THE AFGHAN WAR

OF

1879-80.

PART I.

THE OCCUPATION OF CABUL-THE BRITISH BESIEGED AT SHERPUR-DISPERSAL OF THE TRIBES.

CHAPTER I.

Introduction-The Cavagnari Mission-Yakub Khan's Evasion of the Gundamak Treaty -Turbulence of the Herat Regiments-Naksh band Khan's Warning-The Outbreak-Yakub Khan's Behaviour-Reception of the News in India-The Seizure of the Shutargardan, and Preparations for the Advance upon Cabul.

THE Treaty of Gundamak had for its chief object the direct representation of the British Government at the Court of the Amir Yakub Khan, and, in pursuance of the terms of the Treaty, Sir Louis Cavagnari, K.C.B., C.S.I., was received at Cabul, as Resident, on July 24th, 1879. Mr. William Jenkyns, of the Indian Civil Service, accompanied him as secretary to the Mission. An escort of twenty-five sowars and fifty sepoys of the Guides' Corps was the only means of protection at the Embassy's command, implicit faith being placed in the Amir's promise to guard the lives of his guests. Lieutenant Hamilton was in command of the escort, and Dr. Kelly, surgeon of the Guides, was the medical officer attached to the Mission. Including servants and followers, there were in all some 200 souls gathered in the Residency in the Bala Hissar from July 24th until the outbreak of the Herat regiments on the morning of September 3rd. It would

B

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be out of place to describe at length the course of events which culminated in the Massacre, but from the tone of Sir Louis Cavagnari's letters there can be no doubt the Amir was never anxious to carry out to the strict letter the terms of the Gundamak Treaty. Taking the official diary sent weekly from Cabul to the Indian Government, it appears that every outward honour was paid to the Embassy upon its arrival, but that Yakub Khan was so suspicious of his Ministers and Nobles, that he told off men to watch the Residency. These spies furnished the names of all who visited Cavagnari without the Amir's knowledge. Then came rumours of petty chiefs having been punished for their friendship to the British during the late campaign, although one of the main points of the Treaty was directed against this very contingency. The Amir always avoided reference to this subject, and as Sir Louis Cavagnari could not obtain direct evidence of the amnesty clauses being departed from, no redress could be obtained. Apart from palace intrigues, which are always rife in Cabul, there seemed no direct element of discord at work in the capital until the troops from Herat reached Sherpur Cantonment on August 5th. These regiments had not shared in the humiliation of the defeats suffered by the Cabul soldiery at Ali Musjid and the Peiwar Kotal; they taunted their comrades in arms with cowardice, and boasted of their own prowess; and their turbulence soon assumed a dangerous form. A ressaldar-major of one of our cavalry regiments, Nakshband Khan, an old and tried soldier, was spending his furlough at his village of Aoshahr, two miles from Cabul, and he seems first to have caught the alarm. When the Herat regiments marched, or rather swaggered, through the streets of Cabul, with bands playing, many of the soldiers abused the Kafir elchi (ambassador) by name, calling out to the populace, "Why has he come here ?" and showing too clearly that their passions were dangerously excited. Nakshband Khan learned from a fellow countryman in the ranks that the soldiers had been ordered so to shout in the streets. Full of this news, he

Sirdar Sher Ali Khan Kandahari, Governor of Candahar, assured Sir Donald Stewart that Yakub Khan, from the first, never intended to pardon the chiefs who had aided us. Such a course of policy would have seemed madness in the eyes of every Afghan, said the Sirdar; not a man would have understood it.

Massacre of the Embassy.

3

went to our Envoy and warned him of the coming storm. Sir Louis Cavagnari was a man notorious for his disregard of personal danger he was brave to a fault, and this turbulence among the Afghan soldiery scarcely shook his composure. "Never fear," was the answer to the Ressaldar; "keep up your heart, dogs that bark don't bite!" "But these dogs do bite; there is real danger," urged Nakshband Khan. The reply was characteristic of the man: he had taken up his post and nothing conld break down his determination to remain at all hazards; he quietly said, "They can only kill the three or four of us here, and our death will be avenged."

This is the story as told by the Ressaldar, who can scarcely be romancing; but no word of the warning is given by Cavagnari in his letters to the Viceroy, all of which are full of sanguine hope even as late as August 30th. His last message was sent on September 2nd, and concluded with the words "All well,"—and this within twelve hours of the attack upon the Residency. He trusted altogether to Yakub Khan—for what could an escort of seventyfive men avail against an army?-and almost his last written. words were: "Notwithstanding all people say against him, I personally believe Yakub Khan will turn out to be a very good ally, and that we shall be able to keep him to his engagements." This blind trust in the Amir was soon to be rudely broken down, for Yakub was found wanting even in willingness to save the lives entrusted to his care.

