Narrative of the March and Operations of the Army of the Indus

The full title of this publication reads: A Narrative of the March and Operations of the Army of the Indus in the Expedition into Afghanistan in the Years 1838-1839, under the Command of Lieutenant-General Sir John Keane. Also the History of the Dooranee Empire from its Foundation (1747) to the Present Time. The author Was Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Bengal Column which, with the Bombay Column, made up the Army of the Indus. He dedicates his account to the Governor General of India (the Earl of Auckland), the man responsible for the war which, although successful in its immediate aim of restoring to Afghan throne the deposed (and despised) King Shah Shoojah-ool-Moolk (Shah Suja) as a puppet monarch, eventually led to appalling catastrophe in 1842 when the Essex Regiment (44th Foot) was wiped out during its retreat from Kabul. This is a very detailed account of the expedition which, apart from describing the operations including the two major battles at Ghuznee and Khelat, gives a good picture of the nature of the country through which the Army of the Indus marched. It also gives tables of routes marched by each column with dates, stages, distance between each stage and remarks. From 8th November 1838 to 31st December 1839 the Bengal column marched 2,069 miles, the Bombay column 2,057. The complete order of battle of the army is given at the beginning of the narrative including numbers and types of weapons and personnel strengths. In tables at the end of the book we have the details of the casualties of men, horses and bullocks; monthly returns of admissions to hospital and deaths in the Bengal Column; returns of ordnance stores, ammunition, of a month's supply for the Army of the Indus; and there are appendices quoting official correspondence. and giving the list of officers killed with unit and place and date of death. One long chapter is devoted to the history of the Dooranee Dynasty (Empire) which included Shah Shoojah among its scions. He, in fact, was to be assassinated in April 1842, two years after this book was published. This really is a very full history of the First Afghan War.