REMINISCENCES OF THE SIEGE OF DELHI, 1857



CHAPTER I

FEROZEPORE

The actual Mutiny of the Bengal army broke out at Meerut on May 10,
1857. Events had happened in the Lower Provinces which foreshadowed the
coming storm, and one regiment of native infantry had been disbanded;
but no one, not even those in high authority, had the faintest suspicion
that our rule in India was imperilled. So strong, indeed, was the
sense of security from present danger that the Government, with almost
culpable neglect, still confided to the care of the native army the
large arsenals of Delhi, Ferozepore, and Phillour, in all of which
immense quantities of ammunition and munitions of war were stored.

There was not a single white regiment stationed at Delhi, not even a
European guard, the charge of the arsenal, the largest in Upper India,
being entrusted to a few officers and sergeants of artillery. The same
may be said of Phillour, in the Punjab--a small station, where only
native troops were quartered. The fort of Ferozepore, near the left bank
of the Sutlej River, was guarded by 100 men detailed from the sepoy
regiments at that cantonment, and, with Phillour, constituted the
only places from which ammunition could be drawn for the large force,
European and native, guarding the newly-acquired province of the Punjab.

Her Majesty's 61st Regiment of Foot was stationed at Ferozepore in May,
1857. In that corps I held a commission as Lieutenant, and, during the