Chapter XV
Parade of all Troops in Sherpur—Strength of the Garrison—The Commencement of the December Operations—General Macpherson’s Brigade at Aoshahr—General Baker’s Flank March upon Maidan—The Jehad preached by Mushk-i-Alam—Strength of Mahomed Jan’s Force—The Plan of Operations—Defeat of the Kohistanis at Kila Karez—General Macpherson starts for Argandeh—General Massy’s March up the Chardeh Valley with the Guns and Cavalry—First Sight of Mahomed Jan’s Army—Unexpected Strength of the Afghans—The Action of December 11th in Chardeh—Loss of Four Guns and Repulse of the Cavalry—Defence of the Dehmazung Gorge by 200 of the 72nd Highlanders—Recovery of the Guns by Colonel Macgregor—Macpherson’s Arrival at Dehmazung—Attack on the Sherderwaza Picquet.
SHERPUR, 9th December.
General Baker’s Brigade returned to Sherpur a few days ago, and the result of his visit to Maidan is now visible in the large stacks of bhoosa and the bags of grain near the Commissariat Gate. Sir Michael Kennedy, Director-General of Transport, with a small party of officers has arrived from India on inspection duty and is now a guest of Sir Frederick Roberts. The ex-Amir is now well on his way to India, and the troops sent to strengthen the posts between Cabul and Jugdulluck have returned to quarters. So far no attempt has been made by the tribes on the Peshawur Road to rescue Yakub Khan, but there is much latent fanaticism about Cabul, and the moollahs, who always gave us so much trouble, may seize upon the deportation of the sovereign as a rallying-cry.
Yesterday a parade of all the available troops in garrison was held on the large maidan which lies to the north of the Bemaru hills, and extends to the borders of the narrow Wazirabad Lake at the foot of the southern Kohistan hills. No better place for a review of even 20,000 men could be desired, as the ground is very level, and is covered with short grass, which prevents dust accumulating. The nominal object of the parade was to present four men of the 72nd Highlanders with medals for distinguished service at the storming of the Peiwar Kotal last December.[30] There were 4,710 men and twenty guns on the ground. The guns were twelve 9-pounders, belonging to F-A and G-3, and eight 7-pounders of the Mountain Batteries. The following table shows only the troops paraded; it was necessary, for the safety of the cantonment and the valuable stores now collected within its walls, that a strong guard should remain in Sherpur, and 100 men were detached from each infantry regiment for this work. In-lying picquets were posted, signallers with heliographic apparatus placed on the Bemaru Heights and over the Commissariat Gate (that nearest the city), and, to prevent any incendiarism being attempted, orders were given to refuse admission to all the Hazara coolies employed on the quarters until the parade was over. Our bhoosa stacks and wood-piles are so nearly completed now, that we cannot afford to let them be burnt down.
The following is the full strength of the troops drawn up for the Lieutenant-General’s inspection:—
KURRAM DIVISION, CABUL FIELD FORCE. ──────────────────────────┬─────────┬─────────┬─────────────────┬─────┐ │ │ │ Non-commissioned│ │ │ │ Native │Officers and Men.│ │ Troops. │Officers.│Officers.│ ————│ ————│Total│ │ │ │British.│ Native.│ │ ──────────────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼─────┤ F-A, Royal Horse Artillery│ 5│ —│ 106│ —│ 111│ G-3, Royal Artillery │ 6│ —│ 107│ —│ 113│ No. 1 Mountain Battery │ 2│ 1│ 4│ 80│ 87│ No. 2 Mountain Battery │ 4│ —│ 4│ 74│ 82│ 9th Lancers │ 16│ —│ 265│ —│ 281│ 5th Punjab Cavalry │ 8│ 11│ —│ 342│ 361│ 14th Bengal Lancers │ 7│ 10│ —│ 213│ 230│ 67th Foot │ 15│ —│ 439│ —│ 454│ 72nd Highlanders │ 18│ —│ 553│ —│ 571│ 92nd Highlanders │ 15│ —│ 561│ —│ 576│ 23rd Pioneers │ 4│ 6│ —│ 295│ 305│ 3rd Sikhs │ 8│ 10│ —│ 525│ 543│ 5th Punjab Infantry │ 4│ 11│ —│ 503│ 518│ 5th Ghoorkas │ 5│ 8│ —│ 389│ 402│ 7th Company Sappers │ 3│ —│ 4│ 69│ 76│ ──────────────────────────┼─────────┼─────────┼────────┼────────┼─────┤ Total │ 120│ 57│ 2,043│ 2,490│4,710│ ──────────────────────────┴─────────┴─────────┴────────┴────────┴─────┘
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Footnote 30:
These were Sergeant-Instructor of Musketry Salmond, Sergeant Cox, Private McIveen and Private Bonar.
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To these have to be added the Staff, which was made up as follows:—
Commanding Cavalry Brigade—Brigadier-General Massy; Brigade-Major—Lieutenant Brabazon; Orderly Officer—Lieutenant Hearsey.
Commanding 1st Infantry Brigade—Brigadier-General Macpherson; Brigade-Major—Captain Guinness; Orderly Officer—Captain Macgregor.
Commanding 2nd Infantry Brigade—Brigadier-General Baker; Brigade-Major—Captain Farwell; Orderly Officer—Lieutenant Kane.
Commanding Royal Artillery—Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon; Officiating Adjutant—Lieutenant Allsopp.
The parade went off very successfully, and seemed to impress Sirdar Wali Mahomed Khan, Daoud Shah (the late Commander-in-Chief of the Afghan army), and other persons of importance who were present.
We mix work and play a good deal at Cabul: for scarcely had the parade ended than the more serious business of sending out a brigade into the Chardeh Valley was begun. In the afternoon the following troops, under the command of Brigadier-General Macpherson, left the cantonment and marched to Aoshahr, five miles due west of Sherpur:—
6 companies 67th Foot;
7 companies 5th Ghoorkas;
550 of the 3rd Sikhs;
4 guns F-A, Royal Horse Artillery;
4 guns No. 1 Mountain Battery;
1 squadron 9th Lancers;
2 squadrons 14th Bengal Lancers.
This movement is due to the gatherings in Koh-Daman and Maidan. The efforts of old Mushk-i-Alam, the Ghazni moollah, to raise a jehad have been so far successful, that Mahomed Jan has 5,000 men with him between Argandeh and Beni-Badam, on the Ghazni Road. This would not have been of much consequence were it not that pressure had been brought to bear upon the local villagers, who were bringing in grain and bhoosa. In the Logar Valley our Governor has been defied and the supplies which were pouring in from that district have almost entirely ceased. We still want about 15,000 maunds of wheat and 50,000 maunds of bhoosa, and as we are anxious to get it all in before the snow falls, it has been determined to attack the tribal bands and once more open the road. If our supplies were collected, we should probably have left Mahomed Jan alone until he had got a large force together, and then have gone out to meet him. General Macpherson has halted to-day at Aoshahr, as a plan has been carefully prepared by which it is hoped Mahomed Jan’s “army” will be forced to fight. In the carrying out of this plan, two separate forces will be employed—the second brigade, under General Baker, being now at Charasia with secret orders. This force is made up as follows, and is a “flying column” in the true sense of the word:—
450 of the 92nd Highlanders;
450 of the 5th Punjab Infantry;
5 troops of the 5th Punjab Cavalry;
4 guns of No. 2 Mountain Battery;
7th company Sappers and Miners (detachment with gun-cotton).
General Macpherson will to-morrow march up the Chardeh Valley and endeavour to get between the enemy and the road leading to the Unai Pass, so as to cut off their retreat towards Bamian. General Baker, moving in sympathy with the Chardeh Force, will leave Charasia and make a feint of going up the Logar Valley. This intention will be openly proclaimed; but, after leaving Charasia a few miles in rear, he will turn sharply to the south-west and throw himself across the Ghazni Road below Beni-Badam, cutting off Mahomed Jan’s retreat to Ghazni. The 5,000 men said to have assembled would then be practically encompassed about, and, being unable to run away, they would probably make a stout resistance. If General Macpherson can only keep them in play and get well above them in the Bamian direction, blinding them to the movements of the other column, we shall at last be able to punish the Ardal Pultan right smartly. Our information leads us to expect that Mahomed Jan will fight. He certainly held on to the heights above Cabul, even after we had reached Beni Hissar on October 7th; and, perhaps, his courage may be equal to again resisting us. The detachment of so many men has, of course, weakened the garrison of Sherpur, and the Guides, Cavalry, and Infantry have been ordered up from Jugdulluck in consequence. They will probably arrive in a day or two. The Kohistanis have not ventured to display further hostility to us, but Mir Butcha still keeps about him a gathering of discontented men, and may try to join Mahomed Jan at Maidan. Amid all this tribal disturbance it is satisfactory to know that the Ghilzais, Lughmanis, Shinwaris, and Afridis on our line of communications with India are still quiet: whether suspiciously so, I cannot say. Beyond the cutting of the telegraph wire between Dakka and Jellalabad occasionally, they seem to be on their best behaviour.
11th December.
The strategical move of two columns out of our cantonment here, to disperse Mahomed Jan’s force, has had a most unexpected result. The enemy have beaten us at our own game—has outmanœuvred us—and, instead of Mahomed Jan being a fugitive, he is calmly occupying the peaks to the south of the Bala Hissar Ridge, and his standards are flying in sight of Cabul and all the country round. We have been complaining of want of excitement here lately, but to-day has given us more than our fill. I explained in my last letter that Brigadier Macpherson moved out, on Monday, to Kila Aoshahr, just through the Cabul gorge and at the eastern end of the Chardeh Valley; while Brigadier Baker, on the following day, marched to Charasia, and intended cutting off Mahomed Jan’s retreat, on the Ghazni Road, at Maidan. Yesterday the force under General Macpherson left Kila Aoshahr at dawn; four guns of F-A, Royal Horse Artillery, with an escort of two squadrons of cavalry, drawn from the 9th Lancers and the 14th Bengal Lancers, remaining on the camping-ground, with orders to check the retreat of the enemy if they turned towards Cabul. The infantry, with four mountain guns and a squadron of the 14th Bengal Lancers, under Colonel Ross, took the Kohistan Road, and finally gained the Surkh Kotal—a ridge running down from the Pughman Range, and dividing Chardeh from the Koh-Daman, the celebrated “fruit country” of Kohistan. The chief object of General Macpherson was to head back Mahomed Jan, who was reported to be making for Kohistan, in order to unite his force with the bands gathered by Mir Butcha at Khoja Serai. The 14th Bengal Lancers were sent forward to reconnoitre on the Pughman plain to the north of the kotal, and they soon found themselves in the face of several thousand men near Kila Karez. The whole country seemed covered with masses of armed tribesmen, and on every low hill banners were flying. The infantry halted on the Surkh Kotal while the baggage came up, and preparations were made for dispersing the Kohistanis, who were plainly on the way to swell Mahomed Jan’s gathering. As Macpherson’s force formed up on the kotal, the enemy advanced very confidently, and our cavalry were obliged to fall back. Two mountain guns were got into action, and a few shells broke up the most advanced bodies. A sufficient guard was left over the baggage, and General Macpherson then attacked with the following infantry: four companies 67th Foot; six companies 5th Ghoorkas; three companies 3rd Sikhs—two mountain guns moving with them. The enemy broke and fled in confusion as soon as our rifles began to make good practice. There was one hill, defended by sungars, at which a few Ghazis tried to make a stand; but the 67th were not to be denied, and they raced up it in fine form, driving out its defenders very smartly. The 5th Ghoorkas took by a rush a hill on the extreme left, and the 3rd Sikhs, in assailing another hill, were equally successful; but two fanatics jumped over the sungars and charged upon the men nearest to them, sword in hand. They wounded two sepoys, and then rushed back to their comrades. The guns shelled the Kohistanis as they streamed away up the valley, and the cavalry, dismounted, also fired at a few hundred yards into them. The watercourses and enclosures prevented the Lancers charging. The Kohistanis, who were commanded by Mir Butcha in person, lost heavily; many bodies were found on the ground by our men, and many of the dead were seen to be carried off. Our casualties were—one man 67th, two Ghoorkas, and four of the 3rd Sikhs, all wounded. Major Fitz-Hugh, commanding the Ghoorkas, received a slight flesh-wound from a bullet in the right leg. He was not so badly hurt as to be incapacitated from duty, though, at the Lieutenant-General’s request, he has since remained in cantonments. Having thrashed Mir Butcha, General Macpherson encamped for the night at Mahomed Surwar Khan’s Kila, close to Kila Karez, ready to deal with Mahomed Jan on the following day. The presence of a large force of sepoys and tribesmen at and near Argandeh, on the Ghazni Road, 14 miles from Sherpur, was known beyond doubt: and General Macpherson’s aim was to get between them and the Unai Pass leading to Bamian, so as to drive them down towards Maidan, where General Baker was waiting with 950 infantry, five troops of the 5th Punjab Cavalry, and four mountain guns. There was a chance that Mahomed Jan would break back into the Chardeh Valley, towards Cabul, but it was not believed that he had with him a sufficient number of men to do any mischief in that direction. He had, however, double the force reported (5,000), and was sufficiently confident to take the bold step of entering the valley. Whether he contemplated an attack upon Sherpur, knowing there was nothing between him and the cantonments, except a small party of cavalry and four guns, is not known; but if he had learnt the weakness of the place, such an attempt was highly probable. In any case, while General Macpherson marched from his camp at the fort, where he had passed the night, and took the path to Argandeh behind a range of hills running right across the Chardeh Valley from the Surkh Kotal, the enemy, to the number of at least 10,000, debouched into the villages on the Cabul side of the range, and waited there the movements of our troops. They were rewarded for their manœuvre by the appearance of the Horse Artillery guns and their small escort of cavalry, making their way to join the infantry at Argandeh. This movement of our guns and the after-events, which have been extremely serious, can best be explained by following the action of the cavalry from the evening of yesterday.
The four Horse Artillery guns, under Major Smith Windham, were, as I have said, left at Kila Aoshahr with an escort of cavalry. They were ordered to move this morning along the Argandeh Road to rejoin the infantry, and they started, with this object in view, under the command of Colonel Gordon, R.A. Brigadier Massy, with another squadron of the 9th Lancers, from Sherpur, overtook them soon after starting, and took command of the whole. He had then as escort to the four guns of F-A, 170 troopers of the 9th Lancers (under Lieutenant-Colonel Cleland) and 44 sowars of the 14th Bengal Lancers (under Captain Neville), or a total strength of 214 lances. A troop of the 9th Lancers (43 strong), under Captain Butson, had been sent off by General Massy to open communication, if possible, with General Macpherson. General Massy made Kila Kazi on the Ghazni Road his objective point, that being about 4 miles distant; and he reached this without incident. Just after it had been passed, however, his advance-guard, which consisted of a troop of the 9th Lancers under Captain Gough, reported the enemy in sight on the hills in front. It soon became apparent that the Afghans had thrown themselves across the Argandeh Road, but as only 2,000 or 3,000 appeared in sight, it was thought they were fugitives flying either from General Macpherson or General Baker. As they began streaming down from the hills General Massy got his guns into action at 2,900 yards, which range, at Colonel Gordon’s suggestion, was changed to 2,500, and 2,000 yards, the guns advancing towards the left to make their fire more effective. After a few shells had been fired, the enemy showed themselves in full force and advanced in skirmishing order upon the guns and cavalry. Their line of advance was fully two miles in extent, and was of good formation. There were about 4,000 men thus extended in the shape of a crescent, and in rear of them was an irregular body, numbering 6,000 more. Thus Mahomed Jan’s force was found to be 10,000 strong, instead of 5,000. It was admirably led, and boasted thirty or forty standards, mostly common red, white, or green cloth floating at the end of a rude staff 12 or 13 feet long. Though the shells from the four guns were pitched into the thick of the enemy, no effect was produced in the way of breaking the line of advance. It never wavered, but came steadily on; and as General Massy had no infantry with him, he was obliged to retire. The guns changed position “right back,” and re-opened fire at 1,700 yards. Bullets from Snider and Enfield rifles began dropping among the cavalry and the gunners, but no casualties of any moment occurred. Thirty of the 9th Lancers dismounted and opened fire with their Martini carbines, but the enemy were too numerous to be checked by so small a body of men—a regiment of infantry was what was required. While the artillery was thus in action, Sir F. Roberts and Staff, with Sir Michael Kennedy and party, joined General Massy, having ridden out from Sherpur to watch the movements of the brigade. The fire from the steadily-advancing line of the enemy was well sustained, and to check their forward movement and cover the retirement of the guns the cavalry were ordered to charge.
When General Roberts sent instructions to General Massy to order the Lancers to charge, as the enemy were approaching dangerously near to the guns, Colonel Cleland, with one squadron of the 9th Lancers (126 lances), was directly in face of the Afghan line, with the 44 sowars of the 14th Bengal Lancers in rear, some distance nearer the guns. The other troops of the 9th (44 lances) under Captain Gough, which had been acting as the advance-guard, were away on General Massy’s right flank, watching the Afghans in that direction. When the charge was sounded Colonel Cleland led his squadron straight at the advancing masses, the 14th Bengal Lancers following in his wake, but not close up, as the order to charge had not reached them so quickly. Captain Gough, with his troop of the 9th, seeing his Colonel charging, also took his men into action on the enemy’s left flank. Some 220 men against 10,000 were odds that could scarcely be expected to turn in our favour; but the Lancers had to risk a heavy loss in the hope of saving the guns. The three bodies of men disappeared in a cloud of dust as they headed for the masses of the enemy, and nothing could be seen for a few moments of the fight. Then riderless horses came galloping back, followed by scattered parties of troopers, evidently quite out of hand. They had been received with a terrific fire, which had killed many horses and men, and, upon trying to force their way through the enemy, had been surrounded and their progress blocked by sheer weight of numbers. Men and horses went down in the mêlée, and, once down, there was but a faint chance of being rescued. In one or two instances, however, men were dragged from under their dead horses, mounted on others, and got well away out of the ruck.[31] Even among Sir F. Roberts’s party watching the fight, bullets fell thickly, killing three or four horses under their riders and wounding others. When the dust cleared away, it was seen that the cavalry charge had made no impression upon the enemy, who were still advancing steadily across the fields, waving their knives and tulwars, and carrying their banners more proudly than ever. Mounted men were galloping about from end to end of their line, directing their movements and keeping them well together. The fire from their Sniders and Enfields was deliberate and well-directed; and though any of our English regiments would with their Martinis have checked them in a few minutes, the broken ranks of the cavalry could not hope to stand against them. The 9th Lancers had suffered terribly in the charge: sixteen of their troopers, with two officers (Lieutenants Hearsey and Ricardo), had been left on the ground, dead; their colonel had come out badly wounded by a sword-cut, and a shot through the side; Lieutenant Stewart Mackenzie had been disabled by his horse rolling over him; and seven troopers had received wounds more or less severe. It was Colonel Cleland’s squadron which was so shattered in this charge. This squadron having lost its officers, and being broken up by the bad ground, got out of hand; but Captain Gough’s troop, being more fortunate, served as a rallying point; while the 14th Bengal Lancers, not getting well into the enemy, as a nullah checked them, were kept compactly together. The rally was sounded, and Colonel Macgregor and other officers of the General’s party collected the Lancers together, while the guns advanced 400 or 500 yards, and re-opened fire. The squadron of the 14th Bengal Lancers had lost but one officer, Lieutenant Forbes (whose body is still missing), and with Captain Gough’s troop of the 9th were able still to keep between the guns and the enemy, now only 1,000 yards off. A second charge of these two troops, together with all the troopers who had been collected, was ordered, but it was made in a half-hearted way, the country being of extraordinary difficulty for horses, and the enemy swarming behind every tree and the banks of the higher water-channels.
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Footnote 31:
The Chaplain of the Force, the Rev. —— Adams, was recommended for the Victoria Cross for extricating one man, under a heavy fire.
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As Major Smith-Windham was retiring with his two guns, which had been advanced after the first charge, he found one of the other two guns stuck firmly in a watercourse, Lieutenant Hardy trying vainly to drag it out with such horses as had got over. This was found to be beyond the strength of the horses, already worn out by the severe work of the morning; and as the enemy were closing around on both sides the gun was spiked and abandoned. Lieutenant Hardy was killed by a shot through the head while near this gun. The other three guns had been got 400 or 500 yards further on to the village of Baghwana, but were stopped by a channel deeper and steeper than any yet crossed. Guns, men, and horses floundered into this, and the guns at least would not come out again; they, also, were spiked and left in the water and mud, and drivers and gunners moved off with the cavalry, the villagers firing rapidly upon them. The long line of the enemy came straight on, passed through the village, shrieking and waving their knives, and put their faces towards the Nanuchi Kotal, which leads from the Chardeh Valley to the Western gate of our cantonments. Sir F. Roberts, with a small escort, had gone across country towards the village of Dehmazung, commanding the western entrance to the Cabul gorge. He had sent urgent messages to General Macpherson to hasten down the valley, and the Brigadier was soon engaged with 2,000 men, left behind by Mahomed Jan to keep him in play. The cavalry fight had been watched through telescopes by several officers with General Macpherson, who had heard the artillery fire. Sending his baggage under a strong guard of infantry, and a squadron of the 14th Bengal Lancers, under Colonel Ross, by way of the upper road nearest Kohistan, General Macpherson marched through a break in the hills and debouched into the Chardeh Valley. The appearance of his troops away in their rear seems to have influenced the movements of the enemy, who turned off from the road to Sherpur, and, swinging their left flank round, made direct for Dehmazung, with the evident intention of getting into the city, and occupying the Bala Hissar Heights above it. General Roberts, upon seeing the new movement, sent off a message by his aide-de-camp, Captain Pole-Carew, to Brigadier Hugh Gough, commanding at Sherpur, ordering 200 men of the 72nd Highlanders to double out to the gorge.
After the second charge, in which the 9th Lancers lost several men shot down, Captain Gough’s troop did rear-guard work, dismounting and firing, so as to hold the enemy a little in cheek. Only such Lancers as were wounded, or had their horses disabled, were sent back to Sherpur, by way of the Nanuchi Kotal, the rest escorting General Roberts to Dehmazung. Once the broken squadron of the 9th were got together, they settled down resolutely to their work of keeping the enemy in play, and their carbines were used with good effect until Dehmazung was reached. Here they got cover, and, with the sowars of the 14th, opened a smart fire upon Mahomed Jan’s force as it streamed up towards Cabul. Alone and unaided they could not have hoped to stem the rush, and matters were at a crisis when Colonel Brownlow, with the 200 rifles of the 72nd Highlanders, arrived. The Highlanders were in the nick of time: Colonel Brownlow doubled out a company to occupy Dehmazung, the 9th cheering them lustily as they saw the welcome relief, and soon from the roofs and walls of the village rapid volleys were being poured into the Afghan ranks. The enemy streamed down upon the village “like ants on a hill,” as a Highlander described it, but Colonel Brownlow’s admirable disposition of his handful of Highlanders soon checked the rush. The men were told not to throw away a shot; the Martinis soon blazed out in one persistent line of fire—and such a fire, that even Ghazis shrank from encountering it. In less than half an hour the enemy were forced back, and they then split up into two parts—one going on to the south, to Indikee village, and thence scaling the Takht-i-Shah Peak and the heights to the south of the Bala Hissar fortified ridge, the other facing round to the west, as if to get upon the hills south of Kila Kazi. Their entrance into Cabul had been frustrated, and all that was left to them was to raise their standards on the hills they had occupied and flourish their knives in defiance at distant Sherpur. This they did, as we could see plainly enough through our binoculars.
