Twelve guns, under Major Lloyd, flanked by 50 Madras sappers, under
Captain Henderson, were on the right. On Lloyd's left stood the 22nd
Queen's Regiment, under Colonel Pennefather, not 500 strong, half
Irishmen, strong of body, high-blooded soldiers, who saw nothing but
victory. On the left were the swarthy sepoys of the 22nd Bombay Native
Infantry; then the 12th, under Major Reid, and the 1st Grenadiers, led
by Major Clibborne; the whole in the echelon order of battle. Closing
the extreme left, but somewhat held back, rode the 9th Bengal Cavalry,
under Colonel Pattle. In front of the right infantry, skirmishers were
thrown out, and on the left the Scinde horsemen, under Captain Jacob,
fierce Eastern troops, were pushed forward. Between the two armies
there was a plain of about 1000 yards, covered for the first 700 with a
low jungle, which impeded the march of the British troops. For 300
yards, however, in front of the Beloochee line, it had been cleared to
give free play for their matchlocks, with which they fired long shots at
times without showing themselves.
The order to advance was given, and the General and his staff rode
forward in face of the heavy fire from the Beloochee guns. The enemy's
right was strongly protected by the village of Kottree, now filled with
matchlock-men. The main body of the British advanced in columns of
regiments, the right passing securely under the wall of the enclosure,
where Tew's gallant company, now reinforced by a gun, were with a
rattling fire of musketry keeping their host of foes in check. Onward
marched the main body of the British army, while Clibborne's grenadiers
were storming the village of Kottree on the left. The level was all the
time swept by the Beloochee guns and matchlocks, answered at times by
Lloyd's battery, but nothing stopped the progress of the gallant band.
When within 100 yards of the Fullaillee, the 22nd opened into line, and
all the columns formed in succession, each company as it arrived
throwing its fire at the top of the bank, where the faces of the
Beloochees could be seen bending with fiery glances over their levelled
matchlocks.
The British front was still incomplete, when the voice of the General,
loud and clear, was heard commanding the charge. The order was answered
by a hearty British cheer. Four guns were run forward, and the
infantry, at full speed, dashed on towards the river, and rushed up the
sloping bank. The stern Beloochees, with matchlocks resting on the
summit, let their assailants come within 15 yards before they delivered
their fire; but the steepness of the slope inside, which rendered their
footing unsteady, and the rapid pace of the British, spoilt their aim,
and the execution done was not great.
The next moment the 22nd were on the top of the bank, thinking to bear
all down before them; but even they staggered back at the forest of
swords waving in their front. Thick as standing corn, and gorgeous as a
field of tulips, were the Beloochees in their many-coloured garments and
turbans. They filled the broad, deep bed of the now dry Fullaillee;
they were clustered on both banks, and covered the plain beyond.
Guarding their heads with their large dark shields, they shook their
sharp swords, gleaming in the sun, and their shouts rolled like a peal
of thunder, as, with frantic might and gestures, they dashed against the
front of the 22nd. But with shrieks as wild and fierce, and hearts as
big, and arms as strong, the British soldiers met them with the bayonet,
which they used with terrible effect against their foremost warriors.
At the same time the few guns that could be placed in position on the
right of the 22nd, flanked by Henderson's small band of Madras sappers,
swept diagonally the bed of the river, tearing the rushing masses with a
horrible carnage. Soon the sepoy regiments, 12th and 25th, prolonged
the line of fire to the left, coming into action successively in the
same terrible manner.
"Now the Beloochees closed in denser masses, and the dreadful rush of
their swordsmen was felt, and their shouts answered by the pealing
musketry, and such a fight ensued as has seldom been recorded in the
annals of warfare. Over and over again those wild, fierce warriors,
with shields held high and blades drawn back, strove with strength and
courage to break through the British ranks. No fire of small-arms, no
sweeping discharge of grape, no push of bayonets could drive them back;
they gave their breasts to the shot, their shields to the bayonet, and,
leaping at the guns, were blown away by twenties at a time: their dead
rolled down the steep slope by hundreds, but the gaps were continually
filled from the rear; the survivors pressed forward with unabated fury,
and the bayonet and sword clashed in full and frequent conflict."
