The 12th of August

August was not quiet on the Ridge. The cycle of attack and repulse continued undaunted, and the losses on the side of the British, although less than July, did not cease. In one attack alone, on the 6th, four officers were killed or wounded, among them Lieutenant J.H. Browne lately of the 33rd BNI, now attached to the Kumaon Gurkhas. On the 8th, the mutineers attempted to build a battery at Ludlow Castle and continued a harassing fire on the Metcalfe piquet. It was therefore decided to capture Ludlow Castle and capture the guns that were causing such a nuisance.

To achieve this, a strong body of men was assembled on the night of the 11th, consisting of 200 men of the Guides Cavalry, 1200 of infantry from the 8th, 75th and the 1st and 2nd Fusiliers, eight guns, a squadron of HM’s 9th Lancers, Coke’s Rifles, and the Kumaon Battalion of Gurkhas, all under the command of Brigadier G. Showers, sufficiently recovered from a wound sustained on the 23rd of July.
By four o’clock in the morning, they were ready to advance.

As ordered, the column, with infantry on either side and the artillery on the road, moved as silently as possible on the rebel’s position. As plans go, this one was a rousing success. The British succeeded in sneaking up to the rebel post and, sending a volley of musketry fire into the lines, which the mutineers had no chance of returning with any effect, being caught completely off guard, the British rushed the battery. The rebels managed to fire off two guns, but the third was stopped by Private Reegan, who dashed forward and bayonetted the artilleryman, who fell with his lighted portfire. The rest of the gunners put their backs to the waggons, fighting furiously until they too fell dead. For half an hour, a murderous fire raged, but the rebels had no chance. After a spirited fight, they turned and fled.
The 9th Lancers, although called to the column, were held back. Forced to sit mounted under fire, Brevet Major Octavius Anson observed,

“Strange to say, what between Pandy’s fright and his having been caught napping, he fired so high and badly that we had only two men wounded and five or six horses. One man was wounded close to me, young Whelan, by a spent ball. The ball did not go through him, but lodged in his side, inflicting a dangerous wound.”

The objective was achieved – all four guns were captured, and the Metcalfe picquet was saved from their fire, while Ludlow Castle now became part of the Ridge defences. The fight, though short, cost the British heavily. Brigadier Showers was once again wounded, suffering a long slash on the surface of his chest and a smashed finger on his right hand. Coke too was wounded as was Lieutenant Greville, who had captured one of the four guns with a handful of men, and a young lieutenant named Sheriff was killed. A further eight were wounded and one hundred and ninety men “hors de combat”.

However, they still came back to camp triumphant.

“The return to camp was a scene worth witnessing, the soldiers bringing home in triumph the guns they had captured, a soldier with musket and bayonet fixed riding each horse and brave young Owen astride one gun, and dozens clinging to and pushing it, or rather them, along with might and main, and cheering like mad things.”

Rohtak

The very day the long-awaited siege train from the Punjab arrived on the Ridge, intelligence was received that a body of mutineers, mostly cavalry, had been sent out to cut off communication with the Punjab. The task of “watching” them was given to William Hodson. For this mission, Hodson took with him six European officers, a hundred Guides Cavalry, 25 Jhind horsemen and his own corps of 233 men who, in his estimation, were

“…merely an aggregation of untutored horsemen, ill-equipped, half-clothed, badly provided with everything, quite unfit for service in the usual sense of the term, and only forced into the field because I have will that it shall be so…”

Their warlike appearance, however, impressed those who saw them leave the Ridge – dressed in their khaki tunics with a scarlet sash and scarlet turbans, “the wild brave men from the border, ready to die for the one who knew how to command and lead them.” Hodson was taking a great personal risk leading his untried corps into battle, but if he was to prove their mettle, it was now. They left Delhi on the night of the 14th of August. The objective was to secure communications with the Punjab and teach the rebels a lesson. The first stop was the village of Khurkundah, where Hodson had been informed a troop of the Irregulars had taken refuge. Surprised by Hodson, the mutineers put up a spirited fight, but ultimately, Hodson prevailed, and the Irregulars were destroyed to a man. He then set his force to “reconnoitre and harass” a large body of cavalry and infantry, with two guns, who had been moving away from Delhi, willfully plundering villages in their path, though the ultimate goal was to attack Hansi. For their part, the mutineers were aware Hodson was not far behind, and they, believing “discretion the better part of valour”, quickly disappeared before Hodson could catch up.

The incident at Khurkundah was mired in some controversy, but only later – this can be read in full in T.R.E. Holmes, Appendix N, III p. 603 in the 4th edition. As it is currently not in the scope of this post to address it, this too shall be looked at in more detail in a different post.

