List of Eureka Stockade defenders
[9] Carboni details the rebel dispositions along: The shepherds' holes inside the lower part of the stockade had been turned into rifle-pits, and were now occupied by Californians of the I.C.
[10] The location of the stockade has been described by Eureka veteran John Lynch as "appalling from a defensive point of view" as it was situated on "a gentle slope, which exposed a sizeable portion of its interior to fire from nearby high ground".
[11][note 2] In the early hours of 1 December 1854, the rebels were observed to be massing on Bakery Hill, but a government raiding party found the area vacated.
[15] The rebels sent out scouts and established picket lines in order to have advance warning of Rede's movements and a request for reinforcements to the other mining settlements.
The rebels continued to fortify their position as 300-400 men arrived from Creswick Creek, and Carboni recalls they were: "dirty and ragged, and proved the greatest nuisance.
Amid the Saturday night revelry, low munitions, and major desertions, Lalor ordered that any man attempting to leave the stockade be shot.
[24] Lalor's command was riddled with informants, and Rede was kept well advised of his movements, particularly through the work of government agents Henry Goodenough and Andrew Peters, who were embedded in the rebel garrison.
[24] Rede planned to send the combined military police formation of 276 men under the command of Captain John Thomas to attack the Eureka Stockade when the rebel garrison was observed to be at a low watermark.
Enemy contact began at approximately 150 yards as the two columns of regular infantry and the contingent of foot police moved into position.
[30] For at least 10 minutes, the rebels offered stiff resistance, with ranged fire coming from the Eureka Stockade garrison such that Thomas's best formation, the 40th regiment, wavered and had to be rallied.
After the rebel garrison had already begun to flee and all hope was lost, a number of them gamely joined in the final melee bearing their trademark Colt revolvers.
However, the diary of Charles Evans describes a funeral cortege for a woman who was mercilessly butchered by a mounted trooper while pleading for the life of her husband.
[187] Following the fall of the stockade, Hotham proclaimed martial law on 6 December 1854 with no lights allowed in any tent after 8 pm "even though the legal basis for it was dubious".
[191] Unrelated first-hand accounts variously state that a woman, her infant child and several men were killed or wounded in an episode of indiscriminate shooting.
