Page:Clyde and Strathnairn.djvu/37

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THE OUTBREAK
27

Their bodies were thrown into what is now known as the 'Cawnpur Well.'

Lucknow, at the time of the Mutiny, was in population, in extent, and in the number and importance of its principal buildings, one of the foremost cities of India. Situated on the river Gúmti, its beautiful palaces, mosques and public buildings, many of which soon became famous, rose in stately array from a maze of long narrow streets. The Residency stood on a hill gently sloping towards the river, and was an imposing edifice of three stories. Near it were the iron and stone bridges over the river. The southern and eastern quarters of the city were bounded by a canal which crossed the road leading to Cawnpur, and finally reached the Gúmti.

At the outbreak of the Mutiny the Sepoy regiments were stationed in various localities within the city; while the 32nd Foot, the only European regiment on the spot, was quartered in a barrack about a mile or so from the Residency. As was the case elsewhere, so it happened at Lucknow. While the population and native garrison were seething with sedition, the British authorities were hampered by ignorance of popular feeling, by the want of European troops, and by divided counsels. So, by the end of May, 1857, the rebellion in Oudh became an accomplished fact, although matters went on with comparative smoothness in Lucknow itself. At length, after a serious disaster at Chinhat, the British garrison was forced