_12th Cavalry_, one squadron.
_13th Duke of Connaught's Lancers_ (Watson's Horse), one squadron.
_16th Cavalry_, one squadron.
_19th Lancers_ (Fane's Horse), half a squadron.
_21st Prince Albert Victor's Own Cavalry_ (Frontier Force) (Daly's
Horse), half a squadron.
_23rd Cavalry_ (Frontier Force), half a squadron.
_25th Cavalry_ (Frontier Force), one squadron.
_Class Regiments--Infantry_
37TH DOGRAS. Raised 1858, disbanded 1882, re-formed 1887.
Comprises 8 companies of Dogras.
BATTLE HONOURS.--"Chitral," "Punjab Frontier."
UNIFORM.--_Scarlet_, facings _yellow_.
38TH DOGRAS. Raised 1858.
Comprises 8 companies of Dogras.
BATTLE HONOURS.--"Punjab Frontier," "Malakand."
UNIFORM.--_Scarlet_, facings _yellow_.
41ST DOGRAS. Raised 1900.
Comprises 8 companies of Dogras.
UNIFORM.--_Scarlet_, facings _yellow_.
THE BALUCHIS
The Baluchis are said to come of Arab stock. Their legends and
traditions attribute their origin to Hamzah, an Arab of the Koreish
tribe, which claimed the honour of including the prophet Mahomet as
one of its number. Mahomet is said to have been Hamzah's nephew.
Notwithstanding the fact that some Mahomedan peoples are in the habit
of employing elaborate fiction in their claims to close connection with
their prophet, it still remains that there is much evidence in favour
of the general tradition existing among the Baluchis as to their Arab
origin.
The traditional Hamzah, progenitor of the Baluchi race, is regarded
as one of the most important of the early Mahomedan chiefs. He is
pictured as a mighty warrior, a man of Herculean strength and high
courage; hence his romantic and classical sobriquet, "Lion of God." The
tradition runs that Hamzah was killed at the battle of Ohod in 625 A.D.
His descendants and adherents settled about Aleppo, whence they were
driven by Yezid, son and successor of Muavia, and first Omeyeid Kalif.
It seems that the reason for this expulsion was that Hamzah and his
tribe had given assistance to Hössein, grandson of the prophet, in his
attempt to oust Yezid from the position which he had occupied.
Being driven forth into the desert, the tribe migrated eastward as
far as Persia, where, as pastoral nomads, they wandered and lived and
multiplied to such an extent as to cause considerable alarm to the
Persian monarch. It is to this sojourn that the Baluchis attribute
their obvious admixture of Persian blood and characteristics. As their
rapid increase in numbers promised trouble to the Persian kingdom,
steps were taken to expel them, and they ultimately descended into an
uninhabited tract south-east of Mekran--a country to which no one laid
any definite claim. From this point they gradually spread over the
whole of the country now known as Baluchistan, driving before them all
the peoples who had so far emigrated to that region. It will be seen
from this that the probabilities are decidedly in favour of the Arab
origin of the Baluchis. Yet it has been contended by some that they are
a race of Turkish stock, since certain of their rites and customs seem
to be drawn from that source; nevertheless it is more probable, from
all the available facts, that the Turcoman and Persian characteristics
and survivals are merely the result of a temporary admixture.
Very little is known of the early history of the warlike Baluchis
beyond what can be drawn from tradition, unsupported by any written
historical records. One of their chief traditions is that Jalal Khan,
who led them out of Persia, had four sons, named Rind, Hot, Lashari,
and Korai; and a daughter named Jato. At the present day there are five
distinct tribes which still bear the names of these five children of
Jalal Khan; but of these tribes the Rind and Lashari soon acquired, by
reason of their superior force of character, a predominant influence,
so that, as the people multiplied and split up into an ever-increasing
number of tribes, all these fell under the domination of the Rind or
the Lashari. Gradually in this way all the Baluchi race came to be
divided under two great heads, the Rind and the Lashari--a division
which has been determined, not by descent, but by political sympathy.
The Rind division possess a great traditional hero, Mir Chakar, who
is supposed to have lived in the sixteenth century, and to have been
a powerful dependent of the Moghul Emperor Humayun, giving him great
assistance in his re-conquest of the Delhi throne. In return for this
Humayun bestowed upon Mir Chakar a large tract of land on the frontier,
and it is more than probable that the Baluchis' settlements on the
southern frontier were founded in this way.
