A Collection of Medals for the Second Afghan War 1878-80


During this time the battle had been raging in front of us with great fury. Owing to the dust and smoke we were not able to form any very accurate idea of what was taking place, but we could see the smoke of the infantry fire and the continual falling of the enemy’s shot and shell, which, however, seemed to us mostly to fall over the fighting line and consequently to be in a great measure harmless. The battle must have continued, to the best of my judgement, over four hours when we saw what seemed in the distance to us that the fighting line had risen, formed line, and charged. We could not see beyond the line, but we could see a very large number of ghazis and others on the right, who had not taken any part in the battle, going like a wave in front of our line, and thinking that our men had made a most successful charge, the men under my command gave a cheer and seemed very much excited. We watched the line move continually to the right, instead of to their immediate front, which first gave us cause to suspect something had gone wrong, but it was not till the whole of our line had disappeared into the villages that we could form any idea of the nature or the misfortune that had befallen our arms. The line which up to then had formed a barrier between us and the fighting line of Ayub Khan’s forces being now removed, we plainly realised the fact that we were about to be exposed to the full shock of meeting a very large force face to face, which fact was quickly realised; for, as soon as the enemy found no substantial obstruction between them and the much-coveted baggage, they came straight for it. I am most happy to be able to state that, notwithstanding the nature of the sudden and powerful attack, the men of Jacob’s Rifles under my command behaved both coolly and regularly. They remained in the same extended order, and fired volley after volley into the advancing crowds with great deliberation and good effect. As a very large body of cavalry was beginning to turn our left flank (as we faced the enemy), I was obliged to retire, which was done in an orderly manner, the men turning about when directed and firing on the enemy. This state of things continued until we reached the nallah crossed in the morning, where I found that Captain Quarry of the 66th Regiment had, with a few men, made a stand behind some mud walls. He called me to him and said, “I am going to stand here, I shall not go a step further; come and make a stand.” So I collected some of my men, who by this time, I regret to say; were somewhat demoralised, owing to the presence of so large a number of the enemy, who had brought up some of their guns and commenced shelling us with very great effect, and the enemy’s cavalry had also closed on us considerably. Owing to this circumstance I was only able to bring a very few men to the assistance of Captain Quarry, and I found that his own men had likewise begun to share the panic, which appears to have spread among the ranks in a wonderfully rapid and wholly incomprehensible manner; so that, between us, we could only muster about twenty or thirty men to make a stand. Matters being in this state; it appeared clear to me that we could do no possible good and were simply about to throw away our lives, and so requested Captain Quarry to come on, as it was useless to stand with only about twenty men. After a good deal of persuasion he began to retire slowly from the spot, but seemed both disappointed and disgusted. After leaving these enclosures we came on to the whole of the field hospital, consisting of a large number of doolies containing sick and wounded; those who were not well enough to crawl out and get on to some animal and join the retreat were lying there, the dooly-bearers having all deserted long since. It will be a very long time before the sights I saw there are obliterated from my memory. As we passed, white men and black would put their heads outside the doolies and pray you in God’s name to save them, and not leave them in a helpless condition to be cut to pieces by the enemy, which was doubtless their ultimate fate, as there were no means whatever of carrying them. I must state here that I found both Surgeons Roe and Kirtikar with their sick whom they were very unwilling to abandon. They were very earnest in their solicitations for assistance, which I regretted excessively not being able to render them. After this the retreat became general. The whole of the three infantry regiments got completely mixed up, and the men straggled over many miles in their retreat to Kandahar. I succeeded after some trouble in collecting a few of my men, and this I could not have done but for the timely assistance of Subadar- Major Haidar Khan, Jacob’s Rifles, whose conduct on that occasion was such as to call forth my warmest admiration, and I am most pleased at having an opportunity of bringing his name forward to notice as a brave and highly deserving Native Officer. I say I was, through his assistance, able to collect some of my men, and made them march with the guns under Captain Slade’s command. I subsequently left them to go in search of my commanding officer; but as I have not been called upon to give any information concerning that dreadful retreat into Kandahar, I will close my report with the remark that unless a person is actually present and an eyewitness of a panic, it is quite impossible to conceive what extraordinary actions both white men actions both white men and black are capable of, and how utterly impossible it is to control their movements. This remark is made to account for the state of disorder in which the men of the various corps reached Kandahar, in spite of the many efforts made by the officers of all corps to rally and collect their men.’


