Indian Mutiny and Beyond

by Robert Shebbeare VC (retail) (epub)

  I have kept no particular account of the doings before Delhi and therefore hope you will see a good history in the overland paper. I had intended to keep a journal but at first I had so much to do that I could not find time and then I thought it hardly worthwhile to begin.

  The doctor has just been here and promises to let me go on duty tomorrow if it does not rain. I am anxiously looking for a small box of clothes from Umballah for at present I have no warm clothing at all and flannels will be a great comfort to me. I luckily left two cricketing suits at Umballah which I hope to receive in a day or two.

  I hope I find you well and happy at home and please believe in my sincere good wishes to all. I hope you would have received some of my former letters. I have written frequently since the disturbances commenced and sent my letters by all sorts of different routes. Believe me my dearest mother ever your most affectionate son Robert H. Shebbeare

  On 12 June, the rebels made various attacks but were beaten off. As temporary aide to Brigadier Showers for three days, Robert Shebbeare would have been involved in the skirmishes with rebel troops in the broken ground near Metcalfe House, and in the setting up of two pickets, known as the ‘Stable’ and ‘Cowshed’ pickets, to guard the British left flank.

  For the first two months after their arrival, until sufficient reinforcements got through to help, it was the British troops, rather than the Indian rebels, who were under siege, as the field force had insufficient strength to make an assault on Delhi, and the almost daily actions consisted mainly of attacks on the British positions on the ridge. Hindoo Rao’s house, in which Robert Shebbeare saw duty from June to September, was the most fiercely contested point of the British position.

  From a number of other accounts, it is possible to get a good idea of some of the many engagements in which Robert Shebbeare was involved, and to appreciate the appalling conditions in which the soldiers were living and fighting.

  In the first six weeks of the siege, night or day no man undressed, except for a few minutes, for the necessary ablutions, and this was not always possible. We lay down in our clothes, with accoutrements either on or by our sides, ready to slip on the moment the alarm was sounded.

  The heat was fearful; yet day after day we had to stand for hours in sun and hot wind, or, worst of all, to endure the torture of lying down on the burning rocks on the ridge — baked by them on one side, while the sun was ‘doing the other’. In this position many an officer and man, struck by the sun and unable to rise, was carried off to hospital delirious and raving. The flies were in myriads, and added to our torment; they clung to our faces; they dabbed at every part of the body that was exposed; they covered our food until it was uneatable, and worried us incessantly until dusk. As the siege went on, and the bodies of men and the carcasses of animals accumulated, lying exposed in places where there was no soil, so we could not bury them, these pests increased in numbers and irritating powers, and made us fully comprehend the awfulness of the plague of flies. The thermometer ranged in our tent as high as 115 degrees, and constant exposure to the sun and wind that produced this great heat in the shade, began to fill our hospitals rapidly with cases of sunstroke, fever and dysentery. (Seaton, 1866)

  Walker was attached by now to the 2nd Fusiliers.

  There were no helmets in those days. We had no better protection from the sun than forage caps made from pasteboard, with a small white turban neatly folded around them, with one end hanging down neatly but uselessly behind, with black leather peaks. The men had wadded covers and curtains, which were worse.’ (Walker, 1907)

  There was a severe cannonade from the enemy on 17 June, and an officer was killed and many were wounded at Hindoo Rao’s House.

  On 19 June, a large number of rebels poured out of the city and a general alarm was sounded. They disappeared among the gardens in Kissengunge and it was thought that they had gone out foraging. The troops stood by for several hours in the hot sun and eventually were stood down. Not long before sunset, the sound of gunfire from the rear of the camp roused everyone again and it was realized that the camp was being attacked from the rear. Twelve guns and the available cavalry under Brigadier Hope Grant were sent to met them and a sharp action ensued. The enemy infantry and artillery did a lot of damage, and part of the 9th Lancers and the Guide Cavalry made a charge at the enemy. Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Yule was killed and Captain Daly, Commandant of the Guide Corps, was severely wounded. Hodson took over as Commandant, leading the cavalry, with Robert Shebbeare second in command, in charge of the three companies of Guide infantry.

