Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings about Afghanistan [‎44v] (90/312)

troops and 2,500 camp followers had fallen. Only-
three camel-loads of ammunition were now left;
and many of the soldiers, armed with the almost
useless " brown Bess," had not a single cartridge
in their pouches. Numbers perished that night
from the frost. At daylight three-fourths of the
fighting men pushed on without waiting for
orders, accompanied by the camp followers. Mora
than half were frost-bitten and wounded, how
ever, and scarcely able to put a foot to the
ground. It was on this day (9th of January)
| that the married officers, with their wives and
children, were given up to Akbar Khan. Again
I the miserable army, greatly thinned in numbers,
| halted for the night; and again the bitter blasts
of winter did their work upon their wasted frames.
At daylight there was the usual rush to the front
of a mixed rabble of camp followers. Sepoys Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank. and
Europeans, in one huge mass. Hundreds of poor
wretches, unable to seize any animal for them
selves, or, if they had, despoiled by stronger
hands, were left to die or be despatched by the
enemy on the road. Meanwhile, the snows fell,
and the drifts increased in depth; but the
Afghans still hovered about the rear, and attacked
chiefly the hindmost of the retreating mass. The
Sepoys Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank. were their especial mark, and every man
of the native infantry had perished. On arriving
at a turn in the road in the Tunghee Tareekee, or
the Dark Pass, the Afghans waxing bolder,
I several hundreds had rushed down from the rocks
I and hills and cut to pieces the last remnant of
! their number. About this time, Akbar Khan, pre- i
senting himself with a small body of
horse, pleaded his inability to restrain the
Ghilzyes with his small force, but offered
to protect the surviving officers if they would
give up) their weapons. This insidious proposal
was declined. That night the remnant numbered;
only 4,000 people of all descriptions—all else,
men, women, and children, with the exception of
the few prisoners, had fallen by the matchlocks
of the Afghans, or been left on the ground to bo
despatched by the knives of their relentless foe.
Their only chance of safety now lay in the deter
mination, weak and famished as they were, to
march all night, and if possible to get through
the Jugdaluh Pass the next morning before the
enemy would probably have obtained an intima
tion of their approach. Jugdaluk was distant
twenty-four miles ! the pass was about two miles
Ipng, very narrow, and commanded on both sides
by high and precipitous hills. The night waa
fine and moonlight, and for a time the harass
ment they had suffered became feeblerand more de-
i sultory; but the treacherous Akbar with his horse
men reappeared on the scene. For 30 hours they had
been oppressed by hunger, but still more by thirst,
as the enemy, who planted himself near any running
stream, in the sure expectation of their being !
driven to approach it, knew but too well. At
Jugdaluh the force had dwindled to 150 men of
the 44th, 16 dismounted horse artillerymen, and
25 of the 5th cavalry. On the 12th, near tha
close of the day, the enemy commenced a furious
attack on all sides, with the intention of making
an end of their work of destruction; but the
survivors, though perishing with cold and hunger,
stood to their posts, and bravely repelled their
assailants. During this conflict Captain Sonterj
of the 44th, anxious to save the colours of his regi-
' meut, tore one of them from its staff, and folding it
round his person, concealed it with his sheep-skin
pelisse; and Lieutenant Cumberland did the
same. General Elphinstoae and Brigadier Shelton,
the two seniors in command, having fallen inter
the hands of the enemy, the march was resumed,
the wounded, in spite of their heartrending en
treaties, being of necessity abandoned to their fate.
They proceeded, says Lady Sale (who, hersell
, a prisoner at this time, had collected
| these particulars from survivors) " until they
| came to a gorge, with low steep hills
! on either side, between which the road passed,
about two miles from Jugdaluh. Here two bar-
I riers had been thrown across the road, constructed.
[ of bushes and branches of trees* The road, which
ta^Flbeen flooded, Vas a mass of iee, and the snow
on the hills very deep. The enemy, who had
waited for them in great force at this spot,
rushed upon the column, knife in hand. The
camp followers and wounded men fell back upon
the handful of troops for protection; thus ren
dering them powerless, and causing the greatest
confusion; whilst the men, in small detached
parties, were maintaining conflicts with fearful
odds against them. The disorder of the troops
Was increased by a part of them, the few remaining
horsemen, galloping through and over the
infantry in hopes of securing their own retreat to
Jellalabad. The men, maddened at being ridden
over, fired on them; and it is said that some
officers were fired at; but that rests on doubtful
testimony. When the firing slackened, and the
dashing of knives and bayonets had in some
measure ceased, the men moved on slowly, and on
arriving at the top of the gorge were able to
ascertain the fearful extent of the loss they had
sustained in men and officers. Of the latter Bri
gadier Anquetil and above twenty others were
missing." Even after this more than one
desperate conflict took place, in which the
Afghans suffered more than their indo
mitable enemy. On the 13th, when day
dawned, says the same authority, the remnant
*' of the column moved towards Gundamuk; but as
the day dawned the enemy's numbers increased,
and unfortunately daylight soon exposed to them
how very few fighting men the column contained.
The force now consisted of twenty officers, • of
whom Major Griffiths was the senior, fifty men of
the 44th, six of the horse artillery, and four or five
Bipahees. Amongst the whole there were but
twenty muskets ; 300 camp-followers still con
tinued with them. Being now assailed by an in
creased force, they were compelled to quit the
road, and take up a position on a hill adjoining.
Some Afghan horsemen, being observed at a short
distance, were beckoned to. On their approach
there was a cessation of firing; terms were pro
posed by Capt. Hay, to allow the force to proceed
without further hostilities to Jellalabad. Many
Afghans ascended the hill where our troops
awaited the issue of the expected conference; and
exchanges of friendly words passed between both
parties. This lasted upwards of an hour; but
hostilities were renewed by the Afghans, who
snatched at the firearms of the men and officers.
This they, of course, resisted, and drove them off
the hill; but the majority of the enemy, who
occupied the adjoining hills commanding our
position, commenced a galling fire upon us.
Several times they attempted to dislodge our men
from the hill, and were repulsed; until, our
ammunition being expended, and our fighting
men reduced to about thirty, the enemy made a
rush, which in our weak state we were unable to
cope with, They bore our men down knife in
hand, and slaughtered all the party except Capt.
Souter and seven or eight men of the 44th and
artillery. This officer thinks that this unusual
act of forbearance towards him originated in the
strange dress he wore; his poshteen, having opened
during the last struggle, exposed to view the
colour he had wrapped round his body,
and they probably thought they had se
cured a valuable prize in some great bahadur,
for whom a large ransom might fee obtained,"
Eighteen officers and about fifty men were slain in
the final struggle which took place at Sundamuk,
All was now over, Dr. Brydon, alone escaping
notice by some miraculous chance, made his way
In miserable plight to General Sale's quarters in
Jellalabad. The story of the Captivity of the
few survivors, and of the turn of the tide when
Generals Pollock, Nott, and Sale advanced to
their relief, belongs to another chapter in the
history of the Afghan "War,