CAPTAIN ROSS AND LIEUTENANT EDWARDES
On the 1st of March, while Mr. Robertson with his escort was in Chitral
and active hostilities had not yet commenced, a native officer had
started from Mastuj with forty men and sixty boxes of ammunition for
Chitral. He had proceeded for a couple of marches and had reached Buni,
when he found the road broken and rumours reached him that he was to be
attacked. He accordingly wrote to Lieutenant Moberly, the special duty
officer with the Kashmir troops in Mastuj, telling him of the state of
affairs and asking for instructions. Rumours had by now reached Mastuj
that Sher Afzul had entered Chitral territory and that large numbers
of the Chitralis had joined him. But he was said to have friendly
intentions towards the British and all the local head men reported to
Lieutenant Moberly that no organised attack upon a party of troops was
at all likely.
Still there was evidently a feeling of unrest abroad, and as a
detachment of the 14th Sikhs under Captain Ross and Lieutenant Jones
were now at Laspur, two marches on the Gilgit side of Mastuj, on their
way up, Lieutenant Moberly wrote to ask Captain Ross to come on into
Mastuj in a single march instead of two. This Captain Ross did, and on
the evening of the 4th of March he started from Mastuj with fifty men
to reinforce the Subadar, who was blocked at Buni. On the same day a
detachment of twenty Sappers and Miners under Lieutenant J. S. Fowler,
R.E., accompanied by Lieutenant S. M. Edwardes also arrived in Mastuj.
The party were on their way to Chitral with engineering stores, and
without halting at Mastuj they left on the following morning, March
5th, with the intention of overtaking the Subadar at Buni and with the
combined party continuing the march to Chitral.
That evening Captain Ross returned to Mastuj reporting that everything
was quiet at Buni, and that Lieutenants Edwardes and Fowler were to
leave Buni on the 6th for Chitral with the ammunition escort. On the
evening of March 6th Lieutenant Moberly received a note from Lieutenant
Edwardes dated noon of the same day from Koragh, a small hamlet a few
miles below Buni, saying that he heard he was to be attacked near
Reshun, the first stage beyond Buni. Upon hearing of this Captain Ross
at once moved from Mastuj, and also wrote to the officer commanding at
Ghizr, the nearest post on the Gilgit side of the Shandur Pass, asking
him to send up as many men as he could possibly spare to reinforce
Mastuj. The strength of Captain Ross's party was
2 British Officers
1 Native Officer
6 Havildars (sergeants)
3 Naiks (corporals)
2 Buglers
82 Sepoys
1 Hospital-Assistant
8 Hospital followers
2 Cooks
2 Water-carriers
1 Lascar
1 Sweeper
2 Dhobis
Nine days' rations and 140 rounds of ammunition per man were carried.
Leaving Mastuj on the morning of March 7th, Captain Ross reached
Buni, eighteen miles distant, at 11 P.M. the same day. Here he left
one native officer with thirty-three rank and file, while with the
rest he and his subaltern, Lieutenant Jones, started for Reshun, the
place, about thirteen miles lower down the valley, in which Lieutenant
Edwardes' party were detained. Captain Ross's men took with them three
days' cooked rations, and at about 1 P.M. the party reached the small
hamlet of Koragh, about half way to Reshun, and a short halt was made
here. What occurred after that may best be told in Lieutenant Jones's
own words.
About half-a-mile after leaving Koragh [he says] the road enters a
narrow defile. The hills on the left bank consist of a succession
of large stone shoots, with precipitous spurs in between; the road
at the entrance to the defile for about one hundred yards runs
quite close to the river; after that it lies along a narrow maidan,
some thirty or forty yards in width, and is on the top of the river
bank, which is here a cliff; this continues for about half-a-mile;
then at the Reshun end it ascends a steep spur. When the advanced
party reached about half way up this spur, it was fired on from a
sangar which is across the road, and at the same time men appeared
on all the mountain tops and ridges, and stones were rolled down
all the shoots. Captain Ross, who was with the advanced guard,
recalled the point of the advanced guard and fell back, on the main
body, with which I was. All our coolies dropped their loads and
bolted as soon as the first shot was fired. Captain Ross, after
looking at the enemy's position, decided to fall back upon Koragh,
as it would have been useless to go on to Reshun, leaving an enemy
in such a position behind us. With this object in view Captain Ross
ordered me back with ten men to seize the Koragh end of the defile,
to cover his retirement. By the time that I had reached within
about one hundred yards of the sangar at this end I had only two
sepoys left with me unwounded, and it was therefore impossible for
me to proceed any further. I sent back and informed Captain Ross
accordingly. Captain Ross in the meantime had occupied two caves in
the river bank, and he ordered me to come back to him, which I did.
