INDIAN MUTINY & CRIMEA

Series of letters from Private James Pedder, 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade, 1853-1860

Series of c.25 autograph letters from 3277 Private James Pedder, 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade, to his parents and siblings, describing in lively detail his service in Crimea and India, including vivid first-hand accounts of action at the Alma and Inkerman, the Siege of Sebastopol, and the Indian Mutiny, comprising: i) Ten letters from the Crimean War, dating from 28 September 1854 to 25 June 1855, describing action against the Russians at the Battle of the Alma ("...after 3 or 4 hours hard fighting they fully understood the use of British Arms we made them to fly before us the same as an Hawk will a Sparrow..."), Balaklava ("...took it without much trouble..."), at Inkerman ("...we could see 12 or 14 thousand Russians... we only had 2 Companies of our men to stand against the above force... we dusted them over in first rate Style this was much harder work than Alma..."), the Siege of Sebastopol ("...we will have a deal of work to do before we take it... we opened fire with our Cannons on the 17th October we have been fireing ever since today is the 3rd of November..."), Redan and Malakoff ("...when we went into the Redan there was nothing but Rifles, Muskets and Cannons pointed at you...we have nearly lost all our men that came out with us from England on 24 February 54... every man has fallen with sickness or By the hand of the Enimy... My Brother Thomas has been here for a few days... now in the General Hospital at Scutari...");

ii) Thirteen letters from India whilst serving with the Lucknow Field Force, dating from 6 November 1857 to 15 March 1860, with much detail of the country ("...what with the Heat from the Ground and from the Sun you can scarcely breathe..."), forced marches ("...as soon as we finished our eighteen miles an orderly arrived with orders to be in Cawnpore the next morning... a distance of thirty six miles..."), the entry into Lucknow ("...we killed a great many of them... shot and shell and musket was flying about our ears..."), the Siege ("...we have completely routed the insurgents from the Town and our Cavalry followed them... the Rebels can run like the Deer... when we take them by surprise we kill a great many of them... the smell from the Town is very bad... we captured five elephants and nine millions of rupees thirty camels thirteen guns two morters & carriages and ammunition ...two hundred men laid down their arms but they were immediately killed..."), describing brutal fighting and atrocities ("...they burned their women alive to prevent them falling into our hands..."), hunting the rebels over rivers and through jungles and mountains, c.100 pages, some letters incomplete, some with address panels, postmarks etc., heavy dust-staining in places, folio, 4to and 8vo, Balaclava, Camp Sebastopol, Calcutta, Lucknow, Cawnpore, Fyzabad and elsewhere, 28 February 1853 to 15 March 1860; with other letters and a canvas sail-cloth wallet, inscribed in ink "3277 James Pedder 2nd B.R.B."