The story of the outbreak in the Bala Hissar, and the massacre of the Envoy and his followers, is written at length in the Bluebooks. The tale is too well known to bear reproduction: the heroic struggle against overwhelming odds has, perhaps, rarely been equalled, for there were only four British officers and a handful of native soldiers to meet an army. Yakub Khan sat in his palace, vacillating and sullen, with the noise of the fight ringing in his ears, and the roar of the soldiery and the fanatical populace surging into his council-chamber: but he made no sign. There were councillors who urged prompt chastisement of the mutinous sepoys there were regiments at Bala Hissar which might have loyally obeyed orders; but the man who had pledged himself to preserve our Envoy only took the cunning precaution of sending out

Daoud Shah, his commander-in-chief, to "remonstrate" with the armed rabble. It was like remonstrating with a tiger when the hunter lies at his mercy: like giving the word "halt" to the incoming tide: Daoud Shah was thrust back by the first men he met, but they used their bayonets tenderly, and his wounds were slight. And when it was all over, when the excited crowd roared through the Bazaar, with Cavagnari's head held on high, there seems to have come upon Yakub that fear of vengeance which he had hitherto thrust aside. Forty years before the body of another Envoy had been hung on the butcher's hooks in that same Bazaar ; treachery had scored a success which promised to be lasting; but Pollock had come with a victorious army from Peshawur, while Nott fought his way from the south, and the Char Chowk was soon a heap of ruins. How soon would the vengeance of an outraged nation again fall upon Cabul?

Shortly after midnight of September 4th Sir Frederick Roberts, who was in Simla, engaged on the work of the Army Commission, was called up to receive a telegram. It was from the Kurram Valley, and conveyed the first news of the Massacre, which he then and there hastened to carry to the Commander-in-Chief. The shock was so terrible that men were paralyzed for the moment, but the next day the machinery of Government was put in motion, a council of war was called, and on the afternoon of September 5th the following instructions were sent to Brigadier-General Dunham Massy, then commanding the Kurram Field Force at the Peiwar Kotal*:

"From the Quarter Master General in India to BrigadierGeneral D. Massy, commanding Kurram Field Force; dated Simla, 5th September, 1879.

"Move 23rd Pioneers, 5th Ghoorkas, and Mountain Train to Shutargardan, crest of pass; to entrench themselves there and await orders. Ten days' supplies."

In accordance with these instructions, Swinley's Mountain Battery of six 7-pounder guns, escorted by the Pioneers and Ghoorkas, moved upon the Shutargardan, which was occupied

This telegram is of some importance, as showing the quickness with which the Viceroy and the military authorities recognized the necessity of seizing the Shutargardan before the Cabul troops or the local tribesmen could occupy the Pass in strength.

H

Seizure of the Shutargardan.

without opposition on the 11th of September.

5

Colonel Currie, of the 23rd Pioneers, commanded this small force. The 72nd Highlanders and the 5th Punjab Infantry followed in a few days to secure the road between Ali Kheyl and the Pass, while the 7th Company of Bengal Sappers and Miners was ordered up from Shulozan (near Kurram) to improve the road beyond the Shutargardan. In the meantime, the following appointments had been made-Colonel Macgregor to be Chief of the Staff to MajorGeneral Sir Frederick Roberts, Commanding the Force; BrigadierGeneral Macpherson, C.B., V.C., to command the 1st Infantry Brigade; Brigadier-General T. D. Baker, C.B., to command the 2nd Infantry Brigade; Brigadier-General Dunham Massy, to command the Cavalry Brigade; and Brigadier-General Hugh Gough, C.B., V.C., to be Road Commandant. On September 12th General Roberts arrived at Ali Kheyl. On the 13th General Baker took command of the troops in the Shutargardan; which Pass, by the 18th of the month, was held by the troops which had moved up originally, together with the whole of the 72nd Highlanders and the 7th Company of Sappers and Miners. The position was strongly entrenched and every precaution taken against a surprise by the neighbouring tribes.

Having secured the Shutargardan, Sir Frederick Roberts cast about for means to complete his transport, it being intended to move 6,000 men upon Cabul with as little delay as possible. With the usual carelessness which marks the operations of Indian armies, and perhaps with a desire to curtail expenditure, the transport of the Kurram Valley Field Force had, upon Cavagnari's departure for Cabul, been allowed to dwindle down to insignificant proportions. There were in the Valley, when the news of the Massacre was received, only 1,500 mules, 500 sickly camels, and 800 pack-bullocks. These were just sufficient to enable the Commissariat Department to furnish supplies to the winter garrison of the Valley. Without loss of time all the available animals in Peshawur and near the frontier were ordered to be sent to Ali Kheyl, and eventually the army was provided with almost 2,000 mules, between 700 and 800 camels, and upwards of 600 bullocks.*

• On October 14th, at Cabul, the returns were :-Mules, 1,973; camels, 675; bullocks, 604; and 230 yabus (ponies purchased in Cabul).