BATTLE OF SOBRAON 10^{TH} FEB^Y 1846
_Madeley lith. 3 Wellington S^t Strand._
_For Cannon’s Military Records_]
“The Sikhs, even when at particular points their intrenchments
were mastered with the bayonet, strove to regain them by the
fiercest conflict, sword in hand. Nor was it until the cavalry
of the left, under Major-General Sir Joseph Thackwell, had moved
forward and ridden through the openings in the intrenchments
made by our sappers, in single file, and re-formed as they passed
them; and the third light dragoons, whom no obstacle usually held
formidable by horse appears to check, had, on this day, as at
Ferozeshah, galloped over and cut down the obstinate defenders of
batteries and field-works, and until the full weight of _three
divisions is of infantry_, with every field-artillery gun which
could be sent to their aid, had been cast into the scale, that
victory finally declared for the British.
“The fire of the Sikhs first slackened and then nearly ceased,
and the victors, then pressing them on every side, precipitated
them in masses over their bridge and into the Sutlej, which
a sudden rise of seven inches had rendered hardly fordable.
In their efforts to reach the right bank through the deepened
water, they suffered from our horse artillery a terrible carnage.
Hundreds fell under this cannonade: hundreds upon hundreds
were drowned in attempting the perilous passage. Their awful
slaughter, confusion, and dismay were such as would have excited
compassion in the hearts of their generous conquerors, if the
Khalsa troops had not, in the earlier part of the action, sullied
their gallantry by slaughtering and barbarously mangling every
wounded soldier whom, in the vicissitudes of attack, the fortune
of war left at their mercy.
“Sixty-seven pieces of cannon, upwards of two hundred
camel-swivels (zumboorucks), numerous standards, and vast
munitions of war, captured by our troops, are the pledges and
trophies of our victory.
“The battle was over by eleven in the morning, and in the
forenoon I caused our engineers to burn a part and to sink a part
of the vaunted bridge of the Khalsa army, across which they had
boastfully come once more to defy us, and to threaten India with
ruin and devastation.
“The consequences of this great action have yet to be fully
developed. It has at least, in God’s providence, once more
expelled the Sikhs from our territory, and planted our standards
on the soil of the Punjaub. After occupying their intrenched
position for nearly a month, the Khalsa army had perhaps mistaken
the _caution_ which had induced us to wait for the necessary
materiel, for _timidity_; but they must now deeply feel that the
blow, which has fallen on them from the British arm, has only
been the heavier for being long delayed.”
Lieut.-Colonel Spence, Captain Garvock (Major of Brigade),
and Captain Lugard (Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General) of the
THIRTY-FIRST, were specially mentioned in the above despatch.
At the close of a despatch dated Camp, Lahore, 22nd of February,
1846, the Governor-General added the following:--
“The soldiers of the army of the Sutlej have not only proved
their superior prowess in battle, but have on every occasion,
with subordination and patience, endured the fatigues and
privations inseparable from a state of active operations in the
field.
“The Governor-General has repeatedly expressed on his own part,
and on that of the Government of India, admiration and gratitude
for the important services which the army has rendered.
“The Governor-General is now pleased to resolve, as a testimony
of the approbation of the Government of India of the bravery,
discipline, and soldierlike bearing of the army of the Sutlej,
that all the generals, officers, non-commissioned officers, and
privates, shall receive a gratuity of twelve months’ batta.”
In writing the history of the part borne by a regiment in the
brilliant victories of this glorious campaign, there are many
traits of individual heroism which should not pass unrecorded.
The modesty of true valour prevents officers, who have had an
opportunity of distinguishing themselves, from announcing their
own deeds, but the historian, who impartially records the service
of a corps, can have no such scruples. No hesitation is therefore
felt in giving a place in the records of the service of this
distinguished corps to the following extract from the Calcutta
Star, an Indian newspaper, which described the recent battles of
the Sutlej:--
“THIRTY-FIRST REGIMENT.--This gallant old corps seems to have
received more than its share of hard knocks, in the last four
glorious battles it was engaged in. Lieut.-Colonel Spence who
commanded in all four actions, seems to have had a charmed life,
having escaped in a most astonishing way. He had two horses
killed under him; balls through his cap and scabbard; his sword
broken in his hand by grape-shot; and at Sobraon, a Sikh, who
was lying apparently dead in the trenches, jumped up when he saw
the Colonel’s head turned, and rushed at him to cut him down,
which was only prevented by a private who called the Colonel’s
attention to his danger, and afterwards bayoneted the Sikh, the
Colonel’s sword having broken in the encounter.”
