# Battle Of Ferozeshah



## Admin (Jun 3, 2009)

*Battle of Ferozeshah*

_*The second battle of the  			First Sikh War: Gough’s rash 
			and disorganised assault on the Sikh camp at Ferozeshah.*_​ *War*: First Sikh War.
*Date*: 21st December 1845.
*Place*: In the Punjab in the North West of India.
*Combatants*: British troops and Indian troops of the Bengal  			Presidency against Sikhs of the Khalsa, the army of the Punjab. 







*
			The 31st Foot attacking the Sikh fortifications on 
			the morning of the second day of the Battle of Ferozeshah 
*​ *Generals*: Generals Sir Hugh Gough and Sir Henry Hardinge  			against Lal Singh and Tej Singh.


*Size of the armies*: A British and Bengal army of 18,000  			men, 63 guns and 2 Howitzers against a Sikh army initially of Lal  			Singh’s force, then joined by Tej Singh’s troops from Ferozepore of  			30,000 men and 150 guns (including many heavy calibre). The Sikh  			army contained a force of religious fanatics called the Akalis.

*The Battle of Ferozeshah* 

HM regiments of foot wore red coats and blue trousers with shakos              and white covers.
The Bengal and Bombay light cavalry regiments wore pale blue              uniforms. The infantry of the presidency armies wore red coats and              peakless black shakos. 
The weapons for the cavalry were the lance for the lancer              regiments and sword and carbine for all; the infantry were armed              with the Brown Bess musket and bayonet.







            Bengal Native Infantry

​ Commands in the field were given by the cavalry trumpet and the              infantry drum and bugle.
In the initial battles the Sikh artillery outgunned Gough’s              batteries. Even in these battles and in the later ones the Bengal              and Bombay horse and field artillery were handled with great              resource and were a major cause of Gough’s success.
Many of the more senior British officers had cut their military              teeth in the Peninsular War and at the Battle of Waterloo: Gough,              Hardinge, Havelock of the 14th Light Dragoons, Cureton, ****,              Thackwell and others. Many of the younger men would go on to fight              in the Crimea and the Indian Mutiny.
The Sikhs of the Punjab looked to the sequence of Gurus for their              spiritual inspiration and had established their independence              fiercely resisting the Moghul Kings in Delhi and the Muslims of              Afghanistan. The Sikhs were required by their religion to wear the              five “Ks”, not to cut their hair or beard and to wear the highly              characteristic turban, a length of cloth in which the hair is              wrapped around the head.
The Maharajah of the Punjab, Ranjit Singh, whose death in 1839              ended the Sikh embargo on war with the British, established and              built up the powerful Sikh Army, the “Khalsa”, over the twenty years              of his reign. The core of the “Khalsa” was its body of infantry              regiments, equipped and trained as European troops, wearing red              jackets and blue trousers. The Sikh artillery was held in high              esteem by both sides. The weakness in the Sikh army was its horse.              The regular cavalry regiments never reached a standard comparable to              the Sikh foot, while the main element of the mounted arm comprised              clouds of irregular and ill-disciplined “Gorcharras”. 
The traditional weapon of the Sikh warrior is the “Kirpan”, a              curved sword kept razor sharp and one of the five “Ks” a baptised              Sikh must wear. In battle, at the first opportunity, many of the              Sikh foot abandoned their muskets and, joining their mounted              comrades, engaged in hand to hand combat with sword and shield.              Horrific cutting wounds, severing limbs and heads, were a frightful              feature of the Sikh Wars in which neither side gave quarter to the              enemy.
It had taken the towering personality of Ranjit Singh to control              the turbulent “Khalsa” he had established. His descendants found the              task beyond them and did much to provoke the outbreak of the First              Sikh War in the hope that the Khalsa would be cut down to size by              the armies of the British East India Company. The commanders of the              Sikh armies in the field rarely took the initiative in battle,              preferring to occupy a fortified position and wait for the British              and Bengalis to attack. In the opening stages of the war there was              correspondence between Lal Singh and the British officer, Major              Nicholson, suggesting that the Sikhs were being betrayed by their              commander.
Pay in the Khalsa was good, twice the rate for sepoys in the              Bengal Army, but it was haphazard, particularly after the death of              Ranjit Singh. Khalsa administration was conducted by clerks writing              in the Persian language. In one notorious mutiny over pay Sikh              soldiers ran riot looking for anyone who could, or looked as if they              could, speak Persian and putting them to the sword.
The seven battles of the war and the siege of the city of Multan              were hard fought. Several of the battle fields were wide flat spaces              broken by jungly scrub, from which the movement of large bodies of              troops in scorching heat raised choking clouds of dust. As the              fighting began the dust clouds intermingled with dense volumes of              musket and cannon smoke. With the thunder of gunfire and horse              hooves, the battle yells and cries of the injured, the battles of              the Sikh Wars were indeed infernos.
Winner: The British and Bengali army, but only just. If              Tej Singh had pressed his attack he is likely to have won the              battle.







