4th December.
The attitude of the Kohistanis continues far from satisfactory, though they have not, as yet, been reckless enough to carry out their threat of attacking Sherpur. The author of the late disturbances is said to be the mother of Yakub Khan, a woman well advanced in years, but still capable, through agents, of doing much mischief. She is in Cabul with the harem of the ex-Amir; and as we do not war against women, she has had full liberty to intrigue with discontented chiefs. Of the gathering of hostile bands at Khoja Serai, south of Istalif, we have heard little of late. The man who will probably give us most trouble is Mir Butcha; while, to show how interests clash in this once “God-governed country,” I may state that the nephew of Daoud Shah, the ex-Commander-in-Chief of the Afghan army, is a prominent leader of the malcontents. His uncle is striving in every way to ingratiate himself with the British, and has so far succeeded, that he is freely made use of by our Political Officers. He has several times given valuable information and has been of great service in aiding us in the collection of supplies. He has warned us of the disaffected nature of the Kohistanis; and though he over-estimates their strength as opposed to our army, his warning has been partially justified by late events. The southern part of Kohistan, the Koh-Daman, is not so turbulent as that further north, about Charikar, in which Shahbaz Khan is supposed to exercise power. One road from Northern Turkistan passes over the Hindu Kush and runs through Charikar to Cabul; and this near proximity to a province, supposed at present to be safe from our army, has a tendency to foster local disaffection. In fact, the state of Turkistan re-acts upon all Kohistan, and indirectly upon the country about Cabul; and, in view of further complications, it is worth while looking critically upon the present position of that important province.
The capture of Cabul and the dispersion of such of the rebel regiments as fought at Charasia had a great effect, at first, in showing every province of Afghanistan that the impregnability of their capital was a myth. Our arms having been so successful in so short a time, checked the incipient state of anarchy into which thewhole country was fast falling, as it seemed rational to suppose that an army which in a few days had captured Cabul would be more than equal to the task of visiting Charikar, Bamian, or even Balkh, if occasion required a further display of force. But, as time passed on, and it began to dawn upon the minds of men somewhat removed from the captured city that we were settling down for the winter in local quarters, the latent hostility to our presence in Afghanistan revived. In Turkistan it could scarcely be called a revival, as it had never died out. In that province were still organized regiments (well armed and boasting of being in possession of guns), whose sepoys had never suffered the disgrace of a defeat at our hands. It was not, therefore, surprising that our attempts to open up communication with Gholam Hyder, the Afghan Governor of the northern districts, should have failed. In the first place, it was extremely difficult to get trustworthy news of what was going on over the Koh-i-Baba range, and Gholam Hyder’s movements were absolutely unknown. He was believed to be at Mazar-i-Sharif, or Balkh, and rumours then reached us that he had left with Nek Mahomed to seek aid from the Russians over the Oxus. This news was never confirmed; but from incidents which occurred and were verified in several ways, it transpired that, wherever Gholam Hyder might be, his power was very limited. The troops on which he relied for support either revolted, as in the case of the regiments at Ghori, a post fifty miles south of Kunduz, the nearest station to Badakshan, on the Balkh, Tashkurgan, Kunduz, and Faizabad Road, or were deserted by their Generals, who sought safety with the British. The sepoys knew there was really no Government in existence, and, with arms in their hands, felt themselves masters of the situation. Badakshan was in revolt. Ghori and the district between Balkh and Badakshan could not do better than follow the example. They did so, and Gholam Hyder’s power was gradually narrowed, no attention being paid to his commands. To make his position of Governor still more absurd, an Uzbeg Chief, Mahomed Shah, appropriated the country about Sar-i-Pul and Maemena, distant only eighty miles to the west and south-west of Balkh. The nominal Governor of Turkistan, therefore, found himself at last ruling the tract of country south of the Oxus, asfar as Tashkurgan and Aebak on the east, and Akcha on the west: southwards, to Bamian, he governed as far as men chose to obey him, and no further. From Aebak to Akcha, in a bee-line, is less than 130 miles: from the Oxus through Balkh to Bamian is 160 miles. This was—and for all we know is—the extent of territory Gholam Hyder governs. He is responsible to no one but himself: and as long as he can find money to pay his troops, he may rely upon exercising a certain influence. If we had got as far as Bamian, 100 miles from Cabul, he might still have retained a show of independence, Balkh being so near the Oxus that to escape to