The glorious _Victory of Sobraon_ was decisive: the invaders were
repelled; their army, discomfited, retreated sullenly from the
field; the whole of their artillery, their camp, warlike stores,
and baggage fell into the hands of the victors; the enemy retired
over their bridge, which, from the weight and pressure of the
immense mass of the defeated troops passing over it, gave way; the
Sikhs were precipitated into the water; the whole river was filled
with the confused bodies of the flying enemy, the British artillery
playing on them with round and grape-shot; the stream was choked up
with the dead and dying: the carnage was frightful!
The enemy never attempted to rally. With the loss of his artillery,
on which all his confidence was placed, his spirit was broken,
and all his hopes of successfully resisting the British troops
vanished: his pride was humbled: the last and final struggle
was over; the battle was ended, and the power of the haughty
and turbulent Sikhs received a blow on the sanguinary field of
_Sobraon_ from which it could not recover: the city of _Lahore_ was
at the mercy of the conquerors.
Preparations were now made for the advance of the British army into
the Punjaub; the engineer department constructed a pontoon-bridge,
and the whole British force, with its artillery, passed the Sutlej,
and encamped on the opposite side, in the territory of the Sikhs:
the enemy, disheartened and dismayed by their late defeats offered
no opposition, retiring as the British army advanced. The distance
from the river Sutlej to the capital of the Sikhs is less than
fifty miles; the march to it was performed without opposition, and
without difficulty: the power of the Sikhs was prostrate; their
government sent chiefs of high rank as ambassadors to the British
camp, to offer terms of submission to the Governor-General, suing
for peace on whatever terms the conquerors might please to dictate.
Lieutenant Tritton died of his wounds on the evening of the battle,
and early the next morning the regiment marched towards the bridge
of boats, which was in progress at the nearest point on the Sutlej
to Ferozepore; on this march it was joined by a detachment of
sixty men under the command of Lieutenant M‘Kenzie, along with
Assistant-Surgeon Massey, who had just arrived from Umballa, being
part of an escort in charge of heavy guns, and an immense train
of ammunition hackeries, which they had hoped to bring up in time
for the last great battle, and were sadly disappointed to find
it was all over;--such are the chances of war!! On the 12th the
regiment was turned out at 10 o’clock P.M., and marching all night,
crossed the river in native boats at sunrise, along with a large
force under Sir Henry Smith, the band in the first boat playing
“Garry-Owen,” and the men in high spirits at the prospect of
entering the Punjaub.
This forced march was effected from a report having been sent to
the Commander-in-Chief, that the Sikhs were about to oppose the
crossing of the river, but no such demonstration took place. After
halting some days at Kussoor, which is one march from the Sutlej,
the army moved towards Lahore, marching at daylight every morning
in order of battle, and every regiment in brigade keeping its
own place through fields and jungles, forcing a way through every
obstacle, and ready to form line at any moment. It was indeed a
grand sight to see this splendid army on the morning of the 20th
of February approaching the city of Lahore, over a boundless and
perfectly open plain, on which it encamped about two miles from the
city. On the 22nd the British Standard was hoisted on the citadel,
and the event was announced to the army by the following General
Orders of the Governor-General:--
GENERAL ORDERS BY THE RIGHT HONORABLE THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF
INDIA.
“Camp, Lahore, 22nd February, 1846.
“The British army has this day occupied the gateway of the
citadel of _Lahore_, the Badshahee Mosque, and the Huzzooree Bagh.
“The _Army of the Sutlej_ has now brought its operations in the
field to a close, by the dispersion of the Sikh army, and the
military occupation of Lahore, preceded by a series of the most
triumphant successes ever recorded in the military history of
India.
