of the THIRTY-SIXTH, which was again relieved by another company on
the ammunition being expended.
In this cool and spirited manner the engagement was carried on
for about two hours and a half with the same regularity as on a
common field day, when the enemy’s cavalry, consisting of about
two thousand, in two dense columns, made a circuit and charged
the grenadier company, commanded by Captain Robert Burne, of
the THIRTY-SIXTH, but were effectually checked by a steady and
well-directed fire from the company, which caused them to wheel off
to the south. During the engagement, and immediately after this
event, an officer of the British artillery, seeing a chief of the
enemy’s army mounted on an elephant encouraging his troops on to
the attack, directed his fire against him, and killed him with the
third shot. This chief proved to be Bunham-ud-deen, the commander
of the army, and a near relative of the Sultan Tippoo Saib.
This event, in addition to the discouraging circumstance of having
been repulsed with considerable loss in every attempt to break
the British line, decided the fate of the day; the enemy retired
from the contest, and by four o’clock in the afternoon left his
opponents complete masters of the field of battle.
Colonel Floyd, with the cavalry, being a few miles in advance, on
the sudden appearance of the enemy’s cavalry, and hearing from
Colonel Oldham the situation of the infantry, immediately formed
line, and charged the foe, who, dreading to come in contact with
the troops that had, in the early skirmish on the previous day,
given him such a severe specimen of their prowess, moved off at too
rapid a rate to be overtaken; a pursuit was, however, kept up for
some time, and, after scouring the country for a distance round,
the troops were enabled to rest quietly during the night at the
village of Shawoor, where they arrived about seven o’clock in the
evening.
Colonel Floyd having during the action received intelligence of the
arrival of Major-General Medows at Vellady that day, a distance of
about twenty miles from Shawoor, the march of the entire detachment
was in consequence directed to that village; and, moving off at
three o’clock in the morning of the 15th of September, arrived
there at sunset in the evening, quite overcome by fatigue, thirst,
and hunger.
The THIRTY-SIXTH regiment, which had borne the brunt of the
contest, had no refreshment from the evening of the 13th until late
on that of the 15th of September, excepting a supply of tobacco
procured by Lieutenant William Chambers, of the THIRTY-SIXTH,
immediately after the action, from a cabin in the neighbourhood
of the line. The good qualities of this plant are well known to
soldiers and sailors, and under these circumstances this timely
supply proved a matter of great importance to the men. It allayed
their hunger and thirst, revived their spirits, and afforded
infinite relief during the remainder of their long and fatiguing
march.
It is to be observed that Tippoo’s regular troops, called the
“Tiger Infantry,” were the attacking force on this occasion, and
were so named from their jackets having the emblem stripe of
the royal tiger woven in the cloth. A report was also current,
that after the battle Tippoo asked the officers why they had not
destroyed the Feringhee battalion; to which they replied, that
“they had done their best, but the battalion wearing the colour
of their prophet (the facings of the THIRTY-SIXTH being _green_),
could not be vanquished by any troops in the world.”
The army returned to Coimbatore on the 23d of September. The
Sultan, disappointed in his object of destroying the divisions
of the British army in detail, resolved to attack the chain of
depôts; he gained possession of Errode and the stores at that
place, and afterwards marched southwards. The British troops
advanced from Coimbatore on the 29th of September, and, arriving
at Errode on the 4th of October, found the place abandoned, and
Tippoo’s army gone. He had marched in the direction of Coimbatore;
but, hearing that the garrison was augmented, he advanced rapidly
upon Darraporam, against which the Sultan opened his batteries
on the 8th of October. The fort had no cannon mounted, and the
garrison, consisting of a hundred Europeans and two hundred sepoys,
capitulated on honourable terms, to which the enemy strictly
adhered.
The British army moved on the 5th of October, and on the 15th of
that month encamped in the neighbourhood of Coimbatore, where
Lieut.-Colonel Stuart joined from Palghautcherry, after having
taken the place, and left it in a tolerable state of defence.