In the meantime General Macpherson had fallen upon a large body of Afghans higher up the valley, and with the 67th Regiment and the 3rd Sikhs had completely broken their ranks and pursued them towards Argandeh. General Macpherson did not then know of the loss of the guns, but in facing round towards Cabul he came upon the scene of the charge, and was then able to recover the bodies of Lieutenants Hearsey and Ricardo and of the troopers killed in action. His own loss was not heavy, Lieutenant Cook of the 3rd Sikhs being the only officer wounded. Sir F. Roberts remained at Dehmazung until Macpherson’s force reached it, about nightfall; and then, leaving the Brigadier with his men encamped below the gorge, where Wali Mahomed had a camp with some mountain guns (he was preparing to start for Turkistan), the Lieutenant-General returned to Sherpur. He had before received the news that the guns had been pulled out of the watercourses into which they had fallen, and were on their way to cantonments. How they were recovered, well deserves telling.
When Sir F. Roberts trotted across to the Cabul gorge, there were Lancers, gunners, and drivers, making their way towards Sherpur, and most of them were out of hand, their officers having been either put out of action or being missing. At the Nanuchi Kotal, facing the western end of Sherpur, most of these rallied about Colonel Macgregor, Captain Dean also having gathered some stragglers together. When the enemy veered off towards Dehmazung, Colonel Macgregor saw that the village of Baghwana, near where the guns were lying, was not guarded by any of Mahomed Jan’s rear guard, and he thought there might be a chance of recovering the guns without waiting for General Macpherson’s advance. With a scratch lot of Lancers and Artillerymen, he accordingly followed the upper Argandeh Road; and, beyond stray shots from villagers (who, as on October 8th, blazed at us whenever we were within range), the party met with no opposition. The baggage of Macpherson’s brigade was met making its way to Sherpur; and as the enemy were then well on their way to Indikee, Colonel Macgregor took thirty men of the 67th, and about the same number of Sikhs and Ghoorkas—sixty in all—and, extending them in skirmishing older, made for the abandoned guns. On arriving at the village he placed his men in an enclosure well adapted for defence against any numbers; and such artillerymen as were with him set to work to get out the guns. This was done after a long struggle, and then it was found that teams sufficient only to give four horses per gun were present. The rest had galloped into Sherpur with their officer, Major Smith-Windham. With no artillery officer, but with the Chief of the Staff, rests the credit of recapturing the guns. Colonel Ross was told to bring them safely into camp with the baggage escort and the scratch gathering of mounted men, and this he did.
Our losses in the day’s action, so far as the R.H.A. and the cavalry are concerned, are four officers killed, two wounded, and twenty-three men killed and ten wounded. The officers killed and wounded were well to the front in the desperate charge their squadrons made upon the unbroken masses of infantry, and most of them were hit by the volley which the enemy poured into them as they got to close quarters. Colonel Cleland, in spite of his two wounds, was helped into the saddle and rode eight miles to Sherpur, fainting as he was lifted from his horse into a dhoolie at the gate. The bodies of those killed were brought in, and, I am sorry to say, they had been fearfully mutilated. The passions of our men are likely to be dangerously aroused in future fighting by the remembrance of these mutilations, which will not bear description.
In Sherpur, an anxious afternoon was passed. When stragglers from the 9th Lancers and F-A battery rode in, wounded, mud-splashed, and many without lances or swords, it was known that a serious action had taken place, and all troops in the cantonment were ordered to stand to their arms. Major Smith-Windham, with half a dozen drivers of F-A battery, was the first officer to arrive; and when no guns followed him, and he reported them “spiked and abandoned,” and the enemy advancing towards Sherpur in overwhelming force, the anxiety of Brigadier Hugh Gough was greatly increased. No gunner would leave his guns if there were a chance of recovering them, and they were given up for lost. The western wall of the cantonments was manned by 150 of the 3rd Sikhs. At its northern end, where there is a gap between it and the Bemaru hills defended by a shelter trench, wire entanglements were laid down from the foot of the hill to the end of the wall. All the gates were occupied by small detachments of infantry, and the two remaining Horse Artillery guns were placed upon the Bemaru Heights facing towards the Nanuchi Kotal leading to Chardeh. If an attack were really about to be made, it would be sharp work defending the three miles of walls enclosing the cantonments, as less than 1,000 men were available for the duty; but the news that Mahomed Jan with his 10,000 followers had turned off towards the Cabul gorge dissipated the anxiety felt; and when, later, the fire of the 72nd Highlanders was heard at Dehmazung and then died away, everyone knew Sherpur was safe. It was ticklish work for the time being; but Brigadier Gough made his arrangements quietly, and without listening to any absurd suggestions. As a precautionary measure, a heliogram was sent to Colonel Jenkins, commanding the Guides, who had reached Luttabund from Sei Baba in the morning: he was ordered to come in with his cavalry and infantry, without baggage. At seven o’clock we heard he was at Butkhak, and as I am writing (at midnight) his corps is marching in over 700 strong—200 more will arrive to-morrow with the baggage. Sir F. Roberts, after sending up 200 of the 72nd Highlanders to reinforce the picquet on the Bala Hissar Heights, rode into cantonments, within the walls of which all is made snug for the night. The reinforcement to the picquet was caused by the belief that Mahomed Jan would attempt to occupy the heights commanding the Bala Hissar and Cabul, and there is no doubt this was his intention. Since seven o’clock the picquet has been assailed on all sides, and even now the circle of fire shows where the 250 British soldiers are holding their own.
Chapter XVI
Attempt to storm the Takht-i-Shah Peak—Natural Strength of the Position—Heliograms exchanged with General Baker—Failure to take the Peak—Casualties—The New Plan of Attack—The Action of the 13th of December—Storming of the Beni Hissar Ridge by the 92 Highlanders and the Guides—The Cavalry Charges in the Plain—Death of Captain Butson—The Position of Affairs at Nightfall—Reinforcements from Kohistan—The Action of December 14th—Storming of the Asmai Heights—Retreat of the Safis—Captain Vousden’s Charge—Counter-Attack by the Enemy from Indikee—Death of Captain Spens, and Retirement from the Cuncal Hill—Loss of Two Mountain Guns—Withdrawal of all Troops from the Asmai and Sherderwaza Heights—The State of the Sherpur Defences—Total Casualties.
SHERPUR, 12th December, midnight.
I left Mahomed Jan and his followers in possession of the hills to the south of the Sherderwaza Heights, with a part of General Macpherson’s brigade on the latter, ready to attack him. To-day a party of 560 men, made up in nearly equal proportions from the 67th Foot, 72nd Highlanders, 3rd Sikhs, and 5th Ghoorkas, aided by two guns of Morgan’s mountain battery, have made that attack, and have established themselves on a lower hill between the Sherderwaza Heights and the high conical peak of Takht-i-Shah, whereon the enemy muster in great force and have sixteen standards flying. This peak is the highest of the clump of mountains south of Cabul and lying between the city and Charasia, and was the point whence Captain Straton tried to heliograph to the Shutargardan in the early days of our occupation. It is cone-shaped, looked at from Sherpur, and on its southern side joins a ridge running southwards above the village of Indikee. The sides facing Cabul are very steep, and covered with huge boulders polished by wind and rain, and of a kind to check any storming party. Perfect cover is afforded to men holding it, and on the summit is a well-built sungar of great thickness, covering a natural cavity in the rocks which has been made bomb-proof by some Afghan engineer, who understood the strength of the point. Fifty men could lie in perfect security behind the sungar or in the hole below it, and could choose their own time for firing at an advancing enemy. Outside the sungar, and a little lower down, is a cave, wherein another strong body of men could hide themselves and act in a similar way, while their flank to the left would be guarded by a broken line of rocks extending down to the kotal, where the Bala Hissar Ridge meets them. Just between the two ranges is a low, dome-shaped hill, blocking up the otherwise open kotal; and round this a footpath winds, leading to the sungar, but so narrow as only to admit of men going up in Indian file. The enemy occupied this morning the Takht-i-Shah Peak and the line of rocks I have mentioned, and had also a few score of men on the lower hill in the kotal. Away on the south, hidden from our view, were some 5,000 or 6,000 men, waiting for an attack to develop, in order to reinforce the peak. At eight o’clock our guns opened fire from the picquet on the ridge. There were then only seven standards on the peak, but during the day nine others were brought up; and the long ridge, stretching downwards to Beni Hissar, was lined with men. These were, by the contour of the ground, safe from our shells, and they quietly watched the guns all day. From eight o’clock until evening Captain Morgan fired shell after shell into the sungar and the rocks below. The enemy were of quite a different order to those we have hitherto had to deal with. They stood up boldly to their flags, and waved their rifles and knives in derision at each shot. We could not spare more infantry for the attack, as we had to protect Sherpur, which, we learnt, was to be attacked by Kohistanis from over the Paen Minar Kotal, north of the lake. The city, too, was known to be in a ferment, and a demonstration might at any time be made from it against our cantonment. General Baker with his flying column was still absent, and our object was rather to hold the main body of Mahomed Jan’s force in check, than try to disperse them with 560 men. At nine o’clock heliographic communication was opened with General Baker, then on the Argandeh Kotal. He reported that his rear-guard had been harassed for the last two days, and that the hills in all directions were lined with tribesmen. He was ordered to march without delay to Sherpur, and it was hoped at first that he would arrive in time to assist General Macpherson in attacking the enemy’s position. As he had to march fourteen miles with his rear-guard engaged from time to time, he did not reach Sherpur until evening, so his troops, footsore and tired, were not available.
After several hours’ shelling of the Takht-i-Shah Peak, the 67th, the Highlanders, Sikhs, and Ghoorkas made their attack; and, in spite of the stubbornness with which the Afghans fought, established themselves on the low hill on the kotal. They tried to work upwards to the sungar; but the fire of the Afghans was so true and sustained, that the attempt had to be given up. Our men also ran short of ammunition, and they contented themselves finally with holding the position captured, so as to be able to co-operate on the morrow with any force sent out from Sherpur to attack by way of Beni Hissar on the enemy’s flank. Our casualties included Major Cook, V.C., 5th Ghoorkas, shot below the knee; Lieutenant Fasken, 3rd Sikhs, bullet wound in both thighs; and Lieutenant Fergusson, 72nd Highlanders, seriously wounded in the face. The enemy this evening still hold the Takht-i-Shah Peak in strength, and large reinforcements are said to have joined them from Logar, the Ghilzais from that district being up in arms. It has been decided to-night to send a brigade, under General Baker, to attack the peak from Beni Hissar village to-morrow at the same time that Colonel Money, of the 3rd Sikhs, moves up another force from the hill on the kotal.
13th December, evening.
To-day the Takht-i-Shah Peak has been carried, and a strong picquet now holds it. The action has been a great success, but there are still large bodies of the enemy above Indikee; and as they may try to regain the position, General Macpherson has abandoned Dehmazung altogether, and posted his brigade on the Sherderwaza Heights. At eight o’clock this morning General Baker left cantonments with the following troops:—
G-3, Royal Artillery, four guns; No. 2 Mountain Battery, four guns; 92nd Highlanders (six companies); Guides’ Infantry (seven companies); 3rd Sikhs (wing of 300 men); 5th Punjab Cavalry.
General Baker took the road past the Bala Hissar, and, upon debouching into the plain north of Beni Hissar, found the enemy posted in force all along the ridge in front, leading down from the Takht-i-Shah Peak. Beni Hissar was also full of Afghans, and in the fields about it were detached parties. These, seeing our force advancing, began to stream towards the ridge, and the original plan of attack was so far modified that, instead of working round through Beni Hissar village, the Highlanders and Guides were sent straight across some marshy ground at the ridge. The object in view was to cut the enemy’s line in two, and it was attained most successfully. Our eight guns opened fire at 1,400 yards upon the masses of Afghans on the ridge, and the shells kept under the musketry fire opened upon our infantry. The 3rd Sikhs protected General Baker’s left flank, while the cavalry aided in keeping the scattered parties about Beni Hissar in check. Nothing could be finer than the advance of the 92nd and the Guides; they reached the slope of the hill, and opened fire upon the enemy, one continued roll of musketry being heard as they pushed upwards. They gained the crest, and the Afghan line was severed, about 2,000 being left about Beni Hissar while the assault was made upon the peak. The rapid fire from our breech-loaders swept away such of the enemy as stood firm, while the bayonet made short work of the ghazis who defended the standards. At some points twenty and thirty bodies were found lying piled together, shot through and through by Martini and Snider bullets, showing how well the volleys had told. In a very short time the majority opposed to the storming party had broken and fled. A few ghazis fought desperately, but upwards went the Highlanders in the same gallant style they had shown at Charasia, and under the same leader, Major White. The Guides, under Colonel Jenkins, were equally eager, this being their first chance in the campaign, and they shared with the 92nd the honour of scattering the defenders of the ridge. One young Highland officer fell a victim to that uncalculating courage which becomes rashness when pushed to extremes. Lieutenant Forbes, with only a few men, scaled the ridge, and got detached from the regiment which was toiling up as fast as the men with their heavy load of rifles and ammunition could climb. He was left at last with only Colour-Sergeant Drummond, an old twenty-one years’ man, and a band of ghazis turned back and attacked him. The Sergeant was shot down, and Lieutenant Forbes rushed forward to save his body from mutilation. After cutting down a ghazi he was overpowered and killed before the Highlanders could save him. Not a man of the ghazis who had turned back escaped: they were shot and bayoneted on the rocks. As the attacking party neared the Takht-i-Shah Peak the Afghans deserted it; and when a party of the 72nd Highlanders and 5th Ghoorkas from the Bala Hissar side reached the sungar, they found the flags still flying, but no one guarding them. The position had been captured in about two hours, and as the mid-day gun was fired in Sherpur, the heliograph flashed from the sungar, and the peak was known to be ours. Some of the enemy ventured too near the Chardeh plain in their retreat, and a squadron of the 14th Bengal Lancers charged among them, killing between twenty and thirty.
While the Highlanders and Guides were storming the ridge, an attack had been attempted from Beni Hissar upon General Baker’s left flank, but the 3rd Sikhs drove back the enemy, who began to move round towards Siah Sung, and eventually collected in force upon these hills. They were shelled by our guns, and the 5th Punjab Cavalry were reinforced by two squadrons of the 9th Lancers, a squadron of the 14th Bengal Lancers, and the Guides’ Cavalry. Wherever the ground was good, our sowars and Lancers charged and did great execution. The Afghans fought bravely, forming up to receive the cavalry with a steadiness that trained infantry would not have surpassed, and reserving their fire until the horses were close upon them. One brilliant charge by the 9th Lancers cost that regiment one officer killed and two wounded, besides the loss of several troopers. Captain Butson and Captain Chisholme, at the head of their respective squadrons, swept down upon 500 or 600 men, taking them on the right and left flank. Captain Butson turned in his saddle as he faced the enemy, and cried out:—“Now, men, at them for the honour of the old 9th,” and the next moment he fell dead, shot through the heart. He was in command of the regiment, the affair of the 11th having sadly thinned the ranks of the officers, and his death is universally regretted. Captain Chisholme was shot through the leg, the flash of the rifle burning his clothes, so steadily had the Afghan in front of him waited before discharging his piece. Lieutenant Trower was also slightly wounded, while the Sergeant-Major and three troopers were killed and seven wounded. The Lancers rode through and through the Afghans opposed to them, and scattered them all over the plain. The 5th Punjab Cavalry also made a successful charge, and the Guides twice got well among the fugitives. Their second charge was upon a body of Kohistanis, who had crossed the plain east of Bemaru and made for Siah Sung with the intention of joining Mahomed Jan. They were shelled from the eastern end of the Bemaru Heights; and, upon seeing General Baker’s force engaged, halted irresolutely near Siah Sung. They tried to retrace their steps, but were suddenly charged down upon by the Guides, who had waited for them behind the northern slopes of Siah Sung. Sixty are said to have been killed in this charge alone, the Guides chasing them as far as the Logar river, where the swampy ground checked the cavalry. Altogether the day’s fighting has been a wonderful success; and though our casualties are eleven killed and forty-three wounded, the enemy’s loss in killed alone must have been between 200 and 300. 150 of the 5th Punjab Infantry, sent out to reinforce General Baker, came upon a large party of Afghans marching down the Bala Hissar Road. They were at first mistaken for Highlanders; but when they fired a volley at the officer who rode up to speak to them, the mistake was soon apparent. The Punjabees at once extended themselves in skirmishing order among the willow plantations on each side of the road, and opened a rapid fire. The Afghans faced about and made for the Bala Hissar, but a company of the 5th cut off half their number, and in a hand-to-hand fight killed forty. These men, who are believed to have been from the city, were really run to earth, and were so exhausted that they could scarcely use their knives.
One feature of the day’s fighting has been the attitude of the villagers about Cabul. A straggler from the 92nd Highlanders was found cut up between Sherpur and the Cabul river; officers riding alone have been fired at, and pelted with stones; and two villages on either side of the road to Beni Hissar opened a heavy fire upon our troops. General Baker halted on his way back to cantonments to burn these villages as a reward for their treachery. The lives of the men in one were spared on condition that they fired the other, the gates of which could not be forced open by our guns. The defenders were shot as they tried to escape from the ruins. From the Bala Hissar and near the city shots were fired, and the flanking parties of the 92nd, in their homeward march, came upon 200 or 300 men in the willow plantations, who fled towards the city walls. A convoy of wounded sent from the Sherderwaza Heights to Sherpur had also a narrow escape, the bravery of the non-commissioned officer in charge of the escort alone preventing a catastrophe on a small scale. After General Baker had captured the Takht-i-Shah Peak, a number of dhoolies, containing officers and men wounded on the 11th and 12th on the Sherderwaza Heights, were sent down the hill to Sherpur. Sergeant Cox, with twenty men of the 72nd, was in charge of the dhoolies, and among the wounded were Major Cook, V.C., 5th Ghoorkas; Lieutenant Fergusson, 72nd Highlanders; and Lieutenant Fasken, 3rd Sikhs. Upon arriving at the foot of the hill, the road leading under the southern wall of the Bala Hissar was followed, and it was soon seen that parties of armed men were lining the parapets. Sergeant Cox, fearing to draw the fire by striking across the fields towards Beni Hissar, where General Baker was shelling some villages, put on a bold face, and marched on steadily. This had the best effect, as not a shot was fired from the walls. Ten Highlanders were at the head of the dhoolies, and ten in rear. Just as the little party got near the Bala Hissar gate a large body of Afghans sprang out from among the willows lining either side of the road, and, drawing their knives, came straight upon the advance-guard. The road from Beni Hissar joins the road to Sherpur just at this point, and seeing that it would be impossible to cut through the enemy, or to retreat the way he had come (as in the latter case the men on the walls would probably open fire), Sergeant Cox pushed on, ordering his men to reserve their fire. His object was to get the dhoolies fairly on the Beni Hissar Road on his right, and then to fall back until help should come from that quarter. The manœuvre succeeded admirably. Waiting until he was within twenty yards of the Afghans, he ordered the ten men with him to fire a volley. This was too much for the enemy, who broke and took cover in the trees. The dhoolie-bearers thought all was over, and those carrying Major Cook dropped their dhoolie in the middle of the road. They were about to run, when Sergeant Cox threatened to shoot them down unless they did their duty. They soon recovered courage, and while rapid volleys from the advance-guard kept the Afghans in check, all the dhoolies were got safely upon the Beni Hissar Road, and finally reached General Baker’s force in safety. Sergeant Cox managed the whole business splendidly, and under such leadership the men were cool and collected, skirmishing and retiring without being touched by the scattered fire directed at them. After waiting an hour, the escort was strengthened by some cavalry, and the little convoy of wounded reached cantonments in safety. The position in which Sergeant Cox was placed was a most dangerous one, as the least hesitation or want of decision would have been fatal: the Afghans were, indeed, so sure of success, that they did not fire at first, but trusted to cutting up the guard at close quarters with their knives. The three officers, whose lives were saved by Sergeant Cox’s steadiness, reported the incident to Colonel Money, who had sent the dhoolies down the hill. Sergeant Cox was one of the men decorated with the distinguished service medal on December 8th for gallantry at the Peiwar Kotal. General Baker’s force is now safely in quarters again. General Macpherson has sent back to Sherpur the 72nd Highlanders and the 3rd Sikhs, and, with the 67th Foot and the 5th Ghoorkas, holds the Bala Hissar Heights and the Takht-i-Shah Peak. The enemy are still in force above Indikee and at Dehmazung, which commands the Cabul gorge, and the road into the city has been abandoned. They may try to work round in that direction—that is, if to-day’s defeat has not disheartened them. This evening a party of Kohistanis have come over the Surkh Kotal, and are bivouacking on a hill a mile and a half west of Sherpur. These are the reinforcements sent by Mir Butcha, who has no doubt heard of the success of Mahomed Jan on the 11th. The casualties to-day were eleven killed (two officers) and forty-three wounded. Of these the 92nd lost one officer and two men killed and nineteen wounded. The Guides had three killed and eight wounded.
15th December.
Yesterday the severest fighting we have yet gone through took place on the Asmai Heights above Deh-i-Afghan, and a lower conical hill adjoining them on the north. The enemy have been so largely reinforced, that their numbers are estimated at 40,000, and they have shown a recklessness in sacrificing life which has hitherto been considered quite foreign to the Afghan character. There must be many ghazis in their ranks from what we have seen to-day, and these fanatics always show a contempt for danger which makes them formidable enemies. They sacrifice their lives, satisfied if, before death, they have killed a Kafir, and so secured a future reward. Our own losses have been heavy, and for the first time our men have had to retire before the enemy, who are wonderfully elated at their success. It is true it was but an isolated case of a handful of men having to meet 5,000; but with the evacuation of the position our men were holding, we lost two mountain guns, which Mahomed Jan is sure to make the most of as trophies, if he does not turn them against us. To give in detail the incidents of yesterday:—Between seven and eight o’clock in the morning some thousands of men were seen gathering on the slopes above Deh-i-Afghan, a suburb of Cabul lying northwest of the city upon a low eminence, which overlooks Timour’s tomb. The evacuation of Dehmazung had, of course, given free passage to such of the enemy as wished to pass into Cabul and the Bala Hissar, and these now poured out by way of Deh-i-Afghan and manned the heights. The usual standards were carried, and in a very short time the sky-line was alive with men, until there must have been 8,000 or 10,000 looking down upon Sherpur and within range of our guns. The array extended upwards from the suburbs, along the crest of the Asmai Ridge, down the dip to the north, and over the conical hill I have mentioned; while, again, further to the north, was a higher lumpy hill, on which were a number of Kohistanis, who had bivouacked there the previous night. General Baker was ordered to clear the hills, and for this purpose he took out the following troops:—
Four guns G-3, Royal Artillery;
Four guns No. 2 Mountain Battery;
14th Bengal Lancers;
72nd Highlanders (225 men);
92nd Highlanders (45 men under Captain Gordon, who fell in with the 72nd, as the six companies of the latter were so weak);
Guides’ Infantry (460 sepoys);
5th Punjab Infantry (470 sepoys).