“Compelled suddenly to assume the offensive by the unprovoked
invasion of its territories, the British Army, under the command
of its distinguished leader, has in sixty days defeated the
Sikh forces in four general actions, has captured 220 pieces of
field-artillery, and is now at the capital, dictating to the
Lahore durbar the terms of a treaty, the conditions of which will
tend to secure the British provinces from the repetition of a
similar outrage.”
The decisive termination of the war in the Punjaub enabled the
Governor-General and the Supreme Council to reduce the number of
the Queen’s regular regiments in India. An order was accordingly
issued for the return of the THIRTY-FIRST to Europe, but as it
was desirable to retain all the efficient men who were willing to
continue their services in India, the soldiers were permitted to
volunteer into the other regiments serving in the Bengal Presidency.
A General Order was issued permitting the soldiers of the sixteenth
lancers and the THIRTY-FIRST regiment to volunteer into other
corps; the volunteering of the THIRTY-FIRST to commence on the 26th
and to close on the 28th of February.
The regiment now mustered only 420 bayonets fit for duty out of 844
which left Umballa, and during these three days 103 men volunteered
to other corps; at Umballa, on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th of March,
it again volunteered 214 men; and at Chinsurah, on the 10th of
July, 12 men, in all 329, who remained in India. Within the last
few years, the regiment had gained a considerable accession to
its strength by volunteers from corps leaving India: these men,
whose object in volunteering was to remain in India, again availed
themselves of the General Order granting them a bounty, of thirty
rupees, and volunteered into other corps with which they had served
during the late campaign.
After the authority for volunteering had taken effect the strength
of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment was much reduced: all the young
soldiers who were desirous of serving in India volunteered into
other regiments. Several of the officers exchanged into corps
remaining in India: Lieut.-Colonel Byrne into the fifty-third
regiment; Major Young into the tenth; and Brevet Major Lugard into
the twenty-ninth.
On the publication of the General Order for the return of the
regiment to Europe,--the following Division Order was issued
by Major-General Sir Henry Smith, K.C.B., commanding the first
division:--
“Camp, Lahore, 3rd March, 1846.
“Comrades,--Officers and Soldiers of the gallant THIRTY-FIRST
regiment,--you and I have been so associated in the recent
conflicts, where your services have been distinguished, that I
cannot lose you from under my command without an expression of
the deepest regret; that regret is however mitigated, when I know
that you are about to return to your native country, from which
the regiment has been absent twenty-one years,--much diminished
in numbers,--caused by your valiant conduct and recent glorious
victories; but the former renown of your distinguished corps has
acquired additional fame, by the valour of Lieut.-Colonel Spence,
the officers, and soldiers; and the long list of triumphant
victories now recorded on your colours, has been much increased
by your services in India. Farewell, my gallant comrades, for
the present; may every success, happiness, honor, and prosperity
attend you, the gallant THIRTY-FIRST regiment, in peace, as it
has so gloriously done in war! and, believe me, one of the most
happy and proud recollections of my life will be that I have
witnessed the indomitable valour of the corps.”
On the same occasion the following Brigade Orders were issued
by Brigadier Monteath, who commanded the brigade in which the
THIRTY-FIRST regiment served in the Cabool campaign:--
BRIGADE ORDERS BY BRIGADIER MONTEATH, C.B.
“Camp, Lahore, 3rd March, 1846.
“Her Majesty’s THIRTY-FIRST regiment being now about to quit
the army, Brigadier Monteath cannot allow it to depart without
expressing the deep regret he feels at the approaching separation
from those to whom he has been bound by so many ties of friendly
feeling for their private good qualities, and high admiration for
their public services. On a former occasion, when associated with
them under the most difficult and trying circumstances, he had
the gratification of recording, that the regiment had exhibited,
in a high degree, the best qualities of the best British
soldiers; and he has now the proud pleasure of telling them, that
by their gallant conduct during the late sanguinary conflicts
with the enemy, they have encircled themselves with every honor,
nobly maintained the former character of the regiment, and
placed its number amongst the foremost of those whose military
achievements are most conspicuously engraved upon the records
of their country; and he sincerely prays, on their arrival in
England, that their beloved Sovereign may be induced to confer
such marks of distinction upon the regiment as its gallant deeds
so eminently deserve.
