[Illustration: THE COLOURS OF THE ROYAL DUBLIN FUSILIERS. (Formerly the Bombay Europeans.) To face page 292.]
On February 21 General Whish, with the First Division strengthened by the Bombay troops, joined the Commander-in-Chief, so that, in addition to the force enumerated on p. 288, Lord Gough had with him for the final attack on the Sikh position two additional battalions of British soldiers (the 2nd Battalions of the King's Royal Rifles and Royal Dublin Fusiliers), two regiments of native cavalry, and two of native infantry. His artillery was brought up to the respectable total of ninety-six field-guns, which included three heavy batteries. The Sikhs occupied a strong position, their flanks resting on two villages, which they had fortified, and their whole front was covered by a series of entrenchments. Whish, with the Bombay troops, as I have said, joined the Commander-in-Chief on February 21 at dawn; on the morrow Lord Gough launched his attack. As the British army approached the broad sandy nullah which ran along the front of the Sikh line, the guns opened on us, disclosing their whole front. To this fire the ninety-six pieces at once replied, and for two hours a storm of shell was poured on the entrenchments; then, shortly before noon, Gough moved forward the whole line. The Sikhs fought, as is their wont, with consummate gallantry, and the Afghan Horse on our right made a gallant effort to retrieve the fortunes of the day. They were met in an equally gallant manner by the Scinde Horse, supported by the 9th Lancers, and on this flank being uncovered the horse artillery galloped up and enfiladed the Sikh entrenchments. "By half-past twelve," writes Sir Charles Gough, who, as a subaltern, took part in the campaign, "the whole Sikh army was in full flight. By one o'clock Goojerat itself, the Sikh camp, their baggage, and most of the guns, were in possession of the victors." Sir Walter Gilbert, at the head of 12,000 men, pressed the retreating Sikhs hard, never slackening his pursuit until he had driven their Afghan allies through the Khyber Pass and received the unconditional surrender of their leaders.
At Goojerat the victory was complete, and the Sikhs, recognizing the inevitable, acknowledged British rule. Heavy was the price we paid for the conquest of the Punjab, but the blood shed on the banks of the Sutlej was not shed in vain, for England has no more faithful subjects, no braver soldiers in her armies, than the Sikhs who stood so bravely before us in the campaigns of 1846-1849.