Hodson’s objective, however, was Rohtak, and he wrote the following letter to Colonel Becher, Quartermaster General:
My dear Colonel,—We are getting on very well. I hope to take Rohtuck today, and I trust the arrangements
will be made for keeping it. The country will then be quiet from Hansie to Delhi. The Jheend Rajah should be told to take care of the district. I believe Greathed did make this arrangement, but Barnes put some spoke in the way so that the Rajah is uncertain about how to act. Please tell Greathed from me that there is nothing now to prevent the restoration of order here. I wish I had a stronger party, for though I feel quite comfortable myself, yet I should like more troops, for the sake of the men, who are not quite so easy in their minds.
The road by Alipore, Boanah, and Khurkundah is the best. The canal is easily fordable at Boanah, and just below that place (at the escape), it is quite dry, the banks having given way. We polished off the Khurkundah gentry in style, though they showed fight to a great extent. It has had a wonderfully calming effect on the neighbourhood. I hope the Jheend troops, or some troops, may be sent here. The Jheend men would more than suffice.—Yours very sincerely,
W. S. R. Hodson.

Hodson had a plan, and now he intended to carry it out.

Reaching Rohtak on the 17th, Hodson found a large part of the population had turned out with a crowd of Irregulars, “drawn up on the walls,” while the rest waited on a mound outside. He rode forward with Captain Ward and a few orderlies to take a lay of the land, when the mutineers fired and dashed towards Hodson.
Hodson sent word for his cavalry to come up while he rode back slowly, intending to draw as many of the insurgents out into the open field as possible. As soon as the leading troop came up, Hodson swung around and ordered the charge. “We dashed at them and drove them helter-skelter into the town, killing all we overtook.”
He then encamped his men in what was left of the kutchery compound for what would turn out to be a quiet night. The rest of the population, better disposed than others, slowly approached Hodson, offering his men food and supplies and food for their horses. The morning, however, proved less restful.
During the night, word had been sent to 300 irregular horsemen of the mutineers – the 1st, 13th and 14th – headed, as they had been the night before, by Babar Khan, the chief of the Ranghar tribe. Accompanying them were no less than 1000 infantrymen. Their intention had been to attack Hodson before he had time to prepare his men; they were outwitted by his spies. Hodson had received notice earlier of the intended attack – as such, he had ordered his men to keep their horses saddled, and as the rebel cavalry came at a gallop down the road, Hodson and his men were ready. His strategy was simple.

“To drive them scattering back to the town was the work of only as many more, and I then, seeing their numbers, and the number of matchlocks brought against us from gardens and embrasures, determined to draw them out into the open country; and the ‘ ruse’ was eminently successful. I had quietly sent off our little
baggage unperceived half an hour before so that I was, as I intended, perfectly free and unfettered by
impedimenta of any sort. I then quietly and gradually drew off troop after troop into the open plain about
a mile to the rear, covering the movement with skirmishers.
“My men, new as well as old, behaved coolly and admirably throughout, though the fire was very annoying, and a retreat is always discouraging, even when you have an object in view. My officers, fortunately, first-rate ones, behaved like veterans, and everything went on to my complete satisfaction.
“Exactly what I had anticipated happened. The enemy thought we were bolting and came on in crowds, firing and yelling, and the Sowars brandishing their swords as if we were already in their hands, when suddenly I gave the order, ‘Threes about, and at them.’ The men obeyed with a cheer; the effect was electrical; never was such a scatter. I launched five parties at them, each under an officer, and in they went, cutting and firing into the very thick of them.

“The ground was very wet, and a ditch favoured them, but we cut down upwards of fifty in as many seconds. The remainder flew back to the town, as if not the Guides and Hodson’s Horse but death and the devil were at their heels. Their very numbers encumbered them, and the rout was most complete. Unfortunately, I had no ammunition left and therefore could not, without imprudence, remain so close to a town filled with matchlock men, so we marched quietly round to the north of the town and encamped near the first friendly village we came to, which we reached in the early afternoon. Our success was so far complete, and I am most thankful to say, with very trifling loss, only two men were rather severely wounded,
eight in all touched, and a few horses hit. Macdowell did admirably, as indeed did all. My new men, utterly untrained as they are, many unable to ride or even load their carbines properly, yet behaved beyond my most sanguine expectations for a first field, and this success, without loss, will encourage them greatly.”

Hodson was soon joined by reinforcements sent by his friend, the Jhind Raja, who supplied him with an additional 400 men and ammunition. In three days, he had frightened away a force no less than 2000 strong and had set an example that sent shock waves through the immediate countryside, a taste of what was to come if they stirred up trouble in the future. It was, however, a small lesson compared to what Nicholson would do at Najafgarh.

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