On the death of Indian leader 
Ranjet Singh, power eventually 
passed to two of his ministers, 
Lal Singh and Tej Singh.  They 
were, however, unable to control
the Khalsa, Ranjet Singh's 
60,000 strong Sikh army trained 
by French veterans of the 
Napoleonic Wars.  On December 
3, 1845, part of the Khalsa 
forces, led by Lal Singh, 
crossed the Sutlej River into 
British territory and war became
inevitable.

Estimates of the size of the 
Sikh forces vary between 12,000 
and 20,000.  They also had 22 
guns, mostly 12 and 18 pdrs.  
Waiting to meet them was an 
army of the Honourable East 
India Company (HEIC) under Sir 
Hugh Gough.  His army numbered 
12,000 with 42 guns, the 
majority being 6 pdrs.  Gough's 
army was a combination of 
regular British army regiments, 
also called Queen's troops, and 
Company troops, native and 
European soldiers whose 
regiments were raised by the 
HEIC.

On the afternoon of 18 December,
1845, the British force was 
setting up camp in a horseshoe 
around the village of Mudki 
when they were surprised by the 
appearance of the Sikh army who 
opened fire with their heavy 
guns.  Gough was a brave, 
though not very subtle 
commander whose strategy and 
tactics were dominated by the 
"be at them with the bayonet" 
doctrine.  The British hurriedly
formed their order of battle 
using the same formations used 
in the Napoleonic Wars thirty 
years before, getting the 
artillery forward into action 
while the cavalry and infantry 
deployed and advanced through 
them to assault the enemy's 
position.

The British guns, though 
lighter than the Sikhs', won 
the first phase of the battle, 
the artillery duel.  Then the 
3rd King's Own Light Dragoons 
led the 2nd Cavalry Brigade in 
a spectacular charge that broke 
the enemy's left flank.  
Gough's Company regiments hung 
back, cowed by the Sikh fire 
but the Queen's infantry 
charged after the cavalry and 
the Sikhs were forced back with 
heavy losses.  They were still 
fighting when darkness fell, 
and casualties from friendly 
fire resulted.  The soldiers 
nicknamed the battle "Midnight 
Moodkhee". 

Eventually, the Sikhs quit the 
field, leaving it to the 
exhausted and disorganized 
British forces.  British 
casualties were 872 killed and 
wounded, a heavy price to pay 
for an inconclusive victory. 
But the first rush of the 
Sikh's invasion had been met 
and repulsed. 