Too much praise cannot be given to the 9th Lancers and Horse Artillery for their conduct on this occasion.  Exposed for hours to cannonade and musketry, unable to act from the nature of the ground, they never flinched from their post, forming a living target to the fire of the rebels.  The same may be said of the Sikh and Punjabi cavalry, who displayed a coolness and intrepidity scarcely, if at all, less meritorious than that of their European comrades.  Our casualties were very severe, the 9th Lancers alone losing upwards of twenty men killed and wounded.

And now that I have described the operations of each column and portions of the Delhi army during September 14, it will be necessary to record the advantages we had gained.  From the Water bastion to the Kabul Gate, a distance of more than a mile, and constituting the northern face of the fortifications of Delhi, was in our possession, with all the intervening bastions, ramparts, and walls.  Some progress had been made into the city opposite, and to the right and left of the Kashmir Gate, and along the line of walls.  The College and its grounds, Colonel Skinner’s house, that of Ahmed Ali Khan, and many other smaller buildings were held by the infantry.  The enemy’s guns on the bastions had been turned on to the city, and a constant fire was kept up, the streets and lanes being cleared in front, and advanced posts occupied by our men.

These advantages had not been gained without a severe struggle, and a terrible roll of killed and wounded was the consequence.  Our casualties on September 14 amounted to upwards of 1,200 officers and men killed, wounded, and missing—­a loss out of all proportion to the small number of men engaged, and when the relative forces are considered, far exceeding that which was suffered by the British army during the assault on the Redan on September 8, 1855.  The deadly and destructive nature of street-fighting was here apparent, and the long-sustained contest, lasting more than twelve hours, swelled the total loss to the excessive amount recorded.  In my regiment alone 100 men were placed hors de combat, thirty-three being killed; but the other European regiments suffered still more in proportion, and especially so those which took part in the actual assault on the breaches.

The native troops fought with the most determined bravery; Sikhs, Punjabis, and Goorkhas, side by side with their English comrades, pressed into the forefront of the strife, helping in the most material manner towards the day’s success.

It was impossible to ascertain the loss sustained by the enemy.  Dead bodies lay thick in the streets and open spaces, and numbers were killed in the houses; but the greater part of those who fell were no doubt carried off by the rebels.  In the ardour of the fight many non-combatants also lost their lives, our men, mad and excited, making no distinction.