Captain Ross then informed me that it was his intention to wait
till the moon rose, and that he would then try and force his way
out. We stayed in the caves till about 8 P.M., and then we started
to try and force our way out to Koragh.
[Illustration: DIAGRAMMATIC SKETCH OF THE KORAGH DEFILE]
When Captain Ross had got about half way across the stone shoot
under the sangars at the Koragh end he decided to retire, as there
was such a torrent of rocks coming down the shoot, that he thought
that his party would be annihilated if he attempted to go on.
Thereupon we again retired to the caves mentioned above. After
reaching here, Captain Ross thought that he would try and get
to the top of the mountain above us, and we started up the spur
nearest above the caves. We had got some way up, when our road was
completely barred by a precipice, and we could get no further, as
we had no native of the country to guide us, and the ground was
extremely dangerous. One of the sepoys, falling here, was killed.
After looking about in vain for a path, Captain Ross again decided
to retire to the caves, and we reached them about 3 A.M. As every
one was now tired out, Captain Ross decided to remain here for
the present. We remained in the caves all the day of the 9th. The
enemy, meanwhile, did not molest us further than firing a few shots
into the cave, and, as we had built up breastworks there, they
could not do us much damage. During the 9th Captain Ross and myself
both agreed that the only thing remaining for us to do was to cut
our way out back to Koragh at all costs, and we decided to make the
attempt about 2 A.M. On the 10th, when we thought that the enemy
would least expect it, we started accordingly, and we attacked
their sangars and drove them out of them; they retired a short
distance up the hill and kept up a brisk fire from behind rocks.
There was also a heavy fire kept on us from the sangars on the
right bank of the river. A large number of sepoys were killed, or
so severely wounded as not to be able to move, by the stones down
the shoot which ran right into the river, and Captain Ross himself
was killed in front of one of the sangars. I and seventeen rank and
file reached the maidan on the Koragh side of the defile in safety,
and when I got there I halted and re-formed the men, and stayed
there some ten minutes, keeping up a heavy fire on the sangars on
both banks of the river, in order to help any more of the men who
could get through. While halting there, two bodies of the enemy's
swordsmen attempted to charge us, but were checked by volleys and
losing heavily. As the enemy now showed signs of again cutting
our line of retreat, I considered that it was time to retire,
especially as two more of my party were killed, and one mortally
wounded, while I had been waiting here. Of the remaining fifteen,
I myself and nine sepoys were wounded. We retired slowly to Buni,
where we arrived about 6 A.M. It was quite impossible to bring any
wounded men who were unable to walk with us, and it was equally
impossible to bring their rifles, etc. Therefore a certain number,
about forty of these, fell into the hands of the enemy. I estimate
the enemy's numbers at about 1,000, and think that they must have
lost heavily. I spent from the 10th to the 17th March at Buni,
having occupied a house there and put it into a state of defence.
On the 17th he was relieved by Lieutenant Moberly, as will be
subsequently told.
In concluding his report, Lieutenant Jones says that he cannot speak
too highly of the steadiness and gallantry shown by the men of the
detachment, whose behaviour throughout he considers above praise.
We now have to follow the fortunes of the party under Lieutenants
Edwardes and Fowler, to whose assistance Captain Ross had set out.
This party, as will be remembered, had marched from Mastuj on the 5th
of March before any news of an outbreak of hostilities had reached
that place. They were escorting ammunition and engineering stores for
the troops at Chitral, and their party consisted of twenty Bengal
Sappers and Miners, forty-two Kashmir Infantry, an orderly, three
officers' servants, and two followers. On the 6th they reached Reshun,
a large, but straggling village situated on a sloping plain between
the left bank of the Chitral river and the steep mountain sides which
rose behind. The houses are detached and dotted over the plain, each
surrounded by an orchard. On the edge of a cliff which overhangs the
river was a sangar, which the detachment now occupied, and here they
stored their kit and ammunition, while a small party consisting of
Lieutenants Edwardes and Fowler with twenty Bengal Sappers and Miners,
and ten Kashmir Infantry started out to repair a break in the road
a few miles below Reshun. Immediately after leaving the village the
road to Chitral ascends a spur to a height of about 1,000 feet, and
descending again to the level of the river passes for half-a-mile or so
over a plain, and then enters a narrow defile with the unfordable river
on one hand and inaccessible cliffs on the other.
The British officers were unaware, though the siege of Chitral had
commenced three days ago, that the Chitralis had risen in arms against
the British, but they saw sufficient evidence of a hostile spirit to
induce them to take every precaution on entering this defile. All the
hill-sides were carefully examined with telescopes, and, as some
sangars were observed, Lieutenant Fowler was sent to scale the heights
on the left bank so as from there to be able to look down into the
sangars on the opposite bank. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Edwardes remained
with the rest of the party close outside the defile. Lieutenant Fowler
with some difficulty found a way up the hill-side, and was engaged in
examining the opposite cliffs, when suddenly a shot came from them, and
about two hundred men rushed out from a village where they had been
concealed and began swarming into the sangars. Lieutenant Fowler kept
up a heavy fire on them, as he was well above the sangars, and did
considerable execution.
