The troops from Bombay having met with some interruption in their advance through Lower Scinde, part of the Bengal force, including the Thirteenth, quitted the Indus, to menace the city of Hyderabad; but returned to Roree in the middle of February, in consequence of the submission of the rulers of Lower Scinde. A bridge of boats had, in the meantime, been placed across the great river Indus, and the Thirteenth Light Infantry crossed this celebrated stream, to traverse regions which a British army had never before penetrated, but which are interesting from their association with ancient history, being the scene of the operations, and reverses of Alexander the Great, upwards of two thousand years since: after a march of four days they arrived at Shikarpore, when the difficulties of the enterprise began to assume a formidable character.
Advancing from Shikarpore the regiment proceeded through a desert country to Usted, and afterwards continued its route through the arid plains of Beloochistan, occasionally suffering inconvenience from the want of water, and from the predatory habits of the Beloochees, and arrived in the middle of March, at Dadur, situated a few miles from the Bolan Pass.
From Dadur the regiment continued its route; and penetrating the Bolan Pass, marched between mountains covered with snow: in some places the pass was not more than seventeen yards wide, with gloomy crags rising perpendicularly in awful grandeur on each side. In these wild regions bands of Beloochees lurked to avail themselves of every opportunity to follow their predatory habits, and they murdered several camp followers, and plundered some baggage. Issuing from this gloomy defile of more than fifty miles in length, the regiment entered the Dusht-i be-doulut, or the unhappy-desert, and halted a short time at Quettah, situated in the centre of the valley of Shawl, of which it is the capital. Supplies of provisions could not be procured for the army in these sterile regions; the issue of grain for the horses ceased, the soldiers were placed upon half rations, the native followers upon quarter, and several men, who were searching for forage at a distance from the camp, were murdered by the ferocious natives, who hovered round the army to avail themselves of every opportunity of destroying small parties.
The soldiers bore all the hardships to which they were subjected with fortitude, and in the early part of April the army commenced its march through the vale of Shawl; it descended the picturesque height of Kotul full one thousand feet, into the valley of Koochlak; forded rivers; traversed a difficult country spangled with flowers of every hue, and passed the height of Kozak, where the soldiers had to drag the artillery over the precipice with ropes. The army, surmounting every obstacle with patient perseverance, continued to press forward; the rulers of western Affghanistan were struck with dismay at the appearance of the formidable British host, and they fled from the capital, leaving the country to the Sovereign whom the British were advancing to restore. As the army continued its march, various classes of individuals tendered their submission, and on the 27th of April the British troops arrived at Candahar, the capital of western Affghanistan, where the soldiers obtained provisions and repose. The tents were pitched in the grassy meadows, among enclosures covered with crops of grain. The watery exhalations from the low grounds proved injurious to the health of the men, and the great heat experienced in the tents, with a saline impregnation in the water, augmented the number of the sick.
Breaking up from Candahar on the 27th of June, to reduce the remainder of the Shah’s dominions to obedience to his authority, the army advanced along a valley of dismal sterility to the Turnuk river; then proceeding up the right bank, traversed the country of the Western Ghilzees, and arrived in the vicinity of Ghuznee, a strong fortress garrisoned by three thousand Affghans under Prince Mahomed Hyder Khan, who were well provided with stores, and had determined on a desperate defence: they had blocked up every gate by masonry excepting one.
The army having arrived before Ghuznee without a battering train of sufficient power to proceed by the regular method of breaching the walls, &c., the commander of the forces, Lieut.-General Sir John Keane, resolved to storm the place without delay. On the 21st July, a company of the Thirteenth under Captain Sutherland accompanied Captain Thomson, Bengal Engineers (Chief Engineer) on his reconnoitre, and had one man killed, and two wounded. During the night of the 22nd of July a quantity of gunpowder was brought secretly to the gate which was not blocked up by masonry, and which was destroyed by an explosion before daylight on the following morning.
To the Thirteenth was assigned the duty of covering the operations, in blowing open the gate, and they paraded at two o’clock, A.M. The regiment proceeded in advance of the storming party to the causeway of the gate, under cover of the darkness of the night, and the fire of the batteries of the assailants. Six men of the leading company were told off to assist in carrying the powder bags. On reaching the causeway, the Thirteenth extended in light order, along the ditch, and by their fire distracted the enemy’s attention from the gate. After the explosion a company of the regiment, under Lieutenant Jennings, moved up with the Engineer Officer to ascertain if the operation had been attended with success; on which the light company of Her Majesty’s Second regiment of foot, No. 9 company of the Thirteenth under Captain Vigors,—the light companies of Her Majesty’s seventeenth and of the Bengal European Regiment, which had been named to form the advance of the storming column, immediately pressed forward under the command of Brigadier Dennie of the Thirteenth, and under a heavy fire, gallantly gained an entrance into the fort. These were quickly followed by the main storming column under Brigadier Sale (who was severely wounded on this occasion), of which the Thirteenth formed part, having been ordered to close on the advance of the four companies; and the whole were soon established in possession of the fort.
The Thirteenth and seventeenth regiments were directed against the citadel, which was found evacuated by the enemy. Large supplies of grain, ammunition of all kinds, and several guns and military weapons, with about two thousand horses, fell into the hands of the victors. A company of the regiment under Lieutenant Arthur Wilkinson succeeded in capturing the redoubt (or outwork), and took two standards and about sixty prisoners.
The distinguished conduct of Brigadier Sale was highly commended by the Commander in Chief Lieut.-General Sir John Keane; and Brigadier Dennie, Major Tronson, and Captain Kershaw were distinguished in the despatches. The regiment had one man killed, and three serjeants and twenty-seven rank and file wounded.
When the Affghan horsemen, who had assembled in the neighbourhood, learnt the fate of the fortress, they abandoned their camp equipage and baggage, and fled towards Cabool, the capital of eastern Affghanistan, in the direction of which city the British forces immediately advanced.