Sutlej and Punjab pair to the 53rd Regiment (Shropshires)

Description Sutlej and Punjab pair to the 53rd Regiment (Shropshires) Sutlej (rev Aliwal)clasp Sobraon, Serjt Mathew Casey 53rd Regt; Punjab, no clasp, Color Serjt M. Casey, 53rd Foot. The 1st Sikh War: The Sutlej Campaign 1845-46 Battle of Aliwal – 28 January 1846 The 53rd Foot formed part of 3rd Brigade under the command of Brigadier Wilson, a part Sir Harry Smith’s Division. Prior to the Battle Aliwal a notable action took place at the village of Baddiwal (or Buddiwal). As the columns the British army passed the village of Baddiwal at 10.00 a.m. on the 21st, intending simply to by-pass the place, its flank came under a heavy fire from the walls of the village fort and from Sikhs posted in force nearby. Sixty-five enemy guns opened on the flank of the column as it marched by and on several occasions Sikh cavalry came out and made ready to charge. The 53rd formed square on one such occasion (losing nine men hit by one round shot), but no charge materialised. On the second appearance of the Sikh cavalry, the 53rd, in line, acted as rearguard and covered the march of the British column into Ludhiana. The only response made by the British was some long-range and ineffective cannon fire, the main concern being to reach Ludhiana and not be distracted by minor affairs en route. Large quantities of the column’ s baggage was, however, seized by Sikh cavalry as it straggled towards Ludhiana, tothe rear of the main column. The 53rd Foot was fortunate that Quarter Master John Cornes, with the regimental baggage, was able to assemble about 30 men of the 53rd, some sepoys and men of the 16th Lancers and keep over 1,000 mounted Sikhs at bay, thus saving the ammunition and baggage of the 53rd from capture. Cornes and his group showed a bold front to the enemy, who showed no inclination to come to close quarters, and retired on Jurgaon fort. Cornes and his detachment was able to rejoin the 53rd some days later and received the thanks of Sir Hugh Gough (the Commander in Chief in India) and of the Duke of Wellington (Commander in Chief of H.M.’ s forces) for his gallantry. The skirmishing along the Buddiwal route cost the 53rd Foot several casualties in killed and wounded. At 4.00 a.m. on January 28th, the British force moved towards the Sikh positions at Aliwal, the 53rd being on the extreme left of the British advance. About 20,000 Sikh’s under the command of Ranjodh Singh  had been preparing to attack the town of Ludhiana. The Sikh army was now confronted by 12,000 British and Bengali soldiers on a grassy plain in a poor position with their backs to the wide River Sutlej. After a march of ten miles, the enemy positions were seen on a slope about a mile ahead. Covered by an advanced screen of cavalry, the British infantry deployed into line, the cavalry opening their line and moving to the flanks.The order was given to advance in brigades from the right, which immediately caused the Sikhs to open fire with artillery. The British line continued to advance until in musket-range of the Sikhs, who returned fire. Two hundred yards from the Sikh positions, the British infantry received the order to charge, with the 16th Lancers and 3rd Light Cavalry attacking the Sikhs from the flanks. The cavalry charges effectively scattered the Sikhs and broke their formation, allowing the infantry to close with them and defeat them in detail. Having fought its way to the crest of the slope, the 53rd was immediately ordered to clear the nearby village of Bundree, 300 yards away. This the 53rd did at the point of the bayonet. At one point in the fighting the 53rd Foot came under deadly flank fire from Sikh soldiers hidden below the lip of a ravine but a flanking charge from the 30th Bengal Native Infantry retrieved the situation. The entire British army then advanced to the banks of the Sutlej, the Sikhs retreating before them in disarray, abandoning their arms and equipment and fleeing across the ford. During the battle the 53rd Foot had suffered only 3 men killed (Privates G.H. Wilson, Stephen Spacey and Thomas Ramsden) and 8 wounded, largely thanks to its advance in double time, lying down every hundred yards, before closing with the enemy. In his dispatch, Sir Harry Smith referred to the 53rd as “gallantry and regularity”. a young regiment, but veterans in daring An unidentified soldier called ‘Tom’ with the 53rd recorded in a letter home about the battle and its aftermath; “The day was ours, away we went after them, but of course being so much exhausted could not keep up with them, they were making off for the river as fast as they could and crossing it. We arrived at the top of a steep high precipice, when out rushed 1000 of the enemy from below who had concealed themselves in the Rocks and discharged their musquets at us, and ran off. Our men were so exasperated that without waiting for the word of command they fired into them and then rushed on them with their Bayonets, killing numbers of them fighting hand to hand, some determined fellows remained in the Cliff, until we had descended the precipice and then