1885-1889
BLACK MOUNTAIN EXPEDITION
Sir Frederick Roberts succeeded Sir Donald Stewart as
Commander-in-Chief in India in 1885. After short leave home the new
Chief returned just in time to preside over a great concentration of
troops near Delhi in December of that year. It was the biggest thing
of the sort that had yet been attempted; the manoeuvres occupied about
three weeks, and concluded on January 8, 1886, with a Grand Review in
which about 35,000 men took part. It would have been a splendid sight,
had it not been spoilt by a deluge of rain. The Viceroy, Lord
Dufferin, was on parade, and it was afterwards suggested that it was
the firing of his salute that had brought down the rain. Anyhow, just
as his flag was run up, the storm burst and the rain pitilessly poured
down on the columns of men as they carried out the unaltered programme
of the day. The march-past occupied six hours. According to an
eye-witness, the "trot-past of cavalry and artillery in spite of
everything was magnificent, and could have been performed {64} by no
other troops.... The Viceroy sat on his horse through the rain with
exemplary patience, and we only hope that he will be none the worse."
General Chapman[1] had just taken up the post of
Quarter-Master-General, and first saw his Deputy at this camp. Gatacre
seems from the outset to have made a good impression on his Chief, who
describes him in a letter from Delhi as "a man of active intelligence,
quick and ready to do anything, a good rider, and a popular man."
[1] Now General Sir Edward Chapman, K.C.B.
[Sidenote: At Headquarters]
It is the province of the Deputy to take charge of the office in which
he is working--that is, to acquaint himself with all that is going on
in the department and to know all the staff and the clerks personally.
On his arrival at Headquarters Gatacre rapidly gathered up all the
threads of his new work, and made himself more and more valuable to his
Chief; while from his own point of view he used to say that it was at
this time that he learnt how to put a finish to his work in the office,
and to appreciate the scope and importance to the army at large of the
individual work done at Headquarters. As is often the case after a
campaign, there was much important reorganisation worked out during the
next few years; new schemes of training, housing and surveying, were
initiated and carried out. From the inside of the
Quarter-Master-General's office Gatacre could in a short time get a
comprehension of many points of {65} army administration such as a
lifetime in the field would fail to give.
[Sidenote: 1886]
During the winter months the Commander-in-Chief goes on tour,
accompanied by a few staff officers: sometimes the
Quarter-Master-General would go himself and leave Gatacre in charge,
sometimes it was the other way round. One year when the Q.M.G. was
making an extended tour, Mrs. Chapman was much pleased at getting a
visit from Colonel Gatacre every morning as he went down to office. In
response to her appreciation of these attentions he averred that he
looked upon her as part of the office, and must see that all was well.
The two men were associated in this department for more than three
years, and by the time that General Chapman had to resign (owing to bad
health) a fast friendship had sprung up between them, one from which
"the all-assuming months and years" have taken no part. On hearing of
his friend's death in 1906 General Chapman wrote:
"A more loyally devoted assistant I could not have found, active,
untiring, and self-sacrificing; the public service and the interests of
others were always before him. His gallantry and forwardness on
service were acknowledged by all, but it was late in life that he so
distinguished himself. I recall chiefly the straight-forwardness and
honesty of his help and advice, and remember his never-failing and
cheery support whenever we had a difficulty to face."
Owing to the illness of the Quarter-Master-General, {66} Gatacre
accompanied the Commander-in-Chief on two long tours in the spring of
1886. On the first he saw many places of great historical interest,
such as Cawnpore, Futtehghur, Lucknow; and in the second he was taken
to Peshawur and Lundi Kotal, where many interesting problems of
frontier defence were discussed on the ground. For two months in 1886
he officiated as Quarter-Master-General, pending the arrival of Sir
William Lockhart, who was to act for General Chapman while away on long
leave.
