his hand
and narrowly escaped capture, which would have in-

198 THE CHINA WAR.
volved torture or death at the hands of the barbarous
enemy ; on one occasion, the fate that befel another
lamented officer of his Department, Captain Brabazon,
would have been his, but for an accidental circum
stance, or rather should we say, having regard to the
services he was spared to render to his country, by the
interposition of that Divinity which, says Hamlet,
" shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we may.''
The Allied force started at four a.m., and, after a march
of about four miles, came upon the main body of the enemy,
Avho were waiting just beyond a bridge, about half a
mile further on. As soon as the French, who led the
advance, had passed the bridge, the enemy opened fire,
and a large body of Tartar Cavalry threatened the
flanks of the Allies, when General Collineau opened
fire with two guns, and, having forced them back,
advanced, the French on the right, and the English on
the left, towards a large entrenchment about a mile
distant. The force now halted, and Brigadier Sutton
sent Colonel Wolseley to Sir Hope Grant to apprise
him of the state of affairs, and request reinforce
ments if the enemy's position was to be forced. Wol
seley galloped back, and, having given the necessary
information, returned with two guns, and the Allied
Generals immediately followed with a reinforcement, but
the reconnoitring party was already on the return
march to Pehtang, and the day's proceedings ended
somewhat abortively, the Tartars, in their ignorance of
the object sought to be attained, claiming a victory,

THE RECONNAISSANCE— M AUGUST. 199

aud sending flaming reports to Pekin of their having
forced the white soldiers to retreat.
On the 9th of August,* Colonel Wolseley Avas
selected to commaud a second reconnoitring party, con
sisting of two hundred Cavalry and one hundred
Infantry, and Sir Hope gave him positive instructions,
before starting, on no account to bring on an engage
ment. Proceeding along the causeway for two miles,
he placed his infantry in position in a ruined farm
house, usually held by a cavalry picket of the enemy,
while he moved off to reconuoitre with the cavalry,
whose exposed flank Avas thus protected. Leaving the
causeway to his left. Wolseley made a long circuit,
until he approached within a mile of the enemy's
works on the Peiho, and, having surveyed the Avhole of
the enemy's position, aud the line on their flank by
which the advance, was to be made, and having further
ascertained that the country in that direction Avas
practicable for all arms, and abounded in pools of fresh
water, he returned without having exchanged a shot
with the enemy. Immediately on his arrival in camp,
Wolseley made a report of the survey he had com
pleted, and having that night executed a plan, he had
copies struck off from a steel plate of the size of a
sheet of foolscap, aud by an earljT hour on the follow-
« On the -4th of August, Sir Robert Napier landed, and took up his
residence in a temple in the town ; General Michel, who had come
ashore with the landinj party of his Division, occupying anotlier. Sir
Hope Grant, with his staff, resided in the fort, under canvas, and
General Montauban in the town.

200 THE CHINA WAR.
ing morning, these copies were in the hands of every
staff officer of both armies.
On Sunday, the 12th of August, the Allied Army
began its march towards the Taku Forts, and everyone
was in high spirits at leaving that detestable place
Avith its inodorous smells. It was arranged that the
2nd, or Sir Robert Napier's, Division, should move out
along the track reconnoitred on the 9th, guided by
Wolseley, who had laid down the route by which
the Division, when attacking in flank, should
march so as to avoid the swamps and quicksands
which abounded on both sides of the causeway, and
yet at the same time keep intact the com muni cations
with the main body. Sir Robert Napier was directed
to turn the left of the enemy's position, whilst the 1st
Division and French, advancing along the causeway,
should attack the enemy's works in front. As the
ground on the right Avas admirably adapted for the
operations of Cavalry, the whole of that arm Avere at
tached to Napier's Division. At four a.m. the march
began through slush and mud which was terribly
heavy for the Artillery horses. After advancing for
three miles from the causeway, Napier opened
fire on the enemy with fifteen guns, and he expressed
his admiration of the unflinching fortitude with
which the Tartar Cavalry stood the iron hail at four
hundred and fifty yards' range. A portion of them
charged our Cavalry, but were met half way, and
utterly routed by the Sikh horse, led by those gallant

THE FRENCH ARMY IN CHINA. 201
sabreufs Fane and Probyn, supported by a squadron of
Dragoon Guards.
In the meantime, the 1st Division and the French,
moving along the causeway leading from Pehtang
towards the enemy's entrenched camp before the village
of Sinho, deployed within one thousand four hundred
yards of these works, and, after a brief artillery fire,
the whole army advanced and occupied the place.
Throughout this China War, our Allies, notwithstand
ing their gallantry, did not show to advantage, which
was chiefly due to the incapacity of General Cousin de
Montauban, who was a gasconading, self-opiniated man,
without a particle of military talent. At no time
throughout the campaign did the French Division
muster more than four thousand effectives, while we
had in China a well-appointed Army numbering nineteen
thousand men, of whom fourteen thousand were at the
'seat of war. Thus the co-operation of the French was
quite unnecessary, but Lord Palmerston, sacrificing
military considerations to the political requirements in
volved in the maintenance of the entente cordiale,
accepted the proffered assistance of the Emperor
Napoleon. The campaign had not been inaugurated
many hours before Montauban gave evidence of his
military incompetence, which went so far in assisting
to wreck his country in the memorable days preceding
the catastrophe of Sedan.*
* Wolseley was in the heart of the American Continent, conducting
his Red River Expedition, in the Autumn of the memorable year, 1870,
when he received intelligence that the Count de Palikao had been

202 THE CHINA WAR.
From the Allied position, distant about two miles and
a half, was visible the large entrenchment around the
village of Tangku, having a long, narrow causeway,
with ditches, leading from Sinho towards it; the country
to the north of this causeway was very swampy, and
quite impassable for all arms, but, on the south side,
the ground appeared sufficiently firm to bear guns.
Round the village of Tangku, which is situated in a
bend of the Peiho, was a crenellated mud wall, about
ten feet in height.
General Montauban was very desirous of advancing
at once upon the enemy's position ; but Sir Hope met
the proposal with a decided negative, and expressed
his intention of moving on the morrow, after bridges
had been thrown across the canals which separated the
roadway and village from the open, firm, ground to the
south of the causeway. But though it was evident to
the merest tyro in the art of war, that, without these
bridges, an advance could only be effected along this
narrow causeway, which was commanded by the
enemy's guns, Montauban resolved to attempt the task
alone. Accordingly he sallied out with his Division,
but after two hours spent in a purposeless cannonading,
returned to Sinho, re infectd.
On the following day, bridges were thrown across
the several canals, and roadways made over the marshy
places in the line of advance, while Colonel Wolseley,
nominated Minister-at-War, thus receiving charge of the destinies of
his country at a most momentous crisis. Turning to his officers, he
exclaimed : " Then it is all over for poor France ! "

THE ACTION OF THE Iith AUGUST. 203
and other officers of his Department, made a reconnais
sance up the banks of the Peiho, which resulted in
showing that the enemy had retired to the southern
bank of the river, with the exception of the troops gar
risoning the forts.
On the morning of the 14th, the First Di\Tision, with
all the Artillery, having their right flank resting on the
Peiho, advanced to attack the enemy's entrenchments.
Our Allies, having taken up a position on our left,
their left flank resting upon the Tangku causeway, the
whole line of Artillery, consisting of twelve French and
twenty-four British guns, opened fire, under which the
Infantry advanced, and soon a party of the 60th Rifles,
under Lieutenant Shaw, entered the enemy's entrench
ments and hoisted the Union Jack. Although the
French guns were at this time still pounding away,
they had the effrontery to claim the merit of being the
first within the hostile works, and General Montauban
promoted the soldier who hoisted the tricolour.
About forty-five guns, of various calibre, between
four and 24-pounders, of which sixteen were brass, and
the remainder iron, fell into the hands of the victors.
Colonel Wolseley accompanied the Commander-in-
Chief in his reconnaissance towards the Taku Forts,
but not much information was gained, as the enemy
opened fire on the escort.
Sir Hope Grant now busied himself in perfecting his
arrangements for the attack on these formidable works;
heavy guns and ammunition were brought to the front,
and ten days' provisions collected at Sinho. The British

204 THE CHINA WAR.

and French Ministers were also busy negotiating with
the enemy, who sent a flag of truce ; but as was fore
seen by all but the diplomatists, the Chinese Govern
ment, represented by Ho, the Governor-General of
Pechili, only wanted to delay, and had no real intention
of acceding to our terms, or of executing any treaty not
extorted and enforced at the cannon's mouth.
And now came up for consideration the knotty point
of the attack on the Taku forts, and it was one upon
which the British and French Commanders-in-Chief
were divided. Sir Hope Grant, who was strongly sup
ported in his views by Sir Robert Napier, proposed to
operate against the northern fort, which enfiladed the
southern forts, and was the key to the position, but
General Montauban was loud in favour of crossing the
river and assaulting the southern forts.*
Finding his colleague determined to abide by his own
judgment, Montauban made a formal protest, and then,
* Wolseley treats of this vexed question in his hook in detail, and con
cludes by saying : " If we had operated by the southern bank of the
Peiho, as our Allies wished, and supposing that everything had turned
out in the very happiest manner, we could not possibly have been by
the 1st of September as far advanced in the work of the campaign as
we actually were upon the evening of the 21st of August, when, in
pursuance of Sir Hope Grant's plan of attack, we had stormed and
taken the northern forts. I need scarcely remark that time was every
thing to us. We had opened the campaign later than was expected at
home, having been delayed a month at Talien-wan, so that every day
was of the greatest value to us. The cold weather was reported by
all to commence towards the middle of October, and the climate in
November was said to be-most intolerable, the rivers being then frozen,
and ice for some two or three miles out to sea along the coast."

THE ASSAULT OF THE TAKU FORTS. 205
with a proper soldierly feeling, acted in loyal concert
with the British General. During the halt at Tangku,
the Engineers had been busy constructing a road to
wards the forts, also bridges or causeways over the
canals, and batteries, which were armed, during the
night of the 20th, with sixteen guns and three mortars.
At daybreak, on the following morning, twenty-three
pieces of ordnance, including four of the French,
opened fire on the forts, which replied with spirit.
The British Force detailed for the assault, was drawn
from Sir Robert Napier's Division, and numbered two
thousand five hundred men.* The French assaulting
column, numbering one thousand men, was under the
command of General Collineau.
About six o'clock, a tremendous explosion took place
in the nearest fort ; half an hour later, a second ex
plosion occurred in the larger northern fort, and, by
seven o'clock, most of the enemy's guns had been dis
mounted. The field-guns were advanced to within five
hundred yards of the fort, and the fire of the works
having been silenced, a breach was commenced near
the gate, and the storming party advanced to within
thirty yards, keeping up a hot fire, the French Infantry
being on the right, and the English on the left. Under
* The assaulting column consisted of a wing of the 44th, under
Lieutenant-Colonel McMahon, a wing of the 67th, under Lieutenant-
Colonel Thomas, the other wings of these regiments acting as supports ;
the Royal Marines, under Lieutenant-Colonel Gascoigne, and a detach
ment of the same corps carrying a pontoon bridge for crossing the wet
ditches, under Lieutenant-Colonel Travers ; and Major Graham with
his company of Royal Engineers.

206 THE CHINA WAR.
a heavy musketry fire from the enem3% who quitted
their cover on the troops forming up for the assault,
our men advanced straight to their front towards the
gate of the fort, the French advancing by the right,
. and approaching the angle of the work resting on the
river's bank. It very soon became apparent that our
engineering arrangements had been faulty, for, instead
of using a number of light ladders, or a small plank
bridge resting on wheels, on which to cross the wet
ditch, a pontoon bridge had been taken, and a round
shot, passing through one of the metal pontoons of
which it was constructed, rendered it unserviceable.
The French, with great dash, succeeded in crossing
the wet ditches and dragging OArer three or four ladders,
which they placed against the walls, and after many
attempts at escalading, at length planted the tricolour
on the summit, and entered the works. Almost simul
taneously the British flag waved over the main gate, the
men having forced their way through the breach in
single file, the foremost being Ensign Chaplin, of the
67th, who planted the colours on the top of the parapet,
and Lieutenants Rogers (44th), Lenon and Burslem
(67th). In seeking to lay down the pontoon bridge, no less
than fifteen Sappers were almost instantaneously placed
hors de combat, and, by an unlucky round shot, the
bridge was rendered useless. Wolseley was with the
advance party at the time, and used his utmost
endeavours to withdraw the bolt by which the damaged
portion was fastened to the superstructure ; this, how-

ANECDOTES OF THE ASSAULT. 207
ever, was a work of extreme difficulty, as owing to a
portion of the bridge being in the water, a great strain
was brought to bear on the bolt, which could not be
withdrawn. Wolseley recounts some instances of gal
lantry that attracted his attention, which was always
interested in observing the exhibition of that greatest
of military virtues in others. While our men were
endeavouring to cross the ditches, he was standing by
Major Graham, V.C. — an old comrade in the dreary
days in the trenches before Sebastopol — who, on the
present occasion, being almost the only mounted officer,
offered an easy mark to the Chinese matchlockmen ;
so deafening was the uproar of great guns and small
arms at this time, that Wolseley, having some remark
to communicate to Graham, placed his hand on that
officer's thigh to draw his attention. " Don't put your
hand there," exclaimed Major Graham, wincing under
the torture, " there is a gingall ball lodged in my leg."
It was the first notice he had taken of his wound.
Colonel Mann, commanding the Royal Engineers, was
one of the first to cross the two ditches, and Major
(the late Colonel) Honourable A. Anson, aide-de-camp,
on reaching the other side, which was covered with
pointed bamboo stakes, proceeded to swarm up a pole,
to the summit of which the rope drawing up the draw
bridge was made fast. The daring act attracted the
fire of the enemy's marksmen, but the gallant officer,
nothing daunted, hacked away with his sword, until he
cut the rope, when down fell the drawbridge with a
great clang. It was so shattered by shot that it seemed

