Diary of the Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878-1880.

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Diary of the Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878-1880.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/702165076

Collins's diary begins December 23, 1878, in Meerut, India, and ends October 1, 1880, near Quetta. It describes his experiences as an officer in the Kandahar Field Force under Lieutenant-General Sir Donald Stewart, and the Kabul-Kandahar Field Force under Major-General Frederick Sleigh Roberts. His battalion was based in Kandahar from February 1879 to March 1880, when they moved to Kabul. In August 1880, his battalion was selected for the force to relieve British troops under siege at Kandahar, which marched from Kabul to Kandahar in twenty days. After the victory at Kandahar on September 1, they departed for India, and the diary ends during this march. The diary records Collins's impressions of Afghanistan and its people, the political events of the war, the battles he took part in, daily life in camp, and the difficult march from Kabul to Kandahar in August 1880. He notes frequent letters and telegrams from his wife, who was in India at the time, and family in England, with particular attention to dates sent and received in order to track the speed of the post. He also describes the cholera epidemic in 1879. The diary is written in five notebooks. There is one additional leaf inserted between pages 34 and 35 of the fourth notebook, a piece of stationery, which seems to contain additional diary entries or notes about previous entries.

1 item (211 p. in 1 box) ; 20 cm.

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

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SNAC Resource ID: 8022119

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Related Entities

There are 4 Entities related to this resource.

Roberts, Frederick Sleigh Roberts, Earl, 1832-1914

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p27wgd (person)

Field Marshal. Commander-in-Chief Madras, 1881-1885, Commander-in-Chief India, 1885-1893, General in 1890. From the description of Letter : Englemere, Ascot, Berks., 1907 April 7. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122417239 British Army officer. From the description of Papers, 1881-1910. (Duke University Library). WorldCat record id: 20121625 ...

Great Britain. Army. King's Royal Rifle Corps

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hf3685 (corporateBody)

Great Britain. Army

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p884pf (corporateBody)

Whitmore was govenor of Cape Breton Island and the Island of St. John (Prince Edward Island). From the description of Receipt for wages paid for labor in the Cape Breton colliery : manuscript, 1760. (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 612812416 Administrative history unavailable. The University of Victoria Libraries Special Collections has a mandate to acquire military papers. From the description of Great Britain Army collection. [1800-1941]. (University o...

Collins, James Joseph, 1837-1880.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s83d4m (person)

James Joseph Collins was born February 3, 1837, near Knaresborough, Yorkshire, England, a younger son of a landowner. He was a career soldier, joining the King's Royal Rifle Corps (the 60th Rifles) at the age of seventeen. A Lieutenant-Colonel at the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1878, he was sent to Afghanistan to command the 2nd Battalion of the King's Royal Rifles, which was already en route to Kandahar when he arrived in India in December 1878. He served through the war, but die...