War: Second Anglo-Sikh War
Date: 21st February 1849.
Place: In the Punjab in North West India
Combatants: British troops and Bengal, Bombay Armies of the British East India Company against Sikhs of the Khalsa, the army of the Punjab.
Generals: Major General Sir Hugh Gough, against General Sher Singh Attariwalla.
Size of the armies: A British and Bengali army of 24,000 & over 100 guns against a Sikh army of 20,000 (1,500 Afghans) and 60 guns.
Account: On 13 February, Major-General Whish’s 1st Division (13,400 men and 30 pieces of heavy artillery joined the British force. The Bombay column (12,100 men and 3,000 cavalry) joined a few days later. Thus assured of an overwhelming superiority of men and heavy artillery, Lord Gough ordered the entire force forward and reaching a few days later Shadival, a village 8 km from Gujrat, he found himself face to face with the Sikhs.
The battle of Gujrat must be reckoned as one of the most notable in the annals of British warfare in India. Never, perhaps, the British had amassed so many guns and men in any single battle. The British army now consisted of 56,636 men four infantry divisions, 11,569 horse, 96 field-guns, and 67 siege-guns including ten 18-pounders and six 8-inch howitzers drawn by elephants. For this obvious reason the battle of Gujrat has often been described as “the battle of guns.
On the morning of 21 February, the whole British army advanced with the precision of a parade movement. The Sikh guns opened fire, thus disclosing their positions and range. The British General brought the three divisions to a sudden halt and ordered the whole line of artillery to fire. The sustained cannonade of 100 guns, the fire of 18-pounders and 8-inch howitzers, which continued for two hours blunted Sikh artillery. When the British guns had spent up their fury, their infantry line advanced rapidly. The Sikh infantry positions were Captured, and the Sikhs driven out of cover. The battle was over within a few hours. The advance of the whole British line completely overwhelmed the Sikhs and they fled the field in confusion. Their loss was estimated between 3,000 and 5,000 men and 53 guns the British casualties were 96 killed and 700 wounded. “The Sikhs,” commented Lord Dalhousie, “displayed the skill, courage and activity which belong to their race. ” With the decisive British victory at Gujrat the hostilities ended on 11 March 1849.
Surrender
Sher Singh and Chatar Singh formally surrendered their swords to Major-General Gilbert near Rawalpindi. They were followed on the 14th by the whole Sikh army. “Today is Ranjit Singh dead,” sighed the soldiers as they kissed their swords and laid them down on the ever-enlarging heap of steel. Lord Dalhousie proclaimed annexation of the Punjab on 29 March 1849. His foreign secretary, Henry Meirs Elliot, arrived at Lahore to obtain the signatures of the members of the Council of Regency and of the minor king, Maharaja Duleep Singh. A darbar was held in the Lahore Fort and, with the British troops lined up on his right and his helpless sardars on his left, the young Duleep Singh affixed his signatures to the document which deprived him of his crown and kingdom.