208 TllK C1IIXA IV A R.

scarcely capable of sustaining any weight, but our men
managed to cross a few at a time.
The scene presented by the interior of (he captured
work, evinced the determination with which the gar
rison bad held the place, and among the dead, who were
estimated to number about two thousand, was a, (ieneral
and (be ollieor commanding all the northern forts.
Tho losses incurred by Iho Allies in achieving this
really brilliant triumph, wore moderate, considering Iho
strength of tho defences they had stormed. Our loss
was seventeen killed and ono hundred and sixfy-ono
wounded, of whom twenty-two wore ollieers. The
French had about ono hundrod and thirty casualties.
Without loss of lime, preparations wen1 commenced
to attack the largo northern fori, distant exactly ono
thousand yards, which had a raised causeway running
Inwards it. with wot ditches on either side.
Colonel Wolseley proceeded, with a small escort,
under a. heavy lire, to riHHmnoil.ro tho ground lo the
north of the causeway, and slowly advancing bis party
in skirmishing order towards Iho space, ascertained its
fitness for tho purposes required. Hut the Chinese had
no heart for further resistance, and as the Allied
troops advanced towards tho north fori, Iho garrison,
numbering two thousand men, threw away I heir arms
and surrendered at. discretion. A little later the enemy
evacuated the southern works, and in Iho evening, Mr.
(now Sir Harry) 1'arkes received I he uneondilional
surrender of the whole country on Iho bankN of tho
Poiho its far as Tientsin. Tho day closed with a Ire-

THE RETURN TO CAMP. 209
mendous storm of wind and rain, and soon the roads by
which the troops had advanced, were quite submerged.
The camp was flooded, and, under such depressing
influences, Wolseley rode back a distance of five miles,
to find the interior of his tent a pond, with every
article therein floating about as if another flood had
covered the face of the earth. Thus, without light or
fire to dry the Avet clothes on his back, and after a frugal
supper of biscuit and hrandy-and-water, he turned in,
ruminating, doubtless, on the changes and chances of
this mortal life when it happens to be that of a
soldier. The first phase of the War was completed by the
capture of the famed Taku forts, which, though taken
by our sailors in 1858, had, in the following year,
successfully resisted a naval force, under Admiral Sir
James Hope, when conveying the British Minister to
Pekin, for the purpose of exchanging the ratification
of the Treaty concluded at Tientsin in June, 1858.
Our Government now determined that the violated
treaty should be ratified at Pekin, as this would
imply a sense of defeat and humiliation which the
Imperial Government, skilled as it was in sophisms,
could not argue away in the lying proclamations it
Avas in the habit of addressing to its many millions of
subjects. Sir James Hope pushed on to Tientsin on the 23rd
of August, and, so demoralised were the enemy, that
the forts at that place were occupied without a shot
being fired. Two days later Lord Elgin and Sir Hope
vol. I. p

210 THE CHINA WAR.
Grant followed with the troops, leaA-ing a garrison at
Taku and Sinho. Eight days were wasted at Tientsin
in negotiations with unaccredited envoys, and, at length,
it was decided to commence the march towards Tung-
chow. But there were difficulties to be overcome ; the
road between Tientsin and Pekin was little known, as
also the capabilities of the country to furnish supplies
for the large number of soldiers, non-combatants, and
animals. It was Colonel Wolseley's duty to collect
information on these points, and the topographical
department, of which he had been in charge from the
outset of the campaign, was, at this time, reorganised.
It now consisted, besides himself, of Lieutenant Harri
son, R.E. — who had served at Alumbagh and Lucknow
— and Mr. Robert Swinhoe, Interpreter in the British
Consular Service, who had hitherto been acting in that
capacity on Sir Robert Napier's staff.
Owing to the difficulty as to supplies, it was arranged
that the two Armies should advance by detachments.
Brigadier Reeves started on the 8th of September,
with his Brigade, and, on the following day, Lord
Elgin and Sir Hope Grant, and Wolseley with his
assistants, quitted Tientsin.
The French troops, about three thousand, quitted
Tientsin on the 10th of September, and Sir J. Michel
marched with the remainder of the First Division on
the 12th, Sir Robert Napier remaining behind with the
Second Division to garrison the place. On their arrival
at Yangtsun, the head-quarters camp remained immov
able, owing to the flight of the drivers with the mules

WOLSELEY AS A SURVEYOR. 211
and ponies.* Parties were sent out into the country
to try and recover the lost animals, or procure others.
but without success, and. at length, as no other means
of transport were available, several junks were seized.
into which the greater portion of the stores and luggage
was stowed.
Colonel Wolseley commenced his surveying duties
immediately upon quitting Tientsin : he himself, ac
companied by the interpreter, proceeded along the road,
Lieutenant Harrison taking the course of the Peiho for
his part of the survey. The country on either side of
* During the night of the 10th, all the Chinese drivers of the carts
of Lord Elgin's and Sir Hope Grant's establishments had de&unped,
taking with them the whole of their mules and ponies. Wolseley alone
retained his drivers, and that he did so was owing to an amusing cir
cumstance. While riding out of Tientsin, he wis conversing with the
Rossaldar, or native commissioned officer, in eomniand of his escort,
and told him to impress upon lis men that unless he and they looked
sharply after the native drivers and prevented them from deserting,
they would be left behind, and could not participate in the capture
of Pekin. The native officer and his sowars took the hint, and, on
the follow ing morning, there vras not a driver in the camp, except his
own. who had all been tied together by their tails, and then made
fast to the tent pole ! Thereafter, this was done every night, and
Wolseiex arrived at Pekin with the carts and drivers and ponies he
had started with, the only officer who did so. '¦ The small eamp of
our Department," says Mr. Swinhoe, "consisted of one Indian tent
and two bell-tents. The Chinese servants and carters generally built
huts of mats and millet stalks, and tie two native servants were
»<voinuiodat*d witna texfe Sairi, Besides our three horses, picketed
iu a row, there were six luggage ponies belonging to the carts, and the
cans themselves, aud in the group hard by, tie eleven Sikh troopers
detailed to us as guard, with their teats and horses. The whole made
quite a conspicuous little group to the observation of passers by/'
P 2

212 THE CHINA WAR.
the Peiho, which is fenced in with artificial dykes, is
one vast level plain, covered as far as the eye could
reach, with crops of maize and millet ; and were it not
for occasional brick-kilns and watch-towers, an ac
curate survey of the road would have been most arduous.
As it was, Colonel Wolseley, in order to insure ac
curacy, paced the road, and afterwards compared the
distances so noted with the revolutions of the peram
bulator. On their first day's march to Pookow,
about twelve and a-half miles from Tientsin, several
distant large villages were passed, the names of
which may be found in the survey maps of the road
to Pekin executed by Colonel Wolseley and Lieu
tenant Harrison. On the 11th he proceeded on to
Yangtsun, on the 12th to Nantsai, and on the 13th
to Ho-se-woo, where he was engaged upon the survey
of the river, and his assistant worked on the
road. As this town appeared to be a good half-way
station between Tientsin and Pekin, being about forty
miles distant from each, a hospital and a dep6t were
established here.
At a meeting held at Tungchow between Messrs.
Wade and Parkes and some Imperial Commissioners,
it was decided that the Allied Army should march to
within one and a-half miles of Chang-kia-wan, whence
Lord Elgin, with an escort of one thousand men, was
to proceed to Tungchow, and, after signing the Con
vention, to the' capital for the purpose of ratifying
the 1858 Treaty. On the 17th of September, the
British Force, with one thousand French, marched to

SIMPLICITY OF THE POLITICALS. 213
Matow, a distance of twelve miles, and Wolseley re
sumed his survey of the road, but encountered great
difficulty in procuring information, as the native
villagers fled on the approach of their invaders, and had
to be chased and run down by the Sikh escort. The
following day, the 18th of September, was destined to
be a memorable one in the history of the campaign,
and, before the sun went down, convincing proofs were
afforded — though, indeed, none were required save to
enlighten the understanding and open the eyes of the
diplomatists — that the Chinese Government and its
Commissioners were acting with their wonted dupli
city and treachery. Speaking of the simplicity dis
played by the representatives of our Foreign Office,
Wolseley observes : — " Military men are far less con
fiding than civilians in dealing with uncivilised nations.
The little experience that I have had, goes to prove
that the latter are far more rash and less liable to take
the precautions which ordinary military knowledge
would indicate as necessary. How often have I known
civilians, accompanying an army, scoff at the caution
of general officers, forgetting altogether that any com
mander who fails to provide against every possible
mistake, or probable contingency, is deeply culpable.
By the strange contrariety of human nature, it is
generally these irresponsible gentlemen who are first
loudest in their abuse of officers who fail in anything
through rashness, or want of caution."
The Army marched at daylight on the 18th of Sep
tember ; but Wolseley remained behind during the fore-

214 THE CHINA WAR.
noon, having obtained permission from Sir Hope Grant,
on the previous night, to halt at Matow, and continue
the survey of the road, promising, on its completion, to
join him at Chang-kia-wan. After being busy for some
hours, he was sitting in his tent, Avhen Captain Gunter,
of the King's Dragoon Guards, galloped up, calling out
to him to be on his guard. " The General," he said,
" had sent him with orders to move up the rear-guard,
which had charge of the baggage, with all despatch, as
there was a large body of cavalry ahead." Soon after
Wolseley, who had betaken himself to the raised road,
saw puffs of smoke in the air, denoting the firing of
shells, and clouds of dust, such as are caused by
cavalry charges. The thought flashed across him of
the precarious position in which he and his party were
placed, as in that open plain their white tents were
vjsible a long way, and would, doubtless, draw upon
them the observation of some of the Tartar cavalry,
which was even now clearly carrying out the tactics of
surrounding the Allied Army, which Sang-ko-lin-sin
was always able to adopt, by reason of his numerical
superiority. With the utmost dispatch, he caused the
tents to be pulled down and packed, himself and his
officers assisting, and, in a few minutes, the party was
on its Avay to join the Army. Wolseley says that he
never spent a more anxious time in his life than while
making that march of four miles. It was not that he
feared for himself and his mounted followers, but his
soldier- servant and the corporal of Engineers were on
foot, and he could not desert them in the event of an

A NARROW ESCAPE. 215
attack by the Tartar horse. He had made up his mind
to throw himself and his men into the first house they
passed on the road, and defend themselves to the last
extremity with the guns and pistols they could muster.
But, at length, he began to breathe more freely as he
approached a village in . which was the baggage in
charge of a strong rear-guard ; and, in a few minutes,
he had the satisfaction of seeing in safety, not only the
personnel of his detachment, but also all the results
of his surveys which had cost him so much labour, and
were almost equally precious to him. To show how
critical was the position of the party, and how near
they were sharing the sad fate that overtook some of
our countrymen, who were tortured to death by the
savage foe, it may be mentioned that a large force of
Tartar cavalry had actually passed between them and
the rear-guard, and crossed the river less than half an
hour before their arrival. Leaving his baggage along
with the rest, Colonel Wolseley's party galloped along
the road, turned off to the left along the bank of the
Seau-ho ("little river"), and proceeded to the spot
where Sir Hope Grant was resting under the shade of
some trees.
They now learnt that the Allies had encountered and
driven from their positions, a Chinese Army of about
twenty thousand men, which barred their progress
towards Tungchow, and captured seventy-four guns,
with but slight loss. But the elation consequent upon
this great success, was dimmed by the consideration
that the enemy had in their hands many of our country-

216 THE CHINA WAR.

men, and fears were entertained for their safety, which
proved but too well founded. Captain Brabazon,
Lieutenant Anderson, Messrs. Bowlby and De Norman,
and many of the sowars and Frenchmen, died a
cruel death, which Wolseley was near sharing, as Sir
Hope Grant had sent for him to accompany Mr. Loch,
of the Embassy, to proceed to Tungchow, to bring back
the party there, and it was in consequence of his
absence in the rear, completing the survey of the road,
that Captain Brabazon was directed to proceed in
his place.
On the 20th September, Colonel Wolseley rode back
to Matow, and having completed the survey of the road
between that village andChang-kia-wan, returned in time .
to move out with the Allied Army, which, at daybreak
on the following morning, marched to engage the
enemy, who were drawn up about two miles distant
from the town.
Colonel Wolseley attended Sir Hope Grant during
the day, and, with the rest of the staff, had a narrow
escape of falling into the hands of the enemy. He
says : — " When we had marched a mile, we found our
selves in presence of a large army, their cavalry
stretching away to the right as far as we could see, and
endeavouring to turn our left flank ; their infantry
strongly posted in the numerous clumps of trees and
enclosures which lay between us and the canal. As
soon as we came within range, they opened fire upon
us from hundreds of jingalls and small field-pieces, to
which our Allies replied with their rifled cannon. Sir

THE ACTION OF THE 21st SEPTEMBER. 217
Hope Grant rode forward towards the French for the
purpose of examining the position, and having advanced
beyond our line of skirmishers, rode almost in amongst
the Tartars, mistaking them for the French. Upon
turning back to rejoin our troops, the Tartar cavalry,
seeing him and his numerous staff cantering away from
them, evidently thought it was some of our cavalry
running away, and at once gave pursuit with loud
j^ells. Stirling's guns, however, opened heavily upon
them when they were about two hundred and fifty
yards from our line, saluting them well with canister,
which sent them to the right-about as briskly as they
had advanced." Soon after the Tartar cavalry tried to
outflank the Allies, upon which our Cavalry charged
them ; and, says Wolseley, " riding over ponies and
men, knocked both down like so many ninepins."
Sir Hope Grant now moved in pursuit to the left,
and captured several camps, with tents standing, which
were all burnt. The enemy having disappeared from
the front and flank, he retired towards the wooden
bridge over the Yuliang-ho canal.
The French had meanwhile captured all the camps
which lay near the Pa-le-cheaou* Bridge, over Avhich
they drove the enemy at the point of the bayonet, with
great slaughter. Here General Paou, commanding the
Tartar cavalry, received his mortal wound, in revenge
for which he caused the execution of our unfortunate
* General Montauban took his title of Count de Palikao, from this
bridge, which means " 8 le bridge," so called because it is 8 le, or 2f
miles, along the paved road from Tung-chow.

