The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-19 00:00:00

THE BATTLE AT JHELUM.

The following is a letter from an officer serving
in the Punjab :
"Camp Goojerat, July 15.
_ _

_
" There has been a sad affair at Jhelum. Three
companies of my regiment were sent down from
Racul Pindee, under Colonel Ellice, with some
Horse Artillery, to disarm the 14th Native In-
fantry.
" This regiment was drawn up on its own pa-
rade ground when our force arrived, and, seeing
them approach, loaded, fired at their officers
(luckily without effect), and bolted off to their bat-
racks, guardhouses; &c. Colonel Ellice imme-
diately gave the word to charge, which was done
in gallant style, but our poor men were shot down
right and left by the murderous fire of the sepoys,
who took advantage of their cover to fire without
being thetiselves exposed ; they were, however,
after some hard fighting, driven out of their
position, and then made for a neighbouring,
village, where the cover was equally advan-
tageous for them. This position our men, as-
sisted by 3 guns, also drove them from, but with
fearful sacrifice to our side, the sepoys fighting like
fiends and disputing every inoh of ground. They
were at last put to flight, but, having very few
cavalry, and those hardly to be trusted, they could
not be pursued, and so those who were not killed
escaped into the jungle. I regret to say that we
lost one officer in this affair, Captain Spring.
Colonel Ellice was dangerously wounded through
the chest while gallantly leading the charge. Poor
young Streathfield, the bravest of the brave, got a
bullet through both knees, smashing the right one
to atoms and going through the other. The tight
leg• was amputated at the thigh, and he is now pro-
gressing, I hope and trust, satisfactorily. abich,:s_
ter was shot through the left arm, but is doing well.
De Montmorency got off with a bullet through his
trousers, another shooting away his s-:abbard : but
be was not hurt himself. Sam Burns has his cheek
grazed by a ball. The other officer, Captain Mac-
pherson, got off scot free. The officers here named
were the only one present at Jhelum at the time ;
I was at Raoul Pindee, but as soon as the news
arrived by telegraph reinforcements were sent down
immediately, I among the number ; but when wa
lrad gone half way to Jhelum an order came racail-
ing us, as the action was all over ; I however got
leave to come on, and arrived the morning after.
"Our loss in the 24th was 1 officer, 2 sergeants,
and 23 men killed-3 officers, 4 corporals, and 43
men wounded.

W'• Poor Ellice is dreadfully wounded, having, in
addition to the wound through his chest, got a hall
through his left leg ; he, Streathfield, and Chiches-
ter, have been taken to a large house in Jhelum,
whera they are well taken care of. Government
having offered a reward of 30 rupees per head (about
3/.) fur every fugitive Sepoy, we had the satisfac-
tion of shooting 48 of them on the evening of the
Bth, and the following day we blew 25 away from
the cannon's mouth. The odds in numbers were
dreadfully against us, the Sepoys were 702 in num
ber, and our three companies only mustered 247
men. .

"I must tell you that the very day this action
took place at Jhelum (the 7th of July) the other
companies of my regiment at Raoul Pindee were
ordered to disarm the 58th Native Infan•ry ; but
as soon as we took up our position on either side
of the Horse Artil'ery, ready to blaze into th,m
in case of their refusing to give up their arm=, they
paused for a moment, then took to their h !els an
bolted from the parade ground. Our men were
with the greatest difficulty prevented by the oaleeis
from firing, as also the artillery. Had we fired, we
should have done so, right into a bldy of st ,ff
officers wll9 were betty. en U. Th 3 S p TA, how-
ever, were induced to give up their arms teaceibly,
and when they were handed over to our magazine
there were about 200 of them fonnd to be loaded !
Thank God, everything passed over without blood
shed. - I must, therefore, tell you what I am doing
now. The three companies engagei at Jhelum ate
now marching down, under Colonel Brown, to
intercept the 46th Native Infantry and the 9th
Light Cavalry, which have mutinied and bolted
from Sealkote, after murdering several officers and
plundering the houses. Our force consists of the
three companies of my regiment, 200 Sikh soldiers
(good rat n and tru3), 100 Irregular Horse, ani