INDIA, 1774-1799

Rohilcund, 1774—Carnatic—Guzerat, 1778-1782—Sholinghur, 1781—Mangalore, 1783—Mysore—Nundy Droog, 1791—Rohilcund, 1794—Seedaseer, 1799—Seringapatam, 1799.

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Rohilcund, 1774.

This honorary distinction was awarded to the 2nd European Regiment of the Bengal army for its services in the campaign undertaken in that year to defend our ally, the King of Oude, against the incursions of the Mahrattas. It is now borne by the Royal Munster Fusiliers.

The campaign of 1774 was under the personal command of Colonel Champion, the Commander-in-Chief in Bengal. There was a good deal of hard work, of privations little to be understood by the soldier who serves in India in these days, and more than one sharp skirmish. The principal engagement was that fought at Kutra, in the near neighbourhood of Bareilly, on St. George's Day (April 23), 1774, long known in India as St. George's Battle. Colonel Champion had with him the 2nd Bengal European Regiment (now the 2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers) and six battalions of native infantry. Unfortunately, no representatives of these remain to bear the honour on their standards.

Our casualties amounted to 2 officers and 37 men killed, 7 officers and 93 men wounded. Immense booty was captured, and in the distribution of this, officers and men benefited largely, the respective shares being: Colonels, £1,900; Lieutenant-Colonels, £1,600; Majors, £1,300; Captains, £685; subalterns, £343; cadets, £100; sergeants, £6; privates, £4; Subadars, 131 rupees; Jemidars, 65 rupees; havildars, 40 rupees; sepoys, 35 rupees.

The Carnatic.

This honour has been awarded to the following regiments:

Highland Light Infantry.
Royal Munster Fusiliers.
Seaforth Highlanders.
Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
27th Light Cavalry.
2nd Queen's Own Sappers and Miners.
61st Pioneers.
62nd Punjabis.
63rd Light Infantry.
64th Pioneers.
66th Punjabis.
67th Punjabis.
69th Punjabis.
72nd Punjabis.
73rd Carnatic Infantry.
74th Punjabis.
75th Carnatic Infantry.
76th Punjabis.
79th Carnatic Infantry.
80th Carnatic Infantry.

It records their services in repelling the invasion of the Carnatic by Hyder Ali, the ruler of Mysore, and covers all the operations undertaken against him up to the invasion of Mysore by the army under Lord Cornwallis in 1791.

The renewal of the war with France in 1788 found Sir Hector Munro, the victor of Buxar, Commander-in-Chief at Madras. It now became necessary to reoccupy the fortified positions which we had captured during the previous war with the expenditure of many lives, and which had been restored to France on the conclusion of peace. Although subsequent to the battle at Wandewash Hyder Ali, the ruler of Mysore, had entered into a treaty with us, it was well known that he had a striking predilection for the French; and on the resumption of the war between France and England he openly espoused the cause of our enemies, and prepared to invade the Carnatic at the head of his troops. The Mysorean army was by no means contemptible. It was partly trained on the European model, and numbered little short of 100,000 men, of whom 25,000 were cavalry, and it included a battalion of French troops. Munro's first care was to prevent Hyder Ali receiving assistance from France, and he at once took measures to seize the sea-ports of MahÉ and Pondicherry. In the defence of the former some of Hyder Ali's troops took an active part, and the place made a gallant defence before it surrendered. Sir Hector Munro undertook the reduction of Pondicherry in person, but the garrison, anticipating the arrival of a French fleet, made a most stubborn defence; and it was not until the middle of October, after a siege lasting over two months, that the British flag flew over its walls, our losses during these operations amounting to upwards of 800 of all ranks, British as well as native, killed and wounded.[6]

