Note 117 — BATTLE OF FEROZESHAH OR FEROZESHUHUR. 21st. and 22nd. December, 1845.

A vivid picture of this sanguinary struggle was given by the late Viscount Hardinge, in a letter to a member of his family, which was quoted by Sir Robert Peel, when the vote of thanks to the army was proposed in Parliament. “It was the most extraordinary of my life. I bivouacked with the men, without food or covering, and our nights are bitter cold. A burning camp in our front, our brave fellows lying down under a heavy cannonade which continued during the whole night, mixed with the wild cries of the Sikhs, our English hurrah, the tramp of men, and the groans of the dying. In this state, with a handful of men, who had carried the batteries the night before, I remained till morning, taking very short intervals of rest by lying down with various regiments in succession, to ascertain their temper and revive their spirits. I found myself again with my old friends of the 29th., 31st., 50th., and 9th., and all in good heart. My answer to all and every man was, that we must fight it out, attack the enemy vigorously at daybreak, beat him, or die honourably in the field. The gallant old General, kind-hearted and heroically brave, entirely coincided with me. During the night I occasionally called upon our brave English soldiers to punish the Sikhs when they came too close, and were imprudent; and when morning broke we went at it in true English style. Gough was on the right. I placed myself, and dear little Arthur by my side, in the centre, about thirty yards in front of the men, to prevent their firing, and we drove the enemy without a halt from one extremity of their camp to the other, capturing thirty or forty guns as we went along, which fired at twenty paces from us, and were served obstinately. The brave men drew up in an excellent line, and cheered Gough and myself as we rode up the line, the regimental colours lowering to me as on parade. The mournful part is the heavy loss I have sustained in my officers. I have had ten aides-de-camp hors de combat, five killed and five wounded. The fire of grape was very heavy from 100 pieces of cannon. The Sikh army was drilled by French officers, and the men the most warlike in India.”