The mutinies in Rajpootana: being a personal narrative of the mutiny at Nusseerabad, with subsequent residence at Jodhpore, and journey across the desert into Sind, together with an account of the outbreak at Neemuch, and mutiny of the Jodhpore legion at erinpoora, and attack on Mount Aboo

Front matter

THE LIBRARY

THE UNI\'ERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA.

-Bom .871 in Wales, .c,v.d in >hc Himalayas w«hO,<

Preface

I MUST solicit the indulgence of the public for any shortcomings in the following narrative, as it will not have the advantage of the author's supervision while going through the press. I may take this opportunity of stating that, if the public are sufficiently interested in Rajpootana matters to afford the necessary encouragement, I intend to bring out a second volume, containing an account of the military operations in Rajpootana and Central India when the army of retribution took the field.

Chapter I

SOMEWHAT more than two years have elapsed since the exciting events occui-red, which invested Indian subjects with so much interest that any journal or record^ however hastily thrown together^ of any part or period of the rebellion or the succeeding campaigns^ was sure of a favourable reception from the public. In offering to the world after so long a lapse of time anything so commonplace as a narrative of adventures and experiences during the mutiny, some apology is needed. I have been induced chiefly by the following considerations to venture upon publishing the matter which will be found in the ensuing pages.

First. No narrative, that I am aware of, has as yet been written of the mutinies in Rajpootana ; and as the history of the outbreak in almost every other part of India, and every station, has been laid before the public, it seems as if a link in the chain was wanting as long as there is no account extant of similar incidents as they occm-red in so important a tract of country as Rajpootana.

Secondly. Although I can scarcely hope that my unpretending narrative will excite much interest in circles unconnected with India, the whole story of the mutiny and rebellion seems so wonderful that new details respecting it can hardly fiiil to be listened to or read with attention by any of those whose lot is cast in India, or who have themselves witnessed scenes similar to those which I shall attempt to describe, or by the friends and relatives of my fellow exiles who were exposed to the perils which in the eventful year of 1857 befell us all alike.

Thirdly. The real history of the mutiny remains yet to be written. Years must elapse before such a work can be undertaken with any hope of real success, or any prospect of dealing satisfactorily with the subject. Contemporary prejudices must be allowed to die out, and matters now involved in mystery be cleared up by diligent and patient inquiry ; more evidence must be collected from every available source, and the whole carefully compared and arranged. To enable an historian to arrive at a correct view of the subject, nothing can be so useful as personal narratives that enter pretty closely into details, and convey to the reader as much as possible the very impression stamped on the mind of the writer by the events he is describing. The only way by which we can hope to solve the mystery of the mutiny and its origin, is by tracing every occurrence step by step, looking into every detail, and examining every part of the picture and every phase of character presented to us, and then making what deductions we can. In the hope that the following journal may not be without its uses in this respect, I have ventured upon offering it to the world.

GENERAL OUTLINE. 3

By the side of the heart-stirring accounts of the campaign before Delhi, of the sufferings and deeds of the Lucknow garrison, of the miseries endured by the victims of Cawnpore and other places, given in such books as Hodson's Twelve Years of a Soldier's Life, Gubbins' Mutinies in Oude, Captain Hutchinson's Narrative, Captain Mowbray Thompson's Stor!/ of Caivnpore, ISIrs. Copland's Escape from Gwalior, and numberless others, an account of a simple mutiny unattended by massacre or assassination to heighten the interest, may seem but tame and unattractive. The rebellion has been only too fruitful in themes of tragic nature. But it was not my lot to be present at Delhi or Lucknow, or with Sir Hugh Rose's victorious division in its triumphal march through Central India — a military operation, or rather a series of military operations, that I believe, all things considered, has scarcely a parallel in modern history, and whose importance has been strangely underrated by our countrymen both in India and England : it was not my lot to share in either the greatest dangers or glories of the war, but we had, like the rest, to go through the ordeal, and that in a position in many respects peculiar, isolated as we were in a remote corner of Rajpootana, and indebted for our safety, under Providence, to a strange concatenation of circumstances, over which we had certainly no control, and which ended in our eventual escape. Our adventures Were not very startling, nor our sufferings very severe ; we have no glorious \\ctories to chronicle, no massacres to describe ; we drifted into mutiny and we drifted out; many of our families found shelter at the court of one of the independent sovereigns of Rajpootana, and for a while

