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Siege of Multan (1848-1849)

January 01, 1970

The siege of Multan began on 19 April 1848 and lasted until 22 January 1849, and saw fighting around Multan (in present-day Pakistan) between the British East India Company and the Sikh Empire. It began with a rebellion against a ruler imposed by the East India Company, which precipitated the Second Anglo-Sikh War, and ended when the last defenders of the city surrendered to British forces.

Siege of Multan
Part of the Second Anglo-Sikh War

The Storming of Mooltan, 2nd Jan 1849
Date19 April 1848 – 22 January 1849
Location
Multan, Punjab
Result British victory
Belligerents
East India Company Sikh Empire
Commanders and leaders
Gen. Whish Diwan Mulraj Chopra
Strength
32,000 troops
150 guns		 12,000 troops
66 guns
Casualties and losses
5,000 2,500
Multan
class=notpageimage|
Location of Multan within present-day Pakistan

Background edit

 
Sheikh Imam-ud-din, governor of Kashmir under the Sikh Empire, fought on the side of the British during the siege of Multan

Multan had been captured and incorporated into the Sikh Empire of Ranjit Singh in 1818. In 1845, although the population was almost half Muslim, it was ruled by a Hindu vassal, Dewan Mulraj. In that year, the First Anglo-Sikh War broke out, and was won by the British East India Company. There was an uneasy peace for three years, during which Mulraj attempted to maintain practical independence while being nominally subject to the East India Company.

In 1848, Multan had a population of 80,000. It was the centre of trade for a wide region, and was renowned for its wealth. There were large stores of spices, silks and valuables. Early in 1848, the newly appointed Commissioner in the Punjab, Sir Frederick Currie, demanded that Mulraj pay duties and taxes previously paid to the central Durbar of the Sikh Empire and now in arrears. Mulraj attempted to forestall a complete annexation of Multan by abdicating in favour of his son. Currie nevertheless decided to impose a compliant Sikh ruler, Sardar Khan Singh, who was to be accompanied by a British Political Agent, Patrick Vans Agnew.

The revolt in Multan edit

On 18 April, Vans Agnew and another officer, Lieutenant Anderson from the East India Company's Bombay Army, arrived outside Multan with a small escort of Gurkhas. The next day, Mulraj conducted Khan Singh and the two British officers to the citadel and handed over the keys, with no sign of hostility. As the two officers began to ride out of the citadel, a soldier from Mulraj's army attacked Vans Agnew. This may have been the sign for a concerted attack, as a mob surrounded and attacked them. Mulraj's troops either stood by, or joined the mob. Both officers were wounded, and they and Khan Singh retired to a Mosque outside the city, where Anderson wrote a plea for help. A despatch rider carried it to Currie in Lahore, while a second took a copy via a different route, across the Indus River.

During the night, most of Vans Agnew's escort left. Next morning, the mob pushed Khan Singh aside and hacked the two British officers to death.

Mulraj had probably not been a party to the conspiracy among his own troops. He nevertheless regarded himself as committed to rebellion by their actions. He presented Vans Agnew's head to Khan Singh and told him to take it back to Currie.

The Battle of Kineyri edit

The British Political Agent in Bannu, Lieutenant Herbert Edwardes, took the first steps to suppress Mulraj's revolt. He intercepted the second copy of Vans Agnew's letter to Currie, and immediately began to concentrate troops. He, and other junior British officers were to be frustrated by Currie in Lahore, who proposed to do nothing during the Hot Weather and Monsoon seasons. This was partly for reasons of economy and lack of preparation, but he was supported by the Governor General of Bengal, Lord Dalhousie and the Commander-in-Chief of the Bengal Army, Sir Hugh Gough, who did not wish to expose European troops to a campaign during the harsh weather.

Meanwhile, Mulraj was reinforced by several other regiments of the Khalsa, the army of the Sikh empire, which rebelled or deserted. He also took other measures to strengthen his defences, digging up guns which had previously been buried and enlisting more troops.

In early June, Edwardes began to lead an army against Multan. On 18 June, his leading troops (Pashtun irregulars) crossed the Chenab River on a ferry boat. They were engaged by Mulraj's artillery and forced to take cover for several hours. Mulraj's infantry and cavalry began to advance but Edwardes was reinforced by two regiments of the Khalsa under Colonel Van Cortlandt, an Anglo-Indian soldier of fortune. Van Cortlandt's artillery caused heavy losses among the Multani troops and Edwardes's Pashtuns counter-attacked. Mulraj's forces retreated to Multan, having suffered 500 casualties and lost six guns.

