BATTLE HONOURS FOR SERVICES IN INDIA, 1843

Scinde—Meeanee—Hyderabad—Maharajpore—Punniar.

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Scinde, 1843.

This distinction was accorded to the Cheshire Regiment for its services in Scinde—services which brought to the regiment the two battle honours "Meeanee" and "Hyderabad." The distinction has not been conferred on the Bombay native regiments which fought side by side with the Cheshires in the brilliant and hardly-contested campaign on the banks of the Indus.

Meeanee, February 17, 1843.

This battle honour, which commemorates the victory gained by the army commanded by General Sir Charles Napier over the Amirs of Scinde, is borne by the following regiments:

Cheshires.
34th Poona Horse.
35th Scinde Horse.
36th Jacob's Horse.
2nd Queen's Own Sappers and Miners.
112th Infantry.
125th Outram's Rifles.

The hostilities with the Amirs of Scinde were the direct but inevitable result of the first Afghan War. With some difficulty we had succeeded in obtaining the consent of some of the Amirs to the passage of the Bombay column of the army of Afghanistan through their country; but the people themselves were very averse to this concession. It was laying them open to future annexation, as they wisely conjectured. The passage of our convoys through their territories was an irresistible attraction to Baluch marauders, and, not content with robbery, they cut up stragglers with impunity. Then we demanded satisfaction, and finally the Amirs undertook to enter into a treaty, by which they were compelled to pay the cost of a force which we maintained in Scinde for the purpose of safeguarding our lines of communication. Our reverses in Afghanistan, as well as the defeat they themselves inflicted on our troops in the neighbourhood of Kahun, and one or two other regrettable incidents, led the Amirs to underrate our strength. They not only neglected to keep up the payments for the army of occupation, but they consistently violated the treaty in every possible way. Frequent attacks were made on parties of troops, and it was evident either that the Amirs would not, or could not keep their people in order.

Sir Charles Napier was despatched to Hyderabad to compel respect to the treaty. The Amirs retaliated by attacking the Residency. Fortunately, a small vessel belonging to the Indian Marine was lying in the Indus, some few miles from the Residency, and Major (afterwards General) Sir James Outram was enabled to beat off his assailants, and to reach the steamer in safety. Napier was a man of action. Knowing that the Amirs were within a few miles of the city, he at once marched to attack them. He calculated their numbers at between 30,000 and 40,000 men, well armed with matchlock and sabres. His own force was just 2,600 men, with twelve guns. This included but one British battalion—the 22nd (Cheshires)—barely 600 men, all armed with the old flintlock Brown Bess—a weapon which, though a more rapid loader than the matchlock, was its inferior in range. The Amirs had taken up a strong position in a large wooded game-preserve, surrounded with a low mud wall. The one entrance Napier closed with a company of the 22nd, and then he assaulted the place, after he had thoroughly shaken the defenders with a searching fire from his twelve guns. The Baluchis fought well, but this happened to be one of the sepoys' fighting days, and, after three hours' hard firing, the Baluchis were driven off in confusion. Estimates vary as to their losses. Napier himself put it at 5,000 killed; others put it as low as 500.

If the General's estimate was a correct one, then we must put aside the old saying that it took a ton of lead to kill a man with Brown Bess. When we consider the strength of the position held by the Baluchis and their enormous superiority in numbers, the losses incurred in gaining such a decisive victory were by no means excessive.

Casualties at Meeanee.

The 9th Bengal Cavalry, which behaved with the greatest gallantry at Meeanee, is, unfortunately, no longer represented in the Army List. The regiment was swept away in the Mutiny of 1857, and the present 9th Regiment of cavalry was raised by the immortal Hodson in 1857, whose name it bears.

Hyderabad, March 24, 1843.

This battle honour is borne by the

Cheshires.
34th Poona Horse.
35th Scinde Horse.
36th Jacob's Horse.
2nd Queen's Own Sappers and Miners.
101st Grenadiers.
108th Infantry.
112th Infantry.
121st Pioneers.
125th Outram's Rifles.

It commemorates a second victory gained by Sir Charles Napier over the Amirs of Scinde, and was fought, as the name suggests, in the immediate neighbourhood of Hyderabad, on the Indus, just one month after Meeanee. That month had been spent in fruitless negotiations. Outram, the Political Officer, thought he could induce the Amirs to accept our terms without further bloodshed. The hot weather was drawing on apace, and Napier felt there was no time for further delay. He had been reinforced by a couple of sepoy battalions from Bombay and by two field batteries from Bengal, and already some regiments were on the march from the Sutlej to support him. On March 24 he attacked the Amirs, and, though the action was a severe one, it was never for one moment in doubt. The losses in the 22nd Cheshires were sensibly higher than at Meeanee, and the 34th Poona Horse, for the second time in their history, had a fair opportunity of showing of what material they were made. They emerged from the ordeal with a reputation they have maintained to this day.

Casualties at Hyderabad.

The result of the campaign was the annexation of Scinde, and the perpetration of the canard that in announcing his second victory Napier telegraphed to the Governor of Bombay the one word "Peccavi."

The troops were well rewarded for their short campaign. Considerable booty was found in the Amirs' palaces, and Sir Charles at last, after nearly forty years of arduous service, found himself the richer by £68,000, which was his share of the prize-money.

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THE GWALIOR CAMPAIGN.

Maharajpore and Punniar, December 29, 1843.

These two general actions, fought on the same day, recall one of the shortest campaigns on record—a campaign forced unwillingly on the Government of India by the truculent conduct of the military oligarchy in the Mahratta State of Gwalior. This spirit was no doubt intensified by the feeling—or, rather, by the hope—that, owing to our recent disasters in Afghanistan, the British would be unwilling to trust to the arbitrament of the sword.

"Maharajpore" is borne on the colours of the

16th Lancers.
Dorsetshire.
East Lancashires.
Governor-General's Bodyguard.
3rd Skinner's Horse.
2nd Q.O. Rajput Light Infantry.
6th Jat Light Infantry.
12th Khelat-i-Ghilzai.

"Punniar" on the colours of the

9th Lancers.
Buffs.
Royal West Kent.
6th P.W.O. Cavalry.

On the refusal of the Gwalior Council of Regency to disband their army, which was a standing menace to the peace of our North-West Frontier, the Governor-General determined to undertake the task of that disbandment himself. A large camp of exercise was therefore formed at Agra, under the direct superintendence of Sir Hugh Gough, the Commander-in-Chief; and a second force was assembled at Jhansi, under General Sir George Grey. The former force is responsible for the victory of Maharajpore, the latter for that of Punniar.

Sir Hugh Gough's army was composed of one cavalry and three infantry divisions:

The plan of attack was simple, and one which has been invariably successful against an Oriental foe. The Mahrattas were found holding a strong position around the village of Maharajpore. The Commander-in-Chief ordered Sir John Littler, with his own and the Second Cavalry Brigade, to make a direct attack on the enemy's position, covered by a heavy artillery fire, Stacey's brigade being held in reserve. At the same time Sir Joseph Thackwell, with the First Cavalry Brigade and Valliant's infantry, turned the enemy's left. The Gwalior troops made a very determined resistance, but if they thought that the disasters in Afghanistan were in any way due to deterioration on the part of the British army, they were woefully disillusioned. Littler found the Gwalior troops holding a series of entrenched positions, from which they were successively driven at the point of the bayonet, not without heavy loss, our total casualties being 36 officers and 750 men killed and wounded.

Casualties at the Battle of Maharajpore, December 29, 1843.

On the same day General Grey found another division of the Gwalior army entrenched at Punniar. On this occasion our losses amounted to 35 killed and 182 wounded, our trophies to twenty-four guns. The result of the two engagements was the destruction of the military power of Gwalior.

Casualties at the Battle of Punniar.

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