The head-quarters and two squadrons of the regiment, under Major Lockwood, formed part of the force which was detached under Major-General McCaskill (Lieutenant-Colonel of the Ninth Foot), for the purpose of dispersing the enemy collected in the vicinity of _Charekar_, and took part in the operations against the strong and populous town of _Istalif_, which was considered by the Affghans as totally inaccessible, but which was captured on the 29th September 1842; the numerous levies collected for its defence were totally defeated, and property of every description (much of it plundered from the army in 1841) was recovered; two brass field-pieces were captured, one of which was seized with such promptitude, that its captor, Lieutenant Elmhirst, of Her Majesty's Ninth Foot, turned its fire upon the fugitives with some effect[48]. Among the gratifying results of these successes was the release of several ladies and officers who had been detained prisoners by Akbar-Khan. The regiment, having been present during the whole of the operations west of the Indus, leading to the occupation of Cabool, has received the Royal permission to bear on its appointments the word '_Cabool 1842_.' [Sidenote: 1843] [Sidenote: 1844] The regiment left Cabool on the 12th October, 1842, and arrived at Ferozepore on the 18th December, from whence it marched to Kurnaul, where it arrived on the 27th January 1843; it remained at Kurnaul until November, when it marched for Umballa, and continued at that station during the year 1844, and until the end of the following year. [Sidenote: 1845] On the 11th December, 1845, the regiment, consisting of 518 men, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Michael White, marched from cantonments at Umballa, and formed a part of the leading division of the _Army of the Sutlej_, hastily assembled, under the personal command of General Sir Hugh Gough, G.C.B., Commander-in-Chief in India, for the purpose of repelling an invasion by the _Sikhs_.[49] On arriving at the village of _Moodkee_, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, on the 18th December, the army had just taken up its encampments, when intelligence was received, that the enemy's forces, consisting of twenty thousand cavalry, and about the same number of infantry and artillery, were close at hand, and intended to surprise the British camps. The cavalry were immediately turned out, and advanced to cover the formation of the infantry, and the distinguished part which the _Third, or King's Own Regiment of Light Dragoons_, took in the sanguinary and memorable battle of the evening of that day may be best judged from the words of His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief in his despatch of the 19th December 1845:--'I directed the cavalry, under Brigadiers White and Gough (of the KING'S OWN), to make a flank movement on the enemy's left, with a view of threatening and turning that flank, if possible.