SIXTY YEARS AGO.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 46, 18 November 1907, Page 5

SIXTY YEARS AGO.

THE CARNAGE AT CHILLIANWALLAH. RECOLLECTIONS OF A VETERAN. It goes without saying that there aro not many pcoplo alive to-day who can remember with any clearness tho Sikh wars of the lato forties. Still fewer aro thoso who can speak as eye witnesses of thoso events. A Dominion reporter therefore felt it a privilege to hear the story of Chillianwallah from the lips of a retired Imperial officer who fought there, a man moreover who still carries his silvered bead erect, and is an honoured and useful member of society. "I went out to Calcutta in 1846,". said the vetoran, "as an ensign in the 24th Foot. Tho regiment was quartered for two years at Agra, and then in October IS4B wo wore ordered to Firozpilr,; on the frontier of tho Punjab. Your history books will, tell you how the great Sikh army raised by Ranjit Singh had got out .of hand. after his death, how the first Sikh War had resulted, and how after the pacification, Mulraj (Govornor of Multan) had rebelled! Tho. two British Commissioners who were sent to receive his submission wero murdered by tho Sikhs, and so tho war began anew. Sheer Singh and his brother . Chitta' .Siiigh with an army of 30,000 Sikhs took up a position in the northern part of the Punjab, and'our. army, consisting of 19,000 Europeans and natives, with 80 guns, under Lord Hugh Gough, assembled at the capital, Lahore. First 1 Engagement. "Our first engagement was at Ramnagarh during tho. third week in November. It was mainly an affair of cavalry and artillery. Wo lost two guns, which .were sunk in.the quicksands of tho river-bed, horses and all. Tho Sikhs afterwards dug them out, and we took them back at Chillianwallah."

The veteran gave a detailed account of the operations connected with tho crossing of tho Chenab, ("Wo slept on the sand wrapped in whatever we could get —five in one blanket"), and led up to -the engagement at Sadoolapur. The, principal feature of the fighting thero was a two /hours' cannonade. Our' young cVisign d| the 24th carried the regimental colours. -( His sergeant was killed besido him and another man just behind him. They were lying clown for cover from the six-pounders that came howling along towards them like crickot balls.- "Look out,- sir!'-' were tho sergeant's last words. . ; Hardships of the Campaign. ■ Tho veteran admitted under pressure that the campaign had its hardships. For- eleven long montns the men could not take olf their uniforms. Alter Sadoolapur the commissariat was. very scanty. They lived largely on turnips and sugar cane, while two days' rations- had to be spread over three. ' The result of the engagement at Sadoolapur was to turn the flank oi Sheer Singh's army, which thereupon retired into the jungle. December saw the Sikhs encamped at Basul on a range of lulls overlooking Chillianwallah, ana Lord Gough's army in tho neighbourhood watching them. On January 13, 1848, tho-British took up a position at Chillianwallah, three miles from tho Sikh camp, but the enemy had already inarched out and taken up a ■ position ono mile ahead of them covered by the thick iungle. "It was two o'clock," said our veteran; "when tho Genoral decided to pitch camp, and tho quartermasters were ordered to peg off tho ground at once. The Sikhs oponeu lire upon-us. ,Wo had not seen them. They wore hidden in the jungle. ' Lord Gough immediately ordered'an advance. I. don t like to ■criticise, or to say what ho should havo' done, but I don't think he made use of his guns.as speedily as ho might to break clown the enemy's fire." It.was, of course, like an Imperial officer to" be unwilling to criticise his commander, even'after the lapse of CO years.; But tho historv books relate that Lord Gough was recalled immediately after Chillianwallah.' Mown Down. The veteran continued: "The consequence of this dolay was that'tho division.under Sir Colin Campbell (afterwards 'Lord Clyde) suffered very heavily; especially the brigade which was commanded by Brigadier Gcnpral Pcnnyquick, and which included my own regiment,'tho . 24th. 'We advanced very rapidly with' bayonets fixed, and were mown down by the guns, which were concealed in tho ' jungle. The regiment lost ,13 officers, out of our .total strerith of 34, 19 non-commissioned officers,, and' about 220 men. There were also ten officers and 256 men wounded. The total casualties were about half the regiment, Captain Travers, under whoso.command I was, met his death as he was leaning on a gun which had been spiked by oiio of his men. Two ensigns carrying tho regimental colours were killed, and I carried.thorn the rest of the timo. All this happened between .2 .o'clock and 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Tho result.of tho battlo was' that the Sikhs were forced back and several of.their guns spiked of captured, but Lord Gough lost 89 officers, and 2337 men. Wo camped that night on the ground, and wo had to drink 1 water that a dog would be ashamed to swim in. Next morning we buried our dead. Faced tho Sikhs Again. "But tho campaign was not yet over. Wo faced tho Sikhs again at Gujrat; oh February 20, 1849. In the meantime Multan had been taken, and tho army which had been besieging it had ■ joined us. Gujrat was a battle of cannon. ■ Some of tho Sikhs said afterwards', 'You rained fire upon us; who could stand it?' They could not. General Gilbert chased the remnant of tho great Sikh army almost -to the borders of Afghanistan, and received their surrender; After that, as you know, the Punjab was annexed." '■ ' f When the veteran who told these things to tho roportcr was in England recently, ho enquired for survivors of the fight beside the jungle' in, the Land of the Five Rivers, but ho could only hear of four or fiv'o. ,He went to .Chelsea and saw tho granite obelisk) 30 feet high, with four Sikh guns at its hose,, and engraved upon it the nanics of the. officers and men who wore .killed at Chillianwallah. Perhaps ho woiidored why, instead of his name being cut into the stone with tho rest, ho.was standing there to rend thoso of his comrades—nearly sixty years afterwards. At all events, Ho declared definitely enough against his name appearing somewhere else. "Mind, if you're going to put this in the paper, don't mention my name! Honour bright, my boy!" ''