1st AFGHAN WAR - CAMPAIGN LETTER REF. CABUL/CANDAHAR/ETC. SE...

Hammer

£3,600

1st AFGHAN WAR - CAMPAIGN LETTER REF. CABUL/CANDAHAR/ETC. SENT TO G.B. WITH OFFICIAL DISPATCHES; 3-10 Nov. 1839 travelogue letter sent to England by the addressee’s cavalry officer husband, Captain R.N. Gillespie of the 4th Dragoons while he was with the returning Afghanistan Invasion ‘Army of the Indus’ at “Quetta” (part of Afghanistan at the time) after their successful invasion and capture of Cabul. The writer - very well connected to the ‘top brass’ of the Army - managed to get this letter sent back to England with the official dispatches. So it has no postal markings but was endorsed as received in London on “13 Feby. 1840”, which ties in with the arrival date of the official dispatches (extracts of which were published in the London press on that day). It went by military means to Bombay, reached Suez on 19 Jan. and Marseilles on 7 Feb, reaching London on 12 Feb. via Calais. Gillespie writes; “We have had a most awful march of it... To prevent our retracing our steps over the same road by which we reached Candahar on our way to Cabul... [we crossed] a range of mountains... inhabited by savage tribes with whom no conversation could be formed... availing themselves of every opportunity to plunder and murder our followers... many died in a state of the most wretched helplessness. Since the 27th September we have had the thermometer as low as 18 and 20 [below freezing]... Sir John Keane left the capital [Cabul] on the 13th... he rejoins us at Bukhur where we shall probably have to await the result of an Expedition against Kelat (90 miles from this)... We leave this tomorrow... [to make] our way through the pass of Bolan where no food for man nor beast is to be found for 7 days.... [4 Nov.] I have received an invitation from Lord Elphinstone to reside at Government House when I arrive at Madras...". [With fully typed transcript & research notes.] Very few letters from this first phase of the 1st Afghan War are still in private hands. Cross Reference: INDIA, AFGHANISTAN, MILITARY