THE BATTLE OF BAMEEAN,

18th September, 1840.

THE object of the advance of the army of the Indus into Afghanistan was to drive out the reigning sovereign, Dost Mahomed Khan, who was supposed to be inimical to British interests, and to place Shah Soojah on the throne. When the Dost fled from Cabool, as the British troops advanced towards that city, in August, 1839, he went to Khoolun, and eventually arrived at Bokhara, where he and his second son, Akbar Khan, were treacherously detained as prisoners. They, however, effected their escape, and, collecting a body of troops, once more attempted to oppose the progress of the British.

A small British force under Brigadier Dennie reached Bameean on the 14th of September. On the evening of the 17th, the Brigadier obtained information that some advanced bodies of cavalry were entering the valley from the great defile in his front, six miles from Bameean; and on the following morning it was reported that they had attacked a friendly village, which had claims to British protection. He resolved, therefore, to expel them. It was believed that they constituted the advanced guard of the Ameer's army, under his son, Afzul Khan. On the morning of the 18th, a detachment was ordered out, to drive the enemy from the valley. Soon after eight o'clock, two horse artillery guns, under Lieut. Murray Mackenzie, two companies of the 35th Native Infantry, two companies of the Goorkha corps, and about four hundred Afghan horse, marched out to meet the

enemy. About half-an-hour afterwards, Dennie, with two more companies of the native infantry regiment, and two also of the Goorkha corps, followed, in support of the advanced detachment. Instead of coming merely upon the advance of the enemy, the Brigadier found an army in his front: but, in spite of the slender force at his command, and the apparently overwhelming numbers of the enemy, he did not hesitate for a moment. His men were eager to advance, and he himself was full of confidence and courage. The enemy had got possession of a chain of forts reaching to the mouth of the defile, and were collected in bodies round the several forts and upon the hills on either side of the valley. Mackenzie's guns began to play upon them. For some short time the Oosbegs forming part of the Dost's force stood the fire, but the guns were ably served, and the shrapnel practice told with terrific effect on dense bodies of men, who had nothing to give back in return.

The Oosbegs retreated; the British guns were pushed forward, opening a destructive fire first from one distance then from another upon the wavering enemy. The Dost's army was soon broken to pieces, and the British cavalry were then let slip in pursuit. Following the disordered masses of the enemy. for some miles along the defile, they cut down large numbers, and dispersed them in all directions. The defeat of the Dost's army was complete, and he and his son owed their lives to the fleetness of their steeds.

This battle was followed by the capture of the fort of Tootundurrah, belonging to a chief in league with the fugitive Ameer. Sir Robert Sale commanded the British troops. Before this petty fortress a gallant

young officer, Lieutenant Edward Conolly, was killed, shot through the heart. He was a lieutenant of cavalry, one of three accomplished and enterprising brothers who had followed the fortunes of their relative, Sir William Macnaghten, and obtained employment under the British mission.

DOST MAHOMED'S LAST CHARGE.

THE force under Sir Robert Sale continued to pursue Dost Mahomed. On the 1st of November the force encamped before Meer Musjedee's fort. On the 2nd it came in sight of the enemy. The army of the Ameer was posted in the valley of Purwandurrah. The Nijrow hills were bristling with the armed population of an hostile country. Dost Mahomed had no intention of giving battle. He was moving off to a position on some elevated ground, commanded by a steep hill to the rearward, when, at the suggestion of Dr. Lord, the British cavalry were moved forward to outflank the Afghan horse. The Afghans were on the hills skirting one side of the pass; the British troops were on the opposite declivity. Dost Mahomed saw our cavalry advancing, and from that moment cast behind him all thought of retreat. At the head of a small band of horsemen, strong sturdy Afghans, but badly mounted, he prepared to meet his assailants. Beside him rode the bearer of the blue standard which marked his place in the battle. He pointed to it, and reined in his horse, then snatching the white lunghi from his head, stood up in his stirrups uncovered before his followers, and called upon them in the name

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of God and the Prophet to drive the cursed Kaffirs from the country of the faithful. "Follow me," he cried aloud, or I am a lost man." Slowly, but steadily the Afghan horsemen advanced. The English officers who led our cavalry to the attack covered themselves with glory, but the native troopers, those vaunting horsemen not treacherous even now for the first time, and who were in after-years to prove traitors of the darkest die, fled like sheep. Emboldened by the dastardly conduct of the men of the 2nd Light Cavalry, the Afghan horsemen dashed on, driving their enemy before them, and not stopping till they were almost within reach of the British guns.

The Afghan sabres told with cruel effect on the mounted officers, who, though surrounded by foes, fought bravely to the last. Lieutenants Broadfoot and Crispin were cut to pieces. A treacherous shot from a neighbouring bastion brought Dr. Lord to the ground, and the dagger of an assassin completed the work of death. Captains Fraser and Ponsonby, whose gallantry has never been surpassed even in the annals of old Roman heroism, still live to show their honourable scars, and to tell the story of that melancholy day.

Night put an end to the fight. Dost Mahomed retreated; and though he had just met with unexpected success, feeling that his case was hopeless, the very next evening went and delivered himself up as a prisoner to Sir William Macnaghten, the British Envoy to the Court of Cabool.

ACTION NEAR SOORKHAB,

November, 1841.

THE chiefs of certain hill tribes, Kuzzilbashs, Ghilzyes, and other robbers and bandits by profession, had been accustomed to receive subsidies to induce them to refrain from robbing any caravans or parties travelling in the neighbourhood of their territories. The expenses of the war in Afghanistan had been enormous; and it becoming necessary to retrench, it was unwisely determined to begin by cutting off the pay of these chiefs. They resented the measure, and assembling in vast numbers, took every opportunity of attacking the British troops passing through the defiles of their mountainous country. Sale's brigade had reached Jugdulluck with little opposition, but on the next march it was seen that the heights were bristling with armed men, and a heavy fire was poured in with terrible effect from all the salient points on which the mountaineers had posted themselves. Sale threw out his flanking parties, and the light troops skirmishing well up the hill-sides, dislodged the enemy, whilst a party under Captain Wilkinson, pushing through the defile, found that the main outlet had not been guarded, and that the passage was clear. The march was resumed, but the enemy were not yet weary of the contest. Re-appearing in great numbers, they fell furiously upon the British rear-guard, and for a time the men thus suddenly assailed were in a state of terrible disorder. The energetic efforts of the officers, however, brought them back to a sense of their duty. Broadfoot, Backhouse, and Fenwick rallied and re