advanced on the 28th of December, and on the 30th formed a junction
with part of the Bombay army, under the command of Major-General Sir
William Keir Grant, at Taul. Advancing from thence on the following
day, the troops encamped in the beginning of January, 1818, at
Mundesoor, and soon afterwards, Holkur's government having been brought
to submission, the presence of the 1st division of the army of the
Deccan being no longer necessary in this part of India, it marched
southward. On the 22nd of January it crossed the Seeprah river, on the
24th it reached Oojain, where it halted until the 28th. On the 30th it
was at Indoor; on the 13th of February it recrossed the Nerbuddah, and
proceeding in the direction of the Taptee, encamped on the left bank
of that river on the 27th, in the vicinity of _Talnere_, a town and
fortress belonging to Holkur, formerly the capital of the sultans of
the Adil Shahy dynasty, in the fifteenth century, which, it had been
agreed, should be delivered up to the British government, but which,
unexpectedly, opened a fire upon the advanced part of the division. A
summons was sent to the Killedar, who commanded the garrison, warning
him of the consequences of resistance; and, no answer being returned,
a battery was brought to bear on the fort, which silenced the enemy's
fire in a few hours, but not before several casualties had occurred
from the well-directed fire of matchlocks from the walls. On a further
examination of the fort, one of the outer gates was discovered to be in
a ruinous state; and the flank companies of the ROYAL SCOTS and of the
Madras European regiment, were placed under the orders of Major Gordon,
of the ROYAL SCOTS, for the attack of the gate. The garrison offered to
capitulate; and an unconditional surrender was demanded without delay;
but, the evening being advanced, it was suspected the enemy would
attempt to escape during the approaching darkness, and the storming
party advanced up to the gate. A passage for single files between
the walls and the frame of the outer gate was discovered, and no
opposition being offered, the storming party and pioneers entered: they
subsequently passed the second gate, and at the third were met by the
Killedar and some natives. Lieut.-Colonel Conway, the Adjutant General
to the army, with Lieut.-Colonel M'Gregor Murray, had entered with the
storming party, and they passed through the third and fourth gates; but
at the fifth and last gate they were stopped, though the wicket was
opened. A hurried conversation about terms of surrender now took place;
and Colonel Murray, concluding that there was an urgent necessity for
establishing such a footing as would secure eventual success should
the enemy hold out, entered by the wicket with Major Gordon and three
grenadiers of the ROYAL SCOTS, but refrained from drawing his sword, to
show he had no intention of breaking off the parley. Five persons only
had passed the wicket when the enemy fell upon them, and in a moment
laid them all dead, excepting Colonel Murray, who fell towards the
wicket covered with wounds. The enemy attempted to close the wicket,
but were prevented by a grenadier, private Sweeny, of the ROYAL SCOTS,
who thrust his musket into the aperture: Lieut.-Colonel M'Intosh and
Captain M'Craith forced the wicket open, and it was held in this state
while the captain was with one hand dragging Colonel Murray through,
and with the other warding off blows with his sword. A fire was then
poured in through the wicket, which cleared the gateway sufficiently
for the grenadiers of the ROYAL SCOTS, under Captain M'Gregor, who
formed the head of the storming party, to enter, and the fort was
carried by assault, but at the expense of the captain's life. The
garrison was put to the sword, and the Killedar was hanged on the
same evening. The ROYAL SCOTS had Major Gordon, Captain P. M'Gregor,
and 3 private men killed; Lieutenant John M'Gregor (brother to the
captain),[132] and 3 rank and file, wounded. The conduct of the ROYAL
SCOTS on this occasion was spoken of, in general orders, in terms of
commendation; and the intrepidity and courage of Major Gordon and
Captain M'Gregor were especially noticed.
