The Remnants of an Army

[unhappycamper]

Depicts Dr. William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the Bengal Army arriving at the gates of Jellabad on his exhausted and dying horse. He was thought to be the sole survivor of some 16,000 strong army and followers from Kabul, which was forced to retreat the 90 miles over snow covered passes to Jellabad during the first Aghan war. A few others eventually struggled through to the fort.


Lady Elizabeth Butler, 1879


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Brydon

William Brydon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


William Brydon CB (10 October 1811 – 20 March 1873) was an assistant surgeon in the British East India Company Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War and is famous for being the only member of an army of 4,500 men to reach safety in Jalalabad at the end of the long retreat from Kabul.

He was born in London of Scottish descent. He studied medicine at University College London and at the University of Edinburgh.


Massacre

The British Army began its retreat from Kabul in January 1842 following the killing of the two British representatives there. The nearest British garrison was in Jalalabad, 90 miles (140 km) away, and the army would need to go through mountain passes with the January snow hindering them.

4,500 military personnel under the command of Major-General William George Keith Elphinstone, and 12,000 civilian camp followers, including wives and children, set out for Jalalabad on 6 January 1842 with the understanding that they had been offered safe passage. Afghan tribesmen intercepted them and proceeded to massacre them during the next seven days. The final stand took place at Gandamak on the morning of 13 January 1842 in the snow. Twenty officers and forty-five British soldiers, mostly of the 44th Foot, found themselves surrounded on a hillock. The Afghans attempted to persuade the soldiers that they intended them no harm. Then the sniping began, followed by a series of rushes. Captain Souter wrapped the regimental colours around his body and was dragged into captivity with two or three soldiers. The remainder were shot or cut down. Only six mounted officers escaped. Of these, five were murdered along the road. On the afternoon of 13 January 1842 the British troops in Jalalabad, watching for their comrades of the Kabul garrison, saw a single figure ride up to the town walls. It was Dr Brydon. Part of his skull had been sheared off by an Afghan sword and he survived only because he had stuffed a copy of Blackwood's Magazine into his hat to fight the intense cold weather. The magazine took most of the blow, saving the doctor's life.<1>

Brydon became widely, if inaccurately, famous for being the only European survivor of the entire contingent to have survived the Afghan attacks.<2> In fact he was not the only European to survive the retreat, more than 50 others were captured and near all survived to be subsequently released including Sir Robert Sale's wife, Florentia. Nor was Brydon the only European to survive the trek from Kabul to Jalalabad without spending time in captivity, by Brydon's own account a "greek merchant", Mr Baness, also made it to Jalalabad arriving two days after Brydon but surviving for only one day.

The episode was made the subject of a famous painting by the Victorian artist, Lady Butler, who portrayed an exhausted Dr. Brydon approaching the gates of the Jalalabad fort perched on his dying horse (which dropped dead upon arrival in the city).<3> The painting is titled Remnants of an Army.



unhappycamper comment: I decided to educate myself about the history of Afghanistan. I am currently reading "Retreat From Kabul", which is about the first British invasion of Afghanistan.

In true East India Company fashion, the British tried it again.

They are currently on their third try. Give it up, Guys.

[saigon68]

1. Its a Waste---2 Trillion Dollars PISSED AWAY on the Chimp's Wet Dream

Tens of thousands of Seniors forced into Bankruptcy because of mounting medical bills. When Corporate Hospitals and Clinics attempt to take away their only asset, their House.