Colonies of Saiyids, religious adventurers—theoretically those who are the direct descendants of Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet—occupy several of the glens on the mountain itself, and have caused much of the bloodshed and trouble which have stained and disturbed these parts. In two of these glens on the eastern slope of the Black Mountain are the Pariari Saiyids. On the western face, among the Hassanzais, are the Saiyids of Tilli; one or two more such colonies are scattered through the Chagarzai country; while a rather formidable religious body, the Akhund Khels, holds the glens and spurs on the extreme north-west corner down to the Indus. Numerically all are more or less insignificant, but they exercise considerable influence.
Neither the extent nor the population of this Black Mountain country warrant its being ranked as of any exceptional importance. As Oliver reminds us, “the tribes are not numerous, nor particularly warlike, and most of them are miserably poor, but they, and the nests of fanatical hornets they shelter, have for long proved capable of inflicting an altogether disproportionate amount of annoyance.”
OPERATIONS.
The first time the Hassanzai clan came into notice was on the occasion of the murder by them of two officers of the Indian Customs Department.
Shortly after the annexation of the Punjab a preventive line was established along the left bank of the Indus, so far as British jurisdiction extended, to prevent trans-Indus salt being smuggled into the Punjab. In 1851 this line was extended five miles beyond Torbela to a point on the Indus where the cis-Indus territory of the Nawab of Amb commenced. In November of that year two of our customs officials, visiting this portion of the border, were murdered by a band of armed Hassanzais, when actually within the bounds of the Nawab of Amb. The Nawab was at once called to account, and delivered up such Hassanzais as happened to be within his territory, for which act the Hassanzais made war upon him, laid waste his border villages, and seized two of his forts: upon this, British interference became necessary, and orders were issued for the assembly of a punitive force.
Expedition of 1852–53
Expedition against the Black Mountain Hassanzais, 1852–53.—In December 1852 the troops, as enumerated below, were concentrated at Shergarh on the north-western border of the Hazara district under the command of Lieut.-Col. Mackeson,[[5]] C.B., Commissioner of Peshawar.
Four guns, 5th Troop, 1st Brigade, H.A. Six guns, Mountain Train Battery. 16th Irregular Cavalry.[[6]] 7th Company Sappers and Miners. 3rd Native Infantry.[[7]] Kelat-i-Ghilzie Regiment.[[8]] Four Companies Corps of Guides. 1st Sikh Infantry.[[9]] 176 men Rawal Pindi Police. Two Regiments Kashmir Dogras. Levies (1760 men).
The force was divided into three columns with a reserve, occupying respectively Chatta, Shingli, Shoshni and Shergarh. The fort at Shingli, which was one of the two that had been captured by the Hassanzais from the Nawab of Amb, was recovered without loss, and while our troops were engaged in making it defensible, the Hassanzais and Akazais occupied the crest of the Black Mountain, and advanced their picquets close up to Chatta. The authorities had forbidden the employment of the regular troops with the force on the top of the mountain at so late a season of the year, so that they were thereby restricted to the duties of a reserve at Shergarh—where, confined in a narrow valley and incumbered with all kinds of impedimenta, they were of little or no assistance to a force engaged in mountain warfare. Col. Mackeson consequently decided to move the reserve of regular troops round to the banks of the Indus, behind the Black Mountain, and thus to turn the position on the heights; and to let each column of attack trust to a small reserve of its own, and to the fort at Shergarh in the rear, if all were beaten back.
The regular troops accordingly marched on the 24th and 25th December from Shergarh to Darband, behind the screen formed by the irregular portion of the force at Chatta, Shingli and Shoshni. On the 27th, as the result of a reconnaissance, Col. Mackeson decided to alter his plans, and to place the main part of the regular troops at Baradar, with four companies in Chamberi, to make demonstrations on the heights in front of the last-named place—for to move them to the rear of the enemy’s position would have involved them in difficult ground.