Our Soldiers | Page 5

meet the enemy. About half an hour afterwards, Dennie,
with two more companies of the native infantry regiment, and two also
of the Goorkha corps, followed, in support of the advanced detachment.
Instead of coming merely upon the advance of the enemy, the Brigadier
found an army in his front; but, in spite of the slender force at his
command, and the apparently overwhelming numbers of the enemy, he
did not hesitate for a moment. His men were eager to advance, and he
himself was full of confidence and courage. The enemy had got
possession of a chain of forts reaching to the mouth of the defile, and
were collected in bodies round the several forts, and upon the hills on
either side of the valley. Mackenzie's guns began to play upon them.
For some short time the Oosbegs, forming part of the Dost's force,
stood the fire, but the guns were ably served, and the shrapnel practice
told with terrific effect on dense bodies of men, who had nothing to
give back in return.
The Oosbegs retreated; the British guns were pushed forward, opening
a destructive fire, first from one distance, then from another, upon the
wavering enemy. The Dost's army was soon broken to pieces, and the
British cavalry were then let slip in pursuit. Following the disorded
masses of the enemy for some miles along the defile, they cut down
large numbers, and dispersed them in all directions. The defeat of the
Dost's army was complete, and he and his son owed their lives to the
fleetness of their steeds.
DOST MAHOMED'S LAST CHARGE.

Notwithstanding all this, Dost Mahomed, not yet beaten, was soon once
more in command of a respectable force. The force which had been
pursuing him under Sir Robert Sale came up with him on the 2nd of
November. As our cavalry advanced upon him, Dost Mahomed, at the
head of a small band of horsemen, strong, sturdy Afghans, but badly
mounted, prepared to meet his assailants. Beside him rode the bearer of
the blue standard, which marked his place in the battle. He pointed to it,
and reined in his horse, then snatching the white lunghi from his head,
stood up in his stirrups uncovered before his followers, and called upon
them in the name of God and the Prophet to drive the cursed Kaffirs
from the country of the faithful. "Follow me," he cried aloud, "or I am a
lost man!" Slowly, but steadily, the Afghan horsemen advanced. The
English officers who led our cavalry to the attack covered themselves
with glory; but the native troopers, those vaunting horsemen,
treacherous not for the first time even now, and who were in after years
to prove traitors of the darkest dye, fled like sheep. Emboldened by the
dastardly conduct of the men of the 2nd Light Cavalry, the Afghan
horsemen dashed on, driving their enemy before them, and not stopping
till they were almost within reach of the British guns.
The British officers unsupported by their men met the full force of the
Afghan charge, and fought bravely to the last. Lieutenants Broadfoot
and Crispin were killed, while Captains Fraser and Ponsonby, though
badly wounded, broke through their assailants.
The next evening poor gallant Dost Mahomed, seeing his cause was
hopeless, gave himself up to the British at Cabul, and shortly after was
sent to British India.
ACTION NEAR SOORKHAB--NOVEMBER 1841.
The chiefs of certain hill tribes, Kuzzilbashs, Ghilzyes, and other
robbers and bandits by profession, had been accustomed to receive
subsidies to induce them to refrain from robbing any caravans or parties
travelling in the neighbourhood of their territories. The expenses of the
war in Afghanistan had been enormous; and it becoming necessary to
retrench, it was unwisely determined to begin by cutting off the pay of
these chiefs. They resented the measure, and assembling in vast

numbers, took every opportunity of attacking the British troops passing
through the defiles of their mountainous country. Sale's brigade had
reached Jugdulluck with little opposition; but on the next march it was
seen that the heights were bristling with armed men, and a heavy fire
was poured in with terrible effect from all the salient points on which
the mountaineers had posted themselves. Sale threw out his flanking
parties, and the light troops, skirmishing well up the hillsides,
dislodged the enemy, whilst a party under Captain Wilkinson, pushing
through the defile, found that the main outlet had not been guarded, and
that the passage was clear. The march was resumed, but the enemy
were not yet weary of the contest. Reappearing in great numbers, they
fell furiously upon the British rearguard, and for a time the men thus
suddenly assailed were in a state of terrible disorder. The energetic
efforts of the officers, however, brought them back