Bokhara would have been easy if our troops had been pushed on, before winter set in, towards the northern frontier. But Gholam Hyder has been left undisturbed; and now that the Kohistanis have broken faith with us, his name is being freely used to induce men to gather together. A few days ago it was reported that he had reached Charikar with eight guns and a force of cavalry; but later reports show this was a false rumour circulated in Cabul to excite the Wardaks and Ghilzais on the Ghazni Road and in Logar. He may have left Mazar i-Sharif; but if, as seems likely, he looks for Russian gold to aid him in keeping his hold upon Turkistan, he would scarcely have deserted Balkh and the neighbourhood for the questionable glory of raising an army of hill-men in Kohistan. What is far more probable is, that the regiments which disbanded and scattered to various villages are forming bands among themselves, and some of these may think Charikar as good a centre to make for as any other place. Turkistan can furnish any number of these sepoys; and as the Bamian route to Cabul is long and tiresome, they may prefer taking the road over the Hindu Kush to Kohistan, there to await for further development of events. If the British force menaces them, they can return to Turkistan: if we leave them alone, as we probably shall, they will have to find a way of living during the winter; and this to an Afghan well-armed, and with the bluster of a bully, is not a difficult task. From what I have written above, it will be seen that Northern and Eastern Turkistan is in the state into which it might have been expected to fall without a strong hand controlling it from Cabul. Of Herat I know nothing, as it istoo far removed from us for even rumours to drift down to our camp.
With this condition of affairs in a province most open to outside influence and trans-Oxus intrigue, it becomes of serious moment to consider what modification of our policy, as set forth in the Proclamation of October 28th, is necessary. The Proclamation concluded as follows:—“The services of such sirdars and chiefs as assist in preserving order will be duly recognized; but all disturbers of the peace, and persons concerned in attacks upon the British authority, will meet with condign punishment. The British Government, after consultation with the principal sirdars, tribal chiefs, and others representing the interests and wishes of the various provinces and cities, will declare its will as to the future permanent arrangements to be made for the good government of the people.” Now these stilted periods either mean a great deal, or nothing at all. As regards Turkistan there are within it at the present moment numerous “disturbers of the peace,” as there are in Kohistan, Maidan, and Logar; and, to be consistent, we must fulfil our pledge to punish them condignly; if not now, at some future date. But these disturbers have this much in their favour, that beyond the empty words of the Proclamation they have had no evidence of the British authority which has supplanted that of the Amir. To them it is non-existent. It may flourish within 20 miles of Cabul and eastwards along the Jellalabad Valley to the Khyber, but it has never shown itself north of the Hindu Kush: it has left Balkh and Herat untouched: it has not been felt at Bamian or Ghazni, each within 100 miles of the 7,000 men encamped at Sherpur: how, then, is it to be acknowledged at more distant points? An authority, to be respected, must be tangible. The British authority at Cabul is in the tangible shape of a conquering army: it is respected—at Cabul. But Cabul is not Turkistan, and it is idle to expect a Proclamation, or even a thousand, to cause provincial governors, now free from all control, voluntarily to submit to an authority which makes, apparently, no effort to reach them. “Consultation with the principal sirdars and tribal chiefs representing the various provinces and cities of Afghanistan” is admirable from the view of closet politicians, but how if sirdars and chiefs decline to consult?It may have been intended, when the Proclamation was issued, that a demonstration of force should be made to bring about the consultation, but that demonstration has never been carried out—probably as much from political considerations as military difficulties. Sir Frederick Roberts and his army did their first work of capturing Cabul with such rapidity that, with troops pushed forward from Jellalabad to garrison the captured city and collect supplies for the winter, they might have ventured into Turkistan with the prospect of meeting with no opposition; and there might have been now, at Bamian and Balkh, agents who had been installed by our army and left in the position of governors ruling in our name. This programme was believed at one time to be on the cards, and we calculated how many marches it was to Bamian and the Oxus; but with no supports forthcoming up to the middle of November (a flying column at Jugdulluck was not worthy of the name), and with the usual stupid outcry at home against even the appearance of annexation, the project fell through. An attempt has been made to carry out the spirit of the Proclamation—to make “permanent arrangements for the good government of the people”—by