The British Government first came into contact with the Mohmands during the Afghan War of 1838–42, at which time one Saadat Khan was Chief of Lalpura. On the news of the approach of the British army, Turabaz Khan, his cousin and enemy, immediately started off to meet the army of the Indus at Jhelum. Saadat Khan thereupon espoused the cause of the Barakzais, and Turabaz Khan was installed as Khan of Lalpura by Colonel Wade, and seems to have done loyal service for Mackeson while we held Afghanistan. After the disasters at Kabul the whole country rose, and Turabaz Khan, at risk to himself, saved an English lady and her child from the Pesh-Bolak garrison, and took them down the river on a raft to Peshawar. The officers of the Jazailchis stationed at Pesh-Bolak escaped over the Tartara hills, and Turabaz Khan himself took refuge in British territory. He returned with General Pollock’s force, but was ousted by Saadat Khan on the withdrawal of our troops. He subsequently made his peace with the Amir and received a jaghir, or grant of land, in Kama. 228During the early years of British rule in the Peshawar Valley, the Mohmands gave more trouble than almost any other tribe.
The Michni Mohmands, after annexation, were allowed to hold a fief from the British Government in the Doaba, of which they collected the revenue. A portion of the lands they cultivated themselves, farming out the remainder to other tribes of the plains as tenants. Many of their clansmen dwelt in the plains of Michni, and some in the neighbouring hills, and they traded largely in the Peshawar Valley. The Halimzai Mohmands also held Panjpao in British Doaba as a fief, chiefly cultivated by tenants. A few of their men lived in the plains, but the majority in the hills, and these also traded in the valley. The Pandiali Mohmands at a former period had held a similar jaghir in the Doaba, but not since British rule. They had few relations either with the Government or the people of the Peshawar Valley, and inhabited a very strong locality in the hills. These fiefs had originally been granted to the Mohmands by former governments, as blackmail to buy off depredations.
The first inroad of the Mohmands occurred in December, 1850, in an unprovoked attack on the village of Shabkadar, organised by Fateh Khan, a son of Saadat Khan, who at that time was still the chief of Lalpura, and who was naturally not well disposed towards us, and was doing his best to incite the tribe to hostilities. In the following year a number of outrages were committed: two attacks 229were made upon Matta in March and April by the chief of Pandiali; other minor depredations succeeded in July, headed by a leading man from Panjpao; and in October the Michni Mohmands made so serious an attack upon British villages, that later in the month the Supreme Government directed that the Mohmand fiefs in the Doaba should be confiscated, our border posts strengthened, and that punitive operations should be undertaken against the offenders.
Operations in 1851–52
Operations against the Mohmands in 1851–52.—Accordingly on the 25th October of this year, a force numbering 1593 of all ranks marched out from Peshawar towards the Mohmand frontier. It was under the command of Brigadier Sir Colin Campbell, K.C.B., and was composed as under:
 
Det. 3rd Company 1st Battalion Artillery.[87]
 
No. 17 Light Field Battery.[87]
 
Two companies 61st Foot.
 
Two companies 98th Foot.
 
2nd Irregular Cavalry.
 
2nd Company Sappers and Miners.
 
66th Gurkha Regiment.
 