Thus they fought--never more than five yards apart, often intermingled,
and several times the different regiments were forced backwards, but
their General was always there to rally and cheer them. At his voice
their strength returned, and they recovered ground, though soon in the
dreadful conflict nearly all their regimental leaders were killed or
wounded.
Major Teasdale, animating the sepoys of the 25th Regiment, rode
violently down a gap in the Beloochees, and was there killed by shot and
sabre.
Major Jackson, of the 12th, coming up with his regiment, the next in
line, followed the same heroic example. Two brave havildars kept close
to him, all three in advance of their regiment, and all fell dead
together, but not till several of the fiercest of the Beloochee
swordsmen were seen to sink beneath the brave Jackson's strong arm and
whirling blade. Here also fell Captains Cookson and Meade, and
Lieutenant Wood, nobly cheering on their men to the attack, while Tew
had died at his post at the entrance of the shikargah. Many more were
desperately wounded: Colonel Pennefather and Major Wylie; Captains
Tucker, Smith, Conway; Lieutenants Plowden, Harding, Thayre, Bourdillon;
Ensigns Firth, Pennefather, Bowden, Holbrow.
Lieutenant Harding, of the 22nd, was the first to leap upon the bank.
His legs were cut by the swordsmen, and he fell, but rose again
instantly, and, waving his cap, cheered his men to the charge.
Receiving another sword-cut, his right hand was maimed; yet still he
urged the men forward, till at length a shot went through his lungs, and
again he fell, and was carried out of the fight.
Lieutenant McMurdo, a young staff-officer, rode, like Teasdale and
Jackson, into the bed of the Fullaillee, and his horse being killed, he
fell. Regaining his feet, he met and slew Jehan Mohamed, a great chief
and a hardy warrior, in the midst of his tribe. Several of Jehan's
followers then engaged him in front, while one struck at him fiercely
from behind, but being at that moment struck down by a sergeant of the
22nd, the blow fell harmless. McMurdo turned and repaid the service by
cleaving to the brow a swordsman who was aiming at his preserver's back;
another fell beneath his weapon, and then he and the sergeant fought
their way out from among the crowds of foes pressing fiercely round
them.
Several times the sepoys, when their leaders were killed or disabled,
slowly receded; but the General was always at the point of the greatest
danger, and then manfully his swarthy soldiers recovered their ground.
Once he was assailed by a chief, and his danger was great, for his right
hand had been maimed before the battle. At the moment that the fierce
warrior was about to cut him down, Lieutenant Marston, of the 25th
Native Infantry, sprang to his side, killed the sirdar, and saved his
General. At another period Sir Charles Napier was alone for some
moments in the midst of his enemies, who stalked round him with raised
shields and scowling eyes; but, from some superstitious feeling
possibly, to which the Beloochees are very prone, not one attempted his
destruction, which they might easily have accomplished. When the
soldiers of the 22nd saw him emerge unharmed from his perilous position,
they gave vent to their feelings in a loud and hearty cheer, heard above
the din of battle.
For more than three hours did this storm of war continue, and still the
Beloochees, undismayed, pressed onwards with furious force, their
numbers to all appearance increasing instead of being diminished by
those who had been struck down. Now came the critical point in every
battle. Except the cavalry, there was no reserve to bring forward. In
vain the brave Jacob had previously endeavoured to turn the village of
Kottree with the Scinde Horse, and to gain the flank of the enemy's
position.
So heavily pressed by the Beloochees on the right, and so exhausted were
his men, that he could not quit that point; but his quick eye saw that
the enemy's right could be turned, and he sent orders to Colonel Pattle
to charge with the whole body of the Bengal and Scinde horsemen on the
enemy's right. Never was an order more promptly obeyed. Spurring hard
after their brave leaders, the Eastern horsemen passed the matchlock--
men in the village of Kottree, and galloped unchecked across the small
nullahs and ditches about it, which were, however, so numerous and
difficult, that 50 of the troopers were cast from their saddles at once
by the leaps. But dashing through the Beloochee guns on that flank, and
riding over the high bank of the Fullaillee, the main body crossed the
deep bed, gained the plain beyond, and charged with irresistible fury.
Major Story, with his Bengal troopers, turning to his left, fell on the
enemy's infantry in the loop of the upper Fullaillee, while the Scindian
Horse, led by Lieutenant Fitzgerald, wheeling to their right, fell on
the camp, thus spreading confusion along the rear of the masses opposed
to the British infantry. In this gallant charge three or four
Beloochees had fallen before his whirling blade, when one, crouching, as
is their custom, beneath a broad shield, suddenly stepped up on the
bridle-hand, and with a single stroke brought down the horse.
