18-19 April Nagra to Manohar

The next morning, Douglas was up early but Kunwar Singh was quicker. By the time Douglas had resumed the march, Singh managed to reach Nagra, 18 miles distant, without any molestation from the British. For the remainder of the day, they were followed by the Sikh Cavalry and the horse artillery, but the exhausted infantry could not keep up the pace and did not come up in time to engage Singh’s men. After a march of 24 miles, Douglas was within 3 miles of Nagra. In the early evening, Douglas received information that Singh had, in fact, left the town upon his approach, but the spies had no idea which road he had supposedly taken. Singh’s spies were quicker on the uptake. They had been watching Douglas’ every move, and as soon as he called a halt, Singh broke up his camp and marched to Sikandarpur, crossed the Gogra and pushed onto Manohar in the Ghazipur District. Douglas’ spies did not provide him with any reliable information until after midnight, and it was 2 in the morning before Douglas resumed the chase. He quickly picked up Singh’s track, picking up stragglers from his army on the way, from whom he heard, “…the enemy were in much distress by the rapid pursuit, not having had time during the last two days either to cook or sleep.” When Douglas finally called a halt, he was within 4 miles of Singh’s camp. The rest, much to the chagrin of his men, would not be a long one, for Douglas turned out his men well before daylight to catch Singh, if at all possible, while his men were still asleep. Since leaving Azamgarh, both armies had marched 120 miles in dreadful conditions. “The heat was oppressive, and when the sun rose the rifles became hot and a heavy burden; but the troops trudged on over the roads deep in dust…”

20 April Manohar

This time, Douglas had the upper hand. Singh’s position was not as secure as it had been at Naghai, and while he had taken a position in some very thick woods to the right of the village, he had not taken the appropriate measures to secure his position and was most likely not expecting Douglas to fall on him just as dawn was breaking.
Douglas ordered a few rounds of grapeshot to be fired directly at Singh’s position and then advanced a part of the 27th, the 84th and the Madras Rifles in skirmishing order through the woods, with the cavalry, and both the Madras and Horse Artillery moving quickly around by the right. It was little surprise then that after a determined but very brief resistance, Singh’s men broke, the cavalry and horse artillery hard on their heels. A part of the insurgents managed to reach the Gogra, six miles distant, where they piled into boats and crossed the river, all the while under a heavy fire from the Horse Artillery and two of Cotter’s guns, supported by a portion of the Military Train. Meanwhile, two of Cotter’s guns, with a smaller portion of the Military Train and the Sikh Cavalry, had continued the pursuit on the right chasing some 1500 of Singh’s men – the ground however, was so broken and treacherous that one of Cotter’s gun carriages broke, obliging its withdrawal but the Sikhs carried on for several more miles, “cutting up a great number and dispersing the remainder.”

Singh’s army had retreated in such a rush that they had left behind not only one 9-pounder gun — “a brass 9-pounder gun belonging to the Honorable East India Company’s service, complete in horses and ammunition” — a quantity of limbers and wagons, along with an “immense quantity of ammunition and a large quantity of treasure.” Several bullocks, hackery carts and four elephants completed the Singh’s losses, but the prize was undoubtedly the regimental colours of the 28th Regiment, found wound around the dead body of a subedar. Their mutiny in Shahjahanpur had been one of particular brutality and had not been forgotten.
Although routed from Manohar, Singh had managed to keep his senses about him. Instead of proceeding in one column, he had once again split up his army, and now several columns took different routes. According to a preconceived plan, they were to be reunited again “at a given hour of the night at some settled spot,” but Douglas was in the dark as to where and when that was to be. Accordingly, Douglas gathered up his force and proceeded towards Bansdeh to the point where the roads diverged, one towards Ballia and the other towards Bayreah. Here, he called a halt until he could figure out where, on India’s vast plain, Kunwar Singh had gone.

“Koor Sing was reported first to have gone to a village named Rajogaon, and afterwards to Taintwar, where the dispersed rebels had their rendezvous. I proceeded in that direction, and found several bodies of the enemy on my left, and I also understood that they were holding the village; it being nearly dark, and the country thickly wooded, I did not consider it advisable to advance further, and bivouacked within two miles of Taintwar. During this night, no spies came in; we were under arms at 2 a.m.; on the 21st; but at this time a spy came in, saying that the enemy had collected all their forces in a dry tank close to the village, and our reconnoitring party made the same statement, which prevented my moving off till daylight.”

21st – 22nd April

Douglas called the advance, but he found that once again, Singh had thwarted him. He had indeed been there, but by the time Douglas arrived, his army was gone. Douglas pushed on the cavalry and Horse Artillery with some haste towards Seopar Ghat, seven miles below Ballia, where it was reported Singh was intending to cross the Ganges. Colonel Cumberlege, who was still patrolling the roads out of Ghazipur with the Madras Cavalry, missed Singh in the dark, and Douglas’ information was woefully inaccurate. While Singh’s agents collected enough boats to cross the Ganges, he had circulated a story that he not only had no boats but would be forced to cross the river on elephants. This is what Douglas was led to believe, and when his cavalry and artillery arrived on the riverbank, expecting a slow-moving column of pachyderms, they found practically all of Singh’s army was already on the other side of the river. In a last act, the Sikhs and the artillery “cut up about 200 and sank one of the last boats that crossed.”

All Douglas could do was call it a day. His men were tired, and he had no means of crossing the river unless he planned to swim. So Kunwar Singh completed crossing the Ganges and made his way to Jagdispur while Douglas wrote his reports and waited for orders. These would come sooner than he expected, as a singular disaster was about to occur, that would throw everything into disarray.

Numerical Return of Casualties in a portion of the Azimgurh Field, Force, detached under Command of Brigadier J. Douglas, C.B., in the pursuit of the Rebels from Azimgurh, in the Engagements at Azimgurh on the 17th, at Munnihur on the 20th, and at Sheopore Chat on the 21st of April, 1858.

E. Troop Royal Horse Artillery—1 rank and file wounded.
2nd Battalion Military Train —1 troop horse killed.
Her Majesty’s 37th Regiment—1 rank and file, killed; 1 subaltern, 7 rank and file, wounded.
Her Majesty’s 84th Regiment—8 rank and file, wounded.
3rd Seikh Cavalry—1 troop horse killed; 1 havildar, 4 rank and file, and 3 troop horses, wounded.
Total—1 rank and file, 2 troop horses, killed; 1 subaltern, 1 havildar, 20 rank and file, and 3 troop horses, wounded.

Total Casualties.
1 man killed, 22 wounded.
1 follower wounded.
2 horses killed, 3 wounded.

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^{Sources:
Ball, Charles. The History of the Indian Mutiny. Vol. 2. London: The London Printing & Publishing Company, Ltd., n.d..
Behan, T. L. Bulletins & Other State Intelligence for the Year 1858, Part III. London: Harrison & Sons, 1860.
Dodd, George. The History of the Indian Revolt and the Expedition of Persia, China & Japan. London: W. & R. Chambers, 1859.
Forrest, G. W. A History of the Indian Mutiny. Vol. 3. Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons, 1902.
Malleson, G. B. History of the Indian Mutiny 1857-1858. Vol. 2. London: William H. Allen & Co., 1879.
Malleson, G. B., ed. Kaye’s & Malleson’s History of the Indian Mutiny of 1857-8. Vol. 4. London: W. H. Allen, 1889.}