The Lashari faction also had their traditional hero, Mir Gwahram Khan,
of whom many stories of heroism are recorded. His name has still a
sound of glory for the Lasharis.
The Baluchis follow the Mahomedan religion, but, like the Gurkhas, they
are not religious by nature, preferring practical pursuits and tangible
material ideals, chief among which is war. It is not that they are less
bigoted than many of the other races, but rather that they are more
practical. Their language is a rude and far-off dialect of the early
Persians, and they have no form of written literature.
Although the Baluchi differs greatly from the Pathan in the matter
of religion, there are many points in common in regard to social
character. The Baluchi has the manly, frank, brave, strong nature of
the Pathan, with a fund of patience rendering him capable of enduring
endless hardship, and a fine dignified carriage and physique combined
with a spirit of quick daring and sudden ferocity; to these qualities
he adds the virtues of truth, fidelity, and simple generosity. His
condemnation of servility, insolence, deceit, and treachery in many
tribes is indicative of his character. His wild, free, open-air life,
combined with the artificial restraints of civilisation, has given him
a bold and resolute air of vigour and self-reliance. It redounds to his
fundamental integrity to find still existing in Baluchistan a kind
of altar or sacred stone--"a stone or cairn of cursing--erected as a
perpetual memorial to the treachery of one who betrayed his fellow."
His chivalry is superior to that of some more cultured races, for,
wild as he is, he will not harm the women and children even of his
bitterest foe. Yet his moral code allows him to plunder and to loot
on a wholesale scale. But set against this is his strong adherence to
discipline, a quality which has developed more and more during his
closer touch with the British.
If a Baluchi were allowed his own choice of weapons in any fight
whatever, his immediate selection would be a long knife, a sword,
and a shield. He has never found any material use for the matchlock,
which has always been so dear to the heart of the Pathan. He is a
born knifer, and loves to kill at close quarters--a fact based upon
the primitive blood-thirstiness of his nature, "blood for blood"
being his motto. The tales of the Baluchi's prodigal hospitality to
a stranger within his gates, and then waylaying and murdering him on
his departure, must be discredited in these days, when these fierce
instincts have been turned into worthier channels. Nor should any
credence be accorded to such stories of degradation as picture him
the habitué of the opium, hemp, and gambling dens; for, though he
may have been prone to wild excesses, recent years have seen nobler
ambitions placed before him, and certainly those Baluchis now showing
their loyalty and love for Britain and the right on the battlefields
of Europe are not of the class of whom these stories have been told.
A word of praise must be given to the Baluchi's horse, which he rides
as if it were a part of him. Baluchistan produces some of the finest
horses in the world.
THE BALUCHI REGIMENTS, WITH THEIR BATTLE HONOURS
_Cavalry_
37TH LANCERS. (Baluch Horse.) Raised 1885.
Class Squadron Regiment. 2 squadrons Derajat Mussalmans (including
Baluchis), 1 squadron Pathans, 1 squadron Sikhs.
UNIFORM.--_Khaki serge_, facings _buff_. (No service.)
[Illustration: WITH THE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, 1914.]
_Infantry_
126TH BALUCHISTAN INFANTRY. Raised 1825.
Class Company Regiment. 2 companies Hazaras, 1 company Khattacks, 1
company Waziris, 2 companies Baluchis and Brahmans, 2 companies Sikhs
and other Jat Sikhs.
BATTLE HONOURS.--"Persia," "Khooshab," "China 1900."
UNIFORM.--_Drab_ (_red serge trousers_), facings _scarlet_.
127TH QUEEN MARY'S OWN BALUCH LIGHT INFANTRY. Raised 1844.
Class Company Regiment. 4 companies Pathans, 2 companies Hill Baluchis,
2 companies Punjabi Mussalmans.
BADGE.--In each of the four corners the Cypher of Queen Mary.
BATTLE HONOURS.--"Delhi," "Abyssinia," "Afghanistan 1878/80," "Burma
1885," "British East Africa 1897/99."
UNIFORM.-_Green_ (_red serge trousers_), facings _scarlet_.
129TH DUKE OF CONNAUGHT'S OWN BALUCHIS. Raised 1846.
Class Company Regiment. 4 companies North-west Frontier Pathans, 2
companies Hill Baluchis, 2 companies Punjabi Mussalmans.
