The Battle of Mudki was fought on 18 December 1845, between the forces of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

and part of the

Sikh Khalsa Army The Sikh Khalsa Army (), also known as Khalsaji or simply Sikh Army, was the military force of the Sikh Empire. With its roots in the Khalsa founded by Guru Gobind Singh, the army was later modernised on Franco-British principles by Maharaja Ran ...

, the army of the

Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a state originating in the Indian subcontinent, formed under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who established an empire based in the Punjab. The empire existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahor ...

of the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

. The British army won an untidy encounter battle, suffering heavy casualties.

Background

The

of the

had been held together by Maharajah

Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He s ...

. Ranjit Singh had maintained a policy of friendship with the British East India Company, who held territories adjoining the Punjab, while at the same time building up the Khalsa, to deter aggression. When he died in 1839, the Sikh empire fell into increasing disorder. As several successive rulers and ministers were deposed or murdered, the army expanded and became increasingly restive. To secure their hold on power, some of the leaders in the Punjab goaded their army into a war against the British. The Governor General of the Bengal Presidency (and in effect, of all British-controlled India) was Sir Henry Hardinge. Receiving reports of the disorder in the Punjab, he wrote late in 1845, ''"... it is evident that

the Rani The Rani is a fictional character in the British science fiction television series '' Doctor Who''. She was played by Kate O'Mara. The Rani is a renegade Time Lord, an amoral scientist who considers everything secondary to her research; she h ...

and the Chiefs are for their own preservation, endeavouring to raise a storm which, when raised, they will be powerless to direct or allay."'' He increased the British military force on the borders of the Punjab, stationing a division of 7,000 at

Ferozepore Firozpur, also known as Ferozepur, is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in Firozpur District, Punjab, India. After the partition of India in 1947, it became a border town on the India–Pakistan border with memorials to soldiers who di ...

, and moving other troops to

Ambala Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border with the Indian state of Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala has two sub-area ...

and

Meerut Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...

. The

began the war by crossing the

Sutlej River The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the Ind ...

, which marked the frontier between the Punjab and British territory on 10 December 1845.

British Advance

The main

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and

Bengal Army The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company (EIC) until the Govern ...

, under its commander-in-chief,

Sir Hugh Gough Field Marshal Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough, (3 November 1779 – 2 March 1869) was an Irish officer of the British Army. After serving as a junior officer at the seizure of the Cape of Good Hope during the French Revolutionary Wars, Gough co ...

, began marching rapidly from its

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

s at Ambala and Meerut towards Ferozepur. Although the march took place in India's cold weather season, the troops were enveloped in choking dust clouds and water and food were short. Hardinge accompanied the army, waiving his right to command. The British reached Mudki, from Ferozepur in the afternoon of 18 December. Having commandeered grain from the village, they began preparing their first proper meal for some days. An advance guard of the Sikh army, commanded by

Lal Singh Raja Lal Singh (died 1866) was Wazir of the Sikh Empire and commander of Sikh Khalsa Army forces during the First Anglo-Sikh War. Along with Tej Singh, Lal Singh was in the employ of the East India Company during the course of the war. Lal Sin ...

Vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...

of the Sikh Empire, spotted the British cooking fires and advanced. The terrain was a flat sandy plain, with occasional villages and patches of scrub.

Battle

In the late evening the Sikh guns opened fire. As 30 of Gough's light guns replied, the Sikh cavalry tried to outflank both flanks of Gough's army. Although the irregular cavalry, the ''Gorchurras'', were the elite of the Khalsa, and individually very skilled (for example, being able to spear a tent-peg out of the ground at full gallop), they were comparatively ineffective against the disciplined British and Bengal units. A counter-charge by a British light dragoon regiment cut down many Sikh gunners, but in turn suffered heavy casualties from the Sikh infantry. After the initial cavalry actions, the British and Bengal infantry advanced. In the gathering darkness and the clouds of smoke and dust, the advance quickly became disordered. Some Bengal infantry regiments caused casualties among the British units with confused fire. Although outnumbered five to one, the Sikh

Fauj-i-Ain The Fauj-i-Ain (Punjabi: ਫੌਜ -ਏ-ਐਨ, Persian: فوج عین) was a branch of the Sikh Khalsa Army and was the regular army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab. It contained infantry, cavalry and artillery units. The Fauj-i-Ain had two d ...

(regulars) resisted desperately, and their gunners kept firing volleys of

grapeshot Grapeshot is a type of artillery round invented by a British Officer during the Napoleonic Wars. It was used mainly as an anti infantry round, but had other uses in naval combat. In artillery, a grapeshot is a type of ammunition that consists of ...

until they were overrun. Eventually, after two hours of darkness, the last Sikhs were driven from the field. The British returned to their camp. The British army was unused to fighting or manoeuvering at night and the battle was nicknamed "Midnight Mudki". Casualties among British senior officers were heavy. Among those were two brigade commanders: "Fighting Bob" Sale, who was mortally wounded and died on 21 December, and John McCaskill. Another senior officer killed was Major George Broadfoot, formerly the British representative to the Punjab and now on Hardinge's staff.Hernon, p.554

Results

By itself, the battle decided little. It did however confirm Hardinge in the belief that Gough was too bull-headed and unimaginative to command the army. The two officers would clash several times over strategy during the war. On the Sikh side, it was alleged that Lal Singh had fled the battlefield early, although there was little scope for direction once the battle had been joined.

Order of battle

British regiments

* 3rd King’s Own Light Dragoons *

9th Foot The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named ...

* 31st Foot * 50th Foot * 80th Foot

Indian regiments

The Governor General’s Bodyguard The Governor General's Bodyguard was a cavalry regiment of the British Indian Army. The regiment was, in effect, the Indian equivalent of the Household Cavalry of the British Army. History The regiment was first formed in 1773 as the Govern ...

* 4th Bengal Light Cavalry * 5th Bengal Light Cavalry * Skinner’s Horse * 8th Irregular Cavalry *

9th Irregular Cavalry 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the Brahmi numerals, beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshat ...

* 2nd Bengal Native Infantry * 16th Bengal Native Infantry * 24th Bengal Native Infantry * 26th Bengal Native Infantry * 42nd Bengal Native Infantry * 45th Bengal Native Infantry * 47th Bengal Native Infantry * 48th Bengal Native Infantry *

73rd Bengal Native Infantry 73rd may refer to: *73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot also known as MacLeod's Highlanders after its founder John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod *73rd Academy Awards honored the best films of 2000 and was held on March 25, 2001 *73rd Carnatic Infantry, an ...

Notes

Sources

* * *

External links

BritishBattles.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mudki Battles involving the United Kingdom Battles of the Anglo-Sikh wars

Battle of Mudki The Battle of Mudki was fought on 18 December 1845, between the forces of the East India Company and part of the Sikh Khalsa Army, the army of the Sikh Empire of the Punjab. The British army won an untidy encounter battle, suffering heavy casu ...

December 1845 events

Mudki Mudki, also spelled as Moodkee, is a town in Punjab state of India. This town lies in Ferozepur district. Mudki has been famous for the Battle of Mudki, which took place in 1845 between the British and Sikh armies. In memory of Sikh soldiers who ...