1803.] GOOJERAT CONQUERED. 369 CHAPTER LXXI. THE PROVINCES OF GOOJERAT AND CUTTACK REDUCED-ALLYGHUR STORMED-BATTLE OF DELHI-THE GREAT GUN OF AGRA-BATTLE OF LASWAREE. As an event so important as this truce with the great Scindia, could scarcely have been produced alone by the short campaign in the Deccan, it will be necessary to account for it by a brief notice of certain military operations, which had been successfully carried on against the confederates elsewhere. When a war with the Mahrattas had become inevitable, the Governor-General prepared for it on a very extensive scale, and had ready for the field a British force of about 55,000 men. To concentrate in one quarter all this force, so as to enable it to act as one army, was impossible; thus it was broken up, and had to act in separate corps in the Deccan, Hindostan, Goojerat, and Cuttack. We have detailed the operations carried on in the firstnamed quarter of India, by Wellesley and Stevenson, with about 18,500 men, against the Mahrattas, till the truce with Scindia; and now we shall turn to those which were a species of appendage to that campaign, as the chief command of the whole belonged to Arthur Wellesley. In Goojerat, the army corps amounted to a few more than 7,000 men, under Colonel Murray, furnished by Bombay. After providing for the safety of Surat, the Guicowar's capital, Baroda, and some other places, its strength was reduced to 4,281, formed in two small brigades. One, consisting of 2,187 men, held its ground in front of Baroda; the other, 2,094 strong, was posted between Surat and Soneghur. Under Colonel Woodington, the former marched, on the 21st of August, against Barsach, a pergunnah of Goojerat, situated in a fertile district, and maintaining still a considerable commerce with Bombay and Surat by the Nerbudda, on which it is situated, some thirty miles above its mouth in the Gulf of Cambay. The pettah was taken on the 24th; two days later a breaching battery was opened, and an aperture in the wall was declared practicable on the 29th. The assault was delayed till three in the afternoon, for the co-operation of a gun-boat, which, however, was unable, from the shallowness of the water, to approach; yet, after a vigorous resistance from an Arab garrison, the place was stormed, and fell into our possession, with all the district, which yielded a revenue of £110,000 per annum. Colonel Woodington next reduced Champanir, a town almost entirely composed of silk-weavers, and situated on the brow of a hill in Goojerat. He then summoned the adjacent fortress of Powanghur, which consisted of a lower and upper fort, crowning the summit of an immense hill of rugged rock, the north side of which is alone accessible. On the lower works being breached, the killedar lost courage, and capitulated; thus, before the end of September, Scindia had lost the whole province of Goojerat. On the other side of India, in Orissa, our operations against the Rajah of Berar were equally successful. "Though the whole of Orissa had been included in the grant of the dewannee of it obtained by Clive, the Company had been obliged to rest satisfied with only a portion of it. The district of Cuttack was held by the Mahrattas, who, fully aware of its importance, refused to part with it. Had the Company possessed it, they would have had a continuous line of coast, stretching from the mouths of the Ganges to Madras. The value of such a communication had been long recognised, and negotiations had been repeatedly entered into for the purpose of acquiring it, either by exchange or purchase. The war into which the Rajah of Berar had rashly entered, seemed to afford an opportunity of acquiring it by conquest, and it was accordingly determined to wrest it from him. With this view, the Governor-General, in fixing the localities which were to be the seat of war, allotted an important detachment for Cuttack, which, when held by the enemy, not only enabled him to cut off the land communication with Madras, but brought him into dangerous proximity to Bengal." The force for this service consisted of 573 Europeans of the Madras army, with a detachment of H.M. 22nd Regiment, together with the following native troops :-1st Battalion, 19th Regiment, Madras Native Infantry, 950; 2nd Battalion, 17th Regiment, 378; 1st Battalion, 20th Regiment, 290; 1st Battalion, 9th Regiment, 665; amounting to about 2,383 men, together with some cavalry and artillery. There were also 500 Bengal Volunteers, with a battering train of four 18-pounders, four 12pounders, and two howitzers, all of which were landed at Ganjam, forty-five miles southward of Cuttack, in support of the main division, under Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell, of the 74th High-been absolute sovereigns, not only ruled it with landers. Under Captain Morgan, another detach- despotic sway, but were extending their influence ment of the same strength took possession of the on every side, by means of treaties, offensive and port of Balasore, twenty-five miles from the defensive, with the neighbouring chiefs.” Subanreeka river, which then formed the boundary between British territory and Cuttack. In the town of Jelasore another detachment of 720 sepoys, with eighty-four of the Governor-General's Body-guard, were assembled, under the command of Colonel Fergusson, to form a junction with our troops in Balasore; and