Wing 71st Native Infantry.[88]
The force moved, unopposed, to the village of Dab, via Mian Khel, and here the hamlets were destroyed, Shabkadar and Matta were reinforced, and a position was taken up to cover the erection of a fort at Michni. In the meantime several outrages had been committed in Peshawar, instigated by Saadat Khan, then at the 230head of a small armed force in the Tartara Hills; and it seeming likely that he meditated an attack upon some of our frontier villages, measures were taken by Sir Colin for their protection, and for that of the bridge of boats over the Kabul River forming his communications with Peshawar.
Saadat Khan continued very active; he busied himself in endeavouring to unite the Mohmands; on the 26th he had moved to Gandab, twenty miles north-west of Shabkadar, and here on the 30th he was joined by the Chief of Bajaur with a large following. On the 28th and 29th the Mohmands attacked two of our villages, burnt another, and finally, on the 7th December, Saadat Khan suddenly moved out of a gorge in the hills to the right front of camp, and took up a position with 4000 footmen and a small body of horse. At the same time the hills to the westward, near Dab, had been strongly occupied by the enemy, while a party of 200 came down to the left bank of the Kabul River immediately in rear of the camp. Seeing the force thus displayed, the Brigadier directed that a troop of Horse Artillery and six companies of the 53rd Regiment should at once move out from Peshawar to the bridge of boats on the Kabul River.
On the 8th December the Mohmands, to the number of 3000 or 4000, under Saadat Khan, advanced upon Matta, but were driven off, and all this day the tribesmen were reported to be collecting in great strength in Pandiali, under the Chief of Bajaur, and Sir Colin accordingly sent in to Peshawar for reinforcements; 231and their arrival, after a forced march, the 53rd having covered forty-two miles in thirty hours, undoubtedly prevented an attack upon the camp near Dab. The British force was now far too strong for the Mohmands, whose gathering broke up, Saadat Khan returning to Lalpura. Desultory operations continued for some few more weeks, but finally the force was recalled to Peshawar on the 14th February.
Action near Shabkadar
On the 30th March news was received at Fort Shabkadar that the Mohmands were collecting in the high ground in front to the number of between 400 and 500, and troops were moved out from the post, causing the enemy’s retreat to the hills. It was known that Saadat Khan was making great efforts to unite the various clans in view of again attempting the recovery of the lands we had annexed; and finally, on the 15th April, the Mohmands debouched from the hills, in numbers not less than 6000 matchlock men with some eighty horsemen, and moved along the foot of the hills in front of Shabkadar, taking the direction of Matta. Sir Colin Campbell had himself gone out to Shabkadar, where he had gathered some 600 troops, and he speedily issued from the fort with two Horse Artillery guns and 266 sabres of the 7th Light Cavalry[89] and 15th Irregular Cavalry,[89] and dispersed the enemy, causing them considerable loss.
In the month of July following this affair, the Michni and Panjpao Mohmands, exiled from house and lands and cut off from trade, tendered their submission 232and prayed for the restoration of their fiefs, which were handed back on payment of a nominal annual tribute. The Panjpao or Halimzai Mohmands gave no further cause for dissatisfaction, but the men of Michni fell into arrears in the payment of their tribute, and their Chief, when invited into Peshawar to make an explanation, fled instead to the hills. It was therefore necessary to attach the property of the tribesmen to the extent of the amount of tribute and, further, to inflict and recover a fine. To assist the civil authorities in enforcing these measures a small force of all arms proceeded to Michni, a company of infantry was sent to Mian Khel, and patrols so arranged as to seize all cattle moving off to the hills. It was proposed to transfer the Michni jaghir to some of our own subjects, but it was obvious that these could not hold the lands and be responsible for the revenue, unless they were secured from all chance of raids from the independent border villages beyond Michni. It was therefore resolved to destroy the three villages particularly concerned, and to prevent their being ever reoccupied; for such measures it was necessary to obtain the assistance of a military force strong enough to meet any resistance the Mohmands of that part of the border might make.
Operations against the Michni Mohmands in 1854.—For this purpose, while the garrisons of the forts and posts at Abazai, Shabkadar, Mian Khel and Michni were strengthened, a force as below enumerated was concentrated at Michni, under command of Colonel Cotton, 22nd Foot:
 
233Two guns 1st Troop 3rd Brigade Horse Artillery.
 
2nd Company 2nd Battalion Artillery with Mountain Train Battery (4 howitzers and 4 guns).
 
Two companies 22nd Foot.
 
2nd Company Sappers and Miners.
 
One squadron 10th Light Cavalry.[90]
 
One squadron 1st Irregular Cavalry.[91]
 
Three companies 1st Native Infantry.[92]
 
9th Native Infantry.[93]
 