Sher Singh's defection edit

Once Currie learned of this victory, he at last ordered a comparatively small force from the East India Company's Bengal Army under General Whish to begin the siege of Multan. As it was too small to encircle the city, Currie decided to reinforce them and Edwardes with a substantial detachment of the Khalsa under Sher Singh Attariwalla. The appointment of Sher Singh alarmed many junior Political Agents, as his father, Chattar Singh Attariwalla, was apparently openly preparing to revolt in Hazara to the north of the Punjab. Despite warnings, Currie nevertheless ordered a detachment from Chattar Singh's army under his second in command, Jundial Singh, to reinforce Sher Singh. This allowed Jundial Singh and other officers to influence Sher Singh and spread disaffection among his regiments.

At this stage the besiegers consisted of Whish's division (8,089 men, 32 siege guns, 12 horse artillery guns), Edwardes's irregulars (4,033 cavalry and 7,718 infantry), a contingent from the Moslem state of Bahawalpur (1,900 cavalry and 5,700 infantry) and Sher Singh's force (3,382 cavalry and 909 infantry).

On 14 September, Sher Singh openly rebelled against the East India Company. This left the East India Company's forces too weak to maintain the siege, and they were forced to retreat. Most of Edwardes's troops and the Bahawalpur troops dispersed to their homes. Sher Singh and Mulraj nevertheless were not prepared to cooperate. At a meeting at a neutral mosque outside the city, it was agreed that Sher Singh would move north into the mainly Sikh-populated areas of the Punjab.

The siege edit

 
The 1st Bombay European Fusiliers storming the Breach at the Koonee Boorg, 1849.
 
Sikh arms and colors used during the siege

Late in November, Whish was reinforced by a substantial force from the East India Company's Bombay Army. Some observers claimed that the sepoys of the Bombay contingent, being of generally lower caste than those of the Bengal Army, were more willing and skilled at comparatively menial tasks such as digging trenches. Whish's combined force amounted to 32,000, of which 15,000 were from the British Army or European (mainly Irish) troops of the Bengal and Bombay armies. He also had 150 pieces of artillery, many of which were heavy guns or mortars. It was comparatively easy to supply this large force, as Multan lay near the Indus River, and steamships could bring supplies some way up the river and to within a short distance of the city.

Inside the city, Mulraj commanded 12,000 troops, with 54 guns and 12 mortars. (Some sources state that 80 guns were mounted in the citadel, though some of these may have been obsolete or decorative pieces).

On 27 December, Whish ordered four columns of troops to attack the suburbs. Mulraj's forces were driven back into the city, and Whish's force set up batteries 500 yards from the city walls. Under cover of their fire, breaching batteries were set up only 80 yards from the walls, and created two breaches in them while causing great damage in the city. On 30 December, the main magazine in the citadel exploded, killing 800 of the defenders. It was a mosque in which 180 tonnes of gunpowder were stored.[1] A British mortar shell hit it. It is considered one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. Mulraj nevertheless maintained his fire and sent a defiant message to Whish, stating that he still had enough powder to last a year. He attempted to mount a sortie against the besiegers on 31 December but this was driven back.

Whish ordered a general assault on 2 January 1849. The attackers successfully scaled the breaches, and the battle became a bloody house-to-house fight in the city, in which many defenders and civilians were killed indiscriminately. Whish ordered the civilians to be herded into the main square; he may have intended to spare them from further fighting but the action of corralling them was also accompanied by further casualties.

With the fall of the city, only the already-scarred citadel remained, but it held out for another fortnight against heavy bombardment. On 18 January, Whish's sappers exploded three mines under its walls, causing heavy losses and destroying large sections of its walls. Mulraj offered to surrender if his life was spared, but Whish insisted on unconditional surrender, and on 22 January, Mulraj gave himself up, with 550 men.

Aftermath edit

 
'The Siege of Mooltan', 1849. Moolraj's elephant struck with a cannonball.

Corporal John Ryder of the (European) Bombay Fusiliers later wrote of the city after the siege,

Mountains of dead lay in every part of the town, and heaps of human ashes in every square, where the bodies had been burnt as they were killed. Some were only half-consumed. Many had been gnawed and pulled to pieces by dogs; and arms, legs, heads and other parts lay in every place. The town swarmed with millions of flies.