B 2 were in safety, but the wave of rebellion rolled in and at last threatened us even there. Retreat was cut off on all sides save one, and on that we were separated from the nearest British territory, Sind, by a large tract of desert, almost uninhabited, with no roads, and where water and supplies were scarcely procurable. The commissioners of Sind sent an escort under the district officer to aid us ; and our party, increased to six gentlemen, five ladies, and nine children, wended its weary way for 300 miles over a country almost as sterile as the African desert, and till that time less often visited by the European traveller, to Hyderabad in Sind. Such is the outline of the adventures and wanderings it is the purpose of the following pages to describe.

The accounts of the mutiny at Neemuch and Erinpoora, and the attack on Mount Aboo, have been furnished me by friends who were, like myself, eyewitnesses of the events they relate.

Had I remained in the army, it would have been necessary to suppress opinions that I have ventured to offer upon events, and in some cases on the characters of public men. But the deep distrust of the native soldiers with which the circumstances of the mutiny inspired me, and disapproval of the vexatious policy subsequently pursued by the government, induced me, as the only satisfactory course I could adopt, to resign my commission, when the danger was past, and to seek employment and support in another sphere than that in which I had been engaged during thirteen of the best years of my life.

It is indeed impossible for any one who has not ex-

TREACHERY OF SEPOYS. 5

perlenced it, to realize the full effect upon the mind and feelings, of a mutiny of a regiment he was warmly attached to, accompanied as it was by treacherous and dastardly attempts at assassination. As the conduct of the Sepoys was strange and incomjireliensible, so was their ingratitude and cowardice and deep villany utterly beyond the power of language to describe. That men with whom we had been associated for years, whose comforts and welfare we steadily and consistently attended to, and whose wants always met with due consideration from our hands, should have suddenly turned upon us, and attempted our lives, was so inexplicable, that had I not been present with the regiment, and witnessed and suffered from the outrage, I do not think any testimony, however unimpeachable, could have made me believe the story. When once the whole truth was realized, the revulsion of feeling was so strong that I determined never again to serve with native soldiers in any capacity whatever. Many of my fellow officers, who at the time were, I believe, impressed with the same feeling, have judged differently, and the new army is officered by men who have as much cause to complain of ingratitude and treachery as any of us. Each individual can judge best of his own course; but I must express my surprise at the infatuation of a government which, forgetting the experience of the past, is content to reorganize a large native force,"^ now more numerous than the old, and possessed of all its bad qualities, with none of its redeeming features.

The territory of Rajpootana consists of a lai'ge

* This was written before the late reduction was authorized.

tract of country between what are called the Northwestern and Central Indian provinces on one side, and the desert bordering on Sind, the territories of Guzerat and of Holkar, on the other, and includes a number of independent states. At the courts of Jeypore, Jodhpore, Bhurtpore, Kotah, Oodeypore, and Malwa, a British officer always resides as political agent. The numerous other states, of which Alwur, Kerowlee, Tonk, Bikaneer, and Boondee are perhaj^sthemost influential, are left to their own devices, and allowed to carry on their own affairs unassisted or uninterrupted by any British political officer at all. The Governor-General's agent, who usually resides a great part of the year at Mount Aboo, which is about 150 miles from Jodhpore, and just beyond the proper boundaries of Rajpootana, superintends the whole of the territory, and all the officers employed in any of the agencies are under his direct orders. The different states all send their Vakeels or representatives to the Governor-General's agent in whose immediate neighbourhood they reside, marching when he marches, halting when he halts, and repairing with him to the summer retreat in Mount Aboo. They assemble at stated times to discuss measures that may affect their sovereigns' interests which may be under the consideration of the British Government or its accredited agent. The plan is, in theory at all events, an excellent one, and I never heard any argument adduced against its practice. By it, the Governor- General's agent is placed in communication with the ruler of each petty state ; he can make his wishes, or the orders of Government, known to them through the Vakeels, and by them be kept in-