The pursuit of the Sultan was continued, the troops traversing
extensive tracts of country, and undergoing much fatigue under
an Indian sun. In the middle of November the army traversed the
difficult pass of Tappoor, winding through deep valleys, and
dragging the guns over precipices. Here the advance fell in with
the rear of Tippoo’s force, but could make no impression. The
Sultan resolved to leave the British troops in his own country,
and to invade the Carnatic, which would bring the English back for
the defence of Trichinopoly. Major-General Medows was about to
carry offensive plans into execution, when the movements of Tippoo
rendered it necessary to return to the Carnatic, and the army
arrived at the vicinity of Trichinopoly in the middle of December.
[Sidenote: 1791.]
On the 1st of January 1791, the army arrived at Terrimungulum,
and on the 12th at Arnee. During this long and fatiguing march
the Anglo-Indian troops frequently encamped upon the ground from
which the enemy had removed in the morning; but the efforts made to
overtake him were not successful. The sick and heavy guns having
been placed in the fort of Arnee, on the 14th of January the
advance and right wing marched for Velhout, where they arrived on
the 27th, followed by the left wing.
On the 29th of January the army was reviewed by General Charles
Earl Cornwallis, K. G., who had arrived from Bengal to assume the
command, and who expressed great satisfaction at the appearance of
the troops. His Lordship was at this period Governor-General and
Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies, and had quitted Bengal on
the 6th of December of the previous year, and landed at Fort St.
George, Madras, on the 30th of the same month.
The army arrived in the vicinity of Vellore on the 11th of February
1791, and the troops were ordered into the fort. Tippoo was
prepared to oppose any attempt to penetrate into the country under
his dominion by the easiest passes; but Earl Cornwallis contrived
the appearance of a march towards Amboor, which completely deceived
the Sultan; and then turning suddenly to the north, traversed the
difficult pass of Muglee, without the enemy having power to offer
the least obstruction, and arrived on the 20th of February on the
table-land of the Mysore country. Two days afterwards the troops
commenced their march towards the strong fortress of _Bangalore_.
The following graphic description of the Fort of Bangalore is
extracted from Colonel Mark Wilks’s History of the South of India:--
“The Fort of Bangalore, entirely rebuilt of strong masonry by
Hyder and his son Tippoo, is nearly of an oval form, with round
towers at proper intervals, and five powerful cavaliers, a
_fausse-braye_, a good ditch and covered way without palisades,
and some well-furnished places of arms; but the _glacis_ is
imperfect in several places; no part was entirely destitute
of the support of reciprocal fire, but in no part was there a
perfect flanking defence. There were two gateways, one named the
Mysore, the other the Delhi gate; the latter opposite the pettah,
overbuilt by the projection of traverses, common to Indian forts.
The pettah, or town, of great extent, to the north of the fort,
was surrounded by an indifferent rampart, and excellent ditch,
with an intermediate berm, if such it may be called, of nearly
a hundred yards wide, planted with impenetrable and well-grown
thorns; and this defence was only intermitted exactly opposite
the fort, where there was a slight barrier, and an esplanade of
insufficient extent. The pettah had several gates, protected by a
sort of _flêche_ at the end of each _sortie_ outside the ditch.
Neither the fort or pettah had drawbridges.”
An attack on the Delhi gate of the pettah was made early in the
morning of the 7th of March 1791 by the THIRTY-SIXTH regiment,
commanded by Captain Andrew Wight, supported by the Third brigade
of sepoys, under Lieut.-Colonel Cockerell, and a few six-pounders
under Colonel Moorehouse. The zigzag approach to the gate was
scarcely twenty feet wide; two field-pieces were opened on the
gate, but that being supported behind by a piece of masonry-work,
three feet high and three feet thick, the shot, penetrating through
the gate above, had no effect in bringing it down.
All this time the troops were exposed to a destructive shower of
musketry from the turrets, on which a heavy fire was kept up by the
assailants, when two pieces of ordnance were advanced, and their
fire being directed at the lower part of the gate and masonry work,
shattered it so much that, with the assistance of the troops, a
sufficient opening was made to admit one person to enter, which
happened to be Lieutenant John Eyre of the light company of the
THIRTY-SIXTH regiment. The soldiers continuing their exertions,
at length pulled down the gate, and immediately entered, when the
enemy fled with precipitation to the fort.