            A military procession in India with British Light Dragoons in the              foreground and a battalion of infantry at the front.

​ British and Indian Regiments: 
            British:
            HM 3rd King’s Own Light Dragoons, now the Queen’s Royal Hussars. *
            HM 9th Foot, later the Norfolk Regiment and now the Royal Anglian              Regiment.*
            HM 29th Foot, later the Worcestershire Regiment and now the              Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment. *
            HM 31st Foot, later the East Surrey Regiment and now the Princess of              Wales’s Royal Regiment.*
            HM 50th Foot, later the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment and now              the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment.*
            HM 62nd Foot, later the Wiltshire Regiment and now the Royal              Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment. *
            HM 80th Foot, later the South Staffordshire Regiment and now the              Staffordshire Regiment.*

            Indian:
            The Governor General’s Bodyguard.*
            4th Bengal Light Cavalry.*
            5th Bengal Light Cavalry.*
            8th Bengal Light Cavalry.*
            Skinner’s Horse.*
            8th Irregular Cavalry.*
            9th Irregular Cavalry.*
            1st Bengal European Light Infantry.*
            2nd Bengal Native Infantry.*
            12th Bengal Native Infantry.*
            14th Bengal Native Infantry.*
            16th Bengal Native Infantry.*
            24th Bengal Native Infantry.*
            26th Bengal Native Infantry.*
            33rd Bengal Native Infantry.*
            42nd Bengal Native Infantry.*
            44th Bengal Native Infantry.*
            45th Bengal Native Infantry.*
            47th Bengal Native Infantry.*

            The Indian Army regiments:
            Cavalry:
            The Governor General’s Bodyguard continues as the President of              India’s Bodyguard.*
            Skinner’s Horse in 1861 became the 1st Bengal Cavalry, in 1903 the              1st Duke of York’s Own Lancers (Skinner’s Horse), in 1922 the 1st              Duke of York’s Own Skinner’s Horse and from 1950 the 1st Horse of              the Indian Army.*
            8th Bengal Irregular Cavalry in 1861 became the 6th Bengal Cavalry,              in 1906 the 6th King Edward’s Own Cavalry, in 1922 the 18th King              Edward’s Own Cavalry and from 1950 the 18th Cavalry of the Indian              Army.*
            All the regular Bengal cavalry regiments that fought at Ferozeshah              and 9th Irregular Cavalry ceased to exist in 1857.*
            Infantry:
            33rd Bengal Native Infantry in 1861 became 4th Bengal Native              Infantry, in 1903 4th Prince Albert Victor’s Rajputs, in 1922 2nd              Battalion (Prince Albert Victor’s) 7th Rajput Regiment and in 1950              2nd Battalion, the Rajput Regiment of the Indian Army.*
            42nd Bengal Native Infantry in 1861 became the 5th Light Infantry              and were disbanded in 1922.*
            47th Bengal Native Infantry in1861 became the 7th Bengal Light              Infantry, in 1903 7th Duke of Connaught’s Own Rajputs, in 1922 3rd              Battalion (Duke of Connaught’s Own) 7th Rajput Regiment and in 1950              3rd Battalion, the Rajput Regiment of the Indian Army.*
            The remaining Bengal infantry regiments that fought at Ferozeshah              ceased to exist in 1857.
            * These regiments have or had Ferozeshah as a battle honour.

            The order of battle of the Army of the Sutlej at the Battle of              Ferozeshah:
            Commander-in-Chief: General Sir Hugh Gough.
            Second in command: Sir Henry Hardinge, Governor General of Bengal.
            The Cavalry Division:
            First Brigade: Brigadier White; HM 3rd Ligh Dragoons, 4th and 9th              Bengal Light Cavalry.
            Second Brigade: Brigadier Gough; The Governor General’s Bodyguard              and 4th Bengal Light Cavalry.

