Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c56.s19: § 7. The fall of Agra, 18th October
Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c56.s19
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§ 7. The fall of Agra, 18th October
v4.c56.s19.1
After making arrangements for the defence of Delhi and the adjoining district, General Lake left the Mughal capital on 24th September and set out for Agra. That city had been the real capital of Sindhia's north-Indian dominions. In its historic fort were stored vast quantities of munitions, stores, equipment and artillery, besides 22½ lakhs of public money in specie. Its defence had been left to Colonel George Hessing, a Dutch mestiche and Col. Sutherland a Scotsman, both related to Perron by marriage. Their one aim was to save their personal wealth and earn Wellesley’s promised reward by deserting to the English. As Skinner, their late comrade-in-arms, cynically remarks, “Hessing was too rich a man to defend the fort. He soon found means to dissatisfy the garrison.”
v4.c56.s19.2
∗ Thorn, 125.
v4.c56.s19.3
In fact, the Indian troops in Agra were even more distracted and out of control than the defenders of Delhi on the eve of the battle of 11th September. Roused by the treachery and cowardice of their European officers, they put them in confinement, but had no leader of their own race to lead them in a united and consistent resistance. Lake arriving on the scene on 4th October, at first tried to tempt the garrison to surrender on liberal terms. They long resisted, and Lake decided to apply force. Seven regular battalions of Sindhia, who occupied the town and the glacis of the fort, were attacked on 10th October by a large force of Indian infantry, and dislodged, after a long and bloody fight, in which the British lost 228 in killed and wounded and the campoo about six hundred.* Siege operations were now begun, and the British advanced batteries began to play upon the walls of Agra to effect a breach. Then the garrison cried for terms, and after some delay due to their internal discord, the fort was surrendered to the English on the 18th and all the immense wealth and armament within it fell into the victors’ hands. An ordinary lieutenant’s share of the prize-money here amounted to Rs. 2,000.