The Battle of Aliwal And Other Obscurities

Only the most hardcore military history buffs might know that today is the anniversary of the Battle of Aliwal (1846), which occurred in what was then British controlled India.  The battle occurred in the Punjab province.  You can read more about the particulars of the conflict here.

Why does such an obscure battle involving two current U.S. allies rate a post on Eleventh Stack?  Because CLP owns a number of books about this period and the men who fought this battle.  Here’s a short list:

The Sikh Army, 1799-1849 / Ian Heath

A Norfolk Soldier in the First Sikh War : Experiences of a Private of H.M. 9th Regiment of Foot in the Battles for the Punjab, India 1845-6 : Including a History of the Sutlej Campaign, Dec. 1845-March 1846 by Gough & Innes / J.W. Baldwin

A History of the Sikhs / Khushwant Singh

Empire of the Sikhs : The Life and Times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh / Patwant Singh and Jyoti M. Rai

Pick most any obscure battle from the annals of world history–we’ll have something on it.  Or one of our talented librarians will dig something out of a database or deep Internet search.  The Battle of the Bulge is easy stuff, but it’s the little wars that help to make us what we are.

The men who died on both sides at Aliwal on January 28, 1846 are not gone.

They live on at CLP through the  written accounts of their deeds.

–Scott