The garrison numbering 932, (55 Europeans and 877 Natives),[2] consisted of Shah Shoja's 3rd Infantry Battalion, three companies of the 43rd Bengal Native Infantry, forty European gunners, sixty Bombay Sappers and Miners, and eight British officers, all under the command of Captain John Halket Craigie.

[3] Before the relief force arrived, the garrison repulsed one final major attack by some six thousand Afghans on 21 May 1842.

For the courage displayed by the garrison at Kelat-i-Ghilzie, the East India Company, on 4 October 1842, authorised the medal to be awarded to all troops who participated in the protracted siege.

[2] The medal, designed by William Wyon, was silver and 36 millimetres (1.4 in) in diameter, with the following design:[2]The obverse contains a laurel wreath with mural crown at the top of a shield with the inscription KELAT-I-GHILZIE.The reverse has a trophy of arms on top of a plaque bearing the inscription 'INVICTA MDCCCXLII'.The suspension consists of a straight steel suspender, attached to the medal by way of a steel clip and pin.The ribbon is the watered rainbow coloured ribbon common to most East India Company medals.

[7] Four separate campaign medals were awarded to British led forces who served in the Afghan War of 1839 to 1842:[8]