This gave a total of 1,200 bayonets and eight guns. The cavalry were employed in the open to keep in check, or cut up, stray bodies of the enemy. General Baker left cantonments by the head-quarters’ gate in the western wall, and made straight towards a mound near Kila Buland, a mile and a half away, facing the conical hill, on either side of which were roads leading into the Chardeh Valley beyond. He got his guns into action at once, in order to clear the way for the infantry attack, and sent his cavalry round on his right flank towards the Chardeh Valley to reconnoitre in that direction. The Guides’ Cavalry were ordered out to reinforce the 14th Bengal Lancers, and were fired at several times from walled enclosures just over the Nanuchi Kotal. The mountain guns drew off to a low ridge on which stood the ruins of a fort, Kila Buland, and shelled such bodies of men as were visible in the direction the cavalry had taken. The party told off to take the heights were the Highlanders, under Colonel Brownlow, and Guides’ Infantry, the 5th Punjabees being held in reserve near the guns. The low, conical hill was captured without much trouble, but there then remained for Colonel Jenkins, commanding the attack, the difficult task of taking the Asmai Heights, every foot of the crest bearing an Afghan firing from behind the excellent cover given by rocks and boulders. Rising up from the captured conical hill was a steep hillside, with here and there shelving rocks hiding men from the view of those above, and up this rugged ground our soldiers went steadily and rapidly, utilizing every bit of cover, and answering from time to time the heavy fire they were met with. The guns shelled two strong sungars which had been built on the northern and southern points of the crest; and made such practice, that the enemy began to move downwards towards Cabul. They clustered in masses above Deh-i-Afghan, where the shells of G-3 could not reach them, and afforded so tempting a mark, that Sir F. Roberts, who was watching the attack from the signalling station on the roof of the officers’ quarters in the western gate, ordered two Horse Artillery guns out to open fire from under the cantonment walls. A wing of the 3rd Sikhs and some cavalry went out as escort, and extended themselves into the fields beyond. The shrapnel fired from these two guns made the hillside almost untenable; but still in the sungars on the crest a few determined ghazis resisted the advance of the Highlanders and Guides. Our men fought up, however, and the sungar on the northern point was taken with a rush. The banners waving above it were obstinately defended by ghazis, who were killed to a man. Colonel Jenkins then worked his way under a heavy fire along the crest, which has a total length of a quarter of a mile; and there only remained the southern sungar, built on the peak of the hill, to be taken. In this sungar, which was unusually strong, were forty or fifty men who, by their fire, checked the advance for some time. Major Stockwell, with a few Highlanders, passed through a gap in the wall which runs down the ridge, and galled the Ghazis by a cross fire. Private Gillon, of the 72nd, climbed up the wall, and, creeping along the top, pulled out a standard from among the stones of the sungar. There was an open bit of ground between our front attacking party and the sungar walls, and this was swept by such a fire that even the bravest might have hesitated to cross it. Such of us who were watching the fight saw that the stubborn defence would cost us some valuable lives; but presently, when the Drummer was seen on the walls, there was a rush of Highlanders and Guides—one plucky Highlander, Lance-Corporal Seller, 72nd, leading full 20 yards in front, with a Guide quite close behind him. As the sungar was neared, most of its defenders cleared out on the opposite side, but a few Ghazis stood to their post; one fanatic jumping, knife in hand, on the low stone walls. The bayonet made short work of such of his companions as had remained. Lance-Corporal Seller had a tough fight for the last standard on the sungar. As he got up to the wall he pulled the flag out and, at the same moment, a Ghazi cut down at his head with a long knife. Seller parried the blow with the standard, and then the Ghazi jumped over and closed with him. They rolled over together, and another Highlander bayoneted the Afghan. Seller was cut over the arm, and is now in hospital. He certainly deserves the highest reward for his gallant conduct: the “V.C.” has been given for much less. The sungar was filled with dead men, fifteen bodies being counted in a heap as if a shell had burst among them. Our loss had been heavy, as much hand-to-hand fighting at difficult points had taken place; many of the Guides were cut and slashed by the knives and tulwars of the Ghazis; while the ranks of the 72nd Highlanders were thinned by numerous casualties, mostly of a dangerous kind. Lieutenant Egerton, who only joined the regiment a few weeks ago, was shot through the neck on the crest of the hill. He showed courage that even an old soldier might have envied, being always well to the front in the attack. Lieutenant Frederick Battye, of the Guides, was also shot through the neck at about the same time.
Colonel Jenkins was now holding the whole crest of the Asmai Heights; but on the slope towards the city were many thousands of the enemy. The two guns of F-A Battery shelled them at 1,700 yards, and the mountain guns, with General Macpherson, were also turned upon them. A wing of the 3rd Sikhs were extended in skirmishing order across the fields towards Deh-i-Afghan, and with their Sniders were easily able to reach the men pouring down into Cabul. Deh-i-Afghan, however, held many of the enemy; and from the house-tops, walls, and orchards about, the 3rd Sikhs were fired upon. The watercourse gave our sepoys good cover, but still there were one or two casualties; and General Roberts resolved to sack and burn Deh-i-Afghan. The two guns of F-A began to shell it vigorously, and two more guns of the same battery were brought out and joined in the work. Shell after shell was pitched among the houses, and the defenders of them drew off before such a fire. Some 1,500, supposed to be Safis from Tagao, went through the city and made for the Cabul plain so as to reach Deh-i-Sabz, to the north of Butkhak. Some of them ventured too near the King’s Garden, outside Sherpur, where the 5th Punjab Cavalry are quartered, and Captain Vousden charged out upon them and killed thirty. He had only twelve sowars with him, and of these two were killed and four wounded; Captain Vousden killed five Afghans with his own hand.[32] The main body got well away beneath Siah Sung; and although some Lancers were sent in pursuit, and two Horse Artillery guns went out under escort of a party of the 92nd Highlanders, the Safis could not be overtaken. They ran at a sling-trot for miles, just like wolves in a pack, and had plainly had enough of fighting for the day. We had thus, apparently, disposed of the body of the enemy (those who had manned the heights from the city); but there were many more to take their place, and General Baker, with his 1,200 bayonets, had yet to learn the full strength that was against him.
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Footnote 32:
For this he was strongly recommended for the Victoria Cross.
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About midday the signallers with General Macpherson heliographed down that a vast body with many standards were streaming out from Indikee into the Chardeh Valley, and were taking a northerly direction, which would bring them under the hill occupied by Colonel Jenkins. The movement was well made, and eventually developed into an attack upon the conical hill which the Guides and Highlanders first stormed. This hill was held by thirty-three men of the 72nd Highlanders, a small party of Guides under a Subadar, the whole being under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Clark, 72nd. While the upper hill was being taken, parties of the enemy’s infantry and cavalry were seen coming across Chardeh from the direction of Kila Kazi, as if to take Colonel Jenkins in flank, and the conical hill was strengthened by Swinley’s Mountain Battery, with an escort of 100 men of the 5th Punjabees, under command of Lieutenant Wilson, of the 10th Hussars, serving for the day as a volunteer. This gave Colonel Clark about 200 rifles, with which to hold the hill. The mountain guns opened fire upon the body of Afghans in the plain, who broke up and dispersed out of range. In the meantime the enemy from Indikee—to the number of fully 15,000 or 20,000; they covered the plain for miles—had marched out as if going to Kila Kazi, or Argandeh. Their array was orderly enough; and when they had all reached the plain, they suddenly faced about and came down in the shape of a crescent upon the heights we were holding. Their right flank had for its object the scaling of a ridge extending down from the southern sungar on the Deh-i-Afghan hill; their centre, the assault of the low conical hill, which was General Baker’s weakest point; and their left flank swept round upon the lumpy hill to the north of Colonel Clark’s position, and commanding it. They seemed to our handful of men to be myriads as they came steadily on; and although volleys were fired from the conical hill, and the mountain guns shelled them at short ranges, they never faltered. They were literally mowed down; but as one Ghazi fell, another sprang to the front, and their standards were at last placed on a little mound within 150 yards of our bayonets. Their left flank had gained the lumpy hill which we had left alone, not having men enough to occupy it, and a cross fire was opened upon Colonel Clark’s party. There was a bit of open ground between the mound on which their standards were placed and the rocks in rear, under which their main body had clustered in face of our fire; but across this small space numbers rushed with reckless audacity until, behind their advanced standards, several hundred men were hidden. Colonel Clark thought that at all risks they must be driven from this mound, as they might make a rush in overwhelming numbers: and Captain Spens volunteered to make the attempt. Taking with him five of the 72nd Highlanders and a few Guides, he made for a bit of rising ground below the mound and reached it safely. His fire could not dislodge the Ghazis, who suddenly rushed out upon the little party. Captain Spens was attacked by four or five men: he cut down one, but in a second he was overpowered and hacked almost to pieces. There followed in rear of the Ghazis, who had sprung out, a dense mass of Afghans, who swarmed up to the thin line of defenders, who could scarcely hope to stop them. The mountain guns were on Colonel Clark’s left, and their guard of 5th Punjabees had been, perhaps too sanguinely, sent forward to repel the attack. Our men lost heart as they saw four or five thousand men nearly upon them; and when Captain Hall, with a reinforcement of 150 more of the 5th Punjab Infantry, got near the crest of the hill, he found such of its defenders as had not been shot down retiring in disorder. To rally them was impossible at that point, and they fell back down the hillside. The fire of the enemy at such close quarters cost us a score of wounded, and the mules of one mountain gun being shot, it had to be abandoned where it stood. A second gun was being carried safely downwards when the mule carrying it was also knocked over. The handspike in the muzzle used for lifting it was broken, but the gunners rolled it for some yards down the hill until the Afghans were close upon them, when it also had to be left. Two guns were thus lost, but fortunately there was but little ammunition left behind. At the foot of the hill our men rallied, and re-opened fire, which checked the rush of the enemy. The 3rd Sikhs doubled across the fields from near Deh-i-Afghan and reinforced General Baker, driving back such Afghans as had ventured down the slope towards the village where the guns of G-3 were placed. These guns were withdrawn to a safe distance; but, although the enemy in half an hour had 10,000 men on and about the conical hill, they did not venture down to attack. Our cavalry were ready in the plain to charge down upon them if they gained the fields; but they had quite a different intention. As I have said, their right flank were scaling a spur running down from the southern sungar to the Chardeh plain, and they hoped to cut off Colonel Jenkins and his party. This soon became evident, as a long string of standard bearers began to climb up towards the northern sungar, following exactly the path taken by our storming party in the morning. From over the crest of the hill came the rattle of musketry; and estimating the difficulty of holding the crest all night, and so weakening the defences of Sherpur, General Roberts sent word to Colonel Jenkins to evacuate the position.
The enemy has shown such unexpected strength—40,000 men in all are believed to have been present in Chardeh Valley and in the hills above Deh-i-Afghan—that it was running considerable risk to keep our garrison in cantonments short of a man; accordingly at the same time that Colonel Jenkins was ordered to retire, a message was sent by heliograph to General Macpherson to hasten back to Sherpur with all his force. He was to take the road above the Deh-i-Afghan suburb. General Baker was ordered to hold on to the village he had occupied since the morning until all the troops from the heights were within the walls. Meanwhile Colonel Jenkins had met the attack up the spur from Chardeh. Major Stockwell, 72nd, was sent down a few score yards with a small escort, who kept up a hot fire upon the advancing masses. A few Ghazis, with their standards, got from point to point; but they were still at a respectable distance when the order to evacuate the hill was received. Major Stockwell withdrew his men from the little sungar they had built, and retired leisurely, so as to give the Afghans no idea that the crest also was to be evacuated. Captain Gordon, of the 92nd, was shot through the right shoulder while this movement was being made. Five minutes after our men had left their sungar a banner was planted upon it, showing how rapidly the Ghazis rushed up the hill. Major Stockwell’s party having been safely withdrawn, the retirement down the hill facing Sherpur was begun. The enemy, who were nearly at the northern sungar, led by a Ghazi with a green flag, were kept in check by volleys fired by covering parties thrown out on Colonel Jenkins’s left flank. There was not the least appearance of undue haste, the Highlanders forming up quietly to cover the Guides scrambling down, and the Guides then doing the same in their turn for the Highlanders. The hillside was so exposed that our casualties were rather severe, among the killed being Lieutenant Gaisford of the 72nd. Not a man was left behind, however, all the wounded and dead being brought in. All anxiety about Colonel Jenkins’s force being now at an end, there only remained General Macpherson’s brigade to come in. Two companies of the 92nd Highlanders were marched out to cover them across the plain, and to help General Baker’s rear-guard in its final retirement; but they were not wanted. Presently shots were heard in Deh-i-Afghan, and then the baggage of the brigade was seen entering the fields under a strong guard. The 67th Foot, 5th Ghoorkas, and 3rd Sikhs followed with the mountain battery, and, before long, entered the head-quarters’ gate. In coming through the Cabul gorge, General Macpherson had been able to help the Highlanders and Guides by his fire. He sent two companies of the 67th, under Colonel Knowles, to hold a knoll half-way up the slope from Deh-i-Afghan to the southern sungar. Bodies of the enemy tried to rush down the hill to overtake Colonel Jenkins and even to harass the brigade under General Macpherson; but the steady shooting of the 67th could not be faced, and the most adventurous Ghazis being shot down, the rest withdrew to the crest. Colonel Knowles handled his men with a coolness that could not have been excelled. General Baker then retired slowly, his rear-guard, under Major Pratt, 5th Punjab Infantry, by a brisk fusillade for about ten minutes, stopping the few Ghazis who came down from the conical peak. By dusk everyone was in cantonments, and we could count our casualties. They were unusually heavy for Afghan fighting, but have given us valuable experience, as we no longer despise our enemy. That Afghans when in overwhelming numbers will fight and rush blindly on, regardless of loss of life, has been fully exemplified, and we shall no longer send flying columns over the hills and break up our army into three weak parts. With Generals Baker and Macpherson both out of Sherpur, an attack upon cantonments might have resulted in a disaster. Now that our force is once more concentrated, Sherpur may be looked upon as safe.
When all our troops were once more in quarters, we had to think about our defences, though it was highly improbable that Mahomed Jan would try a night attack. Our men were quite fagged out with all the hill-climbing they had done to so little purpose; but the majority of them had to turn out to do picquet duty, and keep a sharp look-out on the walls. Shelter trenches were hastily thrown up at our weakest points on the Bemaru Heights; the gates in the walls were barricaded with gun carriages belonging to the guns captured on October 8th; and we waited patiently and a little anxiously, it must be confessed, for a night alarm. Every regiment was told off to particular points, and a reserve—made up of a wing of the 67th, a wing of the 72nd, and the whole of the 92nd—were ready to fall in below the gap in the Bemaru Hills in the centre of the cantonments. We did not fear any attempt to scale the walls; but at either end of the heights which shut us in on the north were open gaps; Shere Ali’s line of wall, intended to include the Bemaru Hills within the fortified square, never having been completed. At the eastern end of Sherpur, the 28th Punjab Infantry have built a line of huts extending from near the corner bastion towards Bemaru village; and as the ground beyond it is covered with walled enclosures, towers, and orchards, excellent cover would be given to an attacking force which might gather under cover of darkness, and make a rush to get in. On the 14th, abattis had been laid, the orchards near giving plenty of wood, and above Bemaru village were strong picquet posts and trenches which commanded the road leading from Kohistan. Two guns of G-3 were at this point, but they were withdrawn, as to remove them in face of a determined attack would have been nearly impossible, the ground towards camp being very steep and much broken up. Wire entanglements, made with telegraph wire and tent-pegs, were laid down, wherever there was open ground over the walls, and extra vigilance was shown by sentries. The block-houses on the crest of the Bemaru Heights were also filled with our men, ready to reinforce any points assailed. But the night passed quietly, the soldiers being undisturbed even by stray shots. The enemy were, perhaps, as tired as ourselves, and were holding high revel in the city and the Bala Hissar, where no doubt they found many friends to welcome them. Our garrison at Butkhak, consisting of some fifty rifles, and the whole of the 12th Bengal Cavalry, arrived safely at Sherpur during the night, it being deemed unwise to leave them so far away from cantonments. As they also had to be supplied with food from our godowns, and we could not spare a force to escort convoys across the Cabul plain, it was necessary they should be brought in. This withdrawal has cut us off from Luttabund.
To-day (the 15th) has been one of almost absolute quiet. Beyond cavalry parties patrolling outside Sherpur, our men have not been sent out, although the Afghans crowded out upon the slopes above Deh-i-Afghan, inviting us to come out and attack them. There can be no good object attained, however, in again storming the heights, as we cannot weaken the garrison by telling off a couple of regiments and a mountain battery to hold the hills when captured. We had not, either, ammunition to throw away; there are only about 300 rounds per rifle of Snider and Martini-Henri, and we are as yet uncertain when reinforcements from Gundamak, bringing a further supply, will reach us. Luckily the telegraph remained open until five o’clock this morning, so full particulars of our condition were sent down the line. General Charles Gough has been ordered to bring in his brigade as quickly as possible; and he is now concentrating them at Jugdulluck. Colonel Hudson, commanding at Luttabund, has been ordered to hold on with the 300 Pioneers and the 28th Punjab Infantry, until General Gough reaches him. He will then come on to Sherpur. With the arrival of the brigade we shall be able, not merely to hold Sherpur in comfort, but also to send out 2,000 or 3,000 men to attack Mahomed Jan in whatever position he may take up. With more ammunition for our batteries, we can shell Deh-i-Afghan, the Bala Hissar, and even Cabul itself if occasion requires. At present we cannot afford to waste shells; as in the case of any check to General Gough’s brigade, we should have to rely upon our own strength until more troops could be sent forward from Jellalabad, and further down the Khyber line. We must make our calculations on this basis until we hear of the brigade from Jugdulluck being at Luttabund or Butkhak, which they should reach by the 19th or 20th at the latest. Asmatullah Khan, of Lughman, with his powerful section of Ghilzais, is reported to be anxious to join Mahomed Jan with 10,000 or 15,000 men, and he may try to intercept the force moving from Gundamak. As he would leave his villages west of the Darunta cliff at the mercy of a flying column from Jellalabad, he may, perhaps, hesitate before taking such a step. The Safis of Tagao, who returned to their homes yesterday afternoon, before our reverse, will soon learn that Cabul is still in the possession of Mahomed Jan, and they also may try to block the Luttabund Road.
Our losses in yesterday’s action were very severe, and among our wounded are many dangerous cases. The proportion, usually, of severe wounds is one-third out of the total wounded, but nearly every case now in hospital is “severe.” The list of casualties from the 10th to the 13th and on the 14th is as follows:—
CASUALTIES FROM 10TH TO 13TH DECEMBER. ─────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────┬──────────────┬────── Regiment. │ British. │ Natives. │Total. ─────────────────────────┼─────────────┬─────────────┼───────┬──────┼────── │ Officers.│ Men. │ │ │ ─────────────────────────┼──────┬──────┼──────┬──────┼───────┼──────┼────── │ K.│ W.│ K.│ W.│ K.│ W.│ F-A, Royal Horse │ 1│ —│ —│ 1│ —│ —│ 2 Artillery │ │ │ │ │ │ │ No. 2 Mountain Battery │ —│ —│ —│ —│ —│ 2│ 2 9th Lancers │ 3│ 4│ 21│ 16│ —│ —│ 44 5th Punjab Cavalry │ —│ —│ —│ —│ 3│ —│ 3 14th Bengal Lancers │ 1│ —│ —│ —│ 7│ 4│ 12 67th Foot │ —│ —│ —│ 2│ —│ —│ 2 72nd Highlanders │ —│ 1│ —│ 5│ —│ —│ 6 92nd Highlanders │ 1│ —│ 2│ 21│ —│ —│ 24 3rd Sikhs │ —│ 2│ —│ —│ 4│ 10│ 16 Corps of Guides │ —│ —│ —│ —│ 3[33]│ 9│ 12 5th Punjab Infantry │ —│ —│ —│ —│ 1│ 10│ 11 5th Ghoorkas │ —│ 2│ —│ —│ 1│ 10│ 13 ─────────────────────────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼───────┼──────┼────── Total │ 6│ 9│ 23│ 45│ 19│ 45│ 147 ─────────────────────────┴──────┴──────┴──────┴──────┴───────┴──────┴──────
CASUALTIES ON 14TH DECEMBER. ─────────────────────────┬──────┬──────┬──────┬──────┬───────┬──────┬────── │ K.│ W.│ K.│ W.│ K.│ W.│ No. 2 Mountain Battery │ —│ —│ —│ —│ 1│ 6│ 7 5th Punjab Cavalry │ —│ —│ —│ —│ —│ 8│ 8 14th Bengal Lancers │ —│ —│ —│ —│ —│ 5│ 5 67th Foot │ —│ —│ —│ 5│ —│ —│ 5 72nd Highlanders │ 2│ 1│15[34]│ 16│ —│ —│ 34 92nd Highlanders │ —│ 1│ —│ 3│ —│ —│ 4 3rd Sikhs │ —│ —│ —│ —│ —│ 5│ 5 Guides’ Infantry │ —│ 1│ —│ —│ 13│ 27│ 41 5th Punjab Infantry │ —│ —│ —│ —│ 1│ 13│ 14 5th Ghoorkas │ —│ —│ —│ —│ 3│ 2│ 5 ─────────────────────────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼───────┼──────┼────── Total │ 2│ 3│ 15│ 24│ 18│ 66│ 128 ─────────────────────────┴──────┴──────┴──────┴──────┴───────┴──────┴──────
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Footnote 33:
Missing.
Footnote 34:
One missing.
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The total loss in the five days’ fighting is, therefore, eight British officers killed and 12 wounded; 38 British soldiers killed and 69 wounded; 37 Native soldiers killed and 111 wounded; or a total of 275 casualties, viz., 83 killed and 192 wounded.
The officers killed on the 14th were Captain Spens and Lieutenant Gaisford, 72nd Highlanders: those wounded were Captain Gordon, 92nd Highlanders; Lieutenant Egerton, 72nd; and Lieutenant Frederick Battye, Guides’ Infantry.
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Chapter XVII
The Defences of Sherpur Strengthened—Continued Inactivity of the Enemy—State of the Walls and Trenches—Mounting of Captured Guns—The Reserve—The State of Cabul—Attacks upon the Hindu and Kizilbash Quarters—Threat to assemble 100,000 Afghans—Reflections upon Past Events—Neglect of Military Precautions—Non-destruction of Forts and Villages—Review of the Fighting—City Rumours—Musa Jan proclaimed Amir—Seizure of Treasure by Mahomed Jan—Demonstration by the Enemy on December 17th—The Distribution of Commands in Sherpur—Immunity from Night Attacks—Steadiness of the Troops—The Attack of December 18th—Heliograms exchanged with Luttabund—The First Fall of Snow at Cabul.
SHERPUR, 15th December, night.
To-day’s respite from fighting has been of the greatest value to us. The shelter trenches thrown up in the darkness have, in many instances, been found to be defective, accordingly Colonel Perkins and the engineers with the force have laid out new lines, and the northern and eastern defences are now quite strong enough to assure our safety in those directions. The northern end of the western wall was partly blown down when the mutineers fired their magazine the day after Charasia; the breach in it has been closed with earth and rubbish; and the corner bastion, looking towards the lake, has been made thoroughly defensible. From this bastion to the foot of the Bemaru Heights is an open space, about 100 yards across. The trees beyond it, which shaded our cemetery, have been cut down, and a strong entrenchment thrown across, with wire entanglements, 20 yards in front. Here, again, Afghan ammunition waggons have been of great use. They are placed sideways, one wheel facing outwards, and the other forming the inner side, over which the defenders can fire. A deep trench has been dug along the outer face, and the earth thrown up between the wheels, so as to give stability to the barrier. This has made a formidable obstacle, which could not be readily taken when defended by breech-loaders. From the end abutting on the steep slope of the heights a trench and parapet run up to the block-house on the crest. An abattis has been made of the branches of trees 30 yards in front of this, faced again by wire entanglements, and two 18-pounders from among the captured guns are placed on a platform cut in the slope and commanding the ground in front of the lower barrier of ammunition waggons. The fire from the block-house and the trench on the hillside would take in enfilade any force making a front attack. Along the crest of the Bemaru Heights is a line of earthen breastworks extending to the break in the hills above the Ghoorka quarters on the foundations of Shere Ali’s intended palace. It was in this “gorge,” as it is now called, that our troops in 1841-42 had much severe fighting, their old “Brown Besses” being unequal to carrying from slope to slope. From the camp, paths lead up a gentle slope through the gap. The northern side, facing Kohistan, is much steeper, and the centre is cut up by deep nullahs formed by the streams which rush down when the snow melts. Immediately below, at the foot of the hills, cultivation begins and reaches out half a mile to the open maidan, where we held our review on the 8th instant. On either side of the gorge are flanking trenches with abattis, while wire entanglements have been laid across the paths below. Two block-houses look down upon the nullahs from either side of the gap; while right in the mouth is a third, built very strongly, and loop-holed for musketry. A Gatling gun is placed near this defence, and guns could also move up in case of attack. The eastern Bemaru hill is also entrenched, and has a block-house in the centre, and another at the northern point, which was, at first, very weak. The village of Bemaru, with strong towers and walls, lies at the bottom of the hill; and the ground is so rugged and steep, that men could creep up almost without being seen. Flanking trenches, wire entanglements, and abattis have here, again, given strength to the defences. Bemaru village itself is now occupied by the Guides; the quarters of the 23rd Pioneers, and the mule and yaboo lines being just below. There now remains the eastern line of defence; which, even now, is not completed, and has given us much anxiety. I have already mentioned that the huts of the 28th Punjab Infantry have been built between the end of the cantonment wall and Bemaru; and I may add that every means of rapidly strengthening the place has been taken. Shelter-trenches and positions for guns have been made, and the orchards outside have been cut down wherever they gave shelter. The bit of country outside cantonments in this direction is very fertile, being irrigated from a wide canal, and some dozen villages and forts are clustered together on its banks. The walls bounding the orchards and gardens as well as the near forts would, if time permitted, be razed to the ground; and until this is done, there will be a chance of strong bodies of the enemy annoying us thence. Until we know Mahomed Jan’s tactics, and whether he really means to attempt an assault, we cannot do more than strengthen the actual lines of defence, leaving the walls and towers in the fields to be destroyed hereafter. Regarding the walls of Sherpur itself, they are in a thorough state of defence; such openings as had been cut in them for the convenience of soldiers and followers having been blocked up with arm chests filled with stones and rubbish. The outer wall is about twenty feet high, with numerous flanking bastions, and is pierced for musketry at every six feet. The actual parapet is six feet high, giving perfect shelter to soldiers manning the walls; and our men, preferring to fire over the top, have cut resting-places with their bayonets for their rifles. No bullet can penetrate more than a few inches into the sun-dried mud, which is really so hard that 9-pounders could not breach it. The blocks of mud solidify so thoroughly after a time, that they will turn the edge of a pick, as we have found in improving our quarters in the long line of barracks. A dry ditch, twenty feet in width, follows the line of walls, which, in an early letter, I described as three sides of a parallelogram. The barracks form the inner line of defence, a low parapet on the roof overlooking the dry ditch below.
