A large order that to tell a commander with 2000 men, to take a dozen
fortified places defended by ten times the number of his own force!
Not a moment was to be lost, for both cities were in deadly peril.
Alas! Early on the 1st July came news of the terrible massacre of
the Cawnpore garrison,--men, women and children slain in one wanton,
heartless slaughter, which still makes the blood run cold to read
about.
Out of the 2000 men under Havelock's command 1400 only were British
soldiers. But in that force every man was a hero. Notwithstanding the
scorching heat of an Indian summer,--in spite, too, of the fact that
a number of the men were obliged to march in heavy garments utterly
unsuited to the climate; though death, disease, and a thousand perils
lay in front of them,--not a man of Havelock's "Ironsides" but was
impatient to push onward to death or victory.
The general himself was full of humble trust in the Lord, and was in
good spirits notwithstanding--perhaps because of--the perils before
him. For it is written of him that "he was always as sour as if he had
swallowed a pint of vinegar except when he was being shot at,--and
then he was as blithe as a schoolboy out for a holiday".
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