Brass bass drum used by the 72nd (Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders) Regiment of Foot during the 2nd Afghan War, 1878 (c)

Major-General Frederick Roberts, commander of the Kurram Valley Field Force, held his seasoned Highland regiments in high regard, and led one wing of the 72nd (Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders) Regiment of Foot in his attack at the Peiwar Kotal on 2 December 1878. Despite technological advances like telegraph and heliograph, fife, bugle and drum still played an important part in battlefield communications. The band of the 72nd, along with the bands of other regiments, played at the parade that marked Roberts' arrival in Kabul in October 1879.