  ‘The next event that I recollect took place on June 23rd, although between the 12th and that time the alarm was constantly sounded and fighting took place, but the 23rd was a record day.’ (Walker, op. cit.)

  The 23rd of June was a particularly busy day and was significant, from the British point of view, in that it was the centenary of the Battle of Plassey, when the East India Company troops under Clive had defeated 50,000 native troops with 3,000 men, and had begun their long period of supremacy as the agents of the British government. Intelligence from Delhi suggested that the rebels would make an all-out assault on the British positions on that day, as they had been promised by both Hindu and Moslem leaders that on this date, being an important one in the calendar of both religions, the foreign invaders would be overthrown, and native rule restored.

  As is often the case in comparing the accounts of any military event, times, numbers of casualties and other pieces of detail vary from author to author, though the gist of what happened on that day seems to have been agreed by all.

  It was very well known in our camp, that we should have a hard struggle for existence; perhaps our weak force would be annihilated under the swarms of the enemy. The day before, everyone thought anxiously of the morrow; some thought wistfully of their wives and children in the hills, some made their wills; the more religious said their prayers.

  About three o’clock in the morning a cannonade was opened from the walls, and their whole force came out, and occupied the Subzi Mundi and Kissengunge. From these points they could enfilade both our camp and batteries. (Unknown officer)

  During the course of the day, the rebels made many attempts to attack Hindoo Rao’s, but each time they were repulsed. ‘The heat was terrific, and constantly on the increase until the afternoon. The sun, pouring down flames, aided by the wind, which was hot like the blast from a furnace, struck down numbers of our officers and men, who were carried off to hospital.’ (Seaton, op. cit.)

  At four in the afternoon the battle was still in progress with unabated vigour, when another course was taken: an order was issued to the Rifles, Gorkhas, and Guides, to carry the Subzi Mundi, which they did in right gallant style, despite their eleven hours of previous labour and exposure to the sun, and want of refreshment. The enemy were driven by them from wall to bank, and from bank to wall. Now, the sepoys ascended the tops of houses, of which there were many in the immediate neighbourhood, but their tenure of them only lasted for the few moments which it took our brave troops to reach them; numbers of the enemy began to fall, and several of our brave fellows beside them. The mutineers retired within the walls about six in the evening, finding to their chagrin that their prophets were a living lie, and had woefully deceived them. (Rotton, 1866)

  The Pandies had been the attacking party all morning, and now came our turn. The column at once dispersed the rebels on our right flank, and then advanced towards Subzee Mundee. A rush was made at the Serai and Sammy House, and both were carried, every rebel in them being put to death. (Seaton, op. cit.)

  By nightfall, the rebels had retreated to within the walls of Delhi in a state of some demoralization, and the British gained some momentum by establishing pickets at the Sammy House and the serai in Subzi Mundi.

  This (the first three weeks) was undoubtedly the most trying period of the whole siege, from the constant demands made on our services, and the frequent and long exposure to the tremendous heat day after day. The days
were at their longest and the heat at its greatest, our numbers at their lowest, and the enemy’s courage and activity at their highest. (Seaton, op. cit.)

  On 27 June the rains started and, as with most things in life, it brought mixed blessings. On the one hand daytime temperatures were not quite so extreme, and sleep at night became more comfortable; but on the other, movement of men and supplies was more difficult. It also brought with it an outbreak of cholera and, during July in particular, a large number of men in certain regiments died from it, including Sir Henry Barnard, the commander of the Delhi Field Force. Many others were stricken with dysentery and ‘fever’, presumably malaria.

