The Afghan Wars 1839 42 and 1878 80 by Archibald Forbes

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Scarcely had Jenkins won the summit of the Asmai ridge when the fortune
of the day was suddenly overcast; indeed while he was still engaged in
the attainment of that object premonitory indications of serious mischief
were unexpectedly presenting themselves. A vast host of Afghans described
as numbering from 15,000 to 20,000, debouched into the Chardeh valley
from the direction of Indikee, and were moving northwards, apparently
with the object of forming a junction with the masses occupying the hills
to the north-west of the Asmai heights. About the same time cavalry
scouting in the Chardeh valley brought in the information that large
parties of hostile infantry and cavalry were hurrying across the valley
in the direction of the conical hill the defence of which had been
entrusted to Lieutenant-Colonel Clark with 120 Highlanders and Guides.
Recognising Clark's weakness, General Baker had judiciously reinforced
that officer with four mountain guns and 100 bayonets. The guns opened
fire on the Afghan bodies marching from the Killa Kazee direction, and
drove them out of range. But they coalesced with the host advancing from
Indikee, and the vast mass of Afghans, facing to the right, struck the
whole range of the British position from near the Cabul gorge on the
south to and beyond the conical hill on the north. The most vulnerable
point was the section at and about that eminence, and the necessity for
supplying Clark with further reinforcements became urgently manifest.
Baker sent up a second detachment, and 200 Sikhs came out from Sherpur at
the double. But the Afghans, creeping stealthily in great numbers up the
slope from out the Chardeh valley, had the shorter distance to travel,
and were beforehand with the reinforcements. Their tactics were on a par
with their resolution. The left of their attack grasped and held a knoll
north of the conical hill, and from this position of vantage brought a
cross fire to bear on Clark's detachment. As their direct attack
developed itself it encountered from the conical hill a heavy rifle fire,
and shells at short range tore through the loose rush of ghazees, but the
fanatics sped on and up without wavering. As they gathered behind a mound
for the final onslaught, Captain Spens of the 72d with a handful of his
Highlanders went out on the forlorn hope of dislodging them. A rush was
made on him; he was overpowered and slaughtered after a desperate
resistance, and the Afghan charge swept up the hill-side. In momentary
panic the defenders gave ground, carrying downhill with them the
reinforcement of Punjaubees which Captain Hall was bringing up. Two of
the mountain guns were lost, but there was a rally at the foot of the
hill under cover of which the other two were extricated. The Afghans
refrained from descending into the plain, and directed their efforts
toward cutting off the occupants of the position on the Asmai summit.
They ascended by two distinct directions. One body from the conical hill
followed the route taken by Jenkins in the morning; another scaled a spur
trending downward to the Chardeh valley from the southern extremity of
the Asmai ridge.

It was estimated that the Afghan strength disclosed this day did not fall
short of 40,000 men; and General Roberts was reluctantly compelled to
abandon for the time any further offensive efforts. His reasons, stated
with perfect frankness, may best be given in his own words. 'Up to this
time,' he wrote, 'I had no reason to apprehend that the Afghans were in
sufficient force to cope successfully with disciplined troops, but the
resolute and determined manner in which the conical hill had been
recaptured, and the information sent to me by Brigadier-General
Macpherson that large masses of the enemy were still advancing from the
north, south, and west, made it evident that the numbers combined against
us were too overwhelming to admit of my comparatively small force meeting
them. I therefore determined to withdraw from all isolated positions, and
to concentrate the whole force at Sherpur, thus securing the safety of
our large cantonment, and avoiding what had now become a useless
sacrifice of life.' The orders issued to Generals Baker and Macpherson to
retire into the cantonment were executed with skill and steadiness.
Jenkins' evacuation of the Asmai position was conspicuously adroit. When
the order to quit reached that able officer, Major Stockwell of the 72d
was out with a small detachment, maintaining a hot fire on the Afghan
bodies ascending by the southern spur from the Chardeh valley. He fell
back with great deliberation, and when he rejoined the retirement down
the hill face looking toward Sherpur was leisurely proceeded with, the
hostile advance from, the northern side being held in check by the fire
of covering parties from Jenkins' left flank. General Macpherson's
retirement was masterly. Flanking his march through the Cabul gorge with
two companies of the 67th who stalled off a rush of ghazees from the
Asmai crest, he continued his march through the suburb of Deh Afghan, his
baggage in front under a strong guard. Some few shots were exchanged
before the suburb was cleared, but the casualties were few and presently
the brigade entered the cantonment. General Baker continued to hold a
covering position with part of his force, until the troops from the
heights and Macpherson's command had made good their retirement, and he
was the last to withdraw. By dusk the whole force was safely concentrated
within the cantonment, and the period of the defensive had begun. The
casualties of the day were serious; thirty-five killed, and 107 wounded.
During the week of fighting the little force had lost somewhat heavily;
the killed numbered eighty-three, the wounded 192. Eight officers were
killed, twelve were wounded.