In the meantime, the 2nd division of the army of the Deccan, with
which the eight battalion companies of the ROYAL SCOTS were serving,
had been withdrawn from Nagpore, and proceeded (22nd January)
towards Ellichpoor. In the early part of February, detachments from
the division captured the two strong hill-forts of _Gawelghur_ and
_Narnullah_. The division was afterwards encamped at Ootran; in March
it proceeded to Copergaum, and on the 17th of that month encamped
on the left bank of that noble river the Godavery, near Fooltaumba;
at the same time the 1st division was encamped on the opposite bank
of the river. Here the 2nd division resumed its former designation
of the Hyderabad division. Two flank and three battalion companies
of the ROYAL SCOTS were directed to proceed to Hyderabad; and the
remaining five companies continued in the field with the force
under Brigadier-General Doveton. These companies were commanded by
Lieut.-Colonel Fraser, and on his appointment to the command of
a brigade, by Captain Joseph Wetherall,[133] the next officer in
seniority.
The division was engaged in operations against Peishwah Bajee Rao (one
of the Mahratta confederacy), who, with an army of cavalry said to
amount to 20,000 men, studiously avoided a conflict with the British
field force, and sought to accomplish his object by sudden marches and
surprises. Information having been received of an intended attack of
this chief on the cantonments of Jaulnah, the Hyderabad division, with
which were three companies of the ROYAL SCOTS, commanded by Captain
Wetherall (the other two companies remaining at Fooltaumba), proceeded
seventy-two miles in two forced marches, and before the remaining
thirty miles were accomplished, the Peishwah had proceeded in another
direction. After a short halt, the division continued the pursuit of
the flying enemy, encountering many difficulties while traversing parts
of the country which had never before witnessed the presence of a
British army, and using the most indefatigable exertions, it frequently
occurring that the troops occupied the ground which Bajee Rao had
left on the preceding day. After a circuitous route, having performed
forty-one marches in forty days, at the hottest period of the year,
during which time the division had only two halts, the troops returned
for supplies to Jaulnah, where they encamped on the 11th of May. In
this difficult service the European soldiers had not evinced any want
of physical power; they had performed their marches cheerfully, and
their only complaint was not being able to overtake the flying enemy.
After a halt of two days, the division again resumed the chase of its
flying foe, and continued the pursuit until the Peishwah surrendered
himself to the British government, when it returned to Jaulnah.
Meanwhile the two companies of the ROYAL SCOTS left at Fooltaumba,
under the command of Lieutenant Bland, had marched with a body of
troops, under Lieut.-Colonel M'Dowall, of the East India Company's
service, into the Candeish country, and had captured the fort of
_Unkye_, situated on the summit of the Candeish Ghats, also the forts
of _Rajdeir_ and _Inderye_, in which service the two companies had a
few private men wounded. They were next engaged in the reduction of the
strong hill-fort of _Trimbuck_, situated near the source of the river
Godavery, which surrendered on the 25th of April; their loss on this
occasion was 1 serjeant, 1 drummer, and 8 private men, wounded. The
conduct of the ROYAL SCOTS in this service was spoken of in terms of
commendation in detachment orders. The capture of Trimbuck was followed
by the surrender of seventeen other forts.
After this service the detachment proceeded to the strong fort of
_Malleygaum_, situated on the river Moassum, and defended by a party
of the Arabs, who surrendered to Brigadier-General Doveton at Nagpore.
This place was defended by two lines of works, with very high walls,
the inner one of superior masonry and surrounded by a ditch 25 feet
deep and 16 feet wide. On the 18th of May a sortie of the garrison was
repulsed; and on the 19th two batteries opened their fire. A breach
having been effected, an attempt was made to carry the fort by storm:
2 officers and 50 rank and file of the ROYAL SCOTS, commanded by
Lieutenant Bland, formed part of the principal storming party against
the breach, and Lieutenant Orrock and 25 rank and file part of a column
destined to make an attack on another point; but success was found
impracticable, and the storming party was withdrawn. Another point
of attack was afterwards selected, and new batteries raised. Two of
the enemy's magazines having been blown up, the garrison surrendered,
and the British flag was hoisted on the walls of _Malleygaum_, on the
morning of the 13th of June. The ROYAL SCOTS lost in this siege 5 rank
and file killed; Ensign Thomas, 1 serjeant, 1 drummer, and 11 rank and
file, wounded.
