The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v2.c49.s2: III. Fall of Calcutta
The History of Bengal (Vol. I: Hindu Period; Vol. II: Muslim Period 1200–1757) v2.c49.s2
- Language
- English
III. Fall of Calcutta
v2.c49.s2.1
On 16th June, an attempt of the Nawāb's army to force the Marātha Ditch over the Chitpur bridge by attacking Perring's Redoubt which covered it, was foiled. But the Thānā fort (near
v2.c49.s2.2
British (in Calcutta) had exceeded their rights . . . (2) As regards the abuse of trade privileges, it must be confessed that the British had used the dastaks or passes for goods free of custom in a way never contemplated by the farmāns . . . (3) Concerning the protection given to the servants of the native Government, . . . the case of Krishna Dās, . . . the English had no right to shelter the servants of Government from the authorities in their own country.—It will be seen, therefore, that Sirāj-ud-daulah had a show of reason in all the pretexts he alleged for his attack on the British." (Vol i. liv—lvi.)
v2.c49.s2.3
Matiāburuz) after being taken by the British fleet could not be held for lack of men. Meantime, many of the Nawāb’s troops and the looters who hung in the rear of the army, flocked into the town by fording the Ditch. Sirāj himself took up his quarters in Amir Chand’s garden, in the quarter known as Simla.
v2.c49.s2.4
The Black Town or Indian quarter of Calcutta in the north consisted almost entirely of bamboo and straw huts. The English decided to defend only the European quarter, (Dalhousie Square and east and south), and first “set on fire the straw-houses within the Lines of defence, to clear the Town as much as possible. The fire spread, and did much damage,” (c. 14th). Again, in the night of the 16th, they set fire to part of the town in order to drive out the Nawāb’s men. Next day, the British destroyed all the native houses to the eastward and the southward, and the Nawāb’s plunderers set fire to the Great Bazar, (the old Bara Bazar, north of the modern Fairlie Place) and other parts of the Black Town, which burnt till morning. “All the British women were brought into the Fort on the 16th, and next day the Portuguese and Armenian women and children crowded into the Fort, (their relatives) the militia declaring that they would not fight unless their families were admitted.” Everything in the Fort was thrown into confusion. All the peons and servants of the Europeans, the porters of munitions and gun laskars fled away in fear, till the British defenders began to starve for want of men to cook their meals.
v2.c49.s2.5
The attack on the line of defence began on 18th June. The English prepared for it by a Council order to their soldiers “to give no quarter, as the Fort prison was already crowded.” The Nawāb’s main attack was made on the defences from the east and south (Bowbazar Street Sealdah side, and Esplanade East.) By occupying the strongly built and scattered European houses in these directions, the invaders by their fire drove out the small bodies of the advanced English defenders and rendered the artillery of the Fort ineffective; and even the batteries outside the Fort had to be abandoned to the enemy.
v2.c49.s2.6
So the English fell back into a smaller and inner line of defence, covering the old Fort William and a few yards around it (i. e., from Fairlie Place to the southern limit of the General Post Office, and from the Ganges to Dalhousie Square West.)
v2.c49.s2.7
In the night of the 18th as many women in the Fort as could be accommodated on board were sent to the ships. “The defenders of the Fort were now wearied out . . . The men at the outposts were left to starve as there were no cooks . . . The supply of ammunition had run short.” So, between 1 and 2 o’ clock in the morning of 19th June, Mr. Drake “held an informal Council . . . It was determined to abandon the Fort, but how or when to make the retreat could not be decided upon.”
v2.c49.s2.8
The 19th was a day of increasing confusion and agony. The ships alongside Calcutta, on which the hope of a safe evacuation depended, dropped down the stream. On shore the Armenians and Portuguese half-breeds who formed the militia, were too terrified to act. Even the pure European soldiers could be persuaded with difficulty to resume their arms. But on learning that all the remaining powder was damp and useless, a stampede ensued for the boats. The governor Drake and the commandant Minchin, themselves escaped in the last few boats. Some of the ships¹ ran aground and their inmates were made prisoners by the Nawāb’s troops. The ships that escaped “set ashore all the refugees on board who had no connection with the Europeans” and then anchored at Falta, (26 June).
v2.c49.s2.9
¹ The Prince George, Neptune, Calcutta, and Diligence.
v2.c49.s2.10
Calcutta, thus deserted by its governor and military commander, had still 170 white men, capable of conducting its defence, (not counting the unreliable Armenians and Eurasians). They held a council, suspended their two fugitive heads, and appointed Mr. J. Z. Holwell, the zamindar or magistrate-collector of native Calcutta as governor and military commander, (in the afternoon of the 19th). Holwell tried to make a stand, but the enemy’s musketry from the European houses they occupied took a heavy toll and made it almost impossible to stand upon the ramparts of the invested Fort. This night saw all the houses around burning. The British soldiers now refused to obey their officers, broke open the houses of the runaway members, and made themselves drunk with the liquor found there.
v2.c49.s2.11
Sunday 20th June began in utter hopelessness. In the night before, 53 soldiers (chiefly Dutch) out of the small white contingent left had deserted to the enemy. In the fighting from morning to noon, the English lost 25 men killed and 70 wounded, and only 14 men were left to serve the guns, with no laskar or porter. Holwell, “hoping to amuse the enemy till nightfall, when a retreat might be effected, . . . hoisted a flag of truce.” But about 4 o’clock in the evening, the enemy scaled the walls from all sides and the little river-gate of the Fort was burst open by a Dutch sergeant and delivered to the enemy. Some of the defenders were cut down, but Holwell now surrendered, the fighting ceased, and Sirāj-ud-daulah entered Calcutta as victor. But there was no arrest of prisoners; “the Portuguese and Armenians were allowed to go free and disappeared, and several of the Europeans simply walked out of the Fort, making their escape, to Hugli or the ships at Surman’s garden.”