The THIRTY-FIRST were now on ploughed land in front of a thick jungle of thorny bushes, and moving forward under a heavy fire of round and grape-shot, entered the jungle, through which it was impossible to move in anything like a correct line, and beyond which the Sikhs were formed. It was here that the gallant Colonel Bolton received his death-wound;--his last emphatic words to the men were, “_Steady_, THIRTY-FIRST, _and fire low_,”--when man and horse came down together; but he did not allow himself to be removed from the field until the action was over. The regiment now found itself in front of a battery of fourteen or fifteen guns. By this time the men were falling quickly under severe discharges of grape from the guns, a few yards only distant, which were also protected by a battalion of infantry, from which withering volleys were sent into the ranks of the THIRTY-FIRST, who, however, returned it with interest, and the intrepid valour of the men bore down all opposition. One continued fire from the regiment laid low nearly the whole of the enemy’s artillery-men opposed to its part of the line, while the bayonet disposed of such of the remainder of the foe as had not time to save themselves by flight. The opposition of the Sikhs was desperate; but nothing could resist the bravery of the British troops, who drove them from one position after another with great slaughter: all their advanced guns remained in the hands of the British. It was not till an hour and a half after sunset that this hand to hand conflict was over, when the rolling of musketry gradually died away, and the British found themselves undisputed masters of the field. Soon after the commencement of the action, Lieut.-Colonel Byrne being severely wounded, the command of the regiment devolved upon Major Spence, the senior major. The regiment, being much broken and scattered over the field in pursuit of the enemy, was re-formed in quarter-distance column, and marched back to within about a mile of Moodkee, where it bivouacked on the sand until daylight, and then returned to camp. In this short but hard-fought action the regiment suffered severely. Of 30 officers and 814 men, who went into action, 9 officers and 155 rank and file were killed or wounded. The following officers were killed or wounded in the action at Moodkee:-- Colonel Bolton C.B., } Mortally wounded. commanding first brigade } Lieut.-Colonel Byrne Severely ” Captain Willes Mortally ” ” Bulkeley Dangerously ” ” Young Dangerously ” ” Lugard Slightly ” Lieut. Pollard Slightly ” ” H. W. Hart Killed. ” Brenchley Mortally ”[29] Assistant-Surgeon Gahan, } Mortally ” 9th foot, doing duty } In this action Lieutenant Bolton, of the twenty-first Fusiliers, acted as aide-de-camp to his father Brigadier Bolton.