THE SIKH WARS
The Sikh wars of 1845-6 and 1848-9, which concluded with the annexation of the Punjab, and the Koh-i-noor diamond being presented to Queen Victoria, were particularly hard-fought campaigns; and Lord Gough—one of the famous fighting Goughs—whom Wellington thought unworthy to continue the command in the second campaign, which, however, he successfully closed, is depicted on the medal for the Punjab campaign receiving from the defeated Sikhs the arms they were no longer allowed to bear against us. Some state that the mounted soldier depicted on the medal is Sir Walter Raleigh Gilbert.
Runjeet Singh, who died in 1839, left an army trained by Europeans and a young son, Dhuleep Singh. The former, numbering 60,000, inspired by the ambitious Ministers of the infant Maharajah, crossed the Sutlej and invested Ferozepore with the object of expelling the British from Hindoostan, but was encountered at Moodkee on December 18th by the "Army of the Sutlej," consisting of 3,850 Europeans and 8,500 natives, which with 42 guns had made a tiring march of 22 miles to relieve Ferozepore.
Moodkee.—It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon when the alarm was given that the Sikhs were to give battle. The fatigued and famished soldiers abandoned the meal they were preparing, and, many coatless, rushed to their arms and to meet the Sikh army, the strength of which was so great that it outflanked the British, which practically only formed a single line to oppose it. The infantry meeting them in front gave a brilliant account of itself with the bayonet. The second brigade of cavalry, with the 3rd Light Dragoons, swept the enemy's left, while the rest of the British cavalry turned their right, but the fight continued until darkness, aided by the great clouds of dust from the sandy desert, came to the aid of the Sikhs, who sullenly retired to their camp at Ferozeshuhur after the loss of 17 guns, while the British rested on the battlefield for a few hours and then returned to their camp. In this battle, Colonel James Robertson, C.B., relates, Captain (afterwards Lord) Napier had a remarkable escape with his life; when riding armed merely with a walking-stick several of the enemy rushed at him, but he escaped unscathed. He had ridden from Umballa alone and straight into the battle when it was at its height! In this battle, Colonel Robertson states, the Sikh gunners "were conspicuous for their reckless bravery and devotion to their guns." They "died rather than yield; and there were no white flags, and no quarter asked or given on either side, so we had just to fight it out," and these were the men with whom we had fought side by side in the advance on Cabul but three years before! In this encounter 84 officers and 800 men were placed hors de combat, and the hero of Jellalabad, Major-General Sir Robert Sale, mortally wounded, Sir John McGaskill killed, and 4 brigadiers wounded.
MEDAL FOR SUTLEJ, 1845.
BRONZE STAR FOR PUNNIAR, 1843.