When Hyder Ali, in June, 1779, actually crossed the frontier, our forces were much dispersed. Braithwaite, with 1,500 men, held Pondicherry; Colonel Baillie, with 3,000, was at Guntoor, on the Kistnah River; Colonel Cosby, with 2,000 native troops, was at Trichinopoly; and Munro, with barely 5,000 men, at Madras. Braithwaite and Baillie were immediately called in to strengthen the Commander-in-Chief, whilst Colonel Cosby was ordered to threaten Hyder Ali's line of communication. Wandewash, an important strategical point on the Mysorean line of advance, was held by a gallant young subaltern, Lieutenant Flint, with 200 sepoys, aided by one single sergeant of the line. From August 11, 1780, until January 22, 1781, this little band of heroes withstood assault after assault, holding Hyder Ali's besieging force at bay until relieved by Eyre Coote. The story of that siege has yet to be written. Flint improvised his own artillery, made his own powder, infused his own cheerful daring into the breasts of his sepoys, and died unhonoured and unsung. There were, unfortunately, grievous disasters to counterbalance this gallant achievement. Hyder Ali threw himself on Baillie's force before it effected its junction with Munro, practically annihilating it, the survivors, including fifty English officers (amongst them Captain, afterwards Sir David, Baird, of the 71st), being sent as prisoners to Seringapatam.

Whenever our fortunes in India have been at their lowest ebb we have, fortunately, had men at hand to retrieve them. The "man on the spot," unhampered from "home," has rarely failed us. In 1781 Warren Hastings was Governor-General, Eyre Coote Commander-in-Chief at Calcutta. On hearing of Baillie's disaster and of Munro's indecision, Warren Hastings despatched Eyre Coote to Madras armed with full powers (suspending both Munro, the Commander-in-Chief, and Whitehill, the Governor, from their functions). Coote had at his disposal barely 8,000 men—the 71st (Highland Light Infantry), 1st Bengal, and 1st Madras European Regiments, some 1,600 men in all, with six sepoy battalions and three regiments of native cavalry. Munro, a gallant leader of men, but no General, at once put himself under Coote's orders, and was entrusted with the command of a brigade composed of the three British regiments. James Stuart, who had commanded the 90th Light Infantry at Martinique and Havana, and who had subsequently entered the Company's service, being placed in command of the sepoy battalions. On July 1, 1781, Coote inflicted his first defeat on Hyder Ali at the Battle of Porto Novo, a fortified position on the sea-coast about 100 miles south of Madras. On September 27 the two armies again met at Sholinghur, about fifty miles west of Madras, when Coote, with 11,000 men and thirty guns, signally defeated Hyder Ali's army, 70,000 strong, killing, it is said, 5,000 of the enemy.

Guzerat, 1778-1782.

This distinction is borne by the Royal Munster Fusiliers and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. There is, however, considerable doubt as to the propriety of the Munsters bearing the honour. Colonel P. R. Innes, the painstaking and accurate historian of that regiment, maintains that the old 1st Bengal European Regiment has no right to it, and if the honour was granted, as it undoubtedly was, for the operations conducted by General Goddard in Guzerat in the years 1778-1782, it is very certain that the 1st Bengal Europeans never were with Goddard. The early part of the year 1778 found the army of the Bombay Presidency hard pressed, and help was solicited from Bengal, where all for the moment was quiet. Warren Hastings at once despatched a force consisting of six battalions of sepoys (none of which are now remaining), a couple of batteries of artillery, and 500 Afghan horsemen, to Bombay. The march was an arduous undertaking—to cross India from east to west, with a possible and very probable combination of Mahratta chieftains to bar its progress. The officer originally nominated to the command was soon superseded by Brigadier-General Goddard, an officer who had received his early training in the 84th under Coote, and who, on that regiment being ordered to England, had been offered increased rank in the army of the East India Company. Goddard marched via Cawnpore and Kalpee, which he stepped aside to capture, to Hoshungabad, finally co-operating with a column sent up from Bombay, which included the 1st Bombay European Regiment, now the Royal Munster Fusiliers, as well as some battalions of native infantry. Later the Madras Presidency was also called upon to assist, and 500 men of the Madras Europeans, now the 1st Battalion of the Dublins, with a battery of artillery and a sepoy battalion, was sent round by sea to Surat, to which place Goddard had advanced. For close on two years the little army was constantly engaged. It captured Bassein on December 11, 1780, Ahmadabad in the following month, and in the space of a little more than a year after the arrival of the Madras troops Goddard had reduced the provinces of Guzerat and the Concan. The Bengal troops were now allowed to return, and once more they marched across India, reaching Cawnpore in April, 1784.