SKETCH OF RAJ FOOT ANA. 7

formed of everytliing of moment that occurs. The appointments given to British officers in this department are generally much coveted. They begin by being assistants to the agent, and eventually rise to be political agents themselves — the latter post, on account of its high salary, independent position, and influential character, being a prize deservedly valued. Rajpootana, in some respects, is one of the most interesting parts of India. It was never thoroughly conquered by the Mahometans. They, indeed, overran it, captured its most famous strongholds, devastated its most fertile districts, and destroyed its richest cities. But the Hindoo inhabitants succeeded in recovering their independence, and though they yielded a nominal subjection to the emperor who reigned at Delhi, it was always unwillingly accorded, the tribute grudgingly paid, and very frequently withheld. The old Persian histories of the Emperors of Hindostan are full of stories recounting the prowess of the Rajpoots and the valour of the Mussulmans, and the pertinacity with which the war between the races was carried on, and the chivalrous valour of the leaders of the Rajpoots, who preferred death to defeat, and frequently divested the hardly earned victory of tlieir foes of almost all its value, by consigning first their wives and families to death, and then sacrificing themselves by selling their lives as dearly as they could. In this part of India there are spots where the scenery, for grandeur and wildness and beauty, is not to be surpassed perhaps by any in the world ; but for the most part it is a desolate region, flat and uncultivated.

The traveller passes fur miles and miles over an enormous plain where no vestige of a human habitation is in sight. There is verdure, for the country is by no means, as some may be inclined to fancy it, a sandy plain, and if inhabited and irrigated, would doubtless be most fertile. But where are the inhabitants? Judging from appearances you would suppose there were none. You ride through a village, and find it half in ruins ; the houses that are standing, tenanted by a few male adults ; two or three grown-np women and half-a-dozen children may stare at the stranger as he passes along the deserted streets ; but there is an air of desolation and decay and poverty about the place that forces itself on the attention. The land in the immediate neighbourhood of the villa^-es will perhaps be cultivated, and the road or cart track, most likely half a foot deep in sand or loose soil, will run for a little way between hedges formed of the earth heaped up on each side, and a few dry brambles fixed into the top; you soon emerge, however, into the jungle again, and ride on for miles and miles perhaps, before you see another human habitation, over ground covered with coarse grass and stunted shrubs ; the deer are so unused to being disturbed in their lonely solitudes by the intrusion of man, that they come fearlessly almost up to your horse, or allow you to approach close to them. To lose one's way is, as I can speak from experience, a real evil, for you may have to ride many miles before you meet a human being from whom you can obtain directions or information as to your road.

In the mountainous parts of the country the scenery changes much, and becomes bold and grand. CJrand it is anywhere, even in its most desolate

SCENERY AND ASSOCIATIONS. 9

wastes, for it is impossible to travel through thes© otherwise uninteresting regions without recalling to mind the wondrous traditions of old times, and the tales of patriotism and chivalry and devotion which the ancient history of Rajpootana is so full of. There is no need of fiction here, where facts are sufficiently imbued with the romantic to satisfy the imagination of the most wonder-loving reader that ever perused the pages of Scott, or waded through the voluminous works of G. P. R. James. Every hill almost that you see has an old ruined castle cresting its summit, to wdiich some tradition is attached, and every now and then you pass the consecrated spot where the widow has in days gone by devoted herself to her deceased husband, and the rude sculpture of the man on horseback holdiuij out his hand to the fig-ure of a woman on foot, carved on the slab of stone, shows where the sacrifice of the suttee was made. Here you pass walled cities w^here in former days a resolute defence was made against the Moslem invader, till, reduced to extremity, the brave garrison first celebrated what they call there 'jauhar,' that is they made a huge pile of wood and combustible materials and kindled it, threw their wives and children, all they held dear to them on earth, and whose honour was dearer far to them than life, into the flames, and after watching them perish before their eyes, dashed open the gates of their city and courted death at the hands of their enemies. Here you j)ass the lonely hermitage by the clear mountain stream in a shady dell, the shade only too grateful where the burning summer sun at mid-day has tremendous power, whither the courtier or the soldier, wearied by the toils of ambition, deserted the world and retired to end liis days in peaceful contemplation on the attributes of the Deity. Or you may see in other places monastic establishments, supported by the superstition of some raja who, after leading a life of crime, sought to obtain favour from heaven and satisfy his conscience by founding an institution for Jain or Buddhist priests, on the same system as our monasteries.