BATTLE HONOURS.--"Persia," "Reshire," "Bushire," "Khooshab," "Kandahar
1880," "Afghanistan 1878/80," "Egypt 1882," "Tel-el-Kebir."
UNIFORM.--_Green_ (_red serge trousers_), facings _scarlet_.
_130TH KING GEORGE'S OWN BALUCHIS._ (Jacob's Rifles.) Raised 1858.
Class Company Regiment. 3 companies Pathans, 2 companies Mahsuds, 3
companies Punjabi Mussalmans.
BADGES.--The Plume of the Prince of Wales and the Royal and Imperial
Cypher.
BATTLE HONOURS.--"Afghanistan 1878/80," "China 1900."
UNIFORM.--_Green_ (_red serge trousers_), facings _scarlet_.
THE BATTLES OF THE GOLDEN DAGON PAGODA
(Burmese War, 1824)
Diminished by sickness and death, brought on by hard service during
an inclement season, by defective provisions, and by the ordinary
casualties of war, Sir Archibald Campbell's forces at Rangoon were
greatly weakened. But the opportune arrival of the 89th British
Regiment from Madras, and of parts of two detachments which had subdued
the islands of Cheduba and Negrais, raised the effective strength just
at the critical moment. By the end of June, 1824, the Burmese in this
quarter appeared to have somewhat recovered from their defeats at our
hands. Chiefs of the highest fame, who, until they came in contact with
our troops, had always been victorious, were sent down the Irawaddi
from Ava and from Prome, with orders to slay or torture and mutilate
every Burmese soldier that did not fight to the utmost; and one of the
brightest of golden umbrellas, Sykya Wongee, minister of state, was
appointed commander-in-chief, with positive commands from the Golden
Foot to attack and drive the British at once into the sea. Following
this, on the first day of July, all the woods in Sir Archibald's front
exhibited bustle and commotion; 8,000 men had crossed to the Rangoon
side of the river; the jungles around all seemed animated; clouds of
rising smoke marked the encampments of the different corps of the
Burmese army in the forest; and their noisy preparations for attack
formed a striking contrast to the still and quiet of our readiness.
Golden Dagon Pagoda was the key of the British position. This splendid
edifice, in itself a fortress, is a little over two miles from the town
of Rangoon. In shape it resembles an inverted speaking-trumpet; it is
338 feet high, and is surmounted by a cap made of brass, 45 feet high;
the whole is richly gilded. The base of this pagoda is a conical hill,
flat at the top, and rising about 75 feet above the road.
In the neighbourhood of this gorgeous building Sir Archibald Campbell
placed a whole battalion of British troops. The two roads running
from the pagoda to the town were occupied by our forces, native and
European. The minor pagodas, bronze houses, and pilgrims' houses
along these two roads afforded good shelter to the troops against the
stormy weather, and some further shelter from the attack of an enemy
whose artillery was somewhat light. Two detached posts completed our
position--one at the village of Puzendown, about a mile below the town,
where the Pegu and Rangoon rivers meet; the other at Kemmendine, about
three miles above the town; this second post being chiefly intended to
protect our shipping against the descent of the enemy's fire-rafts.
On the morning of July 1st the enemy issued in dense masses from the
jungle to the right and front of the Golden Dagon Pagoda. Detaching to
their left a column, which succeeded in setting fire to part of the
village of Puzendown, their main body came boldly up to within half
a mile of Rangoon, and commenced a spirited attack upon part of our
line. But two field-pieces, served with grape and shrapnel, presently
checked their advance, and then a brilliant charge by the 43rd Madras
Native Infantry put them all to flight. In a very few minutes not a man
could be seen of the Burmese host, except the killed and wounded; nor
could anything be heard of them except a wild screaming of baffled fury
coming from the depths of the forest.
Their defeated commander was brought to book by the Golden Foot, and
degraded. Then a still higher minister of state, named Soomba Wongee,
who had arrived with reinforcements, took the command, and commenced
stockading his army in the most difficult and intricate part of
the forest, at Kummeroot, about five miles from the Great Pagoda,
intending, chiefly under cover of night, to carry on such a system
of desultory warfare as would harass, and ultimately destroy, our
sickly, worn-out soldiers. He also fortified a commanding point on
the river about Kemmendine, in communication with his stockaded camp,
hoping by this means not only to obstruct the navigation of the river,
but also to construct and employ numerous fire-rafts. But this new
commander-in-chief had scarcely finished his works when he was driven
from them with a terrible slaughter.
