Fearing, during a tense moment, that the British would lose, Hardinge instructed the destruction of confidential papers. But ‘the irresolute or traitorous Tej Singh’—to use Moon’s description—ordered abrupt withdrawals of his army and aided the British. Gough in any case was in no mood to lose, and in Pheru Shah the attacking Bengal army won. However, its Hindustani sepoys came across as reluctant fighters. The ill-fated Afghan campaign had demoralized them. Moreover, some of them harboured sympathy for the only independent native government left on the subcontinent. According to Moon, ‘The
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