Page:The tourist's guide to Lucknow.djvu/189

Rh Chaplain, occupied the staircase in the east corner of the hospital.

Both these posts were garrisoned by the 13th N. I., under the command of Lieutenant Aitken. The treasury is on the right at the entrance into the Residency compound. The long room in the centre of the building served as a laboratory for making Enfield cartridges, which Major North, of the relieving force, made from a mould belonging to Lieutenant Sewell, and a second was found in the garrison. But for this the relieving force would have been virtually disarmed, as far as the Enfield was concerned, and would have had to depend on the miserable Brown Bess, which was the weapon used by the men of the 32nd Regiment during the siege.

As the gateway of the Residency is still standing it need not, therefore, be described. The gates were in good order in Ju1y, 1857; during the siege they were banked up from the inside with earth. The road, leading from the Residency, through the gateway, to the public highway, is, throughout, a steep descent. Three field pieces (two 9-pounders and a 24-pound howitzer) were put in position on this road, and completely commanded the ascent from the gateway. On the 2nd July the enemy made an attack on the position, but was repulsed; Lieutenant Graham received a bayonet-wound in the groin from one of the assailants, who was bold enough to advance to the very walls.

On the 20th August an attempt was made to destroy the gates by fire, but the flames were extinguished without causing injury (vide para 74). The enemy commenced a mine against this position from buildings opposite to the gateway, compelling Lieutenant Aitken to commence a countermine, but the enemy's mine was destroyed by a heavy fall of rain. The position of Aitken's 18-pounder gun rendered the Clock Tower untenable by the enemy. A mosque close to it, which afforded shelter to two of the enemy's guns, was destroyed by Aitken. A gelling musketry fire from the Naubat Khana made the south-east corner of this position almost untenable, and far from comfortable.

On the 25th September, Generals Outram and Havelock entered through the embrasure of Aitken's battery (vide para. 92). On the afternoon of the 27th a sortie was was made on the buildings, which afterwards formed