Everywhere you are reminded of the past, and see before you but too plainly the effects of ambition and avarice. "What the Moslem conquerors left unfinished, the tyranny and selfishness of the rulers of the land completed.

In the centre of this wide tract is a little district marked by a red boundary line in the map, a sure sign that the hand of the Anglo-Saxon has been laid upon it. The principal city in it is Ajmere, which is beautifully situated on the shore of a lake in the centre of a fertile valley, surrounded by rugged and wild mountains of no very great elevation. The district is called by the same name, Ajmere, and is presided over by a Civil officer, holding the title of commissioner. The garrison of the district is quartered at Nusseerabad, which, being centrally situated, formed the principal military station for this part of Rajpootana. Nusseerabad is about sixteen miles from Ajmere, and stands on a bare rocky plain about eight miles from the outer foot of the hills that flank the E. and S.E. side of the valley which I have alluded to above. The road from Nusseerabad to Ajrnere is a pretty one, leading through the hills and up the pass, from the summit of which you see spread

AJMEllE AND NUSSEEUABAD. 11

before you the green fields of the valley, interspersed with clusters of trees, whose rich foliage forms a pleasant contrast to the colour of the inferior vegetation, while as you advance further on, passing the city and the romantic-looking old fort, you come upon the blue waters of the lake, sparkling under the rays of a bright sun, and a gloriously clear blue sky.

The summit of the highest peak about the city is crowned by a white temple, a place of Mahometan pilgrimage, a conspicuous object enough, and very sacred in the eyes of the devotees, who think, like many of another faith w^ho ought to know better, that a compliance with certain outward forms or ordinances will compensate for non-compliance with others that involve the control of the passions and the exercise of real devotion.

In the eventful year of 1857 there were quartered at Nusseerabad a battery of Artillery (Native), — the same that fought with Sale at Jellalabad, and earned undying fame at that glorious siege, — the ist Bombay Lancers, and the 30th N. I., which force was increased on the ist jSIay by the advent of the 15th Uegiment, N.I.

Chapter II

INTEECOUESE BETWEEN OFFICEE AND SEPOY — MABCH TO NUSSEEEABAD — NEWS OF THE OTJTBEEAK — GUMBHEEE SING — INJUDICIOUS OEDEES — ATTEMPTS TO ALLAY EXCITEMENT — NUSSEEEABAD — PEECAUTIONS — BELIEF OF AJMEEE GAB- EISON.

TTTE landed in Calcutta in February^ ^^57) on my ' * return from a furlousrli to Eng-land on medical certificate. My regiment, the ijtli N. I., was then quartered at Meerut, destined so soon to become notorious as the source whence the tempest arose that desolated Hindostan. An officer who holds the office of interpreter and quartermaster to any native corps is necessarily forced into a more extended intercourse with natives, sepoys, native officers, and camp followers than most others. It is veiy generally supposed in England that European officers now-a-days seldom master the language of the men, and keep as much as possible aloof from them ; and it has been frequently asserted that in consequence of their departure from the good old custom, as it is called, of former times, the mutiny, when it came, took us so completely by surprise. But the fact is, as it will be found when the different accounts of the outbreak are examined and compared, that we were by no means without warnings. Warnings we had, and plenty of them, but in some cases we disregarded them, and in others, and perhaps in most instances, we were utterly helpless from our peculiar position, and the only course open

