CHAPTER IV

CAWNPUR (KAHNPUR)—THE FIRST MASSACRE—
THE ESCAPE BY BOAT —HAVELOCK'S VIC¬
TORIOUS MARCH—THE SECOND MASSACRE

THE city of Cawnpur, with a population of 60,000
Natives, lies 600 miles north-west of Calcutta,
250 miles south-east of Dehli, and 43 miles south¬
west of Lucknow. It stands on the right or west
bank of the Ganges River, which is navigable for light
vessels to the sea, distant 1000 miles. In May 1857
the garrison consisted of 60 British artillerymen with
6 guns, a Native cavalry regiment, and 3 Native
battalions, in all 3000 Hindustani soldiers, commanded
by Major-General Sir Hugh Wheeler. He was an
officer of fifty years' distinguished service, to whom
Lawrence wrote from Lucknow in the first fortnight
of the Mutiny: " You are a tower of strength to
us at this juncture." A senior commanding officer
writing on May 31 a private letter describes him
as " very determined, self-possessed in the midst of
danger, and fearless of responsibility."

The cantonment stretched over 6 miles of ground,
the jail and magazine being on the river, to the north
of the city, Le, up stream, and the cantonment below
it. General Wheeler would in the crisis have probably
occupied the magazine as a defensive position, but that
the withdrawal of the Sipahi guard would have probably