1843.
On the 16th January, 1843, the regiment marched from Ferozepore, and arrived at Mowbarukpore on the 5th of February, where it remained encamped until the 9th of March, when it proceeded on its route to Kussowlie, at which station it remained until the 21st October. Fatigue parties were here daily employed for two hours in the cool of the morning or evening cutting and repairing roads, etc. On the 21st October, the regiment marched to Ferozepore en route to Scinde. On the 6th November, the regiment reached Loodianah, where percussion muskets were issued to it for the first time, and the old flint arms were given into store. It arrived at Ferozepore on the 15th November, embarked in boats for Sukkur, on the 24th, and reached its destination on the 20th December.
General Edward Morrison died on the 3rd December, 1843, and the vacant colonelcy of the Thirteenth was conferred on the 15th of that month on Sir Robert Sale; Major Horatio Nelson Vigors was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel; and Captain R. M. Meredith succeeded to the Majority.
1844
On the 13th January, 1844, Lieut.-Colonel Squire joined with a draft of officers and men from England, and assumed the command of the regiment.
The Thirteenth moved from Sukkur, by wings, en route to Kurrachee during September, 1844; the left wing on the 4th and the head-quarter division on the 24th. The former arrived at Kurrachee on the 21st of September, and the latter on the 8th of October. The regiment suffered severely from sickness during the movement, owing to the malaria of Sukkur, having continually from two to three hundred in hospital daily. Preparatory to the regiment leaving Scinde, four hundred and forty-six of the men volunteered to corps serving in India. It embarked at Kurrachee for Bombay on board the Honorable East India Company’s steamers Pluto and Sesostris on the 4th of December, arrived in the harbour of Bombay on the night of the 7th, and disembarked in the afternoon of the 8th of that month, being received by the Governor and military authorities of Bombay; the guard of honor presenting arms as the regiment passed, and the band striking up “See the conquering hero comes.”—While the regiment was stationed at Bombay, it had the misfortune to lose Captain Sinclair, who had served throughout the campaign: he died of cholera after an illness of a few hours: the soldiers however continued generally healthy.
1845
The head-quarter division of the Thirteenth embarked in the freight ship Cornwall, at Colaba, Bombay, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Tristram C. Squire, on the 20th March, 1845, and the second division in the freight ship Boyne, on the same day, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Horatio Vigors. The right wing disembarked at Gravesend on the 28th July, and the second division arrived there on the 8th August following, from whence it proceeded to Walmer Barracks, in order to join the head-quarters, which had marched thither from Chatham.
1846
On the 10th March, 1846, Lieut.-General Sir William Maynard Gomm, K.C.B., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Mauritius, was appointed colonel of the Thirteenth, in succession to Sir Robert Sale, who was killed at the battle of Moodkee, on the 18th December, 1845.