Commissariat Gateway at the Sherpur Cantonment, Kabul, 1879 (b/w photo)

Commissariat Gateway at the Sherpur Cantonment, Kabul, 1879. Photograph by John Burke, 2nd Afghan War (1878-1880), 1879. 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 an album of 101 photographs by John Burke.