The Sutlej Medal.—The first, or Sutlej medal, 1¼ in. in diameter, bearing the legend "ARMY OF THE SUTLEJ," was given with three bars for four battles; that is to say, that those who fought through all the battles had their record on the medal and three bars. A soldier taking part in the battle of MOODKEE would have the name impressed in raised letters, with the date, 1845, in the exergue of the medal, and the succeeding battles on the bars, as in the illustration facing page [112], of a medal awarded to a man of the 31st Royal East Surrey Regiment—this and the 50th Royal West Kent Regiment being the only two British regiments to receive the three bars, for FEROZESHUHUR, ALIWAL, and for SOBRAON, the battle which determined the first campaign. This was the first Indian medal issued with bars. The ribbon is dark blue, edged with dark crimson. The medal, with W. WYON, R.A., on the truncation of the Queen's head and W.W. above the left-hand corner of the exergue, is generally considered a good one, and certainly it does stand out among the many issued during the reign of Queen Victoria as symbolic and suited for its purpose. The names of the recipients are impressed in Roman capitals on the edges. The medal is attached to the ribbon by means of a scroll bar fixed to the medal by a claw clip acting on a swivel, so that the medal may be turned about when fixed on the breast.
SECOND PUNJAB CAMPAIGN
This originated in a murderous assault made upon the British officials accompanying the Sirdar Khan Singh, who was deputed to take over the charge of the fortress of Mooltan (Multan) and province from the native Governor Dewan Moolraj, who had resigned. On arriving at the gate of the fortress the officers and their escort were attacked and killed by some of the Governor's men. A punitive force, including a body of 1,400 Sikhs, was consequently sent to punish the city, but the Sikhs went over to the rebels, and it was found necessary to send a strong force to reduce the mutineers who had been excited by Moolraj. Mooltan, a city three miles in circumference, is of considerable antiquity; it was taken by Alexander the Great, and at the beginning of the eleventh century by Mahmud of Ghazni, and by Tamerlane at the end of the fourteenth century; besieged by Ranjit Singh in 1810, he was bought off by the Afghan Governor, but it fell in 1818, and was annexed to the Punjab.
General Whish marched upon the city from Lahore with a force which included H.M.'s 10th and 32nd Regiments, and concentrated at Mooltan in the middle of August; but he had realised, after the desertion of 5,000 Sikhs under Sheer Ali, that it was fruitless to maintain the siege, and therefore raised it on September 15th. Lieutenant Edwardes, however, had by superhuman energy and indomitable pluck raised a force of Sikhs and Mahommedans, which was of the greatest possible assistance in holding Moolraj and his army of about 8,800 infantry and 1,200 cavalry, with 54 guns, in check, twice defeating him in battle at Kineyree and Suddoosam.
Edwardes's Medal.—For his splendid services the H.E.I. Co. presented him with a gold medal designed by W. Wyon, R.A., bearing on the obverse the bust of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and on the reverse, resting upon a lotus flower, the figures of Valour and Victory, crowning the arms of Major (afterwards Sir Herbert) Edwardes; beneath, in allusion to the youthfulness of the hero, the infant Hercules strangling serpents. Within the border is the inscription, FROM THE EAST INDIA COMPANY TO LIEUTENANT AND BREVET-MAJOR H. B. EDWARDES, C.B., FOR HIS SERVICES IN THE PUNJAB A.D. MDCCCXLVIII.
Where "El Chico Blanco" fell.—While Whish and Edwardes had been holding the ground, Lord Gough assembled an army at Ferozepore, and marching into the Punjab met the rebels at Ramnuggur on the banks of the Chenab on November 28th, 1848, where after a determined battle the enemy drew off beaten. It was here Lieutenant-Colonel William Havelock, K.H., "El Chico Blanco," the fair-haired and gallant boy-leader of the Peninsular War, was killed while leading the 14th Dragoons in the cavalry charge. Colonel Havelock was brother to Sir Henry Havelock, and his six-bar Peninsular medal is in the great collection of my friend Dr. A. A. Payne, of Sheffield. Brigadier-General Cureton, C.B., the commander of the cavalry division, also fell. The brilliant charges made by the 13th and 14th Light Dragoons, and the 5th and 8th Light Cavalry, against the great bodies of hostile horsemen numbering nearly 4,000, called forth special mention in general orders. Various minor engagements were fought while Major-General Whish renewed the siege of Mooltan, which lasted twenty-five days, during which time a shell from one of the British mortar batteries struck the "Jumma Musjid," or Great Mosque, while another blew up a powder-magazine with 400,000 lb. of powder, when, states Colonel Maude, "as if by mutual consent the firing on both sides ceased a while, every one gazing upwards with silent awe and wonder! Then from the British camp arose one long burst of triumph, which was speedily answered by a furious cannonade from our courageous and still unsubdued enemy." Two breaches had been made in the walls by January 1st, 1849, one at the Delhi Gate and one near the "Khonee Boorj," or Bloody Bastion; this the Bombay European Fusiliers, the 4th Rifles, and the 19th Native Infantry were told off to storm, but the "Old Toughs," as the Fusiliers were called, had to make three desperate attempts before they and their comrades could gain the summit. Meanwhile the 32nd, with two Bengal regiments in support, had been ordered to storm the Delhi Gate; but their efforts were unsuccessful owing to the imperfect breaching, and they entered the city by the "Khonee Boorj." So Mooltan was won, but no rest was obtained until the troops reached the Soharee Gate, after fighting through the streets of the blood-stained city, in the siege of which the British force lost 1,200 in killed and wounded.
FIRST INDIA GENERAL SERVICE MEDAL.