Regiments.Officers.Men.K.W.K.W.Royal Munster Fusiliers2-2262
An honour borne by the Royal Munster Fusiliers only. The crushing defeats inflicted by Forde on Conflans had the effect of restoring our prestige in Madras. Butin Bengal Clive was in no very enviable position. The Dutch, who had a settlement at Chinsura, on the Hooghly, had commenced open hostilities, and a Dutch fleet, with a considerable force on board, entered that river. Clive had at his disposal about 300 of the 1st Bengal Europeans, and until the return of Forde from Masulipatam matters at Calcutta were serious. As soon as Forde arrived, Clive, who believed only in the offensive, ordered the victor of Condore to attack the land force, whilst he determined to destroy the Dutch fleet with some armed East Indiamen at his disposal. On November 20 Forde marched to Chandernagore (the French settlement on the Hooghly, some miles above Calcutta), and on the following day moved on to Chinsura—only a few miles distant—where a small detachment of the Dutch were encamped. He was joined here by Knox (a Company's officer who had been under Forde at Condore), with a body of eighty volunteer cavalry, raised from the English residents in Calcutta, and a strong battalion of sepoys. He now learnt that the Dutch force was moving to attack him. Confident of victory, Forde wrote to Clive, asking for permission to forestall them. The story runs that Clive was playing cards when Forde's letter reached him. Laying down his hand, Clive scribbled on the back of the letter: "Dear Forde,—Fight them. I will send you the Order in Council to-morrow." Then, taking up his cards, went on with the game. On November 25 the two forces came into collision. Forde's handful of cavalry converted the check, which the steady fire of Knox's guns had inflicted on the Dutch, into a rout. Practically the entire Dutch force was either killed, wounded, or taken. The Government in Holland repudiated the action of the Governor of their Indian settlements, and paid compensation to the East India Company. But Forde's little fight at Badara is deserving of recognition, not merely because it was a gallant action fought against serious odds, but more especially because it put an end once and for all to all pretensions of the Dutch to supremacy in the East.
Unfortunately, no records exist showing the casualties we suffered at the action of Badara.
An honour borne only by the Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
The operations in Southern India had not been characterized by the same degree of success which had marked Forde's campaign against Conflans and the Dutch, but in the very month that we won the action of Badara Eyre Coote disembarked at Madras at the head of his newly-raised regiment, then numbered the 84th. At the same time some 300 recruits arrived for the Company's battalions, bringing the total force at the disposal of the Government of Madras to four battalions of infantry, 100 English troopers, and eighteen field-guns. With these Coote determined to resume the offensive, and on January 22 the two armies met at Wandewash, about 100 miles south-west of Madras. The forces were fairly equally matched. Hyder Ali, with his allies, the French, however, had a considerable preponderance in cavalry. When we reflect on the momentous issue decided by this and the preceding actions between the French and ourselves in India, and compare the number of the troops engaged with those we now mobilize for an Indian frontier campaign, it seems little short of marvellous that our Indian Empire should have been built up with such slender means.
The troops engaged, under the command of Eyre Coote, consisted of Draper's Regiment (then the 79th), his own (the 84th), and two English battalions in the Company's employ (now the Munster Fusiliers), 2,000 sepoys, 1,200 Indian cavalry, and one squadron of English horse, with sixteen guns. The brunt of the fighting fell on the British regiments, Draper's suffering the most heavily; but our total casualties—63 killed and 124 wounded—was a small price to pay for a victory which cost the French 600 killed and wounded and 24 guns.
Step by step Coote now undertook the reduction of allthe French ports in Southern India. Arcot, Trincomalee, and finally Pondicherry, all fell into our hands, only to be restored, as was Chandernagore, to the French at the conclusion of peace in 1763—an act of generous imbecility which necessitated their recapture on the renewal of the war fifteen years later, at the cost of many hundred valuable British soldiers.
Casualties at Wandewash.
