View source for Mizoram, 1872: Khalkom

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This article is an extract from <br/>


'''THE LUSHAI EXPEDITION '''  <br/>
1871-1872<br/>

BY<br/>
R.G. WOODTHORPE.<br/>
LIEUT. ROYAL ENGINEERS.<br/>

LONDON:<br/>
HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS, <br/>
13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.<br/>

1873.<br/>
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[[Category:India|M ]]
[[Category:Places|M ]]
=Khalkom=
The Western chiefs, Sukpilal and Khalkom, 
had not yet made their appearance, and 
Colonel Rattray, who was then commanding at 
Pachui, received orders to explore the roads in 
their direction, in order, if possible, to put press* 
ure upon them. 

According to the Lushais, Khalkom was ill and 
could not move. His illness, however, was never 
satisfactorily explained, and it was generally be- 
lieved that he was wounded either at EJiolel or 
Tipai Mukh. 

As the time necessary for making roads could 
not be spared, the General determined to trust to 
the country paths from this point, taking on only 
the Artillery elephants. Those belonging to the 
Commissariat thenceforth worked only between 
Tipai Mukh and Chepui ; the supplies being taken 
on from the latter place by coolies. 

On the 22nd January, the advance was con- 
tinued along a very rocky path, the head-man, 
and two others from Tingridum, and three men 
from Chepui, accompanied it. The troops, who 
camped about three miles and a half from Chepui, 
on the banks of a little stream called Sairumlui, 
the next day climbed up to station No. 11, on the 
Gnaupa ridge, near the site of an old village 
called Bohmong. 

Colonel Roberts, taking Engloom with him, 
went to explore the road ahead. The path 
divided into two shortly after leaving camp, one 
running along the ridge, the other along the 
east &ce of the hill towards Surklang. The 
latter was the route intended to be taken by the 
troops, and this was found blocked by a rude 
representation of men hanging on gallows ; and a 
small red gourd, fixed in a tuft of grass, symbolised 
scalped heads for those who should go that 
way. 

The path descended to a pretty little fordable 
stream called the Tuila, and crossed a steep spur 
of the Surklang to another stream, near which 
good camping ground was found. 
==The Route==
On the return of the reconnoiterers, Mr. Edgar 
informed the Lushais with us that the Tuila route 
would be the one followed, and the head-man of 
Tingridum and Darpong were directed to go on 
and inform Poiboi that we should pass by his 
villages, but that, unless we were opposed, no harm 
would be done to them, and also that he must 
give up certain captives. 

The Lushais earnestly begged that the General 
would reconsider his decision about the route, and 
take the Gnaupa one instead. This, they were 
told, was impossible, and they then asked that 
two young men of their number should be allowed 
to go on to the villages ahead. 

The Lushais had expected us to cross the 
Lengteng by Gnaupa, and had fortified several 
strong points on it ; and here they determined to 
make a great stand. The chiefs had declared 
their intention, if they succeeded in turning us 
back there, of harassing our retreat in every 
possible way, and not leaving off the pursuit till 
the troops reached the cultivated portion of 
Cachar ; while oo tbe other band, if we overcame 
all their opposition and crossed the Lengteng in 
spite of it, it was understood that our further ad- 
vance on Chumfai would be unopposed. 

In avoiding the steep and rocky passage of the 
Lengteng by that route, and choosing the easier 
one by Surklang and Muthilen, it was not the 
General's intention to avoid a collision with the 
Lushais ; indeed it was desirable that a real trial 
of strength should take place between us and the 
whole force of the South-eastern tribes. Conse- 
quently when Darpong intimated that the real 
object of the two lads in wishing to leave us, was to 
recall the men stationed on Lengteng, they were 
allowed to go. 