The British gained vast quantities of loot. Mulraj's treasury was worth three million pounds, a huge sum for the time. There was also much looting in the town, by both British and Indian soldiers. With the fall of Multan, Whish's army was able to reinforce the main Bengal Army force under Sir Hugh Gough. Whish's heavy guns were decisive at the Battle of Gujarat, which effectively broke Sher Singh's and Chattar Singh's armies and ended the war.

Mulraj was placed on trial for the murders of Vans Agnew and Anderson. He was cleared of premeditated murder, but was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact, in that he had rewarded the murderers and openly used the deaths as pretext for rebellion. (Under British law at the time, an "accessory after the fact" of a crime was liable to the same punishment as the criminal.) Mulraj was sentenced to death, but the sentence was later commuted to exile for life.

In August 1849, the Indus and Chenab rivers overflowed, and the heavily damaged citadel was washed away, eventually resembling an "island of mud" amidst the floods.

Order of battle edit

British regiments edit

British Indian Army regiments edit

References edit

  1. ^ Marshman, John Clark (1867). The History of India, Volume III. Longmans, Green, Reader & Dyer. p. 340.

Sources edit

  • Ian Hernon, Britain's forgotten wars, Sutton Publishing Ltd, 2003, ISBN 0-7509-3162-0
  • Charles Allen, Soldier Sahibs, Abacus, 2001, ISBN 0-349-11456-0
  • "The Memoirs of Private Waterfield" ed Arthur Swinson (aka F M Bailey) & Donald Scott Cassell London 1968