Fitzgerald's leg was under the animal, and twice the barbarian drove his
keen weapon at the prostrate officer, but each time the blow was
parried; and at length, clearing himself from the dead horse, the strong
man rose. The barbarian, warned by the Herculean form and threatening
countenance of his opponent, instantly cast his shield over a thickly
rolled turban of many folds, but the descending weapon went through all,
and cleft his skull. On charged the cavalry. The fierce Beloochees,
whose fury could before scarcely be resisted, slackened their onslaught,
and looked behind them. The 22nd, perceiving this, leaped forward with
a shout of victory, and pushed them back into the deep ravine, where
again they closed in combat. The Madras sappers and the other sepoys
followed the glorious example. At length the 6000 Beloochees who had
been posted in the shikargah abandoned that cover to join the fight in
the Fullaillee, but this did not avail them. Both sides fought as
fiercely as ever. A soldier of the 22nd Regiment, bounding forward,
drove his bayonet into the breast of a Beloochee; instead of falling,
the rugged warrior cast away his shield, seized the musket with his left
hand, writhed his body forward on the bayonet, and with one sweep of his
keen blade avenged himself. Both combatants fell dead together. The
whole front of the battle was indeed a chain of single combats. No
quarter was asked for, none given. The ferocity was unbounded; the
carnage terrible.
The Ameers had now lost the day. Slowly the fierce Beloochees retired
in heavy masses, their broad shields slung over their backs, their heads
half turned, and their eyes glaring with fury. The victors followed
closely, pouring in volley after volley; yet the vanquished still
preserved their habitual swinging stride, and would not quicken it to a
run though death was at their heels! Two or three thousand on the
extreme right, who had been passed by the cavalry, kept their position,
and seemed disposed to make another rush; but the whole of the British
guns were turned upon them with such heavy discharges of grape and
shells that they also went off. All were now in retreat; but so
doggedly did they move, and so inclined did they appear to renew the
conflict on the level ground, where the British flanks were unprotected,
that the General recalled his cavalry, and formed a large square,
placing his baggage and followers in the centre. Such was the battle of
Meeanee, fought with 2000 men against 36,000. Six officers were killed
and 14 wounded, and about 50 sergeants and rank and file were killed,
and 200 wounded--a large proportion of the few actually engaged. Of the
enemy, upwards of 6000 were killed: 1500 bodies and more lay in heaps in
the bed of the Fullaillee alone.
The next morning, six of the principal Ameers presented themselves on
horseback at the camp, offering their swords, and promising to deliver
up Hyderabad to the victor. To Hyderabad he accordingly marched, and
took possession of that city.
There was another powerful chief still in arms with 10,000 men, about
six miles off, and it is asserted that, had Sir Charles at once marched
against this chief, Shere Mahomed of Meerpore, he might have defeated
him without loss of time; but at the same time it is evident that it was
most important in the first place to secure the capital, and to give his
troops refreshment after so desperate a fight.
For the first time in English despatches, the names of private soldiers
who had distinguished themselves were made known--an innovation which
still more endeared him to those under his command, and which was hailed
with satisfaction by thousands who never saw him.
The men of the 22nd Regiment all fought most bravely, but Private James
O'Neil, of the light company, was especially noticed for taking a
standard while the regiment was hotly engaged with the enemy; and
Drummer Martin Delany, who shot, bayoneted, and captured the arms of a
chief, Meer Whulle Mohamed Khan, who was mounted, and directing the
enemy in the hottest part of the engagement. Lieutenant Johnstone, of
the 1st Grenadiers, Native Infantry, cut down a Beloochee, and saved the
life of a sepoy who had bayoneted the Beloochee, but was overpowered in
the struggle. The names of a considerable number of the native
regiments were also mentioned as conspicuous for their gallantry, as
well as those of Lieutenant Fitzgerald and Lieutenant Russell, whose
steady, cool, and daring conduct kept the men together in the desperate
charge over the nullahs, under a heavy fire, made by the corps to get on
the flank of the enemy--a manoeuvre which so mainly contributed to
secure the victory to the British army.