Lieutenant Eyre had received a sabre blow from a cavalry soldier,
which cut through his cap, wounded his forehead, and knocked him
down, but recovering his feet immediately, he joined his company
in pursuit of the enemy. Shortly afterwards the enemy made a great
effort to retake the pettah, but being immediately charged with the
bayonet from street to street, were driven back with considerable
loss, and the British were left in undisturbed possession of the
town. In this attack, Captain Jeremiah Delany, of the THIRTY-SIXTH,
was killed.
The efforts of the troops were now directed to the reduction of the
fort,--and every preparation for the approaching siege was carried
on with diligence and activity. On the 15th of March, the batteries
being completed, opened a fire upon _Bangalore_, and on the 17th
the lines were cannonaded by the enemy, while at night the camp was
much disturbed by his rockets.
Forage became very scarce, and none could be procured beyond the
advanced piquets. The siege, however, proceeded, and the enemy
continued to harass the British until the 21st of March, when the
breach being considered practicable, an attack was ordered.
The storming party consisted of the grenadiers of the THIRTY-SIXTH,
Fifty-second, Seventy-first, Seventy-second, Seventy-fourth,
and Seventy-sixth regiments, followed by their respective light
companies, and led by Lieutenant James Duncan of the Seventy-first,
and Lieutenant John Evans of the Fifty-second, with a forlorn
hope of thirty chosen men; the whole supported by the battalion
companies of the THIRTY-SIXTH, Seventy-second, and Seventy-sixth,
with some battalions of Bengal sepoys. The corps of attack were
commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Maxwell of the Seventy-fourth, the
flankers immediately by Major Skelly; Major-General Medows was
present on the occasion.
The troops proceeded on this enterprise at eleven o’clock on a fine
moonlight night on the 21st of March, and after a sharp conflict,
by one o’clock in the morning they became masters of the important
fortress of _Bangalore_.
In the Orders issued on the following day, it was stated:--
“LORD CORNWALLIS feels the most sensible gratification in
congratulating the officers and soldiers of the army on the
honourable issue of the fatigues and dangers they have undergone
during the late arduous siege. Their alacrity and _firmness_[11]
in the execution of their various duties, has, perhaps, never
been exceeded, and he shall not only think it incumbent on him to
represent their meritorious conduct in the strongest colours;
but he shall ever remember it with the sincerest esteem and
admiration.
“The conduct of all the regiments which happened, in their
tour, to be on duty that evening, did credit in every respect
to their spirit and discipline; but _his Lordship desires to
offer the tribute of his particular and warmest praise to the
European grenadiers and light infantry of the army, and to the_
THIRTY-SIXTH, _Seventy-second, and Seventy-sixth regiments,
who led the attack and carried the fortress, and who, by their
behavior on that occasion, furnished a conspicuous proof, that
discipline and valour in soldiers, when directed by zeal and
capacity in officers, are irresistible_.”
On the 28th of March the army quitted Bangalore to join the forces
of the Nizam, amounting to about fifteen thousand cavalry, sent
to co-operate with the English in this war, and the junction
was effected on the 13th of April. The army afterwards returned
to Bangalore, where preparations were made for the siege of
Seringapatam; the troops advanced upon the capital of the Mysore
on the 4th of May, and on the 13th of that month arrived at
Arakerry, on the Cavery, about eight miles below Seringapatam,
which derived its name from the god _Serung_, to whom one of the
pagodas was dedicated. The enemy was discernible in front, with his
right resting on the river, and his left on a high hill named the
Carighaut.
During the night of the 14th of May, the troops marched with a view
to surprise the enemy; but owing to the badness of the weather and
roads, together with the jaded state of the gun-bullocks, little
or no progress was made during the night; but on the following
day, after having undergone great fatigue, they were brought into
action, when the enemy was driven from his strong position, and
forced across the river into the island upon which the capital,
Seringapatam, is situated, where he was protected by his batteries.
In this affair Lieutenant John Turner was severely wounded, which
caused his death.
The army rested upon the field of battle, and was again in movement
on the 18th of May, and arrived on the 20th at Canambaddy,
situated on the Cavery, some miles above Seringapatam. It was now
ascertained that the season was too far advanced for undertaking
immediately the siege of Tippoo’s capital, and it was determined
accordingly to withdraw. The battering train was destroyed; all the
ammunition and stores were buried which could not be removed, and
on the 26th of May the army marched in the direction of Bangalore.