Regiments.Officers.Men.K.W.K.W.Draper's Regiment (79th)341766Coote's Regiment (84th)131336Royal Dublin Fusiliers11329
This battle honour is borne only by the Royal Dublin Fusiliers (at that time the 1st Madras European Regiment), and was conferred upon it by the Governor of Madras in recognition of its services at the three sieges of that fortress in the years 1761, 1778, and 1793. The operations were conducted by Sir Eyre Coote, an officer who had received his early training in the 39th (Dorsets), and who, on that regiment being recalled to England, undertook, as I have shown, to raise a battalion for service in India.
This corps, which was numbered the 84th, and which we have already seen at Wandewash, played an all-important part in the early campaigns waged in India; but as it was disbanded in the year 1788, the battle honours it gained are not to be found on the colours of any existing regiment. Coote laid siege to Pondicherry in the month of September, 1760, but it was not until the January following that the Governor surrendered. In accordance with our invariable custom, the fortress and neighbouring colony were restored to the French on the conclusion of peace in 1763. The regiments associatedwith the Dublin Fusiliers in the Siege of Pondicherry in 1760 were the 79th (Draper's Regiment), the 84th (Coote's), the 89th (Highlanders), under Major Hector Munro, and the 96th, under the Hon. G. Monson. None of these corps survive to bear the battle honour.
In the year 1778, on the renewal of the war with France, the reduction of Pondicherry once more became a matter of urgent necessity. On this occasion the Dublin Fusiliers were again to the fore in their capacity as the 1st Madras European Regiment (two of its battalions being present). With them were no less than ten battalions of sepoys. Many of these are still borne on the rolls of the Madras army. The distinction has not been conferred on the Indian corps for the operations in 1778; but if the losses suffered during a successful campaign constitute a claim to a battle honour, the words "Pondicherry, 1778," may well be accorded to the regiments who figure in the subjoined list of casualties.
Casualties at Pondicherry, 1778.
Regiments.Officers.Men.K.W.K.W.Dublin Fus. (two battalions)184592Bengal Recruits1141262nd Punjabis (Natives)-2175767th Punjabis (Natives)-2103769th Punjabis (British)1---Do. (Natives)-273672nd Punjabis (British)11--Do. (Natives)-164373rd Carnatic Inf. (British)-11-73rd Carnatic Inf. (Natives)1-61474th Punjabis (Natives)--213475th Carnatic Inf. (British)1---Do. (Natives)--234476th Punjabis (Natives)--82979th Carnatic Inf. (British)11--Do. (Natives)-151280th Carnatic Inf. (British)11--Do. (Natives)-2835
Note.—The total losses of the Company's troops at Pondicherry in 1778 were 148 sepoys killed and 482 wounded. For this success Hector Munro, who commanded, was made a K.B.
Note.—The total losses of the Company's troops at Pondicherry in 1778 were 148 sepoys killed and 482 wounded. For this success Hector Munro, who commanded, was made a K.B.
The Bengal Recruits alluded to above were a party of recruits on their way out to join what is now known as the Munster Fusiliers. They were detained by the Governor of Madras to swell the British element at the siege, and they well sustained the honour of the regiment now known as the Royal Munster Fusiliers.