1st Sikh Infantry.
Operations in 1854
The advance commenced on the 31st August along the left bank of the Kabul River in the direction of Shahmansur Khel, which was captured after some opposition. While the destruction of the village and the removal of grain stores was in progress, the heights above had to be seized and held, and the troops engaged on this duty were exposed to an unceasing and galling fire, and suffered several casualties, but the subsequent retirement to camp was practically unmolested. On the 2nd September Colonel Cotton again moved out, and destroyed the villages of Dab and Sadin, when the troops returned to Peshawar, and the well-affected among the Michni Mohmands paid up their share of the tribute due.
After this the Mohmands continued to commit outrages, issuing in large bodies from the hills and harrying the border, and between March, 1855, and July, 1857, no fewer than thirty-six serious raids, 234having plunder and murder for their objects, were committed by the Mohmands of Pandiali. The Commissioner, Colonel Edwardes, had been supported by the Chief Commissioner, Sir John Lawrence, in recommending punitive operations in the Pandiali Valley, but the Government were unwilling to undertake them at the time, and when the Mutiny broke out in 1857 our attention was at once more pressingly directed to other quarters.
During this period the Mohmands failed, by any concerted action, to avail themselves of an unusually favourable opportunity of increasing their annoyance, but raids and outrages did not cease, while there were no troops available on the frontier to move out against them. From the beginning of September 1857 to March 1860, thirty-nine serious outrages were committed by members of this tribe. Within five years eighty-five raids had been conducted by parties of an average strength of seventy-five men, in which fourteen British subjects had been killed, twenty-seven wounded, and fifty-five carried off, while over 1200 head of cattle had been plundered. This was exclusive of forty minor raids in which thirty-five British subjects had been killed or wounded and 267 head of cattle driven away, but though an expedition was urged by the local authorities, the Government still refused to sanction one. At last, about the end of March 1860, Nauroz Khan, an adopted son of Saadat Khan of Lalpura, sent in seeking for peace, and finally it was agreed that bygones should be bygones, that the Chief of Lalpura should be responsible for the 235future peace of the frontier, that there should be something of a general amnesty, and that the blockade of the country should be raised.
Unrest in 1863
Soon after this the Khans of Lalpura and Pandiali came into Peshawar in person and made their submission to the Commissioner. For three years there was peace on the border, the Mohmands desisting from troubling until the Ambela expedition in 1863, described in Chapter IV., when the emissaries of the Akhund of Swat were sent all over the hills bordering the Peshawar Valley, but were successful in exciting disturbances among the Mohmands only. Sultan Muhammad Khan, another son of Saadat Khan, Chief of Lalpura, owned the Akhund’s religious supremacy, and was, moreover, ill-disposed towards the British. Collecting a body of Mohmands, joined by a miscellaneous rabble of Safis, Bajauris and the like, he came down to our frontier on the 5th December, 1863, at the head of some 500 men. The officer commanding Fort Shabkadar at once turned out with fifty-five sabres and ninety-six bayonets, and drove the enemy back beyond our frontier, inflicting some loss. The Shabkadar garrison was reinforced from Peshawar, and the Mohmands again advancing on the 7th from the shelter of the hills, were again forced to retire. Nauroz Khan now, however, joined his brother, and, supported by the priesthood, the two managed, by the beginning of the new year, to collect a miscellaneous assemblage of close upon 6000 armed men—mostly Mohmands and mainly represented by men from the Halimzai and Khwaezai clans—and with 236these it was now proposed to meet the British troops stationed at Shabkadar.
This force had recently been very considerably strengthened, and now numbered some 1800 of all ranks, with three Horse Artillery guns, under Colonel Macdonnell, C.B.
On the morning of the 2nd January, 1864, the enemy made their appearance, debouching from a gorge north-west of Shabkadar, and formed up in something of the appearance of a crescent. The action which resulted was on our side almost entirely confined to the cavalry and guns. The British commander succeeded to some extent in drawing the enemy into the plain, where they were repeatedly charged by the cavalry and finally driven beyond the border, having sustained about eighty casualties.
The effects of this check were felt throughout the Mohmand country, at least 1000 men departing next morning to their homes, while in a few days the gathering completely dispersed.
The Amir Sher Ali Khan now took the Mohmands in hand, ejecting and imprisoning Saadat Khan and his son, Nauroz Khan, and replacing the former in the chieftainship by a son of his ancient rival, Turabaz Khan. Eventually, however, Nauroz Khan came to his own again, returning from Afghanistan in 1870 and assuming the Khan-ship.
During the years immediately following the operations near Shabkadar in 1864, the Mohmand border was not disturbed by anything more than isolated outrages—sufficiently serious though these were; and 237it was not until the invasion of Afghanistan in 1878 that the independent Mohmands began again to be really troublesome. At this time a grandson of Saadat Khan was Chief of Lalpura, and he sent a Mohmand contingent to co-operate with the Amir’s troops at Ali Musjid. These, however, fled without firing a shot, and the Khan then came in and tendered his submission to Sir S. Browne at Dakka. The Khan of Goshta refused to come in, and it was believed to be at his instigation that a raid was made by hill Mohmands on the village of Sarai, on the left bank of the Kabul River, in the Kama district. A small column was sent out from Jalalabad, and some of the ringleaders were captured.
On the 6th February a mixed force of 12,000 Mohmands and Bajauris made an attack upon the village of a friendly chief, one Azim Khan, who had been placed by us in charge of the two districts of Goshta and Chardeh. On the next day General Macpherson, V.C., C.B., took out a small force of some 900 cavalry and infantry from Jalalabad, intending to act in combination with another body moving from Basawal by Chardeh upon Goshta, and which was to intercept the Mohmands in their retirement; but the enemy having received notice of the proposed operations, retreated hurriedly to the hills, and the two columns returned to their respective stations.
Affair at Kam Dakka
Affair at Kam Dakka in 1879.—After this some of the Tarakzais and Halimzais were implicated in an attack upon a surveyor’s party near Michni, for which 238the divisions concerned were fined; and then in April of this year there was a more serious gathering of Mohmands brought together by a notorious mullah, for the purpose of raiding into British territory or making attacks on our posts in the Khyber. On the night of the 20th April between 200 and 300 Khwaezai and Halimzai Mohmands began to cross the Kabul River from Palosi to Shinpokh—from the left to the right bank. The Khan of Lalpura sent the news in to Dakka that a large body of Mohmands was within three miles of that place and had already engaged his outposts. He asked for help, as he expected a night attack. Arrangements were made for rendering such assistance as could be afforded, but no attack was delivered. The officer commanding at Dakka moved out on the 21st with a small mixed force, found the Kam Dakka Pass clear, and also that the village of that name, on the right bank of the Kabul River and seven miles east of Dakka, was unoccupied by the enemy. It was reported here that the Mohmands were in great strength in the vicinity of the north bank, and the villagers appeared alarmed and seemed unwilling that Major Barnes’ force should be withdrawn. The troops, however, returned the same day, unopposed, to Dakka, but on arrival here it was decided to send infantry to Kam Dakka, and 130 rifles of the Mhairwara Battalion[94] started thither at 5 p.m., reaching the village at 11.15 p.m. This detachment, commanded by Captain O’Moore Creagh, was to protect Kam Dakka from an attack from the 239north bank of the river, and was to hold the village for three days.
The villagers, however, appeared unwilling to be compromised by harbouring British troops, said they were quite capable of taking care of themselves, objected to the troops entering their village, and seemed, in fact, anything but friendly.
Relief of Detachment
Early next morning Captain O’Moore Creagh took up a position partially covering the village, and then, finding crowds of Mohmands crossing the river and threatening his flank, he withdrew to a better position near a graveyard and on the river bank, where he hastily threw up an entrenchment. He had by this time been reinforced by thirty-six rifles of his regiment from Dakka. Scarcely had this entrenchment been completed, about 9 a.m., and followers and baggage animals been brought under cover, water stored, etc., when the enemy came down from the hills and completely surrounded the detachment. They persistently attacked from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., frequently getting to the closest quarters, and having to be repulsed with the bayonet. The ammunition now began to run low, the enemy had closed in all round to within sixty to a hundred yards, and the situation became most critical, when it was relieved by the opportune approach of reinforcements.
These had been sent off from Dakka and Lundi Kotal so soon as the situation at Kam Dakka had become known at divisional headquarters. Under cover of the fire of the reinforcing troops, and some dashing charges by a troop of the 10th Bengal 240Cavalry, the Mhairwara detachment was withdrawn from the entrenchment, and the retirement on Dakka was commenced. This was reached about 8.30 p.m., the enemy pressing the rearguard closely, but being unable, owing to the darkness, to cause more than a very few casualties. A strong force of all arms moved out on the next day to Kam Dakka, but few of the enemy were met with.
In April, 1879, the same month as the Kam Dakka affair above related, Muhammad Sadik Khan, the eldest son of Nauroz Khan, who was with the British force at Gandamak, fled from the camp and joined the Amir Yakub Khan—whose mother was a sister of Nauroz Khan—and, as soon as our troops left Dakka in June, 1879, he was appointed Khan of Lalpura in the place of the Khan installed in 1875. When the second invasion of Afghanistan took place, the Khan of Lalpura hesitated for some days as to what action he should take, but at length appeared at Dakka, and for two months all went well at Lalpura and also at Goshta.
Action on the Gara Heights, January 1880.—The journey of the Amir Yakub Khan to India gave the first shock to the Mohmands, and further agitation was produced by the news of the fighting at Kabul. The mullahs began to arouse the fanaticism of the tribesmen, and the Khans of Lalpura and Goshta placed themselves at the head of the movement and collected large numbers of men at Palosi and Rena. On the 11th January the Mohmands began to pass the river, and three days later about 2415400 men under the Khan of Lalpura had crossed and taken up a strong position on the Gara Heights, about two miles from Fort Dakka and between that place and Kam Dakka. Fortunately, this move had been anticipated, and nearly all the officers at Fort Dakka had made themselves thoroughly familiar with the features of the position. Arrangements were now made to attack the enemy on the Gara Heights in front from Dakka, while another column from Lundi Kotal attacked them in flank and rear, so that, beset on three sides and with the unfordable Kabul River on the other, escape would be impossible and destruction almost certain.
The Gara Heights
On the 15th the Dakka Column moved out and was drawn up in position facing the Gara Heights by 11 a.m. It was commanded by Colonel Boisragon, 30th Punjab Native Infantry, and was composed as under:
 
