1842 Stacy the right. Her Majesty's NINTH foot, vying in steady courage with the twenty-sixth native infantry and the sappers under Captain Broadfoot, rushed upon the gardens, which were filled with bold and skilful marksmen, and their rapid and unhesitating advance in a short time left the enemy but one resource, that of flight. Shortly after this assault, the three light companies of Her Majesty's forty-first, the forty-second and forty-third native infantry, covering their own column, got into action, and, on their side, stormed the village and vineyard with distinguished gallantry, and the combination being persevered in, the enclosures, forts, heights, suburbs, and town were successively captured, the enemy being driven from them and pursued with a rapidity that left no time to rally; a singular spectacle then presented itself, in the escape up the mountain-side of the women and children from the place, to which no interception was offered. As parties of Affghans still occupied some lofty heights, the mountain-train ascended them by a dizzy pathway, and by its effective fire dispersed the fugitives.

In the capture of Istalif, deemed impregnable by the Affghans, property of every description, much of it plundered from the British in 1841, fell into the possession of the Anglo-Indian force; two guns, brass field-pieces, were also taken, and one of them was seized with such promptitude, that its captor, Lieutenant Elmhirst, of Her Majesty's NINTH foot, turned its fire upon the fugitives with some effect. The loss of the assailants was not great, the advance of officers and men being too rapid and decisive to allow the sharp fire of the enemy telling much upon them, particularly as the Affghans, deceived by the direction of the reconnaisance made by Major-General McCaskill

on the 28th, had expected the attack on their left, 1842 where they had consequently posted their guns and the élite of their force.

Brigadier Tulloch reported in very strong terms to Major-General McCaskill the good conduct on the above occasion, of his Brigade-Major, Captain Smith, of the NINTH foot.

The NINTH regiment had but one rank and file killed, and one officer (Lieutenant Lister), one serjeant, and thirteen rank and file wounded.

In testimony of the services of the NINTH foot during the campaign in Affghanistan, Her Majesty was graciously pleased to authorise the regiment to bear the word "CABOOL 1842" on its colours and appointments.

The regiment returned to Cabool on the 7th October, and arrived on the 18th December, 1842, at Ferozepore.

The regiment marched from Ferozepore on the 14th 1843 January, 1843, en route to Mobarickpore, at which place it arrived on the 31st January, and was encamped there until the 12th April following, when it proceeded to Subathoo.

The NINTH regiment marched from Subathoo to 1844 Kussowlie on the 8th March, 1844, where it continued until November, 1845, when it proceeded to Umballa, arriving at that station on the 28th of the same month.

The amicable relations, which had for some years 1845 been maintained with the government of the Punjaub, were at this juncture disturbed; the Sikh army, which had been formed by Runjeet Singh, and trained by French and Italian refugees in his service according to European tactics, had, since the decease of that politic ruler in 1839, become the dominant

1845 power, and finally coerced, or induced the Lahore authorities to commence hostilities. Accordingly the Sikh army, having crossed the Sutlej on the 11th December, 1845, invested Ferozepore on one side, and took up an entrenched position at the village of Ferozeshah, situate about ten miles in advance of Ferozepore, and nearly the same distance from Moodkee,-the enemy placing in this camp one hundred and eight pieces of cannon with a force exceeding fifty thousand men.

So unexpected and unprovoked an aggression, in a time of profound peace, rendered a series of difficult combinations for the protection of the frontier indispensable; and accordingly the NINTH foot, and other regiments, were hastily assembled under the personal command of the Commander-in-Chief in India, General Sir Hugh Gough, in order to repel the Sikh invasion. The enemy remained inactive in the vicinity of Ferozepore for some days, contenting themselves with stopping the dâks, and plundering the country, until the 17th December, when they marched to intercept the approach of the Army of the Sutlej, which was advancing to the relief of Ferozepore from Umballa.

On the 11th December, the NINTH Regiment left Umballa, and after a harassing march of one hundred and fifty miles, along roads of heavy sand, arrived at Moodkee on the afternoon of the 18th, having endured every kind of privation, the incessant labour required of the troops leaving them scarcely an hour's uninterrupted repose before they were called upon for renewed exertions. About three o'clock P. M. the army, suffering severely from the want of water, and in a state of great exhaustion, received intelligence of the advance of the Sikhs on Moodkee, and the troops had scarcely time to get under arms, and to move to their positions,

before the information was confirmed. The horse ar- 1845 tillery and cavalry were immediately pushed forward, the infantry and field batteries moving in support. Two miles were scarcely passed, when the enemy, consisting of about twenty thousand infantry, and an equal number of cavalry, with forty guns, were discovered in position, which they had either just taken up, or were advancing in order of battle. The country at this spot is a dead flat, dotted with sandy hillocks, and covered at short intervals with a low thick jungle, which formed an excellent screen for the infantry and guns of the enemy, from which they opened a severe cannonade upon the advancing troops, which was vigorously replied to by the horse artillery under Brigadier Brooke. After the manoeuvres of the cavalry on the left and right flanks of the Sikhs, the infantry commenced their participation in the fight, and advancing under Major-Generals Sir Henry G. W. Smith,

Gilbert, and Sir John McCaskill (of the NINTH), attacked in echellon of lines the enemy's infantry, the wood and approaching darkness of night rendering them almost invisible. The great superiority of numbers of the enemy necessarily caused their extended line to outflank the British, but the movements of the cavalry counteracted this advantage. Desperate was the opposition of the enemy, but the roll of fire from the infantry soon convinced the Sikh army of the inutility of resistance; their whole force was driven from position to position with great slaughter, at times rallying, but the use of that never-failing weapon, the bayonet, terminated in their defeat; night only saved them from further disaster, this stout conflict being maintained for an hour and a half of dim starlight, objects however rendered more obscure from the clouds

1845 of dust which arose from the sandy plain. Night alone

prevented the pursuit of the foe; the force bivouacked on the field for some hours; and returned to their encampment, when it was ascertained that they had no enemy before them.

In this manner was achieved the first of a series of victories over the Sikh troops; troops that had fought with the British army only three years previously, in the advance on Cabool in 1842, and had been repeatedly thanked in general orders for their services, sustaining as they did, at the forcing of the Khyber Pass, a loss equal to that of the Anglo-Indian force;* it appears therefore but reasonable to infer, that much of the skill evinced by the enemy in the disposition and arrangement of their army may be in some degree attributed to the experience they gained by their cooperation in the Affghan campaign; proving themselves unquestionably at Moodkee, and in the succeeding conflicts, one of the best-disciplined and most powerful

In a notification from the Governor-General, in Council, dated from Benares on the 19th April, 1842, the following passage

occurs:

"The Governor-General deems it to be due to the troops of the "Maha Rajah Shere Singh, to express his entire satisfaction with "their conduct, as reported to him, and to inform the army, that the "loss sustained by the Sikhs in the assault of the Khyber Pass, which 66 was forced by them, is understood to have been equal to that sus"tained by the troops of Her Majesty and of the Government of "India."

And in a further notification, dated from Simla on the 30th September 1842, the Sikhs are referred to in the following terms:

"The Governor-General has derived much satisfaction from the "report made by Major-General Pollock, of the admirable conduct "of the troops of his Highness the Maha Rajah Shere Singh, acting "in co-operation with the British Army.

"The Governor-General rejoices in this new proof of the cordial "and good understanding which prevails between the British Go66 vernment and that of Lahore."