rence, Rawal Pindi, the Commander-in-Chief, Simla,
and officers commanding all stations in the Punjab respectively;
to be forwarded by the assistant in charge of the telegraph
office, or post, as the case may be.

'The senior military officer in the Punjab, Major-General Reed,
having this morning received news of the disarming of the troops
at Mian Mir, a council of war was held, consisting of General
Reed, Brigadier Cotton, Brigadier Neville Chamberlain, Colonel
Edwardes, and Colonel Nicholson, and the following measures were
decided on, subject to the confirmation of the Commander-in-Chief.
General Reed assumes the chief military command in the Punjab;
his Head-Quarters will be the Head-Quarters of the Punjab Civil
Government, and a Movable Column will be formed at Jhelum at once,
consisting of [the troops were here detailed]. The necessary
orders for this column have been issued. The column will move on
every point in the Punjab where open mutiny requires to be put
down by force, and officers commanding at all stations in the
Punjab will co-operate with the column.']

* * * * *

CHAPTER VII.
1857

First symptoms of disaffection--Outbreak at Berhampur
--Mangal Pandy--Court-Martial at Meerut--Mutiny at Meerut
--The work of destruction--Want of energy
--Hugh Gough's experiences--Nothing could arrest the mutiny

Before proceeding with the account of my experiences with the Movable
Column, and the subsequent operations for the suppression of the
rebellion, in which I was fortunate enough to take part, it will,
I think, be advisable, for the better understanding of the whole
situation, to devote a little time to the consideration of the
progress of events from the first appearance of symptoms of
disaffection in Lower Bengal, to the crisis I have just been
describing, when Peshawar became involved in the general disturbance.

The substitution of a new rifle for the old musket with which the
sepoys had hitherto been armed entailed a different kind of drill;
and in order that this drill should be speedily learned by the
whole Native army, depots were formed at convenient places for the
instruction of selected men from every corps, who, on becoming
proficient, were to return and instruct their own regiments. One of
these depots was at Dum-Dum, and as early as the 24th January General
Hearsay, commanding t