Page:The Indian Mutiny of 1857.djvu/320

288 among them Chamberlain, whose left arm was broken. In the week the besiegers had lost, in killed and wounded, twenty-five officers and 400 men.

Meanwhile, General Reed's health had completely broken down. On the 17th, then, he made over command to Archdale Wilson. The day following the rebels made another sortie, but they were repulsed by Colonel Jones of the 60th Rifles. The attack had been made, as often before, on the Sabzímandí. To prevent future attacks in that quarter, the engineers cleared away the houses and walls, which had afforded cover to the rebels, and connected the advanced posts with the main pickets on the Ridge. The effect of this was most salutary. There were no more attacks on the Sabzímandí.

It was the day before this attack, the day, in fact, on which Wilson assumed command, that a report reached the Chief Engineer, Baird-Smith, that the question whether circumstances did not require the raising of the siege, in consideration of the great losses incurred, and the impossibility of taking the place without further reinforcements, would be mooted at the next meeting of the General and his staff. Impressed with the absolute necessity of retaining the 'grip we now have on Dehlí,' Baird-Smith took the very earliest opportunity of speaking to Wilson on the subject, and of pointing out the enormous calamities which the raising of the siege would entail. The result of the conversation was to confirm Wilson in his resolution to prosecute the siege, and to render its success certain, by ordering up a siege-train from Fírúzpur.

On the 23d the enemy made a final attack before the arrival of Nicholson. This time it was directed against Ludlow Castle. The attack was repulsed, but the British, pursuing the rebels too closely to the city walls, suffered very severely.