There are four high gateways in the walls; one facing westwards, known as the “Head-quarters’ Gate,” and three in the southern wall facing Cabul. The middle one of these is the “Commissariat Gate,” and abuts on the road leading through the old cantonment over the Cabul river to the Bala Hissar. All the Commissariat godowns are in the barracks and verandah to right and left of this gate. A line drawn at right angles from these across the cantonment would strike the gap in the Bemaru hills; and in anticipation of our having to draw in our defences, the engineers are preparing an inner line of entrenchments stretching between these two parts. Our food supply, firewood, and bhoosa, would be enclosed within it, and our men would be far less harassed. We should probably continue to hold the north-eastern Bemaru hill as an outwork; but to do this we should have to destroy very thoroughly Bemaru village, the huts of the 28th Punjab Infantry, and the barracks and wall at the eastern part of Sherpur. There seems but little probability of our having to do this, as the reinforcements will lighten our work, give an ample garrison, and also permit of a brigade moving out to meet the enemy. We are mounting one of the 8-inch howitzers, captured here, in a bastion of the western wall, whence we can shell Deh-i-Afghan and the road leading from the Cabul gorge. We have plenty of loose powder for this howitzer, and any number of empty shells left behind by the mutineers. Some of Shere Ali’s mountain guns are also being got ready for use. Our own batteries are kept free to move from point to point as required, special stations being told off for them at night. Morgan’s mountain battery is the artillery reserve: the infantry and cavalry reserve is made up of the whole of the 92nd Highlanders, a wing of the 67th, a wing of the 72nd, and six squadrons chosen from among the 9th Lancers, 5th Punjab Cavalry, Guides’ Cavalry, 12th Bengal Cavalry, and the 14th Bengal Lancers. The remainder of the troopers and sowars are dismounted, and used as infantry to man the defences. The reserve, in case of a night attack, is to form up in the open ground in the middle of cantonments below the Bemaru gorge. We have thus made all our preparations, and shall probably pursue a waiting policy, leaving Mahomed Jan to his occupation of Cabul city and the Bala Hissar until General Charles Gough arrives. What that occupation is likely to be, we are already learning: the houses of all known friends of the British are being looted and destroyed, and the Hindu and Kizilbash quarters are also being attacked. Constant firing is heard from the city, and the Kizilbashes are resisting the attacks to the best of their ability. Against such numbers, however, they cannot make a stand, however bravely they may fight. Several of them have sought refuge with us, and we have also, as our guests, Sirdar Wali Mahomed Khan, young Ahmed Ali, and their personal retainers. Daoud Shah has been put under arrest “as a matter of precaution,” and the Mustaufi is also again in confinement, as well as other Afghan sirdars, whose honesty is a doubtful quality. Hazara coolies and city people, employed hitherto as labourers, masons, and carpenters, have also been turned out of Sherpur, as they are now only a drag upon us, and might also be bearers of information to the enemy.
This evening large bodies of men with standards appeared on the road above Deh-i-Afghan until the slope of the hill was completely covered. Beyond waving their knives and tulwars, and shouting defiance, they did nothing to annoy or irritate us. General Roberts at first ordered some guns out to shell them, but changed his mind, and declined to waste ammunition upon them. In the evening they returned to the city, but kept two large signal fires burning on the heights. They are said to expect reinforcements from Kohistan, Turkistan, and the Shutargardan district; but we have no news of these being on the move. They boast of being able to get 100,000 men together in a week, and have sent to Ghazni for guns. At present they have not been able to rig up the two mountain guns they captured, or to use two others taken in Wali Mahomed’s camp above Dehmazung. If they were to shell Sherpur they might cause us some loss, as our cavalry are picqueted in the open.
While I am writing (on the evening of the 15th) we are expecting a night attack; but we are quite ready for it, every post being fully manned. The Mohurrum has now begun, and fanaticism is sure to run high among the Ghazis and followers of Mushk-i-Alam, but it will scarcely prompt them to attack so strong a position as we have now made. Orders have been issued that, in the event of any of the enemy getting within cantonment walls, they are to be bayoneted. Shooting is forbidden, as in camp our bullets would probably be more dangerous to our own troops than to scattered parties of Afghans. Every man is resting on his arms ready for an emergency.
16th December.
The second night has passed without any demonstration by Mahomed Jan against Sherpur; and while the fire-eaters in our force are longing for an attack, in order that the Afghans may learn how mud walls and entrenchments can be defended by men with breech-loaders in their hands, most of us are glad that our soldiers have had time to rest, and have not been obliged to stand out all night in the bitter cold. Four blankets per man have been served out; and, wrapped in these, the soldiers have been able to keep themselves fairly comfortable, while sleeping in the trenches and bastions. The sentries are on the alert, and have, of course, had to endure cold and discomfort; but the great body of men have rested quietly. To-day also, no attack has been attempted; and while we are settling down to the new conditions imposed upon us—for we are now practically in a state of siege—our spirits are as high as ever. We chafe under the delay which must necessarily ensue before we can once more disperse the enemy; but we hope that the troops from Jugdulluck and Gundamak will soon put us in a position both to hold Sherpur and to have a few thousand men outside, dealing with the Ghazis. There can be no doubt we have been lulled during the past two months into false security. Our only anxiety hitherto has been to find an enemy to fight; and the opinions I have expressed in former letters as to the Afghan weakness for running away have been simply those held by every one here. When we sent our brigades out to fight, they found no one to face them; and we were unaware that such a powerful combination as that now against us was possible. After the dispersion of the remnants of Yakub Khan’s mutinous army, there was such an appearance of peace, at least for many months, that the ordinary military precautions were not taken. Our hands were full with laying in supplies for the winter and getting the troops into barracks. Sherpur, with its three sides already fortified, and ample accommodation in its long lines of rooms, was ready to our hand, and we occupied it at once, although the strength of our army was scarcely adequate to defending it[35] and keeping our communications open. The original plan of placing two or three regiments in the Bala Hissar was certainly a good one; but the explosions in the fortress, and the dread that it might still contain mines unknown to us, deterred General Roberts from carrying out his first intention.
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Footnote 35:
This was the view taken by Colonel Macgregor, Chief of the Staff.
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Further, when Sherpur was occupied, the sense of security then prevailing led us to spare the forts and villages in its vicinity. Even the old walls and isolated towers in the fields about were left untouched. We make war so humanely that, even in a country like Afghanistan, we are loth to let military exigencies override all other considerations. That we shall suffer for it now in loss of life is beyond question; for, at several points about the walls, cover is given to an attacking party, who can get within 400 or 500 yards of our bastions. On the eastern and southern sides this is particularly the case. Outside Bemaru, as I have said, are forts, villages, and orchards; while, between the three gates facing towards Cabul, the ground is similarly occupied. Fort Mahomed Sharif, so well known in the dreary days of 1841-42, still stands intact within 700 yards of the “72nd Gateway,” and about it are high walls and walled enclosures, which are sure to be occupied by sharp-shooters. Outside Deh-i-Afghan also are orchards and gardens, each with its strong open walls, and in the fields are ruinous walls, with an occasional tower, which we could easily have destroyed if we had foreseen that an investment was hanging over us. It is easy to be wise after the event; but there can now be but one view as to the defects of Sherpur. To defend it, simply, is now comparatively easy, even with the 6,000 men we have within its walls; but beyond defence, we can do nothing. It covers such an enormous area of ground, that when all our picquets and sentries have been placed, we have no one to spare; and though we have dismounted nearly the whole of our cavalry, there are not even 1,000 men available for outside work. If it were half the size, we should be as comfortable as in an Indian cantonment; or if we had 10,000 men here, and three or four more batteries of artillery, we could break up Mahomed Jan’s army without difficulty. But neither of these conditions exists, and we are quietly accepting the humiliation of investment, and witnessing the looting of Cabul and the Bala Hissar without being able to strike a blow against the enemy. The suddenness of the whole business is the most remarkable feature, and we now see to what imminent danger Sherpur was exposed when Generals Macpherson and Baker were sent out to force the fighting in Maidan. In the first week of December native rumours of 40,000 or 50,000 men gathering together to attack Cabul were freely circulated in the city, but little attention was paid to them. Later, there was the plain evidence of our cavalry scouts that 4,000 or 5,000 men were between Maidan and Argandeh, and to cut them off was the object of General Macpherson’s march into the Chardeh Valley, and of the détour made by General Baker from Charasia to Maidan. General Macpherson, in carrying out his flank march to get between Mahomed Jan and Bamian, came unexpectedly upon Mir Butcha and his Kohistanis; and he had first to deal with them before turning his attention to the Ardal Pultan and their friends from Wardak and Ghazni. His defeat of Mir Butcha, on December 10th, was of great value, as preventing the Kohistanis from joining the other force; but on the 11th there followed the defeat of our cavalry and the temporary loss of two guns. That afternoon was really most pregnant with danger to the cantonment. Two brigades were miles away from the walls, and between the nearest men of General Macpherson’s brigade and Sherpur were 10,000 of the enemy. If they had streamed over the Nanuchi Kotal, near where the action of the 14th was fought, and had shown the same determination in assaulting our lines as they had done in resisting the cavalry and guns, we must have lost Sherpur long before help could have come from the two Brigadiers. That the enemy streamed off to the Cabul gorge, with the intention of seizing the Bala Hissar and the city, was the saving of our cantonments. Two hundred rifles of the 72nd checked them at Dehmazung, and they contented themselves with occupying the hills to the south of the Bala Hissar Heights, and waiting for reinforcements. We kept them in play, on the 12th, with 600 men, who partly captured their position; and by that time General Baker had reached Sherpur. On the 13th our success was unqualified; we stormed and occupied the enemy’s position, and our cavalry in the Cabul plain cut to pieces such fugitives as left the hills. That evening we believed we had seen the enemy’s full strength and had broken it; but after the action on the Asmai Heights, and the retreat of our troops to cantonments, we were undeceived. It became apparent that there were between 30,000 and 40,000 men, quite sufficient to keep us within our walls, as with such numbers many points could be threatened at the same time. It came to this: that we must he content to let them occupy Cabul, the Bala Hissar, and whatever other points they chose, while we watched them carefully from Sherpur, ready to repel attack, or to clear them out of forts and villages dangerously near our walls. They have liberty to roam whithersoever they will; while we are so numerically weak, except for cavalry reconnaissances, that we must accept the usual conditions of a beleaguered garrison. We have accepted it, cheerfully enough, I venture to say; and when we again go out to clear Cabul and the Bala Hissar, we shall do it with all the more zest after being penned up in Sherpur by sheer weight of numbers.
To-day there has not been much done beyond hard work at the entrenchments, at which the men labour heartily, as they know the importance of having continuous lines of defence. Our curiosity is fed by rumours from the city, from which we gain a certain amount of trustworthy news; though our spies, as a rule, are the most treacherous-looking ruffians we have seen for a long time. Our intelligence department has such bad tools to work with, that scarcely any information proves correct; for an Afghan is a greater adept at fabrication than any other Asiatic. We cannot trust them: they go and come, and bring strange tales, and fill our minds with the idea that 40,000 Ghazis mean to fight to the death, so as to capture Sherpur; and then nothing comes of it. We hear to-day of scaling-ladders being made, and of an assault to be delivered simultaneously at seven points; but when or how it will be made not even the most pronounced liar among the spies ventures to say. Two or three bankers from the city have been in Sherpur to-day, and from them we have learnt that Mahomed Jan and his followers are bursting with pride at finding themselves in possession of Cabul, and holding the British army in check. There is so much confidence among them, that, no doubt at the instigation of Yakub Khan’s mother, they have proclaimed young Musa Jan, Yakub’s son, Amir. This is to give a semblance of order and patriotism to their movements, we suppose; and, perhaps, their leaders hereafter may be bold enough to proffer negotiation. They will be the mouthpiece of their new Amir, and Sir F. Roberts will be nothing more than the representative of the British, who will be told, as in olden times, that they are not wanted in the country. Further, they have found that no Governor of Cabul now exists, General Hills, our nominee, having, of course, left the kotwali for the safer quarters of Sherpur. The fanatics have therefore nominated Mushk-i-Alam, the old moollah, to be Governor, and, with all his ninety years heavy upon him, he sits dispensing justice and encouraging the moollahs to work upon the religious feelings of soldiers. Whether he expects long to enjoy his dignity does not appear; but, apart from his great age, there is the contingency of Cabul once more falling into our hands. His jehad has certainly been a wonderful success, and it is long since so large a number of armed men have been assembled in and about Cabul. They are likely to experience the same difficulty we have always felt—supplies. Each villager carries with him chupaties and dried mulberries sufficient for three or four days’ consumption; but their food-bags now want replenishing. With her usual energy, Yakub’s mother is said to have given her jewels and money to the “troops”—if they deserve the name—and they have now ample funds to carry them on for a short time. The citizens also have been called upon to show their patriotism. By beat of tom-tom it has been proclaimed that all surplus grain and other food must be given up, each family only retaining enough for its own consumption. The bunniahs and others will be heavy losers by this enactment; but as death is threatened in case of disobedience, there is no option but to obey. They will find Mahomed Jan’s short rule far different from ours, under which they amassed rupees by thousands, and fleeced the strangers handsomely. The wholesale looting that has gone on during the last two days has given the enemy vast stores of treasure; and one report states that Yahiya Khan’s house, which we only partially cleared out, has proved a mine of wealth to them. The usual result has followed: they have begun to quarrel among themselves. Every Afghan is not a Ghazi; and to the mind of the village tribesman, far away from his home, it seems folly to risk farther fighting, while such plunder has been already obtained. The Ghazis would at all costs try to storm Sherpur, and repeat the victory of 1841-2, but their fanaticism has not extended far, and it will have to rise to fever-heat before it will face an assault. We have not much to fear in that direction; but still with our small stock of ammunition, it would be better, perhaps, if it did not take place. If made at night, our men would probably blaze away 70 or 100 rounds; and if our reinforcements were checked, we might seriously feel the want of ammunition.
To-day the sky has been overcast and the hills obscured with mist, so we have been unable to communicate by heliograph with Luttabund. We believe the garrison there to be quite safe, as news of any attack in that quarter would reach us very soon. Colonel Hudson knows that we are invested, and he will have taken every precaution to ensure his own safety. There seems no disturbance among the Tezin Ghilzais as yet, and the Safis of Tagao have not yet returned to their friends in Cabul. Their losses must have been heavy on the 13th and 14th. The Kohistanis who got away from the cavalry on the 13th did not all escape to their homes. While the fight was going on near Cabul, the 12th Bengal Cavalry at Butkhak were ordered to patrol the plain between that post and the Logar river. Towards evening they came across eight men who were at once made prisoners. They were all armed and well mounted, and, upon being questioned, said they were friends of Wali Mahomed, on their way to Tezin, to bring the Ghilzais down to aid the British. This statement was telegraphed to Sherpur, but Wali Mahomed knew nothing of the men; and as they had the accoutrements of a Guide sowar on one horse, and three new Snider rifles, with 400 rounds of ammunition, they were ordered to be shot. When told they were to die, they half-admitted that they were not friends of Wali Mahomed. Their leader was a young Kohistani, who met his death bravely enough: the second was a petty sirdar, who, in fear and trembling, begged for his life; and the third was a village priest, who tried to induce the Mahomedan sowar told off to execute him to let him go. “You are a Mahomedan,” he said, “and I am one of your holy men. You cannot shoot me! Let me get past the sentry, and I can escape.” The sowar’s answer was characteristic of our men: “You have been fighting against the Sircar, and it is your kismut now to be shot. You must fulfil your kismut.” The moollah saw that his prayers were of no avail, and as he was walking out, he added half-apologetically:—“I tried to persuade these others not to fight, but they would come down to Cabul, and they brought me with them.” This was admission enough, even if it were not the whole truth. It is the moollah usually who persuades the tribes to turn out, not the tribesmen who have to persuade the priest to come with them. The four other prisoners were servants of the three men named: as they were all bearing arms they also were shot.
17th December.
To-day the enemy seem to have awakened to a sense of their responsibility as an investing force. Having made their permanent (?) political arrangements for the good government of Cabul and Afghanistan, they have begun to turn their attention to the stranger within their gates. They fondly imagine that a parade of their strength may overawe us, and strike terror to our souls: quite forgetting that it can only be for a short time that we shall be the attacked, and not the attackers. About ten o’clock this morning they poured out of the eastern and western gates of Cabul, with banners flying and tom-toms beating, and drew up in dense masses upon the Siah Sung Heights on the one side and the slopes of the Asmai hill above Deh-i-Afghan on the other. Horsemen were seen galloping about in their midst, and trying to keep them together in military order; but their efforts were, as a rule, of no avail, only the men of the Ardal Pultun marching at all like soldiers. The men in that regiment (Guards) still carry their Sniders, and dress in a soldierlike manner, their cross-belts and pouches giving them the appearance of regular sepoys. At eleven o’clock the Afghans assembled must have numbered fully 20,000, and it was believed that they meditated an attack on the eastern and western walls of Sherpur. The alarm was accordingly sounded in cantonments, all work at the trenches was stopped, the Reserve formed up at its appointed place below the Bemaru gorge, and every man went to his post. It was a bleak December day; the sun was obscured, a cold wind sweeping down from the Pughman hills, and heavy clouds louring as if threatening snow. Our men in the trenches and on the walls were all clad in their over-coats, and dreary work they found it waiting for an enemy who never came. The hundreds of scaling-ladders we had heard so much about were not visible, and the thousands of men who crowded upon Siah Sung were only valorous enough to wave their knives and scream out curses which never reached our ears. After several hours of this unsatisfactory waiting, the order was given to shell the enemy, most of whom were out of rifle-range. G-3 and two guns of F-A opened upon Siah Sung, and their practice was excellent. G-3 got the range exactly, and two or three shells burst right in the thick of the masses upon the ridge. The effect was instantly seen: “they jist ran like skelpit bairns,” as a Highlander remarked. The dead and wounded were dragged away by the heels, and in an hour the heights were clear, except of such small parties as disdained to run away. A few marksmen of the 67th, with their Martinis, knocked over one or two of these at 1,700 yards, and this long range shooting caused the Afghans to disperse, some going to the Bala Hissar, and others running down to the villages below Siah Sung. On our eastern wall the 8-inch howitzer, placed in position on one of the bastions, was fired for the first time, and its huge shells, dropping into and over Deh-i-Afghan, scattered the crowds there assembled. The terrific report of the howitzer, and the bursting of its heavy shells, did much to alarm the enemy, who have hitherto only had 7-pounders and 9-pounders fired against them. There was some difficulty at first in getting the range and fixing fuses in the shells, which are of Afghan make; but our gunners soon overcame this, and the howitzer is now in perfect working order. It will be very useful in shelling such villages near Deh-i-Afghan as may be occupied by sharpshooters.
The only attempt to open fire upon the cantonment walls was made by a small body of the enemy, who took possession of the small walled garden, where the 5th Punjab Cavalry was quartered before the investment. This garden lies to the right of the road leading to the city, and is about 700 yards from the “72nd Gateway.” It is all that remains of the old “King’s Garden” of 1839-42. The walls are about ten feet high, and within them are numerous large trees, up which some of the more daring Afghans climbed. Their best shots aimed at our men lining the walls; but although their bullets struck the parapet from time to time, or dropped far over into the open space where our tents used to stand, no harm was done. Two mountain guns of Swinley’s battery were placed in the bastion, fifty yards to the west of the “72nd Gateway,” and these shelled the garden, while a few marksmen fired at such Afghans as exposed themselves. In the afternoon two companies of the 5th Punjab Infantry were ordered out to clear the garden. Colonel Brownlow, of the 72nd, who has charge of the wall from the gateway to the south-western bastion, rode out with them. They doubled across the open, covered by the fire from the gate and bastions, and got well round to the westward of the garden. The enemy fired a few shots, and then rushed out at the opposite side, making for Mahomed Sharif’s fort on the other side of the road. One was shot and bayoneted; and on our side a sepoy of the 5th was slightly wounded by a bullet in the leg. The garden was thoroughly searched, but none of the enemy could be found, so our men returned to Sherpur, two companies of the 72nd being ready inside to cover their retirement if they had been followed up. Beyond one or two dropping shots, they were allowed to march back unmolested. While this was going on, the Bala Hissar was seen to be crowded with armed men, and word was brought in that the moollahs were haranguing them, and urging them to attack in earnest. Their exhortations had some effect, as several thousand men took the road which would have brought them across the Cabul river and well within range of our rifles; but their courage or fanaticism was not equal to the demand made upon it, and they eventually turned off and went into the city. A few are reported to have gone to some villages outside Bemaru and the eastern wall of Sherpur; but whether they will remain there all night is doubtful. There is no organized plan of attack among them; and unless more determination is shown than that displayed to-day, our investment is likely to be of a very mild kind. The numerical strength opposed against us seems also to have decreased, and our spies report that many villagers have returned home with their dead and wounded, taking also with them such loot as they can carry. The boasted reinforcements to swell their ranks to 100,000 men are not forthcoming; and beyond the annoyance of being confined within cantonments, we do not suffer much from Mahomed Jan’s successes. The wells we have sunk since our water-supply was cut off give us good water; and except the cavalry, whose lines are in the open, we are all snug under cover in our barracks, so that stray bullets cannot do us harm. For the better purposes of defence the cantonment has been divided into sections, and each of these is in charge of an officer. From the head-quarters’ gate northwards to the end of the wall, and thence along the heights to the Bemaru gorge, Major-General Hills has charge; Brigadier-General Hugh Gough takes from the gorge and along the line of entrenchments to Bemaru village; Colonel Jenkins, of the Guides, has the eastern wall, from Bemaru to the corner bastion looking towards Butkhak; Brigadier-General Macpherson the southern wall, from that bastion to the 72nd Gate; Colonel Brownlow from the gate to the corner bastion on the south-west, facing Deh-i-Afghan; and Colonel Hogg from that bastion to the head-quarters. Major Hanna is Brigadier-General Gough’s orderly officer. The Reserve is under Brigadier-General Baker, and at night all the men belonging to it sleep on the hillside below Bemaru gorge. During the day the position of the infantry is as follows:—From the head-quarters’ gate to the western foot of the heights, the 5th Punjab Infantry; below the heights to the west of the gorge, the 3rd Sikhs and 5th Ghoorkas; east of the gorge, the wing of the 23rd Pioneers; in Bemaru village, the Guides’ Cavalry and Infantry; near the eastern wall, 100 men of the 28th Punjab Infantry and part of the 67th Foot; in the barracks, on the south, the remainder of the 67th, the 92nd, and the 72nd; and in the western wall the Sappers and Miners. Dismounted cavalry are also employed at a few of the bastions and near the gorge. The guns are moved from point to point as their fire is wanted. To-day parties of cavalry were out, reconnoitring towards Kohistan, in the direction of the Surkh Kotal; but beyond seeing a few score men moving about, they reported nothing unusual. They did not come under fire of the enemy. Our cavalry videttes take up a position on two low hills, a mile beyond the north-western bastion, whence they can watch the Aliabad and Nanuchi Kotals leading from Chardeh Valley, and also warn us of the movements of the enemy along the road at the foot of the Asmai hill from Deh-i-Afghan. No large bodies of Afghans could move from this direction without the garrison having timely warning of their approach.
