On June 25th a woman brought a slip of writing from Nana, promising to give a safe passage to Allahabad to all who were willing to lay down their arms.  Had there been no women or children, the garrison would never have dreamed of surrender.  The massacre at Patna a century before had taught a lesson to Englishmen which ought never to have been forgotten.  As it was, there were some who wished to fight on till the bitter end.  But the majority saw that there was no hope for the women or the children, the sick or the wounded, except by accepting the proffered terms.  Accordingly the pride of Englishmen gave way, and an armistice was proclaimed.

Next morning the terms were negotiated.  The English garrison were to surrender their position, their guns, and their treasure, but to march out with their arms, and with sixty rounds of ammunition in the pouch of every man.  Nana Sahib on his part was to afford a safe-conduct to the river-bank, about a mile off; to provide carriage for the conveyance of the women and children, the sick and the wounded; and to furnish boats for carrying the whole party, numbering some four hundred fifty individuals, down the river Ganges to Allahabad.  Nana accepted the terms, but demanded the evacuation of the intrenchment that very night.  General Wheeler protested against this proviso.  Nana began to bully and to threaten that he would open fire.  He was told that he might carry the intrenchment if he could, but that the English had enough powder left to blow both armies into the air.  Accordingly Nana agreed to wait until the morrow.

At early morning on June 27th the garrison began to move from the intrenchment to the place of embarkation.  The men marched on foot; the women and children were carried on elephants and in bullock-carts, while the wounded were mostly conveyed in palanquins.  Forty boats with thatched roofs, known as budgerows, were moored in shallow water at a little distance from the bank; and the crowd of fugitives were forced to wade through the river to the boats.  By nine o’clock the whole four hundred fifty were huddled on board, and the boats prepared to leave Cawnpore.

Suddenly a bugle was sounded, and a murderous fire of grape-shot and musketry was opened upon the wretched passengers from both sides of the river.  At the same time the thatching of many of the budgerows was found to be on fire, and the flames began to spread from boat to boat.  Numbers were murdered in the river, but at last the firing ceased.  A few escaped down the river, but only four men survived to tell the story of the massacre.  A mass of fugitives were dragged ashore; the women and children, to the number of a hundred twenty-five, were carried off and lodged in a house near the headquarters of Nana.  The men were ordered to immediate execution.  One of them had preserved a prayer-book, and was permitted to read a few sentences of the liturgy to his doomed companions.  Then the fatal order was given; the sepoys poured in a volley of musketry, and all was over.