[145] Ib.
[146] It consisted of two squadrons of the 5th Light Cavalry, under Colonel Chambers; one squadron of Shah Soojah’s 2nd Irregular Horse, under Lieutenant Le Geyt; one troop of Skinner’s Horse, under Lieutenant Walker; the Body Guard; six companies of her Majesty’s 44th, under Major Scott; six companies of the 37th Native Infantry, under Major Griffiths; four companies of the Shah’s 6th Infantry, under Captain Hopkins; one horse-artillery and one mountain-train gun, under Lieutenant Eyre, escorted by a company of the Shah’s 6th Regiment, under Captain Marshall.
[147] “My very heart,” said Lady Sale, “felt as if it leapt to my teeth when I saw the Afghans ride clean through them. The onset was fearful. They looked like a great cluster of bees, but we beat them and drove them up again.”
[148] Eyre’s Journal.
[149] “Major Scott, of her Majesty’s 44th, repeatedly called on his men to descend with him to drag the six-pounder away, but, strange to say, his frequent appeals to their soldierly feelings were made in vain; with a few gallant exceptions, they remained immoveable, nor could the Sepoys be induced to lead the way where their European brethren so obstinately hung back.”—[Eyre’s Journal.]
[150] Lieutenant Eyre.
[151] “This step they ventured on in consequence of our want of cavalry, which prevented us from having patrols, and encouraged them to march above forty miles across a level plain, in no place twenty miles from our own post, and in some parts of the latter half approaching within eight miles.”—[Major Pottinger’s Budeeabad Report.—MS. Records.] Charekur is fifty or sixty miles to the north of Caubul.
[152] Major Pottinger’s Budeeabad Report.
[153] “When the party got in motion the enemy retreated on all sides. One very large body, however, remained in a position on the mountain side, threatening the flank of the column. Ensign Salisbury was detached with a company to remove this. The enemy retreated as they advanced, and the Goorkhas being young soldiers, having once got heated, followed with great eagerness, despite the frequently sounded recall; and on their finally stopping, the enemy perceived they were too far separated from the main body, and followed them up with a boldness which obliged Mr. Salisbury to make frequent halts. In consequence, Mr. Haughton was obliged to halt the convoy, and detach the greater part of his men, to extricate the compromised company. This halt encouraged the other parties of the enemy, who had retired, and they closed in from all sides in most formidable array (apparently not less than 4000 men). Mr. Haughton, however, maintained his ground till joined by Mr. Salisbury, when, seeing the hopelessness of making good his way, he retreated and gained the barracks in safety. A great number of men fell in the retreat, as they were obliged frequently to halt, formed in close order to resist the enemy’s cavalry, which, being closely on them, was only kept in check by the gallantry of Mr. Haughton, who, with a few men and the gun, remained in the rear, and covered the retreat of the disheartened party. Mr. Salisbury was mortally wounded, and the trail of the field-gun gave way at the elevating screw just as they reached support.”—[Pottinger’s Report.—MS. Records.]
[154] “In the castle of Lughmanee,” writes Pottinger, in his official report, “we abandoned the hostages from the Kohistan chiefs, two boxes of treasure, containing 10,000 rupees, and about sixty Afghan firelocks (confiscated from the deserters of the Kohistan corps), all my official records, Mr. Rattray’s, Dr. Grant’s, and my own personal property, and a very large number of horses belonging to ourselves and the horsemen who had not deserted. The Heratees and seven or eight Peshawerees were the only Afghans who adhered to me. All the Caubulees deserted, and one principal cause of so immediate a termination to my defence may be traced to the reduction of a portion of my escort, which had so disgusted the men who remained, that they deserted as soon as Mr. Rattray was killed.”—[MS. Records.]