Second Anglo-Sikh War

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Second Anglo-Sikh War
Ramnagar – Chillianwala – Multan – Gujarat

The Second Anglo-Sikh War took place in 1848 and 1849, between parts of Punjab and the British East India Company. It resulted in the subjugation of the Sikh kingdom and the annexation of the Punjab and what subsequently became the North-West Frontier Province by the East India Company.

Contents 1 Background to the War 1.1 Aftermath of the first Anglo-Sikh War 2 First outbreak 2.1 Subsequent outbreaks 3 Course of the War 3.1 The last battles 4 Aftermath 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Background to the War

The Sikh kingdom of the Punjab was consolidated and expanded by Maharaja Ranjit Singh during the early years of the nineteenth century. During the same period, the British East India Company's territories had been expanded until they were adjacent to the Punjab. Ranjit Singh maintained an uneasy alliance with the East India Company, while increasing the military strength of the Khalsa (the Sikh Army, which also saw itself as the embodiment of the state and religion), to deter the British from interference with his state.

When Ranjit Singh died in 1839, the Punjab began to fall into disorder. There was a succession of short-lived rulers at the central Durbar (court), and increasing tension between the Khalsa and the Durbar. The East India Company began to build up its strength on the borders of the Punjab. Eventually, the increasing tension goaded the Khalsa to invade British territory, under weak and very possibly treacherous leaders. After the hard-fought First Anglo-Sikh War ended in defeat for the Sikh army, the Punjab was partially governed by the East India Company.

[edit] Aftermath of the first Anglo-Sikh War

The infant Maharaja Duleep Singh was allowed to retain his throne, but a British Resident (Sir Henry Lawrence) now controlled the policy of the Durbar. The Sikhs were made to cede some valuable territory (the Jullundur Doab) to the British and the Maharaja Gulab Singh, the ruler of Jammu, was allowed to acquire Kashmir from the Sikh kingdom by a large cash payment to the East India Company. These conditions naturally humiliated and angered the Sikhs.

At the same time, some of the Khalsa had to be kept in being, since many predominantly Muslim areas of the Sikh kingdom threatened to ally with Dost Mohammed Khan in Afghanistan or to lapse into disorder, and only force of arms could keep them in subjugation. The British were unwilling to incur the financial and manpower costs of using large numbers of British or Bengal units for this task. The leaders of the Khalsa naturally resented carrying out the orders of comparatively junior British officers and administrators, who at the same time were imposing British administation and weakening the authority of the Sikh Sirdars (generals).

Early in 1848, Sir Henry Lawrence, who was ill, departed on leave to England. Although it was assumed that his younger brother, John Lawrence would be appointed in his place, the Governor-General of India Lord Dalhousie, appointed Sir Frederick Currie instead, who was unfamiliar with military matters and with the Punjab. While the Lawrences were comparatively informal and familiar with the junior officers who were Residents and Agents in the various districts of the Punjab, Currie was stiffer in manner, and inclined to treat his subordinates' reports with caution. In particular, he refused to act on reports from James Abbott, the Political Agent in Hazara, who was convinced that Sirdar Chattar Singh Attariwalla who commanded the troops from the Khalsa in Hazara, was actively plotting rebellion or sedition together with other Sirdars.

[edit] First outbreak

The city of Multan, although part of the Sikh kingdom, had nevertheless been governed by a Hindu viceroy, Dewan Mulraj. After the end of the First Anglo-Sikh war, Mulraj had behaved independently. When required by the British-controlled Durbar in Lahore to pay taxes and revenues which had been owed for some years, Mulraj attempted to abdicate in favour of his son, so as to maintain his family's position as rulers. Currie instead imposed a Sikh governor, with a British Political Agent, Lieutenant Patrick Vans Agnew.

On April 18, 1848, Vans Agnew arrived at Multan, with another officer, Lieutenant William Anderson, and a small escort. Mulraj handed over the keys of the fortress, but as Vans Agnew's party attempted to take possession, they were attacked by some of Mulraj's irregular troops, and a mob from the city. Both officers were wounded, their escort fled, and the officers were murdered by the mob the next day.