  We hear mention of Robert Shebbeare in Hodson’s diary for July 2:

  I have been quite unable to write since the 29th, on the night of which I was ordered off again to Bhagput, to try to bring the boats down to camp, either to make a bridge here or a ‘stop’ for the enemy. I expected to be back in good time on the 30th, but the wind and waves were against me, and I could not get my fleet of boats down the river.

  Shebbeare was with me, and we worked like a couple of ‘navvies’, passing the two days and one night on the banks of the river, without shelter, and almost without food, for we had nothing but a couple of ‘chupatties’ each, and a small tin of soup and a little tea, which I fortunately took with me. Poor Shebbeare would soon lose the graceful rotund of his figure if he were long on such short commons, but I do not think any amount of starvation could reduce my horizontal dimensions. All’s well that ends well, however, and we succeeded in getting every boat safe into camp last night.5

  At the beginning of July there was a period of relative quietness, until on the 9th, while enemy cavalry were attacking the camp from the rear, Hindoo Rao’s received a severe bombardment and many positions were attacked, including the Sammy House, where young Murray distinguished himself and was again wounded.

  The infantry of the Guides also greatly distinguished themselves this day under Lieutenants E.E.B. Bond and A.W. Murray, who, with seventy-eight men held a breastwork against far superior numbers of the enemy advancing towards them. The Guides had run out of ammunition, of which the enemy appeared to be equally short. And the fight was carried on with stones, until Lieutenant H. de Brett, then attached to the Guides, arrived with a reinforcement of fifty bayonets and, charging the enemy in the flank, so bewildered them that they broke and fled. Some idea of the numbers of the enemy and the losses inflicted on him may be gauged from the fact that ninety of his dead were counted about the breastwork. On this day the Guides’ casualties were Lieutenant Murray and twenty-seven other ranks killed and wounded.6

  As many of the other young officers who were attached to the Guides (Murray, McLean and Bond in particular) are mentioned in Robert Shebbeare’s correspondence, details of some of their exploits have also been included, to give a sense of the camaraderie that pertained, and of the constant dangers in which they found themselves.

  On the same day that Murray and Bond were distinguishing themselves, Robert Shebbeare was in action with the Guides, as Major Reid recalls in his memoirs:

  Away I went with five companies of my own regiment (The Sirmoor Battalion of Gurkhas), two companies 60th Rifles under Sir E. Campbell and 180 of the Guides under Shebbeare, in all about 750 men. We drove the enemy before us through the jungle and down the Grand Trunk Road, where they were posted in thousands. We got to within 250 yards of the walls . . . Twenty Guides killed or wounded . . . Our spies say losses very great.7

  On 14 July, when Robert Shebbeare was three times wounded, a large force of the enemy attacked the batteries at Hindoo Rao’s. A column under Brigadier Showers was sent to clear the enemy back and Hodson gives a detailed account of the action in his diary.