But the enemy had now begun climbing the hill-sides behind him so as to
cut him off from Lieutenant Edwardes, and he was forced to retire. His
position indeed was now a very precarious one, for the Chitralis had
succeeded in getting above him, and were hurling down stones upon his
party, besides firing upon them. Lieutenant Fowler himself was wounded
in the back of the shoulder, the corporal of the party was also shot,
and two other men wounded. Scrambling and jumping down he succeeded,
however, in bringing his party with the wounded men down the hill-side
again and on to the plain where Lieutenant Edwardes with the main body
was covering his retreat. The Chitralis with Lieutenant Edwardes had
been trying to induce him to enter the defile, in which case he would
without doubt have suffered as Captain Ross's ill-fated party had
done. But Edwardes had prudently waited till Fowler could report the
hill-sides clear, and then, finding that instead of their being clear
the enemy were now swarming on to them, he saw that his only plan was
to retire to Reshun; and this, when Lieutenant Fowler had rejoined him,
he accordingly did.
But they were nearly two miles from the village: they had an open plain
to cross and the spur nearly a thousand feet high to climb. One British
officer and several men were wounded, and the enemy were gaining ground
along the hill-sides. Disaster seemed imminent, but by holding the
crest of the spur, and by firing steadily on the enemy to keep them at
a distance, the retirement was effected without serious loss, and the
sangar near the village of Reshun, where the rest of the party had been
left, was reached before the enemy could cut them off.
There is one little incident in this retirement which merits a very
special mention. It has been said that Lieutenant Fowler was wounded.
Now his pony was awaiting him in the plain at the foot of the hill-side
up which he had been climbing; and as a steep hill, a thousand feet in
height, had to be ascended on the way back to Reshun, it might have
been supposed that Fowler would have mounted his pony and ridden up the
hill. But there were also some sepoys wounded; and these in Fowler's
opinion had to be looked after first. So he mounted a sepoy on his
pony, and walked himself. It is not to be wondered at that when the
native soldiers see their officers ready to make such sacrifices for
them, they should be willing to follow them anywhere, and stand by them
to the last, as indeed these very soldiers were now called upon to do.
For now the first blood was drawn the people rose excitedly and
surrounded the little British party in the quarters they were
occupying. The British officers found it impossible to hold the
original sangar on the cliff by the river, for it was exposed to
fire from the opposite bank, and had no head-cover. They therefore
decided upon occupying some houses by the polo ground, the very spot
where Mr. George Curzon and myself had camped without a single man as
escort, only five months previously. In this batch of houses, cover and
fire-wood could be obtained, and a certain amount of supplies also. The
only drawback in occupying them was that they were more than a hundred
yards from the river, and consequently there was considerable risk of
their water supply being cut off. The officers hoped, however, to be
able to keep the road to the river open by their fire.
Immediately upon returning to Reshun, the officers set to work to make
the position defensible, and the following account of their brave
resistance against overpowering numbers of the enemy is compiled
from the report they subsequently submitted to Government. The first
work to be done was the construction of sangars on the roofs of the
houses (the houses being flat-roofed), the loopholing of the walls,
blocking up entrances, and knocking out passages of communication.
The materials available for making the sangars were the mud bricks of
which the houses were built, roof timbers and other pieces of timber
lying about, and boxes, grain bins, etc. An attack was fully expected
that same night, and every possible precaution had to be taken before
darkness set in. Before dusk the ammunition and the wounded had to be
transported from the sangar near the river to the house. Some Kashmir
sepoys volunteered for this work, and though they had to run the
gauntlet of a heavy fire in crossing the space of a hundred yards which
separated the sangar from the end of the garden-wall round the house,
they carried it out without losing a single man. "Already dead tired,
these men behaved splendidly," say the British officers in their report.
The enemy had been firing all day upon the party while they were at
work, but at sunset their fire slackened and they went off to eat the
evening meal, for this was the month of the Ramzan when Mohammedans
have to fast all day and eat nothing between sunrise and sunset.
Every man on the defending side was now posted in his place, and told
to strengthen his cover for himself. And so the first night fell on
the little party, now at bay, in the heart of an enemy's country, with
their retreat cut off, and impossible defiles on either side of them.