            Infantry:
            First Division: Major General Sir Harry Smith.
            First Brigade: Brigadier Hicks; HM 31st Foot, 24th BNI and 47th BNI.
            Second Brigade: Brigadier Ryan; HM 50th Foot, 42nd BNI and 48th BNI.

            Second Division: Major General Sir Walter Gilbert.
            Third Brigade: Brigadier Taylor: HM 29th Foot, HM 80th Foot and 41st              BNI.
            Fourth Brigade: Brigadier McClaren: 1st Bengal Europeans, 16th BNI              and 45th BNI.

            Third Division:
            Brigadier General Wallace; HM 9th Foot and 73rd BNI.

            Fourth Division: Major General Sir John Littler.
            Seventh Brigade: Brigadier Reid; HM 62nd Foot, 12th BNI and 14th BNI.
            Eighth Brigade: Brigadier Ashburnham; 33rd BNI, 44th BNI and 54th              BNI. 







            A parade of the Wiltshire Regiment in 1933 commemorating 
            the Battle of Ferozeshah; the colours being handed to two sergeants

​ Account: 

            Following the Battle of Moodkee on 18th December 1845, Lal Singh’s              force of Sikhs withdrew to Ferozeshah, eight miles to the North-West              of the Moodkee battlefield, occupying strong fortified positions              around the village.
While his British and Bengali troops dealt with the casualties of              Moodkee General Gough sent instructions to General Littler,              commanding the garrison in Ferozepore, to march out of the town,              evading the blockading force of Tej Singh, and join him before              Ferozeshah on 21st December 1845 for the second battle with Lal              Singh’s force.
On the day after Moodkee, reinforcements marched in from              Ludhiana: HM 29th Foot, 1st Bengal Europeans and two regiments of              Bengal Native Infantry with two howitzers. 
Gough’s army was in place in the morning of the 21st waiting for              Littler. Gough decided to launch his attack without Littler’s men,              but General Sir Henry Hardinge used his authority as Governor              General to veto an attack until the Ferozepore garrison arrived.
It was early afternoon when Littler arrived with 2 Bengal Light              Cavalry regiments, HM 62nd Foot, 5 Bengal Native Infantry              battalions, 2 troops of horse artillery and 2 field batteries at              1.30pm, increasing Gough’s army to 18,000 troops and 65 guns.              Littler’s division took up position on the extreme left of the line              with his cavalry regiments in support. 
At 3 pm, with only two hours of daylight left, Gough opened the              battle with an artillery bombardment, which the Sikh answered              vigorously. As in most of the early battles of the war the Sikh              artillery had the best of the exchange.







The Sikh fortified position at the Battle of Ferozeshah 

​ The fortifications around Ferozeshah comprised a series of              trenches on a line of hillocks surrounding the village in a              rectangle. The Sikh gunners manned some 100 good quality guns that              they served with skill and devotion. It is not known how many Sikhs              were present in Ferozeshah, but they appear to have constituted a              powerful force.
At around 3.30pm Littler began an assault well in advance of the              rest of the army, moving his guns forward to engage the Sikhs at              closer range, his infantry regiments following in support. The              infantry emerged into the open plain 300 metres from the Sikh line              and were met with a heavy fire of grapeshot from the guns              (fragmented shot used on troops at close range to cause maximum              casualties). HM 62nd Foot led the assault, losing 160 casualties in              ten minutes. The regiment faltered and fell back, taking the native              infantry regiments with them. Littler’s attack had failed.







