ritish frontier
station. But by the time of the Mutiny the frontier had left it behind,
and it was denuded of troops. Now it is chiefly known as the junction of
four railways, the East Indian, Oudh & Rohilkand, Rajputana and Indian
Midland, and as a great emporium for harness, shoes and other
leather-work. In 1901 the population was 197,170, showing an increase of
4% in the decade. In 1903 the city was devastated by an epidemic of
plague.

The name of Cawnpore is indelibly connected with the blackest episode in
the history of the Indian Mutiny--the massacre here in July 1857 of
hundreds of women and children by the Nana Sahib. The full details of
the siege and massacre will be found under INDIAN MUTINY, and here it
will suffice to refer to the local memorials of that evil time. The
entrenchment, where General Sir H.M. Wheeler with his small band of
soldiers and the European and Eurasian residents were exposed for 21
days to the fire of the mutineers, is merely a bare field, containing
the well where many women and children were shot while getting water.
This well is now surrounded by an enclosure with an inscription upon its
cross. About three-quarters of a mile away, on the banks of the river
Ganges, is the Massacre Ghat. A grassy road between banks 10 to 12 ft.
high leads down to the river, and it was among the trees on these banks
that the murderers concealed themselves who shot down the little
garrison as soon as they were embarked in the boats which were to take
them to safety. On the river bank is a temple to Siva, of hexagonal
shape, old and going to ruin. Steps lead from this temple to an enclosed
flight of stairs, which in the cold season descend to the water, but in
the rains are covered almost to the top. This is the ghat where some 600
helpless people were slain, in spite of a promise of safe-conduct from
the Nana. The remaining 200 victims, who had escaped the bullets of the
siege and survived the butchery of the river bank, were massacred
afterwards and cast down the famous well of Cawnpore, which is now
marked by a memorial and surrounded by gardens. The memorial is crowned
by the figure of an angel in white marble, and on the wall of the well
itself is the following inscription:--

Sacred to the perpetual Memory of a great company of
Christian people, chiefly Women and Children, who near this
spot were cruelly murdered by the followers of the rebel
Nana Dhundu Pant, of Bithur, and cast, the dyi