Last Stand at Saragarhi
- When
- 12 September 1897
- Where
- Saragarhi signal post
- Part of
- Battle of Saragarhi
Twenty-one Sikh soldiers defended the Saragarhi signal post against a large force of Orakzai and Afridi tribesmen on 12 September 1897.
On 12 September 1897, an estimated 12,000–24,000 Orakzai and Afridi tribesmen were seen near Gogra, Samana Suk, and Saragarhi, cutting off Fort Gulistan from Fort Lockhart. Around 09:00, approximately 6,000–10,000 Afghans reached the signalling post. Havildar Ishar Singh ordered his men to fall back into the inner layer while he remained to cover their retreat. The 21 soldiers, all Sikhs, refused to surrender and were wiped out in a last stand. Sepoy Gurmukh Singh, the last surviving defender, communicated the battle to Haughton as a signalman.
Sources
- Battle of Saragarhi Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-24
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.