218 THE CHINA WAR.

countryman, Captain Brabazon, though according to
other accounts, his fate was never ascertained. To
wards the evening, the French encamped close to the
canal upon the British right.
Sir Hope Grant, though within sight of Pekin, was
unable to push his advantages and compel the surrender
of the capital, as, relying upon the assurances of the
diplomatists, he had left his siege guns at Tientsin.
However, Sir Robert Napier, to whom he had sent word
after the action of the 18th, advanced by forced marches,
and arrived on the 24th of September. Five days later
the siege guns came into camp, and, by the 3rd of
October, all the available troops from the rear had
arrived. During the halt, Colonel Wolseley was very busy
surveying the country between Chang-kia-wan and
Pekin, and also reconnoitring about the capital and
obtaining information from the villagers as to the
movements of Sang-ko-lin-sin's Army, which was re
ported to be in position to the north of the city.
Proceeding almost daily with a small party of cavalry
as an escort, he, and other staff officers, advanced occa
sionally within a few hundred yards of the walls of
Pekin. On the 3rd of October, the camp at Pa-le-cheaou was
broken up, and the British Force, six thousand strong,
crossed the canal by the bridge of boats prepared for
the purpose, and encamped on the paved road leading
to Pekin ; and two days later, the French having received
the reinforcements for which they had been waiting,.

THE ADVANCE ON PEKIN. 219
the combined Army, numbering about ten thousand
combatants, carrying three day's cooked rations, and
without tents, advanced in lines of contiguous columns.
After a march of between four and five miles, our
Army halted at a strong position to the north-east of
Pekin, and, at the request of General Montauban,
whose troops had made a longer march, Sir Hope
Grant prepared to bivouac.
Colonel Wolseley located himself and Department in
an old broken-down homestead, the sole occupant of
which was a deaf and imbecile old woman; and, ere
" the early village cock had twice done salutation to
the morn," was only too glad to be astir and quit his
squalid quarters. The enemy's vedettes retreated as
the Allied troops advanced ; and, a halt being called for
breakfast, the Commanders-in-Chief conferred and
arranged their plans. From some high brick-kilns they
could command a good view of the surrounding country,
also of the gates of Pekin, and the towers and minarets
of the Imperial Palaces. After breakfasting, the Allied
Armies advanced ; the English moving on the right, and
making a slight detour so as to attack the line of ruined
earthen ramparts upon their northern face, whilst the
French, advancing direct to the left, entered them at
the salient angle. Our cavalry, at the same time, moved
away to the extreme right, with orders to cut off the
retreat of the enemy from the Teh-sing 'gate, north
wards towards Zehol.
The British column advanced about three miles, and
gained the earthen embankment, which was found to

220 THE CHINA WAR.

be deserted. Sir Hope now sent a message to General
Montauban, informing him of the retreat of the enemy,
and of his intention to push on for Yuen-ming-yuen,
whither the Tartar Army was said to have gone. The
British continued to advance and soon came upon the
main road leading to the Anting gate of the city. As
nothing could be seen of the French, Avho, without
knowing it, had passed in rear of his troops, and as
evening was approaching, Sir Hope Grant halted for
the night close by the ground upon which Sang-ko-
lin-sin's Army had been encamped.
Meanwhile, the British Cavalry, commanded by Bri
gadier Pattle, arrived at the large Peh-ting Temple,
some three miles from the Tey-shun, or second gate of
the north face of the city, close to which they found
the French had halted ; and the French General inti
mating his intention to advance on the Summer Palace,
the Brigadier offered his co-operation, which was
accepted. The French arrived about sunset at the central gate
of the Summer Palace, which is distant about six miles
in a north-westerly direction from Pekin, and having
posted a guard at the main gate, bivouacked under the
trees ; the British Cavalry also passed the night in an
open spot in the fields beyond the large village of Hai-
teen. At daybreak on the following morning (the 7th of
October), Sir Hope Grant, in order to apprise our
Cavalry and the French of the position he had taken
up, fired two guns from the high earthen rampart

A HARD RIDE. 221
close to his' encampment, and directed Colonel Wolseley
to proceed with an escort of two squadrons of Cavalry,
and ascertain their position. Wolseley took the road
towards the Summer Palace, and, passing through an
opening in the western face of the high earthen en
trenchment, proceeded nearly due west for about a
mile. He adopted the course familiar to fox-hunters
at home, and took " casts" in order to come on the
track of the French. At length he sighted, in the dis
tance, a sowar, who was on duty as a Cavalry vedette.
Wolseley rode towards him, but the man, mistaking
the escort for the enemy, put spurs to his horse, and,
notwithstanding that Wolseley shouted to him to stop,
the fellow rode at full speed, and so the chase continued
for a distance of two miles. Following the fugitive,
Wolseley entered the parks and gardens of the Summer
Palace— known as Yuen-ming-yuen, or, " Round and
Brilliant Garden" — which are enclosed on all sides by
high granite walls, having within the area the guard
houses of the Tartar' Avatchmen, and the residences
of the Government officials and Emperor's relatives,
each with walled-in enclosures and high embankments
thickly planted with pine and cedar trees. General
Montauban had fixed his camp in a fine grove of trees
near the grand entrance, and Wolseley, after commu
nicating with him and Brigadier Pattle, rode back to
head-quarters to report, escorted by two sowars.
About noon, Lord Elgin and Sir Hope Grant, guided
by Colonel Wolseley, who had just time before starting
to snatch a hasty breakfast, rode over to Yuen-ming-

222 THE CHINA WAR.

yuen, for the purpose of conferring with General Mon
tauban. On arrival, the Generals with their staffs,
proceeded into the Palace.
It was a curious sight that met Wolseley's eyes as
he entered the Palace, which, for two hundred years,
had been the most cherished abode of the dynasty
of the Emperor Hien-fung, who, among other titles,
arrogated to himself those of " the Sacred Son of
Heaven," and " the Governor and Tranquilliser of the
Universe." The grand entrance opened into a paved
courtyard, crossing which, the party of " barbarians "
entered the Hall of Audience, at the upper end of which,
opposite the door, was the Imperial throne. The
chamber was highly coloured and gilt, and the floor
was of polished marble ; an immense picture, repre
senting the surrounding palaces and gardens, covered
the upper portion of one wall, and the rosewood throne,
surrounded by an open-work balustrade, was a fine
piece of workmanship. Around the apartment were
handsomely-carved sideboards and tables, on which
were arranged enamel and china vases, porcelain bowls,
and large French clocks. Passing through the gardens,
the party of British and French officers entered the
suite of private rooms occupied by the Emperor, which
were filled with the rarest and choicest articles of vertu
of Native and European manufacture. When Wolseley
entered, everything was in statu quo as when the
Emperor fled. "His small cap, decorated Avith the
character of longevity embroidered upon it, lay upon
his bed ; his pipe and tobacco pouch were upon a

THE SUMMER PALACE. 223
small table close by. In all the adjoining rooms were
immense wardrobes filled with silks, satins, and fur
coats. Cloaks covered with the richest golden needle
work, mandarin dresses edged with ermine and sable,
and marked with the representations of the five-clawed
dragons, showing that they were intended for royalty,
were stored in presses. The cushions upon the chairs
and sofas were covered with the finest yellow satin,
embroidered over with figures of dragons and flowers.
Yellow is the Imperial colour, and none but those of
royal birth are permitted to wear clothes made of it.
Jade stone is of all precious articles the most highly
prized in China, some of it fetching immense prices.
For centuries past the finest pieces have been purchased
by the Emperors, and stored up in Yuen-ming-yuen.
In some rooms large chests were filled with cups, vases,
plates, &c, made of Jade stone." The private apart
ments of the Emperor were surrounded by those of his
wives, retainers, eunuchs, and servants; these, in
addition to the buildings, each stored with different
articles of use or luxury, made up a vast group of some
fifteen or twenty pavilions. One was full of furs,
another of silks, another of drawings, a series of four
thousand, illustrating the whole history of China, which,
during the sack, the soldiers, ignorant of their value,
trod underfoot, and used as firing, so that scarce two
hundred were saved. Then there was the Carriage
Palace, in which were found tAvo howitzers, and two
magnificent coaches, presented by Lord Amherst to the
Emperor Taou-Kwang in 1818, but which had never

224 THE CHINA WAR.
been used ; also Lord Macartney's presents to the
" Brother of the Sun and Moon," during his embassy
in 1793; and, lastly, in his Majesty's private room,
was found Lord Elgin's Treaty of 1858, in its en
velope. Passing to the rear of the buildings, Wolseley took
a brief survey of the park, enclosed by a Avail some
twelve miles in circumference. The walks and paths
seemed endless, and led over marble bridges, canals,
and fish ponds, upon some of which were mimic fleets
of war-junks armed with brass cannon, which afforded
amusement to the Emperor.
A Mixed Commission was nominated to divide the
booty between the soldiers of the two Armies ; but the
French managed to secure more than their rightful
share by looting.*
On the 11th of October, a sale was held of the booty
which realized 123,000 dollars (about .£24,000 sterling),
a sum which enabled each soldier to receive seventeen
dollars, {£,?> 10s.), and the officers, who were divided into
three classes, and received one-third of the whole, were
paid in like proportion. With characteristic generosity,
* "If the reader will imagine," says Wolseley, "some three thousand
men let loose into a city composed only of Museums and Wardour Streets,
he may have some faint idea of what Yuen-ming-yuen looked like after it
had been about twenty hours in the possession of the French. Officers
and men seemed to have been seized with a temporary insanity ; in
body and soul they were absorbed in one pursuit, which was plunder,
plunder. I stood by while one of the regiments was supposed to be
parading ; but although their fall-in was sounded over and over again,
I do not believe there was an average of ten men a company present."

SURRENDER OF PEKIN. 225
Sir Hope Grant declined to take his share, throwing it
into the common fund, an example which was followed
by Sir Robert Napier and Sir John Michel, the Generals
of Division.
Wolseley returned with Sir Hope Grant to the
British camp before the Teh-shun gate, and, on the
9th, the French, having burnt the Emperor's private
residence to the ground, quitted Yuen-ming-yuen and
encamped to the British left, opposite the An-ting gate
of Pekin. :
On the following day the Allied Commanders drew
up and forwarded a summons to the Prince of Kung,
demanding the surrender of the An-ting gate by noon
of the 13th of October, failing which the city should be
bombarded; and proclamations, signed by Sir Hope
Grant, were posted up in the suburbs, warning the
inhabitants of his ultimatum, and advising them ta
clear out of the city. A reconnaissance was made of
the northern face of the city defences, during which
Wolseley, and other officers of the staff, rode up to the
edge of the ditch, and a position was' settled for the
breaching batteries, about six hundred yards to the east
of the An-ting gate.
On the night of the 12th all arrangements for opening
fire at noon of the following day, were completed, and the
batteries were unmasked ; when at the last moment the
resolution of Prince Kung gave way. At five minutes to
twelve, Colonel Stephenson, who, with Mr. Parkes, had
taken up his station close to the An-ting gate to
receive any overtures, was seen galloping up to Sir
vol. i. 0

226 THE CHINA WAR.

Robert Napier, who stood watch in hand, and an
nounced that it would be surrendered. A party of the
67th Regiment and 8th Punjaubees, immediately ad
vanced, and, driving before them the dense crowd of
natives, took possession of the gate. The French then
marched in, and soon the Union Jack and Tricolour
were flying side by side on the walls of the chief city
of the most populous kingdom of the world.
A few days after the occupation of Pekin, Colonel
Wolseley, while engaged on a survey of the west wall,
accompanied by his interpreter, Mr. Swinhoe, and an
escort of cavalry, encountered a party of Chinamen
with five carts, and, on examination, found that each
contained a coffin with the body of one of our country
men who had been captured on the 18th of September,
and died of the cruel treatment to which they had been
subjected. On the head of each coffin was pasted a
piece of paper, inscribed with the name, in Chinese, of
the deceased person it contained, and one marked " Po-
ne-pe, died of disease on the 25th of September," was
supposed to refer to Mr. Bowlby. The persons in
charge of the bodies said that they had been brought
from a town some forty miles north of Pekin. By the
16th of October the remains of our ill-fated country
men, except those of Captain Brabazon and the French
Abbe de Luc, of whom the Chinese authorities said
they knew nothing, had been returned, and Sir Hope
Grant, in order to impress the population with a sense
of the estimation in which they were held, resolved to
give them the honour of a military funeral. General

DESTRUCTION OF THE SUMMER PALACE. 227

Ignatieff, the Russian Ambassador, having of his own
accord offered the Russian cemetery, near the An-ting
gate, as a place for interment, the funeral took place on
the following evening. All the officers of our Army, a
large number of French officers, and the attaches of the
Russian mission, joined the procession, which consisted
of a troop of the King's Dragoon Guards, a troop of
Fane's Horse, an officer and twenty men from each in
fantry Regiment, and the band of the 60th Rifles.
Lord Elgin and Sir Hope Grant attended as chief
mourners, and three volleys having been fired over the
coffins, which were laid side by side, the earth closed
over the remains of a band of gallant and accomplished
gentlemen, whose sad fate formed the most melan
choly episode of the China War.*
Lord Elgin demanded as compensation the payment/
of 300,000 taels, about £100,000, which was paid on
the 22nd instant, and in expiation of the foul crime,
his Lordship directed the destruction of the Palace of
Yuen-ming-yuen, which was accordingly carried into
effect by Sir John Michel's Division.
Colonel Wolseley was present during the 18th and
19th of October, while the work of destruction was in
progress, and took the opportunity of inspecting the
* Of the party of twenty-six Enghshmen and sowars, thirteen,
including Messrs. Parkes and Loch, were surrendered on the 8th and
12th of October, and six out of the thirteen Frenchmen. The bodies of
the deceased Frenchmen were interred in an old Jesuit burial-ground,
with military honours, Sir Hope Gtrant, with his staff and numerous
officers, attending ; and the Sikhs performed the last offices for their
countrymen, by reducing their bodies to ashes.
Q 2

