Page:The Sikhs (Gordon).djvu/177

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THE FIRST SIKH WAR.
143

of many hard-fought battles in Spain, in which some of the corps engaged had taken part. The loss of the Sikhs was never accurately known, but it was estimated at from 5000 to 8000, the number of guns captured being 90.

The battle of Ferozeshah was one of the most momentous, and certainly the hardest fought-out one, ever engaged in by the British in India. It has been said that the Sikhs then shook our Indian Empire to its base: The British soldiers, however,—true pillars of the Empire,—animated with all their prestige and pride of race, were strong and firmly rooted enough to stand the shock and uphold the fabric. The enemy were attacked at a late hour in the day when their force was divided, one portion being then still engaged in watching Ferozepore (probably intent on its plunder), where a small body of British was left intrenched, while the main portion, realising from their Moodkee experience the danger of fighting in the open, remained on the