A body of Kuzzilbash horse, despatched under Sir R. Shakespear towards Bamean, to aid the prisoners, met them on their return, they having effected their escape; of the artillery, Lieutenants Eyre, Waller, and Warburton; Sergeants MacNee and Cleland; gunners A’Hearne, Kean, and Walton, were the sole survivors.
A force was sent against Istaliff on the 30th September, in which the mountain-train under Captain Backhouse, and two 18–pounders under Lieutenant Cornish, were employed. Lieutenants Richardson and Pollock accompanied the force, and the former was slightly wounded.
The combined armies now turned homewards, meeting with many difficulties from the exhausted state of the cattle and the obstacles in the passes; so much so, that the four 18–pounders which had originally marched with the Army of the Indus were burst in the passes and their carriages burnt. Daily skirmishes took place, and in passing a ravine near Alee Musjid just at dusk, a rush was made by the Afredis on a small detachment of artillery with a gun of the mountain-train under Lieutenant A. Christie. He was killed, and the gun carried off, but afterwards recovered.
Of the trophies, the Zubber Jung was burst at Cabul; the Kazee travelled with difficulty as far as Lundi-khana, in the Khyber, where, upsetting into a ravine, it was burst and abandoned; the Somnath gates alone reached Hindustan, travelling on a spare 18–pounder carriage; but they were fated, even after 800 years of absence, not to pass their kindred threshold; they got no further than Agra in the attempt, and were there deposited in the armoury of the magazine.
The troops were received on their return by the Army of Reserve at Ferozepore, assembled in case its aid should have been wanted, and medals bestowed for the different services, bearing the inscriptions of Candahar—Candahar, Ghuznee, Cabul, 1842—Ghuznee, Cabul, 1842—and Cabul, 1842; the obverse of all was similar, and this, and all the medals since that for Ghuznee, were worn on a particoloured ribbon of light tints, called “the ribbon of India,” ill fitted for a military decoration.
For these distinguished services General Pollock was rewarded with the first class of the order of the Bath, and received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament. He was subsequently appointed a member of the Supreme Council of India, and on being compelled to quit the country on account of ill-health in 1846–7, a pension of £1,000 per annum was bestowed upon him by the East-India Company, with the unanimous approbation of the Court of Proprietors. The freedom of the city was also voted him by the corporation of London.
Of the artillery officers who served under Generals Pollock and Nott, the following received honorary distinctions:—Captains Anderson, Alexander, Lane, and Lawrence, were gazetted brevet-majors; and Majors Delafosse, Sotheby, and Anderson, companions of the Bath.
Before closing this account of the war in Afghanistan, it should be mentioned, that in the political department several artillery officers were greatly distinguished. The names of Captains Todd and MacGregor are associated with important historical events at Herat and Jellalabad; whilst Captain Abbott and Lieutenant Richmond Shakespear (who was subsequently knighted for these services) will be remembered for their enterprising and perilous journeys to Khiva and the Caspian for the purpose of liberating the Russian slaves confined in the former place.