What happened at the Battle of Chillianwala?
On 13 January 1849 Sir Hugh Gough's East India Company army attacked Sher Singh's Sikh army in thick scrub near the river Jhelum, late in the afternoon. The Company lost more than 2,300 men, four guns and several colors, held part of the field and then fell back to Chillianwala for the night. Both sides claimed victory; the war was decided at Gujrat in February 1849.1
On 13 January 1849, near the village of Chillianwala close to the river Jhelum in the Punjab, the East India Company's army under General Sir Hugh Gough attacked the Khalsa, the army of the Sikh Empire, led by Raja Sher Singh Attariwala. The fighting began in the middle of the afternoon in thick thorny scrub and lasted until dark. By nightfall both armies were still in the field, both claimed the victory, and the Company had lost more than 2,300 men, one of the bloodiest battles the Company ever fought.2
Part of Battles of India · Before: Assaye, 1803 · Next: Saragarhi, 1897
Who won the Battle of Chillianwala and why?
Neither side won outright. Gough held part of the field and took many guns, so he claimed victory; the Sikhs shattered one infantry brigade, routed a cavalry brigade, recovered most of their guns and kept their army intact, so they claimed it too. Blind fighting in dense scrub, a late start and a cavalry panic denied Gough a decisive result.3
The road to Chillianwala
The First Anglo-Sikh War of 1845 to 1846 left the Sikh state at Lahore beaten and under the control of a British Resident, Sir Henry Lawrence, who exiled Maharani Jind Kaur, mother of the boy ruler Duleep Singh. In April 1848 two British officers sent to take over the province of Multan from its governor, Diwan Mulraj, were murdered by a crowd, and Mulraj was pushed into open revolt.4 › Battle of Mudki, 1845
Raja Sher Singh was sent with Lahore troops to help put the revolt down, but in September 1848 he went over to the rebels. Ganda Singh, the Sikh historian, links his change of side to the humiliation of his father, Chattar Singh, governor of Hazara, at the hands of the British officer James Abbott. Thousands of disbanded Khalsa soldiers joined him, and a local revolt became what the Victorian historian G. B. Malleson called a national rising.5
Gough crossed into the Punjab in November 1848. On 22 November Sher Singh beat off a British attack at Ramnagar on the Chenab, an action the Sikhs counted as a victory; in December the Sikhs fell back toward the Jhelum. Then Chattar Singh's troops, helped by an Afghan force, took the fortress of Attock, and the danger was that father and son would unite.6
The decision to attack
Gough had meant to wait for the troops besieging Multan before he fought again. When the news of Attock arrived on 10 January, the political officer at his headquarters, Major Mackeson, urged him to strike at Sher Singh before Chattar Singh could join him, and the Governor-General, Lord Dalhousie, had already written that he would be glad of such a blow. Gough judged his army strong enough to overthrow Sher Singh unaided, and on 12 January he marched to Dinga, a few miles from the Sikh position.7
The Sikhs held a line about six miles long west of Chillianwala, with the Jhelum behind them. Its northern end rested on the broken heights around Rasul, its southern end on dense jungle, and its regular troops held a chain of villages in between. Gough's plan on the morning of 13 January was to occupy Chillianwala, drive in the Sikh outposts and attack the next day, once the ground had been reconnoitered.8
The armies and their commanders
Gough, close to seventy and already the victor of the first Sikh war, commanded British regiments and sepoys of the Bengal Army: a cavalry division under Sir Joseph Thackwell, the infantry divisions of Sir Walter Gilbert and Brigadier-General Colin Campbell, and a strong artillery. Fortescue counts about 12,000 men and 66 guns available on the day; Gough's grandson and Innes put the whole force at about 14,000.9
Sher Singh's numbers are far less certain. Mackeson's intelligence, quoted in Gough's despatch, gave him 30,000 to 40,000 men with 62 guns; Fortescue reckons about 30,000 with 62 guns; the Queen's Royal Hussars Museum gives 35,000 and 65 guns; Malleson, who thought the official figure greatly exaggerated, puts the Sikhs at about 23,000 and reckons that they should have been counted at 20,000 to 25,000. Besides his regular battalions Sher Singh had a mass of irregular horse and levies.10
Battle forced on Gough
The army reached Chillianwala about midday and dispersed a Sikh outpost on the mound beside the village. While the camp was being laid out, Sikh horse artillery opened fire; Gough answered with his heavy guns, and the reply from nearly the whole Sikh line showed that the Sikhs had moved forward from their entrenchments into the scrub. Gough concluded that he could not camp under their guns, and he ordered an immediate attack. Fortescue notes that it was already about two o'clock, and that an earlier march would have left daylight to follow up a victory.11
