A Journal of the Disasters in Affghanistan, 1841-2

by Florentia Wynch Sale

The whole of the camels and yaboos have been either taken by the enemy or plundered by our no less lawless camp followers and soldiers.

The greatest confusion prevailed all day; and anxiety and suspense for the ultimate fate of the army was intense; all expecting that if in a few hours they were not deprived of life by cold and hunger, they would fall by the knives of the Affghans; which, had they been then attacked, must indubitably have occurred; for on the return of the troops after their set-out in the morning, commanding officers had great difficulty in collecting sixty files a corps: but even of these many could scarcely hold a musket; many died of cold and misery that night. To add to their wretchedness, many were nearly, and some wholly, afflicted with snow blindness.

10th.—No sooner was it light than the usual rush to the front was made by the mixed rabble of camp followers, Sipahees, and Europeans in one huge mass. Hundreds of poor wretches, unable to seize any animals for themselves, or despoiled by stronger persons of those they had, were left on the road to die or be butchered.

After much exertion, the advance, consisting of the 44th, the only remaining six-pounder, and about fifty files of the 5th cavalry, managed to get ahead of the crowd. The Affghans were appearing on the hills early: on arriving at the Tunghee Tareekee, a narrow gorge about ten feet wide and two miles distant from their last ground, Capt. Johnson was sent with the advance; the heights were taken possession of by the enemy; who fired down incessantly on the road, from which they were inaccessible. The snow increased in depth as the army advanced. There is a gradual ascent all the way from Khoord Cabul to Kubber-i-Jubhar, a distance of five miles; the progress was necessarily slow, and many poor fellows were shot.

After getting through the pass, not above fifty yards in length, they proceeded to Kubber-i-Jubhar; where they halted for their comrades.

Latterly no Affghans had been seen, except at a distance; the horror of our people was therefore the greater when a few stragglers from the rear came up, and reported themselves as the remnant of the rear column, almost every man of which had been either killed or wounded: Capt. Hopkins had his arm broken by a musket ball. There was now not a single Sipahee left of the whole Cabul force.

A desperate attack had been made by a body of Affghans, sword in hand: our men made no resistance, but threw away their arms and accoutrements; and fell an easy prey to our barbarous and bloodthirsty foe.

The rear-guard was composed of the 54th regiment. On arriving at the narrow pass called Tunghee Tareekee, or "the dark pass," a turn in the road shut out from their sight the enemy, who had followed close on their heels, but on whom they had received strict orders not to fire; although the Ghilzyes, from the heights and ravines, had kept up a sharp discharge, killing many Sipahees and camp followers, and cutting up all wounded and sick left behind. On arriving at the above-mentioned pass, the turn in the road allowed the Ghilzyes to close up; and a general attack was made on all sides: hundreds of Affghans rushing down from the rocks and hills cut to pieces their now reduced regiment. Here Major Ewart, commanding 54th, had both his arms broken by bullets from the Juzails; Lieut. Morrieson, the adjutant, was wounded; and Lieut. Weaver, of the same corps, slightly. Lieut. Melville, on observing the Jemadar, who carried the regiment's colour, wounded and dropping his charge, seized it; and, after vainly attempting to tear it off the staff, to which it was too firmly attached, made his way on foot (his horse having been killed), with the colour in his hand. This made him a mark for the enemy; and ere he had got out of the pass, being nearly, or quite, the last man of the column, or rather rabble, he received a spear wound in his back, which threw him on his face: ere well able to rise, a severe sword-cut in the head again laid him prostrate; but he contrived to crawl as far as the fast retreating column; when again the knife of an Affghan wounding him in the neck, and a spear in the chin, he gave up all for lost. He was now surrounded by a dozen Ghilzyes; and no man, save the dead and dying, near him; when the enemy, observing a box of treasure on the opposite side of the pass, left him, for the purpose of rifling the money, either supposing they had already killed him, or intending to return when they had secured the more valuable booty. This pause gave Lieut. Melville an opportunity of escaping and regaining the column; which, although weak from his wounds, he availed himself of; and by going through the snow in the ravines, he contrived to reach the column; where a pony without an owner, or saddle of any description, presenting itself, he scrambled on to it; and, with the assistance of a Mehter, gained the centre of the column, where the 44th and one gun still kept some order. Lieut. Melville was tied on the gun, and was told by Gen. Elphinstone, that he should be sent over to the charge of the Sirdar, Mahommed Akbar Khan, on reaching Tézeen, or at any opportunity of going.

On a report of a large body of horse being observed in the rear, the gun was ordered there; and Lieut. Melville was placed on a bank on the road-side. The column passed on; and he was expecting the fate of the other poor fellows who had fallen; when, providentially for him, a horseman rode up, who had known him in cantonments, and who strapped him on his horse, and took him over to the party of horsemen, consisting of Mahommed Akbar Khan and his followers; who received him most kindly, and, binding up his wounds, gave him a loonghee, his regimental cap being cut to pieces.

The loonghee is the cloth worn as a turban commonly by the Affghans, and is generally of blue check with a red border: those worn by the Khyberries are much gayer, and have a large admixture of yellow.