Other officers submitted accounts which mentioned Salmon. Major J. T. Ready, 66th Foot, states: ‘On 27th July last I was in charge of the baggage guard of Brigadier-General Burrows’ force, marching from camp near Khushk-i- Nakhud on Maiwand. The guard consisted of 1 company, 66th Regiment, under Captain Quarry; 1 company, 1st Bombay Native Infantry, under Lieutenant Whitby; ands 1 company, 30th Bombay Native Infantry, under Lieutenant Salmon, with a treasure guard of the 1st Bombay Native Infantry and a commissariat guard of the 30th Bombay Native Infantry. At about 11 a.m. our artillery opened fire on the enemy, who soon replied with thirty guns, and kept up the fire with vigour throughout the action. Finding that the enemy’s cavalry threatened our left flank, approaching in great numbers to within about 1,200 yards, I extended Captain Quarry’s company so as to cover the left front of the baggage and kept them off by their fire, which they did most effectually. I continued the line of skirmishers with half the company of Bombay Grenadiers, and made a similar disposition on our right front with the rest of the Grenadiers and the company of the 30th Bombay Native Infantry under Lieutenants Whitby and Salmon, who both did good work looking after their men.’


Colonel W. G. Mainwaring, Commandant of the 30th Bombay Native Infantry (Jacob’s Rifles) states: ‘After walking some distance across the maidan in the hope of striking the general line of retreat, which I saw was a long distance to my right, I was picked up by Lieutenant Geoghegan of the 3rd Light Cavalry, who kindly took me up behind him and carried me until we joined the retiring troops, which consisted entirely of artillery and cavalry. Lieutenant Salmon, of the 30th Native Infantry, who had been on baggage-guard all day [and I understand had some sever fighting for its protection; but I am unable to bear witness to the fact, as it did not come under my personal observation], finding me without a horse and riding behind Lieutenant Geoghegan, most kindly insisted in my taking his pony, which I rode the whole way to Kandahar, Lieutenant Salmon having found the horse of Lieutenant Cole, who had been killed, which he rode for the remainder of the march.’


Major J. S. Iredell, 30th Bombay Native Infantry (Jacob’s Rifles) states: ‘I began to retire on foot, my horse having broken away from the syce, when the shell that killed Captain Smith exploded; ands almost immediately afterwards I was struck by a rifle bullet a few inches above the left ankle, causing a compound fracture of both bones. I endeavoured to get along with my arms around two soldiers’ necks, but soon found that impossible, and major Oliver, 66th Regiment, seeing my helplessness, asked Brigadier-General Burrows, who was the only mounted officer in sight, to lend me his horse, as I had just had my leg broken. The General very kindly at once dismounted and assisted Major Oliver in putting me on the saddle. Captain Roberts, 66th Regiment, was also put on the horse in front of me. I was some time afterwards met by Surgeon Kirtikar of my regiment who, assisted by Lieutenant Salmon, took me off the horse and put me in a dooly. I very soon saw that the bearers, almost dying of hunger and thirst, were quite unable to carry me; so I was glad to be met again by Surgeon Kirtikar, who had come back with Colonel Mainwaring’s charger, and said I had better ride, as the bearers would otherwise leave me behind. So I was taken out of the dooly and put on the charger, and rode the whole of the evening and through the night.’


Surgeon K. R. Kirtikar, 30th Bombay Native Infantry (Jacob’s Rifles) states: www.dnw.co.uk all lots are illustrated on our website and are subject to buyers’ premium at 20% (+VAT where applicable)


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