Again to-day we had no heliographic communication with Luttabund, and the position of General Charles Gough’s brigade is quite unknown to us. We are calculating that he will be here by the 20th; but this is a sanguine estimate, as the troops on the Khyber side are still weak in their transport arrangements. He may be unable for a few days to concentrate his troops at Jugdulluck preparatory to starting for Cabul; but the exigency is so great, that we may reasonably hope great energy will be shown in pushing on when once a start is made. He is to bring with him the 9th Foot, the 2nd and 4th Ghoorkas, and a mountain battery; and if the baggage is limited to the merest necessaries, the march should be a rapid one. It is a heavy blow to our prestige to be forced into Sherpur after having ruled Cabul for two months; and the sooner the present humiliating state of affairs is changed, the better will it be for our future control of the country. Our men are equal to bearing the exposure of night work well enough under the influence of excitement; but when the reaction comes, there will be a long list of hospital cases, for, even with four blankets and an overcoat, a soldier cannot but feel the effects of sleeping out in the open air. To-day has been the coldest we have yet experienced, and the wind is very trying to the sentries, who have to stand motionless at their posts, watching for the enemy. If snow falls, the discomfort will be increased, and the men in the trenches and bastions will have to bear great hardships.
18th December.
Night attacks, which would cause us much trouble and seriously harass our troops, do not seem to be advisable in the eyes of the Afghans. Not even the Ghazis, who showed such courage on the 14th, can persuade their friends to venture forth at night; and as the moon nightly gives more and more light, we feel less anxious as we “turn in,” fully dressed, at ten o’clock. Not that we relax our vigilance in the least: there is too much at stake for this; but that we sleep sounder, now that for three nights we have been left undisturbed. A sentry occasionally fires a shot; but no sooner does the report ring out, than an officer visits the post and personally sees if there are signs of danger. In the Reserve below the gorge the officers of each regiment watch for an hour in turn; and thus, in addition to the sentries, there are always eyes and ears ready to detect anything unusual. Tents have been pitched for some of the men to sleep in; but the majority roll themselves up in their blankets and waterproof sheets, and rest as cheerfully as if within four walls. The officers on duty on the walls sleep among their men, and are called whenever suspicion is excited by moving objects outside, so that a night surprise is impossible. The officers in charge of sections visit their walls and trenches nightly, to see that all arrangements are properly carried out; and General Roberts and his Staff sometimes make the entire round of cantonments. If an enemy were besieging us in a civilized manner, and pushing forward parallels and entrenchments, we could not be more vigilant; and it is satisfactory in the extreme to see the soldierlike bearing of all the troops engaged in the weary work of keeping watch and ward over nearly five miles of defences. British and native are fully alive to the serious duties they have to fulfil; and down even to the dismounted Lancer, with his carbine ready for use, doing the unwonted task of sentry-go in the trenches, there is not a man who has not accepted cheerfully the hardships imposed upon him.
It was understood that to-day an attack would be made in earnest. The moollahs had been at their prayers in the early morning, and had blessed innumerable flimsy standards which were to be planted on our walls when their victorious followers had driven us from our defences. There certainly was more appearance of resolution in the movements of the enemy than has hitherto been the case. The small party in the villages beyond the eastern wall had cleared out during the night, and a demonstration in force was made from the south-western direction. Our cavalry videttes on Siah Sung and the hills near the north-west bastion gave us warning of the approach of several thousand men, who moved out with their standards from the Jellalabad gate and Deh-i-Afghan, and took up positions in the gardens and enclosures which cover the plain to the north of the city. I have said that good cover for an attacking force still remains in front of the southern wall and the south-west bastions, and this was made use of by Mahomed Jan, to push his men well towards Sherpur. The alarm was sounded in cantonments at eleven o’clock, as on the previous day, and in a quarter of an hour we were ready for the attack. A hot fire was begun from behind walls, watercourses, and towers, upon the soldiers lining the walls of Sherpur, and we answered it with our guns. Shells were dropped into the gardens where the enemy were in most force, six guns of G-3 and F-A being taken out at the north-west corner of the cantonment, and making good practice at 1,500 and 2,000 yards. Orders were given for no small-arm ammunition to be wasted, and small volleys only were fired upon the men fully exposing themselves. A few Ghazis worked from wall to wall, until within 400 yards of the corner bastion nearest Deh-i-Afghan, but they could do nothing beyond planting their standards, for at that distance our marksmen, with their Martinis, could scarcely fail to hit even so small an object as a man’s head. Afghans are good skirmishers, and in the art of taking cover they are almost unequalled; but there was an open space between their advanced standards and the walls, which even a Ghazi would not venture to cross. All that we could see were the flashes from their rifles and jhezails from loopholes in the enclosures and towers, or from behind trees, ditches, and stones. Our shells were so effective, that two or three bursting in a garden were enough to drive its defenders to seek other protection; and as they passed from wall to wall, they were shot down by our rifle-fire, which never grew wild or irregular. Eight picked men out of the 72nd Highlanders firing a volley at a signal from their officer accounted for six men out of ten who were trying to reach a small isolated tower only 400 yards from the south-west bastion; and their comrades near were so disheartened that they left their standards, and crawled back several hundred yards. Solitary Ghazis, walking in sheer bravado out of cover, were killed at longer ranges, and all heart seemed to die out of the attacking party, who could make no headway against such a deadly fire. For the greater part of the day the enemy’s fire from the villages continued, and bullets came singing over the walls into cantonments, making it dangerous for any one to venture beyond the shelter of the barracks. Spent bullets dropped a few yards over the roofs, and Lieutenant Sunderland, of the 72nd, was struck on the foot and slightly wounded by one of these. A bhistee near head-quarters was hit in the chest, and General Vaughan’s horse was wounded while standing picqueted near the same spot. Every tree and every yard of wall outside Deh-i-Afghan and Murad Khana, the northern part of Cabul, seemed to hide skirmishers; and the rattle of musketry for several hours told of the continuous fire they were keeping up. Not a man on Sherpur walls was hit, though narrow escapes were numerous. General Roberts, with several members of his Staff, was watching the movements of the enemy from the roof of the head-quarters’ gate when a bullet passed just over the parapet and struck the wall behind. The heliograph instrument on the same roof was also hit. The Union Jack was flying just below, and it was believed that this was taken as a target, as the shooting was so accurate. A score of Mahomed Jan’s nondescript cavalry galloped along the road below the Asmai hill, as if to cut off our videttes, but a few shells checked them; while a small body of infantry, which tried to work round in the same direction, were kept back by a few shots from the sowars’ carbines, aided by a cross fire from twelve picked shots of the 5th Punjab Infantry, snugly ensconced in the fields, behind a little sungar 600 yards from the guns. These twelve men—six Afridis and six Dogras—also prevented any stragglers from firing at the guns; and the coolness with which they kept their post and fired upon 200 or 300 Afghans who tried to dislodge them was admirable. In the afternoon the 67th Foot moved out along the fields in front of the southern walls, and skirmished along the enemy’s right flank, so as to draw their fire, and make them show their real strength. They were also to examine the ground, and see if it were possible for cavalry to work across. They lined such walls as gave cover and drew a smart fire upon themselves, which they returned rather too freely considering that ammunition is so valuable. There was not time for them to clear the gardens and forts, so at sunset they returned to their quarters, their withdrawal being the signal for the enemy to follow their old tactics of creeping forward again to the positions they had evacuated. The fire from the bastions was again effective in covering the retirement, and the regiment reached cantonments without any casualties. The King’s Garden had been occupied since the morning by two companies of the 5th Punjab Infantry, Colonel Williams (commanding 5th Punjab Cavalry) having reported that it was easily defensible by infantry. The Punjabees were withdrawn at the same time as the 67th retired; two companies of the 3rd Sikhs, who had gone out to strengthen the right flank of the 67th, keeping the enemy back while the garden was evacuated. No sooner had the sepoys withdrawn than the garden was filled with Afghans, who fired the quarters of the sowars, and amused themselves by shrieking and howling about the place, as if they had gained a great success. The 5th Punjab Cavalry have had all their trouble for nothing: they had made themselves comfortable for the winter, and had got in bhoosa and firewood; and this is now either burnt or carried away. In a village near Mahomed Sharif’s Fort are large stores of forage, and this, also, will probably be looted.
To-day the sun shone out for a short time, and we were able to heliograph to Luttabund, although the mist over the hills beyond Butkhak was very dense. A message was received from Colonel Hudson, commanding at Luttabund, reporting all well; he had not been attacked; Gough’s brigade had not been seen, and it was supposed he was still at Jugdulluck. General Roberts signalled back, ordering the brigade to advance instantly, even if they had to leave their tents behind for want of transport; but whether the signallers at Luttabund could read our message, is not certain, as no answering flashes came back, heavy clouds obscuring the sun over the distant kotal. It was signalled twice, so that it might be understood, and we have but little doubt that it was “read” correctly. It is now plain that our reinforcements will not be here by the 20th, and we must wait patiently for another five or six days.
Snow began to fall at seven o’clock this evening, and it is still steadily snowing now (midnight). At ten o’clock I visited the bastions held by the 72nd Highlanders, and gained some idea of the work our men are called upon to do. The sentries in their greatcoats were simply white figures standing rigidly up like ghosts, the snow-flakes softly covering them from head to foot, and freezing as they fell. Men on guard in the bastions were walking briskly to and fro in their limited space to keep themselves warm, and at their feet were their sleeping comrades, covered with their waterproof sheets. A cold wind had been blowing in the early part of the evening, and this had driven the flakes into every crevice, and had caused several inches of snow to drift about the feet of the sentries in the parapet. In the ditch below our horses were tethered, and our syces and followers sleeping, the snow covering all alike, and whitening the ground as far as the eye could reach. Inside cantonments was one wide sheet of snowy brightness, the Bemaru Heights rising up in the background and looming through the snowflakes like a snowy barrier blocking us from the outer world. It was bitterly cold on these heights, over which a cold wind nearly always blows; and we knew that, hidden from our view, were 2,000 or 3,000 men sleeping at their posts, with snow about them, every man ready to answer the first call of his officer, stalking about among the sentries. Picquet duty under such conditions is a real hardship; but with Balaclava caps and warm gloves frost-bite is guarded against, and with the early morning comes hot soup and cocoa, which cheers the men, and gives them heart to face the cold. By order of the General, the Commissariat serve out, night and morning, tinned soups and cocoa to all European soldiers; and it is fortunate that a large supply of these stimulants—for such, indeed, they are in a climate like this—reached us a few weeks ago. The small tins are easily carried by the men, and all that is wanted is a cup of hot water to give a “drink” with which rum cannot hope to compete. The sepoys and sowars of the native regiments are not forgotten, additional comforts being served out to them; and they are cheery as their English comrades, though the snow is far more trying to men from a tropical climate.
Our wounded generally are doing well, though one trooper of the 9th Lancers, who was injured by his horse being killed in a charge, has died. Colonel Cleland, the Colonel of the same regiment, who was wounded in the disastrous affair of the 11th, is pronounced out of danger; while Lieutenant Egerton, shot through the neck on the 14th, is walking about again, though still on the sick list. I am sorry to say that Major Cook, V.C., 5th Ghoorkas, is dying, mortification having set in from the wound he received below the knee on the Bala Hissar Heights. His brother, Lieutenant Cook, of the 3rd Sikhs, who was wounded in Chardeh, is rapidly recovering.
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Chapter XVIII
The Siege of Sherpur continued—General Baker’s Attack upon Kila Mir Akhor—Destruction of the Fort—Telegraphic and Heliographic Arrangements in Sherpur—News from Luttabund—Despatch of a Convoy to Colonel Hudson—Movements of the Enemy at the Butkhak Road—Want of Military Knowledge among the Afghans—Dissensions in their Ranks—Mahomed Jan offers Terms—Heavy Guns got into Position in Sherpur—Bombardment of Kila Mahomed Sharif—Failure to dislodge the Enemy—Arrival of General Charles Gough’s Brigade at Sei Baba—Night March of the 12th Bengal Cavalry to Luttabund—Occupation of Villages East of Sherpur by the Enemy—Trustworthy News of a contemplated Attack—The Preparations to resist an Assault—The Attack of December 23rd—Repulse of the First Attack on the Eastern Trenches—The Attack renewed—Dispersion of the Enemy—Cavalry Pursuit—Deaths of Captain Dundas, V.C., and Lieutenant Nugent, R.E.—General Charles Gough at the Logar Bridge—Return of Casualties.
SHERPUR, 19th December.
The enemy during the night occupied two strong forts a few hundred yards beyond the eastern wall, and were in such numbers that their fire annoyed us in that direction. Near the 28th N.I. lines is a high walled enclosure, in which sick and wounded sepoys are placed; and in front of this again, outside the lines, is a small fort in which fifty men, of the 67th Foot, under Captain Smith, had been stationed during the night as an advanced post. The fort nearest to them in possession of the enemy is known as Kila Mir Akhor, named after the Afghan Master of the Horse, and to-day General Baker was ordered to destroy this. He took with him 400 of the 67th, under Major Kingsley, 400 of the 3rd Sikhs under Colonel Money, the 5th Punjab Cavalry, two mountain guns of Swinley’s Battery, and a party of Sappers and Miners. These moved out about eight o’clock; but the morning was so misty after last night’s fall of snow, that nothing could be seen twenty yards away. A wall of mist shut out the view on every side, and it was difficult to feel the enemy and to test their strength. Just as the guns were being got into action, a terrific fire from the two forts held by the Afghans was opened upon General Baker, and several men fell wounded. Lieutenant Montenaro, of the Mountain Battery, was laying a gun when a bullet struck him in the chest and lodged in the spine, inflicting a mortal wound. General Baker moved back the 67th in rear of the fort occupied by Captain Smith, to act as a reserve, and extended the 3rd Sikhs in skirmishing order through the orchards to open fire upon Kila Mir Akhor. The guns tried to get round on the left, but found no position to suit them in the orchards, and it was then reported that the fort was commanded from the south-eastern bastion. They were moved into this bastion, and, aided by two guns of F-A, shelled the place for some time. Covered by this fire, the 67th advanced to see if the fort were still held, as the fire from it had slackened. As they were not fired upon, the Sappers, under Lieutenants Nugent and Murdoch, pushed on with powder bags and got within the walls, which were surrounded by Major Kingsley and his men. The towers were mined and blown up, and the buildings set on fire. The enemy still held the further fort, which was of great strength, with walls 30 feet high, and beyond some skirmishers of the 67th checking the fire from its towers, it was left untouched. The enemy were crowded within it, and were reinforced by men from the Siah Sung Heights. Our cavalry and a company of the 67th kept a sharp look-out on General Baker’s left flank in the Kohistan direction, while the towers and bastions were being blown up, and Kila Mir Akhor having been destroyed, the force returned to cantonments. This kind of work is full of danger, as the Afghans make good shooting from loop-holes and behind orchard walls; and in this skirmish we had six of the 67th and six of the 3rd Sikhs wounded, besides Lieutenant Montenaro fatally hit.
There was again to-day constant firing at the walls by detached parties of the enemy, and several casualties occurred—horses, ponies, and camp-followers being hit. Our men do not answer the fire, except when certain of their aim, as one rifle discharged from the walls is the signal for twenty answering shots. The bullets go wide of their mark and drop into cantonments, doing, as I have said, some damage. A trooper of the 9th Lancers, while in the open, was badly hit in the chest; and one of the 3rd Sikhs, while on the Bemaru Heights, was also struck. The bullet was from a Snider rifle, and must have travelled 1,500 or 1,700 yards. The Ardal Pultun was running short of Snider ammunition, and the irregulars with them are equally short of lead. Slugs made of telegraph wire, revolver bullets, and, in some cases, even cartridges have been picked up within the walls. They were probably fired from Enfields, smooth-bores, or jhezails. They would make an ugly wound at short ranges, but they are mostly spent by the time they reach us.
Though we are cut off entirely from the outer world, our internal means of communication are perfect. The heliograph works from the head-quarters’ gateway to the eastern end of Bemaru, and telegraph offices have been opened about cantonments by Mr. Luke and Mr. Kirk in charge of the line. There is plenty of wire left even after so many hundreds yards have been used for entanglements, and branch lines have been laid from the chief office to the more distant quarters. General Roberts is thus kept informed of all that is going on, and much orderly work is saved by these means. Orders can he transmitted to General Macpherson and Colonel Jenkins in a few seconds, and troops warned for duty without the least delay. At night, lamps are used for heliographic signalling from the gateways and the heights whereon there are no telegraph offices; and though the light draws fire occasionally, the signallers have not yet been hit. Such of the cavalry as were picqueted in the open have been moved nearer to the line of barracks, so as to be out of fire, and there is now an open maidan where, a month ago, our tents covered the ground. The ordnance stores have also been moved to a safer spot than that formerly occupied, in rear of General Baker’s garden, and the office tents and post-office near head-quarters have been repitched on safer ground. There have been so many bullets singing about that away from the shelter of the walls there was positive danger in walking from point to point. On the northern line, the Bemaru Heights, no shots have been fired, as the enemy cannot get within range without laying themselves open to being cut off in the plain beyond by our cavalry.
We have heard from Luttabund to-day that none of the special messengers, conveying letters and telegrams, has reached there since the 15th. We are afraid after this to entrust important letters to the messengers, who may have taken them to the enemy, or been captured on the road to Luttabund. Beyond keeping a diary of events, such as I am now writing, nothing can be done; and it is hardly likely that beyond the mere fact of being invested and of stray shooting at the walls there will be anything left to chronicle for a few days.
Major Cook, V.C., as good a soldier as ever served, and a universal favourite in the force, died this evening. Lieutenant Montenaro still lives, but paralysis has declared itself, and his death must be a matter of a few hours. Our loss of officers is painfully great, and the total casualties of all ranks since December 10th must now be nearly 300. The 9th Lancers have been the worst sufferers: they have lost three officers killed and four wounded, and twenty-one men killed and seventeen wounded, or forty-eight casualties in their ranks. The 5th Punjab Cavalry is the only regiment whose officers have escaped scot-free during the five days’ fighting, from the 10th to the 14th.
20th December.
Waiting for the attack has grown so terribly monotonous, that we daily curse the tactics pursued by Mahomed Jan, who only sends out 200 or 300 sharp-shooters to blaze away their ammunition at our sentries. It has become so apparent that no real assault is likely soon to take place, that we are half-inclined to go out and deal with the enemy. But, fortunately for them, they are in Cabul, and street fighting with our small force would be almost a useless sacrifice of life. We could burn the city down certainly; but there are political considerations which tie our hands, as to destroy Cabul means much more than burning so many thousand houses. We have still no news of General Gough’s brigade, although the 20th has come and gone, and now even the most sanguine among us do not expect the investment to be at an end till Christmas Day. Our little garrison at Luttabund has had a small fight of its own, but has come well out of the scrimmage, having killed fifty of the assailants. Mahomed Jan is afraid to split up his force, or he would before this have detached 5,000 or 6,000 men to hold Butkhak, and advance thence to carry the Luttabund Kotal. It is the presence of our troops at Luttabund and Jugdulluck which has no doubt kept the Tezin Ghilzais in check; and as Asmatullah Khan seems to be quietly waiting in the Lughman Valley for further news of Afghan successes, the march of our reinforcements should be made without a shot being fired—at least as far as Luttabund. A small convoy of yaboos, in charge of their Hazara drivers, carrying food to Colonel Hudson, was sent from Sherpur last night, and reached Luttabund safely. Another will be sent to night; but as parties of the enemy have been seen taking the road to Butkhak, it is not unlikely that it will be intercepted. The Hazaras are very plucky; they go out willingly for a small reward, and we are now using a few of them to carry letters and despatches. They pass out of the north-west corner, make for the border of the lake, and thence work along the northern edge of the plain between Sherpur and Butkhak, avoiding the latter place as much as possible. We are anxious as to the safety of the bridge over the Logar river, halfway to Butkhak. It is believed at present to be intact; and unless it is very thoroughly blown up, its strong masonry piers and arches can be easily repaired. Luckily, we are not fighting an enemy with many resources. There is no one from Mahomed Jan downwards who understands, in the first place, how to make an investment really worthy of the name. To deal with walls such as we have to defend, the only mode to harass the garrison successfully is to concentrate an enfilading fire so as to sweep the parapet. We have not had time to make traverses of sand-bags on the bastions or walls; and our men would suffer greatly if the bullets, instead of passing harmlessly over the parapet at right-angles, were directed so as to rake it from gate to gate. If the enemy threw up earthworks during the night at some distance from the corner bastions, and fired in a line parallel to the ditch, they could not fail to do some mischief. As it is, not a man on the walls has yet been wounded, and our answering volleys, when fired, have always been effective. Four men out in the open were shot down by one volley from the marksmen at the south-west bastion, the range being 450 yards. A Martini rifle, resting in a neatly-cut channel on the parapet, is, in the hands of cool, collected soldiers, a most deadly weapon at these short ranges; and as no one is allowed to fire without an officer’s permission, the shooting is nearly always good. One of the many rumours from the city was that powder-bags were to be brought to blow in the gates. In only one case, at head-quarters, has an attempt been made by us to permanently close the gateways. There is a strong guard at each, and the open space is usually blockaded with Afghan ammunition waggons, strong abattis outside being so arranged as to check a rush. On either side of the waggons, which can be easily drawn away when troops are sent out, are low walls built up of flour-bags, from behind which ten or twelve men can command the entrance if it comes to close fighting. At the head-quarters’ gate strong doors have been placed on hinges let into the wooden supports to the mud wall on either side, and gun carriages are closely jammed against these. Twelve picked men are on duty day and night on the wall commanding the entrance, and their orders are to reserve their fire until the enemy with their powder-bags are within twenty yards of the gateway. A strong wooden platform, with a parapet of sand-bags, stretches from wall to wall six feet above the gun-carriages, and this post is entrusted to the care of the thirty Ghoorkas who came up with Sir Michael Kennedy as escort. Even if the door were blown in, the ghazis at the head of a storming party would have to face a heavy fire from above, which they could not return while clambering over the barricade. This gateway would probably be the one first assailed, as the Afghans know quite well that General Roberts and his Staff have their quarters within it.
