leaders of the attack.

The next point to be carried was the messhouse, a very strong position,
situated on an eminence, with flanking towers, a loopholed mud wall, and a
ditch. The naval guns began the fray, and the heavy shot soon effected a
breach in the wall. The defenders of the post were annoyed, too, by a
mortar battery in an advanced post of the British force in the Residency--
for the space between the garrison and the relieving force was rapidly
lessening. The word was given, and the Ninetieth, Fifty-third, and Sikhs
dashed forward, surmounted all obstacles, and carried the position with
the bayonet; and the observatory, which stood behind it, was soon
afterward most gallantly carried by a Sikh regiment.

In the meantime the garrison of the Residency was not idle. On the day of
the arrival of the British at Dil Koosha flag-signals from the towers of
that palace had established communication with the Residency, and it was
arranged that as soon as the relieving forces obtained possession of the
Secunderbagh the troops of the garrison should begin to fight their way to
meet them.

Delighted at taking the offensive after their long siege, Havelock's
troops, on the 16th, attacked the enemy with fury, and carried two strong
buildings known as Hern Khana and engine-house, and then dashed on through
the Chuttur Munzil, and carried all before them at the point of the
bayonet.

All the strongholds of the enemy along this line had now fallen; and on
the 17th of March Sir Colin Campbell met Generals Outram and Havelock,
amid the tremendous cheers of British troops, which for awhile drowned the
heavy fire which the enemy was still keeping up.