A. H. S.
Neill, who commanded the Central India Horse, and was shot on parade by
Sowar Mazar Ali, at Augur, Central India, on the 14th of March, 1887,
was a son of General Neill of Mutiny fame. Mazar Ali was sentenced to
death by Sir Lepel Griffin, as Governor-General's agent; but I did not
see a full account of the trial, and I ask for the above information to
corroborate a statement made to me, on my late visit to the scenes of
the Mutiny, by a native who admitted that he had been an armourer in the
rebel force at Cawnpore, but had joined the English after the defeat of
the Gwalior Contingent in December, 1857.[5]
General Hope Grant's brigade and part of the Ninety-Third Highlanders
crossed the bridge of boats at Cawnpore, and entered Oude on the 30th of
October, with a convoy of provisions and ammunition _en route_ to
Lucknow. My company, with three others, remained in Cawnpore three days
longer, and crossed into Oude on the 2nd of November, encamping a short
distance from the bridge of boats.
On the morning of the 3rd a salute was fired from the mud fort on the
Cawnpore side, from which we learned, to the great delight of the
Ninety-Third, that Sir Colin Campbell had come up from Calcutta. Shortly
after the salute some of our officers joined us from the Cawnpore side,
and gave us the news, which had been brought by the Commander-in-Chief,
that a few days before three companies of the Fifty-Third and Captain
Cornwallis's company, No. 2, of the Ninety-Third, which had been left at
Futtehpore, with part of the Naval Brigade under Captain William Peel,
had formed a force of about five hundred men under the command of
Colonel Powell of the Fifty-Third, marched out from Futtehpore to a
place called Khujwah, and attacked and beaten the Banda and Dinapore
mutineers, numbering over ten thousand, who had been threatening our
communications with Allahabad. The victory for some time had been
doubtful, as the mutineers were a well-equipped force, strongly posted
and numbering more than twenty to one of the attacking force, possessing
moreover, three well-drilled batteries of artillery, comprising eighteen
guns. Colonel Powell was killed early in the action, and the command
then devolved on Captain Peel of the Naval Brigade. Although hard
pressed at first, the force eventually gained a complete and glorious
victory, totally routing the rebels, capturing most of their guns, and
driving the remnant of them across the Jumna, whe
|