The interview between Mr. Edgar and the 
Lushais was carried on over our camp-fire after 
dinner, and loud and earnest were the sounds of 
the discussion which from time to time reached 
the ears of officers already retired to rest, one of 
whom, " little recking, if they would let him sleep 
on," of the great issue involved, and thinking 
they were some gossiping servants,* requested 
them, in language more forcible than polite, to 
cease chattering. No attention, however, was paid 
to his modest request, and it was far into the night 
when the Lushais at last left the camp. Shortly 
afterwards two shots were heard by the advanced 
picquet in the direction taken by the lads, but 
nothing else occurred during the night. 
==Narrow Ravine==
In the morning, Darpong and the Tingridum 
man also departed, and at eight o'clock the force 
marched for the next camp ; halting for a couple 
of hours at the Tuila to allow the coolies to cook 
and eat. As the supply of water at No. 11 had 
been very limited, the General, Colonel Roberts, 
and other officers, went on ahead to reconnoitre 
the road in the afternoon. The path followed the 
coarse of the ravine along its left bank. The ravine 
was very narrow here, with densely wooded sides, 
and the path, running over rocks and roots of 
trees, in some places barely afforded a foothold, 
while on the right below it was the rocky bed of a 
mountain stream. 

About a mile from camp the path again divided, 
leading in one direction to the south over Muthilen 
to the village of Kungnung, and in the other to 
the east, up Surklang. The latter was the road 
reconnoitred. After climbing through some very 
steep jooms, it ran along the south side of the 
hill. It was a tolerable road here, some three or 
four feet wide, and evidently made in some parts 
in others cut with da6s out of the hillside, the 
best Lushai path we had yet met with. 

After pursuing it for some time, and just as it 
was so late as to necessitate a speedy return, 
several large granaries were discovered in a joom, 
and while these were being inspected, Darpong 
and his companion appeared upon the scene. On 
questioning him as to his presence there, when 
he was expected to have gone towards Poiboi's 
village, which was in quite the opposite direction, 
he said that the two shots we heard the night 
before had been fired at the Lushais who left our 
camp by people from Taikum, a large village a 
mile or so further on the road, and that he had 
been to inquire into the matter. He also pointed 
out to us Kungnung near the summit of Muthilen, 
and said that both the villages were full of armed 
men. He then departed, promising to be in 
camp next morning. 

==Order Of March==
From the point where we met Darpong it was 
easily seen that the onward route must be by 
Kungnung, as Chelam, Poiboi's village, was not 
visible over the high intervening hill. This being 
determined on, the reconnoitring pdrty returned 
to their camp. 

The night passed off quietly, and the troops 
marched again shortly after eight a.m. on the 
25th. Darpong had come in and given the 
General to understand that an attack would be 
made on us in the ravine. Fifty men of the 44th 
went in advance, then the General and staff, and 
the wing of the 44th; sixty men of the 22nd 
being left as a guard for the Artillery and coolies, 
for whose safety all felt very anxious. 

Such was the order of march for the small 
force with him, and considering the precipitous 
nature of the hill-sides, which completely com- 
manded the narrow rocky stream, the General 
felt that he could not search the banks as he 
went along. 

About half a mile from camp, however, as the 
advanced guard were climbing over a steep rocky 
part of the path, the first shots were exchanged, 
and as if by magic along the whole line and in 
front, the gloom of the forest was lighted up by a 
myriad of flashes, and bullets and slugs fell 
around us, 

* As on a July day. 
The thunder shower falls pattering on the way." 

At the first discharge the General's orderly 
was shot dead from the the right bank, and almost 
immediately the General himself was wounded in 
the left arm and hand by a Lushai on the left 
bank,' not eight yards off. 

The Sepoys replied well, and Captain Robert- 
son's advanced guard extended as they reached 
the rocky ground on the left flank, while the rest 
of the 44th, under Colonel Nuthall and Captain 
Lightfoot) flinging down their packs and great- 
coats, dived into the rocky stream, and meeting 
the enemy in their own jungle, almost hand to 
hand, drove them up the hill before them, scatter- 
ing them most effectually. Thirteen Lushais 
fell almost in one spot in the stream, those who 
were not dead being despatched without mercy. 

One man was trying to escape up the face of 
a piece of rock over whieh some water trickled 
into a pool below. The slippery rock hindered 
him, and ere he could mount it a Goorkha bad 
overtaken him and cut him down with his 
kookrie. He fell on his face in the pool, looking 
painfully like a woman, as he lay there with 
his smooth cheek and neatly braided hair and 
knot. 

The General's wounds having been speedily 
bound up, he was enabled shortly to overtake 
the troops again. 