Four guns I Bty. C. Bde. Royal Horse Artillery.
94
sabres 6th Dragoon Guards.
50
sabres 17th Bengal Cavalry.[95]
110
bayonets 1st Battalion 25th Foot.
100
bayonets 8th Native Infantry.[96]
500
bayonets 30th Punjab Native Infantry.
It had been arranged that the force from Lundi Kotal should start six hours previously, and it was hoped that by this time it was in a position to enable it to cut off the enemy’s retreat. The Dakka force advanced to the attack covered by the fire of the four 242guns, and the heights were taken without any very serious opposition, the enemy evacuating one position after another, until, utterly routed, they fled down the reverse slopes towards Kam Dakka. As soon as the guns of the Lundi Kotal column were heard, about 5 p.m., Colonel Boisragon pressed on and joined hands with Brigadier-General Doran, commanding the troops from Lundi Kotal, in Kam Dakka. In the meantime the enemy had made good their escape, either towards Rena or across the river.
Brigadier-General Doran had left Lundi Kotal at 4.30 a.m. with the undermentioned troops:
 
Two guns 11–9th Royal Artillery.
20
sabres 17th Bengal Cavalry.
200
bayonets 5th Fusiliers.
200
bayonets 25th Foot.
30
bayonets Madras Sappers and Miners.
300
bayonets 1st Madras Native Infantry.[97]
200
bayonets 4th Madras Native Infantry.[98]
300
bayonets 31st Punjab Native Infantry.
Progress, via the Inzari Kandao, was very slow, the troops could move only in single file, the battery mules could hardly be got along, some baggage animals fell over the precipices and were lost, and the rearguard was sixty-seven hours in covering seventeen miles. The gorge of the Shilman Gakhe was forced after but a feeble resistance, and eventually Brigadier-General Doran was able to join Colonel Boisragon as already related; but all the baggage of the Lundi Kotal column, owing to the extraordinary 243difficulties of the road, did not reach the bivouac until the morning of the 18th. Meanwhile, on the 16th January, 500 men had been passed over the river on rafts and destroyed the village of Rena, whereafter the columns returned unmolested to Dakka and Lundi Kotal.
The operations, though a failure in regard to combination, had not been without effect; the tribesmen had suffered a severe defeat and had sustained many casualties; and nearly all the clans having been represented in the force opposed to us, the moral effect of the defeat was felt throughout the tribe, and for some months the Mohmands remained quiet. The success of Ayub Khan at Kandahar excited a rising which collapsed on the news of his subsequent defeat, and during the next sixteen years or more there was no recrudescence of large-scale trouble among the Mohmands on our border.
Partition of their Country
The difficulty of restraining and punishing the Mohmands had for years been intensified by the doubts which existed as to the respective spheres of influence of the British and Kabul Governments; it had been hoped that the Durand Agreement of 1893 had helped to smooth these difficulties away; but the Agreement, although apparently concurred in by the Amir, did not commend itself to his judgment on reconsideration, so far at least as the partition of control over the Mohmands was concerned. At last in 1896 the Government of India, with a view of terminating a state of indecision which had become intolerable, res............