1 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS. 181
2 triumph over obstacles, from which a less ardent
3 spirit would have recoiled as insurmountable; but, -
4 since the hour in which our leading columns
5 moved out of Umballa, I have found in the Major-
6 general, an officer who has not merely carried out
7 toy orders td the letter, but whose zeal and tact
8 have enabled him, in a hundred instances, to per-
9 form valuable services in exact anticipation of my.
10 wishes. I beg explicitly to recommend him to
11 your Excellency’s special notice, as a divisional
12 commander of the highest merit.”
13 The noble daring of Her Majesty’s 3rd dragoons, Her Majesty’s
14 dragoons,
15 at Sobraon, has been already alluded to, in, quoting on Sir Joseph
16 the Commander-in-chief’s despatch, and a well-
17 merited eulogium is paid to the Major-general who
18 commanded the cavalry division at Sobraon, and
19 who had p¥eviously commanded that branch in the
20 army of the Indus. “ Major-general Sir Joseph
21 Thackwell has established a claim, on this day, to
22 the rare commendation of having effected much
23 with a cavalry force, Where the duty to be done
24 consisted of an attack on field works, usually
25 supposed to be the particular province of infantry
26 and artillery. His vigilance and activity through-
27 out our operations, and the superior manner in
28 which our out-post duties have been carried on
29 under his superintendence, demand my warmest
30 acknowledgments.”
31 It was to be expected that the gallant conduct
32 of the brigadier who led the attack at Sobraon
33 would be prominently noticed, and accordingly the
34 hackwell.