The Christmas Visit

The whole army, with a strong advance guard of cavalry, guns and infantry, proceeded to attack the enemy’s position, at the Nuwab’s residence.

In this small camp at Bareilly in 1840, there were a few men led by Colonel Jones of the 60th called “Jones the Avenger”. The place was still quite full of the enemy, most were said to be fanatics who were still hiding in the Nuwab’s house, which they would defend and fight to the last.

It was Christmas Eve, the European, native and Anglo-Indian regiment of soldiers at the small camp were feeling very cold and hungry, as provisions had not been supplied from the beginning of the week. It was now Friday and Christmas was the very next day. The fury of battle had ceased temporarily.

It was dark and cold, when out of the shroud of mist and fog a man’s voice called out in Hindoostanee, “ Don’t shoot, I am Abdul, I have the provisions”. Then out of the darkness stepped a middle-aged Indian man and a teenaged Indian boy, with a few bags of letters and provisions. The Colonel ordered a soldier to take the letters and provisions and to distribute it among the men. “Why did you bring this young boy with you to the battlefield ?”, asked the Colonel. Abdul replied, “ Colonel Jones Sahib, I had met this young fellow on my way here, he is from a neighboring village. He insisted that he should come with me to meet the soldiers, so I brought him along.” The young boy was talking animatedly to the soldiers who had gathered around a fire. He seemed to keep them all amused. An hour of peace passed in the blink of an eye.

Suddenly, the battle resumed, as shots rang out through the night. The enemy was on the attack again. The soldiers rushed to their positions and manned their guns. Some ran into the trenches around the camp and fired from their camouflaged positions. The war resumed with renewed force. Small shiny bullets flew through the air and toppled grown men, like lifeless puppets, soaked in dark flowing blood.

Robert, a young soldier from the front lines was among the first to be fatally hit by bullets in the first hour of the renewed battle. As he started to bleed profusely, the young boy who had come along with Abdul, went quickly and knelt beside the wounded soldier Robert and place his hand on the gaping chest wound, he next whispered something in the soldier’s ear…….