Lieutenant-Colonel Kelsall having retired on full pay, Major Steele succeeded to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment on the 13th April, 1858.
On the 23rd May, the two companies which had been on detachment at Neemuch, under command of Major Austen, since December, rejoined the head-quarters of the regiment.
About the middle of June, the decisive successes of the division of the army commanded by Major-General H. Rose having caused the rebel army to evacuate the Gwalior territory, a very numerous hostile force, estimated at 10,000 men, crossed the River Chumbul, and entered the territory of the Rajah of Jeypoor, who had always displayed friendly feelings towards the British Government. A considerable force, about 2500 strong, of which the head-quarters and 600 of the 83rd composed a part, was placed under orders for field service in consequence, and marched from Nusseerabad on the 28th June, under command of Major-General Roberts. On the 3rd July this force arrived within one march of the city of Jeypoor, which was in imminent danger from the advance of the rebel army. On the approach of General Roberts’s division, the enemy, changing their direction, moved southwards and attacked the capital of the Rajah of Tonk, which was occupied and partially plundered by them. The Rajah retired to his fortified palace, and offered all the resistance in his power to their assaults. A portion of his troops, however, proved faithless, and joined the enemy, giving up to them the guns which had been in their charge.
General Roberts’s advance by forced marches caused the rebels to retire from before Tonk, and a considerable portion of the British force was detached in pursuit in a south-easterly direction; about 900 men, including the 83rd Regiment, remaining under the personal command of the general. The weather was at this time extremely hot, and the exposure consequent on the urgent duties in which the force was engaged proved fatal to many of the soldiers composing it. Six men of the 83rd died from sunstroke between the 7th and 10th July.
The enemy, pressed upon by the detached column, changed their line of march towards the west, and General Roberts, still moving by forced marches, succeeded in coming up with them late on the evening of the 8th August. They were seen formed in great force near the village of Sanganeer—the number was estimated at 8000 men, two-thirds of whom were cavalry. The regiment at once advanced to the attack under a heavy fire from the artillery of the enemy, which, however, being directed too high, did no execution, while many of the rebels were killed and wounded by the rifles of the 83rd. Darkness, however, coming on, enabled the enemy to retire and withdraw the whole of their guns. The force had marched this day thirty miles, and bivouacked on the spot, having far outmarched their tents and baggage. Waiting one day to allow the column which had been detached from Tonk to join him, General Roberts’s force moved on the 10th August in pursuit of the enemy. This brigade had been reinforced by the junction of one troop of Bombay Horse Artillery, a squadron of the 8th Royal Irish Hussars, a squadron of Native Light Cavalry, 4 companies 72nd Highlanders, and a Sepoy Regiment of the Bombay army, as well as by a strong body of Belooch horsemen.
A very persevering pursuit now took place on the track of the rebel army, the outpost picquets of which were surprised and cut to pieces on more than one occasion. At about 7 a.m. on the 14th August, the enemy were seen moving in heavy masses, of horse and foot, on the further bank of the Bunnass River, their line of movement being covered by their artillery, which was posted in a battery on the crest of a rising ground close to the village of Kottaria; only waiting to form and load, the force at once advanced towards the river, the 83rd Regiment leading in a double column of sub-divisions from its centre. The enemy’s guns opened with round and grape, and were instantly vigorously engaged by the British Horse Artillery, and the fire on both sides was for a time extremely heavy. The 83rd, forming line, crossed the river, meeting but little resistance, and the enemy, abandoning their guns, retired with precipitation. The cavalry charged amongst the retreating artillerymen and infantry, and the pursuit was continued for some miles, very great numbers of the rebels falling under their sabres, while the fugitives seeking shelter in the groves and copse-wood were destroyed by our infantry. In the evening the force returned and encamped near Kottaria, having sustained only the small loss of 22 killed and wounded, while fully 1000 of the rebels were left dead on the field, and 4 guns, with their ammunition, and many elephants and camels laden with stores, were captured. The enemy’s flight did not cease till they had crossed the Chumbul and entirely evacuated Rajpootana. The force returned northwards by easy marches, and the regiment reoccupied its former quarters in the camp at Nusseerabad on the 29th of August.
On the 4th October the first half-yearly inspection of the regiment which had taken place since April, 1857, was made by Major-General Roberts, commanding Rajpootana Field Force, who was pleased to issue a highly complimentary order to the regiment on this occasion. Lieutenant-Colonel Steele was commanding and Lieutenant J. N. Colthurst was adjutant.
1858.
By order of her Majesty, published 18th August, 1858, a medal and clasp was granted to all the troops engaged in field service in the repression of the mutinies in India, and lists of those so entitled in the regiment were forwarded on the 3rd and 4th November, 1858.
By order of the Governor-General in Council, dated 29th September, 1858, a donation of six months’ full batta was granted to all officers and men who had served with the Rajpootana Field Force.