The Lushai Expedition – 1871

Donald Featherstone

The North-eastern frontier of India has ever been a source of trouble andexpense to the British Government. Each district on this frontier had ahistory that was almost always the same. The pattern was made up of a hilldistrict, bordered by wild country inhabited by fierce and predatory tribeswho were forever making raids on their neighbours villages, burning andplundering and carrying off inhabitants. These lawless activities onlydiminished when the district being annexed as a portion of British territoryprotected those inhabitants. But, annexation did not necessarily stop theraids and it frequently became necessary for a British force to be sent tosecure the peace of the frontier.

Cachar, annexed in 1832, was a province of Hindustan, bounded on the north bythe Brahmaputra River, which separates it from Assam. From the year 1840 thisarea was repeatedly invaded by tribesmen from the Lushais Hills, hardymountaineers about five feet six in height with dark brown complexions andflat retrousse noses, thick lips and small almond shaped eyes. Usually cladin a large homespun sheet of cotton cloth wound round the body, they were alsofond of Scottish tartans which they bought in the markets at Manipur andCachar. They were armed with old flint muskets, bearing the Tower mark, somenearly a hundred years old. Their other weapons were bamboo bows and poisonedarrows, spears, the dao (a triangular blade twelve inches long) and the longtwo-handed Burmese knife along over the shoulder. Their bullets were ironslugs or lead hammered into shape and their powder flasks were bulls hornssometimes mounted with silver.

In a long history of outrages, those of 1844, 1850 and 1862 were the mostextensive. An expedition under Colonel Lister was sent against them in 1850,which destroyed the large village of Mora and released 400 captives. As theforce retired, the Lushais endeavoured to cut off their communications;following them they mercilessly slew every straggler. In 1871, the Governor-General-in-Council decided to send a force against the marauders. It was toconsist of two columns; one to start from Cachar and the other fromChittagong, in the South-eastern extremety of Bengal. Each column consistedof three regiments, accompanied by a half battery of artillery and a companyof Sappers and Miners, making a force of about 2,000 men with and equal numberof coolies and a large number of elephants. Brigadier General Bourchier,commanding the North-eastern Frontier District, was appointed to the Cacharcolumn. The Rajah of Manipur, consisting of 500 men, supplied a contingentforce.

The Cachar (the left) column of the expedition marched out in mid-October1871. They had a choice of two possible routes, both of these seemedextremely difficult, with a grave scarcity of water. One of the routes showedsome elephant tracks and the 44th Native Infantry were sent out to widen andimprove the path. It lay through a jungle of forest trees from the branchesof which he creepers hung in graceful festoons, with a profusion of tallbamboos and canes all round, while tangled thorns and shrubs and a network oflong roots covered every inch of the ground between them. The marching troopsfound the route to be very difficult and were in no mood to appreciate thebeauty of the scenery around them. In several places the Lushais had put upsymbols as warnings to our troops – one of these was a model gallows of bamboowith little wooden men hanging from it. At one stage, near a weir made of

bamboo and stones for catching fish, so 50 Lushais collected and madethreatening demonstrations, calling out to the advancing force. It wasexplained to them that no harm was intended them if they offered no oppositionto the British advance and the 44th were ordered not to fire unless attackedfirst. The advance continued and the Lushais retired without firing, butstill shouting.

On the 23rd of December, leaving a number of men to guard the camp, GeneralBouchier marched out with the rest of his force. Their way lay up-hill, itwas steep and the jungle was thick and dense. Emerging from the jungle, theycame upon a village built on the summit of a ridge, with houses of timber andbamboo thatched with grass. Excitedly a native scout ran back and cried thatthe village was full of Lushais. Seen by the alarmed inhabitants of thevillage, the advancing force took a scattered volley and then the 22nd

Regiment rushed in with their bayonets. The enemy darted from houses on allsides and fled like hares over the crest of the hills above. A search showedthe houses of the village to be full of grain; they were instantly destroyedby fire. After skirmishing up the hill for three hours, two more villages andseveral store houses full of grain were discovered and set on fire. The largemain village was visible on the summit on the Vauboug ridge 3,300 feet abovethe place where the British troops had encamped that morning, and the troopspushed on to attack it. The Lushais made a vigorous attempt to defend thisvillage but were hurled out by the 44th Native Infantry who lost only two men.