It was on July 8th that Sir Archibald Campbell embarked with one column
for the attack of the position upon the river, and Brigadier-General
MacBean, with a land column, marched upon the forest stockades at
Kummeroot. The works on the river were found to be so formidable that
it was judged necessary to employ breaching vessels; accordingly a brig
and three Company's cruisers, manned by seamen of his Majesty's and
the Company's navy, under the superintendence of Captain Marryat, soon
opened a heavy cannonade and silenced the enemy's guns. Our troops then
pushed across the river in boats, entered the practicable breach which
the firing of our seamen had made, and carried all those works with
comparatively trifling loss. The Burmese suffered severely in killed,
and many of them were drowned in trying to escape across the river.
The operations of the land column, under MacBean, were equally
successful. It was unprovided with artillery; but the storming parties,
who escaladed stockade after stockade, consisted entirely of British
troops. Here, again, the slaughter was dreadful. Soomba Wongee, and
several chiefs of high rank, with 800 men, were killed within the
stockades; and the neighbouring jungles were filled with the unhappy
creatures who were wounded, and left to die from want of food and care.
Some of these poor Burmese were found by the English soldiers, and
brought into our hospitals; but, unfortunately, none of them recovered.
The monsoon rains were now at their height. The adjacent country
was almost wholly under water. Nothing was to be obtained from it.
Again, disease spread so rapidly among our troops that the outlook was
desperate.
Meanwhile an Expeditionary Force, consisting of his Majesty's 89th
Regiment and the 7th Madras Native Infantry, under the command of
Colonel Miles, was detached from Rangoon, with a considerable naval
force, to subdue the maritime possessions of his Burmese Majesty to
the eastward, in the hope that their loss might induce him to sue for
peace. The success of the expedition was complete: Tavoy surrendered.
Mergui was taken by storm, and British protection was welcomed by the
inhabitants of the entire coast of Tenasserim.
Some few weeks later Sir Archibald Campbell attempted to release such
of the inhabitants of Rangoon as were desirous of returning to their
houses; and, by means of the sudden, unexpected, and, to the natives,
inexplicable movement of our steamboats, a few families who had been
driven to the villages at the heads of the numerous creeks which branch
off from the Rangoon river were released from their guard, and joyfully
took the opportunity of returning to their city. It was to the report
of these people of the kind treatment they met with that our army was
afterwards indebted for the return of the great body of the men whose
services and exertions contributed to the final success of the war.
Having, so far, failed in all his undertakings, the Lord of the White
Elephant now sent his two brothers, the Prince of Tonghoo and the
Prince of Sarrawaddy, with a whole host of astrologers and a corps of
"Invulnerables," to join the army and to direct the future operations
of the war. The astrologers were to fix the lucky moment for attacking;
the "Invulnerables" had some points of resemblance to the Turkish
Delhis; they were the desperadoes, or madmen, of the army, and their
madness was kept up by enormous doses of opium. The corps consisted of
several thousand men, divided into classes; the most select band of all
being called the "King's Own Invulnerables."
The Prince of Tonghoo established his headquarters at Pegu, and the
Prince of Sarrawaddy took post at Donoopew, upon the great river, about
sixty miles from Rangoon. In the beginning of August the Prince of
Sarrawaddy sent down a force to occupy a strong post at the mouth of
the Pegu River, a few miles below Rangoon, giving his people strict
orders to block up the channel of the river in our rear, so that not
one of the "wild foreigners" or "captive strangers" might escape the
punishment that was about to fall upon them. Brigadier Smelt was at
once sent, with a small corps, to dislodge Sarrawaddy's force. Our land
troops were brought to a standstill, when within musket-shot of the
place, by a deep and impassable creek; but a party of sailors from his
Majesty's ship _Larne_, under Captain Marryat, threw a bridge over the
creek; and, as soon as the column of attack pushed forward, the enemy
began to fly, leaving eight guns and a quantity of ammunition in their
stockade. A strong pagoda, with a numerous garrison, and with cannons
pointing down every approach, was next carried with equal facility.
Other posts on the rivers and creeks were then attacked and taken. Such
of the enemy as had had any experience of our way of fighting seldom
stopped to fight in their stockades; but a new set of people from the
interior made a good stand in a succession of stockades on one of the
rivers, and cost us the loss of a good many brave men.
