in the execution of a
most difficult duty, by unceasing exertions.

3. From the morning of the 16th till last night the whole
force has been one outlying piquet, never out of fire, and
covering an immense extent of ground, to permit the garrison
to retire scatheless and in safety covered by the whole of
the relieving force.

4. That ground was won by fighting as hard as it ever fell
to the lot of the Commander-in-Chief to witness, it being
necessary to bring up the same men over and over again to
fresh attacks; and it is with the greatest gratification
that his Excellency declares he never saw men behave better.

5. The storming of the Secundrabagh and the Shah Nujeef has
never been surpassed in daring, and the success of it was
most brilliant and complete.

6. The movement of retreat of last night, by which the final
rescue of the garrison was effected, was a model of
discipline and exactness. The consequence was that the enemy
was completely deceived, and the force retired by a narrow,
tortuous lane, the only line of retreat open, in the face of
50,000 enemies, without molestation.

7. The Commander-in-Chief offers his sincere thanks to
Major-General Sir James Outram, G.C.B., for the happy manner
in which he planned and carried out his arrangements for the
evacuation of the Residency of Lucknow.

By order of his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief,
W. MAYHEW, _Major_,
_Deputy Adjutant-General of the Army_.

Thus were achieved the relief and evacuation of the Residency of
Lucknow.[26] The enemy did not discover that the Residency was deserted
till noon on the 23rd, and about the time the above general order was
being read to us they fired a salute of one hundred and one guns, but
did not attempt to follow us or to cut off our retreat. That night we
bivouacked in the Dilkoosha park, and retired on the Alumbagh on the
25th, the day on which the brave and gallant Havelock died. But that is
a well-known part of the history of the relief of Lucknow, and I will
turn to other matters.

FOOTNOTES:

[25] It may be necessary to remind civilians that the rifles of 1857
were muzzle-loading.

[26] It must always be recollected that this was the _second_ relief of
Lucknow. The first was effected by the force under