Note 32 — HISTORICAL RECORD (continued 3)

Shortly after the storming of the village of Aliwal, an European officer in the Sikh service was given in charge to the regiment, having surrendered himself as a prisoner to an officer of one of the cavalry regiments in the Company’s service. He said his servant had galloped off with his charger, and, being rather stout, preferred giving himself up to the chance of running away; his name was John Potter, a native of Maidstone in Kent; he had deserted from the Company’s Artillery twenty years before, and was at this period a Colonel of Artillery in the Sikh service, having a native wife and family at Lahore. At first he was kept a very strict prisoner, but the severity of his confinement was gradually relaxed, and when the army encamped before Lahore, he was released altogether. The Governor-General afterwards permitted him to hold an appointment in the Sikh service.