section of the brigade got possession of the heights, and their guns
were established in a deserted fort on the southern gorge of the pass;
but the other division marched back through the defile to the camp at
Boothak. But, although the Khoord Cabul Pass was thus cleared, the force
under General Sale was compelled to fight with the enemy during eighteen
days in their route to Gundamuek, which was reached on the 30th of
October. After this the British troops commanded the route to Sookhab;
and on the 12th of November they reached Jellalabad. In the meantime
a fearful tragedy, which ended in the total destruction of our Cifeul
force, had commenced in that city. The British troops were placed in
a cantonment on the north side of the city, which cantonment consisted
only of a low rampart and narrow ditch, in the form of a parallelogram,
thrown up along the line of the Kohistan road, one thousand yards long
and six hundred broad, with round flanking bastions at each corner,
every one of which was commanded by some fort or hill. The "Mission
Compound," where Sir William M'Naghten, the envoy, and his suite
resided, was attached to the cantonment on the north side, and
surrounded by a single wall. On the eastern side, about a quarter of
a mile off, the Cabul river flowed in a direction parallel with the
Kohistan road; and between the river and cantonments there was a
wide canal. In itself this cantonment was most insecure; but General
Elphinstone threw a bridge over the river so as to render the
communication between the Seeah Sung camp and the cantonment still more
easy. The most extraordinary oversight, however, was the allowing
the commissariat stores to be placed in an old fort detached from the
cantonment, and in such a state as to be wholly indefensible. The troops
were thus placed when a rebellion took place under Ameenoollah and
Abdoolhah Khan. It commenced by an attack on the dwellings of Sir
Alexander Barnes and Captain Johnson, who resided in the city of Cabal;
Sir Alexander, his brother, Lieutenant Burnes, and Lieutenant Broadfoot
were murdered. On discovering this, General Elphinstone sent an order to
Brigadier Shelton to march forthwith with a body of troops to the Bala
Hissar, or royal citadel, situated at the eastern extremity of the city;
the rest of the troops in that camp were withdrawn into the cantonment,
and the whole of the camp followers when collected amounted to twelve
thousand, exclusive of women and c