CAMPAIGN LETTER FROM CAMP AT "JATTA" ENDORSED "MAJOR OF BRIG...

Hammer

£140

CAMPAIGN LETTER FROM CAMP AT "JATTA" ENDORSED "MAJOR OF BRIGADE" WITH RED "BOMBAY/FREE"[?] MARK; 13 Jan. 1839 EL (overall wrinkling and some - mainly internal - closed tears) from Gillespie at "Jatta" to his wife in Kirkee with a faint red oval-framed "[BOMBAY?]/[FREE?]" mark on the flap. The contents ref. money matters and Army pay along with gossip about the development of the Campaign, incl.; "...we have been recommended to purchase our own camels and Tattoos[?] for the conveyance of our own baggage!... What the policy of the British Government to our present position is is difficult to tell - my Lord Auckland assumes a high tone one day, and unwinds the following... until the means of carriage is supplied, it would be madness to advance... our junction with the Bengal Force is not expected before March... Another report says that Shah Soujah's cause is fraught with difficulties which were not sufficiently considered at the beginning...". Slow and uncertain progress for the Field Force towards Afghanistan!