[Sidenote: 1819]
The whole of the hill-forts in the Candeish being reduced, the two
companies of the ROYAL SCOTS proceeded to Jaulnah, and joined the other
three companies of the battalion, with the Hyderabad division at that
place. Here the troops expected to take up their monsoon quarters; but,
when all who were obliged to live under canvass were busily engaged in
making arrangements to mitigate the severity of the approaching rains,
the division was ordered to proceed with all possible expedition to
Nagpore. Quitting Jaulnah on the 7th of August, the troops commenced
the march, and the dreaded rains immediately set in; the roads became
almost impassable; the baggage was unable to keep up with the troops,
and the tents were consequently in the rear, so that the men were
frequently exposed for twenty-four hours to incessant rain; no shelter
could be procured in the villages, and every comfort was wanting.
Exposed to these calamities, the troops arrived at Ellichpoor on the
3rd of September in such a state as to be totally unfit to proceed any
further. Here they halted until the 21st of December, when they were
again put in motion, and halted at Walkeira on the 30th, where the
five companies of the ROYAL SCOTS were, in consequence of their long
service in the field, relieved by a division of His Majesty's 30th
regiment from Hyderabad. The five companies then returned to Jaulnah,
expecting to continue their march to the Deccan, but were ordered
to proceed to Boorhaunpoor in charge of a battering train which lay
at Jaulnah. On the 1st of March, 1819, they rejoined the Hyderabad
division, encamped near the city of Boorhaunpoor, and marched to engage
in the siege of the celebrated fortress of _Asseerghur_, which, on
account of its strength, was termed "the Gibraltar of the East." This
fortress is situated on a detached hill, not commanded by any other in
its neighbourhood. It consists of an upper and lower fort; the upper
one, of an irregular form, about 1100 yards from east to west, and
about 600 from north to south; it crowns the top of the hill, which is
about 750 feet in height; and all round it, with the exception of one
place which is strongly fortified, there is a perpendicular precipice
from 80 to 120 feet, surmounted with a low wall full of loop-holes.
Below this are two lines of works, the outer one forming the lower
fort, which rises directly above the pettah, and the entrance to which
is protected by strong gateways and flanking works; and immense labour
and great skill had been employed in rendering this naturally strong
post almost impregnable. Such was the formidable fortress against which
the five companies of the ROYAL SCOTS were about to be employed.
The Hyderabad division was encamped at Neembolah, about seven miles
from this celebrated fortress, belonging to his Highness Doulat Rao
Scindia, and, negotiations having failed, about twelve o'clock on the
night of the 17th of March, five companies of the ROYAL SCOTS,[134]
commanded by Captain J. Wetherall, with the flank companies of the
30th, 67th, and Madras European regiments, five companies of native
infantry, and a detachment of sappers and miners, the whole commanded
by Lieut.-Colonel Fraser, of the ROYAL SCOTS, and a reserve, commanded
by Major Dalrymple, of the 30th, assembled at the camp for the attack
of the pettah of Asseer; another party was also directed to co-operate
in this service from Sir J. Malcolm's division.
