First Black Mountain Expedition

{{Short description|British-Indian military expedition to Torghar (1850)}}

{{Multiple issues|

{{More citations needed|date=August 2024}}

{{Unreliable sources|date=August 2024}}

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{{Infobox military conflict

| conflict = First Black Mountain Expedition

| place = Torghar, North-West Frontier Province, British India

| date = February – November 1850

| result = British victory

| combatant1 = {{flag|British Raj}}

| combatant2 = Hassanzai tribesmen{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mxDYDwAAQBAJ&dq=black+mountain+expedition+1852&pg=PT258 |title= The Wahhabi Movement in India |author=Qeyamuddin Ahmad |date=2020 |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 9781000082067 }}

| commander1 = Lt. Col. Frederick Mackeson

| strength1 = {{ubl|2,400 Soldiers|1,400 Native Militia|17 Cannons}}

| casualties2 = Unknown

| casualties1 = 5 Killed, 10 Wounded

| commander2 = Unknown

| strength2 = Several thousand

}}

The First Black Mountain Expedition was a British-Indian military expedition to Torghar (Black Mountain), North-West Frontier Province against the Black Mountain tribes.{{Cite web|title=Expeditions Against the Frontier Tribes of the Northwest Frontier Province|url=http://www.antiquesatoz.com/stephenherold/nwfrontc.htm|access-date=2020-11-27|website=antiquesatoz.com}}

The war began when two British customs officers were killed by tribesmen.{{Cite web|title=Black Mountain Expedition 1852-53 - FIBIwiki|url=https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Black_Mountain_Expedition_1852-53|access-date=2020-11-27|website=wiki.fibis.org}} The First Black Mountain Expedition according to contemporary sources revealed the cause of the seemingly systematic nature of the revolt, as the British first discovered the Hindustani (Ahl-i Hadith) fanatics, who had caused the failure of the negotiations between the locals and the authorities. The campaign made it necessary for another expedition to subdue the colony of the Hindustanis in 1853.{{cite book |title= The Savage Border: The Story of the North-West Frontier |author=Jules Stewart |publisher=the History Press |date= 2007 |isbn=9780752496078 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h6WYDgAAQBAJ&dq=black+mountain+campaign+hindustanis&pg=PT48 }}