Barracks and Battlefields in India, or the Experiences of a Soldier [Thomas Malcolm] of the 10th Foot (North Lincoln) in the Sikh Wars and Sepoy Mutin

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1891 edition. Excerpt: ... This report goes to Her Majesty. One advice I have to give--abstain from drink. I wish you all kinds of prosperity. Farewell.' I just give you this to let you see what brought us here. On the Commander-in-Chief getting the report he came to see us himself. He made a great speech. He said we looked as though we had just landed from England, and that he was very proud to hear of our bravery in the field, and conduct in quarters, and then told us that the twenty-ninth were suffering from sickness, and that we should have to go and relieve them. In less than three days we left Ferozepore for this place." TEMPERANCE IN THE ARMY. 71 Wuzeerabad is very briefly described in the same letter: --"We have no barracks here, only tents with sheds over them. We have neither tables nor forms; altogether we are badly situated. It promises to be a very hot summer. The heat yesterday at twelve o'clock in the day in one of the tents was one hundred and eight degrees. During the rains the river overflows and causes all the place where we are to be like a swamp. It is a very unhealthy place. We are only a few miles from where the battle of Gujerat was fought. Twelve months ago there was nothing here. You could not see a hut or a tree for miles round. Barracks are being built about thirty miles from here at a place called Sealkote. The natives here are all Sikh people. There are two other European regiments here with us, the Twenty-fourth Foot and Ninth Lancers. The Twenty-fourth have only just come out. There are nine letters belonging to this period which illustrate in a very pleasing way the thoughtful and earnest character of Private Malcolm, and which shew that our soldiers are not the " unreflecting machines" they are often taken to be. We shall present...