Between one and two o'clock the column commenced its march; advancing
up the bed of a deep nullah, or small river, nearly dry at the time,
the assaulting party arrived unobserved within 500 yards of the pettah,
then rushed upon the gate with the greatest ardour and steadiness,
the five companies of the ROYAL SCOTS leading the way. The enemy was
surprised, and, after discharging a few rounds of grape, retired
without making further opposition. The head of the attacking column
forced the gate, and, proceeding up the main street, encountered an
advanced piquet of the enemy, which retired to the lower fort, firing
occasionally at the head of the column. Major Charles M'Leod, of the
East India Company's service, Deputy Quartermaster-General, acted as
guide on the occasion, and by his direction the leading files of the
ROYAL SCOTS pursued the enemy close under the walls of the fortress,
from whence an incessant fire of artillery and matchlocks was kept
up, and a few ill-directed rockets were also discharged. The leading
sections of the ROYAL SCOTS, which had pursued the enemy up the hill,
were joined by one or two files of the 30th and 67th regiments, the
whole amounting to about 25 or 30 men; and as soon as the enemy saw
the small force before which they had so precipitately fled, they
immediately rallied, and came shouting down the hill with augmented
numbers to attack this small party, but were repulsed by a spirited
charge with the bayonet, which, with a few rounds of musketry, obliged
them to retreat within the works, some of which were within 50 or 60
yards of this handful of men, leaving their chief, who was shot by
a soldier of the ROYAL SCOTS, and several men, on the ground. Major
M'Leod, being wounded, proceeded to the rear; and the enemy having
established a cross fire from the walls of the lower fort and from two
cavaliers, Captain Wetherall ordered the advanced party to retire a
short distance to a post established by Lieut.-Colonel Fraser, where
there was some cover for the men. The loss of the leading sections in
this affair was 1 private soldier killed; Major M'Leod, Lieutenant
Bland, and 11 rank and file, wounded. The remainder of the column did
not sustain any loss, the men being protected from the enemy's fire by
the houses in which they had established themselves.[135]
The assaulting party maintained its post until night, when it was
relieved by fresh troops, and the five companies of the ROYAL SCOTS
returned to their tents, which had been left standing at Neembolah; but
Lieut.-Colonel Fraser remained in command of the troops at the pettah.
At day-break on the 19th a heavy gun battery opened against the fort.
At dusk in the evening a party of the enemy issued from the lower fort,
crept unperceived down a deep ravine to the rear of the pettah, and
gained the main street, where they encountered the British troops, and
were repulsed and forced to abandon their enterprise. Lieut.-Colonel
Fraser, of the ROYAL SCOTS, while in the act of gallantly encouraging
the soldiers, and directing them to withhold their fire and give the
enemy the bayonet, was shot in the head and fell dead on the spot: his
body was afterwards conveyed to the camp at Neembolah and interred with
military honours.[136]
On the 21st of March the five companies of the ROYAL SCOTS took
their turn of duty in the pettah, where they arrived a little before
day-break. As soon as it was light a heavy gun battery opened on the
forts with great effect, but it had only fired about a dozen rounds
when, from some accident which could not be explained, the magazine in
the rear of it, containing 130 barrels of gunpowder, exploded, killing
a conductor of ordnance, a native officer, and 34 non-commissioned
officers and rank and file, and wounding another native officer and 65
non-commissioned officers and rank and file. Such was the violence of
the explosion that about six inches of the top of a bayonet was blown
nearly six hundred yards from the battery. From this period until the
29th new batteries of heavy guns and mortars were erected, and, a
breach having been effected in the wall of the lower fort, the enemy
abandoned it and retired to the upper one: the lower fort was taken
possession of on the morning of the 30th by part of Sir John Malcolm's
division.
The ROYAL SCOTS, with the remainder of the Hyderabad division, had in
the meantime removed from their ground at Neembolah and occupied a
position three miles north-east of the fortress. During the progress of
constructing the new batteries on elevated and commanding situations,
the dragging of ordnance into many of them was performed by the
European soldiers, who literally worked like horses; and during the
whole of the time they were annoyed by a constant fire of matchlocks
from the walls of the upper fort, but which was too distant to prevent
the execution of this herculean labour, which was performed with that
ardour and cheerfulness so characteristic of British soldiers, when
necessity demands any extraordinary exertions from them.