[Sidenote: 1887]
Christmas was spent at Calcutta, and early in 1887 Gatacre was again on
the move. During this year he was twice entrusted with an independent
mission; in March he accompanied the Chief on his official visit to
Peshawur, Kohat, Rawulpindi, and Quetta, and was afterwards sent to
survey and report upon the proposed line for a military road from
Loralai in Beluchistan to Dera Ghazi Khan on the Indus. His abstract
of daily work shows that he was out all day exploring and surveying.
His report shows that he thoroughly investigated all questions relating
to the water supply and the area of the camping-grounds on the road,
and deals with many questions as to the safety and comfort of the
working parties and their guards. Although the country to be explored
covered 183 miles, he worked with such celerity that the work was
completed in thirteen days.
[Sidenote: On tour]
Writing from Bannu a week or two later he finds time to send a
comprehensive account of his doings:
{67}
"I think I wrote you last from Loralai, beyond Quetta to the east:
well, from there I explored a new road which is to run through Mekhtar,
Kingri, Rukni, to Dera Ghazi Khan on the Indus. It has been approved,
and is to be carried out at once; as in the event of troops moving up
towards Kandahar, it would be the route along which all our regiments
and stores from the Punjab would move. The country is a wild one at
present, savage, with no cultivation or inhabitants, except a few
robbers: but the lie of the road is good, and the gradients are easy.
Of course a made road will draw the large Kafilas of camels with
merchandise from one end to the other, and as the roads will be under
our protection the native merchants will gladly use it, and this will
gradually people the various halting-places, and so settle the country
by degrees. There was much game along the route; markhor, a large goat
with splendid horns; gud, a large sheep with very large curly horns,
wolves and small game, hares, partridges, wood-pigeons, etc. I had
very little time for shooting, but shot one markhor and much small game
here and there as I came across it; but as I had a lot of surveying to
do all day, I had no time to make excursions after game alone, though I
should much have liked to have had a turn with Stephen in some of the
hills through which I passed. You would have been delighted with the
country in some places, something like Scotland with fewer trees and
more sun, but comparatively cool for India. The only disagreeable
thing about it is the general want of water and the number of poisonous
snakes. Water is found only in certain streams and in single springs,
and is very valuable. Of course, any good road which is {68} required
has to follow the line of water, but the rivers commence to flow at any
point in the river-bed, and after becoming a rushing torrent, disappear
as suddenly as they arose, into the ground and are seen no more; where
they go to no one knows, but you may seek in vain further down the bed
of the river and not find water. In some cases the water reappears in
the stream ten miles lower down, and disappears again as before. The
snakes are everywhere, and it was a few days before I left Khur that a
young engineer named Hackman was bitten. I saw his death in
yesterday's paper. I killed several cobras while marching, I am glad
to say."
In November of the same year he was sent on a similar mission to
Sikkim. It was discovered that a private treaty had been signed by
which the Rajah had declared that Sikkim was subject only to China and
Tibet, thus repudiating the British suzerainty. By way of preparation
for an expedition to settle this question Gatacre was sent up to report
upon the road over the Jelap-La along which troops would move on to
Lingtu, the capital of Sikkim. Though it was at that time held by a
hostile force of Tibetans, he approached near enough to sketch the fort
at Lingtu. His report and his sketches were afterwards incorporated
with other matter in a blue-book dealing with the affairs of Sikkim.
Sir Thomas Graham asserts that the information set down was of great
value to him when in the following spring he led a force into Lingtu
and brought the incident to a satisfactory conclusion.
{69}
[Sidenote: At Simla]
In a letter to his father from Simla of September 1887 Gatacre relates
the following story:
"Did I tell you I was nearly polished off by a madman with a revolver?
He shot two men he came across, then got on to a rock and defied the
crowd, but I got a stick and went for him, to prevent his doing more
mischief. He warned me not to come near him, but I spoke to him in his
own language, and never took my eyes off him, and when he was going to
have a shot at me he suddenly changed his mind and blew a hole in his
breast about three or four inches in diameter. The fact was he was not
quite sure whether he had a spare round for himself, and these
fanatical fellows always destroy themselves after doing as much
mischief as they are able; when he shot himself I was just within reach
of him, but too late to knock the pistol out of his hands."