At the very commencement of the firing, a 
note was sent by Mr. Edgar from the camp, 
telling the General that he had forced Darpong 
to state what he knew about the intended attack. 
His statement was, that the Lushais meant to 
avoid the troops, but to attack the coolies and 
artillery elephants. Two of Mr. Edgar's Cachari 
coolies were wounded at the outset, and this 
dispiriting the others, that gentleman determined 
to remain with them. Captain Thompson also 
remained behind. 

Some of the Lushais managed to slip past the 
column, and attacked the rear, and as we 
climbed the hill in pursuit of the Lushais, we 
could hear the firing below. 

On collecting the scattered columns, the ad- 
vance followed the Kungnung path through some 
open jooms, from which we could see the Lushais 
running wildly about on the spurs and ridges 
above, apparently endeavouring to collect for a 
stand at the village. 

At length the path ran along the face of a 
huge precipice, and was commanded for a long 
distance by a small stockade, constructed at the 
most difficult part of the road, where a few resolute 
men might have stopped the advance of an 
army, while a few rocks detached from above 
would have inflicted heavy loss on the troops 
passing beneath, as escape would have been 
impossible. At this very point, a fortnight 
later, a small hill pony, belonging to an officer, 
slipped and went over the path, and falling 
three hundred feet, was killed at once. 
==Successful Manceuvre==
The rapidity with which the advance had been 
conducted, had left the Lushais no time to 
defend this stockade ; but passing onwards, the 
path suddenly emerged on a joom, above which, 
and on the high crest of another precipitous ridge, 
was another long stockade. The foremost Sepoy, 
on showing himself at the edge of the joom, was at 
once saluted with a shot, which fortunately missed 
him. It was found useless to take this stockade 
with a rush, owing to the nature of the ground, 
and so two parties of the 44th, under Capts. 
Robertson and Lightfoot, skirmished round to 
their right, taking advantage of some long gi*ass 
jungle which concealed them from the defenders 
of the stockade, who kept up a steady fire on 
the road, expecting to see the troops appear 
every moment. 

The rest of the force had been halted under 
shelter of the bank, till the result of the flank 
movement should be apparent. This manoeuvre 
was most successfully executed, and great must 
have been the surprise of the Lushais, while 
keeping their attention and fire directed on the 
path in front, to find themselves suddenly taken 
in flank. They fled, scarcely exchanging a shot 
with their unexpected assailants ; and, when the 
troops advanced through the stockade to the vil- 
lage, a couple of hundred yards beyond, not a 
Lushai was visible, all having vanished in the 
forest and down the hill-side. 

The troops at once occupied the village. The 
fires were found burning in the houses, domestic 
articles were lying about as if abandoned in haste ; 
and a few dogs, cowering in corners, testified to 
the unpreparedness of the Lushais for this result 
of their attack. In some houses were picked up 
white skirts, which had been distributed to some 
of the people who had visited us at Chepui 

The artillery elephants could not be got up to 
the village that evening, being unable to climb 
the latter part of the track, and so encamped 
below the stockade. The coolies, with the whole 
of the baggage, arrived in camp by seven p.m. 

Owing to the excellent arrangements made for 
the protection of the elephants and coolies by 
Major Moore, in charge of the Coolie Corps, Cap- 
tain Udwy, 44th, commanding the rear-guard, and 
Lieutenant Hall, 22nd, commanding the supports, 
the casualties were less than might have been ex- 
pected, only one coolie being killed, while two 
were wounded severely, and one slightly. The 
other casualties for the day were as follows : 
killed — two non-commissioned officers and one 
man of the 44th; wounded Artillery, two severely; 
44th, one severely ; Police, one severely. 
==Narrow Escape Of The General==
General Bourchier's wounds were re-examined 
as soon as the medical officers arrived at Kung- « 
nung. He had a very narrow escape. He him- 
self at first thought that he was wounded in the 
left hand only, and it was not till he took off his 
coat that a hole was discovered under and behind 
his left elbow ; and a wound which was found in 
his fore-arm at once accounted for the pain he 
felt there. Fortunately for the Left Column, the 
General's wounds, though painful, did not dis- 
able him, excepting so far as they neccessitated 
a sling for a short time.