CHAPTER V: ON THE DEFENSIVE IN SHERPUR

Although overlarge for its garrison, the Sherpur cantonment had many of
the features of a strong defensive position. On the southern and western
faces the massive and continuous enciente made it impregnable against any
force unprovided with siege artillery. But on the eastern face the wall
had been built to the elevation only of seven feet, and at either end of
the Behmaroo heights, which constituted the northern line of defence,
there were open gaps which had to be made good. The space between the
north-western bastion and the heights was closed by an entrenchment
supported by a 'laager' of Afghan gun-carriages and limbers, the ground
in front strengthened by abattis and wire entanglements, beyond which a
village flanking the northern and western faces was occupied as a
detached post. The open space on the north-eastern angle was similarly
fortified; the village of Behmaroo was loopholed, and outlying buildings
to the front were placed in a state of defence. The unfinished eastern
wall was heightened by logs built up in tiers, and its front was covered
with abattis, a tower and garden outside being occupied by a detachment.
A series of block houses had been built along the crest of the Behmaroo
heights supporting a continuous entrenchment, gun emplacements made in
the line of defence, and the gorge dividing the heights strongly
fortified against an attack from the northern plain. The enciente was
divided into sections to each of which was assigned a commanding officer
with a specified detail of troops; and a strong reserve of European
infantry was under the command of Brigadier-General Baker, ready at short
notice to reinforce any threatened point. It was presumably owing to the
absorption of the troops in fighting, collecting supplies, and providing
winter shelter, that when the concentration within Sherpur became
suddenly necessary the defences of the position were still seriously
defective; and throughout the period of investment the force was
unremittingly engaged in the task of strengthening them. Nor had the
military precaution been taken of razing the villages and enclosures
within the fire zone of the enciente, and they remained to afford cover
to the enemy during the period of investment.

Before the enemy cut the telegraph wire in the early morning of the 15th
Sir Frederick Roberts had informed the authorities in India of his
situation and of his need for reinforcements; and he had also ordered up
General Charles Gough's brigade without loss of time. Gough was already
at Jugdulluk when he received the order calling him to Cabul, but he had
to wait for reinforcements and supplies, and the tribesmen were
threatening his position and the line of communication in rear of it. He
did not move forward until the 21st. On the following day he reached
Luttabund, whence he took on with him the garrison of that post, but
although his march was unmolested it was not until the 24th that he
reached Sherpur, a day too late to participate in repelling the assault
on the cantonment.

While General Roberts' force was busily engaged in making good the
defences of Sherpur, the Afghans refrained from attempting to back their
success on the Asmai heights by an assault on the defensive position
which seemed to invite an attack. During the first two days of their
possession of the city they were enjoying the fruits of their occupation
in their own turbulent manner. Roberts' spies reported them busily
engaged in sacking the Hindoo and Kuzzilbash quarters, in looting and
wrecking the houses of chiefs and townsfolk who had shown friendliness to
the British, and in quarrelling among themselves over the spoils.
Requisitioning was in full force. The old Moulla Mushk-i-Alum was the
temporary successor of General Hills in the office of Governor of Cabul;
and spite of his ninety years he threw extraordinary energy into the work
of arousing fanaticism and rallying to Cabul the fighting men of the
surrounding country. The _jehad_ of which he had been the chief
instigator had certainly attained unexampled dimensions, and although it
was not in the nature of things that every Afghan who carried arms should
be inspired with religious fanaticism to such a pitch as to be utterly
reckless of his life, swarms of fierce ghazees made formidable the levies
which Mahomed Jan commanded.