rushed out sword in hand upon us; these men evidently singled out the Officers as their mark. I saw one man rush out upon our Adjutant, sword in hand and make a cut at his head which he cleverly guarded off, and then cut the fellows head open. We were in great danger of being fired upon by our own men, who were scattered all about and firing in all directions. We bivouacked that night on the banks of the river, on the bare ground with no covering but our Cloaks having previously partaken of a few dry biscuits and some muddy water. I and my friend Vincent made a tolerable bed having collected some ammunition boxes and piled them up all around us, I imagine we should have been rather astonished had a stray spark got into one of the boxes!” Battle of Sobraon, 10th February 1846 The 53rd Foot were now part of the 7th Brigade commanded by Brigadier Stacey, which was part of the 3rd Division commanded by Major-General Sir Robert Dick. The British and Bengali army of about 15,000 men was under the command of Major-General Sir Hugh Gough. On the 10th February, the 53rd Foot was under arms at 4.00 a.m. and marched into previously arranged positions prior to a general assault on the Sikh lines. The 53rd and the 10th Foot, with some Indian regiments, were to serve as the vanguard of the attack. The 53rd took the extreme left of the line and lay under cover in a dry stream bed for two hours whilst the British artillery bombarded the Sikh entrenchments. The order was then given for the left division to advance, which it did in double time, but though it came under very heavy fire, it was not halted until about two hundred yards from the Sikh line when enemy cavalry threatened the left of the 53rd. A heavy and well-directed fire of musketry (and grape-shot from a nearby British battery) scattered the Sikh cavalry and the 53rd was able to surge forward with a cheer and clear the entrenchments of their Sikh defenders.The 53rd was the first regiment to close with the Sikhs, but suffered some casualties from Sikh artillery. Captain Warren, the senior Captain, was killed and the Colours took a heavy beating, with the two pike-staffs being broken and men around them shot down. Lieutenant Lucas, carrying one of the Colours, was severely wounded. However, the enemy’ s right wing having been turned, the Sikhs retreated into the river along their whole line, being fired upon for close on an hour by the entire British force lining the Sutlej. Casualties The 53rd had, in addition to Captain Warren, six men killed and eight officers and 112 men wounded. The 2nd Sikh War: the Punjab Campaign, 1848 – 49 When the initial hostilities with the Sikhs which led to the Second Sikh War began in 1848, the 53rd was quartered in Lahore where it shared with Sikh forces the task of garrisoning the city. This uneasy relationship with soldiers of an increasingly hostile force was ended on September 17th 1848, when the 53rd Foot disbanded the Sikh forces in Lahore and occupied their positions. It was at this time that the 53rd Foot found itself mounting guard over the famous Koh-i-noor (“Mountain of Light”) diamond, which was part of the royal treasury and is now in the late Queen Mother’ s crown As relationships with the khalsa worsened, two companies of the 53rd Foot along with Indian forces, under Major Mansfield of the 53rd Foot, were sent to quell disturbances in Bihar district. It was three weeks before this column was back in Lahore. On February 1st 1849, HQ and six companies of the 53rd Foot under Lieutenant- Colonel John Byrne marched to join The Army of the Punjab. At Ramnuggur, Byrne took command of three Indian infantry regiments and some cavalry and on the 14th, part of this combined force, with the 53rd Foot, marched for Wuzrabad, a ford on the River Chenab, which was then threatened by the Sikhs. On the night of the 16th, the column marched for the fords at Sodra, six miles away and lay down with their arms, in open columns, with guns in the centre and cavalry on their flanks, expecting an attack by the Sikhs who were camped across the Chenab. However, the presence of this powerful British force seems to have persuaded the Sikhs that crossing the Chenab was impossible and they withdrew from their positions. The 53rd Foot remained in place to watch the ford. An enemy reconnaissance in force on the 18th withdrew when cavalry were called up. On the night of the 19th February, Lieutenant Colonel John Byrne was ordered to march fourteen miles down the left bank of the Chenab to Seroke and there to cross with his column and join the main army under the Commander-in-Chief Major-General Sir Hugh Gough. This was done and the force lay down under arms for a few hours rest. At 9.00 a.m. the next day, the march to join the army HQ was resumed, when the column was ordered to counter-march along the right bank of the Chenab and bring up some boats. Thus it was that as the last great battle with the Sikhs was joined at Goojerat on February 21st, 1849, the 53rd Foot found itself some three miles away, to the right rear of the troops actually engaged. Condition – GVF, contact marked.