Out of the sixty-two men, they had already lost one corporal killed,
two men mortally and eight others less severely wounded, and one of
the two British officers was also wounded. The men had had hard work
the whole day long, they had had no food and little water, and now at
night they could take no rest, for the enemy commenced firing again,
and the defenders had to expect a rush from the houses and garden walls
close by at any moment. The defenders' position was indeed surrounded
by these houses, walls, and trees, which gave ample cover to the
enemy; and the demolition of these was undoubtedly a matter of the
first importance. But beyond those immediately around the house, there
was more cover occupied by the enemy's sharpshooters, and the British
officers considered that it would have been too risky to have taken
men from their places to demolish these, and so expose them where
they might have been cut off at any moment. There was a difficulty,
too, about burning the houses, for large quantities of kindling wood
would have been required for the purpose, and from whichever side the
defenders should burn fires, the enemy would attack from the other, and
thus have them between themselves and the light.
All night long the garrison remained at their posts, and when day
dawned on the morning of the 8th they were all utterly exhausted. But
the fear of immediate attack being over, half the men were brought down
from their posts, and a meal was cooked from the flour which had been
found in the houses. Water, which had of course to be now carefully
husbanded, was also served out; and after the men had refreshed
themselves, they were allowed to sleep in turns. During the day the
enemy kept up a continuous fire from sangars which they had thrown up
on the hill-sides. At twilight the remainder of the baggage was brought
in from the sangar, and the garrison then had to think of replenishing
the water supply. Two large earthenware vessels were lashed on poles,
and Lieutenant Fowler with the volunteers and a bhisti (water-carrier)
set out for the river. The men carried water-bottles and the bhisti his
mussuck (skin). Fortunately no enemy were met with, and the party were
able to make two trips, and so fill up all the storage vessels at the
disposal of the garrison.
That night, as on the previous one, the defenders stood to their posts
expecting an assault at any moment; but the night passed by quietly
until just before dawn on the morning of the 9th, when the moon had
gone down and night was at its darkest. The enemy then charged down
through the houses, and got behind the garden wall in large numbers.
Lieutenant Edwardes and his party at once opened fire at about twenty
yards range, while the enemy were shouting and urging each other on
to the assault. There was a tremendous din of tom-toms as they were
beaten furiously to encourage the assailants, but none of the men could
approach to within twenty yards of the deadly fire poured out by the
defenders, and as the dim light of early dawn grew clearer, it became
evident to the garrison that the enemy had no stomach for further
assault. Some Pathans among the assailants were still seen urging on
the Chitralis and hurling abuse at the defenders, but at about 9 A.M.
they all retired, and contented themselves for the rest of the day with
beating tom-toms and howling in the village. During the attack the
native soldiers of the defence showed the utmost steadiness, but four
of them were killed and six others wounded. On account of the darkness,
it was impossible to estimate the number of the enemy or their losses.
But there must have been several hundreds, and a very large portion
were armed with Snider and Martini-Henry rifles.
After the assault had been thus successfully repulsed water was served
out, a meal was cooked, and the men allowed to sleep in turns. In the
evening it was seen that the enemy had barred the road down to the
water. At dusk the defenders still further strengthened their sangars,
and fully expecting another attack, kept up a vigilant outlook. But
"we and the men were terribly weary," say the officers, "and it was
very difficult to keep the sentries awake, although they were posted
double."
The night passed off quietly, however, and in the morning it was seen
that the enemy had cleared off the hills, though sharpshooters still
surrounded the defenders in sangars from fifty to two hundred yards
distant. Lieutenant Edwardes dressed the wounded, who had so far only
been bandaged. "Never a groan or complaint was heard," says the report,
though there were no medical appliances, and though not sufficient
water was available with which to thoroughly wash the wounds. Bandages,
crutches, and splints had to be improvised, and the officers used a
weak solution of carbolic and carbolic tooth-powder for the purpose of
dressing the wounds. The corpses of the six dead men were also brought
out and prepared for burning. At dusk an attempt was made to procure
water again, and Lieutenant Fowler with twenty sepoys started down
towards the river. But the enemy had now built and occupied sangars
along the cliff at the river's edge, and the work of getting down to
the river was one of extreme risk. Lieutenant Fowler succeeded in
getting to within ten yards of the first sangar and within five yards
of the sentry without being observed. About twenty men could be seen
sitting round a fire in the interior with their rifles lying by their
sides. A volley was poured into these men, and then Lieutenant Fowler
charged down on the top of them. A few men only succeeded in escaping
down the cliff to the river bed. Meanwhile the enemy in a second
sangar, roused by the firing, lined the walls and began firing to their
front. But Fowler had got round them behind a wall on their flank, and
he now charged right up the wall, poured a second volley into these men
over the fires, also knocked over about six of them, then bayoneted
a few more, while the remainder fled. And so successful had Fowler
been in surprising these parties, that not a single man of his was
scratched. The way down to the water was open, but Fowler now heard
heavy firing and the Pathan cry of attack in the direction of the post.
So having collected his men, he retired at once to rejoin Lieutenant
Edwardes. The enemy's attack was repulsed by this latter officer before
Fowler's return, but the attempt to obtain water had to be abandoned
for the night.