            HM 3rd King's Own Light Dragoons charging the Sikh fortifications at              the Battle of Ferozeshah

​ As Littler began his attack Gough ordered the rest of the British              and Bengali line to assault the Sikh lines. The regiments pushed              through the jungle under heavy artillery fire, emerging into the              dense smoke and dust of the open plain, lit by the flashes of the              Sikh gunfire.
            Part of the left of the line faltered under the heavy fire, but HM              9th Foot and the right hand division pressed on with the attack,              while a brigade from the reserve commanded by General Smith moved              forward to cover the gap left by the retreat of Littler’s brigade.
The attacking troops reached the Sikh entrenchments and pressed              through, although suffering heavy casualties, and captured and              spiked numbers of guns, before pushing on into the Sikh camp.
Here a large magazine exploded causing considerable confusion and              casualties. All over the Sikh camp tents were ablaze; stores of              gunpowder exploding in the gathering dusk. 
On the right of the British line Gough committed Brigadier              White’s cavalry brigade; HM 3rd King’s Own Light Dragoons, 4th              Bengal Light Cavalry (Lancers) and the 9th Bengal Irregular Cavalry,              to an attack on the corner of the fortifications. Considerably              reduced by their casualties at Moodkee, the 3rd charged through a              battery and the infantry positioned behind it, before breaking into              the Sikh camp and engaging in ferocious hand to hand combat with              crowds of swordsmen and matchlock men.







HM 62nd Regiment attacking the Sikh fortifications at the Battle              of Ferozeshah 

​ General Smith, after fighting through the Sikh camp, found              himself with a party of soldiers from his division on the far side              of Ferozeshah, where he was attacked throughout the night by the              Sikhs. He finally fought his way around the outside of the village              to the south side where he rejoined Gough and Hardinge as dawn              broke.
The fall of night forced the British and Bengali regiments to              withdraw from Ferozeshah, abandoning the Sikh camp and              fortifications, to pass the night as best they could among the              casualties of the day’s fighting, under the renewed fire of the Sikh              guns.
Gough and Hardinge spent the night in considerable anxiety,              Hardinge making hasty arrangements to destroy the state papers to              prevent them from falling into Sikh hands in the event of a British              defeat.
With dawn the drums and trumpets signaled a renewed attack on the              fortifications, but the Sikhs were falling back and Gough’s army              quickly re-took Ferozeshah.
Battered and exhausted the British and Bengali regiments ceased              fighting, cheering Gough and Hardinge as they rode down the ranks,              troopers carrying captured Khalsa flags.
But the battle was not finished. To the stupefaction of Gough’s              men, onto the field marched the army of Tej Singh, the force that              Littler had evaded in the previous days to escape from Ferozepore.              The British and Bengali troops were exhausted, their ammunition              almost entirely expended. Gough occupied the Sikh fortifications,              while a horse artillery battery engaged the Sikhs to keep them away              for as long as possible. Then the line stood waiting for the Sikh              attack, hardly expecting to be able to resist a determined assault.





The King's Own 3rd Light Dragoons in the second of many charges              they delivered during the Sikh Wars 

​ Tej Singh’s artillery conducted a long and galling bombardment of              Gough’s line, followed by an advance by his cavalry against Gough’s              right. Gough ordered Brigadier White to attack the Sikhs and in one              last effort HM 3rd Light Dragoons, 4th Bengal Light Cavalry and 9th              Bengal Irregular Cavalry urged their blown horses into the charge,              causing Tej Singh to abandon his assault and withdraw from the              battle field.
            A curious incident had occurred at the beginning of the day’s              crisis, when the assistant adjutant-general, Captain Lumley,              suffering it is thought from the sun and the stress of battle,              approached various regiments in turn and ordered them to march to              Ferozepore, with the result that at the worst moment of the hard              fought two day battle a significant portion of Gough’s army left the              field. It may be that the sight of those forces marching away              towards Ferozepore contributed to Tej Singh abandoning his attack              and leaving the field.
The battle ended at around 4pm on 22nd December 1845, Gough and              his army, now virtually without ammunition, reprieved from an attack              that would have been hard to resist.







            The camp of the British and Bengal regiments during the night after              the first day of the Battle of Ferozeshah

​ Casualties: The casualties in the British and Bengali              regiments were some 700 dead and 1,700 wounded, of which 1,207 were              European, including 115 officers. Among the dead were several staff              officers, including Major Broadfoot and Brigadier Taylor. 
HM 3rd King’s Own Light Dragoons lost 152 men and 60 horses.
            HM 9th Foot suffered 280 casualties.
            HM 62nd Foot suffered 299 casualties.
            HM 102nd Foot suffered 204 casualties.
            HM 29th Foot suffered 184 casualties.
            HM 31st Foot suffered 142 casualties.
            HM 50th Foot suffered 124 casualties.
            HM 80th Foot suffered 81 casualties.
            1st Bengal (European) Light Infantry suffered 204 casualties.
            Sikh casualties are thought to have been around 3,000. They lost 73              guns.
Follow-up: After the battle the Sikh army crossed the              Sutlej at Sobraon, while Gough led his army on to Ferozepore,              meeting there the demented Major Lumley and the regiments he had led              from the field. 
Only when reinforcements and additional ammunition arrived in the              New Year would Gough resume his offensive and attack the main Sikh              army in Sobraon.