To commemorate their services the supreme Government struck a medal, which was distributed to all ranks, officers receiving gold and the sepoys silver, medals. According to Mayo, this was the first occasion in which a medal was granted to the private soldiers of our army.

I regret that I have been unable to ascertain the casualties of all the forces engaged. Stubbs, in his invaluable history of the Bengal Artillery, gives the names of the officers of his corps who were killed, but Begbie ignores the fact that Madras artillery were employed. Colonel Harcourt does not allude to the losses of the Madras European Regiment in his history of the old "Blue Caps." The Royal Dublin Fusiliers, then the 1st Bombay Regiment, lost 3 officers and 19 men killed, and 14 officers and 41 men wounded, in the course of these operations, and there is no doubt that the campaign in Guzerat was attended with considerable loss.

Sholinghur, September 27, 1781.

This battle honour, which commemorates the defeat of the Mysorean Army of Hyder Ali and its expulsion from the Carnatic by Sir Eyre Coote, is borne by the following regiments:

Highland Light Infantry.
Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
Royal Munster Fusiliers.
27th Light Cavalry.
2nd Queen's Own Sappers and Miners.
63rd Light Infantry.
64th Pioneers.
66th Punjabis.
69th Punjabis.
72nd Punjabis.
73rd Carnatic Infantry.
74th Punjabis.
75th Carnatic Infantry.
76th Punjabis.
79th Carnatic Infantry.
80th Carnatic Infantry.

The total casualties in the action were by no means heavy. They fell principally on the British troops. Unfortunately, although Sir Eyre Coote alludes to a casualty return in his despatch announcing the battle, all trace of this has disappeared, so that the losses sustained by individual regiments must, in the case of Sholinghur, as in those of Marlborough's earlier battles, always remain unrecorded.

Early in the following year welcome reinforcements arrived from England, the 73rd (then the 2nd Battalion of the 42nd) Highlanders, the 98th and 100th Regiments disembarking on the Malabar coast, the 72nd coming to Madras to reinforce Coote. These reinforcements came none too early. Tippoo Sultan (Hyder Ali's son, his most able Lieutenant and his successor) had surprised and annihilated a British force under Colonel Braithwaite, all the officers save one being either killed or carried prisoners to Seringapatam. A few months later fresh reinforcements arrived in the 23rd Light Dragoons (now the 19th Hussars), the 101st and 102nd Regiments (long since disbanded, and not to be confused with the 101st Royal Bengal and 102nd Royal Madras Fusiliers), with two Hanoverian battalions. With these forces Stuart inflicted a severe defeat on Tippoo Sultan at Cuddalore, taking from him thirteen guns. For this fine action no battle honour was granted, though there are many names on many colours less hardly earned.

Casualties at Cuddalore.

On the opposite or Malabar coast Colonel McLeod, with the 2nd Battalion of the 42nd, details of the 98th, 100th, and 102nd Regiments, and the 8th Battalion of Bombay Sepoys, won a decisive victory at Paniani on November 27, 1782, the 42nd losing 3 officers and 57 men in the action; but the chief honours were reserved for the 42nd at Mangalore.

Mangalore, 1783.

The Royal Highlanders and 101st Grenadiers alone bear this battle honour, and surely in the many names inscribed on the colours and appointments of the Black Watch, there is not one which redounds more to the glory of the regiment than this little-known achievement, one of the brightest in the military history of our own or of any other country.

