Campaign of the Indus / In a Series of Letters from an Officer of the Bombay Division

by T. W. E. Holdsworth

However, on entering the gate, we found matters not so easy as we expected. The streets were very narrow and so intricate that they formed a perfect labyrinth, and it was very difficult to make any progress through them. The men, therefore, soon got scattered about and broken into small parties; and some, I am afraid, thought of loot, or plunder, more than of endeavouring to find their way to the citadel. I forgot to mention that during the time we were under cover, the 17th and 31st Native Infantry had moved round the hill and taken up a position on our right. These two regiments were ordered forward and into the town and at the same time and the same gate as we were. The whole force, therefore, entered the town nearly together. I followed with a party of our men, and we pushed along as well as we could through streets, by-ways, &c. This was rather nervous work, as we never could tell what we had to expect before us; there was no open enemy to be seen, but whenever we came to an opening exposed to the citadel, a few bullets invariably came whizzing in about us, and knocked over a man or two; moreover, having the recollection of Ghuzni fresh in our minds, we expected every moment a rush of some desperate fellows from the narrow holes we passed through. After groping my way through narrow passages and all sorts of agreeable places, I found myself in the exact spot I had started from—viz., the gate by which we had entered. Here a man of our Light Company came and told me that he had discovered a way to the citadel, and begged me to put myself at the head of a few men there collected. Of course I did so, and in a short time we found ourselves in a large courtyard, with stables, &c., full of horses and Beloochees; right under the windows of the citadel. These men cried out for "aman," or "mercy;" but the soldiers recollecting the treachery that had been practised at Ghuzni in a similar case were going to shoot the whole kit of them. Not liking to see this done, I stopped their fire, and endeavoured to make the Beloochees come out of their holes and give themselves up. I was standing at this time in the centre of the court, and had heard a few shots whizzing rather close over my head, when I suddenly received a shock, which made me think at the moment I was smashed to bits, by a ball from a ginjall, or native wall piece. I was knocked senseless to the ground, in which state I suppose I lay for a few minutes, and when I came to myself I found myself kicking away, and coughing up globules of clotted blood at a great pace. I thought at first I was as good as done for; however, on regaining a little strength, I looked around, and seeing none of our men in the place, and thinking it more than probable, from what I knew of their character, that the very men whom I had been endeavouring to save might take it into their heads to give me the "coup de grace" now I was left alone, I made a desperate effort, got on my legs, and managed to hobble out, when I soon found some of our men, who supported me until a dooly could be brought, into which I was placed, and was soon on my way to the doctor.

You may imagine my feelings all this time to be anything but pleasant. I still continued coughing up blood, which was flowing also pretty freely from my side. The idea that you may probably have only a few hours longer to exist, with the many recollections that crowd into your mind at such a time, is anything but a delightful one; and the being so suddenly reduced from a state of vigorous activity to the sick, faintish feeling that came over me, by no means added to the agremens of my situation.

I well recollect being carried through the gate, where General Willshire with his staff and the officers who had been left with the reserve companies were, and who all pressed forward to see who the unfortunate fellow in the dooly was, when the low exclamation of "Poor Holdsworth!" and the mysterious and mournful shaking of heads which passed among them, by no means tended to enliven my spirits. I soon reached the place where the doctors, with their understrappers, were busily employed among the wounded, dying, and dead. I was immediately stripped and examined, and then, for the first time, heard that the ball had passed through and out of my body. I also now discovered that it had struck and gone through my arm as well. Being very anxious, I begged Hunter, the doctor, to let me know the worst. He shook his head, and told me "he thought it a rather dangerous case, principally from my having spit so much blood." He had not time, however, to waste many words with me, as he had plenty of others to attend. Dickenson, also, I found here; having been wounded, as I before told you. He did all he could to keep my spirits up, but, as you may suppose, I felt still very far from being comfortable. Nor were the various objects that met my eye of a consolatory nature: men lying, some dead, others at their last gasp, while the agonizing groans of those who were undergoing operations at the hands of the hospital assistants, added to the horror of the scene. I may now say that I have seen, on a small scale, every different feature of a fight.

In the meantime, there had been sharp fighting in the citadel. Our men, after forcing their way through numerous dark passages, in sonic places so narrow and low that they were forced to crawl singly on their hands and knees, at length arrived there; but as there were a great number of approaches to this their last place of refuge, our men got broken up into small detached parties, and entered it at different places. One party reached the place where Mehrab Khan, at the head of the chiefs who had joined his standard, was sitting with his sword drawn, &c. The others seemed inclined to surrender themselves, and raised the cry of "Aman!" but the Khan, springing on his feel, cried, "Aman, nag!" equivalent to "Mercy be d—d," and blew his match; but all in vain, as he immediately received about three shots, which completely did his business; the one that gave him the "coup de grace," and which went through his breast, being fired by a man of our regiment, named Maxwell. So fell Mehrab Khan, having fulfilled his promise to General Willshire, and died game, with his sword in his hand, in his own citadel.

Other parties, however, were not so fortunate, as each being too weak, the enemy generally offered a determined resistance, and several, after giving themselves up, finding the numbers to whom they had surrendered smaller than they had at first appeared, turned upon them suddenly; for which, however, they suffered in the long-run, as the soldiers, at last, maddened by this conduct, refused quarter, and fired at once into whatever party they met, without asking any questions.

At length the few survivors, being driven to their last stronghold at the very top of the citadel, surrendered on condition of their lives being granted to them; when one loud and general "hurrah!" proclaimed around that Kelat was ours. The greatest part of the garrison had, however, before this managed to make their escape over the hills. Dickenson, while he was lying wounded by my side, saw quantities of them letting themselves down the walls of the citadel by means of ropes, shawls, &c.

Dooly, the most faithful of his chiefs and followers, remained by Mehrab Khan to the last. These were all either taken prisoners or killed. Besides the Khan himself, the Dadur chief, who had been the cause of great annoyance to us in our way up, and the Governor of the Shawl district, were among the slain. The only two men of his council of any note among the survivors are at present prisoners in our camp, on their way to Bengal.

Thus ended this short, but decisive affair, which I consider to be a much more gallant one than that of Ghuzni, both in regard to the numbers engaged on each side and the manner in which it was taken. We merely halted for an hour, and then went slap at it, as if it was merely a continuation of our morning's march. General Willshire was exceedingly pleased with the result, as well he might be, and issued a very complimentary address to the force engaged, the next day. I hope and conclude his fortune will be made by it.

The loss on our side at Kelat was, in proportion, a great deal greater than at Ghuzni. We had altogether about 1100 bayonets engaged, and the loss was 140, being about one in seven; of this loss, the Queen's bear a proportion equal to that of the other two regiments together, having returned about seventy in the butcher's bill out of 280, which was the number we brought into the field, being about one in four. Out of thirteen officers, we had one killed, four severely, and one slightly, wounded; twenty-three men were killed, and forty-one wounded, of whom some have died since, and most will feel the effect of their wounds till their dying day, as the greatest portion are body wounds.