External links edit

    January 01, 1970
    siege, multan, 1848, 1849, this, article, includes, list, general, references, lacks, sufficient, corresponding, inline, citations, please, help, improve, this, article, introducing, more, precise, citations, january, 2011, learn, when, remove, this, template,. This article includes a list of general references but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations January 2011 Learn how and when to remove this template message The siege of Multan began on 19 April 1848 and lasted until 22 January 1849 and saw fighting around Multan in present day Pakistan between the British East India Company and the Sikh Empire It began with a rebellion against a ruler imposed by the East India Company which precipitated the Second Anglo Sikh War and ended when the last defenders of the city surrendered to British forces Siege of MultanPart of the Second Anglo Sikh WarThe Storming of Mooltan 2nd Jan 1849Date19 April 1848 22 January 1849LocationMultan PunjabResultBritish victoryBelligerentsEast India CompanySikh EmpireCommanders and leadersGen WhishDiwan Mulraj ChopraStrength32 000 troops150 guns12 000 troops66 gunsCasualties and losses5 0002 500Multanclass notpageimage Location of Multan within present day Pakistan Contents 1 Background 2 The revolt in Multan 3 The Battle of Kineyri 4 Sher Singh s defection 5 The siege 6 Aftermath 7 Order of battle 7 1 British regiments 7 2 British Indian Army regiments 8 References 9 Sources 10 External linksBackground edit nbsp Sheikh Imam ud din governor of Kashmir under the Sikh Empire fought on the side of the British during the siege of Multan Multan had been captured and incorporated into the Sikh Empire of Ranjit Singh in 1818 In 1845 although the population was almost half Muslim it was ruled by a Hindu vassal Dewan Mulraj In that year the First Anglo Sikh War broke out and was won by the British East India Company There was an uneasy peace for three years during which Mulraj attempted to maintain practical independence while being nominally subject to the East India Company In 1848 Multan had a population of 80 000 It was the centre of trade for a wide region and was renowned for its wealth There were large stores of spices silks and valuables Early in 1848 the newly appointed Commissioner in the Punjab Sir Frederick Currie demanded that Mulraj pay duties and taxes previously paid to the central Durbar of the Sikh Empire and now in arrears Mulraj attempted to forestall a complete annexation of Multan by abdicating in favour of his son Currie nevertheless decided to impose a compliant Sikh ruler Sardar Khan Singh who was to be accompanied by a British Political Agent Patrick Vans Agnew The revolt in Multan editOn 18 April Vans Agnew and another officer Lieutenant Anderson from the East India Company s Bombay Army arrived outside Multan with a small escort of Gurkhas The next day Mulraj conducted Khan Singh and the two British officers to the citadel and handed over the keys with no sign of hostility As the two officers began to ride out of the citadel a soldier from Mulraj s army attacked Vans Agnew This may have been the sign for a concerted attack as a mob surrounded and attacked them Mulraj s troops either stood by or joined the mob Both officers were wounded and they and Khan Singh retired to a Mosque outside the city where Anderson wrote a plea for help A despatch rider carried it to Currie in Lahore while a second took a copy via a different route across the Indus River During the night most of Vans Agnew s escort left Next morning the mob pushed Khan Singh aside and hacked the two British officers to death Mulraj had probably not been a party to the conspiracy among his own troops He nevertheless regarded himself as committed to rebellion by their actions He presented Vans Agnew s head to Khan Singh and told him to take it back to Currie The Battle of Kineyri editThe British Political Agent in Bannu Lieutenant Herbert Edwardes took the first steps to suppress Mulraj s revolt He intercepted the second copy of Vans Agnew s letter to Currie and immediately began to concentrate troops He and other junior British officers were to be frustrated by Currie in Lahore who proposed to do nothing during the Hot Weather and Monsoon seasons This was partly for reasons of economy and lack of preparation but he was supported by the Governor General of Bengal Lord Dalhousie and the Commander in Chief of the Bengal Army Sir Hugh Gough who did not wish to expose European troops to a campaign during the harsh weather Meanwhile Mulraj was reinforced by several other regiments of the Khalsa the army of the Sikh empire which rebelled or deserted He also took other measures to strengthen his defences digging up guns which had previously been buried and enlisting more troops In early June Edwardes began to lead an army against Multan On 18 June his leading troops Pashtun irregulars crossed the Chenab River on a ferry boat They were engaged by Mulraj s artillery and forced to take cover for several hours Mulraj s infantry and cavalry began to advance but Edwardes was reinforced by two regiments of the Khalsa under Colonel Van Cortlandt an Anglo Indian soldier of fortune Van Cortlandt s artillery caused heavy losses among the Multani troops and Edwardes s Pashtuns counter attacked Mulraj s forces retreated to Multan having suffered 500 casualties and lost six guns Sher Singh s defection editOnce Currie learned of this victory he at last ordered a comparatively small force from the East India Company s Bengal Army under General Whish to begin the siege of Multan As it was too small to encircle the city Currie decided to reinforce them and Edwardes with a substantial detachment of the Khalsa under Sher Singh Attariwalla The appointment of Sher Singh alarmed many junior Political Agents as his father Chattar Singh Attariwalla was apparently openly preparing to revolt in Hazara to the north of the Punjab Despite warnings Currie nevertheless ordered a detachment from Chattar Singh s army under his second in command Jundial Singh to reinforce Sher Singh This allowed Jundial Singh and other officers to influence Sher Singh and spread disaffection among his regiments At this stage the besiegers consisted of Whish s division 8 089 men 32 siege guns 12 horse artillery guns Edwardes s irregulars 4 033 cavalry and 7 718 infantry a contingent from the Moslem state of