Mizoram, 1872: Hardships Of The Campaign
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BY LONDON: 1873. Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees |
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Hardships Of The Campaign
I am sorry to have to record two deaths among the officers, in consequence of the hardships of this campaign. One was Captain Harrison of the 42nd N.L, who was about to pro- ceed to England on sick leave when the Expedition was determined on, and who immediately got his leave cancelled in order to go with his regiment. He was very ill at Tipai Mukh, at Christmas, and the uuhealthiness of the camp, which tried many stronger constitutious, proved too much for him, and he was ordered by the medical authorities to proceed to England, vi^ Calcutta, as quickly as possible.
This was in February. He arrived in Cachar, and was allowed by the doctor there to continue his journey in the country boats. He was utterly unfit to go alone, and when his boatmen went to inform him that they had arrived at Chuttack, they found him lying dead. His sad fate was deeply regretted by his brother officers, by whom he was deservedly very much liked.
The second was that of Captain Cookesley, R.A., whose name has been mentioned several times in the course of this narrative. A good photographer, he was attached to the half-battery which accompanied the column, partly in that capacity, being allowed extra carriage for his apparatus. He was apparently in tolerable health at Cachar, and went on with his battery as far as Sylhet, where he was obliged to go on shore, and was so ill as to be left there when the others continued the onward journey.
By the advice of the doctors he started to go to Shillong, the nearest hill-station to Sylhet. He arrived at Cherrapoonji, the first halting place from the plains, and, whether the change of temperature was too sudden, or nature at length gave way, I know not, but on the 31st March he expired at that place, shortly after his arrival, from abscess in the liver. A good officer. a genial companion, a clever writer, and a warm friend, his loss was mourned by all who had ever known him.
Scenery Of The Country
The General himself suffered severely at the close of the Expedition. The state of his health, between Tipai Mukh and Shillong, was such as to cause grave anxiety to the medical officers who accompanied him.
The bracing air of that fine hill station, a re- turn to civilised dwellings, and, above all, good and nourishing food, however, happily soon re- stored him to his wonted health.
Several of the Staff, also, were very much pulled down, and did not get over the effects of hard work and hard fare for some time.
The scenery, both on the river and by road, between Tipai Mukh and Cachar, was very fine; the autumnal-like tints of the foliage in the dense jungle, at this season, were most varied and beautiful; orchids and other wild-flowers abound- ed, and the forest was sweet with their many- scented blossoms.
But an invisible foe haunted these fair scenes — and cholera, that fatal pestilence, stalked along the river, or lurked ia the jungle, eager for his prey, striking down the Sepoys joyously looking forward to a speedy meeting with friends, but numbering most of its victims among the poor coolies, well nigh worn out with their four months continuous hard* work. The poor fellows died alike on the river, in boats or on rafts ; by the road-side and on the hill-tops, falling before a more dread enemy than any we had to encounter in Lushai land.
Nor were they free when they had left Cachar. The 22nd were pursued by it on their way up country, leaving men even in the train, and the 44th N.I. lost many men on the march before reaching Shillong.
The 42nd also suffered very severely. But among the sad consequences of the return march, was the introduction of this fell disease into tea- gardens and villages near the river or road, by the troops and coolies passing through. The seeds of the disease were left as a legacy among the Lushais, and, if we may believe reports, cholera has been busy among them since we left.
Desertion Of Villages To Munipur
Hill-men dread the invasion of foreigners, more on this account perhaps than any other — I mean the introduction of strange diseases. Small-pox and other diseases have from time to time been spread among them by traders, though the Northern Lushais, with whom we had to do, had, hitherto, enjoyed apparent immunity from the consequences of intercourse with strangers, as, out of the many who visited our camps, we only saw one man at all marked with small-pox.
Before bringing this narrative to a close, we must just see what the Munipur Contingent had been doing, especially as their last exploit was a very peculiar one.
After the 25th of January, entire villages see- ing the way things were going with the Lushais, and taking advantage of the presence of the con- tingent at Chepui, deserted to Munipur ; others went to Kamhow, Sukpilal, and the Pois ; but of those who went to Munipur, we have the actual numbers, which are as follows :
On the 13th February, three hundred and seventy-three Soktes, with twenty-eight muskets, arrived in Munipur, and on the 14th and 18th three hundred and ninety-two Sadoes and other Kookies.
I have mentioned that GeneralNuthall had been obliged to retire from Chibu, on account of sick- ness, &c. He had, however, returned there, to- wards the end of February, having received sup- plies, and left the sick in a place of safety. General Bourchier telegraphed to him on the with- drawal of the force from the Lushai territory, and General Nuthall commenced to return from Chibu on the 6th March.
On the 7th inst., he himself had gone ahead, as the Contingent always marched late, after cook- ing and eating. Before the latter left camp, a large body of men, of whom about a hundred were armed with muskets, appeared suddenly from the West.