On the following day nothing of importance occurred, and that night the
defenders succeeded in reaching the river and bringing back water, the
supply of which was still further replenished by collecting the rain in
waterproof sheets. A well was sunk to a depth of twelve feet, but as
rock was then struck, the attempt to procure water in that manner had
to be abandoned.
On the morning of the 13th a white flag was shown by the enemy, and a
Pathan shouted out "Cease firing!" The defenders also hoisted a white
flag, and sent out Jemadar Lal Khan to parley with the Pathan while
every man stood to his post. After some talk, the Jemadar returned
with the report that Mohamed Isa, Sher Afzul's right-hand man, had
just arrived from Chitral with a following to stop the fighting and
speak with the British officers. Lieutenant Edwardes sent word in reply
that if Mohamed Isa would come to the defenders' side of a gap in the
wall of the polo ground, situated only sixty yards from the wall of
the houses held by the British officers, and entirely under fire from
the defenders, one of the British officers would go out and meet him.
Mohamed Isa agreed to do this: he came to the gap, and Lieutenant
Edwardes then went out to talk with him, while Lieutenant Fowler
remained inside the post with his men standing ready to arms in case of
treachery.
When Lieutenant Edwardes met Mohamed Isa, that prince informed him
that he had just arrived from Chitral, where Sher Afzul and Dr.
Robertson were corresponding with a view to the former being recognised
as Mehtar. Mohamed Isa said that all fighting had ceased, and that
he was most anxious to be friends with the Indian Government. After
some talk between the British officer and the Chitral prince, the
conditions of an armistice were arranged, and it was stipulated that
the British force should remain within their walls, that no firing
should take place, that no Chitralis were to approach the walls, that
water-carriers were to be allowed to go down to the river, and that
supplies were to be provided by the Chitralis. Lieutenant Edwardes
also wrote a letter to Dr. Robertson in Chitral, and to the officer
commanding at Mastuj, stating in English that an armistice had
been arranged, and adding in French what his losses had been, and
expressing very great doubt of his being able to beat off any further
assault. Having arranged these conditions, Lieutenant Edwardes returned
to the post.
The bhistis were sent down to fetch water, and supplies were brought to
the fort wall by the Chitralis. The night following passed in quiet,
but vigilance was not relaxed. Rain fell heavily during the night,
and a quantity of water was collected in waterproof sheets. In the
afternoon of the 14th of March a further parley was asked for, and
on the arrival of Mohamed Isa, accompanied now by another Chitrali
prince named Yadgar Beg, at the former place of meeting, Lieutenant
Edwardes again went out to confer with him, while Lieutenant Fowler
remained, as before, inside the fortified post. Yadgar Beg confirmed to
Lieutenant Edwardes the story previously told by Mohamed Isa, and both
the princes were full of protestations of friendship. Yadgar Beg said
he had a large following who desired to be friends, and not enemies, of
the British. The same afternoon the bhistis were again sent to bring
in water, and having to go some distance through the village, they
reported that the houses were full of Pathans. They were not, however,
ill-treated in any way, and Mohamed Isa sent in a sheep and other
supplies to the British officers. Lieutenant Edwardes sent another
letter to inform Dr. Robertson of the presumed strengthening of the
enemy, and to let him know that the rations would not last beyond the
17th of March, _i.e._ three days hence.
So far the relations between the British officers and the Chitralis
had been conducted upon an apparently friendly footing, the aim of the
Chitralis being to lull the British into a sense of security. On the
afternoon of the following day, the 15th of March, occurred that act
of treachery by which the two officers were captured, and the greater
number of their men lost their lives. In the afternoon, Mohamed Isa
sent in word that now peace was restored, he and his men wished to
amuse themselves, and he asked permission to play polo on the ground
immediately outside the post which the British party were occupying. It
seemed to the British officers that there could be no harm in granting
this permission, for no man riding on the polo ground could escape
their fire, and they therefore decided to grant Mohamed Isa's request.
The Chitrali prince then sent to ask that both officers would come
and look on, as so far he had only seen Lieutenant Edwardes. He also
offered to lend the officers ponies on which to play polo. The British
officers considered that as they had trusted the Chitralis so far,
they might trust them further; so when Mohamed Isa and his men arrived
upon the polo ground, both Lieutenant Fowler and Edwardes, having
previously ordered their men to their posts which commanded the entire
polo ground, went out to meet the Chitralis. A bedstead was placed in
the gap in the wall of the polo ground, on the spot where the former
meetings had taken place, and Mohamed Isa sat next to the officers
until the men were ready to begin the game. The British officers were
asked to play polo, but refused. Mohamed Isa, however, joined in the
game, while Yadgar Beg sat with Edwardes and Fowler. A third arrival
from Chitral, speaking to the British officers, confirmed the story
of Mohamed Isa and Yadgar Beg, that peace between the British and the
Chitralis had been made.
