12 September 1897[EoS]
Battle of Saragarhi
A small garrison of the 36th Sikhs holds the Saragarhi signal post on the Samana Ridge for about six hours against thousands of Orakzai and Afridi tribesmen. None of the defenders survives.
Saragarhi was a stone signal post on the Samana Ridge in the Tirah region of the North-West Frontier, now in Pakistan. It stood midway between Fort Lockhart and Fort Gulistan, also called Fort Cavagnari, and relayed visual signals between them. The ridge was held by the 36th Sikhs, a British Indian Army battalion, during the frontier rising of 1897. The tribesmen had already failed twice at Gulistan, on 3 and 9 September.
On the morning of 12 September they surrounded Saragarhi, which cut it off from relief. The garrison, led by Havildar Ishar Singh, fought for about six hours, according to the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism. Sepoy Gurmukh Singh kept signalling news of the fight to headquarters. He was the last man alive. The Encyclopaedia says he asked permission to stop signalling, then took up a rifle and fell in the fighting.
Each of the soldiers received the Indian Order of Merit after his death. It was then the highest gallantry award open to Indian soldiers. Each family received 500 rupees and two squares of land, and the battalion received a battle honour. An obelisk was raised at the site, and memorial gurdwaras were built at Amritsar and Ferozepur by public subscription.
The 36th Sikhs later became the 4th Battalion of the Sikh Regiment, and the regiment marks 12 September each year as Saragarhi Day. This Ishar Singh should not be confused with Sepoy Ishar Singh, who received the Victoria Cross for an action in 1921.[EoS][Web][Web][Web]
Dates in the sources
- 1897-09-12: The date is agreed, but the size of the garrison is not. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism counts 20 sepoys and one non-combatant sweeper under a havildar, and also says barely 22 men. Wikipedia names 21 soldiers from the memorial plaque, and HistoryNet gives three non-commissioned officers and 18 sepoys. Colonel Harpal Ahluwalia, a former commander of the battalion, told SBS that its records show 22 men.[EoS][Web][Web][Web]
- 1897-09-12: Estimates of the attackers vary. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism says several thousand, HistoryNet more than 10,000, and Wikipedia gives figures between 6,000 and 24,000 depending on what is counted.[EoS][Web][Web]