228 THE CHINA WAR.
country around the palaces, and that lying between them
and the neighbouring hills. He was among the last to
quit the heap of smouldering ashes that alone remained
to mark the site of the palace, in which, for centuries,
the Emperors of the Mantchoo, or Ta-tsing, dynasty
received the embassies of some of the most powerful
nations on earth.
The ratification and signature of the Treaty of
Tientsin took place on the 24th of October, Colonel
Wolseley, in consequence of rumours of treachery,
having, on the preceding evening, proceeded into the
city and made a careful inspection of the Hall of
Ceremonies, one of the six Imperial Boards, the scene
of the meeting.
On the 22nd October, Colonel Wolseley proceeded to
Tungchow to superintend the transport, by boat, from
there to Tientsin, of the sick and heavy stores. During
his stay before Pekin, by great diligence he and his as
sistant, Lieutenant Harrison, had managed to make
surveys of the country around Pekin, with the excep
tion of the south side, which was too distant from the
camp to enable him to reconnoitre there with a suitable
force and return on the same day. In all other direc
tions, however, the localities were closely examined,
and the beautifully-executed maps he prepared are,
doubtless, to be found in the Quartermaster-General's
Department at the Horse Guards. In his history of the
campaign, where his own name nowhere appears, he
states that the maps were prepared " under the super
intendence of Colonel Mackenzie," and merely adds : 

RETURN FROM PEKIN. 229
"All the information that could -be obtained was
collected, so that in the event of any future operations
being required in those regions, our work will be much
simplified." The good work he had done, did not,
however, escape the notice of those most competent to
judge, and whose favourable opinion would be, there
fore, all the more highly appreciated. The Command
ing General bestowed high praise upon him, and
frequently mentioned him in despatches.
On the 7th of November the 2nd Division quitted
Pekin, Sir Hope Grant and the First Division marching
on the following day. Quitting Tungchow, the Army
marched to Tientsin, where a garrison was left under
Brigadier Staveley. The embarkation was commenced
about the middle of November — the cavalry proceeding
onto Taku, where they embarked — and completed by
the end of the month, and very hard work it was for
the officers of the Quartermaster-General's Department
and the gunboats, which day and night were busy,
amid very severe weather, conveying the troops to the
fleet. But the arduous duty was performed with ex
emplary regularity, and without a hitch or accident of
any kind, though not a day too soon, for, on the 25th
of November, the mouth of the Peiho was completely
frozen over near the city, and Colonel Wolseley and
other officers walked across the river.
Wolseley accompanied Sir Hope Grant to Shanghai,
where they, and twelve other officers, hired a Penin
sular and Oriental steamer, and made a pleasure-trip
to Japan, every important port of which interesting

230 THE CHINA WAR.
country they visited. On their arrival at Yokohama
the party rode to Yeddo, a distance of nine miles, and
stayed at the British Embassy; and, finally, having
obtained the permission of the Japanese Government,
proceeded, on their return voyage — this being only the
second steamer to make her appearance in those waters
— through the famous Inland Sea, the beautiful scenery
of which has been described by Oliphant and other
writers. With the departure of Sir Hope Grant for England,
the China War of 1860 was "as a tale that was told."*
As this campaign was one of the shortest, so it was
one of the most ably-conducted, this country had
hitherto waged. The more recent Abyssinian and
Ashantee Expeditions have accustomed us to short and
sharp campaigns, crowned with brilliant success, for
which we are indebted to the genius of the commanders
-who led British soldiers across the mountain passes
of Abyssinia, and the fever-laden forests of the Gold
Coast ; but the Chinese War of 1860 is not without its
lessons, and, though not so romantic in its incidents,
or watched with such eager expectancy by the British
public, as were those two memorable Expeditions, Sir
Hope Grant scarcely received adequate praise or
reward for the great success he achieved. The storm of
the Taku forts was a gallant feat, and the advance
* The Army engaged in this War received a medal, and those present
at the storm of the Taku fort s and the capture of Pekin, were awarded
two clasps. The thanks of both Houses of Parliament were voted to
Sir Hope Grant and those who had served under his command.

RESULT OF THE CHINA EXPEDITION. 231
upon, and occupation of, the populous Chinese capital,
— the Kamballi of Marco Polo, around which hung a
halo of romance as the place whence Kublai Khan
issued his decrees to the ambassadors of dependent
nations — was a daring act for so small a force to exe
cute. The distance traversed was limited in compari
son with that over which Sir Robert Napier and Sir
Garnet Wolseley advanced, and though there were no
natural obstacles to overcome, the country might have
been made impracticable had Sang-ko-lin-sin adopted
the tactics of Napoleon in 1812, while the population
was enormous, though happily unwarlike. The loss in
all three instances, whether in the field of battle or on the
march was very small, and the operations were conducted
with extraordinary rapidity and a masterly adaptation
of means to ends. Not only is the conduct of these
campaigns fraught with weighty lessons to all students
of the art of war, but, in each case, the drama is full of
interest to all Englishmen, and the denouement was
replete with tragic effect and grandeur. The treach
erous murder of our countrymen by Hien-fung, the
wholesale massacres of Theodore, and the sanguinary
orgies of Koffee Kalcalli, received a fitting expiation in
the destruction by the purifying agency of fire, of the
Summer Palace, of Magdala, left a blackened rock, and
of Coomassie, with its Golgotha of decaying corpses.
After the restoration of peace, Admiral Hope pro
ceeded up the Yang-tze-Kiang with a squadron of gun
boats, 'and, in the month of January, 1861, Colonel
Wolseley was directed to proceed, accompanied by an

232 THE CHINA WAR.
interpreter, to Nankin on a semi-diplomatic, semi-
military mission, with the object of reporting to the
military authorities, upon the position and prospects of
the Taipings,* who had now been eleven years in arms ;
also of notifying to the rebel King, our Treaty with the
Imperial Government, by which the Yang-tze-Kiang
was opened to foreign trade, and that our merchants
intended to send vessels up to Hankow immediately,
and our Government proposed establishing Consulates
there and at Hu-Kau and Ching-Kiang-foo. He was
accommodated in a palace belonging to the Chung- wan,
or " Faithful King," one of the eleven Taiping Chiefs,
and received daily a supply of fowl, eggs, and other
* The Taiping cause at that time excited much compassionate
fervour among a small clique in England, who appeared to think that,
as these people were nominally Christians, they were justified, in their
iconoclastic zeal, in committing wholesale murder and rapine. The
real facts of the case were misrepresented, from interested motives, by
some of the merchants, and from bigoted zeal by certain of the Protes
tant missionaries, who regarded these rebels with favour because they
expressed a determination to extirpate idolatry, whether heathen or
Popish, from the face of the land. But their religion was a mixture
of blasphemy and barbarity, the chief head, "Tien-wan," being a
prophet who lived at Nankin, in seclusion with his three hundred
female domestics and sixty-eight wives, in a state of the most grovel
ling sensuality, until he died by his own hand, some four years later.
All who opposed the new religionists were put to the sword, and entire
provinces were desolated, the rebel soldiers pillaging the cities they
conquered, and recruiting their armies by pressing into their service
all males capable of bearing arms. Colonel Wolseley says that, know-
ing the imbecility and corruption of the Imperial Government, he went
to Nankin strongly prejudiced in favour of the Taipings, but he came
away enlightened as to the real character of this mock Christianity.

WOLSELEY'S MISSION TO NANKIN 233
eatables, for which no money was required, it being the
avowed intention of the leaders to abolish the use
of coin, and reduce society to the patriarchal state ;
actually, on Wolseley's offering money to the wretched
starving coolies who carried his wearing apparel, they
refused to accept it if any one was present, from dread
of the executioner's sword.
All communications between him and the Taiping
authorities were carried on through Tsan-wan, the
cousin of Tien-wan (the " Heavenly King") with whom
he had great influence. Wolseley used to stroll about
the city unquestioned, visiting all that was worth
seeing, including the famous " Porcelain Tower," the
old tombs of the Ming dynasty, and the extensive field-
works surrounding the walls, thrown up by the Impe
rialists during their siege of the city, extending over
several years. The only annoyance he suffered was
caused by the crowds of idlers who followed him about,
much as a London mob tracks the footsteps of any
Eastern visitor, whose peculiarity of dress attracts the
eye of the Cockney gamin. But in China the "hoi
polloi" though, perhaps, not more personal in their
remarks, are certainly less complimentary, and the
opprobrious epithet of " fan-qui," (foreign devil) was
applied to Wolseley more audibly than was at all
agreeable. " Crowds of men and women," he writes, " came daily
to see us; all were most good-humoured, and took
considerable pleasure in examining our clothes, and

234 THE CHINA WAR.

watching us eat. One evening a great procession
carrying lanthorns visited us."
Wolseley visited a new palace built by Tien-wan,
which was levelled to the ground by the Imperialists
in 1864, in order to witness the ceremonies attendant
upon the promulgation of a royal edict, and one which
he saw, was worded in the most blasphemous language,
the name of Tien-wan being coupled with the Trinity,
as he was declared to be the brother and equal of
Christ. During Wolseley's stay at Nankin, the ' Yang-tse,' a
fine steamer belonging to Messrs. Dent & Co., arrived
there on its way to Hankow, and Admiral Hope's
squadron not having yet appeared, he gladly availed
himself of an invitation to proceed thither from a
member of the firm who happened to be on board. On
the 28th of February, 1861, he quitted the city of
Nankin, and, after a pleasant trip up the Yang-tze-
Kiang, which he describes in detail in his Journal,
arrived at Hankow at four p.m. on the 5th of March.
Wolesley was received with the utmost consideration
by the Viceroy, Kwang-wan, and, on the occasion of
his making a state visit, was attended by the Com
mandant and a " three button Mandarin," who escorted
him in the state barge, a vessel of one hundred and fifty
tons burden. A triumphal arch, covered with flags and
coloured cloth, was erected in his honour, and a vast
crowd lined the river front of the city along which he
was carried in a sedan chair, all anxious to catch a
glimpse of the " foreign devil," and only kept in order

THE TAIPING REBELLION. 235
by the police, who freely used their whips of twisted
thongs. Colonel Wolseley quitted Hankow on the
10th of March, and reached Shanghai on the evening
of the 16th, when he bade adieu to the hospitable
owner of the " Yang-tse," having greatly enjoyed his
trip. In quitting Shanghai for his mission to Nankin,
Wolseley had been furnished with merely verbal
instructions to gain all the information practicable of
the position and prospects of the Taipings, considered
from a military point of view. The conclusion he
arrived at from a close survey of their resources, was
most unfavourable to their eventual success. In the
opinions he formed he was not, however, supported by
British officials, who, it might be thought, from their
long residence in the country, and intimacy with the
people and their language, would have arrived at juster
conclusions. Thus, Consul Meadows, in a Despatch to
Lord John Russell, dated 19th of February in this
year, took a favourable view of the rebel power, stating :
— " I entirely deny that the Taipings have no regular
Government, and have "no claim to be considered a
political power;" and to combat the prejudice excited
against them on account of their atrocious custom of
carrying fire and sword into every captured city, actually
adduced such a military precaution as " the destruction
of the suburbs of Shanghai by the British and French
garrisons on the approach of the Taipings a few months
previously," as equally indefensible ! Consul Meadows
also expressed an opinion that, to subjugate his inter
esting proteges, it would require on the part of the

236 THE CHINA WAR.

power which had just humiliated the Imperial Govern
ment, and defeated and dispersed its armies, " a large
fleet of steamers and some twenty thousand troops
operating in three or four armies in the country under
their authority, extending eight hundred or nine hun
dred miles from north to south, and one thousand or
one thousand one hundred east and west." Colonel
Wolseley, in his Report, took a far different view of the
strength of the Taipings, which turned out to be but
weakness when, with native troops alone, Colonel
Gordon, in his brief campaign of three months, com
pletely shattered this power, which, to the consular
mind, appeared so formidable a military organization.
From Shanghai, Colonel Wolseley proceeded to
Hong Kong, whence he embarked, the last of the head
quarter staff to leave the country, in one of the steamers
of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, and landed
in England in May 1861, after an absence of something
over four years.
During that brief space in Wolseley's military career,
incidents had been crowded sufficient to make a life
time eventful. This country had emerged from one of
the most tremendous crises, as regards the integrity of
her dominions and the honour of the flag, that she has
encountered in her " eventful story ;" and she had
struck down to the dust the pride and military power
of the most populous, and one of the most ancient,
empires in the world. By these achievements England
had regained her pride of place, for though her position
as one of the Great Powers can never be disputed, as

WOLSELEY'S RETURN TO ENGLAND. 237
long as she wields the sceptre of tho seas, her prestige
and military status had received a severe shock by the
events of the Crimean War.
During those four years, also, Wolseley had fre
quently found himself face to face with Death in many
of the varied forma "the lean abhorred monster" assumes
in his battle with life. He had encountered him amid
the terrors of the storm and shipwreck, when it seemed
as if the sea was to engulphthe "twice five hundred iron
men," who had embarked in the ill-fated ' Transit.' He
had met him in the battle field, and when struggling
through the narrow streets of Lucknow with countless
matchlockmen aiming at him from " tower and turret
and bartizan ;" and he had wrestled with him in the
form the destroyer assumes, when he is in his fellest
mood, — that of the pestilence which, even in the hour
of victory, dogs the footsteps of our Armies in the East,
and, in tho shape of cholera or heat apoplexy, carries
off his victims from among our bravest and most
vigorous. From all these perils, by land and by sea,
by battle, fire, and wreck, he had been preserved to
land once more in his country, and we doubt not that
on sighting the white cliffs of his native land, he offered
up heartfelt thanks to the Providence that had watched
over his safety during the four past eventful years.
On his arrival in England, Colonel Wolseley, who
was promoted for his services to a substantive majority,
got his long leave of eighteen months, and, after
visiting his family, proceeded in the Autumn of 1861 to
Paris, where he employed his leisure in painting in oils

238 THE CHINA WAR.

and water colours, for, like some other officers of the
British Army, he added to his professional acquire
ments the skill of an accomplished artist. Wolseley
seemed, however, — like the " Stormy Petrel" of the
ocean — to be the harbinger of wars and rumours of
wars, for, as on his return from Burmah, he had
scarcely set foot on the soil of his native land, than he
found her embroiled in a stupendous conflict with one
of the most powerful empires of the world, in the
vortex of which he was himself quickly drawn, so
again, hardly had he landed from service in the East,
than there was every indication that this country would
be soon grappling in a life-and-death struggle with the
greatest Republic of modern times.

