Campaign of the Indus: In a Series of Letters from an Officer of the Bombay Division — John Shaqi
Campaign of the Indus: In a Series of Letters from an Officer of the Bombay DivisionHoldsworth, T. W. E.
History
Campaign of the Indus: In a Series of Letters from an Officer of the Bombay Division
Holdsworth, T. W. E.
Afghan Wars
To begin from where I left off: we marched from Larkhanu on the 11th
March, and reached Dadur, about four miles from the entrance to the
Bolan Pass, the nest of the robber hordes of Kaukers, Tuckers, and
Beloochees, on the 6th of April, having halted several times at
intermediate places, and made some terrible marches, fifteen miles being
the average distance. We often lost our way, and marched thereby a
great deal further than was necessary, through bad guidance. I must tell
you, however, that before leaving Larkhanu, Sir J. Keane assumed the
command of the whole army, both Bengal and Bombay, by which General
Willshire got command of the Bombay division. The two Bombay brigades
were broken up, the Grenadiers and 5th regiment of Native Infantry were
sent to garrison Bukkur, a tolerably strong fort on the Indus, and the
23rd Native Infantry was sent to Lukkur, a town on the opposite side.
There also the different regiments that were to go on sent their sick,
and Bukkur was made a depot for supplies, medical stores, &c. The
greater part of the foot and some of the horse artillery were sent there
also. Our regiment and the 17th were then made into one brigade, and
marched from Larkhanu, as I said before, on the 11th. The cavalry and
horse artillery, &c., did not march for two days after, with the
Commander-in-chief, who took with him his pet corps; the 19th Native
Infantry. They marched by a different route from ourselves on account of
the scarcity of supplies in that desert country; we halted for them at
Kochee, which place we reached on the 15th about 3 P.M., after the
thirty to forty miles' march I before told you of, across the marshy
desert which seems to divide Sinde from Cutch Gundava. This march ought
only to have been twenty-six miles; but owing to the stupidity of our
guide we went a longer and more circuitous route, and also had the
pleasure of losing our way during the night; in addition to which, on
arriving at the village where it was intended to halt, our staff found
out, all of a sudden, that there was not a sufficiency of water for the
whole force, in consequence of which we were moved to another village
(Kichee) five miles further on.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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