DISTRESSING SUSPENSE. 13

to US was to hope for the best; our strength was literally to sit still ; in many cases escape there was none : and no officer could individually act so as to provide for his own safety without committing a gross breach of duty by showing distrust when he was called upon to exhibit confidence^ and hurrying on a catastrophe which J to the very last moment^ we believed might not be inevitable. I think all who have passed through the eventful period of 1857 will agree with me that the most distressing time of all was the interval, short in some cases, long in others, which elapsed before the troops actually declared their mutinous intentions. To trust them really was impossible, at the same time we could not actually distrust them. Yet it was apparent that an outbreak would occur, the consequences of which no one could foresee, the chances of escape varying according to position and attendant circumstances over which we had no control. Those of us who had families to protect, wives and children, whose fate might be so dreadful that the stoutest heart feared to contemplate it, and the bare possibility of which was enovigh to unman any one, experienced this anxiety to the utmost. But there we were, day after day, looking out eagerly for reports, discussing among ourselves anxiously the signs of the times and the feeling of our men, and the prospect of their remaining faithful, or the chance of escape, or the mode of action to be adopted if they mutinied. From the first thino- at morning: to the last thing at night we were kept with our mental energies strained to the very utmost, striving to maintain a careless unconcerned demeanour, and let the ordinary routine of life go on as usual, lest we should encourage disaffection by sTiowing want of confidence.

Knowing as we did what had occurred at other places^ and afraid to impart the horrible information to our wiveSj or to breatbe of it in our family circle^ we were forced to smile when the heart was sick, and to assume a tone of confidence and freedom from anxiety, when we were expecting to hear almost every moment from the lines the sound of iiproar that would herald in, we knew, a scene of outrage and massacre. We looked at our wives and little ones, and felt how powerless were we to save and protect those whom God had given us for protection, how at any moment they might become the prey of a lawless bloodthirsty rabble, drunk with lust and fury. INIany have complained of the insolence and ill-behaviour of domestic servants before tbe revolt began, but T saw nothing or noticed nothing of it. I knew of course that not one was to be trusted in the hour of need, that is, I knew it in my heart of hearts, but it was difficult to realize it, and impossible to act upon it. No words can describe the distressing anxiety, the fearful mental struggle of those few days. Looking back upon them from this distance of time it seems as if months, ay, years must have passed ; yet when I come to count them they were but about ten days, for the Meerut mutiny took place on the loth May, and our own broke out on the 28th, and several days elapsed before any news from Meerut reached us in our remote nook in Riijpootana. Often did I envy from the bottom of my heart the position of most of my brother officers, who either had their wives in England, or were without any. Several stories have been told of officers shooting their own wives to save them from falling into the hands of the rebels. I do

OFFICERS AND SEPOYS. 15

not believe there is any authenticated instance of such conduct_, but I would here observe that though manytales of horror were exaggerated, the accounts of atrocities and indignities heaped upon the ladies at Delhi at all events, and many other places, were, alas, no fabrication. They were too true. This has been proved by investigations made upon the spot, though the detailed results of these enquiries will probably never be made public, and perhaps it is just as well they should not be. But at the time I speak of, let the reader recollect, we had had no contradiction of any of those dreadful rumours that were abroad, and a soldier may be as brave as a lion, and as brave as a British soldier almost always is, but he would have been more or less than human had he, in those days, looked into his wife^s and children's faces and contemplated the fate that might befal them, as it had befallen others, as good, as innocent, and as much beloved in their own circle as they, without feeling his heart sick.