This incident attracted a good deal of attention at the time, as the
murderer was the personal servant of a resident member of the United
Service Club. He had begun by shooting at another servant, and
inflicted a mortal wound; the next shot struck the chowkidar, or
caretaker, in the arm. Gatacre then appeared on the scene and played
the part he describes.
There is another story told of him that belongs to this same year.
On September 27 Lady Dufferin gave a ball at Government House; all the
world was there and Gatacre among them. As was his invariable habit,
he stayed to the end, and early in the {70} morning told a friend that
he was just starting for a ride to Umballa, but would be back in office
the next day. To accomplish this design he had arranged for ponies to
be in readiness at the various stages along the Old Road from Simla to
Umballa, which is a distance of ninety-seven miles, descending about
6,000 ft. from the mountains to the plains. As far as Kalka they were
hired ponies, from there to Umballa he had borrowed mounts from a
friend, using nine ponies each way. Leaving Simla at 5.15 a.m., he
reached Umballa at 2.30 that afternoon. At 4 o'clock he started back
and dismounted at Simla again at 3.5 a.m. That is to say, after
dancing till daybreak, he covered little short of two hundred miles in
twenty-two hours, and turned up again at 10 o'clock ready and fit for
his office work as usual.
It is unnecessary to seek for any pretext for such exertion; the fun of
the rapid ride, the desire to excel, were quite sufficient stimulus for
him. He told the newspapers at the time that he wanted to show what
office men could do.
But before very long he was to have an opportunity of putting these
powers to more practical uses. In September 1888 Gatacre and two of
his colleagues on the Headquarter Staff were given posts on the Hazara
Field Force, then concentrating near Abbottabad.
[Sidenote: Hazara border]
After the Mutiny the Hazara and Peshawur borders became "a
rallying-point for mutinous Sepoys and traitors in arms who had to flee
from British justice." There was in particular {71} a sect known as
the Sittana Fanatics, who continued to stir up coalitions against our
power, as they had previously done against our Sikh predecessors in the
Punjab. An expedition under Sir Sydney Cotton in 1858 advanced into
the mountains, drove the Hindustani fanatics from Sittana, destroyed
their forts, razed their dwellings to the ground, and extorted an
undertaking from the neighbouring tribes that the rebels should not be
allowed a passage through their territory.
[Sidenote: 1888]
Although the centre of disturbance was thus forced back at the point of
the sword to Malka, it was not long before numerous raids on unarmed
traders, and other outrages, brought the peace of the frontier again
into question. Our allies were either unable or unwilling to carry out
their pledges, and in 1863 Sir Neville Chamberlain led a force through
the Ambeyla Defile. This expedition differed from the others in that
all the contiguous tribes were in a state of disaffection, and on this
account there was more fighting than in the previous punitive
expeditions. The story of the repeated capture and loss of the Eagle's
Nest and Crag Picquet still makes brave reading, and afforded moreover
most satisfactory proof of the loyalty of our reorganised Native Army.
It was noted with satisfaction in 1888 that very few of the Hindustani
fanatics were to be found in the ranks of the enemy, showing that the
lesson of 1863 was more lasting in its effect than the others had been.
The policy of the Government {72} had never altered; in every case the
tribe was informed--
"That the British Government did not covet their possessions, nor those
of other neighbouring tribes, with whom it desired to be at peace; but
that it expected tribes would restrain individual members from
committing unprovoked outrages on British subjects, and afford redress
when they are committed; that when a whole tribe, instead of affording
redress, seeks to screen the individual offenders, the British
Government has no alternative but to hold the whole tribe
responsible."[2]
[2] _A Record of the Expeditions against the North-West Frontier
Tribes_, by Paget and Mason (1884), p. 41.
