The corps when re-united,
before it joined Lord Gough, was deflected for the performance of a
detached duty which brought it no little honour. It was reported that
considerable numbers of Sikh troops, under Ganda Singh and Ram Singh,
having crossed the Chenab, were moving south-east heavily laden with
spoil, which having disposed of, they would be free to fall on the
British lines of communication.
Starting in hot haste, Lumsden and Hodson took up the trail, and by
dogged and relentless pursuit, after three days and nights of incessant
marching, came up with their quarry. They found Ganda Singh and his
following at Nuroat on the Beas River, while Ram Singh was some miles
further on.
The position taken up by Ganda Singh was in a clump of mango trees,
surrounded by a square ditch and bank in place of a hedge, as is often
the case in the East. This formed a good natural defence, and piling
their spoil up amongst the trees, Ganda Singh prepared to fight
desperately to hold what they had won with so much toil. The right of
the Sikh position rested on a deep and tortuous nullah, or dry
watercourse, whose precipitous sides, if properly watched, formed an
excellent flank defence; but if unwatched they formed an equally
admirable covered approach whereby an opponent might penetrate or turn
the position. The manifest precaution of setting a watch was, however,
neglected, an error not likely to slip the attention of so skilled a
campaigner as Lumsden.
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