Barnard had served as Chief of the Staff in the Crimea, and had held various staff appointments in England; but he was an utter stranger to India, having only arrived in the country a few weeks before.  He fully realized the difficulties of the position to which he had so unexpectedly succeeded, for he was aware how unjustly Anson was being judged by those who, knowing nothing of war, imagined he could have started to attack Delhi with scarcely more preparation than would have been necessary for a morning’s parade.  The officers of the column were complete strangers to him, and he to them, and he was ignorant of the characteristics and capabilities of the Native portion of his troops.  It must, therefore, have been with an anxious heart that he took over the command.

One of Barnard’s first acts was to get rid of the unreliable element which Anson had brought away from Umballa.  The Infantry he sent to Rohtuk, where it shortly afterwards mutinied, and the Cavalry to Meerut.  That these troops should have been allowed to retain their weapons is one of the mysteries of the Mutiny.  For more than two months their insubordination had been apparent, incendiarism had occurred which had been clearly traced to them, and they had even gone so far as to fire at their officers; both John Lawrence and Robert Montgomery had pressed upon the Commander-in-Chief the advisability of disarming them; but General Anson, influenced by the regimental officers, who could not believe in the disaffection of their men, had not grasped the necessity for this precautionary measure.  The European soldiers with the column, however, did not conceal their mistrust of these sepoys, and Barnard acted wisely in sending them away; but it was extraordinary that they should have been allowed to keep their arms.

On the 5th June Barnard reached Alipur, within ten miles of Delhi, where he decided to await the arrival of the siege-train and the troops from Meerut.

The Meerut brigade, under Brigadier Wilson, had started on the 27th May.  It consisted of two squadrons of the Carabineers, Tombs’s[1] troop of Horse Artillery, Scott’s Field Battery and two 18-pounder guns, a wing of the 1st Battalion 60th Rifles, a few Native Sappers and Miners, and a detachment of Irregular Horse.

Early on the 30th the village of Ghazi-u-din-nagar (now known as Ghaziabad) close to the Hindun river, and about eleven miles from Delhi, was reached.  Thence it was intended to make a reconnaissance towards Delhi, but about four o’clock in the afternoon a vedette reported that the enemy were approaching in strength.  A very careless look-out had been kept, for almost simultaneously with the report a round shot came tumbling into camp.  The troops fell in as quickly as possible, and the Artillery came into action.  The Rifles crossed the Hindun suspension bridge, and, under cover of our guns, attacked the enemy, who were strongly posted in a village.  From this position they were speedily dislodged, and the victory was complete.  Seven hundred British soldiers defeated seven times their number, capturing five guns and a large quantity of ammunition and stores.  Our loss was one officer and ten men killed, and one officer and eighteen men wounded.