Cawnpore'

Cawnpore' (Kankpur), a city of the North-western Provinces, on the right bank of the Ganges, 42 miles SW. of Lucknow, 266 SE. of Delhi, and 628 NW. of Calcutta. The river in front, varying, according to the season, from 500 yards in width to more than a mile, presents a large and motley assemblage of steam-vessels and native craft; the principal landing-place is the beautiful Sarsiya ghāt. Cawnpore, at least as a place of note, is of recent origin, being indebted for its growth, besides its commercial facilities, partly to military and political considerations. In 1777, being then an appendage of Oudh, it was assigned by the nawab as the station of a subsidiary force; and in 1801 it became, in name as well as in fact, British property. In 1881 its cantonments, having accommodation for 7000 troops, contained a population of 31,283, and the city of 120,161, giving a total of 151,444, of whom 113,354 were Hindus; (1891) 188,782. At the outbreak of the mutiny in May 1857, Cawnpore contained about 1000 Europeans, 560 of whom were women and children. The hasty, ill-chosen entrenchments into which they had thrown themselves, were speedily invested by overwhelming numbers of the mutineers, led on by the infamous Nana Sahib. For three weeks the few defenders held gallantly out; but at last they surrendered on promise of a safe-conduct to Allahabad. The sepoys accompanied them to the banks of the Ganges, and scarcely were they embarked on the boats, when a murderous fire was opened upon them, and only four men escaped. The women and children, 125 in number, were reserved for a crueller fate, and were carried back to Cawnpore. Hearing that Havelock was within two days' march of the place, Nana Sahib advanced to meet him. He was driven back, and, smarting under defeat, returned to Cawnpore, and gave orders for the instant massacre of his helpless prisoners, who, dead and dying, were cast into a well. Havelock and his small army arrived on 16th July, only to find to their utterable horror that they came too late to rescue the women and children. A memorial church, a Romanesque red-brick building, now marks the site of General Wheeler's entrenchment; whilst the scene of the massacre is occupied by the memorial gardens. Over the well itself a mound has been raised, its summit crowned by an octagonal Gothic inclosure, with Marochetti's white marble angel in the centre. But Sir George Trevelyan's Cawnpore (1865) is the best memorial of the tragedy.—The district of Cawnpore has an area of 2370 sq. m., and a population of about 1,300,000. It is an alluvial plain of great fertility. The vine is cultivated, and indigo grows wild. Besides its two mighty rivers, the Ganges and Jumna, and their navigable tributaries, the Ganges Canal traverses the country for 60 miles, and there is ample communication by rail.