As soon as the commanding officers saw the trouble, they ordered that the
cartridges be withdrawn--but the mischief was done.
The Mutiny which flared up here among the native soldiers spread quickly
from city to city. Runners went from camp to camp, urging that they
throw off the hated British yoke. In some places no written or verbal
message was exchanged. A basket of unleavened cakes was brought in and
broken, by way of prearranged signal.
After the first outbreaks, councils of war were hurriedly held on the
part of the British officers, and field expeditions organized. One of
the officers, Colonel Neville Chamberlain, was assigned to the command of
what was called the "Movable Column," or chief army of pursuit.
Roberts was made one of his staff officers--"the most wonderful piece of
good fortune that could come to me," he says. Shortly afterward,
Chamberlain was made Adjutant General to the Army before Delhi, and then
came orders for all the artillery officers to join in this attack.
Roberts was to see active service at last.
He found himself under fire at Delhi for the first time on June 30, 1857.
While it was only a skirmish it was a lively one while it lasted.
With some 1,100 men and a dozen guns, Major Coke went on an expedition
against a troublesome group of rebels, and Roberts accompanied him as a
staff officer.
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