1 Public opinion
2 respecting the carnage
3 ot Chilianwala,
4 The advance of
5 General Whish to
6 Jhelum,
7 Shér Singh retreats
8 to Gujrat,
9 He is joined by an
10 Afghan force.
11 The battle of Gujrat,
12 21st February, 1819,
13 _Lord Gough’s great
14 victory,
15 570 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
16 Singh to recover independence. They .fought bravely and desperately,
17 and the advantage of the bloody battle that had been fought was decidedly
18 in their favour, for they continued to occupy, for a month, strategical
19 positions from which the British were unable to dislodge them.
20 The carnage of Chilianwalé was the subject of severe criticism by the
21 British public in England, whose ears had been so long wont to hear bril-
22 liant accounts of Indian victories. There was ‘an outburst of popular indig-
23 nation, and the generalship of the veteran Commander became the subject of
24 open attack. There was a demand for the recall of Lord Gough, and the
25 announcement of Lord John Russell, in the British Parliament, that Sir
26 Charles J. Napier, the conqueror of the Biluchis, would be appointed to
27 the command of the Panjab armies, was received with loud cheers, Before,
28 however, Sir Charles Napier landed in India, Lord Gough had retrieved’ the
29 honour of the British arms by winning the battle of Gujrat, which inflicted
30 a deadly blow on the aspirations of the Khdlsd.
31 After the suppression of the Multdn rebellion, General Whish, at the
32 head of twelve thousand men, moved up to reinforce the Commander-in-
33 Chief at Jhelum. Guldb Singh, the newly-made Mahardjd of Kashmir, sent
34 ten thousand troops to the scene of war, but the wily chief, with his charac-
35 teristic shrewdness, left his benefactors, who had so recently been the arbiters
36 of his fate, to deal with their opponents as best they could, reserving to
37 himself the opportunity of joining whichever side should prove victorious in
38 the coming grand contest. Shér Singh, hearing of the approach of General
39 Whish, moved towards Wazirdbdd, with the object of crossing the Chindb
40 and marching on Léhore, but a strong detachment of British troops had
41 been sent to Wazirdbdd to check his retreat in that direction, and a timely
42 occupation of the fords of the Chindb by these troops prevented the Sikhs
43 from crossing the river. Thus foiled, Shér Singh took up his position at
44 Gujrat, where he was joined by his father, Chattar Singh, at the head of
45 all his forces, and by Akram Khan, a son of Dost Muhammad Khan, with,
46 three thousand Afghans. The concentrated forces, according to Lord Gough’s
47 estimate, numbered 61,500, with 61 pieces of ordnance. They encircled
48 the town of Gujrat, strongly situated between the Jhelum and Chindb, but
49 nearer to the latter. The British army under Lord Gough, numbering
50 25,000 men and one hundred guns, many of heavy calibre (and drawn by
51 elephants, now used for the first time during the two campaigns) being rein-
52 forced by the Bombay column, under General Whish, began the attack.
53 Coolly and deliberately did the veteran British Commander fight out the
54 great battle before him, He had to encounter the most formidable army
55 that had yet appeared in the East to challenge the British arms; but he
56 fought the battle, as a great battle ought to be fought, on the strictest
57 principles of military science. In the early dawn of the 21st of February,
58 Lord Gough began the action by opening a terrible cannonade on the Sikhs.
59 The enemy replied to the fire with great steadiness, but, after two hours
60 and a half of the severest contest of artillery, in which great havoc was done
61 in his ranks and many of his guns and tumbrils were smashed along the
62 lines, the fire of the Sikhs was nearly silenced, and, the fight becoming
63 general, the British infantry made a brilliant charge. The Sikhs were dis-
64 lodged from their entrenched positions and driven back. They rallied, and
65 the combined Sikh and Afghdn Horse, making a brisk attack on the British
66 columns, were gallantly met by the famous Sindh Horse under Captain
67 Malcolm and put to flight. The infantry flanks then, wheeling round the
68 village of Gujrdt, inflicted terrible losses on the Sikhs. By noon, the enemy
69 Sri SatgurefagneSingmy eiibthy utmost disoNlen) dbavinlbiaigi@ gmgil.caieage, stores