All this time the astrologers were busy casting the lucky moment.
Finally they told the Prince of Sarrawaddy that the moment had come
for a decisive action; and, on the night of August 30th, a body of the
"King's Own Invulnerables" promised to attack and carry the Golden
Dagon Pagoda, in order that the princes and the sages and pious men in
their train might celebrate the usual annual festival in that sacred
place--which was now crowded with English grenadiers. And, true so
far to their promise, the "Invulnerables," at the hour of midnight,
rushed in a compact body from the jungle under the pagoda armed with
swords and muskets. A small picquet, thrown out in our front, retired
in slow and steady order, skirmishing with the "Invulnerables" until
they reached the flight of steps leading from the road up to the
pagoda. The moon had gone down, and the night was so dark that the
enemy could be distinguished only by a few glimmering lanterns in their
front; but their noise and clamour and the volume of their threats
and imprecations launched upon the impious strangers if they did not
immediately evacuate the sacred temple proved their number to be very
great.
"In a dense column," says the historian, "they rolled along the narrow
pathway leading to the northern gate of the pagoda, wherein all seemed
as silent as the grave. But hark! the muskets crash, the cannons roar
along the ramparts of the British post, drowning the tumult of the
advancing column; and see!--see by the flash of our guns, the column
reels back, the 'Invulnerables' fall, mortally wounded, and the rest
turn their backs on the holy place, and run with frantic speed for the
covering of the jungle."
Our grape-shot and our musketry broke the spell--those "Invulnerables"
ventured no more near any of our posts. But a far more terrible enemy
came within the lines; the dysentery broke out among our troops,
killing many of them, and reducing more to a most emaciated and feeble
state. Scarcely three thousand duty soldiers were left to guard the
lines. Floating hospitals were established at the mouth of the river;
and bread was now furnished in sufficient quantities, but nothing
except change of season or of climate could restore the sufferers to
health. Mergui and Tavoy, portions of our conquest on the sea-coast,
were represented by the medical officers who visited them as admirable
convalescent stations; and thither a number of our soldiers were sent,
and with the most beneficial result. Men who had for months continued
in a most debilitated state at Rangoon, rapidly recovered on arriving
at Mergui, and were soon restored to their duty in full health.
The Lord of the White Elephant now determined to call down from
the mountains of Arracan his prime favourite, and to carry off the
Governor-General in golden chains. Bandula obeyed the call, and led his
reinforced army from the mountains of Arracan to the Irawaddi river.
He had begun his march about the end of August, at a season of the
year when none but Burmese could have kept the field for a week, much
less have attempted to pass the unhealthy jungles and the pestilential
marshes of the country. The distance, by the shortest route, was more
than 200 miles; but Bandula, gathering fresh forces in the latter part
of his long march, reached Donoopew before Sir Archibald Campbell knew
that he had left Arracan. Happily, our troops, though woefully reduced
in numbers, were now fast recovering their health and strength; and two
fresh British regiments, some battalions of native infantry, a regiment
of cavalry, and a troop of horse artillery arrived from Calcutta and
Madras, together with some admirable trotting cattle of the true Mysore
breed. Five hundred native boatmen came round from Chittagong, and were
busily employed in preparing boats for river service.
The rains had now ceased at Rangoon; and Sir Archibald Campbell,
strongly reinforced, was completing his preparations for the ascent
of the Irawaddi, and for an attack upon Prome, when he learned that
Bandula had reached Donoopew with 60,000 fighting men, a considerable
train of artillery, and a body of Cassay horse, the best cavalry in
this part of Asia. Bandula's musketeers were estimated at 35,000 men.
Other numerous bodies were armed with gingals, which carried an iron
ball of from six to twelve ounces, and were mounted on a light carriage
easily dragged about by two men; and great numbers were attached to
the guns which were transported on the backs of elephants. The rest of
the host were armed with swords and spears, and scattered through the
army were more of the "Invulnerables" who had not yet tasted the sour
grape of English guns, and who were amply provided with charms, spells,
opium, bhang, and betel-nuts. As Bandula proclaimed on all sides his
intention of riding at the head of his invincible army, with horses and
elephants and all manner of warlike stores, to capture and destroy the
British at Rangoon, it was deemed proper to wait for him there with a
view to a decisive battle.