After about an hour of artillery fire the infantry went forward at around three o'clock, Campbell's division on the left, Gilbert's on the right, with a cavalry brigade on each flank. The thick, thorny scrub hid the Sikh guns and broke the brigades into small groups that soon lost touch with one another.12
The 24th Foot at the Sikh guns
Campbell decided he could not control both his brigades in the jungle. He took personal charge of the left brigade and left Brigadier Pennycuick to lead the right, having told the 24th Foot that the bayonet must do the work. The 24th, a strong regiment of young soldiers, pushed on so fast that it outstripped the battery meant to support it and the two sepoy battalions on its flanks, and it reached the Sikh guns breathless and alone.13
The 24th took the guns at the point of the bayonet, but a Sikh counterattack drove it out again with heavy losses. Pennycuick was killed, and his son was killed beside him; the commanding officer of the 24th, Lieutenant-Colonel Brookes, fell close to the guns. Gough and Innes give the regiment 13 officers killed and 10 wounded, with 231 men killed and 266 wounded; Fortescue writes of 21 officers and nearly 500 men down, almost half of them dead; the National Army Museum gives 515 casualties, 238 of them killed. The 25th and 45th Native Infantry on either side were thrown back too.14
Campbell, Gilbert and the cavalry
On the left Campbell led Hoggan's brigade forward in good order, with artillery support. It drove off Sikh cavalry, wheeled to its right across the Sikh line and rolled it up, taking thirteen guns, until it reached the batteries that had broken Pennycuick and met Gilbert's men. On the far left a squadron of the 3rd Light Dragoons under Captain Unett charged through a body of Sikhs and cut its way back; Gough and Innes give the squadron's loss as 23 men killed and 17 wounded, Fortescue counts 40 down out of 106, and the official return lists 24 killed and 16 wounded for the whole 3rd Light Dragoons.15
On the right everything went wrong for the cavalry. Brigadier Pope, an elderly and infirm officer, led his brigade forward in a single line without supports, masking the fire of his own horse artillery. When Sikh horsemen came at it, a mistaken order, remembered as “threes about”, turned the brigade, and it galloped to the rear through its own guns. The Sikhs cut down gunners and carried off four guns. The fugitives were rallied by members of Gough's staff and, Rait records, by the army chaplain, the Reverend William Whiting.16
With its right flank laid open, Gilbert's division still did its work. Mountain's and Godby's brigades stormed the batteries in front of them, and when Sikh troops closed in behind Godby's brigade it faced about and drove them off with the bayonet. As darkness fell the Sikhs fell back toward the Jhelum and Rasul.17
Night on the field
Gough held his ground only until his wounded had been collected. With no water nearer than the villages and the night coming on wet, he withdrew to Chillianwala. In the dark the Sikhs and local villagers came back and carried off most of the captured guns: Gough brought in only twelve, and the National Army Museum puts the guns the Sikhs recovered at 28 of 40. They also killed British wounded left on the field, as the subaltern of Godby's brigade found when he rode over it four days later. Three regiments had lost colors: the 24th Foot and two Bengal sepoy battalions, the 30th and 56th Native Infantry.18
Counting the cost
The Company's losses were the heaviest of the campaign. Gough and Innes give 2,338 killed, wounded and missing; the official return published with Gough's despatch in The London Gazette lists 602 killed, 1,651 wounded and 104 missing, 2,357 in all; Fortescue and the National Army Museum round the figure to more than 2,300. Sikh losses were never counted. Rait, writing from Gough's papers, says they were never accurately estimated, and Gough wrote that he had rarely seen so many enemy dead on one field.19
The view from Calcutta and London
The news filled the government in India with dismay. Dalhousie wrote privately that the conduct of the battle was beneath the criticism of a militiaman like himself, and he called his commander in chief incompetent. In London the battle was taken as a disaster, and the government named Sir Charles Napier to replace Gough, within 24 hours according to the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, within 48 according to Fortescue. Gough insisted that he had won, since the Sikhs had been driven from their position.20