A glance at the map of India will show Mangalore on the west or Malabar coast of the peninsula. During our operations against Hyder Ali, and subsequently against his son, the redoubted Tippoo Sultan, its possession was of vital importance to both ourselves and to the Mysoreans. Tippoo Sultan was in direct communication with Napoleon, and through the Malabar ports reinforcements and supplies reached him from France. When, in 1783, General Matthews, the Commander-in-Chief in Bombay, led a column to reduce the fortress of Bednore, in which Tippoo's treasure was stored, he left garrisons at Mangalore and Onore to keep open his communication with the sea. At first successful, Matthews was in the end compelled to capitulate, and he, with the bulk of his army, were done to death by the Mysoreans. Mangalore was held by a force of about 1,800 men, under Colonel Campbell, of the 42nd; Onore by an officer of the Bombay Army named Torriano, with whom at present I have nothing to do.

Early in May Colonel Campbell learned of the disaster to General Matthews, and at the same time he received a summons from Tippoo Sultan demanding the surrender of the fort and town of Mangalore in virtue of the terms of the capitulation arranged with the Commander-in-Chief. Now, it is necessary for me here to interpolate that General Matthews and the officers of the King's regiments had not been on the best of terms. He, a servant of the East India Company, refused to recognize their superior rank, and two of the Colonels of the King's regiments (McLeod, of the 42nd, and Humberston, of the 100th) had left his camp and formulated complaints against the Commander-in-Chief to the Governor-General. Campbell therefore replied to Tippoo Sultan's envoy that he refused to recognize any arrangements which might have been made by the Commander-in-Chief, and that he intended to defend the fort to the last.

On May 9 the siege commenced on the land side, and for the next six months Campbell was hemmed closely in by some 60,000 men. It is true that communication by sea was still precariously maintained. On May 23 the Indiaman Fairford appeared off the port, and threw ashore a small party of English recruits destined for the Bombay European Regiment, which had been practically annihilated with Matthews.[7] That day, May 23, Colonel Campbell made a vigorous sortie, and destroyed a portion of the enemy's siege-works and batteries; but in the retirement three companies of native troops were cut off, and three British officers with 225 sepoys fell into Tippoo Sultan's hands. On the morrow Campbell prepared for a determined resistance. The women of the 42nd were told off to the hospitals, and a stern code of orders published. The men were forbidden to fire without explicit orders, and officers were enjoined to remember that the bayonet, and the bayonet alone, was the weapon of the British soldier. "Englishmen must recollect," runs the order, "that the bayonet is the service required of them, and that they demean themselves by firing at such a dastardly foe."

A return, dated May 24, showed the garrison to consist of 70 British and 67 native officers, with 315 British and 1,394 native soldiers. Attached to and included in the total of the 42nd were a few of the then 98th and 101st Regiments (not to be confused with the present Royal Munster Fusiliers), both of which were with General Matthews at Bednore. The native troops included the headquarters of the 8th Battalion (now the 101st Grenadiers), some companies of the 15th Bombay Battalion, and details of other regiments which were with the Commander-in-Chief at Bednore. Amongst the officers was Lieutenant MacKay, of the Royal Navy, who volunteered to act as a gunner during the siege. He did right good and gallant service, and was twice wounded in the course of the operations. Another name appears prominently in the despatches—a name which has since become a household word in the British Army. Campbell's Brigade-Major was a certain Captain Wolseley, of the 98th Regiment, and much of the credit of the defence was due to the gallantry and unwearied exertions of this officer.

Between the Highlanders and the 8th Battalion of Bombay Grenadiers a strong camaraderie existed; they had fought side by side at Panianee, when Colonel Macleod had drawn attention to the dash and steady gallantry of the regiment. Campbell, in his despatches from Mangalore, bore frequent testimony to the unselfish devotion of the native officers, and the uncomplaining heroism of the men.

