Account by Sergeant Kirchoff

The last time Scot saw of Kirchoff was as his wife was trying to drag him along by her hand until she fell off her horse. However, Kirchoff has another tale to tell.
In his account, Sergeant Kirchoff makes mention of the death of Mrs. Smalley, who died of sunstroke before arriving in Mahoba. Sergeant Major Lucas was the next to go. “After stretching a few times he fell, and never stilled more for about three minutes from this, and shortly afterwards expired; he was buried under a tree close to the spot.” He was shortly afterwards followed by Mr. Langdale, however, it would appear, as we will see later, he was mistaken.
The party had been joined by a large number of bandsmen and drummers both from Jhansi and Nowgong – they had been promised service under the rebels but many chose to desert that new army and take their chances with Captain Scot. It was these additions to the party that had so irritated the sepoys. It had very likely less to do with them mostly being Eurasians but more because there were so many of them – although no one gives an accurate number, it was probably close to 50 people, with their wives and children included. A handful of sepoys would never have been able to protect such a large party, no matter how much Scot wanted to believe it. However, many of the bandsmen chose to leave the party at Kabrai and move off on their own.
Kirchoff omits mentioning what happened when they were attacked by the villagers, probably with so many witnesses to his ineptitude at mounting a horse, he felt it better left unsaid. However, he also neglects to relate how he saved his wife. What he does say is that after the initial attack, they were obliged to run for it as best they could; some of the pursuers were killed, but Kirchoff never identifies who fired the shots. It could only have been Lieutenant Jackson or Lieutenant Ewart – Kirke was hampered by his rather large gun and the fact he had a little baby in his arms. In the ensuing hours, they would lose sight of Dr. and Mrs. Mawe when they fell off their horse. The horse ran off, and for some inexplicable reason, the Mawes were simply left behind.
After leaving the doctor and his wife to meet their fates as best they could, Lieutenant Barber (who Scot pronounced thin as a skeleton and unable to do two days’ work) fell from his horse, sunstruck. There were no attempts made to bury him or to even ascertain if he was dead, but he was left where he lay.
The party was now reduced to Mrs. Kirchoff, Lieutenant Jackson, Lieutenant Ewart, Henry Kirke and the Smalley baby.
Like Scot they believed if they entered Banda they would be murdered (though as we have seen the opposite was true) they merely skirted around it and continued their flight towards Nagode. They had a little more luck than Scot did. The next village where they stopped proved to be friendly, and they were able to rest the night in peace and were given ample food and water while their horses were well tended. The next morning, with two villagers acting as guides, they proceeded onwards, stopping next in a village called Munsoory.
Here, they got off their horses to rest themselves a little – not their wisest decision. Lieutenant Jackson, having heard something that alarmed him, called for the party to mount again with haste, giving the Smalley baby again to Henry Kirke while he took Mrs. Kirchoff behind him. As for the Sergeant, he had rather imprudently tied his horse a little way off. After he managed to untie his horse and get in the saddle, several villagers had surrounded him. One hit him on the head with a lathi while the others proceeded the beat him as he lay helpless on the ground. The rest of the party did not require another invitation and fled, leaving Kirchoff behind, presumed dead. However, the erstwhile Sergeant was merely stunned. Robbed of all he possessed, they let him go, and Kirchoff, struggling to his feet, would walk the rest of the way to Ajegarh, arriving on the 25th of June.