The force at
his disposal did not exceed two thousand men, Europeans and Sikhs. He
had heard of the massacre at Cawnpore on June 27th, and burned to avenge
it. On July 12th he defeated a large force of mutineers and Mahrattas at
Fathipur. On the 15th he inflicted two more defeats on the enemy.
Havelock was now within twenty-two miles of Cawnpore, and he halted his
men to rest for the night. But news arrived that the women and children
were still alive at Cawnpore, and that Nana had taken the field with a
large force to oppose his advance. Accordingly Havelock marched fourteen
miles that same night, and on the following morning, within eight miles
of Cawnpore, the troops bivouacked beneath some trees.
On that same night, July 15th, the crowning atrocity was committed at
Cawnpore. The rebels, who had been defeated by Havelock, returned to
Nana with the tidings of their disaster. In revenge Nana ordered the
slaughter of the two hundred women and children. The poor victims were
literally hacked to death, or almost to death, with swords, bayonets,
knives, and axus.
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