“I told you Gholab Singh had an army of ten thousand men not far in advance of the commander-in-chief’s camp, doing nothing, but alive and awake to take every advantage of the first serious mishap that might occur to our army under its present chief; in addition to which Dost Mohammed has a force of ten thousand to twelve thousand Affghans, at a short distance from Attock, ready to cooperate with Chuttur Singh. Gholab. Singh has fourteen pieces of cannon with his ten thousand men, but he is not present in person; the wary chief is abiding his time in the hills; he has, however, deputed a vakeel to offer a nuzzur at Lahore to our resident; but deep craftiness and the most wily treachery are at the bottom of this proceeding. The vakeel has been instructed to apprise his master of every single occurrence that takes place at Lahore, and to keep him well informed of all movements on our part. It is extremely strange our government will not believe in the treacherous intentions of Gholab Singh.
“There are from thirty to forty thousand men in arms leagued against our power and supremacy north of the Jhelum, with a park of artillery, varying, according to reports, from fifty to seventy guns.
“In a letter from Lahore of yesterday’s date, which reached me this morning, it is stated that the commanderin-chief has ordered Brigadier-general Wheeler’s force to join him, but of course, I suppose, not until after the general has taken Ram Singh. This proceeding has been rendered necessary and urgent in consequence of her majesty’s 24th, the 36th, and 58th regiments of native infantry having been rendered next to useless. Sir Dudley Hill’s reserve force of eight thousand five hundred men will have to be brought into active service yet, as troops are required not to proceed against, and be the aggressors of the enemy, but to act on the defensive, and hold our active, brave, and courageous foe in check until General Whish’s force joins, to enable the whole army to advance to Peshawur.
“Our government appear now to be so afraid of the issue of our contest with the Sikhs (as they have neither troops sufficient to conquer them and hold the country, nor money to pay the enormous expenses of this prolonged campaign), that I should not be at all surprised they will do their utmost to patch up a peace, which will, to say the least, be not only humiliating to our arms, but disgraceful to British feelings. I am perfectly certain, however, that the Sikhs will entertain no terms with us, except they are based on our quitting the Punjaub, and retiring across the Sutlej; this is a sine qua non with them.” The same letter from Lahore mentions, “You have, no doubt, heard of the late awful butchery of human life. As usual, the troops advanced without order or any arrangement. The 14th Dragoons led the advance, and, on the Goorchurrahs advancing, the brigade of cavalry, it is said, retreated, afraid, apparently, of being led into another trap like the Eumnuggur one. The cavalry brigade overthrew the artillery, and, galloping right through them, was the cause of our loss of six guns, two of which, however, were since retaken. Brigadier Pope was mortally wounded (since dead), and the cavalry were only brought up by the Doolies at the general hospital. Of the 24th foot, four field-officers, one captain, and seven subalterns, were killed, together with four hundred men. The 30th, the 36th, and 56th regiments behaved well, but lost so many officers, killed and wounded, that they must be sent back, and some other corps sent to supply their place. There were twenty-four officers buried the day after the fight, and many more since. The chief was strongly advised to defer the engagement until next day, but it was of no use. Two shots fell near him, and he ordered an immediate attack, left his position, and joined the mêlée, and was not to be found anywhere to give directions. A more undisciplined attack, or less tactics, was never heard of. He swears that the first officer who presumes to give advice, he will put in close arrest! Poor Eikins was killed in endeavouring to rally the 14th Dragoons. The artillery have demanded a court of inquiry, but I suppose the business will be hushed up, as it it was in the 62nd foot.”
A second letter, dated Lahore, the 18th, gave the following extract of a letter from camp Chillianwallah, 16th January:—
“On the 12th we marched to Dingee, on the 13th we marched again, and at 11 a.m. came upon one of the enemy’s outposts. The 3rd light field-batteries and heavy guns were brought to the front to drive them in, which they did in about five minutes. The infantry was then brought up, and each regiment deployed into line. The commander-in-chief meant to have encamped here, and sent for quartermasters of corps to mark the ground. The enemy, however, about two o’clock, fired a few shots, which came in beyond our flags, and the commander-inchief resolved to attack them at once. The whole line then advanced, getting into thicker and thicker jungle every minute; all this time our heavy guns, which were in the centre, opened their fire, and were answered by every one of the enemy’s, about sixty in number. It would be impossible to describe the action. There was no plan of attack. The three light field-batteries were at one time close to the enemy without any support near them. These were at last ordered to advance at a gallop to support Hoggan’s brigade, and the 46th regiment of native infantry assured the officers of these light field-batteries that their fire alone saved them. The action lasted until dark.
