Surgeon Brydon was one of twelve mounted officers who had become separated from the remnants of the main column before the final stand at Gandamak. This small group had ridden to Futtehabad, but half had been killed there while six escaped. All but Brydon were killed, one by one, further along the road as their horses became exhausted. On the afternoon of 13 January 1842, the British troops in Jalalabad, watching for their comrades of the Kabul garrison, saw a single figure ride up to the town walls. It was Dr Brydon. Part of his skull had been sheared off by an Afghan sword, and he survived only because he had stuffed a copy of "Blackwood's Magazine" into his hat to fight the intense cold weather. The magazine took most of the blow, saving the doctor's life.