consulting with such sirdars as have deemed it wise to join us. From their number four men have been chosen as governors of districts; but, so far, this system has been a failure. However much they may represent us, they are rejected of the people; and the three who, to use an official phrase, have “joined their appointments,” have had a very rough time of it. These were Shahbaz Khan, Mahomed Hasan Khan, and Abdulla Khan, all sirdars of local influence about Cabul, who were posted to Kohistan, Maidan, and Logar, respectively. (Turkistan, so far, has not received its governor, Sirdar Wali Mahomed, who had made many preparations for starting.) They were sent without armed escorts, and have been worried and threatened by malcontents, who have resented their intrusion with menaces that can scarcely be lightly regarded. In one case, that of Hasan Khan, son of Dost Mahomed and half-brother of Wali Mahomed, assassination has been added to threats. News was brought in from Naure Falad, the village in the Maidan Valley which General Baker’s force only left on the 1st instant, that a body of men, including some sepoys of the Ardal Regiments, had attacked thefort in which Hasan Khan was living, and had murdered our lately-appointed governor and one of his followers. They shot the old man through the head, and then hacked his body to pieces. Hasan Khan was quite a favourite in our camp at Maidan, his kind disposition and hearty frankness being qualities very foreign to the nature of the ordinary Afghan sirdar. The men who killed him are said to have come down the Darra Narkh from the hills about Bahadur Khan’s villages; and their action was in revenge for our burning of their villages. They returned to Upper Maidan as soon as they had murdered our representative, having, according to their own rude idea, shown us that they had no intention of accepting our authority. It is evident that from Ghazni northwards much excitement has arisen since General Baker’s departure. From Charikar and Logar our governors report that they are looked upon with disfavour, and even hated, by manymaliks; and as they also have no escorts, their lives may be considered in jeopardy. When the Kohistanis, a few days ago, were up in arms, Shahbaz Khan’s position was very ticklish; and to relieve the pressure put upon him, Sirdar Ibrahim Khan, an elder brother of Yakub Khan, was sent out to bring back the chiefs to the allegiance they had promised when in our camp. Though he succeeded in inducing twenty or thirty of the minor chiefs of Koh-Daman to come in, he was reviled by others as a “Feringhi” and “Kafir,” and was warned to return to Sherpur, or his life would be taken. These are the results of the first experiments of governing provinces through chiefs selected by us as representing the interests and wishes of the people.
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—TheJehadpreached 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 ofbhoosaand 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 themoollahs, 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 largemaidanwhich 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 distinguishedservice 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. Ourbhoosastacks 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:—
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:—
This movement is due to the gatherings in Koh-Daman and Maidan. The efforts of old Mushk-i-Alam, the Ghaznimoollah, to raise ajehadhave been so far successful, that Mahomed Jan has 5,000 men with him between Argandeh and Beni-Badam, on the GhazniRoadRoad. 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 andbhoosa. In the LogarValley 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 ofbhoosa, 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:—
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. Hecertainly 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.
Map to Illustrate the Actions of December 11th to 14th.
Map to Illustrate the Actions of December 11th to 14th.
Map to Illustrate the Actions of December 11th to 14th.
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 thekotal, 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 thekotal, 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 bysungars, 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 thesungarsand 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 theLieutenant-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—aregiment 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 themêlée, 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 partywatching 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 andtulwars, 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.
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, LieutenantHardy 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, dismountingand 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 trooperskilled 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 Rosswas 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 adhoolieat 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 Janwith 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.
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.