page_title: Sikkim expedition
section_title: Gnathong
hierarchical_section_title: Sikkim expedition / Gnathong
caption_attribution_description: An engraving from a photograph showing the fort at Gnatong during the Anglo-Tibetan war of 1888
context_page_description: The Sikkim expedition was an 1888 British military expedition to expel Tibetan forces from Sikkim in present-day north east India. The roots of the conflict lay in British-Tibetan competition for sovereignty over Sikkim.
context_section_description: After escaping from Lingtu, the Tibetans crossed the border and rallied in the Chumbi valley, defeated but not destroyed. In fact they received reinforcements and the British readied their defences in Gnathong, a plateau some three or four miles north of Lingtu. On 21 May the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal arrived at Gnathong and the Tibetans attacked the British defences the next day at 7 AM with 3,000 men (British claim). The fighting lasted until 10 a.m. when the Tibetans retreated. The British admitted three killed and eight wounded and claimed to have killed around a hundred Tibetans. The Tibetans retreated back across the Jelap La and no other combat took place, so in June the British started to send some of the troops back to Darjeeling.
caption: The stockade at Gnathong
exif: {}