JELLALABAD
A sentry had already sent down word that two Afghans had approached
carrying a white flag, and an officer appeared on the wall.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"We want to come in, Thompson. I am Angus Campbell, and have escaped
almost by a miracle."
There was a shout of pleasure, and a minute later the gate was opened,
and Thompson ran out and warmly shook Angus by the hand.
"I am delighted to see you," he said. "We all thought you among the
slain in the passes. What an awful time it has been since we left
Cabul on our way, as we believed, to India! We can scarcely believe
the terrible news even now. We have learnt but little from Brydon, who
was, he thought, the only survivor, except the hostages who, he tells
us, were given over a few days before the end came. He was desperately
wounded, and could scarce sit his horse when he arrived, and has been
too ill to give us any details."
"I can give very little, for I was not with the army. I started the
evening before they left camp, on a mission from Pottinger to Sir
Robert Sale. Pottinger did not think that any help could possibly come,
but at the same time he thought it right to make one more effort to
communicate with your general, and to tell him that they were on the
point of starting. I had gone but a short distance when I was captured.
Fortunately the men who took me were followers of Sadut Khan. I was
taken to his fort. He was absent at the time; when he returned he at
once gave me my liberty, and escorted me to within a quarter of a mile
of the wall, as a return for a service I had rendered him two years
ago."
"That was a piece of luck indeed. Then you saw nothing of it?"
"Yes, I saw a great deal. My captors were, I suppose, anxious to see
what was going on, and we followed the course of the army, keeping on
the hill; and, except for the fighting at night, I saw almost the whole
of the tragedy."
While they were talking they were approaching the head-quarters of
the general. Angus was well known to Sir Robert, to whom he had often
carried messages and notes from Burnes or Macnaghten. When their first
greeting was over, he repeated the story he had told Captain Thompson.
He thought it best to say no word of his escape being the result of a
preconcerted plan on the part of Sadut Khan, as he felt that some might
suspect that he was privy to the scheme, and had taken advantage of the
friendship of the Momund chief to make his escape.
"I am not so surprised as I might otherwise have been," the general
said, "since I received a letter from Pottinger yesterday. Akbar
had allowed him to send it down, thinking that the information that
Elphinstone, Shelton, Lawrence, Mackenzie, and Pottinger himself were
all right might induce us to submit to terms. He said, 'I trust that
before this you will have heard that we are about to start from Mr.
Angus Campbell, who nobly accepted the desperate mission of penetrating
through the passes and bringing you word of our intention. Should he
have arrived safely, I beg to recommend him most strongly to the
authorities for accepting the mission, which seemed almost a hopeless
one. He has rendered great service during the time the troops have been
in cantonments, by aiding the commissariat officers in bringing in
grain.' As you had not arrived we naturally feared that you had been
murdered on your way down. I am glad indeed that you have escaped. You
will now, of course, give your assistance to Macgregor, our political
officer."
"If he cannot utilize my services, sir, and he can have but little
political work to do now, I shall be glad if you will attach me to one
of the regiments where you think I may be most useful."
"You had better talk it over with Macgregor first. You know him, of
course; and if he does not want you, I will attach you to my own staff.
With your knowledge of the Afghan language, your services might be
invaluable in obtaining information; or, should we make a sortie--and
we have already made one with effect--I should be glad, if you wish it,
to attach you either to the infantry or cavalry, whichever you prefer.
Now that you have told us about yourself, please give us any details
you can of what you saw of the fighting?"
"It can hardly be said that there was any fighting, sir; until the last
day the troops were so completely surrounded, and I may say overwhelmed
by the camp followers, that they were practically unable to use their
arms. General Shelton with the rear-guard fought nobly, and covered
the retreat into Jugduluk, until the time when he was enticed with
the general into Akbar's camp, and there held as a hostage. By what
I heard, the handful of men left, only about a hundred and fifty all
told, fought desperately to break their way through a barricade with
which the Afghans had blocked the top of the pass. Only ten officers
succeeded in breaking through, and of these all but one were killed
on the road. All the soldiers died fighting at the barricade, and many
officers. The last Sepoy had fallen two days before."