“At four o’clock in the afternoon we were completely surrounded by the enemy, and our artillery firing at the same time to the front, to the rear, and to the flank. Our loss has been tremendous—one thousand nine hundred killed and wounded: we have taken twelve guns and lost six (two of which have been recovered). The loss of our guns was owing to the cowardice of —— who (you will hardly believe it) ran away from a party of the enemy’s cavalry right through Christie’s and Huish’s troops of horse-artillery, knocking over every one of Christie’s waggons, horses and all! They were so crowded among the guns, that the gunners could not unlimber. The result was that the enemy’s cavalry got among our guns, and cut our men down right and left. The —— never drew reign until they got right through the general hospital in the rear, knocking over the Doolies and everything that came in their way. What caused this panic no one knows.
“Of the above one thousand nine hundred killed and wounded, nine hundred and fifty are Europeans. Above thirty-six officers have been buried. Her majesty’s 24th foot lost their regimental colour. The 25th regiment native infantry lost a colour. The 30th regiment native infantry lost a colour—some say two colours. The 56th regiment native infantry lost the standard they took at Gwalior. Her majesty’s 24th foot lost thirteen officers killed, including every one in the list above the junior captain. The enemy are now encamped at Eussool, four miles only from the commander-in-chief’s camp. A letter that I have just seen states that Major Loftie, of the 30th native infantry, was not killed but only wounded, and that Major Ramfield, commanding the 56th regiment native infantry, was killed. In the 2nd Europeans, which behaved nobly, one officer was severely wounded, Lieutenant Nightingale.”
Another letter, dated camp, the 15th January, stated:—
“I dare say you will have heard of the battle fought by our army on the 13th instant. It commenced about 1 p.m., and fasted till after dark. It was a devil of a battle, and many hard knocks and wounds were received, as the casualty list will show. The Sikhs fought with the greatest gallantry, and, as for our men and infantry generally, they were quite heroes. The 2nd Europeans displayed great bravery; they advanced to the charge and drove the Sikhs back at the point of the bayonet; and after this found another body of Sikhs, a regularly organised battalion, armed and dressed like our troops, in their rear. There were also some of the enemy on the right flank. This regiment had to right-about-face and charge to the rear, which they did, killing and wounding a great many of the Sikhs, and took and spiked four of their guns. Nightingale was wounded when about to do this, and Gaynor, who did it, had a most narrow escape. The former is the only severely wounded officer in that regiment, but I trust not dangerously, the ball having passed out in coming round the head, but the bone is fractured. One or two officers had narrow escapes. The 2nd Europeans had but fifty men wounded, and five killed; the cases of the former, some of them very severe, are mostly in the body and legs. There has been a fearful mortality in the 24th foot, thirteen officers killed and eight wounded, while the men said to be killed and wounded amount to four hundred. The 29th foot also suffered much, and the artillery a good deal. All our wounded are doing well, I rejoice to say. The doctors were at one time quite within range of the enemy’s shot, and a bheestie of the 2nd European regiment had his arm knocked off just behind where the surgeons of that corps were riding: a spent ball rolled under my horse’s feet. Lieutenant Weston and Godby, of the 36th native infantry, were wounded, but not severely. Brigadier Pennycuick and his son both killed. I believe we have gained a regular victory, though at first it was doubtful. I hear Pope’s brigade of cavalry got a kind of panic at one time, and came to the rear, but afterwards moved up in good style: there was something wrong with the —— for they drove us in from the rear and dispersed all the doctors, &c., at the field hospital, where I had just arrived to see if any assistance was required. There was an alarm of the Sikhs being in our rear, and then there was a regular ‘bolt.’ Such a night we all passed is better imagined than described—it was so very cold and rainy, with a high wind blowing, enough to cut one in two. Several Doolies were captured by the enemy, and the band instruments of the 2nd Europeans are missing.