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 CHAPTER XV

Preparations for the Defence of Lucknow

In a week after the mutiny at the Musa Bágh the great outbreak occurred at Meerut, followed at once by the move of the mutineers to Delhi, and their proclamation of the Mughal Empire. Thus was the war openly declared, the battle-gage thrown down, and the political object exposed.

These details were not known to Sir Henry for some days, as most of the telegraph wires were at once cut and communications interrupted; but by the middle of the week, the 13th, it was certain that the Pax Britannica was unsettled. By the end of it British troops had been placed on the City side of the Cantonment, so as to interrupt the communication between these two places, and also at the Residency position, which commanded the iron bridge over the Gúmti, while the trusted 13th N.I. were put in garrison in the Mutchi Bhown post, which also commanded the stone bridge. Thus Sir Henry held a triangular position controlling the passages over the river, the Sepoys, and the city. Next day the preparation of the Mutchi Bhown to act as a depot for