CAMPAIGN LETTER FROM "CAMP LARKHANU" TO KIRKEE ENDORSED "SER...

Hammer

£280

CAMPAIGN LETTER FROM "CAMP LARKHANU" TO KIRKEE ENDORSED "SERVICE" REF. APPROACH TO THE "BOLAN PASS"; 11 Mar. [1839] EL (closed tear just affecting "Service" endorsement above address; faults to separate contents sheet, with loss of internal year date) from Gillespie at "Camp Larkhanu" (110 miles north of Hyderabad) to his brother-in-law in Kirkee endorsed "Service" and signed on the front as "Major of Brigade Cavalry" and so not charged postage with just a partial faint red oval "[BOMBAY/FREE]" on the flap. Very good contents (typed transcript) ref. progress of the advance to Afghanistan; "On the 13th we start from this to make our way through the Gundava Pass in convoy with Shar Shoojah's crew. The Bengal Brigade are through the Bolan Pass... After ascending the Gundava Pass they say...we shall reach Candahar in the season of the ripe cherries... in the event of no resistance in that part of the world, the 4th Dragoons will have gone all that way merely to eat cherries! The post hitherto has been most irregular, and I fear that after this day and after we strike into the interior it will become still more uncertain... Sir John Keane has assumed the command of both Armies... [there follows a list of Commanders of the various Brigades]... Should any determined resistance be made at Cabul or Candahar by large numbers of Afghans, we shall have quite enough to do - they say that 25,000 Cavalry can be brought against us! What cutting & slashing for our European Dragoons there will be...". Historical campaign cover written almost on the eve of entering Afghanistan.