After initially being garrisoned in Kabul, Nicholson's regiment was moved to Ghazni where he first met Neville Bowles Chamberlain who would become the first of the close band of friends Nicholson would form throughout his time in India. The British force's relatively peaceful occupation duties were soon superseded by Afghan anger against the rule of Shah Shujah Durrani, who had acceded to the throne thanks to British support. Following the outbreak of a revolt led by Wazir Akbar Khan, the main British garrison at Kabul was besieged and annihilated as they tried to retreat from Afghanistan in January 1842. This defeat left a number of smaller British garrisons scattered throughout Afghanistan, including Nicholson's at Ghazni, besieged by Afghan tribesmen during the freezing winter of 1841. Despite the garrison at Ghazni being well supplied, Nicholson's commander, Colonel Palmer, capitulated after the Afghans promised safe passage out of Afghanistan. The Afghans, however, immediately disregarded this promise and attacked the British. Nicholson was, with two other junior officers, separated from the rest of the garrison and led two companies of infantry in fortified buildings as they held off the Afghan attack for two days. The British soon ran out of food and water but Nicholson initially refused to surrender as it would mean abandoning his Indian sepoys to their fate. However, after being ordered to lay down his arms by Colonel Palmer, Nicholson was forced to watch in tears as his sepoys were slaughtered after refusing to convert to Islam.