in erecting breaching batteries; before the guns, however, had reached the position on the morning of the 6th., it was ascertained that the fortress had been evacuated, and at daybreak the British colours were flying from the citadel. The 40th. had one private killed and three privates wounded; the 41st had the same number wounded. In these operations the loss was much less than might have been expected, from the numbers and positions of the enemy, and from the fact of the troops being obliged to move under the range of the guns of the fortress. Three hundred and twenty-seven Sepoys of the 27th. Native Infantry were here released from the state of slavery to which they had been reduced by the Afghans. A party was detained, under Lieutenant G. White, to take down the celebrated gates of Somnauth, concerning which so much discussion afterwards arose.

On the 10th. of September the troops continued their march on Cabool, when Shumshoodeen, Sultan Jan, and other chiefs having assembled about twelve thousand men, occupied, on the 14th. and 15th. of September, a succession of strong mountains, intercepting the advance at Beenee Badam, and Mydan, but they were dislodged, and driven from their position. No further opposition was encountered, and on the 17th. the troops, under Major-General Nott, reached Cabool, and joined the force under Major-General Pollock.

After the strong town of Istalif had been captured by the troops under Major-General McCaskill, on the 29th. of September, in which the 9th. Foot and the light companies of the 41st. bore a gallant part, the army broke ground on its return to India on the 12th. of October, the grand bazaar at Cabool, named the Chahar Chuttah, where the remains of the British envoy had been expossd to public insult, having been first destroyed. On arriving at Jellalabad, the fortress was destroyed.* During the march through the Passes several attacks

* On the south face of the fort was a large bastion, close to which was an open space which had been converted into a burial ground; here the remains of Colonel Dennie, with many other gallant soldiers were laid, and the engineer officer in mining the bastion caused the whole mass to be thrown by the explosion over the graves, thus leaving a lasting and appropriate monument over them, and effectually preventing the bodies being disturbed by the Afghans.

S

of the Afghans were repulsed. According to the wish of Lord Ellenborough, the Governor-General, the garrison of Jellalabad proceeded in advance of the rest of the troops, in order to make a triumphant entry. The medals (mural crown pattern) granted to the garrison for the defence and battle near Jellalabad had been forwarded a few days previously, in order that they might be worn on its entrance into Ferozepore, which took place on the 17th. of December.

The following Queen's regiments took part in these campaigns-Cabool, 1842.-3rd. Light Dragoons, 9th., 13th., 31st. 40th., and 41st. regiments. Candahar and Ghuznee.-40th. and 41st. regiments. Jellalabad.-13th. Light Infantry.

CHUZNEEN CABUL

1842

THE SECOND AFGHAN WAR.

1878, 1879, 1880.

DOST MOHAMMED, our antagonist in the war of 1842, died Ameer of Afghanistan in 1863, and was succeeded by his third son, Shere Ali. His authority was disputed by his brother, but, after a series of bloody conflicts, he, being aided by Sir John Lawrence with arms and money, overcame his rivals, and in 1869

was sole ruler of Afghanistan. In March of the same year he had an interview at Umballa with Lord Mayo, Viceroy of India, and was granted another subsidy; but not meeting with the succour he desired, Shere Ali returned home in a very suspicious and dissatisfied state of mind. Lord Northbrook, during his Viceroyalty, met the prime minister of Shere Ali at Simla in 1873, who, failing to obtain any positive assurance of support in case of an attack by Russia, his master concluded that his best policy would be to make friends with that power, and he accordingly entered into correspondence with General Kauffman, the Russian commander in Central Asia. In 1877 he refused to allow a British Resident at Cabul, and broke off all communications with the Indian Government, the result being that his annual subsidy was withheld. In June, 1878, a Russian envoy, Stoletoff, with a military escort, was received with honour at Cabul, and a treaty signed, constituting Russia the guardian of the Ameer. Upon this, Lord Lytton sent as envoy to Cabul, Gholam Hussein Khan, with letters to the Ameer informing him of the intention of the Indian Government to send to Cabul an English mission, but the envoy was dismissed with presents, and intercourse with the English declined. A special mission was despatched from Peshawur under Sir Neville B. Chamberlain, commander of the Madras Army, with whom was Major Cavagnari, which proceeded to the fort of Ali Musjid at the entrance of the Khyber Pass, but was there stopped, and threatened with attack if it proceeded further, September 22nd. As the escort with the mission was not strong enough to force a passage, Sir Neville returned to Peshawur. As it was impossible that the Indian Government could submit to see a Russian Envoy received with honour at Cabul, and its own officers refused admission into the country, an ultimatum was sent to Shere Ali, to the effect that if a British Resident was not received at Cabul war would be declared. No answer to this having been received within the time prescribed, November 20th, on the next day war was formally proclaimed. It was decided to invade Afghanistan in three columns, operating by the Khyber and Bolan Passes, and the Kuram Valley. A fourth column, called the Thal-Chotiali Field Force, was placed under the orders of General Donald Stewart in Southern Afghanistan, and a reserve column was formed at Jumrood. The column com