On the 17th and 18th the Afghans made ostentatious demonstrations against
Sherpur, but those were never formidable, although they made themselves
troublesome with some perseverance during the daytime, consistently
refraining from night attacks, which was remarkable since ordinarily they
are much addicted to the _chapao_. There never was any investment of
Sherpur, or indeed any approximation to investment. Cavalry
reconnaissances constantly went out, and piquets and videttes were
habitually on external duty; infantry detachments sallied forth whenever
occasion demanded to dislodge the assailants from points occupied by them
in inconvenient proximity to the defences. The Afghan offensive was not
dangerous, but annoying and wearying. It was indeed pushed with some
resolution on the 18th, when several thousand men poured out of the city,
and skirmished forward under cover of the gardens and enclosures on the
plain between Cabul and Sherpur, in the direction of the southern front
and the south-western bastions. The Afghans are admirable skirmishers,
and from their close cover kept up for hours a brisk fire on the soldiers
lining the Sherpur defences, but with singularly little effect. The
return rifle fire was for the most part restricted to volleys directed on
those of the enemy who offered a sure mark by exposing themselves; and
shell fire was chiefly used to drive the Afghan skirmishers from their
cover in the gardens and enclosures. Some of those, notwithstanding, were
able to get within 400 yards of the enciente, but could make no further
headway. On the morning of the 19th it was found that in the night the
enemy had occupied the Meer Akhor fort, a few hundred yards beyond the
eastern face, and close to the Residency compound of the old cantonments
of 1839-42. The fire from this fort was annoying, and General Baker went
out on the errand of destroying it, with 800 bayonets, two mountain guns,
and a party of sappers. As the fort was being approached through the
dense mist a sudden volley from it struck down several men, and
Lieutenant Montenaro of the mountain battery was mortally wounded. The
fort was heavily shelled from the south-eastern bastion; its garrison
evacuated it, and it was blown up.

Mahomed Jan and his coadjutors could hardly flatter themselves that as
yet they had made any impression on the steadfast defence which the
British force was maintaining in the Sherpur cantonment. The Afghan
leader had tried force in vain; he knew the history of that strange
period in the winter of 1841 during which Afghan truculence and audacity
had withered the spirit of a British force not much less numerically
strong than the little army now calmly withstanding him. Things had not
gone very well with that little army of late, possibly its constancy
might have been impaired, and its chief might be willing, as had been
Elphinstone and the Eltchi, to listen to terms. Anyhow there could be no
harm in making a proffer based on the old lines. So the Afghan leader
proposed to General Roberts, apparently in all seriousness, that the
British army should forthwith evacuate Afghanistan, encountering no
molestation in its march; that the British General before departing
should engage that Yakoub Khan should return to Afghanistan as its Ameer;
and that there should be left behind two officers of distinction as
hostages for the faithful fulfilment of the contract. 'We have a lakh of
men; they are like wolves eager to rush on their prey! We cannot much
longer control them!'--such were said to have been the terms of a message
intended to disturb the equanimity of the British commander. Meer Butcha
and his Kohistanees, again, were not to all appearance anxious for the
restoration of Yakoub. They professed themselves content to accept our
staunch friend Wali Mahomed as Ameer, if only the British army would be
good enough to march home promptly and leave to Afghans the
administration of Afghan affairs. It was not likely that a man of
Roberts' nature would demean himself to take any notice of such
overtures. For the moment circumstances had enforced on him the wisdom of
accepting the defensive attitude, but he knew himself, nevertheless, the
virtual master of the situation. He had but one serious anxiety--the
apprehension lest the Afghans should not harden their hearts to deliver
an assault on his position.

That apprehension was not long to give him concern. On the 20th, as a
menace against the southern face of Sherpur, the enemy took strong
possession of the Mahomed Shereef fort, stormed so gallantly by Colonel
Griffiths on 6th November 1841; and they maintained themselves there
during the two following days in face of the fire of siege guns mounted
on the bastions of the enciente. On the 21st and 22d large numbers of
Afghans quitted the city, and passing eastward behind the Siah Sung
heights, took possession in great force of the forts and villages outside
the eastern face of Sherpur. On the 22d a spy brought in the intelligence
that Mahomed Jan and his brother-chiefs had resolved to assault the
cantonment early on the following morning, and the spy was able to
communicate the plan of attack. The 2000 men holding the King's Garden
and the Mahomed Shereef fort had been equipped with scaling ladders, and
were to make a false attack which might become a real one, against the
western section of the southern front. The principal assault, however,
was to be made against the eastern face of the Behmaroo
village--unquestionably the weakest part of the defensive position. The
23d was the last day of the Mohurrum--the great Mahomedan religious
festival, when fanaticism would be at its height; and further to
stimulate that incentive to valour, the Mushk-i-Alum would himself kindle
the beacon fire on the Asmai height which was to be the signal to the
faithful to rush to the assault.