Into the details of the siege it is not my intention to enter. Suffice to say that from May 23 until July 27, when news arrived of peace between France and England, there was only one day in which the garrison did not suffer some casualties, and that from June 12 the men were on half-rations of flour; of meat they had from the first been deprived. Desertions amongst the sepoys were frequent, and this was not to be wondered at. Life within the walls was not a bed of roses, whereas Tippoo Sultan offered golden inducements to those who would enter his service. On August 2 an armistice was arranged, a French officer attached to Tippoo Sultan's army acting as intermediary, Campbell declining to surrender the fortress until he had received specific instructions on this head from Bombay. The Mysorean Prince promised to furnish supplies on condition that no attempts were made to strengthen the works or to communicate with the outside world, except with the consent of the Tippoo Sultan himself. On several occasions vessels came close enough for Campbell to send an officer on board (indeed, Colonel McLeod, the acting Commander-in-Chief, landed at Mangalore, and had an interview with Tippoo Sultan). Campbell's pitiable condition was well known to the authorities in Bombay;[8] but no well-sustained effort appears to have been made to relieve him, and at last, on January 30, his men reduced to skeletons with fatigue and sickness, and his garrison reduced in numbers to one-half of their original strength, he was compelled to capitulate; but he marched out with all the honours of war, and even Tippoo Sultan kept honourably to the terms of the capitulation, and gave the garrison a safe conduct to Bombay. Colonel Campbell arrived there on March 13, and ten days later he was laid to rest in the cathedral in that city. The Bombay Government, at last recognizing his work, erected a monument to commemorate his heroic defence of the little fort committed to his charge.

The actual siege of Mangalore lasted from May 23 to July 27, 1783, when hostilities ceased; but from that date until January 30, 1784, the garrison suffered from the want of food and the exposure necessitated by being ever on the alert in case of treachery.

The losses of the garrison between those dates amounted to—

On p. 74 I have given the strength of the garrison on May 24, the actual date of the commencement of the siege. The "marching-out" state on January 27, 1784, shows the true extent of the sufferings of the garrison of Mangalore:

Mysore.

This honour is now borne by the following regiments:

19th Hussars.
Worcester.
West Riding.
Oxford Light Infantry.
Middlesex.
Highland Light Infantry.
Seaforth Highlanders.
Gordon Highlanders.
Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
26th Light Cavalry.
27th Light Cavalry.
28th Light Cavalry.
2nd Queen's Own Sappers and Miners.
61st P.W.O. Pioneers.
62nd Punjabis.
63rd Light Infantry.
64th Pioneers.
66th Punjabis.
67th Punjabis.
68th Punjabis.
73rd Carnatic Infantry.
74th Punjabis.
75th Carnatic Infantry.
76th Punjabis.
79th Carnatic Infantry.
80th Carnatic Infantry.
81st Pioneers.
82nd Punjabis.
101st Grenadiers.
103rd Light Infantry.
104th Rifles.
105th Light Infantry.
107th Pioneers.
108th Infantry.
109th Infantry.

The aggressive action of Tippoo Sultan, who had been recognized as ruler of Mysore on the death of Hyder Ali, and the cruelties perpetrated on the English prisoners in Seringapatam, rendered fresh hostilities with Mysore inevitable. The Home Government therefore agreed to raise four more regiments, to be paid by, and held at the disposal of the East India Company. These were numbered 74th and 75th Highlanders, and 76th and 77th of the line. All four arrived in India in the course of the year 1788. It was known that Tippoo Sultan had sent emissaries to France in the hope of securing French aid in his efforts to drive us out of India, and in 1789 he threw down the glove by invading the territory of our ally, the Maharajah of Travancore. The Commander-in-Chief at Madras, General Meadows, was a most gallant officer, who had distinguished himself in the West Indies, but who was new to the East, and, brave man that he was, was quite prepared to recognize that as yet he had not sufficient experience of Eastern life to warrant his assuming command of a large army operating under entirely novel conditions. Lord Cornwallis, the Governor-General in India, therefore determined to come down from Calcutta and take command of the army destined for the subjugation of Tippoo Sultan. The task was no easy one. Circumstances arose which delayed the Governor-General, and the year 1790 was wasted in an abortive campaign under Meadows.

The year 1791 opened more auspiciously. The Commander-in-Chief at Bombay, General Robert Abercromby, who was to co-operate with the Governor-General, had by a well-executed movement seized Cannanore, and made himself master of the province of Malabar.

