“General Orders to the Army of the Sutlej.
“Head-Quarters, Camp, Nihalkee,
“29th January, 1846.
“A glorious victory, with the capture of all the enemy’s guns, having been achieved by the force under Major-General Sir Henry Smith, K.C.B., the whole line will parade at eight o’clock this morning for the inspection of the Right Honorable the Governor-General and his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, and a royal salute will be fired from the eighteen-pounder battery, and three cheers will be given by the line after the salute, in celebration of this triumphant event.”
The following extract is taken from the General Orders issued by the Governor-General, dated “Camp, Ferozepore, 2nd of February, 1846:”—
“Great praise is due to Brigadier Hicks, who, with Her Majesty’s THIRTY-FIRST regiment, the twenty-fourth and forty-seventh Native infantry, stormed the village of Aliwal, drove the enemy from it, and seized the guns by which it was defended.”
Extract of the despatch of the Governor-General of India to the Secret Committee, dated “Camp, Kanha Kutchwa, 19th of February, 1846:”—
“The immediate result of the victory of Aliwal was the evacuation by the Sikh garrisons of all the forts hitherto occupied by detachments of Lahore soldiers on this side of the river Sutlej, and the submission of the whole of the territory on the left bank of that river to the British government.
“The Sikh army remained in its intrenched position; and though, on the first intelligence of the victory of Aliwal, and at the sight of the numerous bodies which floated from the neighbourhood of that battle-field to the bridge of boats at Sobraon, the Sikhs seemed much shaken and disheartened,—yet after a few days, the Sikh troops seemed to be as confident as ever of being able to defy us in their intrenched position, and to prevent our passage of the river.
“The Commander-in-Chief was not in a state to take advantage of the enemy’s defeat at Aliwal, by an attack on his intrenched position at Sobraon, until the troops under Major-General Sir Henry Smith should have rejoined his Excellency’s camp, and the siege-train and ammunition should have arrived from Delhi. The first portion of the siege-train, with the reserved ammunition for 100 guns, reached the Commander-in-Chief’s camp on the 7th and 8th of February. On the latter day the brigades, which had been detached from the main army, rejoined the Commander-in-Chief.”
Notwithstanding the signal defeat in the battles of Moodkee, Ferozeshah, and Aliwal, and the loss of 143 pieces of artillery captured by the British in these actions, the enemy determined to persevere in his rash project of invading the British dominions. For this purpose he made extraordinary efforts; he had collected all his available troops, and assembled a large army on the left bank of the Sutlej, near the village of Sobraon. Here the Sikhs formed an intrenched camp, defended by 30,000 men with 70 pieces of artillery; this camp was supported by a large reserve on the opposite side of the river, the communication being preserved by a bridge of boats.