            Sikh Akali religious warriors. The Akali were particularly              formidable opponents at the Battle of Ferozeshah

​ Regimental anecdotes and traditions: 
            • HM 3rd King’s Light Dragoons made numerous charges in the three              days of fighting at Moodkee and Ferozeshah, losing half their              strength in casualties. At Ferozepore the 3rd performed the unusual              feat for cavalry of charging fortifications and taking them. After              the battle the Governor General, Sir Henry Hardinge, praised the              regiment for their conduct.
            • HM 62nd Foot suffered 7 officers killed and 11 wounded in the              battle, leaving the regiment effectively without officers. It became              a regimental custom on the anniversary of the battle to hand the              colours to the care of the non-commissioned officers for 24 hours in              commemoration.
            • During the battle a particularly hard fought action took place              over a black Akali standard, with several officers and soldiers of              HM 80th killed in the struggle to capture it. The standard was              finally taken by Colour Sergeant Kirkland of HM 29th Foot and hangs              in Litchfield Cathedral.
            • When news of the battle reached London the Prime Minister Sir              Robert Peel talked of a Pyrrhic victory. The Duke of Wellington said              “Gough has lost a good many men; but what of it? You must lose              officers and men if you have to fight a great battle. At Assaye I              lost a third of my force.”
            • Present with the British generals at the beginning of the battle              was Prince Waldemar of Prussia, son of the King of Prussia and              colonel of the Prussian Guard Dragoons. One of the prince’s              companions, Herr Hoffmeister, was killed during the fighting. At the              end of the first day, fearing that the Sikhs would win the battle              when it renewed the next day, Sir Henry Hardinge sent the prince to              the rear out of harm’s way.
            • Sir Henry Hardinge ensured that 1,000 mince pies were distributed              to the British troops on Christmas Day 1845.
            • The Sikhs mined their camp so that casualties were caused to the              British and Bengali soldiers as they ransacked the tents.
            • Many of the captured Sikh guns were brass and decorated with              Persian inscriptions.
            • Although threatened with trial by court martial Major Lumley, the              assistant adjutant general who ordered several regiments to leave              the battlefield at the moment of crisis as Tej Singh’s army marched              up, was medically discharged and sent home.
            • Several British regiments commemorate the Battle of Ferozeshah: in              particular the 62nd, which became the Wiltshire Regiment and the              80th which became the South Staffordshire Regiment. The successors              of both these regiments still mount parades on the anniversary of              the battle. In the Wiltshire Regiment the colours were handed to two              sergeants who held them for 24 hours in commemoration of the high              officer casualties at Ferozeshah which led to the colours being              taken over by sergeants.
Medals and decorations: British and Indian soldiers who              took part in the First Sikh War received the medal entitled “Sutlej              Campaign, 1845-6”.Where a soldier took part in one or more battles, his medal would              have the first battle inscribed on the reverse side of the medal and              the remaining battles on clasps on the ribbon.
The battles being described as: “Moodkee 1845”, “Ferozeshuhur              1845”, “Aliwal 1946” and “Sobraon 1846”. 
Description of the medal: 
            Obverse.-Crowned head of Queen Victoria. Legend: “Victoria Regina.”
            Reverse.-Victory standing beside a trophy, holding a wreath in her              outstretched hand. Inscription: “Army of the Sutlej.”
            Mounting.-Silver scroll bar and swivel.
            Ribbon: Dark blue with crimson edges. 1 ¼ inches wide.
References:
            • History of the British Army by Fortescue.
            • History of British Cavalry by the Marquis of Angelsey.





                    The Sutlej Campaign Medal (1845-1846)​


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## spnadmin (Jun 3, 2009)

There they are -- Akaali - Nihangs. Same turbans as the Gocharaa it seems.


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## Gyani Jarnail Singh (Jun 3, 2009)

Heratfelt Thanks Aman ji..for bringing these to SPN...just GREAT.


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