Beschreibung:

Indian Mutiny &Massacre at Cawnpore.-William Jonah Shepherd (civil servant) A Brief Account of the Outbreak at Cawnpore and the disasters which resulted therefrom to the Christian Community of the Station [&] Correspondence relative to the circumstance under which I resigned my appointment in the Commissariat Department, autograph manuscripts signed on titles and initialled in the text, first mentioned title and 59pp., second mentioned title and 31pp. & an ALs from ?J. Mathew tipped-in, bound in reverse, manuscript on blue paper, part of front free endpaper cut away, some ff. excised, some ff. working loose, some others with a few corner stains, 2 pencil drawings used as illustrations in the printed work, "The Battered Barracks" & "The Exterior of the house in which the massacre of the women & children took place", both inscribed: "copied by J Bennett, Calcutta, from a sketch taken at Cawnpore by Lieut. CW Crump in Augst. 1857", original half calf, manuscript label on upper cover, binding worn, covers with surface wear, corners and edges bumped and worn, lacks head of spine, chipped at tail, sm. 4to, 1857; and a defective copy of the printed work, "A Personal Narrative of the Outbreak and Massacre at Cawnpore", lacks title and other pp., signed presentation copy from the author to his son, dated 1886 at end, 8vo (2). ⁂ An eye witness account of one of the bloodiest episodes of the Indian Mutiny. "The native spies were first put to the sword, and after them the Gentlemen... and shot, thereafter the poor females were ordered to come out, but neither threats, nor persuasions, could induce them to do so... The troopers therefore brought musquets, and after firing a great many shots from the doors, windows &c rushed in, with swords and bayonets. Some of the helpless creatures in their agony fell down at the feet of their murderers, and begged them, in the most pitiful manner, to spare their lives, but to no purpose... in the midst of the most dreadful shrieks and crys of the victims. There were between 140 & 150 souls, including children... next morning it was found, on opening the doors, that some 10 or 15 females with a few of the children had managed to escape... by... hiding under the murdered bodies... a fresh order was therefore sent to murder these also; but the survivors... rushed out into the Compound, and seeing a well there, threw themselves into it... ." William Jonah Shepherd (1825-91), served in the army commissariat at the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny, and was one of the very few survivors of the siege of Cawnpore. As he was of mixed race, he volunteered to act as a spy and to open negotiations with Nana Sahib, the commander of the rebel forces at Cawnpore. Disguised as a native cook Shepherd was captured soon after leaving the entrenchment. He was tried and imprisoned for a term of three years with hard labour and shackled in irons. During this time he lost his entire family, "consisting of wife and a daughter [my infant daughter having died from a musquet shot in the head...] two nieces... a sister and her infant son, a brother... and two old ladies". He "was released by the European Troops on the morning of the 17th [July 1857]." Nana Sahib (1824-59), born as Dhondu Pant; Indian Peshwa of Maratha empire; led the rebellion in Cawnpore (Kanpur) during the 1857 uprising.