Gough's defenders, among them his grandson, blamed his subordinates: an unauthorized order that drew away a battery, Pennycuick's headlong advance, Campbell's decision to lead a brigade instead of his division, and Pope's collapse; Rait, too, blamed mistakes made against the commander's instructions. Fortescue, less kind, thought Gough had gained little: he could neither pursue in the dark nor hold the field for want of water, and the victory, if it could be called one, was little to boast of.21
The Sikh view
For the Khalsa, Chillianwala was the high point of the war. Ganda Singh writes plainly that Sher Singh and his father worsted the British there. Malleson writes that Sher Singh deliberately drew Gough into attacking through the jungle, sending his guns forward to provoke him, and Fortescue notes that the Sikh advance left Gough no course but to fight at once; the Sikhs kept their army and most of their guns. The National Army Museum argues that heavy British losses in battles like this one undermined the Company's aura of invincibility in India and emboldened some of those who rose against British rule in 1857.22
Aftermath: Gujrat and annexation
Rain fell for two or three days after the battle and turned the ground to mud. Chattar Singh's troops joined Sher Singh at Rasul, and Gough, now unwilling to attack again before the Multan troops arrived, waited. On 21 February 1849, reinforced and stronger in artillery than the Sikhs for the first time, he met the combined Sikh armies at Gujrat and routed them.23 › Battle of Gujrat, 1849
Sher Singh surrendered at Rawalpindi on 14 March, and at the end of March the Punjab was annexed to British India. Napier arrived only after the war had been decided, and Gough, made a viscount, went home. Sher Singh and his father were imprisoned until 1854; Sher Singh died at Benares in 1858.24
The battlefield today
An obelisk stands on the mound at Chillianwala where most of the British dead were buried. The Illustrated London News described it in 1853 as newly built of red stone by Captain Harley Maxwell of the Bengal Engineers, with an inscription that honors the Company's dead while recalling that countless warriors fell on both sides; Dawn, in 2014, dates an obelisk erected by the British government to 1871 and describes it as honoring the soldiers of both armies.25
Notes
A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.
- Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; National Army Museum, “Second Sikh War”. ↩
- Lord Gough, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49; Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; National Army Museum, “Second Sikh War”; The Queen's Royal Hussars Museum, “3rd Hussars”. ↩
- Lord Gough, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49; Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; Ganda Singh, The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism; National Army Museum, “Second Sikh War”. ↩
- National Army Museum, “Second Sikh War”; Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars. ↩
- National Army Museum, “Second Sikh War”; Ganda Singh, The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism; G. B. Malleson, The Decisive Battles of India from 1746 to 1849 Inclusive. ↩
- National Army Museum, “Second Sikh War”; Ganda Singh, The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars. ↩
- Lord Gough, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49; Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; National Army Museum, “Second Sikh War”. ↩
- J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; Lord Gough, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49; Illustrated London News. ↩
- Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; B. J. Hasrat, The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism; The Queen's Royal Hussars Museum, “3rd Hussars”. ↩
- Lord Gough, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49; Lord Gough, The London Gazette, issue 20952, 3 March 1849, pp. 743 to 747; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; The Queen's Royal Hussars Museum, “3rd Hussars”; G. B. Malleson, The Decisive Battles of India from 1746 to 1849 Inclusive. ↩
- J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; Lord Gough, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49; Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; Edward Joseph Thackwell, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49. ↩
- Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; Lord Gough, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49. ↩
- Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army. ↩
- Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; National Army Museum, “Second Sikh War”; Edward Joseph Thackwell, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49; Lord Gough, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49. ↩
- Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; The Queen's Royal Hussars Museum, “3rd Hussars”; Lord Gough, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49; Lord Gough, The London Gazette, issue 20952, 3 March 1849, pp. 743 to 747. ↩
- Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; Robert S. Rait, The Life and Campaigns of Hugh, First Viscount Gough, Field-Marshal; National Army Museum, “Second Sikh War”; Edward Joseph Thackwell, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49. ↩
- Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; Lord Gough, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49. ↩
- Edward Joseph Thackwell, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49; Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; Robert S. Rait, The Life and Campaigns of Hugh, First Viscount Gough, Field-Marshal; Lord Gough, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; National Army Museum, “Second Sikh War”; [D. A. Sandford], Leaves from the Journal of a Subaltern during the Campaign in the Punjaub, Sept. 1848 to March 1849. ↩
- Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; Lord Gough, The London Gazette, issue 20952, 3 March 1849, pp. 743 to 747; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; National Army Museum, “Second Sikh War”; Robert S. Rait, The Life and Campaigns of Hugh, First Viscount Gough, Field-Marshal; Lord Gough, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49. ↩
- J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; B. J. Hasrat, The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism; Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; Lord Gough, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49. ↩
- Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; Robert S. Rait, The Life and Campaigns of Hugh, First Viscount Gough, Field-Marshal. ↩
- Ganda Singh, The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism; G. B. Malleson, The Decisive Battles of India from 1746 to 1849 Inclusive; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; National Army Museum, “Second Sikh War”. ↩
- Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army; National Army Museum, “Second Sikh War”. ↩
- National Army Museum, “Second Sikh War”; Ganda Singh, The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism; Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars; B. J. Hasrat, The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism. ↩
- Illustrated London News; Shiraz Hassan, “Monument honours lives lost in battle 166 years ago”. ↩
Sources
- Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes, The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars (London: A. D. Innes, 1897), chapters IV and V, pp. 215-240; Internet Archive
- J. W. Fortescue, A History of the British Army, vol. XII (London: Macmillan, 1927), book XVI, chapter XXXVII, pp. 447-461; Internet Archive
- National Army Museum, London, “Second Sikh War”
- Lord Gough, despatch to the Governor-General, Chillianwallah, 16 January 1849, printed in Edward Joseph Thackwell, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49 (London: Bentley, 1851), appendix, pp. 299-310
- The Queen's Royal Hussars Museum, “3rd Hussars: Chillianwallah, 13th January 1849”
- Ganda Singh, The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, Punjabi University Patiala, “Sher Singh Atarivala (d. 1858)”
- G. B. Malleson, The Decisive Battles of India from 1746 to 1849 Inclusive (London: W. H. Allen, 1883), chapter XII, pp. 339, 354 and 370 to 380; Internet Archive
- Illustrated London News, 1 October 1853, p. 281, “Monument lately erected upon the battle-field of Chillianwallah”, transcribed by The Victorian Web
- B. J. Hasrat, The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, Punjabi University Patiala, “Gough, Sir Hugh (1779-1869)”
- Lord Gough, despatch of 16 January 1849 with the return of killed, wounded and missing, The London Gazette, issue 20952, 3 March 1849, pp. 743 to 747
- Edward Joseph Thackwell, Narrative of the Second Seikh War, in 1848-49 (London: Richard Bentley, 1851), the account of an aide-de-camp to the commander of the cavalry; Internet Archive
- Robert S. Rait, The Life and Campaigns of Hugh, First Viscount Gough, Field-Marshal, vol. 2 (Westminster: Archibald Constable, 1903), chapter on Chillianwallah; Internet Archive
- [D. A. Sandford], Leaves from the Journal of a Subaltern during the Campaign in the Punjaub, Sept. 1848 to March 1849 (Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1849), the journal of an officer of the 2nd Bengal European Regiment; Internet Archive
- Shiraz Hassan, Dawn, 28 December 2014, “Monument honours lives lost in battle 166 years ago”
