Shére Singh joins the enemy.

The siege is suspended.

action, the enemy, who resisted stoutly, were driven within the defences. At this juncture, Shére Singh, whose conduct had been long suspicious, openly joined the enemy, and, to prove his devotion to the Sikh cause, marched to join his father Chutter Singh, already in open rebellion; when, under the determination of a council of war, the siege of Mooltan was for the present suspended. Meanwhile, under the active intrigues of the Máháranee, the whole of the Punjab had become a scene of covert disaffection-almost every chief who had united in imploring the British to remain had signed a covenant to drive them from the Punjab. The Ranee's intrigues spread rapidly to native courts in India, urging an effort to drive the British into the sea and at length they became too notorious to be neglected or overlooked, and she was removed to Benares. But the mischief had been done : and the seeds of revolt, so deeply sown, were already springing up vigorously in

Intrigues of the Mahá

ranee.

She is removed to Benares.

The siege of Mooltan renewed.

various directions. Reinforcements from Bombay only reached Mooltan late in December, and on their arrival the siege was recommenced, on the 27th of that month. General Whish had meanwhile taken up a position near the city, and had not been seriously molested; but in the interim the defences of the fort had been much improved and strengthened. The siege was now pressed with science and vigour, and a spirited sally was beaten back by Edwardes's force, against which it was directed. On the 30th, the great magazine in the city, which had contained 400,000 pounds of powder, was exploded by a shell, causing vast destruction. On January 2, two breaches in the city wall were reported practicable, and by one the place was carried; but in the other the real city wall was found entire, beyond a deep ditch, on the counterscarp of which a new and huge rampart of earth had been constructed. On the capture of the city, Moolráj retreated to the citadel with the remnant of his force, about 3,000 men; but on January 29 two breaches were effected, and Moolráj, with the survivors of his brave garrison, surrendered themselves at discretion. He was afterwards tried at Lahore, and sentenced to death; but he was spared, and imprisoned for life, and not long afterwards died.

Storm of the fort.

Moolráj surrenders the citadel.

His death.

CHAPTER VII.

THE SECOND SIKH WAR (concluded), AND ANNEXATION OF THE PUNJAB, 1848 TO 1849.

The second

opens.

UNWARNED by precedent, uninfluenced by example, the Sikh nation has called for war; and, on my word, Sir, they shall have it with a vengeance.' Such was Lord Dal- Sikh war housie's memorable expression at a farewell banquet before he left Calcutta, on October 10, 1848, on his way to the upper provinces. Although the whole of the Punjâb was seething with disaffection, Chutter Singh was the only chieftain to begin the war openly in the field. He applied for aid to Afghan and Dost Mahomed, agreed to deliver Peshawur to him Sikh alliance. if he would join the Sikhs against the English; and this strange compact between people who hated each other mortally was actually made. Major, afterwards Sir George, Lawrence, was then in charge of Pesháwur, with 8,000 Sikh troops, whose fidelity was in the last degree questionable; but he contrived to keep them to their duty, until Sooltan Mahomed, the brother of Dost Mahomed, a person to whom he had shown the utmost kindness, treacherously seduced them, and, on October 24, led them to attack him in the Residency. Major Lawrence and his companions were conducted to Kohát, but afterwards delivered or sold to Chutter Singh, who confined them at Peshawur. rence Meanwhile, Shére Singh, who had marched from Mooltan, had joined his father, and round their standards collected most of the old soldiers of the Sikh army.

Major Law

confined.

advance into

The forces assembled at Ferozepoor for operations in the Punjab were completed in equipment during October 1848, and The British under the personal command of Lord Gough, crossed forces the Rávee (Beyas) on November 16. They consisted of the Punjab. fifteen regiments of infantry-four European and eleven native— three regiments of English and ten of native regular and irregular cavalry, with sixty field guns and eighteen heavy guns, the latter now, for the first time, drawn by elephants instead of bullocks. On November 22, Lord Gough found Shére Singh encamped at Ramnugger, on the right bank of the Chenab, with Indecisive 15,000 men and a powerful artillery, with an advanced action of force on the left bank covered by his batteries. It was too strong a position to assail in front; but the advanced Sikh force was attacked and driven back without material result, and in a charge of the British cavalry to clear the left bank of the river, it was

Ramnugger.