In the year 1793 the reduction of Pondicherry became once more necessary. The fortress had been captured by Sir Eyre Coote and its works demolished in 1761. On its restoration to the French, the place was converted into an exceptionally strong fortification, and its capture by Sir Hector Munro in 1778 entailed a loss of upwards of 600 killed and wounded. In 1793 we found that our friends the French had once more—and very rightly, too—done their utmost to render the place impregnable, and that a very considerable force would be necessary for its reduction. Colonel Braithwaite, of the Madras army, was entrusted with its capture. The force at his disposal consisted of the following troops:
Cavalry Brigade—Colonel Floyd: 19th Hussars and 4th Madras Cavalry.First Infantry Brigade—Colonel Nesbitt: 36th (Worcesters), 52nd (Oxford Light Infantry), and the battalion companies of the Dublin Fusiliers.Second Infantry Brigade—Colonel David Baird: 71st (Highland Light Infantry), 73rd (Royal Highlanders), and the flank companies of the two battalions of the Madras European Regiment (Dublin Fusiliers), under Majors Petrie and Vigors.Third Infantry Brigade—Colonel Bilcliffe: 61st Pioneers, 62nd Punjabis, and 63rd Light Infantry.Fourth Brigade—Colonel Campbell: 66th Punjabis, 67th Punjabis, and the 8th Madras Infantry, which has ceased to exist.Fifth Infantry Brigade—Colonel Trent: 69th Pioneers, and the old 17th and 19th Regiments of Madras Infantry, which have been merged in other corps.Sixth Infantry Brigade—Colonel Cuppage: 23rd, 24th, and 25th Regiments of Madras Infantry.
Cavalry Brigade—Colonel Floyd: 19th Hussars and 4th Madras Cavalry.
First Infantry Brigade—Colonel Nesbitt: 36th (Worcesters), 52nd (Oxford Light Infantry), and the battalion companies of the Dublin Fusiliers.
Second Infantry Brigade—Colonel David Baird: 71st (Highland Light Infantry), 73rd (Royal Highlanders), and the flank companies of the two battalions of the Madras European Regiment (Dublin Fusiliers), under Majors Petrie and Vigors.
Third Infantry Brigade—Colonel Bilcliffe: 61st Pioneers, 62nd Punjabis, and 63rd Light Infantry.
Fourth Brigade—Colonel Campbell: 66th Punjabis, 67th Punjabis, and the 8th Madras Infantry, which has ceased to exist.
Fifth Infantry Brigade—Colonel Trent: 69th Pioneers, and the old 17th and 19th Regiments of Madras Infantry, which have been merged in other corps.
Sixth Infantry Brigade—Colonel Cuppage: 23rd, 24th, and 25th Regiments of Madras Infantry.
The artillery consisted of 117 men of the Royal and 731 of the Madras Artillery, and there were 75 English sappers, together with that well-tried regiment which has fought so bravely on so many fields—the Madras Sappers and Miners.
I regret that I have been unable to trace the losses of all the native regiments; their total casualties amounted to 4 British officers and 135 native ranks killed and wounded.
Casualties at Pondicherry, 1793.
Regiments.Officers.Men.K.W.K.W.Royal Artillery-21217Roy. Engineers1451836th Worcesters--5952nd Oxford L.I.1-2571st Highl. L.I.-181473rd R. Highl.3-713Petrie's batt.-126Vigor's batt.-11361st Pioneers--2862nd Punjabis1-61266th Punjabis--3567th Punjabis1-916
Although no battle honours have been awarded to the Indian regiments which took part in the operations against Pondicherry in the years 1778 and 1793, I have been at some pains to give a brief account of the operations, both of which, with their accompanying loss of life, might have been avoided had the Home Government either insisted on the retention of the conquests we had made in the East, or, were that impracticable, refused to allow the rebuilding of fortifications in the French settlements in India. "Pondicherry, 1778 and 1793," might be added with propriety to the battle honours of regiments which took part in the sieges of those years.
Royal Munster Fusiliers.Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
In the interval between Eyre Coote's victory at Wandewash in January, 1760, and the Battle of Buxar in October, 1764, our troops in India had been continuously at war; yet the colours even of those regiments which still survive, and which were then in the service of the Company, bear no record of the many stubborn fights, theby no means inglorious victories achieved over our gallant foes. In the South, the Government of Madras had been carrying on campaign after campaign against the trained troops of France and the scarcely less formidable army of Mysore. In the North, Clive and his successor had found foemen no less worthy of their steel in the armies of the Emperor of Delhi and those of the ruler of Oude, under Surajah Doolah. History—even Greek history—affords no more striking episodes than those early struggles of our countrymen in India; and though the names of Beerpore, Sooty, and Oondna Nullah are forgotten, they deserve to stand side by side with other well-remembered names that are emblazoned on the colours of the old Company's regiments. The Battle of Buxar was the final episode in the long-fought campaign with the ruler of Oude.