On the 31st of March part of the Bengal army, consisting of 2,200
native troops, with 22 pieces of heavy ordnance, commanded by
Brigadier-General Watson, joined the besieging force; and these
guns were soon placed in battery, and opened on the fort. The storm
of war now raged round _Asseerghur_ with awful fury; the shot and
shells from the numerous British batteries flew in showers, a dozen
shells sometimes exploding within the area of the upper fort at the
same moment, and a breach was soon effected in the outer retaining
wall at the only assailable part of the fort; at the same time two
batteries of 18 and 24-pounders were directed against the inner wall.
This unremitting fire was continued until the 6th of April, when the
garrison, apprehending the consequences of having to sustain an attack
on the works by storm, forced the Killedar to sue for terms, namely,
"liberty to preserve their arms and to depart with their personal
property." These conditions being refused, hostilities recommenced; the
Killedar, however, accepted the terms offered on the 8th, and agreed
on his part to surrender the fort on the morning of the 9th, and the
firing ceased; but, as he said he could not answer for the garrison,
the control of which he had lost, preparations were made for renewing
operations in case of refusal. The garrison, however, submitted; a
British guard took possession of the gates at the appointed hour;
and a union flag was sent, with an escort of 100 Europeans and the
like number of native infantry, to the upper fort, and hoisted under
a royal salute from all the batteries. The garrison, amounting to
1200 men, marched out at noon and grounded their arms. Their loss
was inconsiderable, from having such good cover from the fire of the
British batteries, being only 43 killed, and 95 wounded; and this was
chiefly occasioned by the bursting of shells. The loss of the besieging
army was 11 European and 4 native officers, and 95 European and 213
native soldiers killed and wounded, including the loss at the explosion
of the magazine on the 21st of March. Of this number the ROYAL SCOTS
had only 7 rank and file killed and wounded in addition to the loss on
the 18th of March. The force employed against Asseerghur amounted to
about 20,000 men; the ordnance of all calibre to 61 guns and 40 mortars
and howitzers: the enemy had 119 guns and mortars mounted on the works,
and some of the guns were of immense calibre--one a 384-pounder.[137]
In a general order, dated Madras, 28th April, 1819, the conduct of the
five companies of the regiment was spoken of in the following terms:--
"The conduct of the detachment of His Majesty's ROYAL SCOTS under the
command of Captain Wetherall, and of His Majesty's 30th Foot, under
Major Dalrymple, during the siege of Asseer, has been most exemplary,
and such as to reflect the most distinguished credit on their several
commanding officers, as well as on the whole of the officers and men
composing those detachments."
After the capture of this fortress the services of the five companies
of the ROYAL SCOTS being no longer required with the Hyderabad
division, on the morning of the 11th of April they commenced their
march for the Deccan, for the purpose of joining the head-quarters and
the other five companies, which had quitted Hyderabad in December,
1818, and had proceeded to Wallajahbad, forty-seven miles from Madras:
and on the 24th of July the several companies of the battalion were
united at that station.
The battalion remained at Wallajahbad until the 21st of December, when
it marched for Trichinopoly, where it arrived on the 11th of January,
1820.
[Sidenote: 1820]
[Sidenote: Regiment.]
On the 23rd of January, 1820, the much-lamented event, the decease
of His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, occurred, which occasioned
great grief to the corps, His Royal Highness having always evinced a
constancy of attention to, and interest in, the welfare and credit of
the regiment, which endeared his name in the grateful remembrance of
the officers and men.
The Colonelcy of the regiment was conferred, on the 29th of January,
on Lieut.-General George Marquis of Huntly, only surviving son of
Alexander, fourth Duke of Gordon, from the 42nd Highlanders.
[Sidenote: 1821]
In August of the following year His Majesty King George IV. was pleased
to approve of the regiment resuming its designation of the "FIRST, OR
THE ROYAL, REGIMENT OF FOOT," instead of the "FIRST, OR ROYAL SCOTS,
REGIMENT OF FOOT."
