Battle of Saragarhi, 1897

Saragarhi was a small village in the border district of Kohat, situated on the Samana Range, in present-day Pakistan. The Saragarhi post, situated on a rocky ridge, consisted of a small block house with loop-holed ramparts & a signalling tower.

In August 1897, five companies of the 36th Sikhs under Lt. Col. John Haughton were sent to the northwest frontier of British India (modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) & were stationed at Samana Hills, Kurag, Sangar, Sahtop Dhar & Saragarhi.

The British partially controlled this area, but tribal Pashtuns continued to attack British from time to time. Thus, a series of forts, originally built by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, were consolidated. Two of the forts, Fort Lockhart & Fort Gulistan were situated a few miles apart.

Due to the forts not being visible to each other, Saragarhi was created midway, as a heliographic communication post.

On 12th September 1897, 10000 Pashtun tribal fighters of the afridi & orakzai tribes surrounded the fort. Sep. Gurmukh Singh signalled Col. Houghton about the attack but Houghton could not send immediate help.

The brave Sikhs decided to fight to the last man to prevent the Afghans from reaching the forts.
The battle began approx. At 9.00 am. Sep. Gurmukh gave real time info of the battle via the heliographic signals.

The afghan attack was fierce and overwhelming but the brave Sikhs held on to their position. Sepoy Bhagwan Singh was the first soldier to be killed in the battle. Naik Lal Singh & Sep. However Singh carried his body to the inner layer of the fort.

The afghans tried to entice the Sikhs to give up the fort & surrender but the Sikhs refused & fought on.
In the early hours of the battle, the afghans had already managed to breach the outer picket wall of the fort. They tried to breach the gates of the wall twice but failed.

Later during the day, the afghans finally managed to breach the wall of the fort and stormed in. The brave Sikhs led by Havildar Ishar Singh pounced on the afghans & fierce hand to hand combat ensued.

Despite being tired and wounded from battle, the sikhs cut down afghans one after another. But the enemy numbers were too overwhelming and one after another the brave Sikhs started falling in battle.

In an act of outstanding bravery, Hav. Ishar Singh ordered the remainder of his men to move to the inner fort while fought the enemy. Ishar Singh fought till his last breath and fell in battle.

The afghans managed to breach the inner ramparts of the fort and the final battle saw the brave Sikhs fall in battle one after another.

Sep Gurmukh Singh, who communicated the battle to Haughton, was the last surviving defender. He is stated to have killed 40 Afghans, the Pashtuns had set fire to the post to kill him. As he was dying, he is said to have yelled repeatedly "Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal!".

After taking Saraghari, the Afghans turned their attention to the other forts but it was too late. British had managed to reinforce their forts. Two days later the British counter attacked and took back Saraghari.

The pashtuns later admitted that they lost 600 fighters in the battle and many more were wounded. But the British accounts count number of dead around the fort to be 1400.

The 21 Sikh NCOs & soldiers who died in the Battle were from the Majha region of Punjab & were posthumously awarded the Indian Order of Merit, at that time the highest gallantry award which an Indian soldier could receive. It was equivalent to the Victoria Cross & today's PVC.

The Sikh Regiment of the Indian Army continues to commemorate the Battle of Saragarhi on 12 September each year as the Regimental Battle Honours day.

To commemorate the men, the British built two Saragarhi Gurdwaras: one in Amritsar, very close to the main entrance of the Golden Temple, and another in Firozpur Cantonment, in the district that most of the men hailed from.

The names of the 21 Sikh soldiers were:
Havildar Ishar Singh
Naik Lal Singh
Lance Naik Chanda Singh
Sepoy Sundar Singh
Sepoy Ram Singh
Sepoy Uttar Singh
Sepoy Sahib Singh
Sepoy Hira Singh
Sepoy Daya Singh
Sepoy Jivan Singh
Sepoy Bhola Singh

Sepoy Narayan Singh
Sepoy Gurmukh Singh
Sepoy Jivan Singh
Sepoy Gurmukh Singh
Sepoy Ram Singh
Sepoy Bhagwan Singh
Sepoy Bhagwan Singh
Sepoy Buta Singh
Sepoy Jivan Singh
Sepoy Nand Singh

Today we commemorate the 123rd year of their gallant sacrifice.

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