manded by General Sir S. Browne, V.C., known as the First Division of the Peshawur Field Force, crossed the frontier the day war was proclaimed, and marched direct upon

ALI MUSJID,

NOVEMBER 21ST., 1878.

Ali Musjid is a strong fort on a steep detached hill, about six miles from the frontier, commanding the deep gorge of the Khyber Pass, and flanked by batteries on the hill sides. The fort was armed with fifteen guns, and the spurs of the hills were occupied by the enemy, their right resting on a ridge covered with a line of breast works, forming a position of great strength. General Browne's force was divided into four brigades. The first, under General Macpherson, consisting of the 4th. Battalion Rifle Brigade, the 20th. Bengal Infantry, and the 4th. Ghoorkas, with a mountain battery, was directed to make a long detour, and occupy the Pass a mile or two beyond the fort. The second brigade under Col. Tytler, composed of the 1st. Battalion 17th. Foot, the 1st. Sikhs, the Guides, and a mountain battery, was ordered to take a hill opposite the fort, on which were some batteries, and to turn the enemy's position; and the third and fourth brigades, under General Appleyard, C.B. comprising the 51st. and 81st. regiments, the 14th. and 45th. Sikhs, and the 6th. and 24th. Native Infantry, with a mountain battery, and a battery of Horse Artillery were to march up the valley. As the troops advanced the fort opened fire on them, and the fire being returned by a battery of forty pounders, the effect on the fortification was soon visible The 81st. and the 14th. Sikhs threw out lines of skirmishers to clear the advanced defences of the Afghans; a battery of nine pounders was got into position, and the forty pounders poured a destructive fire into Ali Musjid, and soon reduced its guns to silence. A general advance was ordered, the 51st. and the Sikhs threatened the enemy's left, and both sides of the steep hill slopes were covered with infantry in skirmishing order, keeping up a heavy musketry fire on the Afghan defences. The skirmishers pushed forward till they came nearly abreast of the fort, and some gallant but unsuccessful attacks were made upon the enemy's entrenchments,

but it was evident that the fort and batteries could not be carried by a direct attack but with immense loss, and as night was coming on, a halt was ordered. Nothing was yet known how Macpherson and Tytler had succeeded in their part of the operations; both brigades had met with enormous obstacles on their march, and the first failed to reach the point assigned to it in the plan of the attack; but these movements, and the arrival of Tytler's brigade in the night at its destined position, struck the Afghans with terror. The defenders of Ali Musjid on hearing that a force was in their rear which would cut off their retreat, abandoned their post with precipitation and fled, leaving their fires burning, and their guns loaded. In their rapid flight towards Jellalabad, they were intercepted by Tytler's brigade, which captured a large number of prisoners, among them being the Ameer's Master of the Horse. In the morning Ali Musjid was occupied by the troops without further resistance. Twenty-two guns were taken in the fort, and seven more in a battery on the ridge, with large stores of ammunition, food, and clothing. The Afghans were so cowed by the capture of a fort they believed to be impregnable, that Sir S. Browne pushing rapidly onwards, reached and established himself at Jellalabad, with scarcely a shot being fired. The British loss was Major Birch, Lieut. Fitzgerald and thirty-five men killed. The regiments engaged were the 10th. Hussars, 11th. Bengal Lancers, the 17th., 51st., 81st. Regiment, and Rifle Brigade, the 6th., 14th., 20th., 27th., and 45th. Bengal Infantry; 1st. Sikh Infantry, 4th. Ghoorkas, Bengal Sappers and Miners, and four Batteries of Artillery.

PEIWAR KOTUL.

DECEMBER 2ND., 1878.

Major-General Roberts, V.C. (now General Sir F. Roberts, V.C.), at the outbreak of the second Afghan war was QuartermasterGeneral of the Bombay Army, and was appointed by the Viceroy, Lord Lytton, to the command of the force which was to invade Afghanistan by the Kuram Valley. The Kuram Field Force was