The
Battle of Lucknow and the end of the Mutiny
By
January 1858 the region was clear of rebels. Sir Colin had wanted to
return to
Lucknow only when cooler weather had come, but political considerations
required an earlier liberation of the town. So plans were made for
another
march from Cawnpore on 27 February.
On 2 March Coffey’s regiment
marched in
the 2nd Division under Sir Edward Lugard to occupy the Dilkusha
(‘Heart’s
Delight’), the royal hunting lodge three miles or so to the south-east
of the
city itself. The Dilkusha they found filled with the corpses of
mutineers
killed in a previous engagement, and its roof gave a view of the vast
array of
palaces, golden domes and fine buildings that the army would now take
one by
one in hand-to-hand fighting. The 2nd Division was engaged from 9 to 13
March,
and Coffey’s Indian Mutiny Medal is fitted with the Lucknow clasp,
indicating
his participation in the last major battle of the conflict.
The army was now broken up to
pacify
the surrounding country. Coffey’s regiment was part of a force that
dispersed
some rebels at Sultanpur on 10 April and at Azimghur on 12 September,
before
settling at Fyzabad. On 1 November, it was announced that British
authority in
India was transferred from the East India Company to the Crown. The
Queen’s
‘Proclamation’ guaranteed religious freedom for all, and offered pardon
to all
mutineers, except those who had taken part in the murder of British
subjects,
harboured their murderers, or led or instigated the rebellion.