Tippoo was now threatened from both sea-coasts, and seems to have been utterly unprepared for the daring stroke so brilliantly carried out by Cornwallis, who, leaving Madras early in February, and passing through the famous Colar Goldfields, arrived before Bangalore on March 5, and two days later had carried the fortifications of that city by assault, and so secured a base of operations for his projected advance on Seringapatam.

In May, after an unsuccessful attempt to carry that fortress by storm, Cornwallis was compelled to fall back on Bangalore, where he passed the hot weather.

Casualties at the Capture of Bangalore, March, 1791.

Nundy Droog, October 19, 1791.

This honour is borne by the Royal Dublin Fusiliers alone, and records the capture of what was considered by the Mysoreans an impregnable stronghold by the force under Cornwallis prior to the capture of Seringapatam in 1792. Nundy Droog lies some thirty miles north of Bangalore, and threatened the communications between Cornwallis's army and that of our ally, the Nizam of Hyderabad. It became necessary then to possess it. It bore a great reputation, and for three years had defied the whole strength of Hyder Ali's army, and then only fell into his hands through starvation. Early in September, 1791, Cornwallis detached Major Gowdie, with the 1st Madras European Regiment (now the Dublin Fusiliers) and six battalions of sepoys, to effect its reduction. The fort is on the summit of a granite mountain, its walls being three miles in circumference, the hill itself being inaccessible except on one side. With much difficulty heavy guns were dragged up the cliffs, and the siege begun in due form. Cornwallis, chafing at the delay, moved out from Bangalore with his whole army, thinking to overawe the defenders; but on the night of October 18 he determined to carry the place by assault. This was performed in the most dashing manner, and with but slight loss, by the flank companies of the 36th (Worcester) and 71st (Highland Light Infantry), with the 1st Madras European (Dublins) in support.

Abercromby was now approaching from the Malabar coast, and Lord Cornwallis was preparing for the final advance on Tippoo Sultan's famed stronghold.

In January, 1792, Cornwallis, apprised that Abercromby, with the Bombay division, was within striking distance, commenced his advance on Seringapatam. His force consisted of the 19th Light Dragoons, two regiments of Madras cavalry, and the Governor-General's Bodyguard, which he had brought down from Calcutta, the 36th (Worcester), 52nd (Oxford Light Infantry), 72nd (Seaforths), 74th (Highland Light Infantry), 76th (West Riding), 1st Madras Europeans (Royal Dublin Fusiliers), and sixteen battalions of sepoys, with forty-six field and forty siege guns.

Abercromby's force comprised the 73rd (Royal Highlanders), 75th (Gordons), 77th (Middlesex), 1st Bombay Europeans (2nd Battalion of the Dublins), and eight battalions of sepoys, with twenty field and sixteen siege guns, giving a total of about 9,000 British and 22,000 native troops.

On February 7 Seringapatam was carried by assault, our casualties numbering about 535 of all ranks, and our trophies amounting to eighty guns. On March 19 Tippoo Sultan signed a definitive treaty of peace, ceding to England Malabar and Coorg on the west, Baramahal and Dindigul on the Carnatic frontier, besides restoring to the Nizam the territories wrested from Hyderabad by Hyder Ali.

The distribution of prize-money afforded Lord Cornwallis and General Meadows, the second in command, an opportunity of giving an example of noble generosity, these two commanders placing their shares, amounting to £47,000 and £15,000, into the common fund. The following were the shares for each rank: Colonels, £1,160; Lieutenant-Colonels, £958; Majors, £734; Captains, £308; Lieutenants, £205; Ensigns, £159; sergeants, £29; and privates, £14 10s. In the native army Subadars received 275 rupees; Jemidars, 132 rupees; havildars, 110 rupees; and sepoys, 51 rupees.

Casualties at the Siege and Capture of Seringapatam, 1792.

Rohilcund, 1794.

This distinction is borne only by the Royal Munster Fusiliers.