Now that the two senior battalions of the old Company's army have been converted into the Royal Munster and Royal Dublin Fusiliers, they are the only regiments which bear on their colours a memento of one of the finest actions ever fought in India. The British force numbered between 6,000 and 7,000 men, with twenty-eight guns. It included, besides the two European regiments in the Company's employ, a composite battalion, just 167 strong, made up of detachments of the 84th, or Coote's Regiment, and volunteers from the disbanded 89th Regiment and 90th (Light Infantry); two companies of Royal Marines, under Captain Wemyss; a handful of seamen, with a midshipman, working some guns side by side with the Bengal Artillery; and a small troop of cavalry, the total being about 1,200 Englishmen. To these must be added 900 Mogul horse and 5,000 sepoys. This little army was under the command of Colonel Sir Hector Munro, of the 89th Regiment. The two Company's battalions were inured to Indian warfare, and the men of the 90th (then the only Light Infantry regiment in the British army), had learned their lesson at the capture of Belleisle, Martinique, and Havana, under their brave Colonel, JamesStuart, who was destined to add to the laurels gained at the Moro a great reputation in Southern India.
The force opposed to Munro was a formidable one. It included eight battalions trained and commanded by French officers, two batteries of artillery manned by Europeans, 5,000 Afghan horse, and 40,000 men of Shah Shujah Daulah's own fairly trained army. The battle was stubbornly contested, but thevictorywas complete. Our weakness in cavalry, however, prevented Munro reaping the full benefits of his success. In addition to the losses of the British contingent, the sepoy battalions lost 257 killed and 435 wounded. Our trophies included 137 guns, whilst the enemy left upwards of 2,000 dead on the field.
Casualties at Buxar.
Regiments.Officers.Men.K.W.K.W.R. Munster Fus.-33758Composite batt.11213Royal Artillery1123Royal Dublin Fusiliers--23British cavalry-124
Broome, in his admirable "History of the Bengal Army," states that the two officers who figure in the list of casualties in the composite battalion both belonged to the 90th Light Infantry. This is an error. On comparing the names of the officers with the Army Lists, I am convinced that they belonged to the 96th Regiment, and that the error has arisen in the transcription by a clerk at the War or India Office. I have come across many such errors. Perhaps the most amusing is in theGazetterecording the capture of Havana in 1762, where the 42nd is referred to in the casualty rolls as the "42nd Royal Hunters"!
INDIA, 1774-1799
Rohilcund, 1774—Carnatic—Guzerat, 1778-1782—Sholinghur, 1781—Mangalore, 1783—Mysore—Nundy Droog, 1791—Rohilcund, 1794—Seedaseer, 1799—Seringapatam, 1799.
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 menbenefited 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.
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 of100,000 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.
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, maintainsthat 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.
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.
Regiments.Officers.Men.K.W.K.W.Royal Artillery-2196771st H.L.I.2684112101st Regiment464255Hanoverians4126214464th Pioneers--61667th Punjabis---872nd Seaforths1-2347Dublin Fus.-282972nd Punjabis-363918th Madras In.-345020th M.N.I.11614Bengal Infantry751290
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.
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 complaintsagainst 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 IndiamanFairfordappeared 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 BombayBattalion, 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 strongcamaraderieexisted; 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 TippooSultan 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—
British Troops.Officers.Men.K.W.K.W.Total of British troops12154512742nd R. Highlanders543496
Native Troops.Officers.Men.K.W.K.W.Total of Native troops516121438
Onp. 74I 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: