From the Black Mountain to Waziristan / Being an account of the border countries and the more turbulent of the tribes controlled by the north-west frontier province, and of our military relations with them in the past

by H. C. Wylly

On the 29th, these dispositions having been completed, orders were issued for the advance of the remaining three columns, Panj Gali being named as their ultimate objective; in the event of a repulse they were to fall back either upon Chamberi or Baradar.

The right column, under Lieut.-Col. R. Napier, arrived, after a considerable amount of opposition, near the summit of the mountain at a point where a broad spur, forming the top of the range occupied by the Akazais, branched off at an elevation of some 9000 feet. By this ridge the enemy retired, and no further defence of the hill was made. Shortly before sunset the Guides, under Lieut. Hodson, arrived at the shoulder of the mountain above Panj Gali, which was still occupied by the tribesmen, but on the appearance of our troops they rapidly retreated, and the right column bivouacked here for the night.

The centre column, under Major J. Abbott, had ascended about halfway to Panj Gali when the troops suddenly came upon the main body of the Hassanzais, consisting of about 600 matchlock men, strongly posted upon a steep eminence in the centre of the main ravine. This position having been turned, the enemy fell back upon another equally strong at the head of the pass, but even after being joined by the left column under Captain Davidson, Lieut.-Col. Mackeson did not feel himself strong enough to attack, so awaited the appearance of Col. Napier’s force in rear of the position, when the Hassanzais retreated, as already stated.

Mackeson’s Operations

The left column was accompanied by Col. Mackeson, and marching by Agror and Pabal, was fired at from a hill overlooking Tilli, but the enemy were immediately dislodged and the column effected its junction with the centre one, as described, close to Panj Gali.

On the 30th the Hassanzai villages about here were destroyed, and the force moving on the next day to the Tilli plateau burnt all the villages between that place and Abu, while those along the Indus between Kotkai and Baradar were destroyed by the Nawab of Amb’s men.

On the 2nd January the whole force retired to Baradar, being followed up by the enemy and their allies, and the expedition was at an end. The Hassanzais had made no submission, but it was considered that they had been sufficiently punished for the murder of the two British officers by the destruction of their villages and grain, and for some time after this lesson the Hassanzais remained fairly quiet, and the raids made by them in 1863 were directed chiefly against the Nawab of Amb’s territory, and no doubt partook of the nature of reprisals for the assistance the Nawab had afforded us ten years earlier.

Our casualties in the 1853 expedition were about fifteen killed and wounded.

In November, 1867, it was determined to establish a body of police in the Agror Valley, and this was temporarily located in the village of Oghi until a fortified police post could be built. At daylight on the morning of the 30th July, 1868, this body of twenty-two policemen was attacked by some 500 men belonging to almost all the tribes, including the Pariari Saiyids, mentioned in this chapter. The enemy were driven off, but troops being called for from Abbottabad, a force composed of the Peshawar Mountain Battery and 350 of the 5th Gurkhas, under Lieut.-Col. Rothney, reached Oghi before midnight on the 31st, having marched forty-two miles in twenty-five hours, and here this force was joined on the 2nd August by the levies of the Nawab of Amb. It appearing that the attack had been instigated by the Khan of Agror, that chief was promptly arrested and sent in to Abbottabad.

During the next few days there were signs of serious unrest in the Agror Valley; the tribesmen refused to meet the Deputy-Commissioner, many villages were burnt by them, and on the 7th a general advance of the enemy took place, when all the neighbouring tribesmen joined them, while our own levies deserted in numbers to their homes. On the 12th, Col. Rothney, who had been reinforced, moved out from Oghi, and drove the enemy out of the Agror Valley. By this engagement, by the arrival of troops at Abbottabad, of further reinforcements at Oghi, and the presence of some Kashmir regiments in the Pakli Valley, the safety of the Hazara district was now secured, and Brig.-Gen. Wilde—who was now in command—only waited for more troops to carry out any punitive operations which might be ordered.