The enforcing of this principle has led to the numerous little wars
that have afforded the opportunities for distinction to all ranks of
which the personnel of an army is so quick to avail itself. Each
expedition has usually been of a few weeks' duration only; sometimes
there was very little actual fighting; sometimes there was very little
political gain; but always there has been a story of hardship and
valour.
The Hazara Field Force of 1888 was mobilised for the punishment of
certain tribes inhabiting the slopes of the Black Mountain, a region
lying on the left bank of the Indus, north of Abbottabad. It was some
years since we had had a reckoning with Hassanzais and Akazais in
particular, and they had been showing increased insolence in their
attitude and daring in their raids.
{73}
[Sidenote: Battye killed]
A sufficient occasion was all that was needed to bring about open
hostility, and this was afforded by the tribesmen themselves on June
18, 1888. On that day Colonel Battye and Captain Urmston conducted a
route-march with some three score Goorkhas from the frontier post at
Oghi; they had gone perhaps a little nearer to the frontier than was
quite expedient, but it was afterwards shown that they had never
actually left British territory. When about ten miles from Oghi, they
were fired at from two points simultaneously. Colonel Battye ordered
the Goorkhas to rush a ridge just ahead on which they could make a
stand. The ridge was secured, but, unfortunately, the two British
officers turned back to help a wounded man, and, while they were thus
separated from the troops, both were cut down with swords. The Subadar
(native officer) at once took command, though one arm had been disabled
by a blow from a stone, and a bullet had gone through his thigh, and
his head was streaming with blood. He collected the party, and marched
back to the spot where the two officers had fallen. Keeping up a
spirited fire to drive back the tribesmen, he succeeded in recovering
both bodies, and brought the whole party back into camp at 8.30 that
night. This man, Subadar Kishnbir Nagar Koti, had already gained the
Order of Merit three times in the Kabul Campaign.[3]
[3] See _Civil and Military Gazette_, June 1888.
As the Headman of the tribe refused to hand over the offenders, the
Government was driven {74} to avenge this outrage by sending an armed
force into the country of the Hassenzais and Akazais, who were held
responsible.
[Sidenote: Hazara Field Force]
This force, which numbered about 8,000 men, was organised in four
columns, each formed of one British and two native regiments. A
peculiar feature of this force was that no regiment was allowed to send
more than six hundred men, which was a device to ensure the selection
of a picked body of men. The late Sir John McQueen, who was then
commanding the Punjab Frontier Force, was given command of the
expedition, and Colonel W. F. Gatacre was appointed his Chief Staff
Officer. This was naturally a moment of the liveliest satisfaction and
anticipation for him. At last he found himself on active service; at
last he was to face the ordeal for which he had been training for
twenty-six years.
Three of the columns marched out of Oghi on October 2, twenty-four
hours' grace having been allowed beyond the time named in the ultimatum
sent to the Maliks of the tribes. No. 4 Column, under
Brigadier-General Galbraith,[4] had assembled at Derband on the River
Indus, and was known throughout the campaign as the River Column; its
function was to prevent any trans-Indus tribes moving eastwards across
the river to join their neighbours, and it was hoped that the area of
hostilities could thus be confined to those spurs of the Black Mountain
where lay the heart of the disaffection.
[4] The late Sir William Galbraith, K.C.B.]
[Illustration: COLONEL W. F. GATACRE, D.S.O., 1888.]
{75}
The main mass of the Black Mountain lies in a curve of the River Indus
between Thakot and Arab. To the north and west its slopes are cut into
ridges which descend precipitously into the deep gorge of the river; to
the east the eye rests on a bewildering succession of pine-clad
mountain ranges, till, stretching over the vale of Kashmir, it reaches
the line of eternal snows.
