Chapter I: Front Matter

THE STORY OF THE GUIDES

BY

COL. G.J. YOUNGHUSBAND, C.B.

QUEEN'S OWN CORPS OF GUIDES
AUTHOR OF "EIGHTEEN HUNDRED MILES ON A BURMESE TAT"
"INDIAN FRONTIER WARFARE," "THE RELIEF OF CHITRAL"
"THE PHILIPPINES AND ROUND ABOUT," ETC., ETC.

_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS_

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON
1908

Richard Clay and Sons, Limited,
BREAD STREET HILL, E.C., AND
BUNGAY, SUFFOLK.

_First Edition, March 1908._
_Reprinted April 1908._

DEDICATED

BY SPECIAL PERMISSION

TO

HIS MAJESTY KING EDWARD VII

COLONEL-IN-CHIEF

QUEEN'S OWN CORPS OF GUIDES

The Author's grateful thanks are due to the many past and present officers of the Guides who have helped him in this little book. And especially to General Sir Peter Lumsden and G.R. Elsmie, Esq., authors of _Lumsden of the Guides_; and to the _Memoirs of General Sir Henry Dermot Daly_, written by his son, Major H. Daly.

G.J.Y.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.

FIRST STEPS IN WAR.

Sir Henry Lawrence's idea--Stocks and tunics--A new departure--Selection of title--Duties--Harry Lumsden--His methods of training--Baptism of fire--A gallant exploit--Working for the Sikhs--Capture of Babuzai--Death of Duffadar Fatteh Khan--The spring of 1848--Guides unravel a plot--General Khan Singh hanged--The Maharani deported 1

CHAPTER II.

THE FIGHTING AROUND MOOLTAN AND AFTER.

The Insurrection at Mooltan--Murder of Agnew and Anderson--Herbert Edwardes's great achievement--A guide or two with nerves of steel--Siege of Mooltan--Guides capture twelve guns--Ressaldar Fatteh Khan, Khuttuk--His historic charge--With seventy men routs a brigade--Arrival of Bombay troops--Mooltan stormed and taken--Lumsden attacks and annihilates Ganda Singh's force--Battle of Gujrat--Pursuit of the Sikhs--End of Second Sikh War 18

CHAPTER III.

THE CAPTURE OF THE FORT OF GORINDGHAR.

The fort described--Seventy-two guns and a battalion of infantry--British determine to capture it--Rasul Khan and Guides' infantry sent in advance--The strategy of the Subadar--Effects an entry--A day of anxiety--Plans for the night--The sudden onslaught--Capture of the fort--The Union Jack--Rasul Khan's reward 31

CHAPTER IV.

ON THE FRONTIER IN THE 'FIFTIES.

Guides increased--Fatteh Khan, Khuttuk, again--The night attack--Staunchly repulsed--Thirty against two hundred--With Sir Colin Campbell--Nawadand--The enemy attack in force--A cavalry picquet--Lieutenant Hardinge to the front--His splendid charge with twenty men--Hodson of Hodson's Horse--Attack on Bori--Lieutenant Turner's predicament--Gallantry of Dr. Lyell--Hodson's charge--Celebrated spectators 39

CHAPTER V.

THE STORY OF DILAWUR KHAN.

Men accustomed to look after themselves--Shooting for a vacancy in the Guides--No fiddlers and washermen--Rudyard Kipling's _Bhisti_--The brave Juma decorated--Enter Dilawur Khan--A noted outlaw--Lumsden pursues him--They "talk things over"--The outlaw enlists--The goose-step--Dilawur the doctrinarian--The sinking boat--Nearly killed as a Kafir--Becomes a Christian--His last duty--A brave but pathetic end 51

CHAPTER VI.

THE GREAT MARCH TO DELHI.