[Sidenote: 1824]
[Sidenote: 2nd Batt.]
The 2nd battalion remained stationary at Trichinopoly until June, 1824,
when it marched to Madras, where it halted until September. In the
meantime hostilities had commenced between the British and the Burmese
empire; and in September the battalion embarked from Madras and sailed
for Calcutta, where it arrived on the 10th of October. Towards the end
of the year it marched to Barrackpore for the purpose of suppressing a
mutiny amongst the Company's native troops at that place; and after the
performance of this painful duty it returned to Calcutta.
[Sidenote: 1825]
In the middle of January, 1825, it received orders to proceed to
Rangoon, a city and principal port of the Burmese empire, situated
on the north bank of the river Irawaddy, thirty miles from the
sea, to reinforce the troops under Brigadier-General Sir Archibald
Campbell,[138] employed against the Burmese army. It accordingly
embarked from Calcutta under the command of Lieut.-Colonel
Armstrong,[139] on the 15th of that month; and on its arrival at
Rangoon, the enemy having been driven from his position in its
vicinity, the flank companies advanced with the army upon Prome, a city
situated about 150 miles up the river Irawaddy, while the battalion
companies formed part of the reserve.
The advance was commenced on the 12th of February; owing to the nature
of the country and the want of sufficient means for transporting the
necessary military stores, part of the force proceeded by land, and
the remainder in boats up the river Irawaddy. The flank companies of
the ROYALS, commanded by Captain Tenison, formed the advance-guard
of the land column, which was commanded by Brigadier-General Sir
A. Campbell. Proceeding along a narrow and difficult path, tending
obliquely toward the Irawaddy river, the column marched through the
provinces of Lyng and Sarrawah; and on its arrival at Mophi, between
two and three thousand Burmese, commanded by Maha Silwah, quitted an
old pegaun fort, where they had evinced some determination to resist,
and dispersed into a close jungle in the rear. From Mophi the column
continued its progress, uninterrupted by the enemy, and forded the
river Lyng at Thaboon on the 1st of March. The Carian inhabitants of
the country through which the army marched viewed the expulsion of
the Burmese with much satisfaction, and assisted the troops in making
roads and in procuring supplies of rice and buffaloes. On the 2nd of
March the division arrived at Sarrawah, on the Irawaddy, where its
junction with the water column had been intended. This column had
destroyed several of the enemy's stockades, and had continued its
course up the river until it arrived within sight of _Donabew_, where a
series of formidable stockades extending nearly a mile along the banks
of the Irawaddy, and protected by about 15,000 Burmese, presented
a formidable opposition. Information was received of a gallant but
unsuccessful attack having been made on this post by the water column;
and Sir Archibald Campbell resolved to retrace his steps with the
land column, and concentrate his force for the reduction of this
formidable position. He accordingly crossed the Irawaddy at Sarrawah
by means of canoes and rafts, which, owing to the insufficiency of
the craft employed, was not effected in less than five days. After
halting two days at Henzada, the column pursued its march along the
right bank of the river, and arrived before Donabew on the 25th of
March: on the 27th a communication was opened with the water column,
under Brigadier-General Cotton, of the 47th regiment, and both columns
co-operated in the reduction of the place. Batteries were constructed
without delay, and during the progress of these operations the enemy
made several spirited _sorties_: on one occasion _seventeen elephants_
were sent out, each carrying a complement of men, supported by a body
of infantry; but the result proved the inutility of employing such
means against British troops. In the beginning of April the batteries
opened their fire, and shortly afterwards, the Burmese commander, Maha
Bandoola, having been killed by the bursting of a shell, the enemy
deserted the place and retreated through the jungles in the direction
of Lamina. The intrenchments were immediately taken possession of, and
considerable stores of grain and ammunition, with a number of guns of
various descriptions, fell into the hands of the British. The ROYALS at
this place had only one private man wounded.