Fort Lockhart (Headquarters), 168, and 2 British officers. Crag Picquet, 22. Sartop, 21. Sangar, 44. Dhar, 38. Saraghari, 21. Gulistan, 175, and 4 British officers.
On the night of the 11–12th September the post of Sangar was first attacked, but being well situated and with no cover in the vicinity, the enemy were repulsed without serious difficulty. They then, on the morning of the 12th, vigorously assailed Saraghari, one of the smallest posts in regard to garrison, and being further weakly constructed and badly placed for prolonged resistance to overwhelming numbers. The whole course of the attack could be seen from both Fort Lockhart and Gulistan, whence no effective assistance could be rendered, for these garrisons were themselves small, the villages between Fort Lockhart and Saraghari were full of the enemy, and Gulistan was itself being vigorously attacked. None the less two attempts were made from Fort Lockhart to effect relief, but they were unsuccessful. During one of the rushes upon the post, some men established themselves under the wall where there was a dead angle, and managed there to effect a breach, when the enemy rushed in in overwhelming numbers, and the garrison, fighting manfully to the last, were killed to a man. The twenty-one heroes had, however, inflicted heavy loss upon the enemy, who owned to a death-roll of 180; the last of the Sikhs killed twenty men before he was overpowered. Truly of these twenty-one men of the 36th Sikhs may be said, as was recorded of the Guides at Kabul: “By their deeds they have conferred undying honour, not only on the regiment to which they belong, but on the whole British Army.”
Gulistan had been closely invested since noon, all was over at Saraghari by 4 p.m., and the tribesmen now put out their whole strength against the first-named post. The attack was pressed throughout the whole of the night, a hot fire being maintained upon the post from the closest quarters. When the morning of the 13th dawned the enemy were found to be entrenched within twenty yards of the walls, but the Sikhs under Major Des Vœux, not only maintained their ground throughout the day and the night that followed, but carried out two most successful sorties, capturing three standards and striking terror into the tribesmen as much as they heartened themselves.