In the middle of August General Havelock had fallen back on Cawnpore, after the failure of his first campaign for the relief of Lucknow.  Five weeks afterward Havelock made a second attempt under better auspices.  Sir Colin Campbell had arrived at Calcutta as Commander-in-Chief.  Sir James Outram had come up to Allahabad.  On September 16th, while the British troops were storming the streets of Delhi, Outram joined Havelock and Neill at Cawnpore with fourteen hundred men.  As senior officer he might have assumed the command; but with generous chivalry the “Bayard of India” waived his rank in honor of Havelock.

On September 20th General Havelock crossed the Ganges into Oudh at the head of twenty-five hundred men.  The next day he defeated a rebel army and put it to flight, while four of the enemy’s guns were captured by Outram at the head of a body of volunteer cavalry.  On the 23d Havelock routed a still larger rebel force which was strongly posted at a garden in the suburbs of Lucknow, known as the “Alumbagh.”  He then halted to give his soldiers a day’s rest.  On the 25th he was cutting his way through the streets and lanes of the city of Lucknow—­running the gauntlet of a deadly and unremitting fire from the houses en both sides of the streets, and also from guns which commanded them.  On the evening of the same day he entered the British intrenchments; but in the moment of victory a chance shot carried off the gallant Neill.

The defence of the British residency at Lucknow is a glorious episode in the national annals.  The fortitude of the beleaguered garrison was the admiration of the world.  The women nursed the wounded and performed every womanly duty with self-sacrificing heroism; and when the fight was over they received the well-merited thanks of Her Majesty Queen Victoria.

During four long months the garrison had known nothing of what was going on in the outer world.  They were aware of the advance and retreat of Havelock, and that was all.  At last, on September 23d, they heard the booming of the guns at the Alumbagh.  On the morning of the 25th they could see something of the growing excitement in the city; the people abandoning their houses and flying across the river.  Still the guns of the rebels kept up a heavy cannonade upon the residency, and volleys of musketry continued to pour upon the besieged from the loopholes of the besiegers.  But soon the firing was heard from the city; the welcome sounds came nearer and nearer.  The excitement of the garrison grew beyond control.  Presently the relieving force was seen fighting its way toward the residency.  Then the pent-up feelings of the garrison burst forth in deafening cheers; and wounded men in hospital crawled out to join in the chorus of welcome.  Then followed personal greetings as officers and men came pouring in.  Hands were frantically shaken on all sides.  Rough-bearded soldiers took the children from their mothers’ arms, kissed them with tears rolling down their cheeks, and thanked God that they had come in time to save them from the fate of the sufferers at Cawnpore.