"It has been a bad business," General Sale said, "bad not only in its
terrible result, but in the manner in which affairs were conducted.
We here received with astonishment the news that four thousand five
hundred British troops were cooped up by a horde of Afghans without
one single attempt being made to bring on a battle in the open.
Officers and men alike were astounded when Pottinger's first letter
arrived, saying that negotiations were continued after the murder of
Macnaghten. However, all this is a matter for future investigation.
And now a personal question. Can you tell me how it was that my wife,
Lady Macnaghten, and the other ladies, escaped uninjured? I only
know from Pottinger that the ladies and children were handed over to
the protection of Akbar, and that those who had husbands were also
accompanied by them."
"The ladies were always kept close behind the advanced guard, sir.
As these showed an unbroken front, the Afghans allowed them to pass
without opposition, falling upon the confused mass behind them."
"Do you think that Akbar was a sharer in this treacherous attack?"
"I think his conduct was doubtful in the extreme, sir. He certainly
did try more than once to persuade the Ghilyze chiefs to allow the
survivors to pass on unmolested, but by that time the passions of the
Afghans were absolutely beyond control. I myself have great doubts
whether he would have interfered had he not been well aware that his
interference would be useless. But this is only my opinion, based upon
the facts, that in the first place he himself shot Macnaghten, whom
he had invited to a conference; in the second place, he took no step
whatever to carry out the condition to supply baggage animals and
provisions; and lastly, because I know that long before the column set
out on its march, he sent out orders to the Ghilzye chiefs to attack
you."
"The case certainly looks very black against him," the general said;
"but at least we may hope that, as his family are in our hands in
India, he will protect the hostages."
"I hope, sir, that he will hand them over to the Nawab, who appears
to me to be a thoroughly honest man. Undoubtedly he did his best to
persuade the chiefs to agree to the treaty with us. He certainly did
send in some provisions to the camp, and generally we formed a high
opinion of his kindness of heart. Your fortifications are stronger than
I expected to find them, from what I have heard, sir."
"Yes, the men have worked incessantly at them ever since we came here.
The mud walls can scarcely be said to have existed when we marched in.
There was no parapet, the ditch was filled in with rubbish, and the
walls had so crumbled away that carts could cross over them at almost
every point. Fortunately the men were in good heart, and all, Europeans
and Sepoys, have worked with an energy beyond praise. The moat has been
cleared out and filled with water, the walls have been scarped, and a
parapet twelve feet high erected. The bastions have been put in order;
and though, had we been seriously attacked at first, we must have
retired to the citadel, we are now ready to withstand any assault."
Angus next went to Macgregor, who received him most warmly.
"I am glad indeed to see you, Campbell. Pottinger mentioned you in his
reports as doing invaluable service with Boyd and Johnson. You will
not find much in our line here. When the sword is once drawn, there
is nothing for us to do until it becomes a question of our dictating
terms, a contingency not likely to arise for some time."
"Had you hard fighting to get here?" Angus asked.
"No fighting at all. As we marched down from Gundamuck, the natives
all supposed that we were on our way to Peshawur, and when we suddenly
turned and marched towards the city, it was too late for them to think
of resistance, and they simply bolted on one side of the town as we
marched in on the other. We were bitterly disappointed when we saw
the state of the walls, and it was a question for some time whether
we should not content ourselves with holding the citadel only. But
it was at last determined, for a time at least, to hold the town,
as our retirement to the citadel would look like weakness. Another
consideration was, that once in the citadel we should be shut up
entirely, for, as you see, it stands in the middle of the town, and
with the streets crowded with the enemy, there would be no getting out
to obtain provisions.
