At a time when the powers of each individual were taxed to the uttermost, the strain on the Commander of the force was terribly severe.  Mind and body were incessantly at work.  Twice in the short space of six weeks had the officer holding this responsible position succumbed, and now a third was on the point of breaking down.  Major-General Reed’s health, never very strong, completely failed, and on the 17th July, only twelve days after succeeding Sir Henry Barnard, he had to give up the command and leave the camp on sick certificate.

[Footnote 1:  See Kaye’s ‘History of the Indian Mutiny.’]

[Footnote 2:  Now General Sir Alexander Taylor, G.C.B.]

[Footnote 3:  Mahomedans of good family are so styled in northern India.]

[Footnote 4:  Tombs and Hills both received the Victoria Cross for their gallantry.]

[Footnote 5:  ‘Adjutants,’ never seen in ordinary times further north than Bengal, appeared in hundreds, and were really useful scavengers.]

* * * * *

CHAPTER XVI. 1857

  Archdale Wilson assumes command—­Enemy baffled in the Sabzi Mandi
  —­Efforts to exterminate the Feringhis
  —­A letter from General Havelock—­News of Henry Lawrence’s death
  —­Arrival of the Movable Column—­The 61st Foot at Najafgarh

General Reed was succeeded by Brigadier Archdale Wilson, the officer who commanded the Meerut column at the beginning of the campaign, and who was so successful in the fights on the Hindun.  Though a soldier of moderate capacity, Wilson was quite the best of the senior officers present, three of whom were superseded by his selection.  Two of these, Congreve, Acting-Adjutant-General of Queen’s troops, and Graves, who had been Brigadier at Delhi when the Mutiny broke out, left the camp on being passed over; the third, Longfield, took Wilson’s place as Brigadier.

Wilson’s succession to the command gave great relief to the troops on account of the systematic manner in which he arranged for the various duties, and the order and method he introduced.  The comparative rest to the troops, as well as the sanitary improvements he effected, did a good deal for the health of the force.  Wilson also took advantage of the reinforcements we had received to strengthen our position.  As far as possible he put a stop to the practice of following up the enemy close to the city walls when they were driven off after an attack (a practice which had cost us many valuable lives), contenting himself with preventing the rebels from remaining in the immediate vicinity of our advanced posts.