1ST INFANTRY BRIGADE--29th Bengal Native Infantry, 5th Punjab Infantry, and the Bhopal contingent. 2ND INFANTRY BRIGADE--21st Native Infantry, 2nd Punjab Infantry, and 5th Gurkhas, under Major Fitzhugh. This famous Kurram Column immediately took the field, and their first engagement of importance was at Peiwar Kotal. To the 29th Bengal Native Infantry and 5th Gurkhas, under Col. Gordon, No. 1 Mountain Battery, a wing of the 72nd (Duke of Albany's Own) Highlanders, the 2nd Punjab Infantry and 23rd Pioneers, under Brigadier Thelwall, was assigned the task of turning the enemy's position, while a feint was to be made upon their front. The turning force set out during the night of December 1st. A writer who describes that campaign says: "The bright camp-fires shed their wavering light on the white tents, when, without sound of drum or bugle, the troops fell silently into their ranks, the companies were told off, and the battalions formed.... Nor had they long to wait before their challenge was responded to by two shots, showing that the position had been reached. And ere long the troops found themselves confronted by an abattis formed by felled trees which, laid over each other to the height of 8 feet, completely blocked the way." On this barricade, the Gurkhas, led by Major Fitzhugh and Captain Cook, made a fierce rush. A stern conflict ensued--a hand-to-hand fight with bayonet, _kukri_, and clubbed musket; and the Gurkhas drove the enemy back to a second barrier nearly 100 yards to their rear. Here they made another stand, but the ferocity of the lithe and wiry Gurkhas, and the stern valour of the Highlanders--their right wing falling upon the enemy's flank--combined to drive the Afghans from this second stockade with considerable loss.