Many captives, as before stated, having gone over to the Munipur contingent during the advance of the Left column, the Munipur Majors in command thought, or said they thought, that these were also refugees come to seek their protection. A Kookie chief who was in their camp, however, told them that the armed men belonged to Kamhow's people, and recognised among them a Chieftain of that tribe. The Majors sent orders to their Sepoys to load quietly and be on the alert ; they then ad- mitted the Soktes into the camp, taking up a central position, and a conference ensued.
During this conference the Sepoys closed round and got behind each armed man in groups of three. The Majors asked the Sokte chiefs where they had been, and whither they were going. They replied that they had been on a friendly visit to a village in the Lushai territory, the in- habitants of which, nine hundred and sixty-two in number, were returning with them, being desirous of joining Kamhow's tribe.
The Majors told them that they must go to General Nuthall to explain their conduct to him, but this they refused to do, as the camp ahead was too far out of their way. The former then ap- parently gave up this point and engaged the chiefs in friendly conversation, and under pre- tence of trying the different muskets, handed the chiefs one of theirs to fire off, discharging those of the latter in exchange.
The chiefs being thus defenceless, the Majors had them seized, whereupon, one of them giving a whistle, his men stood to their arms, but after a short struggle were overpowered. Fifty-six men were taken prisoners, and fifty-two muskets were seized; four of the Munipuris were wounded in the struggle.
The Sokte prisoners and the villagers were all taken into Munipur, and the Rajah intended to settle them in the valley south of Moirang. The Soktes were placed in jail in irons till their families should arrive, when the Rajah's intention was to release them and settle them in the hills north- east of the valley.
General Nuthall said, " The Rajah seemed con- fident of reconciling them, and anticipated obtain- ing much useful service from them in the event of future strife with Kamhow's tribe. The loss of so many arms to that tribe will tend to break its power, and restrain its preying upon the Lushais at this time of its weakness.'*
This latter prediction of the General's was a * very mistaken one, if we may believe a late news- paper paragraph, which states that the Soktes again attacked Chonchim after our departure, and Lalboora, being deserted by many of his ad- herents, was signally defeated by the Soktes who are now settled in the Chumfai valley.
I have been unable to find out what truth there is in this report, but if the case is so, it is just what General Bouchier and Mr. Edgar did not wish to happen, and which by their policy they did what that they could to prevent ; as it is, as I have pointed out in a very early part of this book, by no means in the interests of the peace of our frontier, that a tribe, who have submitted to us, and with whom we were likely to establish friendly relations, should be overthrown by a more distant and formidable foe.
We have heard the Munipur version of the exploit just related; let us see what has been said on the other side.
It will be remembered that Vonolel had settled many Sokte prisoners in his villages during his lifetime. These Soktes, at the time of the Ex- pedition, were very anxious to return to their own country, but they were afraid that, if they at- tempted to escape, the Lushais might fall on them and kill their women and children before they could get safely across into Kamhow's country. Many of them had taken advantage of our ad- vance to escape either to Kamhow, General Nuthall, or our camps.
On the return march, Mr. Edgar heard that a hundred armed men from Kamhow's villages had gone to some of the south-eastern Lushai villages, for the purpose of escorting the Soktes who wished to leave.
Darpong afterwards confirmed this intelligence, and stated further that nearly a thousand Soktes had gone off under the protection of this party, taking with them all their property, and that these were the people who appeared in the Munipur camp.
There seems no doubt that the armed Soktes did not go in with the intention of attacking the Munipur depot. This appears to be evident from the fact of their small number, and the absence of any attempt on their part at a surprise. On the contrary, they went in apparently in full reliance on the friendliness of the Munipuris, the chiefs allowing their weapons to be discharged by the Majors without any suspicion of bad faith.
The Minipur Army
Mr. Edgar, says, " The charge of wishing to attack the camp was probably afterwards in- vented by the Majors to excuse their own conduct. It is evident that the latter could not resist the temptation of getting possession of the refugees, for the Munipuris are even more eager than the hill-chiefs themselves to get hold of Kookie and Naga subjects."
Major McCulloch, many years ago writing of the Munipur Army, said that the number, three thou- sand six hundred (including officers), could not be kept up in an efficient state, and, as I have before said, it is not attempted. The services therefore of the Munipur troops in an emergency would be of no use. The inefficiency of this force has not escaped the British Government. Schemes for its improvement have been entertained, but as the pressure of circumstances which suggested the necessity of these schemes ceased, they have been discarded
I do not know if the performance of the Munipur contingent in the late campaign will cause the gallant Colonel to modify in any degree this unfavourable opinion.
On arriving in Cachar, General Bourchier issued the following Field Force Order to the troops who, having been together for four months, were about. to separate and disperse again to various parts of India — the Artillery to Abbobabad, Sappers to Roorkee, 22nd N. I. to Chelam, and the 42nd and 44th L. I. to Assam.
