Cavalry Division--Major-General E. Thackwell: Wing of the 4th Hussars, 16th Lancers, the 2nd and 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry, a wing of the 1st Bombay Cavalry (now the 31st Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers), the 34th Poona Horse, the 1st and 4th Local Horse (now the 1st Duke of York's Own Lancers), and the 3rd Skinner's Horse.
This fine force of cavalry was formed in three brigades:
First Infantry Division--Major-General Sir W. Cotton.
First Brigade--Brigadier-General J. R. Sale, C.B.: 13th (Somerset Light Infantry), the 16th and 48th Regiments of Bengal Infantry.
Second Brigade--Major-General W. Nott, C.B.: 31st, 42nd, and 43rd Regiments of Bengal Infantry.
Third Brigade--Brigadier-General A. Roberts: 2nd Bengal European Regiment, 30th, 35th, and 37th Regiments of Bengal Infantry.
The 35th Bengal Infantry was left at Bukkur to hold the bridge over the Indus, and preparations were made to punish the Scinde Sirdars, who evinced a determination to oppose the passage of our troops through their country. Wiser counsels prevailed, possibly due to the fact that H.M.S. _Wellesley_ had with a couple of broadsides knocked the forts at Kurrachee into pieces, and that the Bombay troops were advancing from the south. On reaching Quettah, the Bombay column, which was under Sir John Keane, the Commander-in-Chief, joined hands with the Bengal army. This force consisted of the 4th Hussars, the two Bombay cavalry regiments named above, the 2nd (Queen's), 17th (Leicesters), and the 19th (now the 119th) Bombay Infantry. Leaving the 43rd Bengal Infantry at Quettah, the army pushed on to Kandahar, losing an immense number of its baggage animals _en route_, and suffering much from marauding Baluchis, and still more from the terrible heat in the passes. It must be remembered that the men marched in leather stocks, in leather shakos, and red coatees! In June the army reached Kandahar, and thence a force was detached, under Brigadier Sale, to the Helmund River, meeting with a certain amount of opposition. Leaving a strong garrison under Colonel Herring in Kandahar, and entrusting the chief command in Southern Afghanistan to General Nott, the Commander-in-Chief advanced to the north towards the end of June, reaching the neighbourhood of Ghuznee on July 21, where the first serious opposition was encountered, the Afghans being signally worsted by our cavalry, who were well handled by General Thackwell, a Peninsular veteran, who had lost an arm at Waterloo.