The information proved perfectly accurate. All night long the shouts and
chants of the Afghans filled the air. Purposeful silence reigned
throughout the cantonment. In the darkness the soldiers mustered and
quietly fell into their places; the officers commanding sections of the
defence made their dispositions; the reserves were silently standing to
their arms. Every eye was toward the Asmai heights, shrouded still in the
gloom of the night. A long tongue of flame shot up into the air, blazed
brilliantly for a few moments, and then waned. At the signal a fierce
fire opened from the broken ground before one of the gateways of the
southern face, the flashes indicating that the marksmen were plying their
rifles within 200 yards of the enciente. The bullets sped harmlessly over
the defenders sheltered behind the parapet, and in the dusk of the dawn
reprisals were not attempted. But this outburst of powder-burning against
the southern face was a mere incident; what men listened and watched for
was the development of the true assault on the eastern end of the great
parallelogram. The section commanders there were General Hugh Gough in
charge of the eastern end of the Behmaroo heights, and Colonel Jenkins
from the village down to the Native Hospital and beyond to the bastion at
the south-eastern corner. The troops engaged were the Guides from the
ridge down to Behmaroo village and beyond to the Native Hospital, in
which were 100 men of the 28th Punjaub Infantry, and between the Hospital
and the corner bastion the 67th, reinforced by two companies of 92d
Highlanders from the reserve, which later sent to the defence of the
eastern face additional contributions of men and guns. 'From beyond
Behmaroo and the eastern trenches and walls,' writes Mr Hensman, 'came a
roar of voices so loud and menacing that it seemed as if an army fifty
thousand strong was charging down on our thin line of men. Led by their
ghazees, the main body of Afghans hidden in the villages and orchards on
the east side of Sherpur had rushed out in one dense mob, and were
filling the air with their shouts of "Allah-il-Allah." The roar surged
forward as their line advanced, but it was answered by such a roll of
musketry that it was drowned for the moment, and then merged into the
general din which told us that our men with Martinis and Sniders were
holding their own against the attacking force.' When the first attack
thus graphically described was made the morning was still so dark and
misty that the outlook from the trenches was restricted, and the order to
the troops was to hold their fire till the assailants should be
distinctly visible. The detachment of the 28th opened fire somewhat
prematurely, and presently the Guides holding Behmaroo and the trenches
on the slopes followed the example, and sweeping with their fire the
terrain in front of them broke the force of the attack while its leaders
were still several hundred yards away. Between the Hospital and the
corner bastion the men of the 67th and 92d awaited with impassive
discipline the word of permission to begin firing. From out the mist at
length emerged dense masses of men, some of whom were brandishing swords
and knives, while others loaded and fired while hurrying forward. The
order to fire was not given until the leading ghazees were within eighty
yards, and the mass of assailants not more distant than 200 yards.
Heavily struck then by volley on volley, they recoiled but soon gathered
courage to come on again; and for several hours there was sharp fighting,
repeated efforts being made to carry the low eastern wall. So resolute
were the Afghans that more than once they reached the abattis, but each
time were driven back with heavy loss. About ten o'clock there was a lull
and it seemed that the attacking force was owning the frustration of its
attempts, but an hour later there was a partial recrudescence of the
fighting and the assailants once more came on. The attack, however, was
not pushed with much vigour and was soon beaten down, but the Afghans
still maintained a threatening attitude and the fire from the defences
was ineffectual to dislodge them. The General resolved to take their
positions in flank, and with this intent sent out into the open through
the gorge in the Behmaroo heights, four field guns escorted by a cavalry
regiment. Bending to the right, the guns came into action on the right
flank of the Afghans, and the counter-stroke had immediate effect. The
enemy wavered and soon were in full retreat. The Kohistanee contingent,
some 5000 strong, cut loose and marched away northward, with obvious
recognition that the game was up. The fugitives were scourged with
artillery and rifle fire, and Massy led out the cavalry, swept the plain,
and drove the lingering Afghans from the slopes of Siah Sung. The false
attack on the southern face from the King's Garden and the Mahomed
Shereef fort never made any head. Those positions were steadily shelled
until late in the afternoon, when they were finally evacuated, and by
nightfall all the villages and enclosures between Sherpur and Cabul were
entirely deserted. Some of those had been destroyed by sappers from the
garrison during the afternoon, in the course of which operation two
gallant engineer officers, Captain Dundas and Lieutenant Nugent, were
unfortunately killed by the premature explosion of a mine.

