The followers had been all employed in pitching the tents, and the cooks (natives) had prepared our scanty meal; the 16th were left in possession of the hill; and the General ordered two guns, either under Captain Blood or Anderson, to proceed to the top of the hill, and dislodge them in the citadel, which, after some difficulty, was effected, and most ably did they accomplish their duty; they soon put a stop to them, and by their superior arrangement and management of artillery, disabled nearly all their guns. We had scarcely got well seated in our tents when we were suddenly surprised by the whizzing of a ball over the camp, which lodged in the officer’s mess tent of the 41st; after that came another and another, and they kept up a fine string of them, aiming most admirably. We soon discovered that they had a sixty-eight pounder, which before had remained quiet. Those shots coming so fast, and lodging just in our midst, doing considerable damage, although we were nearly two miles from it, compelled the General to shift camp a mile further off, and we were at last out of the reach of the bull-dog; they most certainly in this distance did put us to the rout. This piece was called “Chuppa Jung,” of Persian manufacture, and as is usual in all the forts of importance in Asia, was placed in the citadel; and a most powerful piece it was. The General now began to arrange his plans for storming and taking the fortress; the engineers were all busily employed in preparing for the operation; and as the day began to draw to a close, orders were issued for the troops to be in readiness to move just before daylight on the morrow. The night at length came on, and lights were ordered to be extinguished at eight P.M.; and at that hour all was darkness, and enveloped upwards of 20,000 souls. All was at length prepared for the attack, and about half an hour before the day broke, the word was passed from tent to tent, to form up. Each rose in sadness, and many shook the hand of his comrade as for the last time; the cattle were dispatched with the powder, to ensure the explosion, and platforms had been carefully planted for the heavy battery to commence a breach. The troops were slowly and silently advanced, and arranged ready to storm immediately after the gates were blown up; and daybreak was to be the signal. At length the day dawned, and lo! what was our surprise when we saw floating on the highest tower the English colors. The sight relieved each heart as though we had a fortune. The enemy had during the night evacuated the citadel, having received certain orders to that effect from Caboul. Colonel McLaren, who had kept the hill, finding they had left it, took immediate possession, and placed “The Flag that braved a thousand years” on the highest point. Thus did Providence prevent the inevitable loss of some hundreds of our force, and never was a force more agreeably surprised than those at Ghiznee, on the 6th of September, 1842.”