Description

In December 1838, the Anglo-Indian Army mounted an invasion of Afghanistan, in what became known as the First Anglo-Afghan War. This was done to create a buffer state to protect the frontiers of British India from Russian and Persian encroachment. They promptly took most of the major cities, and by August 1839 placed Shah Shuja, the country’s corrupt and bloodthirsty deposed former ruler on the throne in Kabul.

The siege of Kahun (Kahan), a village in Kohlu District in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, was fought between May 16 until 28 September 28, 1840. The small outpost was held by a battalion under the leadership of Captain Lewis Brown and Lieutenant Walpole Clarke, who were eventually forced to capitulate due to harsh climate and hostile native force.

On May 16, 1840, Lieutenant Clarke and dozens of men were killed during a surprise attack by the Baloch, leaving the fort protected only by Captain Brown and 140 men, which were forced to leave the fort on September 28.

The present view depicts the battle, fought between the British soldiers and the Baloch on August 31, 1840, when soldiers under the leadership of Major Clibborn ascended the difficult Nuffoosk Pass (Naffusak Pass) from Kahun in insufferable heat, to face a large Baloch army, which was gathering on the top of the mountains, also depicted on the drawing. In the battle the Baloch suffered great loss, including among their leaders, as did the Clibborn’s men, many of which died of heat and thirst.

The scripts, mounted on the lower margin explain the details of the image and positions of various parts of the troops.

The annotation in the upper part of the mat, written with a different handwriting, reports somehow different result of the battle: [Erased] was successfully defended by Major Lewis Brown. / Kahun afterwards on The Colours of his Regt. the 5th Bo. N. I. [Bombay Native Infantry].

A similar view, made by George Boyd (1800-1850), was published in Rupert Kirk’s Views of Defiles and Mountain Passes in Affghanistan (London, 1841, plate 3).

The day of the battle is described in the journal of Captain Lewis Brown with following words:

31st-A day of great and almost overpowering excitement. It commenced about 5 o’clock last evening, when the plains and hills became alive with Beloochees, and at dark, large signal fires on the tops of all the hills. At day-break, large parties of horse and foot were seen hurrying across the plain to the Nuffoosk pass, on the opposite side of which, we soon learnt of the arrival of our convoy, from the report of one of their guns, a signal agreed upon between us; about sunrise, we saw collected on the very top of the pass about 2000 Beloochees, and others prowling about in all directions, the distance, as the crow flies from the fort to the pass, is about 4 miles; in fact, we were completely behind the scenes, and saw all that the Beloochees were at, and fully expecting to see our comrades crown the top every hour, we were highly amused and excited – 2 P.M. no sight of convoy coming over pass, they must be repairing the road up – 3 P.M. saw the shrapnell flying over the hill, and bursting in the midst of the enemy with the most beautiful effect – 5 P. M. still no sight of convoy. Beloochees still crossing the plains towards the seat of action. Erskine scattered a small body of them with a shell – 8 P.M. heavy firing of guns and musketry for 10 minutes, when all was silent for the rest of the night. I should be very sorry to pass many days of my lite like this – I would ten thousand times sooner have been in the thick of it; the excitement and suspense was beyond any thing I ever felt before; knowing the difficulty of the pass, and not seeing our people crown the top, I felt certain there must be much bloodshed going on.

Lewis Brown, Private Journal Kept by Captain Lewis Brown, of the Fifth Regiment while Occupying the British Out-Post at Kahun, 1841, p. 18).

A more detailed first-hand account of the battle is found in the book The First Afghan War and Its Causes by Sir Henry Marion Durand (1812-1871), a British army officer and colonial administrator:

The Surtoff mountain, the scene of Clerk’s disaster, was surmounted without opposition, and at ten a.m. of August 31, after a march of eight hours in accomplishing six or seven miles, the foot of the ascent of the Nuffoosk Pass was reached. The heat was intense, and both men and cattle were already suffering from the want of water. Unfortunately, instead of search being made, the word of the guides that there was no water was taken, and, ignorant that an abundant supply was within two miles of his position, Clibborn determined as soon as his rear guard came up to force the Nuffoosk Pass, looking to obtain water upon the Kahun side. By half-past one the rear guard came up, and by two o’clock, his dispositions being made, two companies and fifty dismounted troopers, under cover of the fire from the howitzers, and supported by reserves, gallantly ascended the pass. The road had been destroyed, breast-works thrown across it, and other minor obstacles prepared by the enemy. All these were surmounted, but not without fatigue, some loss from the enemy’s fire, and the disorder in evitable to scrambling up and over such ground, so that when the crest of the ridge was attained the men arrived out of breath, exhausted with heat, thirst, and the fatigue of the ascent. The Beloochees saw their advantage with a wild yell they rushed sword in hand upon the sepoys, dashed them down the side of the mountain, and covered its slope with their slain and wounded. The supports, seeing the fate of the storming party, retreated to the colours and guns on the plain, and could with difficulty be formed before the Beloochees boldly advanced and sought by a second gallant onset to complete their success but Stamford’s guns were well served and swept their front with deadly effect, whilst the sepoys likewise maintained a heavy musketry fire and stood firmly in support of the artillery. In this onset the Beloochees sustained a great slaughter, and, leaving several of their leaders amongst the fallen, were compelled to retreat upon the pass, of which they kept possession. Clibborn did not feel himself in a condition to follow up the enemy; his loss was severe, and his men were worn out; he therefore permitted the Beloochees to retire unmolested.

(Sir Henry Marion Durand, The First Afghan War and Its Causes, 1879, pp. 267-268).

The Drawing in Focus

The present drawing is attributed to Thomas Wingate (1807-1869), a lieutenant in the British Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War. Lithographs based on his drawings The storming of the fortress of Ghuznee in July 1839 and the assault on the fortress of Kelat in November 1839 were published in the series of 14 lithographs The Storming of Ghuznee and Kelat by Lieut. T. Wingate.

Wingate’s other drawings and his handwriting below the images correspond to the present drawing.

The drawing was either made in situ, or is an elaborate version of a draft, made at the time of the battle, probably also architected by Wingate.

Thomas Wingate was born in France to Captain George Thomas Wingate RN from Scotland, and Thomasina, neé Devonshire. He entered the army in 1826, and was serving in Sri Lanka between 1828 and 1832 and then in India between 1835 and1842 as a lieutenant in the 2nd or Queen’s Royal Regiment. Four years later, with the rank of Captain, he retired and in 1852 moved to Sidney, where he was commissioned Major commanding the 1st New South Wales Rifle Volunteers. He married Eleanor Terry, née Rouse (1813 – 1898) and also worked as an amateur photographer. Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection houses several of Wingate’s drawings and photographs and offers valuable information on the artist’s life and work.