After detailing the disastrous action of the 23rd November, Captain Melville says, “Here, amidst so much that was condemnable, let me again bear just and heartfelt testimony to the behaviour of that brave, though small, body of men, whose conduct on this, and every other occasion during the war, was that of a band of heroes, and who, preferring death to dishonour, met their fate, nobly fighting to the last for the gun they had so ably served. I allude to the horse-artillery; when Sergeant Mulhall and six gunners, whose names I feel deep sorrow I cannot here record, sword in hand awaited the advance of the foe, and it was not until they saw themselves alone in the midst of thousands of the enemy, that they dashed at full gallop, cutting their way through them, down the hill; and though surrounded by cavalry and infantry, yet they managed to bring their gun safely to the plain, where, however, only three of them being alive, and they desperately wounded, they were obliged to leave it, and contrived to reach cantonments.” Again, during the retreat, he says, “On reaching the extremity of the (Khoord Cabool) pass, the horse-artillery, that noble branch of the service, whose courage, even in extremity, never failed, and who supported all their misfortunes cheerfully, halted, and, turning a gun on the pass, awaited the debouchment of our troops and the arrival of the enemy’s. This soon happened, and we received them with some well-directed rounds of grape.” * * * After their guns and horses were lost, “the artillerymen, those few that remained, formed in the ranks of the 44th, and gallantly supported on foot that deathless reputation they had gained when urging their steeds into the heart of the battle.” Lieutenant Eyre, speaking of the siege, says, “The gunners, from first to last, never once partook of a full meal or obtained their natural rest; of the hardships and privations undergone, it would be difficult to convey an adequate idea.” * * * “On the retreat from Cabul, owing to the starved condition of the horses, which disabled them from pulling the guns through the deep snow and rugged mountain-passes, the guns were, one by one, spiked and abandoned. In the Khoord Cabool pass, a whole gun’s crew perished rather than desert their charge; on nearing Jugdulluck, some horse-artillerymen, headed by Captain Nicholl, acting as dragoons, charged and routed a party of the enemy’s cavalry.” “Throughout the last struggle, up to Gundamuck, all eye-witnesses concur in testifying to their stubborn valour.”