Commanding Royal Artillery—Brigadier-General C. G. Arbuthnot, C.B.: One horse, three field, two heavy, three siege, and one mountain battery.
First Infantry Brigade—Brigadier-General R. Barter, C.B.: 2nd Battalion King's Royal Rifles, 15th Sikhs, and 25th Punjabis.
Second Infantry Brigade—Brigadier-General W. Hughes: 59th (East Lancashire), 12th Kelat-i-Ghilzai Regiment, 1st and 3rd Gurkhas.
Second Division: Major-General M. A. S. Biddulph, C.B.
Artillery—Colonel Le Mesurier commanding: One field and two mountain batteries.
Cavalry Brigade: Brigadier-General C. H. Palliser, C.B.: 21st Daly's Horse, 22nd Sam Browne's Horse, and 35th Scinde Horse.
First Infantry Brigade—Brigadier-General R. Lacy: 70th (East Surrey), 19th Punjabis, and 127th Baluchis. Second Infantry Brigade—Brigadier-General T. Nuttall: 26th Punjabis, 32nd Pioneers, 55th Coke's Rifles, and 129th Baluchis.
The three columns now proceeded to occupy strategic positions in the country until the Amir should accede to our demands. Sir S. Browne pushed up the Khyber Pass to Gundamak, General Roberts undertook the pacification of the tribes bordering on the Kuram route, and General Stewart despatched his Second Division to the Helmund. In the spring of 1879 the Amir Shere Ali died, and his successor at once opened negotiations with the Indian Government. A fresh treaty was concluded, under which the Amir assented to the nomination of a British Envoy at Kabul. Sir Louis Cavagnari was selected for this important post, and towards the end of July left for the Afghan capital, accompanied by a small escort of the Corps of Guides. Our troops were recalled within the new frontier, and all boded well, but on September 3 the Mission was attacked in the Residency at Kabul, and every member slain, the little escort of the Guides adding to the reputation of the regiment by refusing all overtures from their co-religionists, and dying by the side of their officers. Such an outrage demanded swift retribution, and Sir Frederick Roberts at once took up the command of the troops in the Kuram Valley, and prepared for an advance on Kabul. His army was composed as under:
Details of the Kabul Field Force.
Major-General Sir Frederick Roberts, K.C.B., V.C., commanding.