Before commencing their retreat the soldiers were thanked in orders
for their conduct throughout these services, and it was added:--
“So long as there were any hopes of reducing _Seringapatam_
before the commencement of the heavy rains, the
Commander-in-Chief thought himself happy in availing himself
of their willing services; but the unexpected bad weather for
some time experienced having rendered the attack of the enemy’s
capital impracticable until the conclusion of the ensuing
monsoons, Lord Cornwallis thought he should make an ill return
for the zeal and alacrity exhibited by the soldiers, if he
desired them to draw the guns and stores back to a magazine,
where there remains an ample supply of both, which was captured
by their valour; he did not, therefore, hesitate to order the
guns, and stores which were not wanted for field service, to be
destroyed.”
In the course of this retreat the British were joined by the
Mahratta army, under Hurry Punt and Purseram Bhow, consisting of
about thirty-two thousand men, chiefly cavalry, and thirty pieces
of cannon. Of the approach of this large force the British had
been kept in total ignorance by the active manner in which the
communications were interrupted by Tippoo’s irregular troops.
Captain Little, having under his orders two battalions of Bombay
sepoys, joined with the Mahratta army, and the supplies were now
abundant.
The army arrived at Bangalore on the 11th of July, and the enemy
made no attempt whatever to interrupt the march. By this time
the Nizam’s cavalry had become unfit to keep the field, and were
allowed to return to their own country. Purseram Bhow also, with
a large detachment of the Mahrattas, proceeded into the Sera
country; but Hurry Punt, with the remainder, continued attached to
the British army. On the 15th of July the whole of the sick and
one-half of the tumbrils belonging to the field-pieces were sent
into the fort of Bangalore, and the army moved towards Oussoor,
where it arrived on the 11th of the following month--the fort at
that place being abandoned by the enemy after he had blown up the
angles thereof.
On the 12th of August the army moved from Oussoor and on the 23d
arrived at Bayeur. About this period Major Gowdie, of the Honorable
East India Company’s service, was detached with some troops for the
reduction of the strong hill fort of _Nundydroog_, which it was
found required regular approaches. Major Gowdie arrived before the
place on the 22d of September.
_Nundydroog_, the capital of a large and valuable district, was
built on the summit of a mountain about one thousand seven hundred
feet in height; three-fourths of its circumference were absolutely
inaccessible, and the only face on which it could be ascended was
protected by two excellent walls and an outwork which covered the
gateway, and afforded a formidable flank fire. The foundation for a
third wall had been dug, but the Sultan had not been able to have
the plan completed.
The flank companies of the THIRTY-SIXTH and Seventy-first
regiments, under the command of Captain James Robertson of
the latter corps, marched on the 17th of October to join the
detachment under Major Gowdie, and, upon their arrival, were
immediately placed in the last parallel.
General the Earl Cornwallis, with a view to intimidate the
garrison, encamped with the army within four miles of _Nundydroog_,
on the 18th of October, and in the evening of that day the troops
were told off for an assault upon the two breaches, which had been
pronounced practicable. The attacks commenced at eleven o’clock
at night, the grenadiers assaulting the right breach and the
light companies the left. The forlorn hope of the right attack
consisted of twenty grenadiers, volunteers from the THIRTY-SIXTH
and Seventy-first regiments. Captain Robert Burne supported, with
the THIRTY-SIXTH grenadiers, the right attack, and Captain William
Hartley, with the light company of that regiment, the left attack;
Major-General Medows animated the whole with his presence.
The assailants were soon discovered; blue lights immediately
illuminated the fort, and a heavy fire opened from the works; this
fire was fortunately ill-directed, but the large stones hurled
down the hill, and acquiring great velocity as they bounded from
the rock in their descent, were extremely formidable. The storming
party, however, soon mounted the breaches, and pursuing the enemy
closely prevented his barricading the gate of the inner wall. This
was forced open, and the troops entered. Captain Robertson, seeing
that the place was carried, used every endeavour to prevent the
unnecessary effusion of blood. The flank companies which formed the
storming party had two men killed and twenty-eight wounded, the
latter principally from bruises by the stones thrown from the rock.