“Farewell, my gallant comrades; may every happiness and
prosperity attend you. Your old Commander will ever remember you
with pleasure, and watch your future progress with all the deep
interest of your firmest friends.
“By order,
(Signed) “G. A. TYTLER, Brigade-Major.”
The Commander-in-Chief in India, having deemed it advisable to
send home as many of the severely wounded men of the army as
possible, before the beginning of the hot weather, gave orders for
the boats to be prepared on the Sutlej to convey them to Bombay,
and the command of this detachment was given by His Excellency to
Lieutenant Robertson, of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment. It consisted
of about 158 men of all the European corps lately engaged, and
an escort of 63 duty men of the THIRTY-FIRST, making in all 221,
97 of which belonged to the regiment. The detachment sailed from
Ferozepore on the 14th of March, 1846, and arrived safely at
Bombay on the 27th of April, whence it embarked on board the ship
‘Herefordshire’ on the 14th of May, and landed at Gravesend on the
29th of September, 1846, being the first portion of the regiment
that arrived in England.
On the 28th of February the officers of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment
were specially invited to dinner by Lieut.-General Lord Hardinge,
the Governor-General, and on the 3rd of March the same honor was
conferred on them by General Lord Gough, the Commander-in-Chief in
India.
The volunteering being completed, the volunteers were delivered
over to their new corps. The regiment separated from the army with
which it had gained such distinguished renown, and commenced its
march on the 4th of March towards Ghurmuktesir Ghât, on the river
Ganges, where boats were prepared for its conveyance to Calcutta.
The regiment recrossed the river Sutlej on the 7th of March, and on
the 20th reached Umballa.
The women, children, and baggage of the regiment, having been
left at Umballa when the regiment proceeded on service, a halt
was required to enable the officers to arrange their affairs and
dispose of their property, and that of the deceased officers
and men; the houses which the officers occupied being their own
property and built by themselves, as they were the first to inhabit
the station when it was formed into a new cantonment in 1843.
The regiment moved again on the 28th of March, and, passing through
the station of Meerut, arrived at Ghurmuktesir Ghât, on the right
bank of the Ganges, on the 13th of April.
The boats provided by the commissariat for the conveyance of the
regiment to Calcutta being in readiness for the voyage, the wounded
and sick men, women, and children were embarked with as little
delay as possible. By the 16th of April the whole were embarked,
and the fleet of boats sailed for the Presidency of Calcutta on the
following day.
Lieut.-Colonel Spence, after having commanded the regiment in every
action during this brilliant and glorious campaign,--at _Moodkee_
on the 18th of December, _Ferozeshah_ on the 21st and 22nd of
December, 1845, _Buddiwal_ on the 21st of January, _Aliwal_ on the
28th, and on the 10th of February, 1846, at the crowning victory at
_Sobraon_,--had now the satisfaction of embarking with it on board
the boats appointed to convey it to the port of Calcutta, where
the ships lay at anchor, which were engaged to carry the war-worn
veterans of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment to their native country.
On the 3rd of April Her Majesty was pleased to appoint
Lieut.-Colonel Byrne and Lieut.-Colonel Spence, of the THIRTY-FIRST
regiment, to be Companions of the Most Honorable Military Order of
the Bath, for their distinguished gallantry in the late actions on
the Sutlej.
In consequence of the particularly gallant conduct of Serjeant
Bernard M‘Cabe, Major-General Sir Henry Smith, in a letter dated
17th February, was pleased to recommend him for a commission, in
the following terms:--“This intrepid non-commissioned officer,
in the midst of a hand-to-hand conflict with the enemy, planted
the colour of Her Majesty’s THIRTY-FIRST regiment upon one of the
towers of the enemy’s intrenchments,--one of the most bold and
daring acts of a gallant soldier I ever witnessed, and which, I now
deliberately consider, tended much to shorten the struggle alluded
to. This serjeant is a young man of excellent character, and, if I
may be permitted to remind His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief of
the promise made me almost in the heat of battle, it is,--‘_This
Serjeant shall be recommended for a commission_.’ I can only add
(which is unnecessary to the soldiers’ friend, Sir Hugh Gough)
that, if he receives a commission, it will be as gratifying to
me as was the gallant conduct I witnessed at the moment the
colour-head was shot off, and the flag perforated with balls, as he
triumphantly waved it in the air in the very midst of the enemy.”