The campaign was necessitated owing to a serious rising in the independent State of Rampur, and Lord Cornwallis, the Governor-General, deemed the occasion so grave that he took the field in person. The troops employed were the 2nd Regiment of Bengal Europeans (now the 2nd Battalion Royal Munster Fusiliers), with ten regiments of sepoys, none of which are now borne on the Army List. The force was divided into three brigades of infantry, commanded respectively by Colonel Ware, who afterwards lost his life at the Battle of Laswarree, Colonel MacGowan, and Colonel Burrington. One brigade of two regiments of native light cavalry and four batteries of artillery made up the army. The only action of importance was that of Betourah, which took place some nine miles north of Bareilly. The enemy fought with great gallantry, and charged home on our native cavalry, who do not appear to have been well led—indeed, they fell back in disorder, breaking through the ranks of the 13th Bengal Infantry. This regiment suffered very heavily, all its officers being either killed or wounded, and the Brigadier of the Third Brigade, Colonel Burrington, was cut down in endeavouring to rally the cavalry. The officer commanding that arm disappeared in the course of the action, and so escaped court-martial. It was reported that he entered the service of the French, and was given a commission by Napoleon.

Our casualties were heavy, fourteen officers falling on the field. A monument was erected by Lord Cornwallis to mark the site of their interment, and may yet be seen by the roadside near the village of Betourah. The action, though costly, was decisive as to its results. The recalcitrant leaders of the insurrection made their submission to the Governor-General, and the army was immediately demobilized.

Casualties at Betourah.

Here again it would appear that no record of the losses of the men has been kept.

Seedaseer, March 6, 1799.

This distinction is borne on the colours of the

103rd Mahratta L.I.
105th Mahratta L.I.
107th Pioneers.

It commemorates a brilliant engagement with the army of Tippoo Sultan, in which these three regiments of Bombay sepoys held at bay for eight long hours some 18,000 of the flower of the Mysorean army.

As in 1792, so now in 1799, the armies of all three presidencies were employed in a last endeavour to crush the power of the Mysorean usurper. The Bombay column, under the command of Major-General James Stuart, moving from the coast at Cannanore, consisted of three brigades. The Centre Brigade, under Colonel Dunlop, comprised the 75th (Gordon Highlanders), 77th (Middlesex), and the 1st Bombay Europeans (now the 2nd Dublin Fusiliers); the Right Brigade, under Colonel Montresor, was made up of the 1st Battalions of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Bombay Infantry (now the 103rd, 105th, and 107th Regiments of the Indian army); the Third or Left Brigade, under Colonel Wiseman, comprised the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd, 2nd Battalion of the 3rd, and 1st Battalion of the 5th Regiment of Bombay Infantry. For convenience of supplies, and also owing to the bad state of the roads, the army was marching in three columns, the Right Brigade, under Colonel Montresor, leading.

On March 5 the Right Brigade had reached Seedaseer, on the frontiers of Coorg, the British Brigade being about eight miles in its rear, and the Left Brigade some four miles farther off. Tippoo Sultan was well informed of all our movements, and he endeavoured to put into effect one of the great Napoleon's maxims—namely, to beat your enemy in detail. With the bulk of his army, amounting to some 20,000 men, he cut in between Montresor's brigade and the British General, never doubting of an easy victory over the three sepoy battalions. Montresor, however, had been warned of his approach, and at once commenced to strengthen his position. Stuart, too, had learnt of the near approach of the Mysoreans, and he sent forward the 1st Battalion of the 5th Bombay N.I. to support Montresor, and later in the day hurried up with the flank companies of the 75th (Gordon Highlanders) and the whole of the 77th (Middlesex). In the meantime Montresor had fought out the battle unaided. The 1st Battalion of the 5th N.I. had never been able to reach him, and the British troops only arrived in time to relieve the pressure and to follow up the defeated enemy. The result of the fight augured well for the future, and showed the Bombay sepoy that he was more than a match even for Tippoo Sultan's men.

The casualty returns prove that the name of Seedaseer was worthily earned by the three regiments which have been allowed to place that battle honour on their colours; but it may reasonably be asked why the same honour has not been conferred on the 109th Infantry, which in those days was the 1st Battalion of the 5th Bombay Regiment, and which contributed in some measure to the success of the day. The Gordon Highlanders and the Middlesex content themselves with the battle honours "Mysore" and "Seringapatam."