all these advanced corps were to be further supported by a reserve of 400 sepoys, 500 Native Bengal Volunteers, with artillery, assembled at Midnapore. The severe illness of Colonel Campbell caused him to resign the command to Lieutenant-Colonel Harcourt, of the 12th Regiment, who, on the 14th September, took possession of Mannickpatam, and sent a letter to the principal Brahmins of Juggernaut, recommending them to place that famous sanctuary under the protection of his Majesty's forces, a proposal to which they at once assented, and received a guard of Hindoo sepoys. The severity of the weather added much to the difficulties the troops had to encounter when on the march, while the enemy hovered in great force on their flanks and rear. Colonel Harcourt continued steadily to advance till the beginning of October, when he found himself before the fort of Barahuttee, and within a mile of Cuttack. The former, a heap of ruins now, was built of red stone, girt by a ditch, thirty feet deep, crossed by a narrow bridge before its only entrance. It was breached and stormed on the 14th by parties from the 22nd Regiment, the Madras Europeans, and native troops, and fully captured, with the loss of only six killed and forty-seven wounded. The reduction of this fort was followed by the entire submission of the province of Cuttack to the British Government. Troops were left to garrison the country, the zemindars of which gave every proof of their loyalty to the Company. The military operations in Hindostan proper were, in some respects, the most important during the war. Under the command of General Lake, the main army assembled in the Doab, 10,500 strong, exclusive of 3,500 in Allahabad, intended for the invasion of Bundelcund; but the first, if not the chief, object of Lake was to break up General Perron's regularly disciplined battalions, which, though nominally in the service of Scindia, were yet apart and wholly devoted to the interests of France. They did not receive pay periodically from him, but had assigned to them a valuable territory for maintenance, "and, as if they had According to the account given by Mr. Stuart, a Scottish officer, who resigned Scindia's service at the commencement of the war, Perron's brigades mustered in all 43,650 men, with 464 guns. portion of these with Scindia in the Deccan was given as 23,650, leaving somewhere about 20,000 to oppose Lake, exclusive of those in garrison. General Lake, who was yet to win his peerage in these wars, advanced from Cawnpore on the 7th of August, 1803. General St. John led the infantry, and Colonel St. Leger the cavalry. Among the latter were the 8th Light Dragoons, all mounted on snow-white horses, given to them by the Nabob of Lucknow. By the 12th, the troops had halted and encamped on the right bank of the Ganges, on the plains of Aroul. On the 26th, General Lake received despatches from the Marquis of Wellesley, when at Secundra, authorising him to attack Scindia, Perron, and all their allies. Reinforced by a detachment from Futtehpore, under General Ware, the army encamped on the Mahratta frontier, in sight of the great Mosque of Coel in Agra, where Perron's forces were seen in position near the fortress of Allyghur. At four o'clock on the morning of the 29th, the army moved forward in order of battle against the French soldier of fortune, who brought the whole of his horse, mustering 20,000 sabres, of whom 4,000 were regular cavalry, into the plain, where he took up a strong position. On his right was the fortress of Allyghur, a place of great strength, having a morass in its front, flanked by two villages. One of these, on Perron's left, being evidently the weakest point, was chosen by Lake as the point of attack; and so, in exact proportion as our troops advanced, those of the enemy began and continued a retrograde movement, and ultimately quitted the field without hazarding a battle. Leaving a good force in Allyghur under M. Pedron, Perron retired towards Agra. The fort was quadrangular, with corner bastions and a wet ditch 25 feet wide. The walls were without embrasures, and the guns were fought en barbette. On taking possession of the village of Coel, General Lake encamped on the north side of it, and summoned Pedron to surrender the fort, which that officer had orders to defend to the last extremity, and in these terms he replied. So the morning of the 4th of September was fixed upon for an attack, which was to be led by the Honourable * "Records Royal Irish Hussars." 1803.1 OUR TOMBS AT ALLYGHUR. Colonel William Monson (son of the second peer of that name). Two batteries of four 18-pounders had been formed on the previous night, to cover the advance of the stormers, who left the camp in the dark, at three a.m., and after making a circuit, came within 400 yards of the gateway unseen. On the signal to advance being given, they rushed on under a heavy cannonade till within 100 yards of the gate, before which they found a recently-erected traverse armed with three guns, which were captured ere they could be discharged, and then Monson dashed on with the grenadiers and light company of the 76th, hoping to enter the gate with the fugitives from the traverse. On coming close, he found the first gate closed, and its approaches swept by showers of grape from two guns. The scaling-ladders were planted, the stormers swarmed up, climbing