1836
1837

After occupying various stations in New South Wales several years, the regiment received orders to transfer its services to India; and it embarked for Bombay in March, 1836; after landing it proceeded to Poona; near which place it was encamped during the year 1837.

1838

The regiment remained at the camp near Poona until November, 1838; during which period events had transpired on the frontiers of Affghanistan, which, connected with the political measures of the chiefs who had assumed the dominion of that country, induced the British government to undertake the restoration of the former sovereign, Shah Shooja-ool-Moolk, to the throne of that kingdom, as a precautionary measure to protect the frontiers of the British dominions in the East against aggression. To take part in this enterprise, the regiment quitted the camp near Poona, and embarked for the mouth of the Indus: it landed in December and proceeded to the ancient town of Tatta, situate in Lower Scinde, upon a rising ground four miles west of the river.

1839

To ensure the course of the Indus, the Bombay division of the army assembling for the invasion of Affghanistan commenced its march from the mouth of that river, through the country occupied by the confederation of the Ameers of Scinde, who refused permission for the British troops to pass in peace through their territory, and a passage had to be effected by forcible means. Hyderabad, the capital, was captured; Kurrachee, the richest city of Scinde, was taken possession of; and the Ameers were brought to submission in the early part of February, 1839. The army then continued its march; passed the great river Indus on a bridge of boats near the fortress of Bukkur; traversed an arid country to Usted, and afterwards marched through the desert plains of Beloochistan to Dadur, occasionally suffering inconvenience from the want of water, and sustaining loss from the hordes of predatory natives.

From Dadur the troops marched through the Bolan Pass, with gloomy crags rising perpendicularly in awful grandeur on each side, to Dusht-i-be-doulut, or the Unhappy Desert, having some camp-followers murdered and baggage plundered, in these wild regions, by the Beloochees. Afterwards continuing the march over difficult mountains and sterile plains, suffering from a deficiency of forage and provision, the army entered Affghanistan, when the Barukzye chiefs fled, and the British troops took possession of Candahar, the capital of Western Affghanistan.

The SEVENTEENTH regiment encamped in the grassy meadows of Candahar nearly two months, and afterwards marched along a valley of dismal sterility to the Turnuck River; then, advancing up the right bank, entered the country of the Ghilzees, and arrived before Ghuznee, a fortress of great strength, garrisoned by three thousand Affghans under Prince Mahomed Hyder Khan, well provided with stores, and every gate, excepting one, blocked up with masonry.

Before daylight on the morning of the 23rd of July, one of the principal gates was destroyed by an explosion of gunpowder; and the British troops rushed in at the opening and captured the strong fortress of Ghuznee by storm. The SEVENTEENTH regiment, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Croker, had the honour to take a conspicuous share in the capture of this fortress: it led the assault of the citadel, which was captured with little loss, and at five o'clock in the morning its colours were waving triumphantly on the fortress. The loss of the regiment was limited to one private killed and six men wounded. A standard was captured by the SEVENTEENTH, but was afterwards lost by the wreck of a transport in which a part of the regiment was embarked.

From Ghuznee the British army advanced upon Cabool, the capital of Eastern Affghanistan; the army of Dost Mahomed Khan refused to fight in his cause, and the British, proceeding by triumphant marches to the capital, restored Shah Shooja-ool-Moolk to the capital of his dominions in the early part of August.