Casualties at the Action of Seedaseer.

Seringapatam, May 4, 1799.

The regiments authorized to bear this battle honour are the

Suffolks.
West Riding.
Royal Highlanders.
Middlesex.
Highland Light Infantry.
Gordon Highlanders.
Connaught Rangers.
Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
26th Light Cavalry.
27th Light Cavalry.
28th Light Cavalry.
2nd Queen's Own Sappers and Miners.
61st Pioneers.
66th Punjabis.
73rd Carnatic Infantry.
76th Punjabis.
79th Carnatic Infantry.
80th Carnatic Infantry.
81st Pioneers.
82nd Punjabis.
83rd Light Infantry.
84th Punjabis.
103rd Light Infantry.
104th Wellesley's Rifles.
105th Light Infantry.
107th Pioneers.
109th Infantry.

The troops destined for the final capture of Seringapatam were placed under the command of General Harris, the Commander-in-Chief at Madras. All three Presidencies were represented.

The cavalry division was under Major-General Floyd (an officer well versed in Indian warfare), who had commanded the 19th Hussars in the previous capture of the fortress in 1792. It consisted of the 19th and 25th Light Dragoons and four regiments of Madras cavalry, organized in two brigades, each consisting of one British and two native regiments.

The Madras Column was distributed in three brigades, one composed entirely of British regiments—the 12th (Suffolks), 74th (Highland Light Infantry), and the Scots Brigade (now 2nd Connaught Rangers). Major-General David Baird was in command of this brigade. The six regiments of Madras sepoys were formed in two brigades, under Colonels Gowdie and Roberts, of the Company's service, the Madras Division being under Major-General Bridges, an officer of the Company's service.

The Bengal Column was commanded by Major-General Popham, a Company's officer, and consisted of three brigades. The First, under Colonel Sherbrooke, comprised the 73rd (Royal Highlanders) and a regiment of Swiss mercenaries (de Meurons); the Second Brigade was made up of three battalions of Bengal sepoys, under Colonel Gardiner; and the Third Brigade was composed of three battalions of Madras sepoys, under Colonel Scott, of the Scots Brigade.

The Bombay Column was commanded by General J. Stuart, and consisted of the 75th (Gordon Highlanders), the 77th (Middlesex), and the 1st Bombay Europeans (now the Royal Dublin Fusiliers), under Colonel Dunlop, with six battalions of Bombay sepoys in two brigades, under Colonels Montresor and Wiseman. A fourth column was under the command of Colonel Arthur Wellesley, and comprised two regiments of Bengal and four of Madras infantry, with his own regiment, the 33rd Foot (West Riding Regiment), to stiffen the whole. Wellesley also was given the supervision of the Nizam's troops, numbering some 6,000 irregular cavalry and 3,000 infantry, trained and organized by French officers. In round numbers, the force at General Harris's disposal numbered 7,000 British and 27,000 native troops, with a well-equipped siege-train of forty-seven pieces of heavy ordnance.

Early in February the Commander-in-Chief received his final orders to advance from Madras, and on April 14 he joined hands with Stuart's column in the immediate vicinity of Seringapatam. Three days afterwards the siege commenced, and on May 3 the breach was declared practicable. Baird claimed the privilege of leading the stormers (a privilege his by right). He had been a prisoner in the fortress for over four years as a young Captain, and he had been present in command of a brigade of Madras sepoys at Cornwallis's capture of the fortress seven years before. Taking into consideration the strength of the work and the immense numerical superiority of the enemy, the fortress was carried with marvellously slight loss, the killed numbering 69 English and but 12 sepoys, the wounded 248 and 32 respectively, that of the Mysoreans being estimated at 1,000 killed alone. The total casualties during the siege, however, testified to the stubborn stand made prior to the assault, as the following figures show:

Casualties at the Siege and Capture of Seringapatam in May, 1799.

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