CHAPTER V.
CANADIAN SERVICES.
The Trent Affair— Wolseley Embarks for Canada, and is employed
on Transport Duty — His Visit to the Head-quarters of Generals
Lee and Longstreet, and Impressions of the Confederate Armies —
Wolseley's Services during the Fenian Invasion in 1866.
IN this politically hard-living age — when, within
a decade, empires are founded and subverted,
ancient despotisms humbled to the dust, and new
republics given to the European system; when wars
of the first magnitude are waged, resulting in
battles and sieges, wherein hundreds of thousands
of combatants are engaged, only, however, to lay
down their arms — it has, perhaps, escaped the
memory of many among us that, in 1861, this country
was on the verge of hostilities with the United
States, then not long entered upon that "War of
Secession" which demonstrated the vast resources of
the Great Republic, and the warlike spirit which only
slumbered within the breasts of her citizens, who,

240 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
whether as Confederates or Federals showed,
themselves no unworthy scions of the Anglo-Saxon
stock. In the winter of 1861, nothing looked more cer
tain on the political horizon, than the embroilment
of this country in that momentous struggle, the
issues of which would, in that event, have been
far different from what history records. At that
time the destinies of England were still wielded
by the aged statesman, Lord Palmerston, who ex
hibited in this crisis all the warlike spirit and
energy for which his name was almost a synonym,
until the Danish business, when what Lord *• Derby
called the " meddle and muddle " policy of the
Foreign Secretary, caused it to be associated with
something like pusillanimity. Stat magni nominis
umbra might have been written of his Lordship after
that fiasco.
The incident which nearly precipitated this country
into war, was that known as the " Trent Affair,"
when, on the 8th of November, Commodore Wilkes,
commanding the United States' ship-of-war, ' San Ja
cinto,' boarded the British Mail Company's steamship
' Trent,' on the high seas, and seized Messrs. Mason and
Slidell, the Confederate Agents accredited to the Courts
of London and Paris. Though the act was a clear
violation of national rights and international law, Com
modore Wilkes was raised to the height of popularity
among the rowdy writers of the American press, who

RELEASE OF MESSRS. MASON AND SLIDELL. 241
indulged in that species of "tall" talk expressively
known as " spread eagleism ;" and even an eminent
statesman like Everett, who had been Secretary of
State to President Fillmore, and previously Minister in
England, gave Wilkes' conduct the sanction of his
approval. The Commodore had, however, by his rash
deed, landed the Federal Government on the horns of
a dilemma. Either it was a belligerent power or it
was not. If it was engaged in merely putting down a
rebellion of its own subjects, as President Lincoln
maintained, it was not belligerent, and therefore had
not even the right of search to ascertain whether the
neutral vessel carried contraband of war or not.
England was seized with a patriotic mania, and the
most pacific were fired with a determination to uphold
the honour of the flag and avenge this outrage, if
reparation were not promptly made by the surrender of
the Confederate Envoys. But the American press and
public were equally outspoken against the possibility
of concession, and for some weeks a war seemed in
evitable. Our Government displayed the utmost
energy in the preparations they made to meet the con
tingency, and — while the country waited with feverish
anxiety the reply to Lord Russell's ultimatum of the
30th of November, addressed to Lord Lyons, requiring
" the liberation of the four gentlemen and their delivery
to your Lordship in order that they may again be
placed under British protection, and a suitable apology
for the aggression which has been committed,"— the
dockyards resounded with the din of workmen fitting
VOL. T. R

242 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.

vessels for sea, troops were despatched to Canada with
all possible despatch, and that colony, with the loyalty
for which it has ever been remarkable, called out its
militia and volunteers, so as to be ready to defend its
borders from aggression. Happily, however, wise
counsels prevailed in the Lincoln Cabinet ; it was seen
by the American Government and people, that John
Bull was really in earnest this time and meant to fight ;
all the Governments of Europe were as one upon the
merits of the question, and the cabinets of Paris, Berlin,
and Vienna, addressed weighty remonstrances to the
Washington Government, recommending them to make
the amende and release the prisoners ; and, finally,
after an irritating delay, a despatch was received
through Lord Lyons, from Mr. Seward, dated 26th
of December, who, after arguing the case at most
immoderate length, stated that "the four persons in
question are now held in military custody at Fort
Warren, in the State of Masachusetts. They will be
cheerfully liberated. Your Lordship will please indi
cate a time and place for receiving them." This was
done by placing them on board Her Majesty's ship
'Rinaldo,' Commander (now Admiral Sir William)
Hewett, who was specially sent out to receive them ;
and they arrived at Southampton, on the 29th of
January, 1862, in the ' La Plata.'
On the 17th of November, the day the news of the
' Trent ' outrage' reached London, a Cabinet Council
was held, and, on the following day, the War Office
ordered the despatch to Canada of a battery of Arm-

WOLSELEY PROCEEDS TO CANADA. 243

strong guns, a large supply of arms and accoutrements
for the Colonial Militia, and a vast quantity of
shot, shell, powder, ammunition, and other warlike
stores. The Controller of Transports chartered the steamer
' Melbourne,' but he could scarcely have made a more
unfortunate selection, as she was old and worn out, and
incapable of resisting the ice, which is sometimes met
in the St. Lawrence after the month of October. How
ever, she was readily available, being in the Port of
London, and, on the 7th of December, sailed with a
Battery of Artillery, thirty thousand stand of arms,
and between eight and nine hundred tons of stores.
The War Department having determined to send
out Special Service officers to prepare for the re
ception of the troops, which were to be despatched in
large swift steamers, Colonel McKenzie was appointed
Quartermaster-General, and he immediately asked for
the services of Colonel Wolseley.
At this time Wolseley, who was on leave, was hunt
ing in the County Cork. He had just bought two
horses, and had enjoyed one day's sport on each
animal, when a telegram came from Colonel McKenzie
offering him employment on active service as Assistant
Quartermaster-General. Not many hours were suffered
to elapse before the hunters were given away, and
Wolseley was in London. Colonel McKenzie proposed
to the War Office that he, and the other selected officers,
should proceed to Canada by the next mail steamer,
but, with singular obtuseness, it was directed that they
R 2

244 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
should embark in the ' Melbourne,' which was notorious
during the China War, where it was employed as a
transport, for its slowness and a habit it had of
breaking down. In vain Colonel McKenzie, who knew
from experience the steamer's unseaworthy qualities,
pointed out that the object for which the Special Service
officers were proceeding to Canada, namely, to prepare
for the reception of the troops under orders for that
country, would be best attained by their embarking in
a swift mail steamer. It was all to no purpose, and
the influences which were paramount when the question
of embarking valuable lives in the ' Transit,' and, more
lately, in the ' Megsera,' was under consideration, again
prevailed. The 'Melbourne' had on board, besides Colonels
McKenzie and Wolseley, Colonel Lysons,* (selected to
organize the Canadian Militia.) Captain Stoddart, R.E.,
and the late lamented Sir William Gordon, R.E., of
" Gordon's Battery," a man of the true heroic mould,
who proceeded in command of the troops. No sooner
* The ground to be traversed by the troops proceeding to Quebec
was familiar to Colonel Lysons, who, in 1843, when a young officer in
the Royal Scots, on the occasion of the wreck at Cape Chat, near the
mouth of the St. Lawrence, of the • Premier,' sailing transport, convey
ing his Regiment from Canada, volunteered to proceed on snow-shoes
to Quebec, a distance of three hundred miles. This distance he actually
accomplished by walking and travelling in carts, within six days. A
ship was started off to the rescue immediately on his arrival, and was
just in time to embark the troops before the river was frozen over. On
the occasion of the wreck it was mainly by his gallantry and devotion
that the lives of some himdreds of men, women, and children were
saved.

THE PASSAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. 245
had the 'Melbourne' sailed than she showed her un-
seaworthy qualities.
After a weary passage, the ship, according to orders,
tried to get through the ice to Bic, on the St. Lawrence,
but this being found wholly impracticable, she bore up,
under stress of weather and want of coal, for Sydney,
Cape Breton Island. The miseries of that passage had
been paralleled before by Wolseley in his ' Transit' ex
periences, but still it was a peculiarly hard fate that
forced him and his shipmates to pass the Christmas Day
of 1861, coiled up on tables and benches in the cuddy,
while the " green seas " washed at their sweet will
through that apartment, and the ship laboured heavily
against the wintry gale. The ' Melbourne ' was thirty
days performing a voyage which the ' Persia,' carrying
a portion of the reinforcements, for whose reception
they had been despatched to prepare, made in nearly
one-third of that time. While at Sydney, a telegram
arrived from Halifax, announcing the surrender of
Messrs. Mason and Slidell, and that all chance of war
was at an end. The ' Melbourne ' then proceeded to
Halifax, where she found three transports which had
disembarked their troops, the War Office having deter
mined to send to Canada ten thousand men and four
batteries of Artillery.
From Halifax Colonel Wolseley and other officers
proceeded, by a Cunard mail steamer, to Boston, on
their voyage to Montreal. It was feared that the
Boston people would be uncivil, and the officers were
warned that the lower classes, in the excited state of

246 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
public feeling, might even offer violence were they to
display the British red coat in the streets. On their
arrival, however, they found it was far otherwise ; they
were treated most respectfully while walking about
during their afternoon's stay, looking at the lions of
the city, and were regaled sumptuously by a private
citizen. The same night they started for Canada, and,
after a cold journey during the depth of an inclement
winter, arrived at Montreal on a Sunday. On the
following morning Colonel Wolseley started off on a
journey of three hundred miles, down the river to
Riviere du Loup, situated on the terminus of the Grand
Trunk Railway, where the troops coming from St.
John's, New Brunswick, including a battalion of the
Scots Fusilier Guards and two batteries of Artillery,
which arrived out in the ' Hibernian,' were transhipped
from sleighs, or sleds, in which they had travelled, via
Fredericton, to the railway by which they proceeded
to their destinations at Quebec, Montreal, Hamilton,
Kingston, or Toronto. Colonel Wolseley was the only
staff officer at Riviere du Loup, and had to make all the
arrangements for the accommodation and passage of
the troops, who, after sleeping one night at the
village, continued their journey on the following
morning. During his stay at this cheerless little place, the
troops passed through at the rate of nearly two hundred
men a day. It was his task to lodge, feed, and clothe
them from the stores placed under his charge ; and
then to start them off on their long journey by rail.

ON DUTY AT RIVIERE DU LOUP. 247
These duties were fulfilled without a hitch or a single
accident, and of the large force that passed through his
hands, only one man deserted, although during the
transit they passed close to the American frontier, at
one place only a frozen river forming the boundary,
and inducements were held out to them to forsake the
flag of their country. In the middle of March, on
the completion of his duties at Riviere du Loup, Wolseley
returned to Montreal, the head-quarters of the Army
in the Dominion, then under the command of Sir
W. F. Williams (of Kars).
Soon after these events Colonel McKenzie proceeded
to England, and Wolseley acted for some months as
Deputy Quartermaster - General, until relieved by
Colonel Lysons, who, soon after his first arrival in
Canada for the purpose of organising the Militia, had
returned to England, upon the rejection by the Oppo
sition, led by the late Sir George Cartier, of the
Government Militia Bill, a measure founded upon the
scheme elaborated by Colonel Lysons at Quebec, and
brought forward by the Ministry of that able and
patriotic statesman, Sir John Macdonald, who resigned
upon failing to pass his bill.
Colonel Wolseley went on leave in the latter part of
August, 1862, but like many great actors, who, they
say, on taking a holiday, may generally be found in the
stalls of a theatre scrutinizing the performance of a
brother artist, his strong professional proclivities in
duced him, instead of enjoying a little well-earned re
laxation, to repair to the seat of war then raging in its

248 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
fiercest intensity between the Federal and Confederate
States. While living at Montreal with his friend,
Inspector-General (now Sir William) Mtiir, Chief
Medical Officer in Canada, they decided tho question as
to which of them should join the head-quarters of the
Northern, and which those of the Southern, Army, with
the view of comparing notes afterwards, by tho familiar
method of " tossing up." Wolseley " won the toss,"
and elected to proceed South, in order to seek instruction
under that unequalled master of tho art of war, General
Robert Lee — " unequalled," we say advisedly, for it is
Wolseley's opinion that in military genius Lee has had
no superior since the great Napoleon, and ho even
places him above the great German Generals of the
War of 1870. But to join a Confederate Army in the
field, or even to enter Richmond, was not only a most
difficult, but an extremely hazardous, adventure, for,
even if he escaped the toils of the Northerners, and
avoided being seized as a spy, the British Government
highly reprobated such proceedings on tho part of their
officers, and the experiment was ono that entailed the
risk of his commission. However, such considerations
were not likely to deter Wolseley from carrying out
any scheme on which he had set his heart, so he pro
ceeded to lay his plans, and procure letters of intro
duction to leading Southerners from sympathisers and
correspondents. Having first proceeded to New York,
he left that city for Baltimore on the 11th of September,
and there made arrangements, in conjunction with his
friends, for crossing the frontier by " underground

WOLSELEY'S VISIT DOWN SOUTH. 249
railway," as the method by which communication
was kept up between the North and Secessia, was
called. Armed with letters of introduction, he prepared to
follow in the footsteps of the adventurous messengers,
who were wont to " run the blockade of the Potomac,"
when conveying information between Richmond and
the Northern States. There was, however, a difficulty
in his case, for his " patois English," as the Yankees
called it, would inevitably betray his nationality, and
all our countrymen were under a ban in the North, as
" rebel sympathisers ;" then there was the inevitable
portmanteau of civilised life, without which an English
gentleman, Avho has a regard for personal cleanliness
and a change of linen, would not care to travel in
country places where hotels are unknown, but which
was not. considered a necessity in a land where your
"free-born American" thinks himself amply provided
with a few paper collars and a pocket-comb.
When preparing to leave Baltimore he met the
Honourable Frank Lawley, a brother of Lord Wen-
lock's, at that time one of The Times correspondents in
America, a clever and adventurous gentleman, and they
soon agreed to run the blockade together. But in the
first instance, it was a matter of difficulty to reach the
banks of the Potomac, whose broad stream, again,
patrolled by numerous Federal gunboats, offered an
almost impassable barrier to any seeking to cross over
into Dixie's Land. Though the Federal gunboats
patrolling the river, were not as numerous as between