The polo ground at Reshun is about fifty yards broad and one hundred
and twenty yards long, and slopes away from the post occupied by the
British, the further side of the ground not being covered by the fire
of the British garrison. Lieutenant Edwardes asked Mohamed Isa to order
the men, who numbered about one hundred and fifty, and who were armed
with rifles and swords, to go to the further side of the ground. The
officers had some tea made and brought out for the Chitralis to drink.
After the polo was over, Mohamed Isa asked if the men might dance, as
is the custom of the country at the conclusion of a game. The British
officers consented, and the dance began. Then under the excuse that
there was a wet place in front of the officers, the bedstead on which
they were seated was moved to the right, bringing it under cover
of the end of the wall and the polo ground. The officers found it
difficult to object to this, as it seemed impossible that any attempt
at treachery could be unattended by heavy loss to the Chitralis. As
the dance proceeded, more men began to collect and to press forward
in a ring round the dancers, and the officers observed that a number
had come over to the wall side of the polo ground. At a pause in the
dance the officers stood up and said that they were tired, and would
now go back to their post. On this Mohamed Isa himself suddenly seized
the British officers, and a rush of men was made upon them, and they
were dragged under cover of the wall. A volley was immediately fired
by the British garrison; but the Chitralis kept under the wall, and
none of them seemed to have been hit. Firing then became general for
a short time, till it gradually died down into single shots fired at
intervals. The officers in the meantime had their feet and hands bound,
and were dragged by the legs along the ground away from the gap. All
their buttons, badges, etc., were violently torn off and their pockets
rifled, and Fowler's boots and stockings were taken off. In about half
an hour the officers saw the enemy carry off some of their dead and
wounded, and men came out laden with loot. They also saw at least one
Kashmir sepoy being driven along with a load. With their arms still
bound, the officers were taken off to the house in which Mohamed Isa
lived, where they were seated in a verandah. What happened to the
garrison of the post they could not at the time ascertain; but they
subsequently met twelve of their men in Chitral, and it appears that
the Chitralis rushed the place, killed numbers of the men, and carried
these few off as prisoners.
In remarking upon the defence, the British officers say they had
frequently considered the question of destroying a portion of the
ammunition in their charge. This ammunition had now fallen into the
hands of the enemy, and was a great advantage to them. It would have
been well, therefore, if the British officers could have managed to
have destroyed it; but they say that in the hurry of improvising the
defence on the first night of the siege, they had been compelled to
build the ammunition boxes up into a rude parapet, to afford a cover
to their men. Subsequently these boxes had been covered up with beams,
bricks, kits, and _débris_, and it was consequently very difficult
to get them out without pulling down the cover so much needed. The
moonlight nights, too, had rendered the removal of them very risky, as
the long beams necessitated making large gaps, and any noise inside the
post immediately drew the fire from the enemy, which was very effective
in the moonlight. Moreover, the ammunition was intended for the use of
local levies who were expected from Gilgit, and these levies without
the ammunition would have been perfectly useless.
The British officers determined therefore to keep it till they could
hold out no longer, and to then destroy it. Lieutenant Edwardes had
also to consider the advisability of making sorties; but though he
could have doubtless driven off the enemy for a time by such sorties,
yet he recognised that he would have lost men in doing so, and with the
small number at his disposal he could not afford to lose a single man.
The subsequent adventures of the two officers form a thrilling tale.
After passing the night bound at Reshun, with a man holding on to a
rope fastened to each of them, Lieutenant Fowler was sent towards
Chitral, led at the end of a rope and under the escort of two Pathans
and two Chitralis. On the following day Lieutenant Edwardes, who was at
first to have been sent to Mastuj, was sent to join Lieutenant Fowler.
On the way there they were met by a sergeant and ten men of Umra Khan,
who, after quarrelling with the Chitralis, insisted upon taking them
on as their prisoners. On the 19th of March the two officers reached
Chitral, and were met there by a colonel and about a hundred men of
Umra Khan's army. They were led into the presence of Majid Khan, Umra
Khan's representative and half-brother, and now his successor in the
rule of the Jandul State. The two officers were received civilly, and
the Janduli prince expressed regret at the course of events, and of the
treachery which had been practised on the British officers. He assured
them of good treatment, and after a short interview the officers were
marched with an escort of forty men to see Sher Afzul, the claimant
to the throne of Chitral. The escort accompanied the British officers
into the room in which they found Sher Afzul sitting, surrounded by
a strong escort, and with a loaded rifle in his lap. He received the
British officers civilly, and gave them tea and cakes. He also talked
to them at great length of the negotiations which had taken place
between him and Dr. Robertson. He further expressed sorrow at the
treachery which had been used to them, and said that he would see to
their comfort, and arrange supplies as far as possible, though supplies
were difficult to obtain, as everything had been taken into the fort.
