Page:Decisive Battles Since Waterloo.djvu/197

Rh The rebels seemed to be in full retreat towards Cawnpore after this misfortune, and the wearied soldiers lay down upon the ground to have a brief rest. Again the rebels rallied, led by the Nana in person. He had stationed 3 guns, one of them a 24-pounder, upon the branch road leading to Cawnpore, and as the British advanced they received a severe fire from these guns. The rebel cavalry advanced, followed closely by the rebel infantry, and accompanied by the trumpets and bands of music. The English advanced again; but well-directed volleys of grape and canister cut down many of their numbers. As they were moving forward under the leadership of General Havelock's son, who was serving on his staff, the infantry charged and captured the 24-pounder, and simultaneously four British guns were brought forward, and opened fire on the rebels. The fire of these guns threw the sepoys into consternation, and they fled rapidly towards Cawnpore. Havelock's men were too weary after their day's marching and fighting to pursue the enemy, and they went into camp about two miles from the city. During the evening Nana Sahib fled from Cawnpore towards Bitheer. On the 17th July Havelock entered Cawnpore, and encamped within what had formerly been the British lines. The massacre of the prisoners took place on the evening of the 16th at the time of Nana Sahib's flight from Cawnpore. At Lucknow, the capital of the lately annexed kingdom of Oude, the sepoys openly mutinied at the cantonment, four miles from the city, on the 30th May, 1857. Sir Henry Lawrence, the Chief Commissioner, immediately placed the Residency and a wide enclosure around it in a state of defence, and was occupied with this work through the greater part of June. Hearing that a large force of rebels was encamped a few miles distant on the Fyzabad road, he started to attack them on the