The Ridge under Archdale Wilson

Considered the best of the senior officers present on the Ridge ( though the men who had lived through Meerut mutiny, for the most part, disagreed), Wilson decided to do what he knew best – preserve life and hold out until reinforcements came.
However, not everything he did was met with scorn. He organised the various duties with order and efficiency – a system of reliefs; only those who were on duty or wanted for support were to turn out in case of an alarm. They were to sleep in the accoutrements, to be ready at a moment’s notice. With this came more attention to order – in consequence, to prevent sentries from sleeping at their posts, officers were ordered to visit their posts more regularly. Wilson also insisted men, as far as possible, turn out in the uniforms – fighting in their shirt sleeves was bad for discipline. As such, morale improved in the camp; being better rested and fed, soldiers were less inclined to blow their brains out in desperation.
He also turned his attention to the sanitary arrangements as cholera and dysentery continued to wreak havoc in the ranks.
He further took full advantage of the recently arrived reinforcements and tried to put a stop to the reckless practice of driving the enemy right up to the city walls, which had cost the force so many lives. Instead, Wilson “contented himself with preventing the rebels from remaining near the advanced posts”, something he put into practice the day after General Reed left.
While some men continued to grumble at Wilson’s lack of enthusiastic leadership, it was becoming increasingly clear that no matter what John Lawrence or, indeed, anyone in Calcutta thought, the siege of Delhi would not be won in weeks. They had reached an uncomfortable stalemate, with neither side able to gain anything more than counting the dead.

The 18th and 23rd of July

On the 18th of July, the insurgents once again concentrated their attack on the Ridge batteries and Sabzi Mandi piquets – so sharp was the firing that Wilson, in the afternoon, saw it was necessary to send out a column to beat them back. Four Horse Artillery guns, 750 Infantry and the Guides Cavalry, all under Lieutenant-Colonel Jones of the 60th Rifles, quickly cleared the troublesome rebels. Then, instead of giving chase, he took up a good position and simply waited to see what the mutineers would do next. Disconcerted by this change in tactics, most of the mutineers melted back into the city while those who stayed to fight ensured they remained well away from Jones and his guns. This was the last time the mutineers ventured this far into Sabzi Mandi, for by this time, the engineers had also done their part and cleared the area of many of the old serais and walled gardens, leaving the grounds around the picquets open with no place for the rebels to hide.
Of course, nothing the British did on the Ridge was secret for long, and most of it was in plain sight. Realising the Ridge was not substantially reinforced to the right, the rebels decided to take their chances and attack the left instead.
On the 23rd of July, they sallied out in force out of the Kashmir Gate and in one advance took up their position at Ludlow Castle and the immediate neighbourhood, opening a relentless barrage of shelling on Metcalfe House, the stable piquet and the mosque piquet on the Ridge. There was nothing for it; the force on the Ridge would have to meet the insurgents in the field. Forming a column under Brigadier Showers and consisting of HM’s 8th and 81st, Coke’s Rifles, the 4th Sikhs and Horse Artillery, “the advance was made in splendid style in one grand skirmishing line, with the guns in the centre; they swept all before them..” The rebels, undaunted, worked their guns so effectively that the loss from grapeshot was inordinately heavy, and they managed to carry their guns off safely. Unfortunately, the men, intent now on capturing the guns, once again laid chase to the rebels and ended up once again under the city walls. The result was the deplorable loss of fifty officers and men killed and wounded. However, it proved to the rebels that setting up a piquet at Ludlow Castle was better not attempted again, and the Ridge gained another post.

Baird Smith continued reinforcing their positions – by now, the engineers had built a nearly unbroken line of breastwork which ran up from the Flagstaff Tower on the left to the most exposed batteries on the right. It was built of stones – abundant on the Ridge – and these, piled up breast high and the intervals filled in with sandbags and fascines, provided a covered way through which men could pass in relative safety. It was a boon to the poor servants who, until now, had had to run the gauntlet as they chased after their officers around the Ridge trying to bring them their dinner, supplies and accoutrements. Not everyone was impressed. One rifleman complained to his officer, Sir E. Campbell of the Rifles, that “he didn’t like the new breastworks, as men now only got hit in the head!”

All around Delhi, there still seemed to be no end to the mutiny. Day after day, mutinied regiments marched into the city, in parade order, their bands playing, to the great irritation of the Delhi Field Force, that well-known tune, “Cheer Boys, Cheer” with banners flying. However, any lull in the fighting was greeted with as much merry-making as the field force could muster, the engineers amusing themselves with fishing in the canal while some officers got together for a horse race. One officer amused himself by wrangling river alligators. Still, others preferred to try their luck at a little game of tennis on the ruined court of Metcalfe House, the insurgents adding to their enjoyment by occasionally shooting at the players.

The final attack of the month came on the 31st. The insurgents may not have been able to run the British force off the Ridge, but it was not for lack of trying; they decided to build a temporary bridge over the river, covering a patch of swampy ground to the rear of the Ridge. Cavalry was quickly assembled to secure a convoy of the Kumaon battalion (composed of Gurkhas and hillmen, some 500 in number), who were bringing a large store of ammunition from the Punjab, while a column under Coke was sent to intercept the enemy should they succeed in getting across their bridge. However, there turned out to be no enemy to engage – the bridge the insurgents had tried to build was swept away by a torrent of water brought on by the incessant rain. As the disappointed rebels retired back to the city, they managed a minor attack on the right of the Ridge, but as if to prove a point, they kept up a roar of artillery from the city walls, which lasted the whole night.

It was now August, and over the vast plains of the Punjab, Brigadier John Nicholson was on the march, and he had one goal in mind: to capture Delhi.

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