Soldiers Sahibs : The Daring Adventurers Who Tamed India's Northwest Frontier

by Allen, Charles

• ISBN13: 9780786708611
• ISBN10: 0786708611
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-05-01
• Publisher: Perseus Books Group

Summary

Drawing extensively upon diaries, letters, and family mementos as well as his own frequent travels in the northwest region of India, the author recounts his ancestor, Brigadier General John Nicholson, who with six ambitious young officers in 1840 set out to secure the Northwest Frontier for the Raj. Photos.

Table of Contents

Illustrations	vii
A note on the East India Company and its Bengal Army	ix
Maps	xiii
Prologue: `The type of the conquering race': Lisburn, 1903	1	(19)
`The land of the Afghans': John Nicholson and Afghanistan, 1839-1841	20	(23)
`Respect the British soldier': Afghanistan, 1841-1842	43	(15)
`First comes one Englishman': the First Sikh War, 1845-1846	58	(30)
`I am to have the making of this regiment': Harry Lumsden and Peshawar, 1847	88	(18)
`Connection with us is political death': Herbert Edwardes and Bannu, 1847-1848	106	(22)
`Power to the omnipotent Sahibs': James Abbott and Hazara, 1846-1848	128	(33)
`Huzara and its part in the Second Sikh War': James Abbott and Hazara, 1848-1849	161	(22)
`Sometimes pleasure, sometimes pain': the Second Sikh War and annexation, 1848-1849	183	(24)
`Every man a fair hearing': consolidating the Frontier, 1849-1853	207	(33)
`I have just shot a man who came to kill me': John Nicholson and Bannu, 1852-1857	240	(23)
`Mutiny is like smallpox': the Sepoy Mutiny, May-July 1857	263	(32)
`Like a King coming into his own': Delhi Ridge, August-September 1857	295	(29)
`Our best and bravest': the aftermath, September 1857 onwards	324	(18)
Acknowledgments	342	(2)
Glossary	344	(3)
Bibliography	347	(4)
Index	351