Some of our spies state that the men now holding Cabul have seriously contemplated an assault; but that their ranks are split up by quarrels as to the right of tribal sections to appoint a new Amir. Old Mushk-i-Alam still continues to prophesy that a repetition of the victory of 1841-42 is sure to come to pass; and, as a first step towards this, Mahomed Jan has had the coolness to “open negotiations.” One would be inclined to look upon his self-assurance as ludicrous, were it not that he has the gratification of seeing us shut up in Sherpur, as if at his mercy. The propositions offered are of such a “mixed” order that they seem, at first sight, scarcely serious. One is that we should at once retire to India, after having entered into an agreement to send Yakub Khan back to Cabul in the state befitting an Amir; and we are to leave two British officers of distinction as hostages for the faithful carrying out of our contract. Another is made on behalf of the Kohistanis, who offer to accept Wali Mahomed as Amir, if we will march away without concerning ourselves further with Afghan matters. The leaders, who have been bold enough to make these proposals, think, perhaps, that we are as weak as our unfortunate army thirty-eight years ago, and that by frightening us into concessions they will be able to cut us up in detail as we toil back to Peshawar. As all the advantages of arms, equipment, and ample supplies are now on our side, we only laugh at the terms so considerately offered. “We have a lakh of men: they are like dogs eager to rush on their prey! We cannot much longer control them!” is said to have been one of the messages sent to shake our faith in our own strength; but such absurd vapouring is taken at its real value, and contemptuously passed over. Yet a few days, and we shall have 6,000 men hammering at the gates of Cabul; and unless our soldiers belie themselves, there will be a great revenge taken for the humiliation our army has had to endure. The idea of creating a new Amir has turned the heads of our foes to an extent that is absurd when it is remembered that they are merely in Cabul on sufferance for a few days until our reinforcements come up. The Kohistanis, who have nominated Wali Mahomed, are at loggerheads with the Ghilzais from Logar and Wardak, who wish to put Yakub Khan’s son, young Musa Jan, on the throne. They are politicians enough to know that Yakub himself will never he sent back as ruler of Afghanistan, and nothing would suit them better than to have an infant as Amir, and their own chiefs as a Council of Regency. Such a government would be on lines which would give full scope to ambitious men, and the country would be plundered for the benefit of the Ghilzais and their friends. In this wrangling about the Amirship, the more warlike work, ready at hand, is forgotten, though the more fanatical have held councils of war and told off leaders to various sections which are to assault Sherpur at a given signal. There is, however, but little attention paid by the rank and file to the commands of their leaders; and though when a ghazi rushes upon his death, a handful of desperate men will follow him, the great majority hang back when they see the task before them.
The firing into cantonments to-day was of the usual desultory kind, and our mountain guns pitched a few shells into such gardens as contained fairly large bodies of men. Two Highlanders were wounded while on picquet duty at the line of entrenchment from the commissariat godowns to the Bemaru gorge. Kila Mahomed Sharif, so well known during the disastrous winter of 1841, still stands near the site of our old cantonments between Sherpur and the Cabul river, overlooking the road from the Bala Hissar. From this fort, which is only 700 yards from the 72nd Gateway, men fired at the southern wall all day, while others could be seen, with rifles slung across their backs, superintending the carrying away of the bhoosa stored by the 5th Punjab Cavalry in a village near for winter consumption. Hazara coolies were made to do this work, and also to dismantle the cavalry quarters in the “King’s Garden,” which, as before stated, we have abandoned. This morning three 18-pounders and an 8-inch howitzer, part of the siege train given to Shere Ali by the Indian Government, were got into position on the bastions east and west of the 72nd Gateway, and to-morrow these will open upon Kila Mahomed Sharif and the villages in rear. We want 40-pounders at least to batter down the thick walls of the fort; but still the heavy guns now ready to be fired will probably have a good effect upon the enemy. Round shot will be used for these 18-pounders, and bits of iron, bullets, &c., have been sewn up in canvas to serve as canister if the enemy make any demonstration in force. There was no difficulty in getting the guns and howitzer up the bastions, twenty or thirty men at the drag-ropes moving them easily into position. It is strange that guns which were given to Shere Ali as a reward for his fidelity to the British should now be turned against the Afghans, who have shown themselves unable to appreciate the value of an alliance with India. Now that the siege train has returned to our possession we shall, perhaps, be less confiding in handing over munitions of war to a nation which has treated us so treacherously.
Beyond throwing out our usual cavalry videttes, we have done nothing to-day to show the enemy we are on the alert. The cavalry have been terribly hard worked since the 10th, and horses and men have suffered in consequence. At one period the saddles were never taken off the horses of the 5th Punjab Cavalry for sixty hours, and the other regiments have been nearly in the same condition. Lieutenant Montenaro died this evening from the effect of the wound received yesterday. This makes the tenth officer we have lost in as many days, and there are still eleven others under treatment for wounds.
21st December.
The three 18-pounders and the howitzer opened fire about ten o’clock this morning upon Kila Mahomed Sharif, and fired round-shot and shell at its walls and the village in rear, where the enemy mustered in strength. The bombardment was so far successful that the fire from the fort at our walls ceased; but the thick walls were too strong to be battered down by anything under a 40-pounder; unless, indeed, our guns had been kept playing upon it for two or three days. After three or four hours’ incessant firing, a party of the 5th Punjabees went out, accompanied by Major Hanna, of the Quartermaster-General’s Department, to examine the place, and see if the enemy had really withdrawn. It was soon found that they were only hiding themselves from the shot and shell; and when the Punjabees got in the open, the Afghans rushed back to their positions and re-opened fire. They used the holes made in the walls by the round-shot as loop-holes, and it must be confessed they were admirably adapted for the purpose. All day long bullets have been dropping over the walls, and five soldiers and several camp-followers have been wounded. The tactics of the enemy are annoying, as they withdraw at the first sign of our men moving out, and return again as soon as we retire. Two or three of their marksmen are daily posted to the same points, and blaze away steadily at any one incautiously peeping over the parapet. Our men quietly sit down inside, smoke their pipes, and laugh at the bullets. A few watch the movements of the sharp-shooters; and as soon as they show in the open, a volley from four or five Martinis is fired, generally killing one or two men. One of the Afghan modes of skirmishing is for a few men to get in rear of a wall, cut holes through the bottom a few inches above the ground, dig another grave-like hole in which to lie down flat, and then to fire their pieces from their loop-hole. The effect is very singular: the flashes seem to leap out of the ground itself, and when a score of men are firing, the bottom of the wall bristles with flame. This manner of firing gives greater steadiness of aim, and is far safer than resting the rifle on the wall-top, or thrusting it through a slit cut half-way up. This afternoon the enemy showed in large numbers in the orchards about Deh-i-Afghan, and were plainly trying to skirmish round towards the north-west gap between the walls and the Bemaru Heights. General Hills commanding at that corner sent out a party of the 5th Punjab Infantry and 3rd Sikhs to occupy some low hills half a mile from the north-west bastion; and these were enough to intimidate the enemy, although we never fired a shot from our rifles. The guns shelled the orchards, and, at dusk, the usual retirement of the Afghans to the city followed. The Sikhs and the Punjabees were then withdrawn to their lines, and all made snug for the night. We have materially lessened the number of men on the walls and bastions to-day, as the duties are so severe, but everything is held in readiness to repulse an assault at a few minutes’ notice. As the Martini ammunition is rather short, Sniders are served out to the Europeans behind the parapets at night. We have plenty of Snider cartridges, as a large quantity was captured in the Bala Hissar.
To-day heliograms were exchanged with Luttabund, and news was received from General Hugh Gough, who is at Sei Baba with 1,400 men and four mountain guns. He will reach here on the 24th at the latest, and then we shall be able to turn the tables on Mahomed Jan and his 30,000 or 40,000 men. Our second convoy of yaboos to Luttabund was cut off, only four ponies out of fifty reaching Colonel Hudson safely. The villagers en route are believed to have killed the Hazara men in charge. The 12th Bengal Cavalry start to-night for Butkhak, whence they will join General Gough’s force. This is the first sign of the approaching termination of the siege.
The Lieutenant-General commanding has published the following Divisional Order, expressing regret at the death of Major Cook, V.C., 5th Ghoorkas:—“It is with deep regret the Lieutenant-General announces to the Cabul Field Force the death, from a wound received on the 12th of December, of Major John Cook, V.C., 5th Ghoorkas. While yet a young officer, Major Cook served at Umbeyla in 1868, where he distinguished himself; and in the Black Mountain campaign in 1868. Joining the Kurram Field Force on its formation, Major Cook was present at the capture of the Peiwar Kotal: his conduct on that occasion earning for him the admiration of the whole force, and the Victoria Cross. In the return in the Monghyr Pass, he again brought himself prominently to notice by his cool and gallant bearing. In the capture of the heights at Sang-i-Nawishta, Major Cook again distinguished himself; and in the attack on the Takht-i-Shah Peak, on the 12th December, he ended a noble career in a manner worthy even of his great name for bravery. By Major Cook’s death Her Majesty has lost the services of an officer who would, had he been spared, have risen to the highest honours of his profession, and Sir F. Roberts feels sure the whole Cabul Field Force will share in the pain his loss has occasioned him.”
22nd December.
We have been left almost undisturbed to-day, and it has been hard to believe we are really in a state of siege. Scarcely a shot was fired at the walls until the evening; but our spies bring in news that Mahomed Jan is reserving his strength for an attack, which shall be final. He has heard, no doubt, of General Gough’s approach, and is wise enough to know that his opportunity is fast slipping away. The advance-guard of our reinforcements is now at Luttabund; and the fact of the 12th Bengal Cavalry going out from Sherpur last night must have shown him that we are once more equal to sending troops down our old line of communication. The 12th Bengal Cavalry had a fearful journey outwards. On passing Kila Mahomed Sharif, on their way to the Cabul bridge, they were fired upon by a picquet, and, the alarm being given, the enemy turned out and blocked the way. The cavalry turned off from the road, and struck the river lower down. The water was not very deep, but the banks were steep and slippery, and men and horses fell backwards as they tried to climb up the further bank. It cost two hours to ford the river, the last squadron having to dismount in the stream, crawl up the bank, and drag their horses after them. The sowars were wet through, and two or three horses were drowned. Once over, the road to Butkhak was taken, and from every village on the road turned out a few men, who fired upon the horsemen. They, perhaps, mistook them for another convoy of yaboos. The dismounted men had to be left to return to Sherpur, under cover of the darkness. Upon nearing Butkhak, a patrol was sent out; and as it was then near daybreak, they could see men moving about the village. The place was occupied by several hundred Afghans, who opened fire upon the cavalry. The latter could not stay to fight; and Major Green, in command, knowing how impossible it was to return to cantonments, resolved to push on to Luttabund. One sowar was shot dead and three others wounded; and the enemy followed so closely that a squadron was dismounted and ordered to skirmish out with their carbines. This gave time for all stragglers to be got together again, and in a short time the skirmishers were recalled and the whole regiment trotted off to Luttabund. Twelve men were missing, but ten have since reported themselves at Sherpur. They disguised themselves by altering their uniform, and then hid away in nullahs until evening, when they crept out and made a wide détour to the north until they reached the open plain between the Wazirabad Lake and the Bemaru Hills. Their horses and accoutrements were lost. The enemy have occupied the village of Khoja Durwesh, about three miles to the east of Sherpur, and are reported to be collecting in force in the forts between Bemaru and this village. They are probably Kohistanis, who have taken the precaution of securing their line of retreat in case of defeat.
Sunjub, a trustworthy retainer of Ibrahim Khan, a ressaldar of native cavalry in our service, has come in from Cabul and reported that Mahomed Jan and the other chiefs have at last made up their minds to assault Sherpur. The fighting men in Cabul have been told off to various sections of attack, and the signal for the assault is to be the kindling of a beacon fire of damp gunpowder, oil, &c., on the Asmai hill. Forty-five scaling-ladders have been given to 2,000 men stationed in the King’s Garden, and Kila Mahomed Sharif, and a demonstration with these is to be made against the southern wall near its western end. This is to be a false attack. The real assault is to be delivered upon the Bemaru village and the eastern trenches; but in case of this assault succeeding, an attempt, in earnest, is to be made to scale the wall near the 72nd Gateway. We have made our dispositions accordingly, and the Reserve will assemble below the Bemaru gorge, at four o’clock to-morrow morning. The Asmai hill will be watched by many eyes, and when the beacon light is seen we shall all be ready at our posts. A message has been sent to General Charles Gough, ordering him to march to Sherpur to-morrow instead of halting at Butkhak.
23rd December.
After eight days’ investment Mahomed Jan has at last made his attack upon Sherpur, and has been beaten off with ridiculous ease, though nearly 20,000 men must have been sent to take part in the assault. Our casualties have been very small, and but for an unfortunate accident, by which two engineer officers were killed by the premature explosion of a mine, the day has been one of perfect success. The tribal combination may be looked upon as broken up, for Kohistanis, Logaris, and Wardaks are reported on their way, in haste, homewards, and our reinforcements are encamped within five miles of Sherpur. The news brought in last evening turned out correct to the letter. From four o’clock this morning nearly all eyes were turned upon the Asmai Peak, and even before the signal light appeared, sharp firing was heard near the King’s Garden and the Fort of Mahomed Sharif. Our sentries on the walls in that direction had been strengthened, but they did not answer the fire, as it was desirable to get the enemy well within range by encouraging them in the belief that we were not on the alert. Our men fell silently into their places; two mountain guns had been placed below the block-house on the eastern end of the Bemaru Heights, the reserves were standing to their arms, and the officers in charge of the sections of defence were all at their posts. At half-past five there was seen on the Asmai Height a little flash of fire, which in a moment grew to a bright glare, and streamed up into the air until it must have been seen by all the country round. For a few moments it burned brightly, as if fed with oil or inflammable matter, and then died away. As it flashed out, a continuous fire was opened below the bastions on either side of the 72nd Gateway, the flashes from the rifles and matchlocks showing that a large body of men had crept up within 200 yards. The bullets whistled harmlessly over the walls and barracks, our men still remaining quiet; as, in the semi-darkness and with the mist still hanging over the fields, nothing could be seen distinctly 100 yards away. We were waiting for the development of the real attack, and shortly before six o’clock it came. From beyond Bemaru and the eastern trenches and walls came a roar of voices so loud and menacing that it seemed as if an army 50,000 strong were charging down upon our thin line of men. Led by their ghazis, the main body of Afghans hidden in the villages and orchards on the eastern side of Sherpur, had rushed out in one dense mob and filled the air with their cry of “Allah-il-Allah!” The roar surged forward as their line advanced, but it was answered by such a roll of musketry that it was drowned for an instant, and then merged into the general din, which told us that our men with Martinis and Sniders were holding their own against the attacking force. For ten minutes the roar was continuous, and then the musketry fire dwindled down to occasional volleys and scattered shots from the south-eastern bastion to the Bemaru Heights, where the mountain guns were waiting for daylight before opening fire. The eastern defences were in charge of Brigadier-General Hugh Gough at the eastern end of the heights, and Colonel Jenkins of the Guides from the trenches on the slopes of the hill to the corner bastion facing Siah Sung. The troops defending the position were the Guides’ Infantry in the trenches about Bemaru, 100 men of the 28th P.I. in the native hospital, and 67th Foot. The latter were reinforced by two companies of the 92nd Highlanders from the Reserve. When the attack was made, it was still so dark and misty that little could be seen in front of the trenches, and the orders were to reserve fire until the advancing masses of Afghans could be clearly made out. Then the men of the 28th were the first to open fire, and they fired volley after volley at such long ranges that they effectually scared away even the ghazis from their neighbourhood. That the fire was not otherwise effective was proved by only one dead body being found afterwards in front of their lines. General Hugh Gough from the hillside, hearing such a tremendous fusillade below, fired star-shells, which burst in the air and showed the attacking force in the fields and orchards nearly 1,000 yards away. The Afghans opened fire in turn, but their shooting was wild and ineffective, though the bullets dropped dangerously about cantonments. The native hospital seemed the point towards which the enemy worked, taking it perhaps as a landmark to guide them; but their right flank was directed towards Bemaru and the trenches on the slopes of the hill. The Guides joined in the fusillade, and the attack was broken while yet the advanced ghazis were 500 or 600 yards away. Sniders at that distance told with precision, and to make headway against them was impossible. The bullets searched every yard of open ground, and made even the orchards almost untenable. To the right of the sepoys of the 28th were the 67th and the 92nd Highlanders, waiting with characteristic discipline the order to fire. Through the mist at last appeared a dense mass of men waving swords and knives, shouting their war-cry, and firing incessantly as they advanced. The order came at last for our soldiers to open fire, and the Afghans were then so close that the volleys told with murderous effect. Some of the ghazis were shot within 80 yards of our rifles, so patiently was the attack awaited; while thirty bodies were counted afterwards well within 200 yards’ range. The attack collapsed as suddenly as it had begun, the Afghans saw what execution men in trenches and behind parapets can do with breech-loaders in their hands, and they took cover behind walls and trees, from whence they expended thousands of cartridges, doing us but little damage. Our ammunition was too precious to be needlessly wasted, and only when clusters of men got within range were volleys fired to scatter them. As day broke the two mountain guns, with an 18-pounder and two of F-A Battery in the corner bastion, shelled the villages and orchards, and it was believed that the ghazis were too disheartened to try a second assault. About eleven o’clock, however, after five hours’ skirmishing, they succeeded in getting a few thousand of their more desperate followers together, and tried again to assault our lines. They were driven back more quickly than on the first occasion; and could, indeed, scarcely be said to have advanced 100 yards in their rude formation of attack. Shortly after this they began to waver and to slacken their fire, and when their scouts reported, as no doubt was the case, that a new force was crossing the Logar river, they became a demoralised mob bent upon seeking safety at the earliest opportunity.
General Charles Gough had left Luttabund in the early morning, and upon arriving at Butkhak had been able to communicate by heliograph with General Roberts. The heliograph flashing away to the east in the Cabul plain must have warned Mahomed Jan of the near approach of our reinforcements, and the clouds of dust rising between Butkhak and the Logar river showed him that troops were moving onwards, and would perhaps take him in rear. In any case the villages east of Sherpur were, in two or three hours, nearly empty of men; the plain beyond was covered with Afghans streaming towards Siah Sung and Cabul. The Kohistani section, to the number of fully 5,000, went away to the north, homewards, taking their women, whom they had brought down, to witness their triumph, with them. It was now our turn to attack instead of being attacked. The guns shelled the fields wherever parties of men were within range; two guns of F-A and an 18-pounder making grand practice at so close a range as 300 yards; and the cavalry were sent out by way of the Bemaru gorge to cut up the fugitives. First of all went the 5th P.C. with four guns of G-3, R.A., which shelled the villages near Bemaru. By one o’clock the enemy were completely broken. The 5th P.C. were fortunate to get among a detached body on the north side of the lake. When their first charge was over, thirty Afghans were lying dead on the plain. The 9th Lancers joined them, and soon our horsemen were charging over the Siah Sung slopes. The main body of the enemy had got well away to the city, but all stragglers were hunted down in the nullahs in which they took shelter, and then despatched. Two or three lancers or sowars were told off to each straggler, and the men, dismounting, used their carbines when the unlucky Afghan had been hemmed in. Following in the wake of the 9th Lancers and the 5th Punjab Cavalry came the Sappers, with every engineer officer in camp, their orders being to blow up and burn all the villages and forts lately occupied by the enemy. The cavalry had cleared the fields and open ground of all Afghans, but in the villages some fanatics remained, and these, fastening themselves up securely in houses or towers, were blown up by the mines laid by the engineers. Lieutenant Murdoch had a very narrow escape. Entering a fortified village he kicked open the door of a house, and was greeted with a volley from three or four men inside. He was wounded in the neck, but not dangerously, and as the Afghans refused to surrender, the blasting charge was laid near the house, and they were killed when the mine was fired. A sad accident occurred in another fort. Captain Dundas, V.C., and Lieutenant Nugent, Royal Engineers, had constructed three mines which were to destroy the walls and towers; and all being ready they went back to light the fuses. The sappers were drawn up outside under their European non-commissioned officer, and noticed that two of the mines exploded almost instantly. Their officers were still within the walls, and when the dust and smoke cleared away, they were still missing. Search was made, and the bodies of Captain Dundas and Lieutenant Nugent were found lying under the débris. Both officers were dead. It is conjectured that the time-fuses, instead of burning slowly, flared up like a train of powder, and that the mines exploded a few seconds after the fuses were lighted. We have thus lost two good officers by an accident which might have been prevented if the equipment of the Sappers had not been cut down by the parsimony of the Government. So few fuses were sent up from India when the force advanced upon Cabul that the engineers had to make others, and these were of course defective. It was two of these which were being used when the explosion occurred. While the cavalry were covering the operations of the Sappers, several thousand men marched from the Bala Hissar and opened fire upon the 9th Lancers and the 5th Punjab Cavalry on Siah Sung. Several men were hit, and Captain Gambier, of the 5th Punjab Cavalry, was wounded by a bullet passing through his thigh. The Cavalry withdrew under the heavy fire directed against them, and for a few hours the Afghans remained on the heights with banners planted. They retired to the city at nightfall, and all the villages between Sherpur and Cabul are now quite deserted.
While the attack was being made on the eastern defences, three or four thousand men had kept up an incessant fire at the southern wall, and such a rain of bullets fell about the Commissariat and 72nd Gates that many of our camp-followers in cantonments were wounded. Kila Mahomed Sharif and the King’s Garden were full of Afghans, and two 18-pounders and two mountain guns shelled them until late in the afternoon, while the marksmen behind the walls shot down such men as retreated across the open. Dead bodies were seen lying in the fields, and two or three scaling-ladders, so heavy that six men would have been needed to carry them, were scattered about on the ground less than a thousand yards away. When the Afghans on the southern side saw our cavalry sweeping over Siah Sung, they began to retire hastily to the city, and as they crossed the road 1,000 yards away from our bastions, they were fired at from the 72nd Gateway, and many were seen to fall even at that distance. The men who stopped to carry off the dead behaved in the coolest way, one Afghan returning again and again to drag off the bodies of his comrades. Earlier in the day four men were killed by a volley at 600 yards, and two or three who escaped tried to face the bullets which swept the ground about their dead. Finding it was certain death to appear in the open, they crawled behind a wall, and with a long crooked stick dragged their dead away. Several of the best marksmen of Mahomed Jan, who had come daily to the same posts and fired persistently at the ramparts, were shot to-day, our men having at last got the exact ranges. The waste of ammunition on the part of the enemy was enormous; they knew perhaps that it was their last chance, and they fired round after round all day long.
From the ladders found in the fields there can be no doubt the feint on the southern side of Sherpur would have become a real attack if the eastern line of defences had been forced; but the scaling ladders were only high enough to reach half-way up the wall, and the assaulting party could never have gained the parapet. We should have been well satisfied if they had come on, as their punishment would have been fearfully severe. On the south-west and west no attack was made: a few hundred men from Deh-i-Afghan occupied our vidette-hill towards the lake, and planted a white standard on the crest, but they never fired a shot, and a few shells in the evening warned them to retire, which they did about five o’clock. A few standards were also placed in the fields to the west, but the ghazis with them hid themselves behind little sungars they had thrown up, and did not annoy us at all. The northern line of trenches along Bemaru Heights were never assailed, the steep hillside facing Kohistan being clear of cover; and though, once, it was expected that the gorge would be attacked, and guns were ordered up to the trenches there, the appearance of the 5th P.C. on the maidan below checked such of the enemy as were working round from the village north of Bemaru. In fact, after the first unsuccessful attack, the enemy did not know what to do, and though their leaders on horseback galloped about and harangued them, they could never be got together in a cohesive body. Several of the horsemen were shot, and we are hoping that Mir Butcha, the Kohistani Chief, is among the number. At any rate, a horseman who was most energetic was struck by a volley, and immediately he fell from his horse 200 or 300 men rushed from a village near, placed him on a charpoy, and went straight away across the maidan over the Paen Minar Kotal, which is on the southern road to Kohistan. The man must have been a chief of distinction to be thus guarded, for his escort never looked back upon Sherpur, but hurried their chief away as fast as the bearers of the charpoy could walk.
