morning of the 30th June with 700 men and 11 guns. He fell into an ambush near Chinhut, and was compelled to retire before an overwhelming force and seek safety in his entrenchments. Weakened by losses he determined to abandon all outworks, and after destroying a large amount of ammunition and military stores to prevent their capture by the enemy, he assembled all the European population within the enclosure of the Residency. This retirement to the Residency took place on July 1st, the day following the Chinhut disaster, and may properly be considered the beginning of the rebel siege. The rebels immediately surrounded the place, and on the 2d July Sir Henry Lawrence was mortally wounded by a shell, and died two days afterwards. Before his death he named Major Inglis his military successor, and Major Banks Chief Commissioner.
The Residency now contained 900 Europeans and 700 loyal natives. The siege lasted for twelve weeks, and included all the horrors of that of Cawnpore already told. Overwork, exposure, bad provisions, cholera, dysentery, fever, and other diseases were busy, in addition to the bullets and shells of the 50,000 besiegers. The women and children, being less inured to hardships, suffered more than the men, and many of them sickened and died before the end of those terrible twelve weeks. The rebels maintained a steady fire on the Residency; they ran mines beneath some of the buildings, and on several occasions stormed the entrenchments. Constant vigilance was necessary for the little band of defenders, and they looked anxiously for relief. On the 25th July a spy brought a letter from General Havelock, saying they would be relieved in a few days; but the promised succor did not reach them until two months later.
Immediately after capturing Cawnpore, Havelock turned his attention to the relief of Lucknow, fifty-five miles distant, but the rebel force between Cawnpore and Luck-
