"Artillery used by British, HEIC and Sikh Forces at Aliwal" Topic

Regarding the artillery used by both sides on the field at Aliwal(Apart from much heavier calibers in field works):

1. British: Basically 6 pdr horse guns and 9 pdr foot guns (Or 12 pdrs?)

2. Sikhs: Basically 6 pdr horse and 12 pdr foot?

Thanks in Advance!

This is from an old blog:
link

Honourable East India Company, Army of the Sutlej
"Early in the war, the British relied on their light horse batteries – armed with 6 pound smoothbore guns – and the field batteries armed with 9 pound guns drawn by bullock teams. Later in the campaign, the British siege train arrived from Ludhiana and provided the British with a number of heavy artillery battalions and rocket batteries."

The Khalsa Army
"The real strength of the Sikh army lay in its artillery. The artillery branch received the best men and the pick of the horses (to the detriment of the cavalry branch). The guns were grouped into three categories; the horse drawn light or Aspi batteries, the heavier field or Jinsi batteries that were drawn by bullocks and elephants. Last were theZamburak guns, light swivel cannon mounted on camels, grouped into 40 gun batteries."

The HEIC artillery at Aliwal comprised the following:
1st Troop, 2nd Brigade – Capt. Turton
3rd Troop, 2nd Brigade – Lt.Col. Alexander
2nd Troop, 3rd Brigade – Lt.Col. Lane
1st Troop, 2nd Brigade – Lt. Mill
No.6 Light Field Battery – Capt. Boileau
Two 8 inch howitzers

It appears that Mills' Troop only had 4 guns present.

The armament for a troop of Bengal Horse Artillery at this time was 5 x 6pdr guns and 1x 12pdr howitzer. A light field battery was armed with 5 x 9pdr guns and 1 x 24pdr howitzer.

By the start of the campaign, the Bengal Artillery had nearly completed their transition from bullock-drawn to horse drawn light field batteries. In the Army of the Sutlej, only No.19 light field battery was still bullock drawn. It was not present at Aliwal.

FWIW, the period of transition from bullock to horse draught can cause some confusion when reading the sources. Horse artillery troops are always referred to as such, while the term horse battery refers to a field battery drawn by horses rather than bullocks.

My apologies if the above isn't entirely clear. The Troops are from the Bengal Horse Artillery, while No.6 is a "foot" battery.

Lt.Col Lane apparently took charge of the two 8 inch howitzers and deployed them next to his troop. If you're gaming this, they clearly wouldn't be able to function as horse artillery!

Col. Lawrenson commanded the artillery at the battle.

My research into the Sikh artillery points to the majority of batteries among the Regular brigades being broadly comparable to 6pr field guns, and not in the proportions initially stated in the Returns compiled in haste by British gunnery officers after each battle. Despite a firm belief to the contrary, the Sikhs were equipped with a mobile artillery arm with only a handful of guns that would be classified as 'siege' guns. What fooled most observers was their use in field fortifications for much of the 1ASW.
The majority of the guns and limbers for the 6prs were horse drawn and organised into field batteries along the post 1825 British reforms. However a chronic shortage of horses meant that the majority of the attendant ammunition wagons were bullock drawn.
Much of the research is based on a later technical study by Ralph Smyth of the Bengal Artillery commissioned by the EIC after the captured guns from the 1ASW were corralled at Fort William Calcutta. The cannon were mostly thicker barrelled and somewhat heavier and were confused with more familiar heavier calibres. This was a combination of older casting technology, allowances for variations in powder quality, and also permitted their use of double shot.
The regional forces however drew upon older and more disparate castings of varying calibres, with a preponderence of 7prs to 12prs. This was the 'Jinsi' category that was almost all bullock drawn. The Sikhs actually used a different set of weights and measures to the British resulting in different ranges of calibres. For wargaming purposes these should be considered like the 9prs the EIC were using.
In terms of ammunition used, the Sikhs had good quality hammered iron round shot and used prepared cartridges to enable more rapid firing. They were also schooled in French gunnery tactics using 2 sizes of grapeshot, and used canister to great effect. They were also schooled in long range gunnery.
From the 1830s they also had common shell and shrapnel, but these were of inferior quality and largely made of brass and zinc that deformed on explosion and did not fragment as much as British cast iron examples.
The significant difference was the insistence of using zamburaks (camel guns) in large numbers to support the irregular cavalry on the wings. These were hopelessly outclassed by the BHA 6prs.