The three mountain columns met with little opposition as they made
their way up the spurs overlooking the Agror Valley. The Headquarter
Camp was established at Khaim Gali, near the summit of the range, and
from that point General McQueen directed the movements against the
various villages. After about a fortnight General Channer, commanding
No. 1 Column, was able to open up communication with General Galbraith
in the valley below, at Kunhar. The latter at the outset had met with
some slight opposition at Kotkai, resulting in the loss of two officers
and five men, but had since made considerable progress up the river,
and had moreover come to an understanding with the tribes in his
immediate neighbourhood. The mountainous nature of the country made it
extremely difficult to secure unity of action in the two regions. It
became imperative that General McQueen should know what General
Galbraith had done and had promised. To effect this purpose Gatacre
offered to make his way down on foot to Kunhar, where the River Column
had its headquarters.
{76}
[Sidenote: Visits Galbraith]
By this time he was fairly well acquainted with the lie of the country,
for he had been out daily with the columns, and, according to his
colleague, Major Elles,[5] "had worked harder than any man in the
force." He must have known that the direct descent from the ridge on
which the Headquarter Camp at Khaim Gali was situated was a series of
precipices. Taking the figures given on a map compiled for the
expedition of 1891, the elevation of Khaim Gali is 8,680 ft., while the
camp at Kunhar in the Indus valley is 1,560 ft., which means a clear
descent of 7,120 ft. in a horizontal distance of less than five miles,
though the distance actually marched worked out at fourteen miles.
Major Elles accompanied Colonel Gatacre, and they took an escort of
fifty Khybari Rifles. The party left camp at 6 a.m., and reached
Kunhar at noon. Although it was then October, the sun had great power
in the middle of the day; the narrow valleys down which they crept were
very stuffy, and as they approached the end of the journey the air
became very close and oppressive. Major Elles confesses that he felt
the sun very much, was tired out, and "could not have attempted the
climb back again that day. But nothing," he says, "seemed to tire
Gatacre, who was the hardest man I ever met. He neither drank nor
smoked, and ate very little."
[5] Now Lieut.-General Sir Edmond Elles, G.C.I.E., K.C.B.
After settling the business that was the motif of the journey, and
partaking of the hospitality of the River Column headquarter mess,
Gatacre {77} announced his intention of starting back at 2 o'clock.
The men who acted as escort were dismayed at the Colonel Sahib's
startling decision; indeed, only half of them were capable of setting
off at once, but these insisted on being allowed to do so. Half-way up
the mountain they were dead-beat; and as a small party able to take
their place had been accidentally met with, the services of the
newcomers were impressed, and Gatacre proceeded. It is a question for
mountaineers whether the descent or the ascent was the more trying to a
man's muscular system, and a question for Anglo-Indians whether the sun
is hotter in the forenoon or the afternoon; anyhow, it must have been
fairly fierce at 2 p.m. in the deep gorge of the Indus, and to have
reached Khaim Gali again the same evening was an achievement worthy of
mention in despatches. We are told that the first part of the ascent
was very precipitous for about 2,500 ft., and impracticable even for
mule carriage; the next 1,500 ft. was nothing but a succession of
steps. Farther on, the line lay across terraced cultivation, which
involved climbing up the walls supporting the fields, and walking
across the soft plough which they enclosed, while throughout the march
there were "passages which were impossible for anything but a goat."
At 11 p.m. that same night Gatacre marched into the Headquarter Camp at
Khaim Gali, the only man who had completed the double journey. The two
marches had occupied six hours and nine hours respectively, and two
hours only had {78} been spent in the triple business of negotiation,
refreshment, and repose.
This feat did not pass unnoticed at the time. The editor of the _Broad
Arrow_ of October 20, 1888, says:
"The story is suggestive of physical endurance and courage, and may be
read with profit by fireside warriors and cynical philosophers upon the
decline of the British officer."