The loss during the siege amounted to forty Europeans and eighty
sepoys and pioneers, killed and wounded. At this place Lieutenant
John Eyre, of the regiment, died of his wounds.
In this manner _Nundydroog_, in the course of three weeks, was
taken, a place defended by seventeen pieces of cannon, principally
iron guns of large calibre; this fort was not captured by Hyder Ali
from the Mahrattas until after a defence which lasted three years.
After the fall of Nundydroog, the other hill fort of _Cumeldroog_,
adjacent and dependent thereon, although a place of great strength,
surrendered on being summoned.
Lord Cornwallis, in General Orders of the 19th of October, stated,
that “having been witness of the extraordinary obstacles, both
of nature and art, which were opposed to the detachment of the
army that attacked _Nundydroog_, he cannot too highly applaud
the firmness and exertions which were manifested by all ranks
in carrying on the operations of the siege, or the valour and
discipline which were displayed by the flank companies of His
Majesty’s THIRTY-SIXTH and Seventy-first regiments.”
In a few days afterwards the army retraced its route to Bangalore.
Savendroog and several hill forts were captured by detachments in
December, but the THIRTY-SIXTH regiment remained with the main body
of the army.
[Sidenote: 1792.]
On the 31st of January 1792 the army under General the Earl
Cornwallis was reviewed by the Poonah and Hyderabad chiefs, and
on the following day commenced its march towards _Seringapatam_,
passing by Hooleadroog, Tajilly, and Carrycode. The troops came in
sight of Tippoo’s capital on the 5th of February, and encamped at
the French rocks. The enemy’s horse showed itself on the 4th and
5th, but attempted nothing hostile. The Sultan took up a formidable
position to cover his capital, and was attacked during the night of
the 6th of February.
The entrenched camp of Tippoo was reconnoitred on the 6th of
February, and at dark the army was formed in three columns of
attack. The right, under Major-General Medows, consisting of the
THIRTY-SIXTH and Seventy-sixth King’s regiments. The centre under
the Commander-in-Chief, General the Earl Cornwallis, consisting
of the Fifty-second, Seventy-first, and Seventy-fourth King’s
regiments. The left, under Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell, of the
Seventy-fourth, was composed of the Seventy-second regiment. The
native troops were divided among the three columns.
The right column, to which the THIRTY-SIXTH regiment was attached,
under the command of Major-General Medows, was directed to
penetrate the left of Tippoo’s line, and turning to the left,
overthrow the troops of the enemy there posted, and proceed on
until it joined Lord Cornwallis in the centre column, and receive
further orders; but the officer charged to guide the column led it
wrong, bringing it to the advanced redoubt on the left of Tippoo’s
lines, known by the name of the _Ead-gah_ redoubt,--which was
mounted by eight pieces of cannon, and was defended with great
bravery. The grenadiers of the THIRTY-SIXTH rushed steadily forward
to escalade the work, with the officer of engineers in charge of
the scaling ladders, but a heavy fire of grape shot and musketry
killed most of the men in charge of the ladders, which, being
consequently lost, it appeared impossible to enter the redoubt.
The work near the gorge had not been quite finished; the troops
again rushed forward, but the enemy’s fire was so destructive
as to sweep all opposed to it; a momentary pause ensued, and at
this crisis Captain Andrew Wight, who commanded the THIRTY-SIXTH
regiment, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable John Knox having
charge of a brigade, observing a narrow pathway leading to the
rampart, ordered his corps to follow him, when the soldiers resumed
the attack with increased animation, and advancing with the bayonet
carried the work; only a few of the defenders escaped instant
death, and that by leaping from the embrasure into the ditch,
which, from its height, must have proved equally fatal to them. The
loss of the enemy at the Ead-gah redoubt was more considerable than
at any other post of his lines.
The loss in private men fell chiefly on the THIRTY-SIXTH, that
regiment and the flank companies of the Seventy-sixth being
the troops which formed the front division of the column. The
grenadiers of the THIRTY-SIXTH, who led, in advancing to the
redoubt, had twenty men killed and wounded.[12]