with one hand and combating with the other; but a firm row of pikemen made it impossible to gain the crest of the wall. A 12-pounder was now brought up to blow open the gate, but twenty minutes elapsed ere this was done; and during that perilous time the almost helpless storming party stood in the narrow way under a heavy fire of grape and musketry. Monson fell wounded by a pike, and here was our heaviest loss. On the outer gate being blown to pieces, the now furious stormers rushed along a narrow circular road, defended by a round tower loopholed for musketry, while showers of grape came crashing down from an adjacent bastion. A second and a third gate were in succession blown in; but at length there appeared a fourth, which the 12-pounder, after some fatal delay in dragging it forward, over, or among the killed and wounded, failed to force; yet an entrance was achieved by a wicket. Our people, more infuriated than ever by the resistance encountered, passed in through it, and scoured the ramparts in every direction. Within an hour we were masters of Allyghur, with a total loss of 223, while that of the enemy, most of whom were killed, not in combat, but in seeking to escape, amounted to more than 2,000 men. Among the prisoners was M. Pedron. As this fortress had been the chief depôt of these French adventurers in the Doab, it contained nearly all their military stores. The number of guns taken amounted to 281. "Its site on an elevated plain surrounded by swamps made it perfectly inaccessible in the rainy season, and everything that the skill of French engineers could devise had been employed to add to its natural strength. One serious mistake they had made, in allowing the entrance by a causeway to remain. Had they joined the two sides of the 371 ditch by cutting it across, it could never have been taken by assault without regular approaches." Some relics of that day's strife yet remain at Allyghur. Near the racecourse are the remains of a tomb erected to the memory of six officers of the 76th, Cameron, Fleming, Brown, St. Aubin, and Campbell, who fell in the assault; and within the cantonment burial-ground is, or was, an obelisk to the memory of Lieutenant Turton, 4th Native Infantry, who also fell-the erection of a friend, whose modesty does not permit him to record his own name. After taking measures to secure Allyghur, the army marched on the 7th of September for Delhi. On that day General Lake received a letter from M. Perron, announcing that he had for ever quitted the service of Scindia, and requesting permission to travel with his family to Lucknow, escorted either by British troops or his own body-guard. Both escorts were courteously accorded to the fallen general, who ultimately resided in the French settlement of Chandernagore. Doubtless he had despaired of Scindia's eventual success. The effect produced by the fall of Allyghur was such, that many other places which might have made a resolute defence, were surrendered as our troops approached them; but in his movement upon Delhi, the general was informed that the mass of the troops which had belonged to Perron were now commanded by another Frenchman, Louis Bourquien, and had crossed the Jumna for the purpose of giving him battle in that lovely region, which is so beautifully wooded by the peepul, the neein, and the palm, and where every tree is full of birds, where the antelope springs, and the panther and hyena may be seen escaping to their dens. Lake's troops were fatigued by a long march, and oppressed by the excessive heat of the weather, when they reached their camping-ground at the Jehna Nullah, within six miles of the stately city of Delhi, the walls of which are washed on one side by the broad waters of the Jumna, which the French had crossed in the night, to fight a battle in defence of the capital of the Moguls, but these were now little better than the prison of the feeble Shah Alum; and the tents of our people were scarcely pitched ere they were attacked by the enemy in great strength. Bourquien had under his orders about 19,000 men (only 6,000 of whom were infantry). He had posted his main body on a rising ground, so flanked by swamps that it could only be attacked from the front, and that he defended by a line of entrenchments, armed with nearly 100 pieces of cannon. In rear was his cavalry. aloft, the bayonets were brought to the charge, and the whole line of entrenchments was carried by one wild and triumphant rush. Seized by a general panic, the enemy fled in all directions, pursued by our cavalry and light galloper-guns, and many in their terror flung themselves into the Jumna. Our loss was 409 in killed and wounded; that of the enemy was about 3,000. We captured sixty-eight guns, two tumbrils laden with treasure, and thirtyseven laden with ammunition, while twenty-four were blown up. The battle-a short, sharp, (From a Miniature.) of war in the British camp, and two days later General Lake paid a visit to Shah Alum-the same monarch who had come upon the stormy stage of Indian politics, war, and intrigue, in the days of the great Robert Clive, and who was now aged, blind, and miserably poor. He received Lake as his deliverer, and gave him all that he could give, a series of sounding titles, such as "The Sword of the State; the Hero of the Lord; the Lord of the Age, and Victorious in War.” * * Major Thorn. |