[Sidenote: Active service]
Such an exchange of views between a confidential messenger from
Headquarters and the officer commanding a column operating
independently must always have great military value to the commander of
an expedition, and it is evident that the consultation in this case was
not without result, for in despatches we read that the first phase of
the operations reached its conclusion on October 20. The Akazais and
Hassanzais made complete submission, and by the end of the month had
paid their fines in full. The object of the second phase was the
coercion on similar lines of the Parari Saiads and Tikariwals. In the
same way this involved much marching and counter-marching over the same
"exigeant" class of country. Although there was scarcely any fighting,
doubtless all those who took part in these operations learned many of
the supplementary lessons of war which no manoeuvres can ever teach. A
British officer in a Goorkha regiment tells us how he learned one of
these lessons from Gatacre himself.
The Brigade had just reached its {79} camping-ground: there had been a
very arduous and hot march, finishing with a stiff climb up-hill. The
Goorkha officer had flung himself on the ground, feeling dead-beat,
when Gatacre rode up, and began making inquiry as to the water supply
of the camp.
"Who is the Quarter-Master of this regiment?" he asked.
"I am, sir," said the officer, struggling to his feet.
"What has been done to secure the water supply from contamination?"
"Nothing, sir."
"I must have a guard put over it at once. Where is the spring?"
The spring was a thousand feet below. The commanding officer of the
regiment, coming upon the scene, protested that his officer had only
just come up.
"Never mind," said Gatacre. "It is of the utmost importance. I order
you as Quarter-Master to go down and see that a sufficient guard is put
round the spring, and that the animals are kept at a proper distance."
Much against his inclination the officer set about carrying out this
injunction. On his arrival at the spring he saw the urgency of the
order he was sent down to execute, and confessed the justice of the
call upon his further exertions. Soldiers, bheesties, and animals were
crowding round the pool, which, fed by a small spring, was the only
water supply for the Brigade. He quickly restored order, made
arrangements for {80} the watering of the different units, and, by thus
securing the purity of the head-water, eliminated the chance of fever
to thousands of men.
[Sidenote: 1888-9]
On October 28 General Channer occupied Thakot without resistance; on
November 7 a deputation from the Parari Saiads came in and made full
submission, as the Tikariwals had done already. On November 12 the
Hazara Field Force began to disperse, having been under arms for six
weeks. The casualties to the whole force amounted to twenty-seven men
killed, fifty-nine wounded, and eight who had died of disease, showing
that, from a military point of view, it was essentially a minor
campaign. Moreover, politically, the results were inconclusive, but to
Gatacre it was the field on which he had won his spurs: "the loyal
support and valuable aid" that he had afforded his Chief were now for
ever recorded; his initiative, energy, and physical powers had been
proved in the field; his possession of military ability and soldierly
qualities in a marked degree was now established.
It is difficult to understand why he was awarded the Distinguished
Service Order, which had been newly created as a recognition of the
services of junior officers in the field, while his rank as substantive
colonel in the army fully qualified him for a Companionship of the
Bath; but so it was. Seven years had yet to run before the latter
decoration was awarded, after the Chitral Campaign.
[Sidenote: Safe home]
Colonel Gatacre and Major Elles did not return {81} direct to
Headquarters on the disbanding of the force, but made an extended march
down the Indus, and reached Calcutta early in December. When writing
his Christmas greeting to his father, Gatacre says:
"We are all returned safely from the Black Mountain, and I must say I
for one thoroughly enjoyed myself; it was rough going, of course, but
the climate was good, and there was plenty of outdoor exercise--such a
pleasant change after the office life."
After another summer spent at Simla, Gatacre was sent in October 1889
to act for Sir George Wolseley, who was then commanding the Mandalay
Brigade. Throughout the three and a half years that he had served with
the Headquarter Staff, much of the work in the Quarter-Master-General's
office had had reference to the welfare of the troops which since
November 1885 had been operating in Upper Burma. Gatacre had taken
moreover a personal interest in the success and well-being of the Army
of Occupation, for his brother John had been serving there in command
of his regiment, the 23rd Bombay Infantry.
The events which had occurred since Gatacre first visited Mandalay in
1883 will be dealt with in the next chapter.
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