By H H Mohrmen
This is the story about the fall of U Kiang Nangbah constructed from the correspondence between the British officers. It is a story about how U Kiang Nangbah the leader of the great Jaintia rebellion was betrayed by his own countrymen which ultimately led to his being captured by the British soldiers from his hiding place. It is also a story about u Kiang Nangbah a true fighter who did not gave up easily in spite of the fact that he was not well. Instead he took out his guns and his sword to challenge the betrayer and fought against the enemy to the last.
The first information about his whereabouts was found in the letter from Colonel H.F. Dunsford, C.B. Commanding Jayanteah Field Force, to Captain E.K.O Gilbert, Assistant Adjutant- General, Presidency Division, – 28, (dated 26th December 1862). The letter which reported about the attacked on the 21st Regiment Punjab Native Infantry in a place near Amwi and Jaintiapur also has information about the whereabouts of the rebel leader u Kiang Nangbah.
The information received was that Lieutenant Walcott’s spies brought very reliable information that U Kiang Nangbah, the rebel chief was lying ill in a village Koorung near Hurwan, (according to oral tradition it is believed that he was lying ill in a village called Umkara which would then be under the jurisdiction of the Daloi Nartiang). He directed that Lieutenant Sadlier with a party of thirty-five men of the 28 Regiment Punjab Native Infantry should accompany Lieutenant Walcott in the expedition to capture u Kiang Nangbah. They were to proceed and march only by night and sleep in the jungle by day. Later Colonel Dunsford in his letter No. 41 dated the 30th December 1862, corrected himself stating that he had erred in his letter No. 28, dated 26th December 1862 to say that the credit for the information about u Kiang Nangbah’s illness and his hiding place was given to Walcott but the credit should be given to Lieutenant T. R. Sadlier. It was Sadlier who was able to build a good rapport with the locals which enabled him to collect the very important information.
Lieutenant T. R. Sadlier commanding at Nartiang in his letter to the Staff Officer Jaintia Field Force Camp, Jowai (dated 29th December 1862) narrated about the movement of the contingent to capture u Kiang Nangbah. Sadlier said that he marched along with a contingent of one lieutenant, two havildars, three naiks and twenty sepoys from the 8th Regiment of Punjab Infantry and eight sepoys from 4th Regiment Native Infantry and started from Nartiang at 6:30 P.M. in the evening of Christmas day 25th December 1862. He was accompanied in the expedition by Lieutenant Walcott, Assistant Commissioner. The team also comprised of eight coolies; four of them carried rations; two carried cooking pots and one carrier each for Sadlier and Walcott.
They first marched in the North East direction from Nartiang over swamps and hills. The progress of the movement was very slow due to the darkness. Because of the difficult terrain and the darkness they were able to cover only 15 miles even after marching for twelve and half hours continuously. In the morning of the 26th they halted and hid in the forest to evade attention during the day. Again in the evening of the same day they started on their journey at dusk and continued marching and walking till morning when they reached Kiang Nangbah’s hideout.
The contingent reached U Kiang’s hideout at 6 in the morning without anyone seeing them. As soon as they reached the place, they saw several huts and furtively moved towards the huts. U Long then pointed to Sadlier the hut which is believed to be the one where U Kiang was recuperating from his illness. Sadlier along with his soldiers led by u Long Sutnga moved towards the hut and surrounded it from every direction. On reaching the hut the Lieutenant took position at the back of the hut to prevent Kiang Nangbah from escaping into the forest. U Long entered the hut from the front door and U Kiang went to the back of the hut with a view to the forest hoping to escape into the Kurung forest. U Kiang Nangbah’s hut was built in such a way that it was located at the edge of the forest. The plan was that in the event of the camp being attacked he could always run towards the thick forest and escape detection.
As Kiang Nangbah went to the back of the hut he saw Sadlier taking position and knew then that there was no escape. He re-entered the hut. Soon after Sadlier heard Long Sutnga calling for assistance and informed that U Kiang was in the hut. Sadlier along with two sepoys rushed into the house to help Long Sutnga. Very soon the rebel leader was in the custody of Sadlier. But U Kiang did not go down without a fight. When Long rushed towards him, U Kiang Nangbah took his pistol and pointed it on U Long’s face but the pistol did not fire. He then took a double barrel gun and pointed it towards Sadlier and his sepoy but unfortunately the gun misfired because the cap was too long for the nipple.
When Sadlier and the sepoy came to assist U Long, U Kiang moved back and drew his sword to protect himself and with his position and the kind of house that they were in, U Kiang could use his sword with very good effect. Sadlier told his soldier that he wishes to capture him alive and ordered the sepoy not to fire. And because the room was too small the soldiers could not fix their bayonets. Sadlier saw that U Kiang would not yield and he also did not want to endanger any of his men. He ordered one of them to fire at U Kiang Nangbah while another sepoy who was in the verandah fixed his bayonet.
Sadlier then saw that U Kiang Nangbah was unlikely to give up his fight. He shouted at him, “Put down your sword and I will not shoot you.” U Kiang laid down his sword. He was arrested along with his wife and two children and his family was under the custody of the Doloi of Nartiang but Sadlier reported that his wife and two children escaped from custody the next evening. Along with U Kiang the British soldiers also arrested nine other rebels from Jowai. From U Kiang Nangbah’s house the soldiers confiscated six guns and a musket belonging to the 33rd Regiment Native infantry.
Colonel Dunsford vide his letter No. 41 dated the 30th of December had the most important news for the ears of the British government. It was about the capture of U Kiang Nangbah the rebel chief. He was captured based on the information provided to Sadlier by the Daloi of Nartiang and u Long Sutnga. Captain B.W.D Morton Deputy Commissioner of Jaintia and Khasi hills in his letter to Major J.C. Houghton Commissioner on Special Duty (dated the 6th January 1863) informed that U Kiang was captured from his hiding on the morning of the 27th of December. He also recommended that u Long Sutnga a resident of Nartiang be rewarded a sum of 1000 rupees. U Kiang Nangbah was brought to trial before Brigadier Dunsford, C.B. and Captain B.W.D Morton Deputy Commissioner of Jaintia and Khasi hills. Using Act XI of 1857, Kiang Nangbah he was found guilty of rebellion and inciting rebellion against British government and was awarded capital punishment. The sentence was executed on 30th December 1862 at Jowai three hours after he was sentenced to capital punishment. He was hanged at 5 pm in the evening at Iawmusiang (the market place) in the presence of the troops and all the villagers. And thus ended the gallant life of one of our best known freedom fighters! The tragedy is that he was betrayed by one of his own.