122 ITS PRESENT REDUCED STATE. one side, and the Manjha Sikhs on the other. It had subsequently been reduced from a strength of 10,000 men to a single European infantry corps, one troop and one battery of artillery, one regiment of native regular cavalry, and two of native infantry. At the outbreak, the whole of the European force, with one regiment of native infantry and one wing of cavalry, had been withdrawn, and the remaining regiment and wing had, in the month of July, perpetrated a bloodthirsty mutiny. Thus that station, which had been originally designed to keep in order a turbulent district, to overawe the Manjha Sikhs, to look defiance at Jummoo, was in August 1857 held by a few levies raised in the district itself, while the Jummoo Rajah was pouring down through it a contingent of 2200 men to strengthen our army before Delhi ! Then, again, in the Jullundhur Doab was perceptible as remarkable a change as at Peshawur and Sealkote. This district had been annexed after the battle of Sobraon in 1846. In its two chief stations of Jullundhur and Hosheyarpore was then placed a force of 12,000 men of all arms. On the annexation of the Punjab, the latter station had been nearly abandoned, and the force in the district reduced to about 8000. In May 1857 it numbered scarcely 7000, consisting of a troop of European and one of native horse-artillery; one European regiment, H. M. 8th; two regiments of native cavalry, and five of native infantry; being in all Cashmere transferred by the English after the Sutlej campaign). It was from Jummoo that the advance would be made. THE STATE OF THE JULLUNDHUR DISTRICT. 123 scarcely 1000 Europeans to 6000 natives. In August 1857, of this large force there remained about 100 Europeans at Jullundhur, as many more at Philour, two guns at Kangra, the 33d N. I., disarmed, at Jullundhur, while two Punjab infantry corps* were being raised in the district. Punjabee and Sikh were pressing in for enlistment; but besides - perhaps more than all this as a means of keeping the district and the city in order, the Kuppoorthulla Rajah, Rundheer Singh, the grandson of him who had been the turban brother of Runjeet Singh, the son of the man who had been degraded by us a few years before, placed his troops and his money at our service, raised new levies at his own expense, kept down the city, guarded the civil lines and cantonments, protected the trunk-road from the Sutlej to the Beas, and virtually held the, Bist. ‡ The Cis-Sutlej States presented a still more remarkable appearance. Umballa and the hill stations were almost denuded of Europeans, the Hindostanee regiments dispersed or disbanded, the whole available force being pushed on to Delhi; while the native cities, towns, and the whole district, were kept in order, and the Umballa cantonment and grand trunk-road guarded, by the very native chiefs to overawe whom the forces had been originally cantoned there. * The 1st at Jullundhur, under Captain Tulloh, and the 2d at Loodiana, under Captain Nicolls. + See Appendix N. The Jullundhur Doab is so called, as lying between the rivers Beas and Sutlej. At Ferozepore, on the mutiny and subsequent disbandment of the 45th and 57th, a wing of the 61st had been withdrawn, and the peace and security of the city maintained by the Rajah of Fureedkote. At Loodiana and that district was the brave young Rajah of Nabba; at Kurnaul, the Nawab; at Paneeput, Lursowlie, Rae, and Alipore, the Jheend Rajah's troops, the Rajah himself in the camp doing noble service during the whole siege. And though last, chiefest of all, at Umballa itself, and throughout the centre of the division, even to Hansi and Hissar, was the Puttiala Rajah. In short, with men, money, example, influence, he was everywhere, supporting the Government when it seemed at its greatest need, strengthening it in its hour of weakness, and holding all till we should be able to re-occupy. Thus was the country in the hands of our trusty allies.* The crisis was at hand: the final struggle, which was to recover Delhi, or lose all ! Every day saw succours passing on for the siege. The Trimmoo Ghat, as has been mentioned, had set free the Moveable Column. Nicholson, perhaps more impatient than even those under him, to be at Delhi, lost no time, when once the permission to move down * The following statement of forces supplied by these rajahs shows the amount of aid they so nobly gave: Of the Jheend Rajah's forces the author has been unable to get accurate returns. THE SIEGE-TRAIN MOVING DOWN. 125 reached him. The whole Column was quickly on its way, gathering strength as it came. Then the arsenals of the Punjab were putting forth all their strength. The siege-train, which had been originally despatched from Philour, while it had been sufficient for the mere defensive operations maintained along the ridge, had been at once pronounced by Lieutenant Alexander Taylor of the Engineers, when he took charge on the withdrawal of Major Laughton, to be utterly inadequate to the purpose of a regular assault, especially against an enemy in possession of the whole of our vast Delhi arsenal. A first-class siegetrain of the heaviest metal was consequently called for, and the magazines at Ferozepore and Philour* were put into request to prepare one that would effectually breach the walls of the rebel city. Towards the end of August, the whole was ready. Six 24-pounders, eight 18-pounders, four 8-inch howitzers, with 1000 rounds of ammunition per piece, besides a similar quantity for all the howitzers and mortars already at Delhi, moved out from Ferozepore, and, as it passed through Loodiana, received an augmentation from Philour of four 10-inch mortars, with 1000 rounds for each; and the * The amount of metal and ammunition supplied by the Philour magazine from first to last may be thus summed up: 50 pieces of ordnance of various sizes, with 80,000 rounds of shot and shell, and nearly 500,000 pounds of powder; besides these, 5000 muskets, and nearly 3,000,000 rounds of balled cartridges, with a similar number of percussion caps. From Ferozepore, the entire supply passed down to the camp exceeded 2000 cartloads. For these valuable particulars, the author is indebted to his kind friends Captain Lewis, Commissary of Ordnance at Ferozepore, and Lieutenant Griffith of Philour. 126 NEW CORPS BEING RAISED. whole rolled on its ponderous length of gun-carriages, tumbrils, ammunition - carts, extending over thirteen miles of road. The leading cart had reached the new camping-ground before the last of that long line had started on its march. Enlistment was everywhere the order of the day. Some idea of the energy and activity called forth to supply the place of the traitor Poorbeahs by trusty Punjabees may be gathered from the following statement: There were originally 6 Punjab infantry regiments. There were now being raised, 3 at Peshawur, by Captains Cave and Bartlett, of the 21st N. I., and Major Shakespear, 24th N. I.; 1 at Nowshera, by Lieutenant Brownlow, 1st N. I.; 2 along the frontier; 1 at Bumoo, by Captain Gardner, 29th N. I.; and 1 at Khohat, by Captain Thelwall, H. M. 24th Regiment; 1 at Rawul Pindee, by Captain Doran, 24th N. I. ; 3 at Lahore, by Captains Blagrave, 26th L. I., and Larkins, 49th N. I., and Lieutenant Shebbeare, 60th N. I.; 1 at Jullundhur, by Captain Tulloh, 33d N. I.; 1 at Loodiana, by Captain Nicolls, the Assistant Commissioner,* and subsequently by Captain Macpherson, H. M. 24th Regiment; 1 at Philour, by Lieutenant Stafford, 4th N. I.; 1 at Umballa, by Captain Garstin, 5th N. I.; 1 at Ferozepore, by Captain Salmon, 57th N. I.; and 1 at Mooltan, by Captain Dennis, 62d N. I.+ * Captain Nicolls was not allowed to retain command, because he could not be spared from civil employ. These 16 corps were afterwards enrolled in the Punjab Irregular Force, from the 7th to the 22d regiment inclusive. At a later period, 3 more were added; the 23d, composed of a part of Van Courtlandt's |