Battle of Ferozeshah
So close that Hardinge prepared to burn his papers. Tej Singh withdrew when the exhausted British were at his mercy.
Three days after Mudki, on 21 December 1845, Gough attacked the entrenched Sikh camp at Ferozeshah. The Sikh artillery was superb, and the British attack in the afternoon was beaten back with terrible losses; at night the British held only a corner of the Sikh camp, and the Governor-General, Sir Henry Hardinge, ordered his papers burned and expected surrender.
In the morning the British attacked again and took the camp. Then Tej Singh arrived with a fresh Sikh army, fully capable of destroying the exhausted British. After a cannonade, he withdrew without attacking.
British losses were some 2,400 dead and wounded. To the Sikhs, Ferozeshah is the battle that was won and thrown away by treachery.
The two Anglo-Sikh Wars
1845 – 1849- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
After Sobraon the Treaty of Lahore (March 1846) took the Jalandhar Doab and the hills, and Kashmir went to Gulab Singh. After Gujrat the Kingdom of Lahore was annexed, on 29 March 1849.
Same era
The British conquest: the Anglo-Sikh Wars
First battle of the First Anglo-Sikh War, fought at dusk among dust and scrub. The Sikh commanders, Lal Singh and Tej Singh, were later widely accused of betraying their own army.
A British victory on the Sutlej near Ludhiana.
The Sikhs fought with their backs to the Sutlej, and the bridge of boats behind them broke. Sham Singh Attariwala died with his men.
A British cavalry charge on the Chenab ran into the Sikh guns and was repulsed.
The revolt at Multan that began the Second Anglo-Sikh War. A British shell blew up the fort's main magazine in December, and Mulraj surrendered in January 1849.
One of the bloodiest battles the British fought in India. The losses led to calls in London for Gough's dismissal.
Overwhelming British artillery broke the Sikh army. On 29 March 1849 Punjab was annexed and the boy Maharaja Duleep Singh deposed.
The aftermath of the Battle of Ferozeshah.British Library, London · photo James Duffield Harding / After Charles Hardinge, 2nd Viscoun (Wikimedia Commons) ↗