Bahawalpur 1 900 cavalry and 5 700 infantry and Sher Singh s force 3 382 cavalry and 909 infantry On 14 September Sher Singh openly rebelled against the East India Company This left the East India Company s forces too weak to maintain the siege and they were forced to retreat Most of Edwardes s troops and the Bahawalpur troops dispersed to their homes Sher Singh and Mulraj nevertheless were not prepared to cooperate At a meeting at a neutral mosque outside the city it was agreed that Sher Singh would move north into the mainly Sikh populated areas of the Punjab The siege edit nbsp The 1st Bombay European Fusiliers storming the Breach at the Koonee Boorg 1849 nbsp Sikh arms and colors used during the siege Late in November Whish was reinforced by a substantial force from the East India Company s Bombay Army Some observers claimed that the sepoys of the Bombay contingent being of generally lower caste than those of the Bengal Army were more willing and skilled at comparatively menial tasks such as digging trenches Whish s combined force amounted to 32 000 of which 15 000 were from the British Army or European mainly Irish troops of the Bengal and Bombay armies He also had 150 pieces of artillery many of which were heavy guns or mortars It was comparatively easy to supply this large force as Multan lay near the Indus River and steamships could bring supplies some way up the river and to within a short distance of the city Inside the city Mulraj commanded 12 000 troops with 54 guns and 12 mortars Some sources state that 80 guns were mounted in the citadel though some of these may have been obsolete or decorative pieces On 27 December Whish ordered four columns of troops to attack the suburbs Mulraj s forces were driven back into the city and Whish s force set up batteries 500 yards from the city walls Under cover of their fire breaching batteries were set up only 80 yards from the walls and created two breaches in them while causing great damage in the city On 30 December the main magazine in the citadel exploded killing 800 of the defenders It was a mosque in which 180 tonnes of gunpowder were stored 1 A British mortar shell hit it It is considered one of the largest non nuclear explosions in history Mulraj nevertheless maintained his fire and sent a defiant message to Whish stating that he still had enough powder to last a year He attempted to mount a sortie against the besiegers on 31 December but this was driven back Whish ordered a general assault on 2 January 1849 The attackers successfully scaled the breaches and the battle became a bloody house to house fight in the city in which many defenders and civilians were killed indiscriminately Whish ordered the civilians to be herded into the main square he may have intended to spare them from further fighting but the action of corralling them was also accompanied by further casualties With the fall of the city only the already scarred citadel remained but it held out for another fortnight against heavy bombardment On 18 January Whish s sappers exploded three mines under its walls causing heavy losses and destroying large sections of its walls Mulraj offered to surrender if his life was spared but Whish insisted on unconditional surrender and on 22 January Mulraj gave himself up with 550 men Aftermath edit nbsp The Siege of Mooltan 1849 Moolraj s elephant struck with a cannonball Corporal John Ryder of the European Bombay Fusiliers later wrote of the city after the siege Mountains of dead lay in every part of the town and heaps of human ashes in every square where the bodies had been burnt as they were killed Some were only half consumed Many had been gnawed and pulled to pieces by dogs and arms legs heads and other parts lay in every place The town swarmed with millions of flies The British gained vast quantities of loot Mulraj s treasury was worth three million pounds a huge sum for the time There was also much looting in the town by both British and Indian soldiers With the fall of Multan Whish s army was able to reinforce the main Bengal Army force under Sir Hugh Gough Whish s heavy guns were decisive at the Battle of Gujarat which effectively broke Sher Singh s and Chattar Singh s armies and ended the war Mulraj was placed on trial for the murders of Vans Agnew and Anderson He was cleared of premeditated murder but was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact in that he had rewarded the murderers and openly used the deaths as pretext for rebellion Under British law at the time an accessory after the fact of a crime was liable to the same punishment as the criminal Mulraj was sentenced to death but the sentence was later commuted to exile for life In August 1849 the Indus and Chenab rivers overflowed and the heavily damaged citadel was washed away eventually resembling an island of mud amidst the floods Order of battle editBritish regiments edit 3rd King s Own Light Dragoons 9th Queen s Royal Light Dragoons Lancers 14th the King s Light Dragoons 6th Queen s Light Dragoons Lancers 10th Foot 24th Foot 29th Foot 32nd Foot 60th Foot 1st battalion 61st Foot British Indian Army regiments edit 1st Bengal Light Cavalry 5th Bengal Light Cavalry 6th Bengal Light Cavalry 8th Bengal Light Cavalry 3rd Bengal Irregular Cavalry 9th Bengal Irregular Cavalry 11th Bengal Irregular Cavalry 14th Bengal Irregular Cavalry 2nd European Light Infantry 8th Bengal Native Infantry 15th Bengal Native Infantry 20th Bengal Native Infantry 25th Bengal Native Infantry 30th Bengal Native Infantry 31st Bengal Native Infantry 36th Bengal Native Infantry 45th Bengal Native Infantry 46th Bengal Native Infantry 51st Bengal Native Infantry 52nd Bengal Native Infantry 56th Bengal Native Infantry 69th Bengal Native Infantry 70th Bengal Native Infantry 72nd Bengal Native Infantry 25th Bombay Mountain BatteryReferences edit Marshman John Clark 1867 The History of India Volume III Longmans Green Reader amp Dyer p 340 Sources editIan Hernon Britain s forgotten wars Sutton Publishing Ltd 2003 ISBN 0 7509 3162 0 Charles Allen Soldier Sahibs Abacus 2001 ISBN 0 349 11456 0 The Memoirs of Private Waterfield ed Arthur Swinson aka F M Bailey amp Donald Scott Cassell London 1968External links editOrbat com page Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Siege of Multan 1848 1849 amp oldid 1166161896, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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