250 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
July, 1863, when the battle of Gettysburgh was fought'
and April, 1865. at the close of the War. on the other
hand, at this time, as Mr. Lawley observes. " there was
no such organization for running the blockade between
Baltimore and Richmond as was established during
1863, and as was available for those rightly initiated
into its mysteries until the spring of 1865."
The Potomac at the point of crossing, is rather an
arm of the sea than a river, and varies betAveen ten and
thirteen miles in breadth, so that during the prevalence
of south-east winds, its broad bosom is scarcely less
agitated than the Atlantic outside the Capes of the
Chesapeake. Mr. Lawley says: — "It was necessary
for the boatmen connected with the Signal Service of
the Confederate Government to be well acquainted with
the moods of the mighty and dangerous river, in order to
understand the seasons when it was safe for a row-boat
with muffled oars to cross. In addition, the phase of the
moon had to be closely watched, in order that a dark
night might be selected. But even during the blackest
night there were the Federal gunboats, which were at
last no less thick upon the stream than policemen in
the Strand between midnight and sunrise. Each of
these boats was armed with a calcium or lime-light,
and, if the slightest sound was heard at night upon the
surface of the stream, a broad luminous ray of light
was shot forth from the sentinel vessel, Avhich illu
mined the river for a quarter of a mile, so that the head
of a swimming otter Avas discernible."
But before the Potomac could be crossed, the two

FROM BALTIMORE TO THE POTOMAC. 251
Englishmen had to smuggle themselves from Baltimore
to the northern bank, every road and path leading to
which was patrolled by bodies of Federal troops. The
start was made in a waggon and pair, driven by a
trusty agent, who had been well paid for the trouble
and risk. In this conveyance they contrived to slip
from the country-house of one Secession sympathiser
to another, and as bodies of patrolling Cavalry and
Infantry had at that time regular beats and fixed hours
for traversing them, which were well known to the
farmers in that part of Maryland, who were nearly all
Secessionists, they managed to eluded the patrols while
proceeding from house to house. " I travelled," says
Colonel Wolseley,* " about thirty miles a-day, until I
reached the village from which I had arranged that my
final start should be made, and where I was informed
certain people, with whose names I had been furnished,
would arrange all matters for me.
"For the first few nights of our journeyings we
stopped at different gentlemen's houses, where we
were entertained with patriarchal hospitality. It was
interesting in some instances to hear the history of these
homesteads ; many of them had been built before the
Declaration of Independence, and more than one was of
brick imported from England. All the proprietors
boasted of their English descent from good families,
* See an article in "Blackwood's Magazine" for January, 1863,
entitled " A Month's Visit to the Confederate Head-quarters, by an
Enghsh Officer." This is not the only article Colonel Wolseley has
written in " Old Ebony."

252 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
and seemed to attach far greater importance to blood
and ancient pedigree than even we do."
At length they arrived at a farm-house on the river,
but had great difficulty in procuring a boat ; and after
many disappointments they were directed to a smuggler
on the river, who had a craft of his own, in which he
consented to take them over. " We remained," says
Wolseley, "for a night at his abode, sleeping in a garret
destitute of windows, but abounding with rats which
sadly disturbed my friend's rest, though I slept
soundly being accustomed to rough it in every part of
the globe."
They were astir early, and embarked in the smuggler's
boat. " The creek," says Wolseley, " into which we
had hoped to run on the Virginian shore, was about a
couple of miles higher up than the point from which we
started, but, unfortunately, a gunboat lay off the
entrance to it, and there were two others at no very
great distance. After due deliberation, it was deter
mined that we should make for a spot about five miles
higher up, and endeavour to get there by running close
along the left bank of the river, so as not to attract
attention, and, when clear of all gunboats, to push out
into the centre of the stream, and then watch a favour
able opportunity for steering into the desired haven.
The tide being in our favour, we dropped slowly up on
it, until about mid-day, when it turned, and, the wind
dying away, we were obliged to make close in for shore
and anchor. My friend and I had landed, and spent
the day in an old ruined shed surrounded by reeds

RUNNING TEM BLOCKADE. 283

and rtiHhcN. Largo steamers and gun-vessels of various
sizes kept passing and ro-pasNing all day; but none ot
them seemed to notice our little craft. On one occasion
wo saw a boat put. oil' from ono of tho gunboats and
oomoin our direction ; hut instead of visiting us, itsorow
boarded a small cutter which lay becalmed in tho contra
of tho river, and then returned to thoir own vessel.
At sunset u slight breeze arose, before which wc glided
directly up tho river. When wo passed the mid-stream
and approached near the Virgiuiau shore, the owner
of the boat became quite nervous, and began lamenting
his 1'it.to in having to turn smuggler; but the hard
times, ho said, had left, him no alternative, his farm
having been destroyed by tho Northern troops. He
scorned to have a superstitious awo of gunboats, too;
and told us ho had hoard that tho oilicors on board of
them possessed telescopes through which thoy could
sec distinctly for milt's at night. Several steamers
passed us when we wore about two-thirds of tho way
over, but although tho moon every now and then
emerged brightly from behind the drifting clouds, wo
had got under tho shade of the laud, and managed so
that she always shone upon our sails on the side away
from the 'enemy.' We could hear the steamers for
about twenty minutes before wo caught sight, of their
light, and during that (into the anxious face of tho
smuggler would have made a glorious study for an
artist of the Uombrandt school. The cargo consisted
of coffee and sugar, and. if safely landed, would be in
itself a small fortune to the owner of the boat; that

254 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
he should feel alarmed for its safety, therefore, was not
surprising. As we approached the shore, the wind died
away, so we were obliged to punt the little craft along;
the men thus employed taking off their boots, lest they
should make any noise in moving upon the deck. Now
and then one of the gunboats, anchored off the neigh
bouring creek, would throw a light along the waters in
all directions ; once we all fancied that it was ap
proaching nearer to us, and on another occasion we
thought we heard the sound of oars, and as there was
not a breath of wind to help us along, and punting is
a slow process, we felt far from comfortable. Half-past
ten found us safe in a little creek almost land-locked,
so there was no danger of discovery there ; and a ran
of about a mile and a half up it took us to the point of
landing. After a dreary walk of about five miles over
a forest road, we reached a small village, and, having
spent a considerable time in knocking at the door of
the house to which we had been directed, we at last
succeeded in gaining admittance. The landlord was
absent, being in concealment at a farm-house in the
neighbourhood ; but his niece, a very nice girl, did the
honours in his stead. She told us *hat the Yankees
had made a descent upon the village, and carried off
several of the inhabitants as prisoners to Washington.
The place was suspected of containing smugglers,
consequently the Federal troops frequently visited it
in search of contraband goods."
Mr. Lawley thus describes the passage across the
Potomac, and an interview in the smuggler's cottage

RUNNING THE BLOCKADE. 255
with a Federal officer commanding a patrol, which, but
for the presence of mind they both displayed, must have
proved fatal to the success of their undertaking, if not
to their liberty: — "We succeeded, one evening at night
fall, in making our way to a cottage which looked
down upon the broad and tranquil river. Its owner
was a fisherman, who told us that his house was
usually visited during the night by a patrol, and that
it would be unsafe for us to sleep there; but he
promised that, if we would return on the morrow at
noon, he would have a friend named Hunt to meet us,
with whom we might probably make a bargain. Mean
time, we adjourned to a village some two or three miles
distant, where, what between heat and insects, we
passed an awful night. At noon, we were again at our
friend's house, and covenanted with a son of Hunt, the
fisherman, for twenty dollars a piece in gold, that his
father's boat would take us on board that night at ten
o'clock in an adjoining creek, and would land us before
daybreak on the Virginian shore. But the intervening
afternoon brought with it fresh adventures. We were
forbidden by our host to leave the house, because the
telescopes of the Federals in the neighbouring gunboat
were said to be constantly sweeping the shore, and
would infallibly detect the presence of strangers in the
little hut. Shortly after two o'clock, we were horrified
by the sight of a Federal officer, in the well-known blue
uniform of the United States' Army, who was ascend
ing on foot by a little path which led to the house from
the river. In his hand he carried a revolver, and

256 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
behind him followed seven soldiers, who, with their
leader, had just got out of a boat. The consternation
of our host during the few seconds of suspense before
the Federals reached the house, was pitiable in the
extreme. There was scant time for consultation, and
when the officer looked into the hut and descried
Colonel Wolseley and myself, he seemed scarcely less
disquieted than our host. Having in previous years
shot canvas-backs and blue-wings on the Potomac, I
stepped forward as spokesman, and asked the officer
whether it would be possible for us to hire a boat, as I
had often before done, with a view to doing some
' gunning' on the river. The officer answered that no
'gunning' was now permitted on the river. I then
asked him how it would be possible for my companion
and me to get back to Washington. Just as he was
hesitating about his answer, Colonel Wolseley adroitly
advanced, cigar-case in hand, and offered him a
' regalia.' That judiciously proffered cigar turned the
balance in our favour. The officer answered that a
steamboat would call the following morning about four
o'clock at the neighbouring wharf, by which we might
take passage to Washington. We parted the best
friends, in spite of the whispered remonstrances of a
sergeant, who probably thought our appearance sus
picious, and remarked that we had no guns with us.
Long before four o'clock of the following morning,
Hunt and his two sons had landed us in Virginia.
Colonel Wolseley and I had to lie down and conceal
ourselves below the gunwale, and I remember how

ARRIVAL AT RICHMOND. 2b1
long the trajet seemed to us, as the fishing-boat tacked
hither and thither while casting its nets, and ap
proached uncomfortably near the Federal gunboat. After
I had passed two or three months at Richmond, and
become intimate with the officers of the Signal Service,
I heard that poor Hunt had been subsequently caught
in carrying passengers across the Potomac— that his
boat had been seized, and himself sent to prison. But
I have often thought how severely the Federal
authorities, and especially Mr. Seward, would have
blamed the young gentleman who thus allowed so
distinguished a British officer as Colonel Wolseley to
slip through his fingers."
On landing in Virginia, Colonel Wolseley and his
friend walked to the village of Dumfries ; it was dark
and the roads were bad, but they were light-hearted
and contented at having crossed the dreaded Potomac
and eluded the Federal cruisers. At Dumfries they
procured a farmer's cart without springs, drawn by
two mules, and in this comfortless conveyance, which
jolted along over "the very worst road" Wolseley had
seen even in all his Indian and China experiences, they
drove into Fredericksburg, crossing the Rappahannock
river. Early on the following morning they again
started, and, taking the road leading under Mary's
Heights, which, three months later, was the scene of
one of the most sanguinary struggles of the War,
reached Beaverdam station, on the Virginia Central
Railroad, in time for the afternoon train, which took
them to Richmond.
VOL. i. s

258 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
Colonel Wolseley says :— " All the carriages were
crowded with passengers, of whom a large proportion
were the sick and wounded coming from General Lee's
Army at Winchester. They had been all day on the
railroad, and some of the poor fellows seemed quite
worn out with fatigue. My friend and I stood on what
is called the platform of the car, during the journey of
two hours and a-half, as the regular passenger-cars
were full, and those containing the sick and wounded
were anything but inviting, as men with legs and
arms amputated, and whose pale, haggard faces as
sumed an expression of anguish at even the slightest
jolting of the railway carriages, lay stretched across
the seats. At every station where we stopped, a rush
for water was made by the crowds of men carrying the
canteens and calabashes of those whose disabled con
dition preA-ented them from assisting themselves. The
filth and stench within those moving hospitals were
intolerable, and, though well inured to the sight of
human suffering, I never remember feeling so moved
by it as during that short railway journey.
" Upon reaching Richmond we found a dense croAvd
on the platform, men and women searching for brothers,
fathers, husbands, and lovers. A military guard, with
fixed bayonets, was endeavouring to keep order and a
clear passage for those on crutches, or limping along
with the aid of a stick or the arm of some less severely
wounded comrade. We drove off to the Spottiswood
Hotel, but were informed that there was not even one
room vacant. The same answer was given at the

RICHMOND DURING THE WAR. 259
American ; but at the Exchange we obtained a
little double-bedded apartment up four flights of stairs.
Congress was sitting, so the best rooms at most houses
were engaged by the Members of the Legislature, and
wounded men occupied almost all the other available
bedrooms. When black tea is selling at sixteen dollars
a-pound, and everything else, except bread and meat,
is proportionately expensive, it may be readily imagined
that the fare is far from good. Four dollars a-day,
however, for board and lodging, is not very exor
bitant ; but no wine or spirits is to be procured at any
hotel, the manufacture and sale of all intoxicating
liquors having been prohibited by Government."
On this question of spirits as it concerns the health
of soldiers on active service, Colonel Wolseley has
always entertained opinions in consonance with those
of Sir Wilfred Lawson, and, though no teetotaller,
has ever been averse from serving out spirits to
troops in the field.* This view he has studiously
* He remarks : " When the Confederate Army was first enrolled,
each man received a daily ration of spirits ; but this practice has been
long since discontinued, and, strange to say, without causing any dis
content amongst the men — a practical refutation of the assertion that
a certain amount of stimulants is absolutely necessary for Boldiers, and
that without it they cannot endure the fatigues of active service. Eor
what army in modern times has made the long marches, day after day,
that Jackson's corps of 'foot cavalry,' as they are facetiously called,
have accomphshed? Doubtless there are circumstances when an
allowance of grog is very beneficial to health — such as bivouacking in
swampy places, and during heavy rains ; but in ordinary cases, and in
fine weather, I am convinced that men will go through as much con
tinuous hard work without any stimulants whatever as with them."
S 2

260 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
carried out in the two campaigns which he himself
has conducted, and he attributes the health enjoyed by
the troops in the Red River and Ashantee Expedi
tions, in no small degree, to the fact of their absten
tion from spirituous liquors.
Wolseley and his friends were received with open
arms by the Southern leaders, and such letters of
introduction as they had managed to retain, having
previously sewn them up in their clothes, proved an
"open Sesame" in society. They were received and
hospitably entertained by the members of the Govern
ment, including Mr. Benjamin, Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, and General Randolph, the Secretary
at. War, who was most obliging in furnishing them
with passes to go wherever they pleased, and with
letters to the various military authorities. The first
Confederate officer who called upon them at their hotel,
was the late General John B. Magruder, who, when in
Canada, had made many friends among the British
officers. One can scarcely realise the intensity of the pas
sionate fervour with which the gallant Southerners
maintained the unequal conflict with their gigantic
opponent. Whatever had been the original cause the
War, it was now, as Lord Russell stated, " a contest for
dominion on the part of the North, and for independ
ence on the part of the South," a conclusion which the
Times endorsed on the 19th of January, 1862, when it
declared that the War was " a purely political quarrel,"
adding, " that as the cause of Italy against Austria is