"The result has proved the wisdom of the step we took. The walls are
now strong enough to be obstinately defended, and from their extent
we have been able to sally out at one gate or another and bring in
provisions. We had but two days' food when we arrived here; now we
have succeeded in gathering in a sufficient quantity to keep the
troops on half rations for two months, and I hope that before it is
finished we shall be relieved from Peshawur. We gave the natives a
handsome thrashing on the day before we got in here. They attacked us
in great force, trying especially to carry off our baggage, but the
infantry repulsed them splendidly. However, they came on to renew the
attack. The cavalry were placed in ambush, and the troops, after at
first advancing, suddenly wheeled round and went off at the double.
The enemy, believing that they had achieved a great victory, rushed
after them. As soon as they reached an open space, the cavalry fell
upon them. For months they had been inactive, being of no use among the
hills. Now was their chance, and in a moment they were in the thick of
the Afghans. They made terrible havoc among them, and thus it was that
we were able to enter the town without further trouble. The next day,
the 13th of November, Broadfoot was appointed garrison engineer. He had
a small corps of sappers with him, and they soon set to work.
"On the morning of the 16th, the enemy were thick in the gardens round
the town, the principal body being on the hillside. It was resolved to
give them another lesson. They were, as could be seen from the highest
point in the city, some five thousand strong, and Colonel Monteith of
the 35th Bengal Infantry, took out eleven hundred men at daybreak. The
advance was covered by the guns which had been mounted on the walls,
and their shrapnel soon drove the enemy into the open. The infantry
pressed forward and scattered them, and the cavalry completed their
rout. It was this defeat that so cowed them for a time, that I was
able to fetch in grain, sheep, firewood, and other necessaries. I may
mention that I took upon myself, as soon as we came in here, the post
of commissariat officer. It was not until the end of the month that
they again mustered in force sufficient to attack us; they contented
themselves with hovering round and keeping up a desultory fire.
"On the 1st of December, however, they gathered in great numbers, and
seemed to threaten an attack. Colonel Dennie commanded this time, and
he took out the greater portion of the garrison and a couple of guns.
It was noon when he sallied out. Abbot's guns commenced the action by
pouring a tremendous fire of grape into the thick mass. They fled in
wild confusion; the cavalry cut them up terribly, and the infantry
overtook and bayoneted many of them. It could scarcely be called a
fight. The day was won directly the guns opened fire, and we did not
lose a single man. Since that time they have not ventured to attack us.
"News came day after day of the terrible mess at Cabul. The news was
kept as far as possible from the troops, so as not to discourage
them; but, of course, since Brydon came in, the truth of the terrible
massacre had to be told. I am happy to say that, although filling them
with wrath and indignation, it has in no way abated their spirit.
During the six weeks' rest we have had since the battle of the 1st
of December, we have, as you see, really done wonders in the way of
fortification, and consider that we are in a position to repulse any
attack however formidable."
"When do you expect that a relief column will arrive from Peshawur?"
"That is a grave question which I cannot answer. Our last news was
that Brigadier-general Wyld was on the point of advancing, but from
the tone in which he wrote he had evidently no great hope of success.
His four Sepoy regiments had been corrupted by the Sikhs, who, having
themselves a great repugnance to enter the passes, had endeavoured, and
successfully, to inspire the Sepoys with the same feeling. The Sikhs,
who were to co-operate with him, were themselves in a state of open
mutiny, and threatened to kill General Avitable if he interfered with
them. He intended, however, to advance, as the case was so urgent, but
with little hope of success. He was without cavalry, and had but two
guns on Sikh carriages, which would probably break down after a few
rounds had been fired. It was the letter of a brave man surrounded with
difficulties, but ready to attempt almost the impossible to bring aid
to us. I fear, however, that there is little chance of our relief until
reinforcements from India reach Peshawur."
