The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-07 00:00:00

ACTION AT JELLALABAD.

The follov:ing is the despatc.lhOfGere;alSale, with the
official details of his victory over the Affghans. It is addressed
to the Assistant-Adjutant-General, Captain Ponsonby :
" Jellalabad, April 7.
" Sir,—lnformation was on the evening of the sth instant.
brought into this place, in the most positive and circumstan-
tial terms, from spies in the enemy's campato. the effect that
the force under Major-General Poihrek-,-C.8., had Met with
a reverse in the Khyber, and retraced their steps towards
Peshawur, and about tenr.-at. on the 6th a feu-de-joie and
salute of artillery was fired by Mahomed Akbur, which wa.e
said to be in tumour of the events It was on the same day, and
through similar channels, announced to me that the Affghans
were sending reinforcements to aid in defending the frontier
passes. Although I could not wholly depend upon these state-
ments, which were improbable in themselves, and accompanied
by counter reports of another revolution at Caubul, stitich was
assigned by some as the cause of the rejoicing at the defeat of
the Affghans in Khybera'arid by one account, of the intended
and even actual retreat of the Sirdar to Lughman, I came, on a
full consideration of the various circumstances and rumours, to
the res talon of asiticipating the last-mentioned event b, a
general attack on the Affghan camp, in the hopes of relieving
the place from blockade, and facilitating Genera, Pollock's act-
vance. I accordingly gave directions to form three columns of
infantry, the centre cousistinsa of the 13th Light. Infantry, 500
rank and file, under Colonel Dennie, C. 8.; the left, of the 15th
N. 1., 500 rank and file, under Lieut.-Co . Monteith, C. • and
the right, of a company of the 13th Light Infantry, another of
the 35th Native Iniantry, and the detachment-of Sappers and
Miners under Lieutenant Orr, the severity of Captain' Broad-
foot's woaud still rendering him non-effective ; th 6. whole. :160
strong, commanded by Captain Havelock, her Majesty's 1:1:1
Light Infantry. These were to be supported by the fire of the
guns of No. 6 Light. Field Battery, under Captain Abbott, to
which Captaia Backhouse, S. S. Artillery, was also.aatashed,
and by the whole of my small cavalry furls under Captain
Ohifielif arid Lieutenant Mayne. The troops issued from the
Caubul arid Peshawur gate at daylight this morning. So far
from the Sirdar having made dispositions to avoid the en-
counter, the wholelurce, not falling short in all of 6,000 men,
was formed in order of battle for the defence of his camp; the
right resting on a fort, its left on the Caubul river, and even the
ruined works w ithin 800 yards of the place were filled with Ghilas.e
marksmen, recently repaired far stasut resistance. The attack was
led b, the skirmishers arid column under Capt. Havelock, Which
drove the enemy in the most satisfactory manner from the. ex-
treme Isft of his advanced line of works, which it pierced at
once, and pro needed to advance into the plain, whilst the
central column directed its efforts against a square fort, the
defence of which was obstinately maintained. With the
deepest rt gret I have to mention that, whilst leading his re-
giment to the assault, Colonel Dennie, C. 8., of her Majesty's
131 h Light Infantry, received a shot through the bada, which
shortly after proved fatal. The rear of this work having been
gained by passing to its left, I gave orders for a combined
attack on the enemy's camp. It was in every way brilliant and
successful. The artillery advanced at the gallop, and di-
rected a heavy fire on the Affgt.an centre, whilst two of
the columns of infantry penetrated his line at the same
pint, and the third drove his left back from its support on
the river,* into the stream of which some of his horse and
foot were forced. The Affghans made repeated attempts to
cheek our advance by a smart tire of musketry, and throwing
forward heavy bodies of horse, which twice closely threatened
the troops under Captain Havelock,. and by opening against 1
us three guns from a battery screened by a garden wall, and
said to have been served under the peisonal superintendence
of the Sirdar but in a short time they were dislodged from
every point of their position, their cannon taken, and their
camp involva din a general conflagration, The battle was '
over, and the enemy in full retreat in the direction of Lugh-
man by about seven v. at. We have made ourselves master
of two cavalry standards, recaptured four guns lost by the
Caubul and Gunslamurk forces, the restoration of which to
our Government is received by the force wi h much honest
exultation ; and destroyed the whole of the enemy's tents.
In short, the defeat. of Mohamed Akbar by the force which
he boasted of blockading has beets, in the open field complete
and signal. The fall of an officer .soliistinguished'as Colonel
Dennis,' will be felt as a public calamity. Lamenting it 'in
every way, I inuFt share with hiS country, his regiment, and
his friends, in the consolation afforded by the reflection
that he was killed, most gallantly performing his duties. r
have to express my entire sasisfaction with the conduct on
this occasion Of Lieutenant-Colonel Monteith, C. 8., com-
manding one of the infantry columns under my own eye; of
Captain Wilkinson, on whom the charge of the other devolved
on the death of his Lieutenant-Colonel; of Captain Oldfield
ansl Lieutenant Mayne, who led the cavalry; and of Captains
Abbott and Baekhuuse, and isietitenant Davis, artillery.' The
able and judicious manner in which Captain *Havelock moved
the force under his command, which acted on a line so distant
as to render the manoeuvres independent of my 'immediate
control,alemands my particular and separate commendation.
My acknowledgments are also especially due to Captain Wade,
my Brigade Major, whose exertions on this day were, as they
have ever been, most meritorious. To Major Fraser, of the
Light Cavalry, who acted
as my Aide-de-Camp; and to
Captain Mainwaring, Commissariat officer of the force, who
was present in and attire in the field; Captain Macgregor,
political agent, handsomely offered his services with No. 6
Light Field Battery, and was most useful in serving the guns.
Lieutenant. and Adjutant Wood, her Majesty's 13th Light. In-
fantry, made a dash at one of the enemy, and, in cutting him
down, his charger was so seriously injured as to have been since
destroyed. Captain Havelock reports in the most. favourable
manner the gallant eor,duct of Lieutenant Cox, her Majesty's
13th Light Infantry, who was the first to seize the enemy's.
guns after the party which captured them.
1 have the honour to be, &c.,
" R. SALE, Major-General."
OFFICIAL DESPATCH.