FEELING OF THE SOUTHERNERS. 261
the cause of freedom, so also the cause of the South
gallantly defending itself against the cruel and deso
lating invasion of the North, is the cause of freedom."*
* Early in the struggle it was manifest that the Northern statesmen
and Congress would sacrifice principle to retain the Beceding States, for
on the 3rd of March, 1861, after the formation into a Confederacy of
the six States and the inauguration of Jefferson Davis, and on the day
preceding the installation of Abraham Lincoln, President Buchanan
and the Congress amended the Constitution in these terms : — " That
no amendment shall be made to the Constitution which shall authorise
or give Congress power to abolish or interfere within any State with
the institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labour or
servitude by the laws of the said State.'' Also in March, 1862, Presi
dent Lincoln presented to Congress a " proposition," which was " sub
stantially to end the Rebellion " by purchasing the slaves of those States
that would return to the Union ; hut, wisely conceiving that th ecountry
—unlike England, which, in 1834, paid twenty millions sterling to buy
up the slaves of the West India Islands — would prefer the cheaper
expedient of coercing the South, and freeing the slaves, to the enormous
expense of purchasing four millions of negroes at £100 per head —
which was the sum the httle State of Delaware, with its one thousand
eight hundred slaves, magnanimously asked for washing its hands of
the " accursed thing " — President Lincoln observed that if his proposal
" does not meet with the approval of Congress and the country, it is at
an end." Cordially hating slavery as we do, whether in its worst form,
as we have seen it on the east coast of Africa, or as a " domestic insti
tution,'' as it appeared in the Southern States, we cannot but rejoice
that it was crushed out once and for ever from the American Conti
nent. Enghshmen should remember, with humility and shame,
that all the misery and bloodshed of this great Civil War was the
damnosa hereditas bequeathed by our ancestors to our American colo
nies. Though slaves were first imported into America by the Spanish
missionary, LaB Casas (who was horrified by the cruelty with which
the Aborigines were treated by the European settlers), it was in 1562,
1 ng before the settlement of Virginia, that Queen Elizabeth founded

262 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.

At the time of Wolseley's arrival at Richmond, the
Confederate Army had just returned from the Expedi
tion into Maryland, after having fought, on the 17th
of September, the sanguinary but indecisive battle of
Antietam, or Sharpsburg ; and he mentions, as an
interesting fact, that during a conversation with
General Lee, he assured him that throughout the
day he never had more than thirty-five thousand men
engaged, and with these he fought a drawn battle
with McClellan's host of ninety thousand men, General
Stonewall Jackson being engaged in reducing Harper's
Ferry Avith the remainder of the Confederate Army
which had crossed the Potomac. While at Richmond,
Wolseley visited the scene of the seven days' desperate
fighting which took place in its vicinity in the previous
June, when, in his opinion, General Lee showed him
self as consummate a master of the art of war as
Napoleon himself. He says of these battle-fields : —
" In some places the numerous graves and pits filled
with dead bodies but slightly covered over, testified to
the severity of the fighting there. The debris of all
things pertaining to an army, which lay strewn about
on the ground camped on by McClellan's troops, was
immense. In many places the blackened embers of
flour-barrels, clothing-cases, and commissariat stores
covered large spaces, showing the haste with which the
a company for its promotion, while Charles II. made grants of lands
to the colonists in proportion to the number of their slaves. Wilham
III. gave further encouragement to slavery, and finally, in the reign of
George II., free trade in Blaves was declared.

WOLSELEY AT RICHMOND. 263
general retreat was commenced, and the great quantity
of stores which it had been found necessary to destroy.
In some parts the very trunks of the trees were riddled
through, huge pines being cut down by round shot, and
great branches torn off by bursting shells." His com
ments of the strategy of the rival Commanders, as
coming from a master of the art, and one who had
studied the ground, are of great interest and no little
value. Before leaving Richmond, Colonel Wolseley and Mr.
Lawley spent a day at Drury's Bluff (or Fort Darling,
as it was called in the North), which was attacked by
the ' Monitor,' ' Galena,' and some other Federal iron
clad gunboats, when McClellan's Army was on the
peninsula. Captain Lee, formerly of the United States
Navy (brother to General R. Lee, and father to General
Fitzhugh Lee), was in command of the troops and posi
tion, and was most obliging in showing them round
the works, and pointing out all the new improvements
in guns, carriages, and projectiles.
Wolseley also inspected the ' Richmond ' (or Merri
mac No. 2), and was astonished at the success of the
efforts of the Southerners in the art of shipbuilding
and the manufacture of gunpowder and other munitions
of war.
Having been furnished by General Randolph, the
War Minister, with letters of introduction to General
Lee, and the necessary passes, they left Richmond by
the Virginia Central Railroad, and reached Staunton in
the evening. This place, owing to the War, was in a

264 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
forlorn condition ; no business was doing, and Wolseley
searched in vain through a number of shops for so
common a domestic utensil as a teapot or kettle of any
description. Being the railway terminus, and the com
mencement of the tUrnpike-road line of communication
with the Army, Staunton had become an entrepot for
stores, waggons, and ambulances, and most of the best
houses had been converted into hospitals.
No other means of transport being available, they
succeeded, with some difficulty, in getting permission
to proceed in an ambulance cart, one of a large number
going up to carry hack sick and wounded men. It was
four-wheeled, fitted with a tarpaulin hood, and drawn
by two horses, the body of the cart being made to
carry two men on stretchers, with room for another
man beside the driver. The cart was mounted on very
tolerable springs, but being one of a batch lately made
in Richmond after the Yankee pattern, and having been
hastily put together by unskilled workmen, its con
struction Avas so bad, and the wheels so weak, that it
must have tumbled to pieces in one day's march over
the ordinary country roads of Virginia, though, fortu
nately, the road down the Shenandoah Valley was
Macadamised, being the only regularly metalled road
in the State. There were thirteen ambulance carts in
the train with which they travelled, but they had not
proceeded more than about six miles when two or three
of them had to halt at a smith's shop for the purpose
of having the wheel-tires cut and reduced in size, the
dry weather having so affected the new wood, that the

JOURNEY TO LEE'S HEAD-QUARTERS. 265
spokes were rattling loosely about. Owing to this
delay not more than five and twenty miles were made
the first day, and a halt was called for the night in a
field a few miles short of Harrisonburg.
The night was cold, with a very heavy dew, but they
soon lighted good fires, and, squatting around them,
made themselves tolerably comfortable. The waggon
would only admit of two sleeping in it, so one of their
party of three had to lie on the ground with his feet
to the fire in correct bivouac fashion.
The following night the ambulance train halted be
tween Mount Jackson and Woodstock, and, on the third
night, at Middletown, about thirteen miles from Win
chester. It had been raining all day, and the prospect
of a bivouac was far from agreeable, so Wolseley and his
two companies shouldered their baggage and marched
for the inn at the village. As usual the place was
crowded to excess, men even sleeping in the hall ; but,
being tired, wet, and hungry, they were prepared to
pay any sum that might be asked, provided they could
only get a room to themselves. " It was a very dark
night," says Colonel Wolseley, " and the street almost
ankle-deep with mud, when my two companions, one
carrying a candle, sallied forth in search of a lodging
for the night, I remaining sentry over our traps the
while. They were sent from house to house for some
time, no one caring to take in three strangers, but at
last a good old woman's heart was touched by our
forlorn condition, and she consented to give us shelter.
She proved to be most kind and hospitable, giving us

266 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.

a good breakfast the next morning, and seemed quite
disinclined to accept any remuneration for the incon
venience we had caused her."
On the fourth day after leaving Winchester* they
arrived at Staunton, and, having procured passes from
the Provost-Marshal, without which no one could have
passed the guards posted on all the roads, proceeded
to General Lee's head-quarters, which were close to the
Martinsburg road, about six miles from Winchester.
Colonel Wolseley and his friend presented their letter
* Wolseley remarks in his Journal : " Every day during our journey
to Winchester we passed batches of convalescents marching to join the
Army, many of whom were totally unfit for any work, which, of course,
spoke very highly for the men. Each day we also passed batches of
sick and wounded going to the rear ; those totally unable to march being
conveyed in ambulances, or the empty waggons returning to Staunton
for more supplies. It was an extremely painful sight to see such num
bers of weakly men struggling slowly home, many of them without
boots or shoes, and all indifferently clad ; but posts were estabUshed
every seventeen miles along the road, containing commissariat supplies
for provisioning them. Into whatever camp you go, you are sure to
see tents, carts, horses, and guns all marked with the " U.S." Officers
have declared to me that they have seen whole regiments go into action
with smooth-bore muskets and without great-coats, and known them in
the evening to be well provided with everything — having changed their
old muskets for rifles ! The Northern prisoners we passed on the road
were well clothed in the regular blue frock coat and light-blue trousers,
whilst their mounted guard wore every variety — jackets or coats, it
seemed to matter little to them ; and, indeed, many rode along in their
shirt-sleeves, as gay and happy as if they were decked with gold and
the richest trappings." As General Lee said to Wolseley, when
alluding to the ragged uniforms of his soldiers : " There is one attitude
in which I should never be ashamed for you to see my men — that is to
say, when they fight."

WOLSELEY ON GENERAL LEE. 267
to the Adjutant-General, by whom they were intro
duced to the famous Commander-in-Chief of the Con
federate Forces, who received them with kindness and
the stately courtesy for which he was remarkable. Of
General Lee, and the impression he created in his
mind, Wolseley says : — " He is a strongly built man,
about five feet eleven in height, and apparently not
more than fifty years of age. His hair and beard are
nearly white ; but his dark brown eyes still shine with
all the brightness of youth, and beam with a most
pleasing expression. Indeed, his whole face is kindly
and benevolent in the highest degree. In manner,
though sufficiently conversible, he is slightly reserved ;
but he is a person that, wherever seen, whether in a
castle or a hovel, alone or in a crowd, must at once
attract attention as being a splendid specimen of an
English gentleman, with one of the most rarely hand
some faces I ever saw. He had had a fall during the
Maryland Expedition, from which he was not yet re
covered, and which still crippled his right hand con
siderably. We sat with him for a long time in his
tent conversing upon a variety of topics, the state of
public affairs being of course the leading one. You
have only to be in his society for a very brief period
to he convinced that whatever he says may be implicitly
relied upon, and that he is quite incapable of departing
from the truth under any circumstances."
Wolseley, who had seen so many French and British
Armies in the field, was greatly struck with the marked
absence of all the "pomp and circumstance of glorious

268 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.

war" at General Lee's head-quarters. "They con
sisted," he says " of about seven or eight pole tents,
pitched with their backs to a stake fence, upon a piece
of ground so rocky that it was unpleasant to ride over
it— its only recommendation being a little stream of
good water which flowed close by the General's tent.
In front of the tents were some three or four wheeled
waggons, drawn up without any regularity. No guard
or sentries were to be seen in the vicinity, and no
crowd of aides-de-camp loitering about. A large farm
house stands close by, which, in any other army,
would have been the general's residence : but as no
liberties are allowed to be taken with personal pro
perty in Lee's Army, he is particular in setting a good
example himself. His staff were crowded together two
or three in a tent : none are allowed to carry more
baggage than a small box each, and his own kit is but
very little larger. Every one who approaches him does
so with marked respect, although there is none of that
bowing and flourishing of forage caps which occurs in
the presence of European Generals ; and whilst all
honour him and place implicit faith in his courage and
ability, those with whom he is most intimate feel for
him 'the affection of sons to a father. Old General
Scott was correct in saying that when Lee joined the
Southern cause, it was worth as much as the accession
of twenty thousand men. Though his house on the
Pamunky river was burnt to the ground; and his resi
dence on the Arlington Heights not only gutted of its
furniture, but even the very relics of George Washing-

WOLSELEY ON GENERAL JACKSON. 269
ton were stolen from it and paraded in triumph in the
saloons of New York and Boston, he neither evinced
any bitterness of feeling, nor gave utterance to a single
violent expression, but alluded to many of his former
friends and companions amongst the Northerners in
the kindest terms. He spoke as a man proud of the
victories won by his country, and confident of ultimate
Buccess under the blessing of the Almighty, whom he
glorified for past successes, and whose aid he invoked
for all future operations. He regretted that his limited
supply of tents and available accommodation would
prevent him from putting us up, but he kindly placed
at our disposal horses, or a two-horsed waggon, if we
preferred it, to drive about in."
Upon leaving General Lee, they drove to Bunker's
Hill, six miles nearer Martinsburg, where that extra
ordinary man, General Stonewall Jackson, had his
head-quarters. With him they passed a most pleasant
hour, and were agreeably surprised to find him very
affable, having been led to expect that he was silent
and almost morose. Wolseley's description of this
noble soldier, whose loss, soon after, dealt an irrepar
able loss to the Confederate cause, is graphic and full
of interest :— " Dressed in his grey uniform, he looks the
hero that he is ; and his thin compressed lips and calm
glance, which meets yours unflinchingly, gave evidence
of that firmness and decision of character for which he
is so famousv He has a broad open forehead, from
which the hair is well brushed back ; a shapely nose,
straight and long ; thin colourless cheeks, with only a

270 THE RED RITES EXPKDITIQX.

very small allowance of whisker; a cleanly-shaven
ripper lip and chin : and a pair of fine greyish-blue
eyes, rather sunken, with overhanging brows, which
iutonsify the keenness of his gase, but without impart
ing any fierceness to it. Such are tho general charac
teristics of his face; and I have only to add, that a
smile seems always lurking about his month when he
speaks ; and that though his voice partakes slightly of
that harshuess which Europeans unjustly attribute to
all Americans, there is much unmistakable cordiality
in his manner: and to ns he talked most affectionately
of England, and of his brief but enjoyable sojourn
there. Tho religions element seems strongly deve
loped in him : and though his conversation is perfectly
free from all puritanical cant, it is evident that ho is a
man who never loses sight of the fact that there is an
omnipresent Deity ever presiding over the minutest
occurrences of life, as well as over the most important.
Altogether, as one of his soldiers said to mo when
speaking of him, " he is a glorious fellow ! " ami.
after I left him, I felt that 1 had at last solved a
mystery and discovered why it was that ho had
accomplished such almost miraculous feats. With
such a leader men would go anywhere, and face any
amount of difficulties. "For myself," adds Wolseley.
with the enthusiasm of a soldier, *' 1 believe Hint,
inspiivd by tho presence of such a man, I should bo
perfectly insensible to fatigue, aud reckon on success
as a moral certainty.8'*
* Wolseley thus analyses tho da&ront nature of foeling with wMeh