This opinion was justified when, on the 28th, news was brought that
the movement had failed. On the 15th Colonel Moseley had started under
cover of night with the 53rd and 64th native regiments to occupy the
fortress of Ali Musjid, which had been held by a small corps of men
of one of the native tribes under Mr. Mackeson. They had been true to
their salt, and had resisted every attack of the Afridis. Moseley's
force arrived there at daybreak, and met with but little opposition on
the way. But it was discovered that, owing to some blunder, only fifty
supply bullocks had been sent on instead of three hundred and fifty
that should have accompanied the force. Therefore, instead of having
a month's provisions, they had but enough for a few days. Brigadier
Wyld started on the morning of the 19th to relieve them, but on the
preceding day the Sikh troops refused to enter the pass and marched
back to Peshawur. Nevertheless, Wyld determined to press forward with
the two native regiments. As soon, however, as the enemy attacked them
the Sepoys at the head of the column wavered and opened an aimless fire.
In vain the Brigadier and the officers endeavoured to persuade them to
advance. They would not move forward, nor would the rest of the troops
advance to their assistance. The two guns broke down after a round or
two, and what little spirit remained among the Sepoys evaporated at
once, and the column had to fall back. One of the guns was spiked and
left behind, the Sepoys refusing to make any effort to bring it off.
The Brigadier, who with several of our officers was wounded, saw that
it was impossible to persevere, and the force fell back beyond the
pass. Moseley could obtain no news, and was unaware of the repulse of
the relieving column. Although the troops were on half rations supplies
were nearly exhausted. The water was bad, and numbers of the Sepoys
fell ill, and on the 23rd he determined to evacuate the fortress. Two
officers volunteered to hold it, but the Sepoys would not support
them, and the former native garrison had lost heart; so, on the 24th,
the force marched out. The Afridis mustered strongly to oppose the
retreat. The Sepoys, animated now by the hope of safety, fought well.
Two British officers were killed, most of the baggage lost, and some of
the sick and wounded had to be abandoned, but the main body got through
safely.
Such was the news that was brought by a native in our pay, together
with a letter from Brigadier Wyld saying that it would be impossible to
renew the attempt until reinforcements of at least one British regiment
with some guns arrived. But the news that help was still far distant
in no way discouraged the garrison of Jellalabad, who redoubled their
efforts to strengthen the fortifications and to prepare by their own
unaided efforts for the worst.
At Peshawur Wyld's repulse bore the natural consequences. The
discontent among the Sepoy's increased, many deserted, and expressions
of determination never to enter the pass again were common among them.
Sickness broke out, and when on the 25th of February General Pollock,
who had been selected to command the force gathered there, and invested
with full authority on all other matters, arrived, he found a thousand
men in hospital; a week later the number was increased to eighteen
hundred.
No better man than Pollock could have been chosen. He possessed at once
great firmness, kindness of heart, and a manner calculated to inspire
confidence. He declared to the central authorities at once that, even
with the brigade which had come up with him, to advance up the pass
would be to court another defeat. The four Sepoy regiments that had
been engaged could, in their present state, not be counted on for
service, and the force at his disposal was therefore no greater than
that which Wyld had lost. He set to work in the first place to restore
confidence. It was a difficult task. Many even among the officers had
become affected with the spirit of defection, and did not hesitate to
express their opinion that an advance through the Khyber Pass would
involve a repetition of the Cabul disaster. The new Sepoy regiments
were at once visited by emissaries from those of Wyld's brigade and
from the Sikhs, who endeavoured in every way to persuade them also to
refuse to enter the pass, and succeeded in the case of the 26th native
regiment, who joined the four other battalions in refusing to advance.
On the day after his arrival General Pollock visited all the hospitals,
enquired into the ailments of the sick, and talked encouragingly to
them. Then he went to the Sepoy regiments, enquired into the cause of
their discontent, and exhorted them to return to their duty, and not to
bring disgrace upon regiments that had so many times in the past proved
their courage and loyalty.
