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136 was a central depôt for the rebel troops stationed south of the Jumna, and between that river and the Ganges.

When explaining to the Commander-in-Chief his reasons for calling on Brigadier Maxwell to assist him, for which he had been censured, Sir Hugh Rose stated (May 26, 1858) that he was influenced by the wish to effect the rapid capture of Kálpi. He had no plan of the fort and only a faulty Ordnance map to consult. 'When I came near Kálpi,' he wrote, 'I found that it was surrounded by a belt of ravines about two miles in breadth, as difficult ground as could be seen, and that to attack the fort I must force the ravines, of which the enemy had entrenched the entrance, and afterwards the town which surrounds the fort. I always thought and hoped that I should have one good fight with the rebels for Kálpi; and that if they lost it, they would evacuate the town and fort. After being beaten at Kúnch, they would have evacuated Kálpi had not the Nawáb of Bánda reinforced them with a large body of troops and induced them to stay. But whether the attack of Kálpi was to be determined by one or by many days operations, I felt the conviction that I required reinforcements on account of the sickly state of my force, and the great strength of the ground defended by entrenchments. All the old Indian officers of my force say that they never felt, not even in Sind, so bad a heat as that of the Jumna. The men affected by it had apoplexy, violent crying fits, and lost their heads and sight.