The assertion alluded to above, that officers used to keep aloof from their men, is quite incorrect. There were in every regiment some who made it their business to study the literature and language of the country ; and all, more or less, were familiar with the latter, at all events as far as colloquial knowledge of it went. Of course there were exceptions, but as a general rule the behaviour of the European officers was calculated to win the regard and attachment of the Sepoys. It was customary to pay them the compliment of going to see their great festivals, nautches, &c. &c.; and though we took no further part in them, of course, than looking on, and afiectiug perhaps more interest than we really felt, and talking to the native officers, or to some man who acted as steward on the occasion, we were always conducted to the chairs placed for us •with great ceremony, and our presence always appeared to give pleasure — the dancing, or wrestling, or singing, or ' tom-toming,' whichever it might be, went on with renewed zest, and it seemed to be a point of honour for each performer to redouble his or her exertions for the especial benefit of the white-faced spectators. And lest any exception should be taken to such a proceeding on the ground that heathen festivals having always more or less connexion with heathen worship, no Christian ought to sanction such ceremonies even by a visit, I would observe that the question, is it right or wrong, must be traced further back before it can be satisfactorily answered. If it be conceded that there was no anomaly and nothing wrong in an English gentleman and a Christian holding a commission in the late E. I. Company's army, a point I never heard disputed, it must be allowed that officers so situated were bound conscientiously to do their duty, the first step towards which would be to secure the affection and respect of those under their command. It was a regular custom for the sepoys to invite their officers to atteud many of their festivals and ceremonies, and they would have been undoubtedly hurt by a refusal. For the latter to do more than this was not required ; to do less would have been to lose the greatest chance of gaining influence with them. This should have been no inducement certainly, if the principle be wrong ; but I do not think it was wrong, and indeed the officers of the Bengal Army have been generally charged with a fault the

ARRIVAL AT NUSSEERABAD. 17

very opposite to this^ viz.^ with neglecting to hold that intercourse with the Native officers and Sepoys which their peculiar position rendered necessary.

We reached Meerut in the middle of February. In March, the 15th N.I. was unexpectedly ordered to Nusseerabad, which station, in consequence of troops having been withdrawn for the Persian war, was without its full complement. Colonel Shuldham, commanding the regim.ent, joined us in camp one march beyond Delhi. Until his arrival, the command of the corps had devolved upon me, as next senior. The colonel was a strict disciplinarian, and in consequence very unpopular among the men, and strange reports were circulated about us while we were traversing the desert-like plains of Rajpootana, that his life had been successfully attempted by some malcontents in the regiment. However, we reached Nusseerabad without accident or adventure, and went quietly into quarters exactly ten days before the outbreak at Meerut occurred.

The first thing that aroused our suspicions that anything wrong had taken place, was the stoppage of the usual mail from the north-east. By degrees, rumours gotabroadthat aserious outbreak had occurred; how, I do not know, for no letters were received for several days. At last these uncertain rumours assumed a more definite form. There happened to be at the station a Mr. Courtenay, who kept an hotel at Meerut, and had left his family there while he went a tour through the provinces, in charge of an equestrian company, giving exhibitions at the different stations. This man received intelligence that the troops had broken out at Meerut, that his wife and

G family had been murdered, and his house burnt to the ground ; all which was but too true : it was added, that the whole station was destroyed, and every European, man, woman, and child, at Meerut and Delhi massacred. This was all we heard for several days. At last more correct accounts reached us from neighbouring stations, whither they had been transmitted by indirect routes. All the roads were open to the south, the only one as yet closed being the direct one from the Punjaub and the north-west, Agra, and Delhi. We had cause for anxiety, situated as we v/ere in a remote corner of Rajpootana, surrounded by independent states, who were apriori likely enough to take advantage of any opportunity that might oifer to aggrandize themselves at the expense of the British Government. We had no European troops within 130 miles of us, Deesa, in the Bombay Presidency, being the nearest garrison where any English soldiers were quartered; and if the insurrection or mutiny — for we knew not then, with our imperfect information, what to call it, or what to think of it — had been of such a serious nature as to have made head at Meerut against a European force, consisting of the Carabineers, the 60th Rifles, and Artillery, there was not much reason for supposing that a Queen's regiment, the 83 rd, and a troop of European Horse Artillery, 120 miles off, would be able to afford us much eflicient aid. We wei-e far from believing, however, that that aid would be required. As yet, we had no cause for suspecting that our men, who, be it observed, used to express the greatest indignation at the conduct of their fellow-countrymen at Meerut and Delhi, would prove disaffected. The