His task was a hard and difficult one, but his method of mildness and
firmness combined gradually restored their spirits and discipline;
and the knowledge that reinforcements were on their way, with a good
proportion of European troops, including cavalry and artillery, greatly
aided his efforts. Still, until these reinforcements arrived, Pollock
could do nothing but reply to the urgent letters of Sale and Macgregor
by pointing out his inability to move.
On the 19th of February Angus was with Macgregor on the walls of
Jellalabad. The men were as usual working hard and steadily, grateful
in the thought that their long labour had borne its fruits, and that in
a few days they would be able to lay by their picks and shovels, the
work that they had been set to do having been accomplished.
"Another week," Captain Havelock, who was acting as Persian interpreter
to Macgregor, said to Angus, "and the whole work which Broadfoot traced
out will be finished. In one respect I am sorry that it should be so,
for there is nothing like active work for keeping men's spirits up
and preventing them from feeling the effects of idleness. I think--"
and he stopped abruptly. There was a sudden tremor of the earth and
a deep sound like thunder, then they were both thrown off their feet.
The walls, the houses, the whole city, swayed and shook. Then came
the crash of falling houses, wild shouts of alarm and pain; the earth
crumbled beneath them, and they rolled down together into the moat. On
finding that they were unhurt they scrambled up the slope of earth. A
terrible sight presented itself. A third of the buildings in the town
had fallen. But this was not the worst. Several of the bastions had
been destroyed; almost all the parapets were thrown down; several great
breaches were made in the wall, one of them eighty feet in length;
and the moat had in many places been filled up with the debris of the
wall and parapet. The soldiers were extricating themselves or helping
their comrades from the earth that had almost overwhelmed them; others
were standing gazing with a dazed air at the destruction that had been
wrought.
"We had better go to head-quarters," Havelock said, "and see what has
happened there."
They made their way with difficulty through the ruins that blocked the
streets. The movements of the earth still continued, and they had all
they could do to keep their feet. On reaching head-quarters they found
to their satisfaction that all was safe. The general and Macgregor had
both been occupied in writing despatches to Peshawur, and had rushed
out into the little courtyard of the house. The offices round it fell
in ruins at their feet, but the dwelling-house, although it swayed to
and fro, did not fall. Enquiries were at once set on foot, when it was
found that no lives had been lost among the garrison, although two
natives had been killed by the fall of their houses.
No time was lost. The whole of the garrison were told off into working
parties, and in half an hour were diligently at work repairing the wall
at the most important points. They worked until late at night, by
which time the breaches were scarped, the rubbish all cleared away, and
the ditches dug out again, while a parapet of gabions was erected along
the great breach. A parapet was erected on the remains of the bastion
which flanked the approach to the Cabul gate, that had been entirely
ruined, a trench had been dug, and a temporary parapet raised on every
bastion round the place. Never, probably, was so much work accomplished
by an equal number of men in the same time. Day after day the work was
continued, until by the end of the month the parapets were restored,
the breaches built up, the rampart increased in thickness, every
battery re-established, and the gates entrenched; and yet the troops
were in hourly anxiety that their work might be again destroyed, for
during the month succeeding the great earthquake fully a hundred shocks
were felt.
So extraordinary was the vigour with which the repairs had been
accomplished, that when Akbar Khan moved down with his forces early in
March and saw the formidable defences, he and his followers were unable
to understand it, and declared that the preservation of Jellalabad
from destruction must have been the result of witchcraft, for no other
town or village had escaped. While at work the garrison had been in
constant expectation of attack, for Akbar's army lay but a few miles
from the town. But the success of the two sorties had shown the Afghan
leader that he had very different foes to deal with from the dispirited
force that had been annihilated in the passes. Here were men ready
to work and to fight, while those at Cabul had done neither; and he
resolved to attempt to starve them out, hoping for the same success as
had attended a similar step at Cabul. He kept on, therefore, drawing
in more closely, harassing the foraging parties, and having occasional
skirmishes with the bodies of cavalry sent out to protect the
grass-cutters.
