In the following year the regiment quitted the camp at Poonah by divisions, and proceeding to the country of Scinde, was encamped some time near Kurrachee. The regiment was encamped in two separate divisions at Kurrachee, as cholera had broken out violently in its ranks, from which it suffered severely, and during its prevalence a field-officer's detachment, under Major Poole, consisting of two companies, was ordered to proceed by the Indus, in the month of April, 1842, to Sukkur, in Upper Scinde, previously to the withdrawal of the British force from Beloochistan.
The navigation of the Indus had been acquired by the British in 1839, and application was made to the Ameers, who governed the country, for a portion of land on the banks of the river. This they agreed to give; but at the same time meditated the destruction of the British power in the country by treachery. The TWENTY-SECOND quitted the camp at Kurrachee in November, and proceeded up the country.
1843
The regiment formed part of the force assembled under Major-General Sir Charles Napier, and was employed in the destruction of the fort of Emaum Ghur, in the desert, on the 14th and 15th of January, 1843.
Major-General W. F. P. Napier, in his work entitled "The Conquest of Scinde," has given, with his characteristic eloquence, the following spirited description of the march to Emaum Ghur, a march which His Grace the Duke of Wellington described in the House of Lords, "as one of the most curious military feats he had ever known to be performed, or had ever perused an account of in his life. Sir Charles Napier (added His Grace) moved his troops through the desert against hostile forces; he had his guns transported under circumstances of extreme difficulty, and in a manner the most extraordinary; and he cut off a retreat of the enemy which rendered it impossible for them ever to regain their positions."
"It was a wild and singular country, the wilderness through which they (the Anglo-Indian troops) were passing. The sand-hills stretched north and south for hundreds of miles in parallel ridges, rounded at top, and most symmetrically plaited, like the ripple on the sea-shore after a placid tide. Varying in their heights, their breadth and steepness, they presented one uniform surface, but while some were only a mile broad, others were more than ten miles across; some were of gentle slopes and low, others lofty, and so steep that the howitzers could only be dragged up by men. The sand was mingled with shells, and ran in great streams resembling numerous rivers, skirted on each side by parallel streaks of soil, which nourished jungle, yet thinly and scattered. The tracks of the hyena and wild boar, and the prints of small deer's footsteps, were sometimes seen at first, but they soon disappeared, and then the solitude of the waste was unbroken.
"For eight days these intrepid soldiers traversed this gloomy region, living from hand to mouth, uncertain each morning if water could be found in the evening; and many times it was not found. They were not even sure of their right course; yet with fiery valour and untiring strength, they continued their dreary dangerous way. The camels found very little food, and got weak, but the stout infantry helped to drag the heavy howitzers up the sandy steeps; and all the troops, despising the danger of an attack from the Beloochees, worked with a power and will that overcame every obstacle. On the eighth day they reached Emaum Ghur, eager to strike and storm, and then was seen how truly laid down is Napoleon's great maxim, that moral force is in war to physical force, as four to one. Mahomed Khan, with a strong fortress well provided, and having a garrison six times as numerous as the band coming to assail him, had fled with his treasure two days before; taking a southerly direction, he regained the Indus by tracks with which his people were well acquainted, leaving all his stores of grain and powder behind."
As Emaum Ghur could only serve as a stronghold in which the Beloochees might be able to resist British supremacy, Major-General Sir Charles Napier determined upon destroying the fortress. It was a place of great strength, and was constructed of unburnt bricks, into which the shot easily penetrates, but brings nothing down, so that recourse was had to mining. The place was full of gunpowder and grain, and the former was employed in blowing up the fortress, which was effected on the 15th of January.
After this difficult and harassing service, the troops returned triumphant on the 23rd of January, to Peer-Abu-Bekr, where Major-General Sir Charles Napier reunited his whole army. It is to be observed that the march was performed without the loss of a man, or without even a sick soldier, and the Ameers' troops were dispersed, and their plan of campaign frustrated.
A treaty of peace was signed by the Ameers on the 14th of February: directions were sent to the British political resident, Major Outram, by the Ameers, to quit Hyderabad, the capital, and before this was complied with, eight thousand Beloochees, commanded by several Ameers in person, attempted to force an entrance into the enclosure of the British residency. The light company of the TWENTY-SECOND regiment, mustering one hundred men, under Captain T. S. Conway, Lieutenant F. P. Harding, and Ensign R. Pennefather, was the only force at the residency, the enclosure of which was surrounded by a wall from four to five feet high. The gallant officers and soldiers of this company kept the eight thousand Scindian troops, with six pieces of artillery, at bay nearly four hours; and when their ammunition was nearly expended, they retreated to the river, with Major Outram, and embarking on board of two steam-vessels, joined the troops under Major-General Sir Charles Napier, at Hala. The light company had two men killed and four wounded on this occasion.