Fascinating little campaign the conquest of Scinde and the campaign that gave us the most exquisite pun in the history of warfare, Napier’s “Peccavi” sent to his superiors after the Battle of Hyderabad.*
*Allegedly. There is a suggestion it was invented by a contributor to Punch.
I just noticed your footnote, so this post is probably redundant, but for obvious reasons I don't want to stay stuck on 666 so please forgive me.
FWIW, I once read that the pun came from a
Punch cartoon (this being, of course, back in the days, when people would have understood it). It certainly can't have been a telegram as sometimes claimed - though not by you - as there was no telegraph system available.