Mahomed Jan had been as good as his word; he had delivered his stroke
against Sherpur, and that stroke had utterly failed. With its failure
came promptly the collapse of the national rising. Before daybreak of the
24th the formidable combination which had included all the fighting
elements of North-Eastern Afghanistan, and under whose banners it was
believed that more than 100,000 armed men had mustered, was no more. Not
only had it broken up; it had disappeared. Neither in the city, nor in
the adjacent villages, nor on the surrounding heights, was a man to be
seen. So hurried had been the Afghan dispersal that the dead lay unburied
where they had fallen. His nine days on the defensive had cost General
Roberts singularly little in casualties; his losses were eighteen killed
and sixty-eight wounded. The enemy's loss from first to last of the
rising was reckoned to be not under 3000.

On the 24th the cavalry rode far and fast in pursuit of the fugitives,
but they overtook none, such haste had the fleeing Afghans made. On the
same day Cabul and the Balla Hissar were reoccupied, and General Hills
resumed his functions as military governor of the city. Cabul had the
aspect of having undergone a sack at the hands of the enemy; the bazaars
were broken up and deserted and the Hindoo and Kuzzilbash quarters had
been relentlessly wrecked. Sir Frederick Roberts lost no time in
despatching a column to, the Kohistan to punish Meer Butcha by destroying
that chief's forts and villages, and to ascertain whether the tribesmen
of the district had dispersed to their homes. This was found to be the
case, and the column returned after having been out five days. After
making a few examples the General issued a proclamation of amnesty,
excluding therefrom only five of the principal leaders and fomentors of
the recent rising, and stipulating that the tribesmen should send
representatives to Sherpur to receive explanations regarding the
dispositions contemplated for the government of the country. This policy
of conciliation bore good fruit; and a durbar was held on January 9th,
1880, at which were present about 200 sirdars, chiefs, and headmen from
the Kohistan, Logur, and the Ghilzai country. Rewards were presented to
those chiefs who had remained friendly; the General received the salaams
of the assembled sirdars and then addressed them in a firm but
conciliatory speech.

The country remained still in a disturbed state, but there was little
likelihood of a second general rising. General Roberts was resolved,
however, to be thoroughly prepared to cope with that contingency should
it occur. Sherpur was encircled by a military road, and all cover and
obstructions for the space of 1000 yards outside the enciente were swept
away. Another road was constructed from Behmaroo village to the Siah Sung
heights and yet another from the south-eastern gateway direct to the
Balla Hissar, on both of which there were bridges across the Cabul river.
Along the northern face of Cabul from Deh Afghan to the Balla Hissar, a
road broad enough for guns was made, and another broad road cut through
the lower Balla Hissar. Another military road was built through the Cabul
gorge to the main Ghuznee and Bamian road in the Chardeh valley. Strong
forts were built on the Asmai and Sher Derwaza heights and on the spur
above the Balla Hissar, which, well garrisoned and supplied adequately
with provisions, water, and ammunition, would enable Cabul as well as
Sherpur to be held. The latter was greatly strengthened, the eastern
point of the Behmaroo heights being converted into something like a
regular fortress. Later, in March, when the Cabul force had increased to
a strength of about 11,500 men and twenty-six guns, the command was
formed into two divisions, of which the first remained under the
Lieutenant-General, the second being commanded by Major-General John
Ross. The line of communications was in charge of Major-General Bright,
and Brigadier-General Hugh Gough was the cavalry commander in succession
to Brigadier-General Massy. On the 2d of May, Sir Donald Stewart arriving
at Cabul from Candahar, took over the chief command in North-Eastern
Afghanistan from Sir Frederick Roberts. Sir Donald's march from Candahar,
which was an eventful one, is dealt with in the next chapter.

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