“Throughout these affairs the conduct of the troops employed, including the second and sixteenth Native infantry, temporarily attached to me, has deserved my highest approbation, and I feel it to be my duty to record, that in the advance to Cabool, and in retiring from it, the bravery of that portion of the fourth brigade which took part in the active operations, namely, Her Majesty’s THIRTY-FIRST regiment, and a wing of the thirty-third Native infantry,--the remaining wing and the sixth Native infantry having been detained to garrison Jellalabad and Gundamuck,--as well as their endurance of privations and fatigue, have been beyond all praise. No troops could, in every respect, have behaved better; and I feel myself to be deeply indebted to Brigadier Monteath, C.B., and to Lieut.-Colonel Bolton, of Her Majesty’s THIRTY-FIRST, and to Lieut.-Colonel Richmond, of the thirty-third Native infantry, for the able and gallant manner in which they have been led.” The THIRTY-FIRST regiment arrived at Jellalabad on the 23rd of October, and, after destroying the fortifications, proceeded thence on the 27th to Peshawur, where it arrived in the beginning of November. The campaign having now been brought to a close, the THIRTY-FIRST reached Ferozepore on the 19th of December, having been in the field for eleven months during this arduous campaign. On arrival at Ferozepore the THIRTY-FIRST regiment joined the “Army of Reserve,” which had been assembled on the frontier, and where the Governor-General, Lord Ellenborough, and General Sir Jasper Nicolls, the commander-in-chief in India, had proceeded to receive the army of Affghanistan. For his services connected with the command of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, Lieut.-Colonel Bolton was made a Companion of the Bath, and appointed aide-de-camp to the Queen, with the rank of colonel. In testimony of the services of the THIRTY-FIRST during the campaign in Affghanistan, Her Majesty was graciously pleased to authorize the regiment to bear the word “CABOOL, 1842,” on the regimental colour and appointments. [Sidenote: 1843] On the breaking up of the army at Ferozepore, the THIRTY-FIRST, commanded by Colonel Bolton, was ordered to Umballa, a place about 170 miles to the south, and which had never been previously occupied by troops. Here the regiment arrived on the 27th of January, 1843, and, cantonments having been marked out, barracks were commenced for the men, and ground allotted for the erection of bungalows for the officers. On the 5th of May the THIRTY-FIRST sustained a severe loss by the death of Major and Brevet Lieut.-Colonel Skinner, a zealous and talented officer, whose services are frequently alluded to in the historical record of the regiment.[27]