  The fight on that day (14th) was the old story. An attack in force on the right of our position; the enemy are allowed to blaze away, expending powder, and doing us no harm, until 4 p.m., when a column was sent down to turn them out of the gardens and villages they had occupied, and drive them back to the city. I had just returned from a long day’s work with the cavalry, miles away in the rear, and had come back as far as Light’s advanced battery. I was chatting with him for a few minutes en passant, when I saw the column pass down. I joined it, and sent for a few horsemen to accompany me, and when we got under fire, I found the Guide Infantry, under Shebbeare, had been sent to join in the attack. I accompanied them, and while the Fusiliers and Coke’s men were driving the mass of the enemy helter-skelter through the gardens to our right, I went, with the Guides, Goorkhas, and part of the Fusiliers, along the Grand Trunk Road leading right into the gates of Delhi. We were exposed to a heavy fire of grape from the walls, and musketry from behind trees and rocks; but pushing on, we drove them right up to the very walls, killing uncounted numbers, and then we were ordered to retire. This was done too quickly by the artillery, and some confusion ensued, the troops hurrying back too fast. The consequence was, the enemy rallied, bringing up infantry, then a large body of cavalry, and behind them two guns to bear on us. There were very few of our men, but I managed to get eight horsemen to the front. Shebbeare, though wounded, aided me in rallying some Guide Infantry, and Greville and Jacob (whose horse had been shot) coming up, brought a few scattered Fusiliers forward. I called on the men to fire, assuring them that the body of cavalry coming down would never stand; my gallant Guides stood their ground like men; Shebbeare, Greville, Jacob and little Butler, came to the front, and the mass of the enemy’s cavalry, just as I said, stopped, reeled, turned, and fled in confusion; the guns behind them were for the moment deserted, and I tried hard to get up a charge to capture them; we were within thirty paces; twenty-five resolute men would have been enough; but the soldiers were blown, and could not push on in the face of such odds, unsupported as we were, for the whole of the rest of the troops had retired. My eight horsemen stood their ground, and the little knot of officers used every exertion to aid us, when suddenly two rascals rushed forward with lighted portfires in their hands, fired the guns, loaded with grape, in our faces, and when the smoke cleared away, we found, to our infinite disgust and chagrin, that they had limbered up the guns and were off at a gallop. We then had to effect our retreat to rejoin the column, under a heavy fire of grape and musketry, and many men and officers were hit in doing it. I managed to get the Guides to retire quietly, fighting as they went, and fairly checking the enemy, on which I galloped back and brought up two guns, when we stopped all opposition, and drove the last living rebel into his Pandemonium. My Guides stood firm, and as well as my new men, behaved admirably.

  During this time Hodson had been raising an irregular cavalry regiment, which became famous as ‘Hodson’s Horse’, an on 17 July he wrote: ‘For officers, I hope to have permanently, Macdowell, Shebbeare (now acting as my 2nd in command of the Guides, and an excellent officer), and Hugh Gough of the 3rd Cavalry.’

  From 14 to 25 July, Robert Shebbeare was on the sick list, but at the end of the month, Hodson having left to take command of his new regiment, Hodson’s Horse, he became acting Commandant of the Guides. By now reinforcements had been arriving to strengthen the Delhi Field Force, the actions of the enemy became less frequent, and much of the aggravation came from the rains, boredom and the effects of disease. It can be seen from Robert Shebbeare’s letter of 10 August that the month was frustrating and tedious as the build-up to an assault on Delhi slowly gathered pace. A bullet through his hat near the Sammy House on the 9th was the highlight of his activities.

  Despatch, Aug.12, 1857, Major Reid to Brigadier General Wilson. Main Picket, Hindoo Rao’s House, Aug 12. My dear General, — My report of the attack on my position on the night of the 1st and morning of the 2nd instant was a hurried affair; but I am glad indeed you have given me an opportunity of bringing to notice the names of officers and men who have served under me since the 8th June last. I cannot speak too highly of the conduct of the detachment of the 60th Royal Rifles, who have on all occasions behaved admirably, and ever
maintained the reputation of their distinguished corps. Would wish to bring to your notice the names of two officers of this regiment, viz., Captain Sir E. Campbell and Captain J.R. Wilson, who have at different times commanded the parties on duty at this post, and from whom I have always received the greatest assistance. Both are most excellent officers and I beg to recommend them to notice. My acknowledgements are due to Lieutenant R.H. Shebbeare, now commanding the distinguished Corps of Guides, who has been three times slightly wounded while on duty with me here; also to Lieutenant Hawes, Adjutant (likewise wounded), and other officers doing duty with the corps.

  Amongst the Shebbeare Papers are some undated notes in pencil from Major Charles Reid, who commanded the picket at Hindoo Rao’s House throughout the siege, which give some idea of the fluidity of the situation, and of the incisiveness needed to deal rapidly with the constant attacks. To handle these tangible, and in many ways very moving pieces of history, written in the heat of battle, makes the events become vividly real in a way that it is difficult to recapture in print.