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 CHAPTER VI

The Southern Operations to the Fall of Jhánsí

'In five months, the Central India Field Force traversed 1085 miles, crossed numerous large rivers, took upwards of 150 pieces of artillery, one entrenched camp, two fortified cities and two fortresses all strongly defended, fought sixteen actions, captured twenty forts; and never sustained a check against the most warlike and determined enemy, led by most capable commanders then to be found in any part of India .'

Were it possible to follow the example of Gibbon, who summarised in half a dozen lines a campaign that extended from Gaul to Constantinople, the above sentence would be a sufficient record of the operations in Central or Southern India under Sir Hugh Rose. But a somewhat fuller account, taken in great part from Sir Hugh Rose's own correspondence, will be more in consonance with the object of the present volume, and may not be without interest for the general reader, even though the story has already