Whatever machinations Mulraj had been making, it is accepted that he did not instigate these attacks. Nevertheless, he regarded himself as committed to rebellion by the events. He presented Vans Agnew's head to the Sirdar who Currie had tried to impose, and told him to take it back to Lahore. The news of the killings spread over the Punjab, and unrest and disquiet increased. Large numbers of Sikh soldiers deserted the regiments loyal to the Durbar to join those prepared to rebel.

[edit] Subsequent outbreaks

Lieutenant Herbert Edwardes, the British Political Agent in Bannu, had been near Multan in April but was unable to save Vans Agnew. He hastily levied some Pakhtun irregular troops, and together with some loyal Sikh regiments, defeated Mulraj's army near the Chenab River on June 18 and drove them back to the city. His force was unable to attack the city's fortifications. On August 18, he was joined by a small force from the Bengal Army under General Whish to begin the siege of the city.

Meanwhile, on learning of the events at Multan, Currie (supported by Dalhousie, the Governor General, and Sir Hugh Gough, the Commander in Chief of the Bengal Army) declined to order up major units of the East India Company to the Punjab until the end of the Hot Weather and Monsoon seasons, which would not be until November. Instead, Currie ordered several detachments of the Khalsa to suppress Mulraj's rebellion. To the alarm of several Political Agents, the largest contingent was commanded by Sirdar Sher Singh Attariwalla, Chattar Singh's son.

Some Agents were already taking action to forestall outbreaks of rebellion. Captain John Nicholson, leading irregular cavalry, seized the vital fort of Attock on the Indus River from its Sikh garrison while they were still undecided whether to rebel. His force then linked up with James Abbott's local Hazara levies to capture the Margalla Hills which separated Hazara from the other parts of the Punjab. When Chattar Singh openly rebelled in August, his force was unable to leave Hazara without fighting a battle. Although Chattar Singh twice succeeded in capturing the passes through the hills, he nevertheless failed to take advantage of this (possibly because of dissension among his senior officers and continual harassment by pro-British irregulars), and retreated into Hazara.

On September 14, Sher Singh's army openly rebelled at Multan. He did not join Mulraj however. He and Mulraj conferred at a carefully chosen neutral site, at which it was agreed that Mulraj would give some money from his treasury to Sher Singh's army, which would march north into the Central Punjab and ultimately rejoin Chattar Singh. Meanwhile, Whish was forced to raise the siege until he was reinforced.

[edit] Course of the War

As the Cold Weather season began in November, substantial contingents from the East India Company's armies at last took the field.

A contingent from the Bombay Army (administered separately from the Bengal Army) had been ordered to reinforce Whish and besiege Multan. This force was delayed by a petty squabble over seniority and could arrive only when its first commander (who was senior to Whish and refused to serve under him) was replaced by a more junior officer. Whish's army was supplied and reinforced by sea and river transport up the rivers Indus and Chenab.

Sir Hugh Gough led his main force against Sher Singh. Sher Singh's army held the line of the River Chenab against Gough for several weeks. On November 22, the Sikhs repelled a British cavalry attack on their bridgehead at Ramnagar. Although they subsequently withdrew from their exposed bridgehead, the Sikhs regarded the battle as a victory and their morale was raised.

Gough forced his way across the Chenab in December, but then paused. Meanwhile, Chattar Singh had at last recaptured the fort at Attock by treachery, and this allowed him to march west and then south from Hazara. Dalhousie had earlier ordered Gough to halt operations while waiting for Multan to fall, which would allow Whish to reinforce him. Learning of the fall of Attock, he instead ordered Gough to destroy Sher Singh's army before it could link up with Chattar Singh.

