On the 1st of March, 1840, Captain H. Garbett (who had been posted to the troop on the decease of Captain Timmings) joined, and took command of all the troops at Bamian; he had been obliged to walk 100 miles through the snow, as the mountains were now only passable by men.
On the 14th of March, two guns of the troop were present in a small affair with the Hazarehs at Fouladee, about six miles from Bamian. A mud fort had to be captured, and the surrounding hills to be cleared of a considerable body of Hazarehs; the gateway was knocked down by a few round shot, and the fort was then carried by the infantry, while a few rounds of shrapnels cleared the neighbouring hills of the Hazarehs. The whole affair did not last much above half an hour. The artillery lost one European laboratory-man, one syce, and one horse killed, and one trooper wounded. Dr. Lord admitted the chiefs of the refractory tribe to terms, and affairs resumed their wonted peaceful aspect.
In July, however, there seemed to be every prospect of hostilities being renewed; Dost Mahomed, who had for months been a prisoner at Bokhara, had effected his escape to Kooloom, and the Usbegs began to arm in his cause. The British infantry had been pushed forward to Bajgah, twenty-five miles northward of Syghan, and had come into contact with the unfriendly tribes. At the beginning of August, a small affair occurred near Kamurd, in which two companies of infantry suffered a very severe loss. On the 4th of August, two guns of horse-artillery were sent to Syghan,[[90]] more as a demonstration than with any other object, as the roads to Kamurd and Bajgah, across the Dundan-Shikun and Nal-i-Ferish passes, were totally impracticable. The Dost was now advancing from Kooloom, accompanied by the Wallee of that place, at the head of about 10,000 men, and every prospect of his force increasing daily.
On the 13th of September, Brigadier Dennie arrived from Cabul with reinforcements, which had been despatched on hearing of the Ameer’s advance. The force at Bamian, besides the troop, consisted now of the 35th native infantry, the Goorkah regiment, a resallah of irregular cavalry, and 400 janbaz, or Afghan horse. The Afghan infantry had been disarmed and sent to Cabul.
On the 17th, in the evening, the Dost’s piquets entered the Bamian valley at Soorukdhurrah, about four miles distant, and on the following morning the brigadier having received information which led him to believe that merely the advanced guard of the enemy had arrived, took out a small detachment of only eight companies, and engaged the whole Usbeg force, who were completely routed and driven from the field in great confusion. Two guns of the troop, under Lieutenant Mackenzie, were present in this affair. The Usbegs fell back almost immediately when the guns opened on them, abandoning in succession three positions in which they attempted to make a stand, but from which they were instantly dislodged by the guns advancing. Thus in the valley itself, where the main body of the enemy was, the contest was decided by the horse-artillery, but on the heights the infantry were engaged with some other parties of the enemy, mostly foot-men. The cavalry pursued the Usbegs for some miles up the defile of Soorukdhurrah. The enemy has been variously computed at from 5,000 to 10,000 men in the field.
Four guns of the troop accompanied Brigadier Dennie in his subsequent pursuit of the enemy, but the movements of the Usbegs had been too rapid to allow it to be effectual; but the results were most happy, as it induced the Ameer to leave the Usbeg camp, and forced the Wallee to abandon his cause. The rest is well known: the Dost threw himself into the Kohistan of Cabul, and the theatre of war being thus changed, the British troops were recalled from Bamian, and on the 8th October (exactly a year and a day after its arrival), the troop marched in progress to Cabul with Colonel Dennie. At the commencement of the following year the troop returned to India with the escort in charge of the captive Ameer.
In the expedition to the Kohistan, under Brigadier Sale, Captain A. Abbott and his battery, and Lieutenant Warburton with two of the Shah’s bodyguard guns, were employed. The fort of Tootundurra was carried with little loss, a fact attributed “in a great measure to the dread inspired by the excellent practice of the artillery under the able direction of Captain Abbott, assisted by Lieutenants Maule and Warburton.”
In breaching Julga in October, these same guns were again employed, and Captain A. Abbott and Lieutenant Warburton are reported as having distinguished themselves in the service of the artillery.
In November the detachment was engaged with the Dost’s followers at Purwundurrah, and two guns of No. 6 battery, under Lieutenant Dawes, covered the successful attack on the heights after the shameful flight of the cavalry.
At this period, a brigade marched from the provinces under Colonel Shelton, to relieve part of the Cabul force; with it was Captain Nicholl’s (1st company 1st brigade) troop of horse artillery—Lieutenants Waller and Stewart, subalterns—and the newly-formed mountain-train under Captain Backhouse and Lieutenant Green. The brigade advanced as far as Jellalabad, when rumours arising of the disaffection of the Sikhs in the rear, it returned by forced marches to Jumrood, but, finding its presence not required, again marched without rest to Jellalabad. By the difficulty and rapidity of this march the horses of the troop were much knocked up, and their distress was much increased by the officer commanding the brigade having insisted, in spite of Captain Nicholl’s remonstrances, on the troop marching in rear of the infantry, checking the natural pace of the horse, and subjecting the troop to continual halts. Two of its guns, under Captain Nicholl, were employed in February in reducing forts in the Nazian valley, as also was the mountain-train.