Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Cameron died of fever on the 9th August, and Lieutenant Colonel F. G. Wilkinson succeeded to the command of the regiment.
The headquarters and left wing were ordered to Peeleebheet on the 14th October, where it remained encamped till the 24th November, when, in order the better to guard against the rebels crossing from Oudh into Rohilkund, Colonel Smyth, Bengal Artillery, in command of a small column, was ordered to take up a position on the banks of the Sarda, to watch the Ghauts. No. 6, Captain Lawson’s company, joined Colonel Smyth’s column. At the same time, Major M’Leod was ordered, with the troops under his command, viz., 4 companies 42d Royal Highlanders, 2 squadrons Punjaub cavalry, 1 company Kumaon levies, and 2 guns, to proceed to Madho-Tandu, being a central position whence support might be sent in any direction required. This force subsequently moved close to the Sarda, in consequence of the numerous reports of the approach of the enemy, but all remained quiet until the morning of the 15th January 1859. The enemy having been pursued in the Khyrugher district by a force under command of Colonel Dennis, attempted to force his way into Rohilkund, with the view, as was supposed, of getting into Rampore. Early on the morning of the 15th the enemy, about 2000 strong, effected the passage of the Sarda, at Maylah Ghaut, about three miles above Colonel Smyth’s camp, at daylight. The alarm having been given, the whole of the troops in camp moved out with all speed, and attacked the rebels in the dense jungle, close to the river. Ensign Coleridge, 42d, was detached in command of a piquet of 40 men of Captain Lawson’s company, and 40 men Kumaon levies, and was so placed as to be cut off from the remainder of the force. The jungle was so dense, that the cavalry could not act; the Kumaon levies were all raw recruits, who were with difficulty kept to their posts, so the fighting fell almost wholly to the lot of the 37 men under command of Captain Lawson. The enemy, desperate, and emboldened by the appearance of so small a force before them, made repeated attempts to break through the thin line of skirmishers, but the latter nobly held their ground. Captain Lawson received a gun-shot wound in his left knee, early in the day; Colour Sergeant Landles was shot and cut to pieces, two corporals—Ritchie and Thompson—were also killed, and several other casualties had greatly weakened them. The company now without either officers or non-commissioned officers, yet bravely held on their ground, and, cheered on by the old soldiers, kept the enemy at bay from sunrise to sunset. Privates Walter Cook and Duncan Miller, for their conspicuous bravery during this affair were awarded the Victoria Cross.
Major M’Leod’s force was then at a place called Sunguree on the Sarda, 22 miles from Colonel Smyth’s force. About 8 A.M. when the numbers and nature of the enemy’s attack were discovered, a Sowar was despatched to Major M’Leod (in temporary command) for a reinforcement of two companies, and ordering the remainder of the force to proceed with all speed to Madho-Tanda to await the result of the battle. No. 7 and 8 companies were dispatched from Sunguree about noon, but did not reach the scene of action till after 5 P.M. Their arrival turned the tide of battle altogether. Such of the enemy as could recrossed the river in the dark, and next morning nothing remained on the field, but the dead and dying, 2 small guns, and some cattle belonging to the rebels. Lord Clyde complimented the regiment very highly on this occasion, and in particular, spoke of Captain Lawson’s company as a pattern of valour and discipline.
General Walpole having received intelligence about the 22d that a body of rebels were hovering about, under Goolah Sing, in the Khyrugher jungles, two companies of the 42d Royal Highlanders at Colonel Smyth’s camp, a squadron of the Punjaub cavalry, a squadron of Crossman’s Horse, and three companies of Ghoorkhas, under command of Colonel Wilkinson, were ordered to cross the river at the spot where the rebels came over, and march to Gulori, 40 miles in the interior, under the Nepaul hills. Gulori was reached in 4 days, but Goolah Sing had secured himself in a fort under Nepaulese protection. Colonel Dennis, with a force from Sultanpore had orders to march on a village 20 miles from Gulori, and also sweep the jungles and communicate with Colonel Wilkinson. As he never arrived, and the jungles being free from rebels, the force recrossed the river and returned to camp.
The left wing of the 42d remained on the Sarda until the 14th of March, when it returned to Bareilly, and joined the right wing, which had returned from Mooradabad on the 18th February, having been relieved by a wing of the 82d regiment; but information having been received that the rebels were again appearing in force in the Khyrugher districts, the right wing, under command of Lieutenant Colonel Priestley, was sent to the Sarda to join Colonel Smyth on the 13th March, where it remained until the 15th May 1859, when it returned to Bareilly, the weather being by this time very hot and the district perfectly quiet. About this time, Lieutenant-Colonel Wilkinson went on leave to England, and was appointed to a depot battalion, and on the 27th September Lieutenant-Colonel Priestley succeeded to the command of the regiment.
The regiment occupied the temporary barracks at the old Kutchery, Berkley’s House, and the Jail, during the hot and rainy seasons. The men were remarkably healthy, and very few casualties occurred.
His Excellency, Sir Hugh Rose, Commander-in-chief in India having been invited on the 18th September, by Lieutenant-Colonel Priestley in the name of the officers and soldiers of the 42d Royal Highlanders, to present new colours to the regiment, arrived in Bareilly for that purpose on the 1st of January 1861. After the old colours had been lodged, and the new been presented by His Excellency, and trooped with the usual ceremonies, Sir Hugh Rose addressed the regiment in the following speech:—
“42d Royal Highlanders,
“I do not ask you to defend the colours I have presented to you this day. It would be superfluous: you have defended them for nearly 150 years with the best blood of Scotland.
“I do not ask you to carry these colours to the front should you again be called into the field; you have borne them round the world with success. But I do ask the officers and soldiers of this gallant and devoted regiment not to forget, because they are of ancient date, but to treasure in their memories the recollection of the brilliant deeds of arms of their forefathers and kinsmen, the scenes of which are inscribed on these colours. There is not a name on them which is not a study; there is not a name on them which is not connected with the most important events of the world’s history, or with the pages of the military annals of England.