The Mutiny of the 55th Native Infantry--Their tragic fate--The Guides start for Delhi--Daly's diary--A fight by the way--An average of twenty-seven miles a day--Arrival at Delhi--Every officer killed or wounded first day--The summer of '57--Return to the Frontier--A warm welcome--Three hundred and fifty out of six hundred left behind--Complement of officers four times over killed or wounded 65

CHAPTER VII.

TWENTY YEARS OF MINOR WARS.

With Sir Sidney Cotton against the Hindustani fanatics--Fierce hand to hand fighting--Dressed to meet their Lord--Against the Waziris in 1860 under Sir Neville Chamberlain--Fierce attack on the Guides' camp--Lumsden stands the shock--The charge of the five hundred--The Guides clear the camp with the bayonet--Heavy casualties--Lumsden's last fight--A story or two--Lord William Beresford--The Crag picquet--Colonel Dighton Probyn--A boat expedition--Cavignari's methods--Surprise of Sappri 76

CHAPTER VIII.

THE MASSACRE OF THE GUIDES AT KABUL.

The Cavignari mission--Escort of the Guides--Cordial reception--The clouds gather--Insubordination of Herati regiments--The storm bursts--Seventy men against thousands--Defence of the Residency--The fight begins--Cavignari's bravery and death--Messages to the Amir--The attempt of Shahzada Taimus--The enemy's guns arrive--The distant witness--The three officers lead a charge--Kelly's death--Another charge by Hamilton and Jenkyns--Jenkyns killed--Hamilton's last charge and heroic death--The last bright flash--Retribution 97

CHAPTER IX.

THE AFGHAN WAR, 1878-80.

The Guides under Sir Frederick Roberts--Their devotion to him--Under Sir Sam Browne at Ali-Musjid--Jenkins enlists an enemy--"No riding school for me"--Battle of Fattehabad--Wigram Battye's death--Hamilton's fine leading--He wins the V.C.--The Guides' march to Sherpur--They pass through the investing army--Assaults on the Takht-i-Shah and Asmai heights--Captain Hammond receives the V.C.--The final assault of the enemy on Sherpur--Defeat and pursuit--The second battle of Charasiab--A fine fight--Roberts marches to Kandahar 117

CHAPTER X.

WAR STORIES.

Fighting against his own people--The temptation--The sentry succumbs--Seventeen sent in pursuit--Their return after two years--Duffadar Faiz Talab's adventure--An unwilling General--His unhappy position--A narrow escape--Saved by a British officer 135

CHAPTER XI.

THE ADVENTURES OF SHAH SOWAR AND ABDUL MAJID.

Shah Sowar meets "Smith"--They depart together--Sheikh Abdul Qadir, late Smith--A travelling Prince--The first pitfall--Escape--Tea and diplomacy--The Evil Spirit--The Chief with a thousand spears--The Englishman's disguise fails--Death in the morning--A hairbreadth escape--Abdul Majid--The fatal shoes--The compass down the well--A night with his jailer--A stroke for freedom--A later meeting--Peace and jollification 144

CHAPTER XII.

THE RELIEF OF CHITRAL.

The beleaguered garrison--Two hundred miles from anywhere--Rapid mobilisation--Kelly's fine feat--Storming the Malakand--The Guides' charge in the Swat Valley--Roddy Owen--The Panjkora--Position of the Guides--The bridge breaks--The fight in retreat--Seven thousand held at bay--A battle on the stage--Colonel Fred. Battye mortally wounded--A night of suspense--Defeated by star-shells--Death of Capt. Peebles--Action of Mundah--Relief of Chitral 160

CHAPTER XIII.

THE MALAKAND, 1897.

A sudden call on the Guides--Prompt departure and fine march--Days and nights of constant hand-to-hand fighting--Story of the trouble--Great bravery of the enemy--Repulsed again and again with slaughter--Reinforcements arrive--Sir Bindon Blood--Relief of Chakdara--Its splendid defence--A word for the British subaltern--The fight at Landaki--MacLean's heroic death--Three V.C.s in one day 172