Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 25.djvu/182

H lished in London in two duodecimo volumes, and is a remarkably clear and impartial narrative. It, however, fell flat, and Havelock, regretting that he had left Afghanistan, prepared in June 1840 to return in charge of a detachment. On his way up country at Ferozepore he found General William Elphinstone [q. v.] going to Cabul to succeed Cotton. Elphinstone took a fancy to Havelock, and appointed him to his staff as Persian interpreter. They reached Cabul in the beginning of 1841, and during the six months of his second residence Havelock resumed his religious services. When the army was isolated by the defection of the mountain tribes, and the 13th regiment and 35th native infantry were despatched under Brigadier-general Sir R. Sale to open the passes, Havelock obtained leave to accompany him. On entering the Khoord Cabul Pass, so severely were they attacked that, leaving an advanced guard, Sale fell back on Boothak, and sent Havelock to Cabul for reinforcements. Havelock rejoined Sale with considerable reinforcements and supplies. Sale's force now pushed through the passes, fighting all the way until it reached Gandamak. Here tidings were received of the insurrection in Cabul, and Sale was ordered to return through the passes. Macgregor, the political agent, Broadfoot of the engineers, and Havelock, the trusted advisers of Sale at this crisis, urged the impossibility of returning to Cabul, and the importance of seizing Jallálabád without delay, in order to secure a fortified post on the road to India, and so give the force at Cabul a point on which to retire. Sale occupied Jallálabád on 12 Nov., and encamped under its walls. Through the siege Havelock was one of the leading spirits, took an active part in repairing the works and making sorties, and supported Broadfoot in preventing the contemplated capitulation [see ]. The advice of Havelock, Macgregor, and Broadfoot determined Sale to make his decisive attack upon Akbar Khan on 7 April. On the arrival of Pollock nine days later Havelock was appointed by the commander-in-chief in India deputy adjutant-general of a division of his force, and accompanied the army of retribution in August on its advance to Cabul. He was present at the battle of Jagdallak and Tezín on 8 and 13 Sept., and the entry into Cabul two days later. He accompanied the expedition under Shakespeare to succour the prisoners sent away by Akbar Khan to the Hindu Khoosh, and after their rescue he was sent with Sir John McCaskill on the expedition into the Kohistan, where he took a prominent part in the capture of Istaliff. On the return of the army to India Havelock was one of the garrison of Jallálabád received by Lord Ellenborough with great pomp on the banks of the Sutlej. Havelock was made a C.B., promoted brevet-major (4 Oct. 1842), and received three medals for his past services, but his appointment was at an end, and he returned to the command of a company of the 13th light infantry. His wife, who had gone to England with the children before the Cabul disaster, now rejoined him, and they spent some pleasant months together at Simla.

On 30 June 1843 Havelock obtained a regimental majority without purchase, and through the interest of friends was appointed Persian interpreter to the new commander-in-chief, Sir Hugh Gough. Havelock joined his chief at Cawnpore on 23 Oct., in time to take part in the Gwalior campaign. He was present at the battle of Maharajpore, for which he received a medal and brevet-lieutenant-colonelcy. When the affairs of Gwalior were settled, he accompanied Gough on a tour through the independent states of the north-west, and then to Simla. About this time (1844) a spirit of insubordination manifested itself among the sepoys of the native army. Thirty-nine mutineers were found guilty, but only six were executed. Havelock, always an unflinching disciplinarian, had urged the necessity of following the course pursued in 1824, when Sir E. Paget decimated the 47th native infantry at Barrackpore, and he was indignant at the timidity of the government.

At the close of 1845 the first Sikh war began, and Havelock took part in the battles of Mudki and Ferozshah. At Mudki he had two horses shot under him, and at Ferozshah he lost two of his most intimate friends, Sir Robert Sale and Major Broadfoot. He was also present at the battle of Sobraon, and again had a horses shot under him. At the close of the campaign Havelock attended the governor-general and commander-in-chief to Lahore, and witnessed the instalment of the new government of the Punjab in full durbar, 9 March 1846. In acknowledgment of his services in the Sutlej campaign he received the medal with two clasps, and was appointed by the Duke of Wellington deputy adjutant-general of queen's troops, Bombay. Soon after his arrival at Bombay in July 1847 his old chief, Sir Willoughby Cotton, was appointed to the command of the Bombay army, and Havelock remained with him on the general staff of the army for some years.

Havelock had exchanged from the 13th light infantry into the 39th regiment before the Sutlej campaign, and he had since ex-