INDIAN MUTINY LETTER WITH GRAPHIC CONTENTS REF. THE ASSAULT ...

Hammer

£950

INDIAN MUTINY LETTER WITH GRAPHIC CONTENTS REF. THE ASSAULT ON DELHI; 29 Sept. 1857 stampless unpaid EL (small fault at top; ex the Capt. Bruce correspondence - see Cavendish catalogue of Dec. 2000) from "SAHARENPORE" (part cds across seal) to Ireland routed "Via Bom[bay &] Southampton" charged "6[d]" with boxed "INDIA/UNPAID" (2 types) on the front. The letter gives a graphic account of the recent insurrection in Delhi; "Here I am on my way to Delhi; the city was assaulted on the 14th and it took till the 20th to capture the whole of it; on the 14th the Fuziliers and 75th Foot got drunk...the natives had put put out all kinds of liquors to tempt them...About 12 Officers died during the Assault on Delhi and about 60 wounded, and 1100 men killed & wounded...Numbers of the Mutineers were killed; a great number escaped...We have had no letters or papers from home for some time, as the Daks [P.O. messengers] have been plundered below Lahore...Upwards of 300 guns were taken [at Delhi] but no Europeans rescued; they may have been taken to Gwalior as hostages..." Rare insight into the horrors of the Indian Mutiny and the disruption it caused to ingoing mails at this date. [Ex Cavendish Gilbert Wheat auction, June 2009; lot 393, realised £420+BP.]Cross Reference: MILITARY