afghanistanwas the most senior officer in the country. The reason was partly because
of his fiery temper and partly because of the flogging incident. The primary
reason, however, was that he was an Indian, and not a Queen’s, officer.
Ellenborough was even vindictive enough to claim Nott had ‘not a grain
of military talent’. 16 Despite reservations expressed by senior commanders
the post went instead to Major General William Elphinstone, a cousin of
Mountstuart Elphinstone and a friend of Lord Auckland. Auckland was
convinced Elphinstone was the best man for the job, but he could not
have been more wrong. His error was then compounded by appointing
Brigadier General John Shelton as Elphinstone’s second-in-command.
The two men could not have been more different. Elphinstone was
kindly, mild-mannered and chronically indecisive. While he was only in his
late fifties, he was probably prematurely senile. Elphinstone also suffered
from gout and towards the end of his time in Afghanistan he could barely
walk. Indeed, the reason why Elphinstone was in India in the first place
was because his doctors had recommended that a warmer climate might
aid his recovery. When Auckland offered him the Afghanistan command,
he suggested that the ‘bracing hills of Kabul might prove more congenial
to your constitution than the hot plains of India’. 17
Shelton, on the other hand, was autocratic, foul tempered and noted
for personal courage in battle that verged on recklessness. During the
Peninsula Campaign of 1812–13 when his arm had been shattered by
a shell, Shelton is said to have remained on his horse and showed no
sign of pain as the surgeon amputated his limb. Indeed, one reason for
Shelton’s acerb ic temper was the continual pain from the stump of his
amputated arm, which still had fragments of bone and shrapnel embedded
in it. Even more worrying was the fact that Shelton suffered acute mood
swings. When his recommendations were overruled, he would sulk in
his tent, refuse to attend council meetings or even speak to Elphinstone.
He also held his commander-in-chief in contempt; a degree of insub-
ordination that Shelton would never have tolerated from the officers of
his own regiment.
Shelton was also a prig. As a Queen’s officer, he despised the Indian
army’s officers and openly expressed his lack of confidence in the fighting
ability of sepoys. Given that the majority of the troops in Afghanistan
were from Bengal and Bombay, Shelton was the last man to hold a senior
command in this particular army. Shelton also did not command the
respect of other Queen’s officers or the rank and file of his own regiment,
the 44th (East Essex) Foot, who dubbed him the Great Tyrant. Shelton
believed that the harder you flogged your troops the better they fought,