"TO CAPTAIN PONSONbT, ASSISTANT ADJUTANT-GENERAL.
_ "Jellalabad, March N.

't Sir,—Do me the favour to acquaint Major-General Pollock,
C. 11., that since I last addressed you, the enemy have, in fur-
therance of their plan of establishing a rigorous blockade, daily
insulted the place by throwing masses of skirmishers into the
ravines and hollows round the walls and behind the remains of
mud forts, which are so extensive that no induury has enabled
us wholly to clear them away. It has been their practice to
plant their standards in conspicuous points of the circumference
thus occupied, and to keep up a constant fire of musketry upon
the parapets. I have resisted these attempts by the fire from
bat teres. We have austainertfew casualties, and those of 'he
enemy have, I suspect, been uniformly serious. On the 10th
instant, the covert advance of the Affghans was particularly
persevering against our northern face; towards evening our
spies brought us information that the enemy were driving a
mine in that direction, and though I entertained great doubts of
the correctness of the statement, 1 thought it prudent to ascer-
tain the truth by sortie. On the morning of the 11th I placed
under the ordei s of Lieut.-Colonel Dennie 300 men of the 13th,
3(30 of the 35th. and 200 of the corps of Sappers ; having at the
same time directed Captain Oldfield to move on with the cavalry
into the plain to the southward, and endeavour to fix the atten-
tion of the enemy in that direction. The Lieut.-Colonel sallied
out by the Peshawur gate, a little after day-break; and his column
swept steadily round into the low ground to the northward.
Contrary to expectation, this was found to be abandoned ; but a
strong picquet of the enemy's foot occupied a salient point on
a rising ground, which commanded it. From this they were
driven in a most. spirited manner by Captain Broadfoot, at
the head of the detachment of Sappers and Miners, and he
pursued the retreating enemy into and beyond a tower and
garden-wall, of which he took and kept possession. The 35tb,
under Captain Seaton, and :Captain Wilkinson's company. of
the 13th, were then established as skirmishera around 'the ruins
of old forts; also the remainder of the 13th were held in re-
serve. The cavalry appeared the same moment, and supported
the left flank of our line of occupation. Au examination of
the ground proved that neither shaft nor gallery had been com-
menced, and I therefore directed the troops to withdraw. The
whole camp of Mahomed Akbar was by this time in full alert,
and heavy masses of cavalry and a cloud of foot were pressing
forward towards our skirmishers. Our cavalry appeared at
the same moment as the 13th, and supported the left flank of
our line of occupation. Our detached retired here in the nowt
perfect order, and their fire, and that of our guns and mortars
from the walls, kept the Affghans in check in the most satisfac-
tory' manner. On our extreme right their horse made an at-
tempt to ride in upon Captain Broadfoot s party; but a volley
front the Sappers and Miners brought them to a halt in evi-
dent discomfiture. Our loss in wounded was very trifling...—
I have, &c. 6, R. SALE(Signed)
. Major-General.
( A true Copy.) T. H. MADER) CK.
" Fort William, April 5."
'The Agra Unbar Extra of April 15, states that on the Ist
of April,
G yardsen of his eralSaleobserving some flocks of sheep grating
within' BOO position, ordered the whole cavalry,
supported by 300 of her Majesty's 13th Foot, and 200 of the
35th Native Infantry, to sa}ly out by the southern gate, while
the Salpers issued by the northern. In a few minutes the
I' General had the satisfaction to see the enemy's coveting parties
routed, and 500 sheep and goats captured. 'phis opportune
supplyseven
vvoitn
.wasifal!dz d with the loss of only one private killed ct.nd