of the Sadiya Khowa Gohain was at Kaicheng Goan where he constructed tanks and buildings, whose authority was extended to the river of Dihang on the west and river Tingrai in the east. During the reign of Jayadhwaj Singha, Miri villages who indulged in lawless activities were suppressed in 1665. Also a number of Miri villages were reduced by Gadadhar Singha in 1683. In 1697, a great earthquake devastated Sadiya in which many hills were crumbled down. In 1799, the Khamtis in league with the Phakials, Miris, Mishmis, Muluks, Khanghak, Pani Naras and Abors in Sadiya created disturbance in Sadiya but were suppressed. In 1810–11, the Khamtis in alliance with the Singphos occupied Sadiya after killing the last Ahom Governer or Sadiya Khowa Gohain, Govinda Gohain. From 1811–1839, the Khamtis remained in the control of Sadiya till its annexation by the British in 1839. British period Sadiya was the extreme north-east frontier station of British Raj, in the Lakhimpur district of Eastern Bengal and Assam regions. On the opposite bank is a railway station that used to connect with the Assam-Bengal line of that era. Sadiya had been garrisoned by detachments of native infantry and military police, and was the base of a chain of outposts. There had a bazaar, to which the hill-men beyond the frontier—Mishmis, Abors, and Khamtis—used to bring down rubber, wax, ivory, and musk, to barter for cotton cloth, salt and metal goods. In 1943-44 there was a United States Army Air Force (USAAF) field at Sadiya which hosted the 89th Fighter Squadron of the 80th Group, headquartered at Nagaghuli, now Chabua Air Base of the Indian Air Force. Sadiya today serves as one of the district headquarters for Indian Red Cross. In 1882 Francis Jack Needham was appointed Assistant Political Agent for the British authorities after having served in the region as an assistant Superintendent of Police since 1876. He finally retired from service in 1905 after spending his life exploring above the Brahmaputra river and writing a treatise on the grammar of Miri, Singpho, and Khamti languages. He was awarded the Gill memorial medal in 1887 and made a fellow of The Royal Geographical Society in 1889. His main purpose in life was exploration partly in order to try and discover the source of the Brahmaputra river. His award of the Gill memorial Medal and F.R.G.S. was for penetrating into the Zayul Valley and