The enemies mode of fighting, the steepness of the ground and the density ofthe forest were all in their favour and against the British force. No Lushaidead were ever found – casualties were always borne away or concealed becauseof the superstition that if the head of a man slain in battle falls into thehands of an enemy, the man so slain became a slave of the victor in the worldto come.

Skirmishing between the sentries and the Lushais was maintained all night; theenemy firing into the camp from the depths of the forest and being answered bymore regular rifle fire of the British sentries. In the morning, twoflintlock muskets were picked up from blood-soaked ground, but no casualtieswere found. The 44th spent Christmas Day at their work of destruction,burning 22 well-filled granaries and bringing in the body of one Lushai. Theofficers contrived to set up a Christmas mess and all dined together withcandles burning on the table. Though the Lushais were firing all night fromthe surrounding jungle it was remarkable that not a shot was sent in thedirection of these lights and when Christmas songs were sung after dinner, theLushais ceased firing to listen.

Daily, more Lushais were gathering, showing marked improvement in skill andwariness; soon the village became untenable. It was decided to fall back onthe post at the Tuibum river. The 22nd formed the advance; the baggage andsick were sent on in front, and the 44th covered the rear – their destinationwas reached without a single casualty. The elusive Lushais constantly firedinto the camp and molested all working parties; in reprisal, nearby villageswere burned. Near a village that had just been set on fire, the force cameupon a man wearing a yellow cloak and a scarlet head-dress. He proved to be amessanger from a Lushai chief offering to make peace for the villages andprocure a cessation of hostilities. General Bourchier consented and themessanger climbed into a tree and shouted the cry of peace to his invisiblecomrades in the jungle. From that moment, all firing ceased and for some daysafter this time passed quietly enough for the officers to go fishing.

At Tipai Mukh, the artillery had been left with a wing of the 42nd and anotherof the 44th under the command of Colonel Hicks. The artillery andcommissariat elephants were incautiously taken further away to graze by theirmahouts than was wise. In the forenoon one of these attendants rushed intocamp to announce that the forty-six elephants had been attacked by the Lushaisand driven up the stream while the mahouts were being killed. The buglesounded and as the troops fell in an elephant stampeded back with bloodpouring from several bullet wounds. The guns were placed in a commandingposition as a body of the enemy was seen approaching to attack the littlecamp. The invisible Lushais sent a red spluttering of fire flashing out ofthe dark jungle. In retrn, the troops poured a few random rattling volleysand finally a single cannon ball directed where the enemy’s smoke wasthickest. Groans and yells followed and the firing ceased. Crossing theriver in boats, a party of the 42nd recovered nine of the elephants and someof the severely wounded mahouts. Next day, all the animals, save three, wereretaken.

On the 17th of January General Bourchier ordered his force to march out. Asthey scrambled over rough ground, they could see in the distance, groups oftwo or three hundred Lushai musketeers extended in fighting order. All cladalike in grey shirts, with a grey head-dress and a haversack over the leftshoulder, they did not fire a shot, contenting themselves with threateninggestures. The troops continued to ascend to a height of 2,200 feet, theartillery elephants climbing with difficulty. The General had only a smallforce at his disposal, having had to leave numerous detachments in his rear.This meant that they were unable to search the steep and wooded hillsides asthey marched between them.

After about a half mile, the small force were clambering up a steep and rockypath when the leafy gloom of the forest was streaked by countless flashes offire and bullets and slugs whistled like hail through the ranks. At the firstdischarge, the General’s orderly was shot dead and almost immediately theGeneral himself was wounded in the left hand and arm by a Lushai from onlyeight yards range. The sepoys kept their heads and returned fire, and the44th, under Colonel Nuttall, flung down the packs and greatcoats and divedinto a rocky stream to meet the enemy hand-to-hand in their own jungle.Thirteen Lushais fell in one spot in the stream, those who were not dead weremercilessly dispatched by the native troops; eventually the natives scatteredup the hill.

