On the 30th August a detachment of 3 officers and 119 rank and file, under the command of Brevet Major Heatly, proceeded from Nusseerabad for the purpose of preserving the peace of the city of Ajmere during a Mohammedan festival. This detachment was joined on the 1st September by a detail of 1 sergeant and 30 rank and file from the company stationed in the fort of Ajmere. The detachment then proceeded on active service to Beawar, where it was reinforced by 1 captain, 2 sergeants, 1 drummer, and 50 rank and file from Nusseerabad; the detachment then, with four guns of the Bombay Horse Artillery and some native troops, proceeded by the mountain pass of Burr, on a reconnaissance to Awah, which they found to be a strongly entrenched village, garrisoned by about 3000 armed men, well provided with artillery. On the 18th September an unsuccessful attack was made on the village, in which three men, 83rd Regiment, were wounded, two of our four guns were disabled, and one artilleryman was killed and two wounded, and some casualties occurred amongst our native troops; the whole force then returned to Ajmere, where it arrived on the 28th September.
On the night of the 18th September the detachment stationed at Neemuch, under the command of Captain Read, together with two guns supported by a detail of native troops, marched from Neemuch to take the walled village of Nimbhera, sixteen miles distant, which was occupied by mutineers and rebels with three guns; during the following day the force took up a position near the village, and opened fire with the view of effecting a breach; the fire was kept up till dark, when further operations were suspended till next day. During the night of the 19th the enemy, leaving their guns, ammunition, etc., hastily evacuated the village, which was taken possession of by the force on the morning of the 20th.
During the action of the 19th Assistant-Surgeon Miles was wounded in the leg, and Lance-Corporal Thomas Young was killed.
On this occasion each man of the detachment received 8 rupees (16s.) prize-money. On the night of the 20th September the force returned to Neemuch, leaving 1 sergeant, 1 drummer, and 30 rank and file, under Ensign Chamley, to occupy the village, which detachment rejoined the following day.[18]
A considerable body of the Mundisore insurgents having occupied the fort and village of Jeerun, about ten miles from Neemuch, on the morning of the 23rd October a detachment of 50 of the 83rd, commanded by Captain Read, together with a company of the 12th Bombay N. I., some native cavalry, and two guns, moved against them from Neemuch. A very determined resistance was offered by the enemy, and Captain Read was killed by one of their first musket shots, while leading on his small detachment. Captain Tucker commanding the cavalry was killed, and the officer commanding the native infantry detachment was severely wounded about the same time. The enemy advancing in great force, the infantry retired to a fresh position, and the enemy having suffered severely from their fire, withdrew into the fort of Jeerun, which was occupied and blown up on the following morning, the enemy having evacuated it in the night. In addition to the death of Captain Read, two privates were wounded in this affair.
On the 9th November the small fortified position at Neemuch, which was garrisoned by a detachment of the 83rd Regiment, under Ensign Chamley, and some native troops, the whole under command of Major Simpson, 2nd Light Cavalry, was attacked by a very large insurgent force, which invested the fortification for fifteen days; their several attempts at assault by escalade were repulsed with heavy loss, and on the 23rd of the month they broke up and retired on the advance of a force from Mhow to the relief of the garrison, which had sustained a loss of about 20 in wounded during the siege.
The head-quarters of the regiment, which had remained at Deesa up to this time, received orders to advance into Rajpootana, and marched for Mount Aboo on the 26th October, under command of Colonel Trydell; thence it proceeded to Nusseerabad, where it arrived on the 28th November.
The detachment at Neemuch was now relieved by two companies commanded by Major Austen.