To-night we are resting on our arms, but all is quiet in the fields about Sherpur, and we look upon the investment as at an end. The brigade under General Charles Gough is halted tonight on the Jellalabad Road at the Logar river, and is holding the bridge, which after all was never destroyed by Mahomed Jan. Our reinforcements will march in to-morrow, but it is scarcely likely there will be any more fighting, as spies from the city report that the tribesmen are in full retreat. Very glad, indeed, are we to be once more free after nine days’ close confinement at Sherpur. As a soldier remarked on the walls when the Lieutenant-General was making his rounds:—“Well, I should think this is the first time in his life that General Roberts has been confined to barracks!” The confinement has harassed men and officers so much that we dread the re-action: the excitement is over now, and the exposure night after night in snow and slush must have broken down the health of many. The worst cases in hospital even now are men suffering from pneumonia: the wounded are doing well, though some of the wounds are very severe. Snow has begun to fall again, and winter has now set in thoroughly.
The casualties to-day, including followers, are thirty-two in number. General Hugh Gough was knocked over by a Snider bullet, which must have been nearly spent. It cut through his poshteen in the right breast, but was caught in the folds of a woollen vest, and fell at his feet as he shook himself together again. The returns for to-day are as follows:—
CASUALTIES ON 23RD DECEMBER. ─────────────────────────┬───────────────────────┬───────────────── │ British. │ ─────────────────────────┼───────────┬───────────┼───────────┬───── Regiments │ Officers. │ Men. │ Native. │Total. ─────────────────────────┼─────┬─────┼─────┬─────┼─────┬─────┼───── │ K.│ W.│ K.│ W.│ K.│ W.│ Royal Engineers │ 1│ 1│ —│ —│ —│ —│ 2 F-A, Royal Horse │ —│ —│ —│ 1│ —│ —│ 1 Artillery │ │ │ │ │ │ │ G-3, Royal Artillery │ —│ —│ —│ 1│ —│ —│ 1 No. 1 Mountain Battery │ —│ —│ —│ —│ —│ 1│ 1 No. 2 Mountain Battery │ —│ —│ —│ —│ 1│ —│ 1 9th Lancers │ —│ —│ —│ 1│ —│ —│ 1 5th Punjab Cavalry │ —│ 1│ —│ —│ —│ 7│ 8 67th Foot │ —│ —│ —│ 1│ —│ —│ 1 92nd Highlanders │ —│ —│ 1│ 5│ —│ —│ 6 23rd Pioneers │ —│ —│ —│ —│ 1│ —│ 1 Guides’ Infantry │ —│ —│ —│ —│ —│ 3│ 3 Sappers and Miners │ 1│ —│ —│ —│ —│ —│ 1 3rd Sikhs │ —│ —│ —│ —│ —│ 2│ 2 5th Punjab Infantry │ —│ —│ —│ —│ —│ 2│ 2 28th Punjab Infantry │ —│ —│ —│ —│ —│ 1│ 1 ─────────────────────────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼───── Total │ 2│ 2│ 1│ 9│ 2│ 16│ 32 ─────────────────────────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴─────
Of our followers one was killed and six wounded. The total casualties during the siege and on the day of the final attack were eighteen killed and sixty-eight wounded (including seven followers killed and twenty-two wounded).
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Chapter XIX
The Re-Occupation of Cabul—Signs of Mahomed Jan’s Occupation—Complete Dispersion of Mahomed Jan’s Army—General Hill’s Return to the City—Christmas in Sherpur—Universal Character of the late Jehad—Necessity for reinforcing the Army of Occupation—General Baker’s Expedition to Baba Kuch Kar—Examination of the Bala Hissar—Demolition of Forts and Villages about Sherpur—Cabul Revisited—A New Military Road—The Destruction of Shops by Mahomed Jan’s Force—Despondency of the Hindus and Kizilbashes—State of the Char Chowk Bazaar—A Picture of Desolation—The Kotwali—Wali Mahomed’s Losses—Ill-treatment of Women.
24th December.
Our expectations have been fully realized; the enemy which held us in check since December 14th has disappeared, and our troops are once more in Cabul, which shows terrible marks of Mahomed Jan’s occupation. Every house belonging to Sirdars known to favour the British has been looted, and in the bazaars all the shops are gutted except those of the Mahomedans. Doors and windows broken in, walls knocked down, all woodwork destroyed, floors dug up, and property carried off: these are the signs of the Reign of Terror lately instituted among the Kizilbashes and Hindus. The search for treasure was carried out in a systematic way, and the loot now in possession of Kohistanis, Ghilzais, and other tribesmen must be worth many lakhs. Two lakhs of treasure belonging to Hashim Khan alone, are said to have been seized, while the Hindus complain of being utterly ruined. We shall have to inquire further into this when things are once more firmly settled, but at present we have enough to do in pursuing the enemy, and arresting such local Afghans as joined their ranks. These men now hide their arms, and appear in all the beautiful simplicity of peaceful citizens, but the subterfuge is too easily detected for them to escape punishment. We were not sure early this morning that Mahomed Jan’s host had vanished, although, as the night had passed quietly, there was every reason to believe the siege was at an end. Our first movement was to occupy Kila Mahomed Shariff, and Colonel Brownlow sent out a party of the 72nd Highlanders to the fort at dawn. They found it quite deserted, and the other forts and villages near were also without occupants. Two or three wounded men were lying within the walls, and the bodies of some thirty Afghans were scattered about near the loop-holes, or in the open where our bullets had struck them down. This was on the southern face, near the 72nd and Commissariat gateways, so that the false attack in this direction must have cost the enemy many lives. Afghans do not, as a rule, leave their dead behind, and doubtless there were carried away double the number found. Scaling-ladders covered with blood were lying in the fields and forts, and heaps of powder and some hundreds of ball-cartridges were discovered. Unlimited ammunition must have been served out to each man, and as an examination shows that all the powder and caps in the Bala Hissar have been carried off, or destroyed, it is clear that every tribesman filled his pouch with an ample supply before making the attack. Those who have got safely away will have powder enough to last them for two or three years, as many tons were left by us in the magazine. But for their losses, which are calculated at 2,000 or 3,000 killed and wounded since December 10th, the army of Mahomed Jan may consider their sojourn in Cabul during the Mohurrum a grand success, temporary though it was. They blockaded the British army, caused it a loss of between 300 and 400, and proclaimed a new Amir, whom they have still with them. Young Musa Jan has been carried off by Mushk-i-Alam, who may, if he chooses, establish the new sovereign at Ghazni, and invite all Afghanistan to rally about him. The old moollah is reported to have fled with the lad last night, while Mahomed Jan remained in Cabul until eight o’clock this morning. He then saw that his army had deserted him, and he followed the example of Mushk-i-Alam, and took to the hills. Strong parties of cavalry have been out all day in the Chardeh Valley and round by Charasia, but beyond a few men on the snow-covered hills no one was met with. It was difficult work pursuing, as snow was falling steadily. The 30,000 men have dissolved, and, with their loot, are taking mountain roads, where they are safe from pursuit. The villages contain many men who fought against us, and hereafter we shall visit them with our flying column. On the 11th, 12th, and 13th every fortified enclosure our men passed was barred against them, and the occupants fired at stragglers and turned out to harass rear-guards. The Mahomedan population of Cabul joined Mahomed Jan almost to a man, thinking the British rule was at an end, and now these citizens, whose homes we spared when we came among them in the flush of success, are hurrying away in anticipation of the reprisals we shall inflict. The time has gone by for weak sentimentality: military law alone should now guide Sir F. Roberts in his dealings with the people, for it has been proved beyond question that to act humanely is merely to encourage the Afghans in their belief that we are unequal to controlling them. Instead of leaving an indelible mark upon Cabul, we have enriched it by our purchases of winter supplies, and have poured lakhs of rupees into the purses of the very men who had nothing to expect but the fate of a conquered race.
The Hindus and Kizilbashes who relied upon us for protection may well revile us, since we have left them to their fate; while the Mahomedans who have looted their homes, insulted their women, and terrorized over them for ten days, are now laughing at our inability to follow them to their distant villages. The unlucky Hazaras, who have worked so well for us, were hunted down, beaten, and reviled wherever they showed their faces in the streets; and were told jeeringly to call for help upon the British locked up in Sherpur. Our humiliation is so great that to risk a repetition of it would be ruinous. We must show that the investment of Sherpur can never again occur, and to do this 10,000 troops must hold Cabul, and our line of communication with India be so permanently established that even 100,000 tribesmen cannot break it. An immediate declaration of policy should be made: to wait quietly for “events to develop” may be disastrous. We must create events, not allow others to turn the current of them in whichever direction they please. If we are to hold Cabul—and this is now ten times more imperious even than it was before, for to retire would be to acknowledge that we have failed in our occupation, and dare not risk another reverse—we must hold it by our bayonets and not by our rupees. Half-measures will only imperil our safety: to put trust in Afghan cunning and be guided by Afghan insincerity is only to risk the lives of our soldiers. Those soldiers have done all that soldiers can do, and they may well look to their commanders to make success once obtained sure and stable. We lost less than 100 men in capturing Cabul; we have lost nearly four times that number in fifteen days’ fighting, after we had occupied the place for two months. There must be no longer a state of false security; for it is not improbable that the jehad will be revived before the winter is over, and the moollahs may again influence the religious fanaticism of the people against us.
To-day General Hills, our Governor of the City, once more visited the kotwali, guarded by the 5th P.I., while the sepoys were busy all day in searching the Mahomedan quarter, and in arresting such citizens as they could find remaining. One hundred Punjabees garrison the kotwali for the night, and the Kizilbashes and Hindus are once more plucking up courage. The Bala Hissar has been examined, and not an Afghan found in it, and in two or three days the 9th Foot, and the 2nd and 4th Ghoorkas, which arrived at Sherpur this morning with General Charles Gough, will be quartered in the fortress. Butkhak is also to be re-garrisoned with 100 of the 9th and the whole of the 12th B.C., and in a short time we shall be once more holding a strong line of communication with Peshawur. Our most urgent want is ammunition. The reinforcements have only brought about 200 rounds per man, and our own supply cannot be much more than 250 rounds, taking the regiments all through.
Among our political prisoners now is Yakub Khan’s mother, who was chiefly instrumental in raising the jehad. She will be closely watched for the future, and as she is a woman of great resource, it may be advisable to deport her to India. The camp has also received with due hospitality forty or fifty ladies, the wives and other relatives of Sirdars among us, as guests.
27th December.
After all the excitement of our ten days’ siege it is a great relief now to pass beyond the walls of Sherpur, even though the roads and fields about are ankle-deep in mud and half-melted snow. Not a shot now disturbs our peaceful quiet, and the only unusual sound is the dull report of a mine exploding where our engineers are busy demolishing forts and walls which only four days ago sheltered our enemy. Our Christmas has been of the sober, thoughtful kind. We have so lately been released from the painful constraint of constant vigilance and hard fighting, that our spirits could not rise very high in the scale of festivity; and our losses have so sobered us that it would seem almost sacrilegious to “feast and make merry” with the death of so many comrades still fresh in our memory and with the hospitals full of wounded men, sufferers in the actions fought since the 10th. Besides, every one is worn out with watching, and it will be some time before officers and men can once more take life placidly, and enjoy heartily such little pleasures as are forthcoming. Christmas day was one of rest for all of us, for our cavalry reconnaissances had shown that the enemy had dispersed far out of our reach; and as the snow lay six inches deep on the ground, there was little chance of our troopers overtaking even such small bands as might have followed the main roads to Logar, Ghazni, or Kohistan. On the 24th the horses had to be led back by the troopers from Charasia, the snow having “balled” their feet and made riding dangerous, and there was nothing to be gained by sending them out again on a similar errand. We were not all convinced that none of Mahomed Jan’s followers were lurking about, and strong guards were still held ready at night, to repel any sudden attack. But the precaution might have been neglected; for never before has an “army” 30,000 strong melted so rapidly away. The tribesmen must have travelled quickly during the night of the 23rd after we had beaten them from our walls, and now the country about for miles seems deserted of its inhabitants. Such villages as are passed have their doors barred and bolted, and not even a ghazi turns out to throw away his life. The snow-covered hills, which now shut us in on all sides, stand out in pure whiteness and make no sign. They have seen the scattered thousands who held high revel in Cabul pass away in hot haste; but the snow has blotted out their footprints, and the trail is lost. By-and-by we shall take it up anew, and search out our enemy in his secluded villages and forts, for a force is even now toiling over the snow in Kohistan, and will in a few days be at Mir Butcha’s gates. Logar also may see another column marching upon its villages, but more distant Wardak and Ghazni are probably safe until the spring; that is, if Mahomed Jan and his powerful friend, the moollah Mushk-i-Alam, do not keep their promise of returning to Cabul at the festival of Nauroz, March 21st. They have had such an unexpected success, and have secured such valuable loot, that, in spite of their losses, they may be tempted again to repeat the experiment of coming boldly to meet our army, instead of waiting in their homes for an attack.
The fuller we examine into the jehad, the more clear it becomes that the late combination more nearly approached a general movement among all sections than any that has yet been attempted. In the short period during which it existed, nearly every available fighting man in North-Eastern Afghanistan flocked to the banners consecrated by Mushk-i-Alam; and if the success of the jehad had been a little longer-lived—say by the interception of our reinforcements—there would have been streams of men setting in for Cabul from Turkistan, Badakshan, and the Shutargardan district, which would have made Mahomed Jan the leader of that “lakh of men” of which he boasted. Every chief of importance among the wide-spread Ghilzais and the more compact Kohistanis and Safis was up in arms, and the fighting at Jugdulluck showed that Asmatullah Khan and his Lughmanis were at one with their friends besieging Sherpur. Even Padshah Khan, whose virtues short-sighted politicians have extolled, brought a contingent to Cabul, and fought against us with desperate hatred, although he had greatly smoothed our path during the first march from Ali Khel. With Mahomed Jan were also Mir Butcha and several other Kohistani chiefs—Usman Khan, the Safi leader of Tagao; Gholam Hyder Khan (Logari), and Aslam Khan, Colonel of Artillery, both of whom fought at Charasia; and several minor Ghilzai leaders, who had each brought their following of 500 or 1,000 men. The countenance Mahomed Jan and Mushk-i-Alam received from Yakub Khan’s mother and wife gave them a status which they did not fail to use to the best of their advantage; and while, perhaps, half their followers were freebooters, intent upon looting Hindus and Kizilbashes, they made it appear in their attempt to negotiate with Sir Frederick Roberts that they were the patriotic leaders of a movement which had for its object not so much the ejectment of the British army, as the revival of the Amirship. Singularly enough, the removal of Yakub Khan was made a pretext for their occupation of Cabul, and this in the face of their callousness as to his fate when he was a prisoner in our camp. Yakub’s mother, working through Mushk-i-Alam and his moollahs, turned the full tide of religious enthusiasm aroused by the jehad into channels which should serve to place either her exiled son or her grandson on the throne, and the proclamation of Musa Jan as Amir was a bold step, which may yet give us much trouble to nullify. Musa Jan is in the hands of Mushk-i-Alam, who may renew his jehad. By setting up the child in state at Ghazni, and formulating decrees and proclamations in his name, he may give the people a pretext for denying the existence of British authority further than the few acres commanded by our guns about Cabul: and taking religion again as a rallying cry, he may by Nauroz be ready with another 30,000 men to try conclusions with us again. The late army which besieged us does not exist, save in scattered units. The feeling which drew it together is still alive; for fanaticism only slumbers in this country, and has sometimes so rapid an awakening that it must be constantly watched. The ten days’ success of Mahomed Jan will be quoted as proving that, under more favourable conditions, it might be extended indefinitely; and unless, by our preparations, we show that the conditions in future, instead of being more favourable, become steadily less and less attractive to men who may be called upon to join a new jehad, the British army of occupation may be again isolated. It is to be hoped that no false measure of economy will prevent the strength of the force here being so raised that from 3,000 to 4,000 men will always be available for outside work, after Sherpur or whatever lines we may occupy have been strongly garrisoned. Our reinforcements number only 1,400 men, and Luttabund is still left without a garrison; while 100 of the 9th Foot and the whole of the 12th Bengal Cavalry have been sent to Butkhak to hold that post. We may seem strong enough now when we have not an enemy within twenty miles; but so we seemed equally safe three weeks ago, when we disbelieved in the possibility of 30,000 Afghans ever collecting together. If our experience is to go for nothing we shall revert to the old order of things, perhaps allowing the other division to garrison Luttabund and Sei Baba; but if we are to convince the late leaders of the jehad that a second can only be a ridiculous failure, we shall have the whole of Generals Charles Gough and Arbuthnot’s brigades west of Jugdulluck.[36] There may arise some difficulty in regard to winter supplies; but if the policy, now begun, of requisitioning the villages belonging to hostile chiefs be carried out to its full extent, our reinforcements can live comfortably. Besides, the Kyber transport should at once be so remodelled that it will not be frittered away for want of due supervision, and then, surely, supplies can be sent from Peshawur as far as Jugdulluck, Luttabund, or even Cabul itself. If we have to face the possibility of a second siege of Sherpur, and of another blow at our prestige by tribes of Asiatics, we may as well face it with our eyes open and our powder dry. This same question of powder may involve us in difficulties yet, for we want ammunition badly; and if it has to be brought up from Peshawur, it will take three weeks to reach here. As we are sending flying columns out again, the troops comprising which may get rid of 100 rounds per man in a few days, the prospect does not seem so bright of our 250 rounds each lasting very long. If Mahomed Jan had persistently attacked our force in the manner he at last did on December 23rd, we should now be left with about seventy rounds in each man’s pouch. Fortunately for us, Mahomed Jan is not a military genius.
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Footnote 36:
The plan here suggested was afterwards carried out.
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I have spoken of the flying columns we are sending out. The first of these left Sherpur this morning, bound for Baba Kuch Kar, where the villages belonging to Mir Butcha are said to lie. This is about twenty-four miles away on the Charikar Road, through the heart of the Koh-Daman, and it is not improbable that our force may meet with opposition. This is the first time we have interfered with the Kohistanis since 1841, and they have a belief in their own powers among their native hills, which may cause them to fight bravely in defence of their villages. They have an unlimited supply of ammunition taken from the Bala Hissar, and this to tribesmen is half the battle. The country is quite unknown to us, and, with the snow lying thick on the hills, our men are sure to suffer great hardships. General Baker’s column is made up as follows:—
Hazara Mountain Battery (four guns); Guides’ Cavalry (200 sabres); 67th Foot (500 men); Guides’ Infantry (400); 2nd Ghoorkas (400); 5th Punjabees (400); Sappers and Miners (1½ company).
The 2nd Ghoorkas were too weak to muster 400 bayonets for service, so the 4th Ghoorkas were called upon to make up the number. The Sappers take with them materials for demolishing forts and villages; and it is intended to loot the place thoroughly, so 15 per cent. of the transport animals in Sherpur accompany the column in addition to their own complement of mules and yaboos. 200 rounds of ammunition per man and five days’ rations are carried for the men. Two survey officers accompany the column, and three parties of signallers under Captain Straton. The signalling branch of the service has come, deservedly, to be looked upon as playing a most important part in every operation undertaken. The column is strong enough both to punish Mir Butcha and to collect supplies; but there is a strong opinion in camp that before any reprisals were begun our communications with Jugdulluck should have been secured. We have had no news from Jugdulluck since the 20th, and we are in doubt as to the safety of our despatches. The news of Mahomed Jan’s flight should cause the local Ghilzais to settle down peacefully again; and as more troops move up from Gundamak and Jellalabad, the line will doubtless be re-opened in ten days. When General Baker returns from Kohistan, another column is to be sent to the Logar Valley, and more supplies collected; this time, perhaps, without the expenditure of two or three lakhs of rupees.
A report has been spread that the Bala Hissar has been mined, and for the present no garrison will be placed within its walls. The Engineers are busy examining the fortress, and when they have decided as to its safety, General Charles Gough’s brigade will be moved into it for the winter. Gangs of Hazara coolies are employed demolishing the walls of villages and forts about Sherpur, and also in clearing away detached walls in the fields, the remains of old fortified enclosures. One of the guns given by us to Wali Mahomed, when it was expected he would go to Turkistan as Governor, has been brought in; but the two guns of Swinley’s Battery, lost on the 14th, are still missing.
29th December.
I have visited the city of Cabul, which is now again in our hands, and have seen the havoc made in its bazaars by the army of Mahomed Jan and the fanatical followers of Mushk-i-Alam. The city is considered safe again for visitors, though officers visiting it have to go in pairs, and carry arms. This is a precaution against any stray ghazis who may still be in hiding within its walls. My guard was simply four Sikhs, and with this small escort I was able to examine the place thoroughly, without molestation. The Mussulman population still remaining is in a wholesome state of fear, and as our search-parties go from house to house seeking men who played us false, there is a tendency among the citizens to draw off to obscure nooks and corners. Passing out by the head-quarters’ gate in the western wall, I followed the muddy footpath across the fields to Deh-i-Afghan, the walls and ditches about which yet show signs of the late fighting, in the presence of cartridge-cases thrown away after being fired by the Afghans. In the gardens about the suburb the trees are cut and “blazed” where our shells exploded, but the damage really is very slight. We had not sufficient ammunition to waste shells on these enclosures, and two or three doses of shrapnel or common shell were generally enough to silence the fire of the enemy in any given orchard. Climbing up the path to Deh-i-Afghan, which stands on a low rounded hill at the foot of the Asmai Heights, and on the left bank of the Cabul river, I came across a few disconsolate-looking Hindus and Kizilbashes on their way to Sherpur, to relate their woes and file their bill of damages against “the great British Government,” which had promised to protect them. Besides these unlucky men were strings of Hazara coolies, staggering under their heavy loads of wood or bhoosa, and to all-seeming as happy as ever in their rags and wretchedness. All the doors and windows of the houses were barred and locked, and but few Mussulman faces could be seen. Here and there were knots of men discussing, with subdued looks, the late events. The gossipers were profuse in salaams, but moved off as our little party moved onwards. Deh-i-Afghan was shelled, on the 14th, by six guns for about an hour, and during the siege an 8-inch howitzer occasionally pitched a shell into the crowds which always gathered within and about it. I therefore expected to see some great damage done to the houses. But beyond a hole in a wall or roof, or the branches of trees cut off in the courtyards, there was nothing to show that our shells had fallen within its walls. Most of the houses are so strongly made, the walls being four or five feet thick at the base, and firmly built up of stone and mud cement, that to breach them would require a 40-pounder, and we have no guns here of this calibre. The streets of Deh-i-Afghan were so deserted that it was quite a relief to leave them behind, especially as the whole place seemed to smell of the shambles—due, perhaps, to the bodies of men killed in action being buried in shallow graves. At the foot of the Asmai Heights, where the road turns off to the Cabul gorge, a company of the 3rd Sikhs was halted, while Captain Nicholson, R.E., was deciding the direction a new military road should take from Sherpur to Dehmazung. General Hills, Governor of the City, with a number of “friendly” Cabulis, explained to them what houses were to be pulled down, and in a few days we shall have some 500 or 600 men busy in demolishing the place. As yet we have not destroyed a house in Cabul, and our merciful policy has only encouraged its turbulent ruffians to turn and harass us at the first opportunity. Military considerations alone should be now allowed to prevail, and any course decided upon as contributing to the safety of Sherpur should be carried out unswervingly. We have seen how great was the protection afforded by Deh-i-Afghan to the enemy, as enabling them to collect beneath its walls in perfect security, in occupying or in retiring from the Asmai hill, and this protection should now be swept away, even if every wall and house between the foot of the hill and the Cabul river has to be pulled down. General Macpherson’s retirement from above the Bala Hissar on the evening of the 14th had to be made by way of Deh-i-Afghan, and his troops were under fire the whole time in getting from the Cabul gorge to the fields beyond, where our troops from Sherpur were waiting to cover their retirement. Our anxiety, so long as a man remained within the shadow of Deh-i-Afghan, was at the time very great.