Both Sher Afzul and Majid Khan, at the earnest request of Lieutenant
Edwardes, promised to make strict search for all men of their party who
might still be alive. The two officers were permitted to communicate
with the British garrison besieged in the fort, but were not allowed
to visit them. It was the object of the besiegers to let the defenders
know, without doubt, the disaster which had befallen the British
detachment, in order to depress as far as possible the spirit of the
defence.
On the evening of March 20th, Lieutenants Edwardes and Fowler saw the
native clerk of the political agent, who had been allowed to come out
from the fort for the purpose of communicating with the officers, but
all conversation had to be carried on in the presence of the Pathans
and Chitralis. No talk in English was permitted, and the officers were
only allowed to ask in Hindustani for clothing, plates, knives, forks,
etc.
On the 21st of March the officers received from their beleaguered
comrades in the fort some clothing and necessaries, and they again saw
the political agent's native clerk in the presence of Sher Afzul and
Majid Khan and others. These princes explained to the British officers
their view of the situation, which was that they did not wish to fight
the British if they would retire to Gilgit or Peshawur, and they asked
Lieutenant Edwardes to ask one of the officers in the fort to come up
and meet them. A letter was accordingly written to Lieutenant Gurdon
inside the fort, telling him that if he met them under the walls of
the fort they would give him some useful information. But no reply
was received from Lieutenant Gurdon, and there is no doubt that the
only object of the besiegers was to capture the other officers of the
garrison in as treacherous a way as they had seized Lieutenants Fowler
and Edwardes.
On the 24th of March the two captured British officers were sent
towards Drosh to meet Umra Khan, the Pathan chief. Here on the
following day they had a long interview with this important ruler.
Umra Khan they found to be of a tall and manly appearance, with a
straightforward, commanding manner of speaking, and with a great
influence over his men. On these, and on all other occasions, he
treated his captives with civility and consideration. He now gave them
a choice of returning to Chitral, or of going with him to his native
country of Jandul, some seven or eight marches to the south. As the
chief would not allow the sepoys to go with the British officers to
Chitral, they decided upon accepting the alternative of accompanying
Umra Khan to Jandul, and started for that place on the following day.
Umra Khan had given orders that everything that could be obtained
should be given to them before himself, but his followers did not carry
out these orders, and the officers suffered much from bad food and
bad quarters on the way. From the Chitral fort they had obtained a bag
of sugar and a pound of tea, which they considered great luxuries, and
they cooked food with the assistance of the sepoys who from Chitral
onwards were accompanying them. The officers were never in any way
threatened, but they knew that they were always liable to be killed by
some fanatic who might have a blood feud against the British. A strong
guard, armed with loaded rifles, accompanied them, however, and never
for a moment allowed them to go more than a few yards from them, and
this was doubtless as much for their protection as to prevent their
escape. The guard always had in it some men who had served in our
Indian army, and although many of them were extremely ruffian-like in
appearance, and probably were thorough scoundrels, yet they mostly
treated the officers in an easy and friendly manner, and were always
willing to share with them the scanty rations they obtained on the
march. The officers on the way occupied the ordinary country houses,
which were very dark and dirty, and full of smoke and insects. The
guard of ten men or more always slept and lived in the same room as
the officers, and as most of them had colds and coughs, and were
incessantly spitting on the floor, the prisoners had little quiet. The
sepoy prisoners were given the same food as was served out to Umra
Khan's men. But this ration on the march was a very small one.
The three Hindu prisoners were made to learn the Kalin, and their
hair was cut; but they were not made to publicly declare themselves
Mussulmans, and they never really changed their faith. No attempt was
ever made to induce the officers to become Mohammedans, nor was any
fanatical feeling displayed by the people whom they met. The men would
eat the officers' bread, and gave them some of theirs. The Pathans
would often ask the officers how they managed to exist without wine,
and while in Chitral the officers were offered the contents of all
the medicine bottles taken in the hospital outside the fort as a
substitute. This delicate attention was however declined.
The prisoners were naturally an object of great curiosity to the
people, and crowds gathered to see them. These people specially
delighted to see the officers eat with knife and fork, and laughed at
their attempts to eat with their fingers. This curiosity on the part
of the populace the British officers found to be somewhat annoying,
and the guard soon discovering that they did not like visitors at meal
times, kept them off while the officers were eating; but at other times
the prisoners received the public, and sat to be inspected whilst
conversing with the people through interpreters. Umra Khan himself, as
has been said, always treated his captives with civility, and was much
interested in talking with them, and as long as he was with them and
had leisure sent for them every day. He twice took them out hawking,
and asked them to walk alongside him. The officers were not allowed
to communicate with any one, except through the chief, nor were they
allowed any writing materials, but they had obtained some paper and a
pencil in Chitral and managed to keep a short diary of each day hid in
their clothes. They were allowed to purchase materials with which to
make clothes for themselves and their sepoys, and the traders gave
them credit on their written acknowledgment.