Gough unexpectedly encountered Sher Singh's position near the Jhelum River on January 13, 1849. Sher Singh had cunningly concealed his army, and Gough was faced with the choice of withdrawing, or attacking when it was late in the day. Gough unhesitatingly took the latter course. The resulting Battle of Chillianwala was desperately fought. Gough's troops, attacking into thick scrub without artillery support, suffered heavy losses. Some units lost their colours (which was regarded as a disgrace) and part of one British cavalry regiment fled in panic, resulting in the loss of four guns, also reckoned a humiliation. Sher Singh's army was also hard hit, losing twelve of its own guns, but after both armies had faced each other for three days without renewing the action, both withdrew. Sher Singh continued northwards to join Chattar Singh near Rawalpindi, which made the battle into a strategic British defeat.

There was much alarm at the losses Gough had suffered. His tactics were severely criticised and he was replaced by General Charles James Napier, who could not arrive for several weeks. Some junior officers reckoned that the true cause of the setback lay lower down the ranks. Promotion in both the British and Bengal armies came slowly, and by the time officers were appointed to command regiments and brigades, they were too old, and worn out by harsh climate and disease. At Chillianwala, several senior officers had proved unable to command their units effectively.

[edit] The last battles

Meanwhile, Whish's force completed their siege works around Multan, their batteries opened fire and made a breach in the defences, which the infantry stormed. Mulraj surrendered on January 22. He was to be imprisoned for the remainder of his life. The ending of the siege allowed Whish to reinforce Gough. In particular, Whish's division had large numbers of heavy guns, which the Sikhs lacked.

As Gough's army closed in on the Khalsa, Sher Singh attempted a last outflanking move, sending cavalry to cross the Chenab, and re-cross in Gough's rear. They were thwarted by British irregular cavalry led by Harry Burnett Lumsden and William Hodson. On February 13, Gough attacked the Khalsa at the Battle of Gujarat. Here, he began the battle with a three-hour bombardment from 100 guns, which drove the Sikhs from their hasty entrenchments. He then sent his cavalry and horse artillery after them in a pursuit which lasted for four hours.

On March 12, Chattar Singh and Sher Singh surrendered near Rawalpindi. Some 20,000 men (mainly irregular cavalry) laid down their arms. Dost Mohammed Khan of Afghanistan had half-heartedly sent some tribes into the Punjab to fight against the British. After learning of the Battle of Gujarat, they withdrew.

On March 30, Duleep Singh held his last court at Lahore, at which he signed away all claims to the rule of the Punjab. A proclamation by Dalhousie, annexing the Punjab, was then read out. For his services the Earl of Dalhousie received the thanks of the British parliament and a step in the peerage, as marquess. Gough also received rewards for his services, although his tactics at Chillianwala were to be questioned for the remainder of his life. Many of the junior British Political Agents who had organised local resistance to the Khalsa were to have distinguished later careers.

[edit] Aftermath

The Sikh defeat had resulted from several causes. Their administration of the population of the Punjab had been poor, which meant that their large armies found it difficult to find enough food. The mainly Muslim inhabitants of the frontier districts who had themselves been subjugated by the Khalsa in earlier years readily fought under British officers against the Sikhs, continually disrupting their movements. Finally, the East India Company had brought overwhelming force against them.

The Sikh Wars gave the two sides a mutual respect for each other's fighting prowess (although the war itself had been unchivalrously fought - Sikhs took no prisoners at Chillianwala, and the British had taken no prisoners at Gujarat).

Muslimms and Sikhs from the Punjab were enrolled into the Punjab Irregular Force under British command, and would fight for the East India Company during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (they had little sympathy with the high-caste Hindus who made up much of the Bengal Army which mutinied and sparked widespread rebellions). Regarded by many British as "martial races", they fought for Britain in many other campaigns and wars up until Indian Independence in 1947.

[edit] See also

• First Anglo-Sikh War (1845–1846)
• 29th Regiment of Foot
• Bibi Khem Kaur Dhillon

[edit] References

• Queen Victoria's Little Wars, Byron Farwell, Wordsworth Military Library, ISBN 1-84022-216-6
• Soldier Sahibs, Charles Allen, Abacus, ISBN 0-349-11456-0

[edit] External links

• Second Anglo-Sikh War
• Sikhs in British Empire
• The Anglo Sikh Wars