From Deh-i-Afghan across a bridge which spans the Cabul river, and thence by a winding path among high walls and sombre-looking dwellings, to the Chandaul quarter, is only a few minutes’ walk. The melting snow had made the narrow, ill-paved streets almost impassable in places, and we had to splash through mud and slush to make any progress at all. As this end of the city was entered there were a few more signs of life, and one or two shops were open, but few wares were displayed. All these shops belonged to Mahomedans; they had escaped looting, and their happy owners were now placidly returning to their every-day life, though, perchance, during the Mohurrum they ruffled it with the best, and swaggered about, threatening death to all Kafirs. They know our weakness for sparing a fallen foe, and they trade upon it systematically. They will take our rupees to-day, and be all subserviency or sullen independence—not so much the latter now—and will cut our throats and hack our bodies to pieces to-morrow as part of the beautiful programme drawn up by a far-seeing Providence. Passing by these few shops tenanted by Mahomedans, I soon came to those owned by Hindus, and here the wreck was great. Like all Eastern bazaars, those of Cabul consist of rows of little stalls raised three or four feet above the street level. The rear and side walls are built of mud and sun-dried bricks, while the front is all open, except where the rude wooden shutters are put up at nightfall, and the little door securely padlocked. But few of the shopkeepers live “on the premises;” they have houses in the back-streets, where their wives and families are secluded; so that, when the day’s work or trading is over, the bazaars are deserted, except by wanderers or strangers in search of their night’s resting-place. These little stalls have been gutted; nothing is left except the bare walls. Every scrap of woodwork has been carried away, and the floors have been dug up in search of hidden treasure. The walls in several places are broken down, and their ruins lie across the street; while in one or two instances the very poles of the roofs have been purloined, and the snow and mist have wantoned through the nice snug corners where Bokhara silks, Manchester cottons, or Sheffield cutlery lay stored away. A description of one stall will serve for all. Scarcely a Hindu shop has been left untouched, and Defilement has followed upon Devastation, until the twin-sisters have made the havoc complete. The wretched shopkeepers sit among the ruins in helpless misery, and are already debating whether it would not be better to pack up their household goods and move for Hindustan rather than wait for a second irruption of the hungry horde of tribesmen who are now hurrying away to their homes laden with the loot of Cabul. These Hindus make the most of their losses unquestionably, in the hope of obtaining compensation from the British; yet there can be no doubt they have been robbed of a large amount of property. The Shore Bazaar is nearly all wrecked, and one part of the Char Chowk, the large covered-in bazaar of Cabul, has been cleared out even to the nails in the walls. The practice of burying articles of value is so common among Cabulis, and indeed among Asiatics generally, that part of the strong masonry of which the main walls of the Char Chowk are built up has been broken down, and huge holes and gaps left to show the earnestness of the search. Such shops as have been spared in the heart of the city are still closed, for their owners do not care to display their goods too soon, as they have to bear the inquisitorial questions of their less fortunate neighbours. A more wretched picture of desolation than Cabul presented as I rode through it cannot be imagined. All the life and turmoil had died out of it, and the only persons who seemed to take advantage of the general stagnation were the women, many of whom were flitting about in their long white robes as if free from all restraint. The kotwali had been made the temporary head-quarters of Mahomed Jan, who had garrisoned it with a few hundred resolute men. Their first act had been to destroy and defile the room where General Hills sat as Governor of the City; and they had done this very completely, even the roof and floor being torn up. Loop-holes had been knocked into the walls of every room, both above and below, as if in anticipation of a stand being made if it came to street-fighting. The kotwali is a high square building; an open courtyard, with two tiers of rooms round it, and a parapet above all whence the neighbouring roofs and streets can he commanded by musketry fire. It is so closely hemmed in by buildings, however, that it would not be a good position to defend. The entrance is from the middle of the Char Chowk Bazaar, and it is the centre round which all Cabul circulates when any excitement arouses the people. When I visited it in my ramble through the city I found 100 Sikhs and Ghoorkas garrisoning it, and ready to turn out at a moment’s notice if an alarm of “ghazis” were raised. Speaking to a friendly Cabuli, he assured me that lakhs of property had been looted; he himself had had five houses cleared out, while sirdars in our camp had been treated in a similar way. Wali Mahomed especially had been a sufferer, and the ladies of his zenana had been subjected to great indignities. Believing that they had ornaments of value hidden upon their persons, they were stripped of every stitch of clothing, and turned out in all the shame of nakedness into the streets. Questioned as to the number of Mahomed Jan’s followers, the Cabuli said there were fully 30,000 men, and this coincided with estimates given by our spies and others who have been examined since. Padshah Khan, the man whom we trusted so implicitly on our march from the Shutargardan, was among the leaders, and brought a small contingent to swell the army of fanatics. The systematic way in which the looting was carried on will appear from the statement that, when a man defended his house against a small band of marauders, they retired for the time, and then returned, as a Hindu put it, “10,000 strong.” It was useless to offer opposition to such numbers, though I believe many of the Kizilbashes, by professing to be good Mahomedans, saved their property. There were not many inoffensive shopkeepers killed, eight or ten at the highest estimate: but the fear and terror in which they lived hidden away in cellars and holes made their life during the Mohurrum scarcely worth the living. I left Cabul, feeling that it was, indeed, a hapless city. The industrious classes, who had been our friends and had rejoiced at our coming, had been despoiled under our eyes; while those who had cursed us in their hearts, and longed to drive us out, were once more cowed after a short triumph, and were calculating how many of their number would shortly grace the gallows. The Military Commission under the presidency of Brigadier-General Massy has again been ordered to assemble. This time, it is to be hoped a few men of importance may be executed—always provided that we can find them. The members of the Commission are General Massy, Major Morgan, (of the 9th Foot), and Major Stewart (of the 5th Punjab Cavalry).
The remains of Captain Spens were found to-day by Dr. Duke, about ten yards from the spot where he was cut down. General Roberts, with a small force, visited Chardeh Valley to-day, to examine the ground where the cavalry and guns came to grief on the 11th. One mountain gun of Swinley’s Battery, lost on the 14th, has been found. It was lying in a jheel (a shallow pool) a few miles up Chardeh Valley, where it had been abandoned by the enemy in their flight.
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Chapter XX
The Probabilities of the Revival of the Jehad—Insincerity of Native Chiefs—The Need of further Reinforcements—The Difficulties of Warfare in Afghanistan—Return of General Baker from Baba Kuch Kar—Recovery of the Bodies of Lieutenants Hardie and Forbes—Review of the Jehad—The Attitude of the Tribes on the Line of Communications—Asmatullah Khan’s Position—Failure to check our Reinforcements—The Importance of the Luttabund Post—Attack upon Jugdulluck—Repulse of the Lughmanis—Deportation of Daoud Shah to India—Military Executions.
1st January, 1880.
The New Year has come upon us so suddenly that we have had no time to cast vain regrets upon worn-out months, which have witnessed the making of important pages of history, and given us a new starting-point in our relations with Afghanistan. A month ago we were dying of weary inactivity, but this feeling was swept away by the stirring events of the Mohurrum, and we have not yet sunk back into our old state of lassitude. Our losses have been so heavy, that it behoves us to take precautions to prevent a repetition of the late investment; and we are bestirring ourselves right heartily to give the ghazi-log a reception worthy of their impetuous nature, if they keep their promise to return in March. Musa Jan, Yakub Khan’s son, is now with Mushk-i-Alam (that unsavoury moollah, whose title means “Scent of the Universe”) at Bad Mushk, twelve miles from Ghazni; and when the jehad is revived, all true Afghans will be called upon to rally round their rightful sovereign. The waverers will be wrought upon by promises of endless loot; the fanatical by opportunities of future bliss after they have died as ghazis; and the mass of the tribesmen by an appeal to their warlike instincts which lead them to fight for the sake of bloodshed. It was a grave mistake which left Musa Jan, with the women of Yakub Khan’s household, in Cabul; for now a status is given to the leaders of the up-rising which they lacked before. We have Wali Mahomed with us still; and if we so far modify our policy as to make him Governor of Cabul and the districts about,—and all things are possible in the see-saw of politics,—we could make a counter-appeal and declare Musa Jan to be merely a puppet in the hands of mischief-makers. Whether this appeal would be disregarded, one cannot say; but if it were backed by a strong display of force, say 12,000 men holding Sherpur and every post down to Jellalabad well garrisoned, it might have some effect. No faith can be put in Afghan promises; we have learned that by the falling away of Padshah Khan, if we did not already know it from past experience; and our safety from constant attack must lie in the completeness of our own preparations, rather than in contracts made with sirdars who will only serve us so long as fair weather lasts. Padshah Khan is said to have remained faithful at least until the 14th of December. When he learned that the British had been obliged to withdraw within the walls of Sherpur, and had lost two mountain guns in the day’s fighting, he may have thought that a disaster was impending, and so joined Mahomed Jan with as many Ghilzais as he could collect together. He now affirms that he was more a spectator than an active participator in the siege; and that this was so evident to the other chiefs that, after assigning him a post in the fore-front of the attack, they withdrew him from his command at the last moment, so great was their mistrust of his sincerity.
The Khyber Force will relieve us of all garrison work at Luttabund, which sets free 800 men and two guns for duty here; so that with the 1,400 men General Charles Gough brought with him we shall be over 2,000 stronger. But our losses have been heavy, and there are now 800 men on the sick list, many of whom must be sent back to India. The present campaign cannot be brought to a successful conclusion without a much greater display of force than we have hitherto made; and I believe every effort is now being put forth to collect further supplies, so that, if necessary, 15,000 or 20,000 men could be fed during February and March preparatory to our resuming the offensive in the spring. The warning of Sir Henry Durand, in his criticism of the old war, must have recurred to our leaders when contemplating a new accession of strength to the force now here. He wrote:—“Everything in the expedition was a matter of the greatest uncertainty, even to the feeding of the troops; for Afghanistan merited the character given to Spain by Henry IV. of France: 'Invade with a large force, and you are destroyed by starvation; invade with a small one, and you are overwhelmed by a hostile people.'” We have tried the latter alternative, and, after being shut in by 50,000 Afghans (for such it is now said was the numerical strength of Mahomed Jan’s following), we have no wish to repeat the experiment. To avoid it, we must have a large and handy force ready to cope with the enemy before he can reach Cabul; and here the starvation difficulty crops up. After paying fabulously high prices for everything—from a sheep to an onion—we had laid in stores sufficient for the consumption of our original division until the spring; but these will not suffice when they are drawn upon by the troops which have since joined us (9th Foot, Guides, 2nd and 4th Ghoorkas, Hazara Mountain Battery, and Sappers), apart from any others that may yet come up. The Khyber transport is not strong enough for much reliance to be placed upon it in the matter of bringing up supplies from Peshawur, and we shall probably have to requisition the country and force the people to sell their hidden stores at our own prices. We cannot starve, and the military exigencies of the position render it imperative that we should have Sherpur not only well garrisoned, but a movable force of sufficient strength to disperse all Cabul gatherings, and regiments stationed along our line of communication, equal either to punishing chiefs like Asmatullah, or moving westward to Cabul if a second jehad brings about another great combination of the people. Our latest reinforcement, which arrived here on the 24th, under General Gough, is now garrisoning the Bala Hissar; while the Guides have been attached to General Macpherson’s Brigade, and will remain in cantonments. They have done good service since their arrival, and well deserve to be attached to the army which captured Cabul single-handed.
General Baker returned yesterday from his excursion to Baba Kuch Kar, where he destroyed the forts and villages belonging to Mir Butcha. This place was demolished by Sale on the 8th of October, 1840. It was considered at that time a stronghold which would have given an army without a battering-train much trouble; but now the fortified enclosures were less formidable. They were not defended, Mir Butcha and his retainers have fled northward to Charikar when he saw how quickly we were following him after his retreat from Sherpur on the 3rd December. No opposition on the road to, or from, Baba Kuch Kar was offered to General Baker, who was only away five days. The snow-covered roads and hills were very trying to the soldiers and followers; and it was conclusively proved that camping out in this weather is likely to sow the seeds of much sickness among our men. The country visited was not Kohistan proper, which lies north of Istalif, but the Koh-Daman (“Skirt of the Hills”). The valleys were found to be marvellously fertile, the orchards and vineyards on the hill-slopes stretching away on either side for miles. Cabul is said to draw most of its delicious fruit from the Koh-Daman, the fertility of which we had every opportunity of observing. In the spring the district must be the most beautiful spot in Afghanistan, the Chardeh Valley sinking into insignificance before it. Great difficulty would be experienced by an army marching through in the face of determined opposition. Sunken roads, irrigated tracts, walled fields, and innumerable watercourses form such a network of obstruction, that if the forts and villages, with their acres of orchards and vineyards, were defended, progress would be laborious and dangerous in the extreme. For miles there is admirable cover for skirmishers to harass an army with all its impedimenta of baggage and followers; and every fort would have to be stormed, as mountain guns would make no impression on the mud walls. General Baker not only looted and levelled to the ground all forts and villages owned by Mir Butcha, but cut down his vineyards, and set the Ghoorkas to work to “ring” all the fruit trees. This will he a heavy loss to the villages, which mainly derive their local influence from the return yielded by their orchards and vineyards. Baba Kuch Kar is a little over twenty miles from Sherpur; and from it Istalif could be seen, with its white walls gleaming out on the hillsides, surrounded by orchards extending as far as the eye could reach. Istalif is about ten miles further north, and the country between is all under cultivation. Arrangements were made with local headmen to bring in supplies, and large quantities of grain and bhoosa are expected to reach us from the Koh-Daman.
The quickness with which we resumed the offensive after being besieged in Sherpur has favourably impressed all the country about. Such chiefs as were hostile to us now see that they are not safe from reprisals; and within easy marches of Sherpur many villages which turned out their fighting men during the jehad, are now being punished. One village in Chardeh was said to contain the bodies of Lieutenants Hardie and Forbes, who fell in the cavalry action on the 11th of December. On our troops visiting it, the maliks denied that the bodies had been seen. Two of the headmen were tied up and flogged, but still refused to speak; but upon a third being seized, he offered to show the officers’ graves. The bodies were exhumed, and were found to be unmutilated. The village has been destroyed on account of the contumacy of the maliks, and also because our troops were fired upon from its walls when the guns were lost. Several other missing bodies of Lancers have been found; and on New Year’s Day an impressive funeral of the bodies of Captain Spens, Lieutenant Hardie, Lieutenant Forbes, and a non-commissioned officer took place at the foot of the north-western slope of the Bemaru Heights. We have lost twelve officers killed and fourteen wounded since December 10th, which shows the severity of the fighting; while of the rank and file and camp-followers, ninety-eight have been killed and 238 wounded.
4th January.
One feature of the late investment of Sherpur cantonment which deserves considerable attention is the part played by the powerful Ghilzai tribes between Cabul and Jellalabad. Their attitude, from the 14th of December, was the same as that taken up in the war of 1841-42, and they no doubt looked for a similar result. It might have been foretold with absolute certainty that once a British army was besieged at Cabul, the tribesmen on the route to India would rise to a man and try to block the road along which reinforcements must pass. The jehad which Mushk-i-Alam headed had its origin far from the rocky barrier which shuts in the Cabul plain on the east: its birth was at Ghazni, and its growth extended on the north to Kohistan, and on the south to Logar, the two districts which furnished at the outset its principal strength. The Safis of Tagao were drawn within its influence by their close neighbourhood to Kohistan; but the Ghilzais of Tezin and the valleys about, as well as the more distant Lughmanis, held aloof at first by reason of their position between the two British forces. If Mahomed Jan had failed in his march upon Cabul, and had been driven back upon the Ghazni Road, we should probably have heard little of the hostility of the tribes westward of Butkhak; the preaching of the moollahs, which had for weeks before fallen upon the ears of the Ghilzais as the prediction of a great triumph over the Kaffir army, would have borne no fruit beyond an occasional raid upon our convoys. The local clans would have felt that, if a powerful combination, such as that which had gathered about the Ghazni priest, had failed to drive back the British army, they themselves were powerless to do so. But once the vast host of 50,000 men had occupied Cabul and the Bala Hissar, and had made it impossible for the garrison of Sherpur to move beyond its defences, the Ghilzais felt that the appeal to their fanaticism was a safe lead to follow, and they began to muster in strength. The messengers from Mahomed Jan were welcomed, and our evacuation of Butkhak proved that his promise to surround and cut to pieces the small army which had captured Cabul was not widely removed from the possible, as our leaders were concentrating their force to resist an attack. If we had not needed every man at Sherpur, why should we hurry away from our first outpost under cover of darkness? This was the argument which went home to the hearts of the men in the hills about Khurd Cabul and Tezin; and all the local chiefs, with one exception, turned out their fighting men, and thought of the slaughter of our army in the terrible defile of 1842. Padshah Khan, in his villages nearer the Shutargardan, was carried away by the same reasoning; and, with customary treachery, he hastened to Cabul to fight against the men he had pledged himself to support. His contingent was more needed there than that of the chiefs along our line of communications, who had a similar mission to perform to that so successfully carried out nearly forty years ago—to block all outlets of escape; and in addition, to drive back our reinforcements to Jellalabad. In the first flush of success it may have occurred to Mahomed Jan that he was destined to become a second Akhbar Khan, and that a siege of Jellalabad would follow the annihilation of the force at Cabul. To carry out the programme with success, it was needful that all posts west of Jellalabad should be swept away; and this work he entrusted to Asmatullah Khan, of Lughman, a chief, perhaps, more powerful than any other single tribal leader in North-Eastern Afghanistan. Asmatullah accepted the part assigned to him, and the Lughmanis were soon actively at work: the telegraph line west of Gundamak was destroyed, and then, in full confidence, the troops at Jugdulluck were attacked. But though it was easy enough in theory to lay down plans on the old lines, the Lughmanis found that, with superior weapons, our soldiers were able without difficulty to hold their own against twentyfold odds. The road might be made unsafe, and all convoys stopped; but when it came to turning out enemies snugly entrenched, and armed with breech-loaders, it was a very different story. While Mahomed Jan fondly imagined that for two or three months the Ghilzais would hold the Passes, and check the movement of a relieving force, Asmatullah Khan was not equal to keeping back the stream of men which set westwards from Gundamak, and could not even dispossess the solitary native regiment which held Jugdulluck when the small brigade under General Charles Gough had started for Sherpur. The Ghilzais of Tezin had also found themselves non-plussed by the abandonment of the old route of the Khurd Cabul, which was no longer followed either to or from Sherpur. Although Maizullah Khan and every local chief, with the exception of Mahomed Shah Khan, of Hisarak, were in arms, their tactics were so faulty that, beyond menacing Luttabund, they did nothing to harass our reinforcements. The mere fact of our being able to hold the Luttabund Kotal was so strong an evidence that the end had not yet come, that they hesitated to occupy the road between that post and the Jugdulluck defile, fearing that they might be caught between two fires. Then was demonstrated the full value of the decision arrived at by Sir F. Roberts—to hold Luttabund at all hazards until its garrison could be picked up by the column moving to his relief. The flash of the heliograph from Sherpur to the kotal where Colonel Hudson, with less than 1,000 men, was watching for the reinforcements from our eastern posts, told the tribes that the force in Sherpur, though beleaguered by an army larger than Cabul had ever seen, was still linked to its supports, and was by no means in the straits Mahomed Jan had promised. Sitting on the hills about Luttabund, the Ghilzais were too faint-hearted to attack in earnest, and Mahomed Jan was not General enough to detach one-fifth of his force to sweep away the handful of men forming our solitary outpost. Forty Sikhs of the 23rd Pioneers were enough to scatter the bands which gathered about Luttabund; and so little did the followers of Maizullah Khan prove worthy of the trust confided to them by Mahomed Jan, that from Jugdulluck to Butkhak scarcely a shot was fired upon General Charles Gough’s brigade. Mahomed Jan, holding Cabul and the Bala Hissar in his grasp, must have felt that his plans were falling to pieces when the Ghilzais were unequal to breaking up the force passing through their midst; and once our reinforcements had entered upon the Cabul plain, those plans ceased to exist. In desperation the assault upon Sherpur was decided upon, and its failure was the signal for the collapse of the jehad. Twenty-four hours after the signal light blazed upon the summit of the Asmai hill, not 1,000 men of the 50,000 who had held Cabul could be found within ten miles of the city.
I have tried to explain the course of action taken by the Ghilzais of Lughman and the Passes, and they have always been a bugbear when an advance upon Cabul was made from Gundamak. It has been clearly proved that they lack organization, and have not the resolute courage to attack entrenched positions held by even small bodies of our men. Asmatullah Khan, it is true, made a demonstration against Jugdulluck on the 29th of December, six days after Mahomed Jan’s flight; but he was beaten back with a loss, on our side, of one officer (Lieutenant Wright, 11-9th Battery), and a native gunner killed, and one man of the 51st Regiment slightly wounded. This was after eight hours’ fighting, and proves how paltry a force Lughman can send out. As this was probably Asmatullah Khan’s last attempt before withdrawing to Lughman again, I will give Colonel Norman’s (24th Punjab Infantry) account of the affair. Writing on the evening of the 29th, he said:—“At 10 A.M. to-day a party I had sent out to reconnoitre on the hills to the south was attacked in force by Asmatullah Khan. The party held its own until reinforced; but as the enemy were in great strength, I had to send out nearly all my men. One hundred and sixty of the 29th were on the kotal, and holding points on the Pass to cover the advance of the 45th Sikhs, then marching up to join me. About noon I received a telegram, saying that three companies of the 51st Foot, 360 men of the 45th Sikhs, and four guns of 11-9th Battery, were on the way up. I accordingly waited for the arrival of these troops, to enable me to act more vigorously; but it was 4 P.M. before they arrived, and before this I had driven the enemy back. The reinforcements, directly they had arrived, took up a position in prolongation of my right, to enfilade the enemy. Just as 11-9th Battery came into action, I regret to say that Lieutenant Wright was killed by a rifle bullet. The enemy had completely retired before sunset. The practice of Anderson’s guns (Hazara Mountain Battery) was splendid. Asmatullah Khan has most of the Lughman chiefs with him, and the Governor of Jellalabad Mahomed Hasan Khan.” Colonel Norman also reported that with the force at his command, he could not hope thoroughly to disperse the Lughmanis, who retired from one range of hills to another. These are the usual tactics of Afghan guerilla warfare, the tribesmen returning as soon as the pursuit is over. The punishment of Asmatullah Khan will be directed from another quarter. A flying column from Jellalabad will enter his country and devastate it, dispersing any force he may attempt to keep together. The news of this proposed expedition has doubtless hastened his steps back to his own fertile valley. The Ghilzais south of Jugdulluck will also be visited by a flying column from Gundamak, which will penetrate as far as Hisarak, and punish Maizullah Khan and the other chiefs who joined him. Each of these columns will be made up of 1,500 infantry, four mountain guns, and a squadron of cavalry, and they are to be kept always ready to move out at short notice, apart from the regular garrison of Jellalabad and Gundamak.[37]
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Footnote 37:
I may here state that both these expeditions were afterwards carried out, and their object attained.
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Another prisoner of some importance has been deported to India: Daoud Shah, the ex-Commander-in-Chief of the Amir’s army, was sent down the line a few days ago. His honesty, which for a long time many of us believed in, seems to have been tried, and found wanting. The story that a letter was intercepted, incriminating him in the rising, is untrue; but that communications of some kind passed between him and the hostile chiefs is said to have been pretty conclusively established. The exact relations between him and Mahomed Jan may never be known; but they were probably on the basis that, if Daoud Shah would desert the British, a high command should be his under the new Amir, Musa Jan. His military experience would also have been invaluable in directing such an army as that within Cabul, and his knowledge of our cantonment and its weak points would have made him a leader whom the tribesmen would have confidently followed.
The Military Commission has had before it many of the prisoners taken after December 23rd, and five men condemned to death were hanged yesterday. Four of these were villagers of Baghwana, near which place the four Horse Artillery guns were lost on December 11th. Captain Guinness, of the 72nd Highlanders, has taken the place of Major Morgan, 9th foot, on the Commission, which, it will be remembered, originally consisted at Siah Sung Camp of General Massy, Major Moriarty, and Captain Guinness. Very few prisoners are now left for trial.
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