Colonels

Havelock

rendered helpless in the sands, and suffered heavily from the Sikh guns on the right bank. In this desultory and inCureton and effective skirmish Colonel Cureton, of the Lancers, who killed. commanded the cavalry division, and Colonel William Havelock, the 'el chico blanco' of many a Peninsular fight, lost their lives, to the universal regret of the army. A flank movement, which might have been made at first, was now arranged: and on December 2, Sir Joseph Thackwell, with 8,000 men, crossed the river at Wuzeerabad, twenty-four miles above Ramnugger. It was proposed that he should advance upon Shére Singh's camp from the right flank, while the main army crossed the river in front. Shére Singh, however, did not await this issue. Abandoning his entrenchments, he marched to attack General Thackwell, whom, with a diminished force, he met at Sadoollapoor; but did not close with him, and after sustaining a heavy but ill-directed cannonade, which lasted till evening, General Thackwell discovered during the night that the Sikhs, now 30,000 strong, with forty guns, had retired towards the Jhelum. Lord Gough, in his dispatch, claimed the movement as a victory over the Sikh army, and even asserted its dispersion; but the fact was soon evident that Shére Singh had only retired to a better position, and had carried with him all his guns and equipment unmolested. The position chosen by Shére Singh was one of singular strength, and its selection displayed his skill as a general in no retires to a mean degree. To have followed him up, and forced new position. him to fight at disadvantage, would probably have been effected by Lord Gough after the affair at Ramnugger; but he was restrained by the governor-general for upwards of three weeks, and unable to interfere with Shére Singh, who was thus able to carry out his plans leisurely and without interruption. On January 11, however, Lord Gough reviewed his forces, and on

Shére Singh

Sikh entrenchment at Chillianwallah

the 12th they advanced twelve miles to Dinjee, and on the 13th were near the Sikh entrenchments at Chillianwallah, which were held by them with 30,000 men and sixty guns. Of this place no reconnaissance had been made, nor were the enemy's dispositions understood, as they were covered by the thick jungle; and Lord Gough was about to encamp for the night, when the Sikhs fired upon him from some advanced guns, and he rashly gave orders for an immediate attack. The whole of the Sikh guns now opened fire; after enduring which for upwards of an hour, the British troops advanced on the position. The first regiment. which reached the Sikh batteries was H.M.'s 24th, which was overwhelmed by a fearful fire of grape and musketry; 459 men, with twenty-three officers, were at once killed

is attacked by Lord Gough.

Desperate combat.

and wounded. General Colin Campbell, afterwards Lord Clyde, had carried the position before him, spiking the guns; and other divisions under Sir Walter Gilbert, with brigades under Penny, Mountain, and others, though suffering heavily, finally conquered, and the Sikhs retired into the forest behind them. The cavalry had been less successful. Charged by a comparatively small body of Sikh horse, the 14th Dragoons, under a false order, uttered, it was supposed, by some coward in its ranks, went about, and galloped to the rear, pursued by the Sikhs; and the misadventure was only redeemed by a desperate charge made by Captain Unett. It was found impossible to hold the field during the night, now closing in, and Lord Gough unwillingly forces retire withdrew the army to Chillianwallah for water and rest. During the night the Sikh troops returned, carried off all the captured guns except twelve, and barbarously murdered all the wounded who could not be recovered before the close of the action. The loss in this inconsequent battle, which had nearly been a disastrous defeat, was 2,357 men, and 89 officers in killed and wounded; three regiments had lost their colours, and four horse-artillery guns had been taken.

The British

for the night.

Heavy losses.

Whish.

Shere Singh.

After the conclusion of the siege of Mooltan, General Whish moved up to reinforce the commander-in-chief. Shére Movement of Singh perceiving this movement, and probably desiring General to destroy General Whish's force before it could cover Lahore or form a junction with the main army, left his entrenched camp at Russool on February 6, and marched in the Ineffective direction of Lahore; but if the conception had been manœuvre by that of a clever tactician, its execution was extremely indifferent. He allowed British detachments to occupy the fords of the Chenab, and, thus foiled, took up a position at Position of Goojerát. He had been joined by his father, Chutter Goojerat. Singh, and a considerable force, and by Akrám Khan, a son of Dost Mahomed, with a division of Afghans; and the whole Sikh army, now collected in one place, amounted to upwards of Relative 50,000 men, with sixty guns. On the other hand, Lord forces. Gough, reinforced by General Whish on February 20, had under him 20,000 men and 100 guns. It will have been remarked in all Lord Gough's battles that artillery had been an arm of only very secondary consideration; and its disuse was even freely commented upon by the Sikh generals to Major George Lawrence, and so became the subject of open conversation. Lord Gough was urged by all the best officers of the army, and even by the governorgeneral, to employ it in the next engagement, and he happily consented to do so, though, it was said, against conviction.

On February 27, 1849, the British army advanced in line in