The General’s wounds were dressed and he resumed his place at the head of theslender column. Some of the Lushais who had slipped past to attack the rear-guard were repulsed with some losses. On clearing the rugged path and gettinginto open ground, the force could see the Lushais running wildly along thegreen spurs and ridges of the hills as if mustering and preparing for a standat the village that lay ahead. The path that had to be followed could be seento wind along the face of a tremendous precipice; for some distance it wascommanded by a stockade where a few resolute men could defy a whole army,causing heavy casualties by rocks hurled from above. General Bourchierrapidly advanced his force so that the Lushais had no time to man thefortification and the stockade was uneventfully passed. Another stockadeloomed up ahead on the crest of a precipitous ridge; here the column wasreceived with a volley of shots flashing out from the log barricade. Thenature of the ground prevented this stockade from being easily stormed, so twoparties of the 44th, under white officers, skirmished round to the right,taking advantage of the long and feathery jungle grass. Concealed from theLushais in the stockade, who spent their ammunition in the direction of the

road where the main body remained halted under the shelter of a bank, theflank attackers suddenly opened fire upon the defenders of the stockade fromone side. Without firing a shot, the Lushais fled, to rush down the hillsideand vanish into the forest. The force advanced through the stockade to thevillage 200 yards behind it and halted. Fires were found burning in thehouses and domestic articles lay around indicating how unprepared theinhabitants had been for the result of the attack. That evening to cooliesbrought up the baggage but the artillery elephants could get no further thanthe lowest barrier.

Next day, Colonel Roberts was ordered to proceed with two steel guns of themountain battery and 100 men to burn the village of Taikum. The guns had tobe conveyed by coolies and not by elephants as the way was too steep andrough. The natives allocated themselves 16 to a gun – 6 for the gun itself,which weighed 150lbs, 6 for the carriage, and 2 for each wheel, with 4 eachfor ammunition box, containing 9 rounds. Finding a strong stockade builtacross a path of the valley, Colonel Roberts took his small force on a detourover some steep mountain spurs up to a height of 6,000 feet to turn the flankof the stockade and cause the enemy to abandon it. At five in the evening,Taikum, a village of 200 houses situated on a summit of a hill and surroundedby a strong stockade, came in sight. At 1,200 yards range the guns werebrought to bear upon it. The first shell did not appear to have much effectbut the second was seen to burst with a white puff of smoke in the very centerof a group of Lushais who seemed paralyzed by its terrible results. Theyturned and fled down the narrow streets carrying off their killed and wounded.Two more rounds of the gun having completely cleared the village, it wasentered by the infantry and set on fire. By eleven at night, Colonel Robert’sforce were back in camp, exhausted but with the satisfied air of men who haddone a hard days work.

On the 1st of February, Bourchier’s force was again traveling along steep andlofty hills, through virgin forest, the gloom of which had never beenpenetrated by the rays of the sun. Eventually, they came in sight of Chelam,the chief stronghold of the Lushai chief, situated on a hill 85,00 feet high,rising in tiers of broad streets upon the slope, enclosed by a strongstockade. It had been abandoned so the force, marched in and took possession.

After some more-heavy marching a further stronghold, the village of Lunguel,was occupied and the British flag was hoisted on a tall pole in a place wherethe British flag had never flown before. The troops were formed in a hollowsquare and the General addressed his force in a few well-chosen andappropriate sentences and thanked them, on behalf of the Queen and theViceroy, for their admirable behavior throughout. Three hearty cheers weregiven, the village was set in flames and speedily reduced to ashes – all savesome planking which the soldiers kept to make huts for themselves. The troopswithdrew to a nearby valley and encamped near a stream, in a pleasant spotunder some trees.

Reluctantly, the headmen of the Lushais accepted the peace terms of theGeneral. They had to give up their arms and also pay as a fine a war-drum, aset of gongs, soma goats, some figs, some fowls and twenty maunds of huskedrice. In his farewell order, General Bourchier conclude by saying:“The history of the expedition, from first to last, has been sheer hard work.Young officers may especially feel glad having has such an opportunity of

gaining experience in mountain warfare.”