Historical record of the Thirteenth, First Somerset, or the Prince Albert's Regiment of Light Infantry: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1685, and of its subsequent services to 1848.Cannon, Richard
History
Historical record of the Thirteenth, First Somerset, or the Prince Albert's Regiment of Light Infantry: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1685, and of its subsequent services to 1848.
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army -- History; Great Britain. Army. Somerset Light Infantry
Captain Wilkinson, of the THIRTEENTH, on whom the charge of one
of the infantry columns devolved on the lamented fall of Colonel
Dennie, and Captain Hamlet Wade (Brigade-Major), were highly
commended in Major-General Sir Robert Sale’s despatch, in which it
was also stated ‘that Lieutenant and Adjutant Wood, Her Majesty’s
THIRTEENTH Light Infantry, made a dash at one of the enemy, and
in cutting him down, his charger was so severely injured as to
have been since destroyed. Captain Havelock reports in the most
favourable manner the gallant conduct, throughout the day, of
Lieutenant Cox, Her Majesty’s THIRTEENTH Light Infantry, and he
was the first of the party which captured them to seize two of the
enemy’s cannon.’
Armourer Serjeant Henry Ulyett, of the THIRTEENTH, captured Mahomed
Akbar’s standard, which he took from a cavalry soldier, whom he
killed.
The force employed in this successful enterprise amounted to about
eighteen hundred men of all arms. The safety of the fortress was
entrusted, during the action, to the ordinary guards of its gates,
and one provisional battalion of followers of every description
armed with pikes and other weapons, who manned the curtains, and
made a respectable show of defence. Captain Pattisson, of the
THIRTEENTH, was left in command of this diminished garrison.
Towards the conclusion of the engagement a sally was made from the
Cabool gate by Lieutenant George Wade, of the THIRTEENTH, into the
fort before which Colonel Dennie had fallen, when it was observed
that the enemy were abandoning it; all it contained was set on
fire, and some of its defenders were bayoneted.
The enemy’s loss was very severe; the field of battle was
strewed with the bodies of men and horses, and the richness of
the trappings of some of the latter denoted that chiefs of rank
(several being present and taking part in the action) had fallen.
The following NOTIFICATION of this victory was issued by the
Government of India from Benares on the 21st April, 1842:--
‘The Governor General feels assured that every subject of the
British Government will peruse with the deepest interest and
satisfaction the report he now communicates, of the entire defeat
of the Affghan troops under Mahomed Akbar Khan, by the garrison of
Jellalabad.
‘That _Illustrious Garrison_, which, by its constancy in enduring
privation, and by its valour in action, has already obtained for
itself the sympathy and respect of every true soldier, has now,
sallying forth from its walls, under the command of its gallant
leader, Major-General Sir Robert Sale, thoroughly beaten in open
field an enemy of more than three times its numbers, taken the
standards of their boasted cavalry, destroyed their camp, and
recaptured four guns, which, under circumstances which can never
again occur, had during the last winter fallen into their hands.
‘The Governor General cordially congratulates the army upon the
return of victory to its ranks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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