Sherpur cantonment, showing the Royal Engineers Park, 1879 (b/w photo)

Sherpur cantonment, showing the Royal Engineers Park, 1879. Photograph, 2nd Afghan War (1878-1880), 1879. This photograph of the Sherpur cantonment is thought to have been taken by an unknown member of the Bengal Sappers and Miners. The Sherpur cantonment was situated about a mile north of Kabul. It was planned by Emir Sher Ali Khan as the winter headquarters of his army. Its main wall was over a mile and a half long with massive towers at regular intervals for artillery. In November 1879 Major-General Sir Frederick Roberts and his Anglo-Indian army were forced to fall back to Sherpur after an uprising in Kabul. This was following the British overthrow of Emir Yakub Khan in revenge for the murder of Sir Louis Cavagnari and his escort. Roberts was besieged for three weeks by a huge force but on 23 December 1879 he defeated a major Afghan attack and reoccupied Kabul. From album of 46 photographs, 1880. Associated with Sir F S Roberts, Commissariat Department.