WOLSELEY ON THE CONFEDERA TE ARM Y. 271
The Army at Winchester was composed of two
corps oTarmee under the command of Generals Jackson
and Longstreet, each consisting of four divisions.
Wolseley was present whilst the latter officer inspected
one of his divisions, and was highly pleased with the
appearance of the men, and the manner in which they
marched. He says: — "I remarked that, however
slovenly the dress of the men of any particular Com
pany might be, their rifles were invariably in good
serviceable order. They marched, too, with an elastic
tread, the pace being somewhat slower than that of our
troops, and seemed vigorous and healthy. I have seen
many armies file past in all the pomp of bright cloth
ing and well-polished accoutrements ; but I never saw
one composed of finer men, or that looked more like
w&rh, than that portion of General Lee's Army which
I was fortunate enough to see inspected."
Wolseley saw but little of the Confederate Cavalry,
as General Stenart had left for his raid into Pennsyl
vania the day he reached head-quarters, and only
these two remarkable soldiers inspired their devoted followers : " Whilst
Lee is regarded in the light of the infallible Jove, a man to be reverenced,
Jackson is loved and adored with all that childlike and trustful affec
tion irhieh the ancients are said to have lavished upon the particular
deity presiding over their affairs. The feeling of the soldiers for
General Lee resembles that which Wellington's troops entertained for
him — namely, a fixed and unshakable faith in all he did, and a calm
confidence of victory when serving under him. But Jackson, like
Napoleon, is idolised with that intense fervour which, consisting of
mingled personal attachment and devoted loyalty, causes them to meet
death fear bis sake, and bless him when dying."

272 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
returned a couple of days before he commenced his
homeward journey. He remarked, however, " that
though their knowledge of drill is limited, all the men
rode well, in which particular they present a striking
contrast to the Northern Cavalry, who can scarcely sit
their horses, even when trotting."
Colonel Wolseley had quitted New York for his trip
" down south " on the 11th of September, and had to
report himself at Montreal on the expiration of his six
weeks' leave. The short time at his disposal was the
great drawback to the enjoyment of this visit to the
head-quarters of the Confederate Army, but he made the
most of it, and altogether he never passed a pleasanter
time than when " running the blockade," with its at
tendant excitement, while as an enthusiastic soldier he
considered himself amply repaid for any discomfort by
his conversations with Robert Lee and Stonewall
Jackson, whose deeds will live long in song and story,
as long as high character, spotless patriotism, and
brilliant military genius, command the admiration of
the human race.
After his return to Canada, Colonel Wolseley
suffered greatly from the wound in the right leg
he had received in the Crimea seven years before. His
exertions on foot caused the wound to open afresh,
and, under medical advice, he was constrained to pro
ceed to England. Here he placed himself under the
eminent surgeon, Sir William Fergusson. There was
considerable exfoliation of the right shin bone, and he
did not begin to mend until after Sir William had cut

77/ A' CAMP OF INSTRUCTION. 273
Ollt the part affected. Wolseley returned to Canada in
the spring of lKli:i, ami resumed his duties un Assistant
Quartermaster-General, under Colonel Lysons.
In tho Autumn of 18<i.r> tho Fenians in tho United
Hiatus, by thoir throatoning attitude, gave cause for
anxiety to tho Dominion Government, and Colonel
(uow General) Sir Patrick MoDougall, who came out
to tho Dominion to organise and superintend the local
forces, established a (Jump of lust ruction for cadets, in
order to tost the oflioionoy of llio training imparted by
the Canadian military schools. At, bin request, tho
HorviooN ol'Colonol WolHeloy wore placed at his disposal
by Sir John Michel, Commanding tho Forces, and ho
appointed him to command tho Jirst Camp of Instruc
tion ever established in Canada. Tho place selected
for this experiment was La Prairie, about nine miles
distant front Montreal, on the opposite Nidc of tho rivor.
A General and Regimontal stall' wore placed under
Wolseley's orders, and qiiartorinaslers ami sergeant-
majors were ajipointod pcnuanenlly to battalions from
uniting tho dischai'geil non-commissioned oilicors resi-
tlont in Canada. Tho romaining batlalion oilicors and
iion-connniHsiouotl oilicors were furuislietl by the cadets
tlioniHelvoB in rotation, except that two cadets were
named ponniinontly as sergeants, and two as corporals
to ouch company.
Tho Ibreo was Ibrmod into throo battalions ; and, to
avoid all possible jealousy as to posts of honour, thoy
were disposed in the order they would assume, lacing
tho l'mnlier of Canada, to repel an invasion. Thus the
VOL, I. T

274 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.

cadets of the Toronto school, and the schools west of
Toronto, were formed into the right battalion, (tltree
hundred and sixty-six men); the cadets of the Kings
ton school, and the English-speaking cadets of the
Montreal and Quebec schools, composed the centre
battalion (three hundred and thirty-four men) ; and
the cadets of French-Canadian origin composed the left
battalion (four hundred and five men).
By utilising the small barrack at La Prairie, Colonel
Wolseley was enabled to place each battalion under
canvas during two weeks, and in quarters one week.
The cadets, among whom were three French-Cana
dian Members of Parliament, and one Upper Canadian
Member, also Lord Aylmer. and several gentlemen
holding the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Seden
tary Militia, and officers who had served in the Regular
Army, fell into the usual routine of camp life with sur
prising readiness ; and though their duties were
precisely the same as those performed by soldiers of
the Regular Army in camp, their demeanour throughout
was beyond praise. Every cadet had an opportunity
for showing his ability in drilling a squad or company,
as well as for acting as captain and covering sergeant
of a company in battalion ; and the aptitude and
knowledge they generally displayed was a matter of
surprise to Colonels McDougall and Wolseley, and
afforded a gratifying testimony to the value of tho
Military Schools which had been established in the
Province. The late General, the Honourable Sir James Lindsay,

THE CAMP OF INSTRUCTION. 275
then commanding the Montreal Division, marched into
La Prairie on the 4th of October, with the Montreal
garrison of regular troops, and held two divisional
field days, when the Montreal garrison acted as one
brigade, and the cadets, with a battery of Royal Artil
lery temporarily attached, formed a second brigade
under Colonel Wolseley. The second field day was
held in the presence of Sir John Michel, and, says
Colonel McDougall, " I can fully corroborate Colonel
Wolseley's opinion that the cadets compared most
favourably with the regular troops, an opinion that was
shared in and expressed by both Sir John Michel and
the Major-General, and that they executed all the
movements of a sham fight with the same precision
and quickness."
Wolseley performed his arduous duties during the
three weeks the camp was established, to the entire
satisfaction of his superiors, and Colonel McDougall
reported in the following terms : — " I desire to record
as strongly as possible my sense of the ability and
energy with which the immediate command of the
Camp was exercised by Colonel Wolseley, and to which
is attributable a large share in the success of the
experiment. It was a charge requiring unusually
delicate management; but in Colonel Wolseley's
qualifications tact is combined with firmness, and both
with an intimate knowledge of his profession in an
unusual degree."
At length, after many "scares," on the night of the 31st
T 2

276 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
of May, the Fenian leader, " General " O'Neil, crossed
the Niagara river with about twelve hundred men, and,
having captured Fort Erie, some three miles from
Buffalo, advanced towards Ridgeway, where he threw
up breastworks and awaited reinforcements.
On receipt of news of this daring act, the whole
Dominion was thrown into a perfect fever of indigna
tion and patriotic ardour. The call to arms was re
sponded to by all classes and conditions of people, and
had the necessity arisen, the whole Volunteer Militia
force could have been collected in a few days. On the
31st of May, Colonel McDougall, Adjutant-General of
Militia, received instructions to call out for actual ser
vice fourteen thousand Volunteers, and within twenty-
four hours, the companies were all ready, and many
had moved to the stations assigned them. On the 2nd
of June, the whole of the Volunteer Force, not already
called out, was placed on actual service, and, on the
following day, the Province had more than twenty
thousand men under arms. Notwithstanding that the
season of the year entailed heavy sacrifices on those of
the Volunteers who were business men, all joined with
eagerness; and, at Toronto, bixty young Canadians
joined from Chicago. •' Experience has shown," wrote
the Adjutant-General, " that, in the event of a regular
invasion, a hundred thousand men, in addition to the
Volunteer Force, would eagerly come forward in forty-
eight hours to aid in defending the country."
When the news of the Fenian invasion arrived at
Montreal, Colonel Wolseley— under orders from Sir

THE FENIAN INVASION. 277
John Michel, Commander-in-Chief— started thence for
Toronto, where he placed himself at the disposal of
Major-General George Napier, commanding the
Division. On his arrival he found a Force of regular
troops, consisting of a battery of Artillery and the 16th
and 47th Regiments, under the command of Colonel
Lowry, of the 47th, about to start to attack the
Fenians. Wolseley accompanied the column which
arrived that night at the Suspension Bridge over the
Niagara river ; but on reaching Fort Erie, on the
following day, they learnt that a fight had already
taken place, with indecisive results, at Ridgeway.*
Far different must it have been had the inexperi
enced commander of the Militia awaited the arrival of
the regular troops under Colonel Lowry, or a second
column under Colonel Peacock, which, unfortunately,
had taken the wrong road.
Wolseley was sent on the following day to Stratford
— a railway station near Georgian Bay, on Lake Huron
— to take command of a brigade, consisting of a battery
of Artillery, a battalion of the 16th Regiment, and two
battalions of Canadian Militia.
* At 8 a.m. on the 2nd of June, two battalions of Canadian Militia,
the "Hamilton" and "Queen's Own" Volunteers, marching from
Toronto, attacked the Fenians at Ridgeway, between Forts Cockburn
and Erie ; but, though there was no lack of enthusiasm and gallantry,
the commander was inexperienced, and the ammunition failed. The
Canadians got into Borne confusion, and were forced back, but again
attacked the Fenians, and drove them back, many being killed and
wounded on both Bides. The Fenians now retreated across the river,
when many of them were captured by an United States' war- steamer.

278 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.

But there was no further attempt at invasion by
the Fenians, and when Wolseley's brigade was
broken up, he returned to Montreal. He had scarcely
resumed his duties when, in the Autumn of this
year (1866) he was placed in command of a Camp
of Observation, consisting of the 16th Regiment,
two troops of Volunteer Cavalry, and three bat
talions of Militia, at Thorold, near St. Catherine's,
on the Welland Canal, which the Fenians had ex
pressed their intention to destroy. The large and
wealthy city of Buffalo, on the American side, was at
this time the centre of the Fenian military organiza
tion, and Wolseley had very responsible duties in
watching the frontier between Fort Cockburn and the
Niagara Falls. He remained at Thorold about a
month, exercising his troops, and during this time
nearly all the Militia of Upper Canada passed through
his hands. Three battalions, of about a thousand men
each, were drilled a week at a time, and the work was
arduous for Wolseley, who was in the saddle all day
and every day.
On the approach of Winter the camp was broken up,
and he returned once again to Montreal : but, during
the succeeding months, there were constant Fenian
alarms, and the Generals and Staff Officers were kept on
the qui vive. Indeed, in January, 1867, the alarm of
threatened invasion was so great that field brigades
were established in all the principal military centres,
fully equipped, and in constant readiness to turn out
should their services be required. Colonel Wolseley

THE "SOLDIERS' POCKET-BOOK. 279
was sent to Toronto, were he organized the Toronto
Brigade, but, in April, 1867, when matter looked more
settled, he proceeded to England, being relieved as
Assistant Quartermaster-General, by Sir Henry
Havelock. Wolseley's services in Canada had been so meritorious,
and his claims for promotion were so generally acknow
ledged, that he was almost immediately nominated to
succeed Colonel Lysons as head of the Department in
which he had acquired such vast experience in the
Crimea, India, and China, irrespective of the special
knowledge of its working gained in Canada during the
past five years. Colonel Lysons' terra of service
expired in the Autumn of 1867, and, in September,
Wolseley returned to the Dominion as Deputy Quarter
master General, being, as we were assured by his pre
decessor, the youngest officer who was ever nominated
to fill that responsible post. He came home to Eng-.
land, on two mouths' private leave, in 1868, and
during his stay, occurred an important event in his
life, his marriage with Miss Erskine, who accompanied
him on his return to Canada.
In the following year was published his " Soldier's
Pocket Book for Field Service,"* which is considered
in the Army a standard authority. This invaluable
* The preface to the first edition of the "Soldier's Pocket Book"
was written in Canada, and dated " Montreal, March, 1869." A second
edition of this work was issued in 1871, and a third and revised edition
in 1875. Wolseley is also the author of a " Field Pocket Book for the
Auxiliary Forces," a work of more recent date.

280 THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION.
little work offers— in a handy form, as its name implies
— information on every subject of a professional nature,
and to every rank in the Army, — from the private, who
wants information how to keep his accoutrements clean,
or to cook a beefsteak, to the " non-combatant " officer
in search for a " form " for indenting for stores, or the
General in the field who seeks to solve some knotty
point in military law, or in the manoeuvring of the
" three arms." It is, in short, a most trustworthy and
indispensable vade mecum, and its value has been
universally acknowledged. Much of the information
embodied in its pages, with the brevity and conciseness
of style becoming a soldier, is original ; and the articles
on Staff duties, such as reconnoitring, surveying, and
other duties of an officer of the Quartermaster-General's
Department, embody the results of the writer's own
lengthened experience in what was, before the new
organization at the Horse Guards, and the establishment
of an Intelligence Department, the most important
section of the Military Staff.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

London: Printed bj A. Schulze, 13, Poland Street. (L.)

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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