The frontier between colonial India and Afghanistan in the 19th century was a place of danger and unrest. In 1897, at a small outpost called Saragarhi, 40 miles away from the British garrison town of Kohat (in what is now Pakistan), 21 Sikh soldiers stood their ground against an onslaught of 10,000 enemy tribesmen. Their gallantry in fighting to the bitter end cemented their reputation as brave and devoted to their duty, and the soldiers were recognised by the British with memorials, a battle honour and a regimental holiday. So why was Saragarhi viewed with such significance, and how is it still relevant today?
The timing of the battle is crucial: it occurred during the period of the 19th century known as the ‘Great Game’, the name given to the heightened tensions between Britain and Russia as they battled over Afghanistan and other territories in central Asia.
From 1881 to 1885, as the Russians penetrated eastwards in Turkestan, efforts were made to avoid all-out war. A compromise was reached between the two in 1885: a boundary commission was set up in British India with agreement from the emir of Afghanistan, Abdur Rahman Khan, in order to finally define spheres of British and Afghan influence. This later became the Durrand Line, which is still in dispute today. Following the agreement, Britain developed a ‘forward policy’ of occupying frontier lands and keeping a presence in places inhabited by Pathans, the tribes of people residing in the region.
A new British post at Saragarhi
In 1891, Brigadier General Sir William Lockhart led two expeditions of the Miranzai Field Force on to the Samana [a mountain range] in order to bring the tribes there under British rule, aiming eventually to build forts on the high ground of the Mastan plateau. By May, a memorandum was issued by the commander-in-chief of India, General Sir Frederick Roberts (later First Baron Roberts of Kandahar) on the posts and roads to be created for the military occupation of the range.
Two new main forts of Lockhart and Gulistan were placed on vital ground. Other smaller ‘picquet’ posts were built nearby, including on the high part of the main range, west of the village of Saragarhi. Roberts’s memorandum stated this post, which was situated a mile and half west of Lockhart and a mile and three-quarters east of Gulistan, should be visible from both forts. Saragarhi was the most important of the picquets because through it, heliographic signal communications – signals using flashes of sunlight – could be maintained between the two main forts.
While the telegraph had been invented much earlier in 1835 by Samuel Morse, the heliograph became a necessary means of sending Morse code on the frontier. While field telegraphs had been put up between Lockhart and Gulistan, the wire laid beneath the ground to carry these messages was continually cut by the locals. When they were repaired, the enemy persevered, so it became necessary to develop another means of sending messages. The heliograph at Saragarhi would send Morse code through the use of flashing lights.
A regiment to combat ‘tribal agitation’
The regiment sent to the Samana was the 36th (Sikh) Regiment of Bengal Infantry. It was raised in March 1887 specifically for service along the unruly north west frontier with the intent of checking tribal agitation. The unit (and its sister regiment, the 35th Sikhs) were raised by Colonel Jim Cooke and the infamous Captain Henry Holmes, the latter being the biggest and strongest man of his time in the Indian army. It is said that he challenged men in Ludhiana, Punjab, to a wrestling match, with the proviso that if they lost, they would enlist. This novel way of recruitment saw young men flock to try and beat the Brit. While recruitment was taking place across Punjab, 225 men were also brought over to the regiment from other units of the Punjab Frontier Force and Bengal Army, bringing the 36th to full strength of 912 men in eight companies by January 1888.
After a period of training and domestic movements, the regiment was eventually led in January 1897 by its commander, Lt Col John Haughton (the son of an Afghan war hero of the same name), to occupy the Samana posts.
While the 36th Sikhs took to their daily duties, the action of drawing boundaries on the frontier led to the Afridi people of nearby Tirah rising up in defiance of the peace they had held for 16 years with the British. By August 1897 the Mullah of Hadda, an influential preacher, had declared a jihad “to go out for a holy war and defend the religion of the Holy Prophet”. The Afridis convinced their neighbouring Orakzai clan to join the cause and marched on the Samana.
A reconnaissance patrol sent out to the Samana Suk [the highest peak of the mountain range] on 9 September found that a strong force of tribesmen was assembled near Khangarbur; 29 standards were counted, giving an indication of enemy numbers. The next day more enemies arrived, pushing estimates to 25,000.
Haughton’s 36th Sikhs were spread along the picquets and forts: 168 soldiers were at Lockhart under his command, while 175 rifles were at Gulistan under Major Charles Des Voeux. The picquet at Dhar contained 37, and Sartop and Saragarhi both contained 21 Sikhs; the latter also held a camp follower named Dadh, who cleaned and cooked for the regiment.