On the night of the 10th the enemy threw up sangars, small defences of
earth or stone, at many points round the town, and from behind them
opened a brisk fire. There was a report that behind these shelters
they were mining towards the walls, and a strong party of infantry
and cavalry, with two hundred of Broadfoot's sappers, commanded by
Colonel Dennie, were sent out. As they poured out through the gate,
Akbar advanced with his forces; but the guns on the ramparts received
them with a heavy fire, and although they came on several times as if
prepared to give battle, they eventually drew back, unable to withstand
the storm of shot and shrapnel. The working parties of sappers set to
work to destroy the sangars, and in doing so discovered that there was
no foundation for the report that the enemy were mining. When the work
was done, the troops began to fall back to the town, as ammunition was
beginning to run short. On seeing their retirement the Afghans again
advanced; but on our troops halting and facing them, they at once
turned and fled, having lost considerably by our artillery and musketry
fire. Dennie's force sustained no loss in killed, but Broadfoot was
wounded, and the loss of his services as engineer was serious.
Time passed quietly. The whole of the ground had been cleared of trees,
houses, and walls for some distance round the town, and the Afghans
were no longer able to crawl up under shelter and keep up a galling
fire on our men. Early in April a messenger brought in news that
Pollock had now received his reinforcements, and would advance in a day
or two, the Sepoys having recovered their health and spirits. His force
had been joined by the 9th Foot, the 3rd Dragoons, nine guns, and the
1st Native Cavalry.
On the 5th these started from Jumrood. Brigadier Wyld commanded the
advance guard, General M'Caskill the rear. Two columns of infantry were
to scale the height on either side of the pass, Major Davis in command
of that on the right, Colonel Moseley of that on the left. At three
o'clock in the morning they started. The heights on either side and the
pass were crowded with the enemy, who were always well informed of the
British movements by the natives in the town. They expected that the
force would all move along the road, and anticipated an easy success.
The two flanking parties moved off so quietly in the dim light of the
morning that they were not perceived by the enemy until they began to
scale the heights. Then a lively combat began, and the Afghans learned
for the first time that even among their own hills the British could
beat them.
The difficulties of the ascent were great, but the _moral_ of the
Sepoys was now completely restored, and they stormed the heights on
either side with great gallantry, driving the Afghans before them.
While this was going on, the main column in the valley had cleared
away a formidable barricade that had been erected at the mouth of the
pass, and which could not have been destroyed without much loss had the
Afghans maintained their position on the hills. Pollock now advanced,
and the Afghans, who had assembled in large numbers at the mouth of the
pass, bewildered at finding themselves outflanked, fell back, and the
column with its great convoy of animals moved forward.
The number of draught animals was very large, although the baggage of
the advancing force had been cut down to the narrowest dimensions, in
order that provisions and ammunition for the garrison at Jellalabad
might be taken on. The march occupied the greater part of the day.
The heat was great, and the troops suffered from thirst; but animated
by their success, they thought little of this, and before nightfall
bivouacked round Ali Musjid, whose garrison had evacuated the place
when they saw that the day had gone against them. All night long the
Afghans kept up a fire from among the hills, but did not attempt an
attack. The Sikhs had joined the main body, as the general, doubtful
as to their fidelity, had sent them by another pass. The general's
estimate of them was not a mistaken one. They were left to occupy Ali
Musjid and guard the pass, but shortly after the army had moved on they
quitted the position and marched away, seizing some of the baggage
animals on their way up, and, throwing their loads on the ground,
employing them to carry their own baggage.
The crushing and altogether unexpected defeat that the tribesmen had
suffered had its effect. They had found themselves beaten at their own
game and withdrew at once to their fastnesses, and Pollock's force
marched on without meeting with any serious opposition.