Multan conquest of 1818

Preparing the siege

The campaign against Multan began in January 1818. Prinsep’s compilation of Murray’s report places Kharak Singh in nominal command, with artillery commander Diwan Chand undertaking the fort’s reduction. It explains that appointing the heir apparent helped accommodate chiefs unwilling to serve under Diwan Chand. This account distinguishes the command’s public hierarchy from the officer entrusted with directing the siege.[2]

The same narrative describes boats requisitioned on the Ravi and Chenab to carry supplies and stores. A demand for money and five of Muzaffar Khan’s best horses preceded the capture of Muzaffargarh and Khangarh. Multan city was occupied during February, while its citadel remained under siege. Capturing the town and taking its fortified centre were separate stages.[2]

From bombardment to assault

Prinsep describes chiefs establishing separate batteries and sustained firing that breached the citadel’s walls during April. In May, approaches reached the outer defensive work. Ranjit Singh, although absent, is represented as directing operations and continuing to offer Muzaffar Khan a jagir if he surrendered. The account therefore records bombardment and a proposed negotiated surrender before the final assault.[2]

It dates Sadhu Singh’s attack on the outwork to 2 June. Other soldiers advanced from the trenches to support him, then entered the citadel through existing breaches. Cunningham’s 1849 history also separates February’s occupation of the city from the fort’s fall in June, explicitly citing Murray. These are connected retrospective narratives, rather than independent confirmation of every incident.[1][2]

Holding the captured city

Prinsep names a detachment under Jodh Singh Kalsia to hold Multan and Sukh Dayal as the civil appointee. The rest of the army was ordered back to Lahore. There, a proclamation required soldiers, officers and chiefs to surrender the captured property to the treasury, under threat of penalties. The narrative moves from taking a fortress to retaining a garrison, appointing administration and asserting state control over its spoils.[2]