CHAPTER X

THE FIRST RELIEF OF LUGKNOW-^DEATH OF
BRIGADIER-GENERAL NEILL

ON September 24, while the troops were drying
their   clothes   and    storing   baggage   in    the
Alambagh, Havelock and Outram had carefully con¬
sidered  the various roads from the Charbagh bridge
to the Residency.    The streets leading to it through
the south  end of the city had been intrenched, and
the resistance from loopholed houses must have caused
delay and serious loss of life.    The approaches from
the eastward, though blocked by magnificent palaces
and mosques stretching along the banks of the Gumti
River, with high and solidly built enclosure walls, were
more open and suitable for the action of British troops.
When,  therefore,  the canal, the rebels'   first   line  of
defence, had been pierced, on September 25   Havelock
ordered   the   78th   (2nd   Seaforth)    Highlanders   and
Brasyer's   (Firuzpur)   Sikhs  to   hold   the   bridge and
adjacent houses until all the troops and rearguard had
passed   on.    He   detailed   a   part of the 90th Light
Infantry (2nd Scottish Rifles) to act as rearguard, and
marched the column through a narrow lane ankle-deep
in mud, following the canal for 3000 yards.     Then he
struck north to the Sikandarbagh, 2000 yards distant,
and thence, turning westwards, marched direct on the
Residency for a mile.    He was unopposed by the rebels.