NAPIER

General Napier served in the Peninsular War. He was wounded on the Coa, and shot near the spine at Cazal Nova. After taking part in the pursuit of Masséna after he left the lines of Torres Vedras, he and his brother George were recommended for a brevet majority. He became Brigade Major, was present at Fuentes d'Onoro, but an attack of fever obliged him to return to England. He returned to Spain, and was present at the storming of Badajoz, where his friend Colonel McLeod was killed. In the absence of the new Lieutenant-Colonel he took command of the 43rd regiment (he was now a substantive Major) and commanded it at Salamanca. After a short stay at home he again joined his regiment at the Pyrenees, and secured the most strongly fortified part of Soult's position at the Nivelle. He served with his regiment at the battles of the Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse. For his services he was made brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, and one of the first Companions of the Bath.The Indian Mutiny of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10th May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the company's army in the garrison town of Meerut, 40 miles northeast of Delhi. It then erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and east. The rebellion posed a military threat to British power in that region, and was contained only with the rebels' defeat in Gwalior on 20th June 1858. On 1st November 1858, the British granted amnesty to all rebels not involved in murder.In 1858 Lord Ellenborough was given the task of drafting the new scheme for the government of India which the Mutiny had rendered necessary.