Marching towards Jandul, the party on the 28th of March reached the
Lowarai Pass, 10,000 feet in height, and now covered deep in snow.
Leaving Ashreth, the last Chitrali village on the north side of the
Pass, they ascended the deep narrow rocky valley to the Pass. At four
miles from the summit they had to send back their ponies as the snow
was now too soft to allow of their being taken over. They then had a
very stiff pull up on foot, and on the top were caught in a violent
storm of hail and snow. The wind was bitterly cold, and they were
almost blinded by the driven snow. On the other side one of their
sepoys complained of pain in the stomach, and he was left behind
with another sepoy to look after him, but he died at night. Soon
after dark the officers reached Dir, having marched twenty-four miles
and crossed a difficult pass. Here at Dir, however, they were given
better quarters and better food. On the 30th of March they marched to
Barwa, Umra Khan's chief fort, crossing the Jhanbatai Pass, 7,000 feet
high, from which they could obtain a view over the Pathan chief's own
native valley. On the summit of the Pass, Umra Khan seated the British
officers beside him, and, giving them food and sweetmeats, asked them
how they liked his country. For a long time he sat there with the
officers at his side gazing over his native valley stretched out at his
feet, and then proceeding down the hill-side he was met by crowds of
men on horseback and on foot as he marched into Barwa.
[Illustration: THE LOWARAI PASS.]
The officers remained here about a fortnight; but on the 1st of April
the Mussulman sepoys were told that they could consider themselves
at liberty, and the guard over them was removed. A native officer
accordingly left and proceeded to Peshawur, where he brought the news
of the disaster to his party.
News now began to come in of the fighting between General Low's force
and the Pathan tribes, and great excitement prevailed. Numbers of men
began clearing out, taking all their goods with them to hide on the
hill-sides. It is a remarkable point that as the panic increased,
the officers received greater attention, and at the approach of our
troops they were supplied with two fowls, flour, rice, butter and
milk daily. On the 12th of April both of the officers were taken to
Munda, Umra Khan's strongest fort. There they met a native political
officer who had been sent by the British authorities to treat with
Umra Khan. A long conversation took place between Umra Khan and the
native official, the upshot of which was that Lieutenant Edwardes was
made the bearer of two letters to the British General, and given his
release. Umra Khan explained to him his views at great length, and
under an escort he left at midnight. Taking a circuitous route to avoid
a collection of ruffians in the valley, he arrived at 10 A.M. at Sadoo,
the head-quarters of the British forces now advancing to the relief
of Chitral. Umra Khan hoped by delivering up the British officer to
stave off the punishment which the British forces were now at hand
to inflict upon him. But General Low did not stay his advance for a
moment. He pushed steadily on towards Umra Khan's stronghold at Munda,
and on April the 16th Umra Khan played his second card, and released
Lieutenant Fowler. But still General Low pressed on as will presently
be described.
Both officers had now unexpectedly obtained their release. They had
suffered the greatest hardships, and lived in daily peril of their
lives, but they spoke with something like enthusiasm of the good
treatment they had received at Umra Khan's hands. It was sometimes no
easy matter for that chief to keep off those who had wished to injure
the British officers; and on one occasion after Lieutenant Edwardes
had left, Fowler had had an anxious time owing to the presence of many
fanatics from outside striving to gain an entrance into the fort. There
had nearly been a pitched fight between Umra Khan's men and these wild
ruffians, and a few days afterwards when I stood with him in Umra
Khan's fort, Lieutenant Fowler, standing in the doorway of the house
he had occupied as a prisoner only three days before, had shown me the
spot where these fanatics came clamouring round his guard, and trying
to obtain access to him. But Umra Khan succeeded in protecting him
throughout. He gave back to Lieutenant Edwardes his own sword which had
been seized at Reshun, and which Umra Khan had received as a present
from Chitral; and he promised to obtain Lieutenant Fowler's also, if it
could be found. "We both consider," say the British officers, at the
close of their report, "that Umra Khan treated us very well indeed, and
that he never intended to be the direct cause of injury to us under any
circumstance."
So ended the wonderful adventures of these two British subalterns. When
they were holding out at Reshun, and making their last stand in a mere
village house against overwhelming numbers of the enemy; and again,
when they were treacherously captured by a deceitful foe; and lastly,
when they were in the hands of men in the fever-heat of rebellion
against the British, no one would have supposed that they could ever
have escaped alive. But they had survived every peril, and were now
once more in safety among their fellow-countrymen.
How General Low advanced to the Relief has now to be related.