through a personal devotion to their commander. Nicholson's first act as commander was to disarm any native regiments in his column that he suspected of disloyalty. On 11 July, Nicholson managed to intercept a force of mutineers that had risen at Sialkot and murdered their British officers and civilians. After he had defeated them in battle, the mutineers retreated to an island on the Ravi River and Nicholson was forced to wait until 15 July before he could gather enough boats to launch an attack on the island. Nicholson's attack gained complete surprise and the British soon overwhelmed and routed the remaining sepoys. The column reached Delhi on 14 August, providing much-needed support to the besieging British force. Nicholson found the British forces at Delhi to be in a sorry state, with many sick and wounded and demoralized from the ineffectual leadership of Colonel Archdale Wilson. However, Nicholson's already legendary status with dealing with the mutiny proved a major boost to the British troops who believed the young and aggressive Nicholson to be the antithesis to their old and weary commanders who had mismanaged the outbreak of the mutiny. Despite not being in command, Nicholson immediately began inspecting the British positions and formulating his plan to capture the city. It did not take long for Nicholson to come to the conclusion that Wilson "was not at all equal to the crisis" and would not be able to command the assault on the city. Wilson's strategy was based upon waiting for the arrival of a siege train from Calcutta before he would launch the assault. However, the rebels dispatched a 6,000 strong force from Delhi to intercept the British train before it could reach the city. In response, Nicholson led a force approximately 2,000 strong to find and destroy the rebels before they could destroy the British siege train and jeopardize the entire British effort to capture the city. Nicholson's force managed to reach the rebels first and in the subsequent Battle of Najafgarh, Nicholson personally led his troops in routing the rebel force, thus ensuring the arrival of the siege train and a hero's return to the British at Delhi. Following the arrival of the siege train, Wilson finally relented to the pressure from the other officers and permitted the assault to be launched at sunrise on 14 September. Nicholson was to lead the first troops attempting to storm the