This highly honorable testimony of the bravery of Serjeant
M‘Cabe at the battle of Sobraon, was supported by the strong
recommendation of General Lord Gough to His Grace the
Commander-in-Chief, and Serjeant Bernard M‘Cabe was appointed by
Her Majesty to an ensigncy in the Eighteenth, Royal Irish, regiment
of foot, on the 8th of May, 1846.
The details of the campaign on the Sutlej afford abundant proofs
of the skill and bravery of the troops: the highest praise is due,
and has been rendered by their admiring and grateful countrymen,
to the officers and soldiers by whose gallantry four battles were
fought, and victories obtained, in sixty days, over an enemy who
had most ample means of equipping and supplying his corps with all
the _matériel_ of war, and of choosing his own time and opportunity
of commencing his perfidious attack.
The army of the Sikhs, at the commencement of this unprovoked
aggression, is ascertained to have amounted to 60,000 men, and
their artillery to 108 pieces of cannon, some of them being of
large calibre.
The Anglo-Indian forces, which had been hastily collected to
contend against this immense army, amounted only to about 20,000
men, a great proportion of which had marched one hundred and sixty
miles, in order to arrive at the seat of war.
Under the most serious disadvantages, fatigues, and privations,
the British troops, with the aid of their faithful allies, the
Native corps, nobly contended with their Sikh adversaries, “who, in
spite of their exceeding numbers and advantageous positions, were
vanquished in every battle.”
In expressing admiration of the heroic conduct of the British
troops in this short but decisive war, it is the duty of the nation
to acknowledge, with gratitude, the wonderful interference of a
Supreme Power, by whose all-wise decree the army of the Sikhs was
destroyed and dispersed; and, notwithstanding its numbers, received
a complete and signal overthrow, as a just but severe punishment
for its faithless conduct and daring violation of every honorable
and religious feeling.
When it is considered that with a disparity of force of three to
one, independent of artillery, the Sikh army was discomfited, and
the enemy was driven back to his capital to seek for safety and
peace, the British Nation must be sensible that an over-ruling
Power aided their cause, and gave strength where numbers were
deficient; and that another signal instance of Divine favour and
protection has been added to the numerous claims which demand the
nation’s humble acknowledgment and gratitude.
The campaign on the Sutlej having terminated by the destruction
of the Sikh army and the capture of the city of Lahore, a treaty
of peace was entered into. The Sikh government requested that a
force of 10,000 British troops might be left at their capital for
the protection of the city and the maintenance of good order: this
being complied with, arrangements were made for the return of the
British army to the territories of the East India Company.
The glorious news of the Battle of Sobraon was received in London
on the 1st of April, and was announced to the British public by a
royal salute from the guns of the Tower and in St. James’s Park;
and the royal standard was displayed at Buckingham Palace and at
the Tower of London. The greatest sensation pervaded all ranks of
society: no military event, with the exception of the Battle of
Waterloo, excited such wonder and surprise, mingled with joy, that
the cloud, which had hung over the fate of the British Empire in
India, was completely dissipated by this last splendid and decisive
victory, which effected the final overthrow of the power of the
Sikhs, the destruction of their army, and the capture of their
artillery, on the sanguinary field of _Sobraon_.
On the 2nd of April the Thanks of the House of Lords were proposed
by the Earl of Ripon, and carried unanimously.
_Extracts from Minutes of Proceedings of the House of Lords.--2nd
April, 1846._
“That the Thanks of this House be given to Major-General Sir
Henry George Smith, Knight Commander of the Most Honorable
Military Order of the Bath, for his skilful and meritorious
conduct when in command of the British troops employed against a
large portion of the Sikh army, of greatly superior numbers, and
for the signal valour and judgment displayed by him in the battle
of the 28th of January, 1846, when the enemy’s force was totally
defeated, and a new lustre added to the reputation of the British
arms.
“That the Thanks of this House be given to the several officers,
European and Native, under the command of Sir Henry Smith, for
the distinguished services rendered by them at the battle of
Aliwal.