Description
Afghanistan 1878-80, 2 bars, Ahmed Khel, Kandahar, Drummer Muddun, 15th Regiment Native Infantry, aka the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs.
Officially engraved in running script: “Drummer Muddun 15th Regt N I”
Scarce example to a Musician, some contact marking through wearing.
The following is a summary of their services in the Anglo-Afghan War of 1878-80:
“15TH BENGAL NATIVE INFANTRY (LOODIANAH SIKHS)
The Loodianah Sikhs were at Sialkot when warned for service in September, 1878.
All officers and men on leave were ordered to join at once, and on the 28th the regiment marched for Multan, where it arrived on the 24th Oct., and joined the 1st Brigade of Sir Donald Stewart’s Division of the Army of Invasion.
Colonel Barter had been appointed to command the brigade, with rank of Brigadier-General, and Major Hennessy succeeded to the command of the regiment, with Captain D. W. Inglis as 2nd in command: both these officers obtained their promotion to Lt.-Colonel and Major, respectively, shortly afterwards, and Lieuts. H. A. Abbott and N. K. Stewart to Captain, by regular promotion.
After proceeding by rail to Sukkur, the regiment was separated into half-battalions, the Right half-battalion, under the command of Captain Inglis, proceeding to Kandahar and Kalat-i-Ghilzai with the Brigade, and the remainder of the regiment, under the command of Major Hennessy, escorting a large convoy to Kandahar, where it was rejoined by the Right half-battalion in February, 1879.
The regiment was placed in garrison in the Citadel, an important post it held until March, 1880, its admirable discipline and conduct (a thoroughly Sikh corps in the midst of a fierce fanatical Mussulman population) being the theme of general remark, and gaining repeated commendation from the authorities.
On the 29th March, 1880, the regiment marched out of Kandahar with the column consisting of 11/11, R.A., the 1st Punjab Cavalry, and the 1st Brigade, the whole under Brigadier-General Barter, and traversing the valley of the Khushk-i-Nakhud, joined the Kandahar force en route for Kabul on the 15th April at Karez-i-Oba.
On the 19th it was present at the battle of Ahmad Khel, and on the 23rd, at the action of Arzu, near Ghazni; and subsequently proceeding with the Brigade into the Logar Valley, it was engaged in the various operations which were conducted in that and the neighbouring districts during the succeeding months, including the passage of the Tungi Wardak defile, and the repulse of the enemy’s attack on Brigadier-General Barter’s camp on the night of the 12th May, 1880, at Jabar Kila.
Detailed, with the 1st Brigade, to form part of the Kabul-Kandahar Field Force, the regiment took part, in the month of August, 1880, in the memorable march to the relief of the Southern capital. On the 31st it was present, as the only infantry regiment employed, in the reconnaissance of Ayub Khan’s position, when its steady repulse of the rush of a large body of Ghazis, some 6,000 or 7,000 in number, obtained special mention in the despatches; and on the following day, in the crowning defeat of the enemy at the battle of Kandahar, it was again engaged.
In October, 1880, the regiment returned to India, marching with the force under Brigadier-General MacGregor which reopened the Hurnai route to Sibi.”
