Sir F. Grant, P.R.A.] [By permission of Messrs. Graves, Pall Mall.
SIR HENRY, AFTERWARDS VISCOUNT, HARDINGE AND HIS STAFF AT FEROZESHAH.
Hardinge applied himself to the peaceful preparation of railroad schemes for the development of India, but at the close of 1845 events again forced the Government forward on the path of fresh conquest. At that time the Punjab, a kingdom consisting both of independent Sikh States and those under British protection, was under nominal rule of the boy-king, Dhuleep Singh, and his mother, the Ranee; but his government at Lahore was distracted by faction and lay at the mercy of his own powerful army. In December 1845, the Sikh forces, for some reason which has never been clearly explained, began massing on the British frontier, and crossed the Sutlej, 15,000 or 20,000 strong, on the 13th. Sir Hugh Gough advanced by forced marches to meet them, attacked them at Moodkee and defeated them, capturing seventeen guns. The Sikhs retired to a strongly-entrenched camp at Ferozeshah, whither Gough, reinforced by Sir John Littler’s division from Ferozepore, followed them on the 21st. The Sikh army was now upwards of 50,000 strong, with 108 heavy guns in fixed batteries. The British force consisted of 16,700 men and sixty-nine guns, chiefly horse artillery. There ensued one of the severest conflicts in the history of our Indian Empire. Beginning on the 21st it lasted through part of the 22nd, and ended in the gallant Sikhs being driven across the Sutlej with the loss of many killed and wounded, and no less than seventy guns. The Governor-General, Sir Henry Hardinge, acted as a volunteer, second in command to Sir Hugh Gough, in this memorable action.
Sir F. Grant, P.R.A.] [By permission of Messrs. Graves.
FIELD MARSHAL HUGH, VISCOUNT GOUGH,
1779–1869.
Entered the Army in 1794 and served at the Cape of Good Hope and in the Peninsular War. He commanded at the Battles of Moodkee, Ferozeshah, and Sobraon, and was raised to the Peerage as a reward for these great victories. In the second Sikh War in 1848 he commanded in the actions at Chilianwalla and Goojerat.
Early in January 1846, Sirdar Runjoor Singh, again advancing towards the frontier, took up a strong position on the British side of the Sutlej, threatening Gough’s line of communications with Loodiana. Major-General Sir Harry Smith attacked him at Aliwal on January 28, and, notwithstanding the great superiority in numbers of the enemy, obtained a brilliant victory over the Sikhs, capturing their camp and fifty-two guns. But more fighting had to be done before the army of the Punjab could be finally subdued. |The Second Sikh War.| The Sikhs still lay at Sobraon with 30,000 of their best troops, defended by a triple line of breastworks, flanked by redoubts, and armed with seventy guns. Here Sir Hugh Gough attacked them on the morning of February 10, the Governor-General again being present as second in command. At nine o’clock, after an hour’s cannonade, Brigadier Stacey advanced to storm the entrenchments with four battalions, which behaved with splendid gallantry under a very heavy and well-directed fire. They stormed the position, and, being well supported, forced their way into the fortress. By eleven o’clock all was over. The Sikhs were in full flight across the Sutlej, leaving behind them piles of dead and wounded, sixty-seven guns, 200 camel swivels, and all their baggage and ammunition. The British loss consisted of 320 killed, including seventeen officers (among whom were Major-General Sir Robert Dick, General McLaren, and Brigadier Taylor), and 2,063 wounded, including 139 officers. But the carnage among the Sikhs was far more terrible. It is supposed that not less than eight or ten thousand of them perished in action or were drowned in crossing the river under the fire of the British artillery. On February 22 Gough occupied the citadel of Lahore; the Governor-General issued a proclamation from that place, and a treaty was subsequently concluded establishing Dhuleep Singh as Maharajah, tributary to the British Government.
War broke out again in the Punjab in 1848. On April 17 Mr. Vans Agnew and Lieutenant Anderson, British Agents at Mooltan, were murdered. On August 18 General Whish besieged Mooltan with 28,000 men. |Murder of Vans Agnew and Anderson. Battle of Ramnuggur.| Lord Gough arrived on November 21, and took command of the entire British force. Next day he advanced to attack the enemy at Ramnuggur, where both banks of the river were held by the Sikhs. By a most unfortunate piece of strategy the cavalry division, consisting of the 3rd Dragoons and the 5th, 8th, and 14th Light Horse, supported by Horse Artillery, were ordered forward under General Cureton to dislodge the enemy from the left bank of the river. This they accomplished with admirable gallantry, but not without suffering terrible loss, owing to the difficult nature of the ground. Colonel Havelock fell at the head of the 14th Light Dragoons; General Cureton and Captain Fitzgerald were also killed. On December 2 Lord Gough crossed the Chenab, and the enemy, after exchanging a cannonade for several hours, retired towards the north-west.