20 June 1818[Gupta][EoS][EoS][EoS]News reached Lahore on 26 Jeth 1875 Bikrami, given by Gupta as 29 June 1818
Conquest of Multan
After several earlier attacks, the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh stormed the fort of Multan in 1818, and its governor Nawab Muzaffar Khan fell defending a breach. The victory began the Maharaja's major conquests.
Hari Ram Gupta writes that Muzaffar Khan's means had been worn down by yearly demands and raids, and that Kabul was in no state to help him. In January 1818 the Maharaja sent about 25,000 men under Misr Diwan Chand, with the young Prince Kharak Singh as nominal head. Hari Singh Nalwa was among the commanders. The city fell in February, but the fort held out for months with a garrison of 3,000.
The great Zamzama gun was hauled from Amritsar in twelve days, and four shots opened two breaches near the Khizri Gate. Gupta dates the final assault to 20 June and credits Sadhu Singh Akali and his Nihangs with being first through. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism's entry on Akali Phula Singh instead says he led a storming party of Akalis in the campaign, and that the Akalis took the fort in the final attack of 1818.
Muzaffar Khan fell in the breach with two of his sons, and by Gupta's count only 500 of the garrison lived. News reached Lahore on 29 June. The Maharaja ordered the spoil returned to the state on pain of punishment, and Gupta reports that about five lakh rupees' worth came back, against Griffin's estimate of two crore for the whole plunder.[Gupta][EoS][EoS][EoS]