by G. A. Henty
Chapter 26: The Siege Of Madras.
At last, weary of inactivity, the Marquis de Conflans and ColonelForde arrived simultaneously, on the 8th of December, at adetermination to bring matters to a crisis. Conflans had heard, from adeserter, that Forde had omitted to occupy a mound which, at a shortdistance from his camp, commanded the position. He determined to seizethis during the night, and to open fire with his guns, and that hismain army should take advantage of the confusion, which the suddenattack would occasion, to fall upon the English. Forde, on his part,had determined to march at four o'clock in the morning to a villagenamed Condore, three miles distant, whence he could threaten theFrench flank.
Ignorant of each other's intentions, the English and French left theircamps at night. Forde marched at a quarter past four, as arranged withAnandraz; but the rajah and his people, with the usual native aversionto punctuality, remained quietly asleep, and a few minutes afterdaybreak they were roughly awakened, by a deadly fire poured by sixguns into the camp. The rajah sent messenger after messenger to Forde,urging him to return; and he himself, with his frightened army,hurried towards Condore. Forde had, indeed, retraced his stepsimmediately he heard the fire of the guns, and soon met the rajah'srabble in full flight; and, uniting with them, marched back toCondore.
Conflans supposed that the fire of his guns had driven the whole ofhis opponents in a panic from Chambol; and, determining to takeadvantage of the confusion, marched with his force against them. Fordeat once prepared for the battle. In the centre he placed the English,including the rajah's forty Europeans. Next to these, on either side,he placed his Sepoys, and posted the troops of Anandraz on the rightand left flanks. He then advanced towards the enemy.
The French guns opened fire. Forde halted. In the position in which hefound himself, his centre occupied a field of Indian corn, so highthat they were concealed from the enemy. Conflans had moved towardsthe English left, with the intention, apparently, of turning thatflank; and after the artillery battle on both sides had continued forforty minutes, he ordered his troops to advance.
In Madras, both the English and French dress their Sepoys in white. InBengal, however, since the raising of Sepoy regiments after therecapture of Calcutta, the English had clothed them in red. Conflans,therefore, thought that the force he was about to attack was theEnglish contingent; and that, if he could defeat this, the rout of hisenemy would be secured. The French advanced with great rapidity, andattacked the Sepoys in front and flank, so vigorously that they brokein disorder. The rajah's troops fled instantly; and, in spite of theexhortations of Forde, the Sepoys presently followed their example,and fled with the rajah's troops to Chambol, pursued by the enemy'shorse.
They would have suffered even more severely than they did, in thispursuit, had not Charlie Marryat launched his little squadron at theenemy's horse. Keeping his men well together, he made repeatedcharges, several times riding through and through them; until at lastthey desisted from the pursuit and, forming in a compact body, fellback towards the field of battle; Charlie, who had already lost twelvemen, not thinking it prudent again to attack so strong a force.
Conflans' easy success over the Sepoys was fatal to him. Believingthat he had defeated the English, he gave orders to several companiesof the French troops to press on in pursuit, without delay. Theystarted off in hot speed, proceeding without much order or regularity,when they were suddenly confronted by the whole line of Englishtroops, in solid order, advancing from the high corn to take the placelately occupied by the Sepoys. In vain, the scattered and surprisedcompanies of the French endeavoured to reform, and make head againstthem. So heavy was the fire of musketry opened by the British line,immediately they had taken up their position, that the French broketheir ranks, and ran back as fast as they could to regain their guns,which were fully half a mile in the rear.
In the meantime, the French Sepoys on their left had been graduallydriving back the English right; but Forde, disregarding this, pressedforward in hot pursuit of the French with his English, behind whom thegreater portion of the beaten Sepoys had already rallied. Keeping hismen well together, he advanced at the fullest speed, following soclosely upon the enemy that the latter had only time to fire one ortwo rounds, with their thirteen guns, before the English were uponthem. The French, who had already lost heart by the serious checkwhich had befallen them, were unable to stand the shock, and at onceretreated, leaving their guns behind them.
As Forde had anticipated, the French Sepoys, seeing their centre andright defeated, desisted from their attack on the English right, andfell back upon their camp. The English Sepoys at once marched forward,and joined Forde's force. The rajah's troops, however, the whole ofwhom had fled, remained cowering in the shelter of a large dry tank.
Forde did not wait for them; but, leaving his guns behind him, pressedforward, an hour after the defeat of the French, against their camp.To reach this, he had to pass along a narrow valley, commanded by theFrench heavy guns. These opened fire, but the English pressed forwardwithout wavering. The defenders, not yet recovered from the effects oftheir defeat in the plain, at once gave way, and retreated in theutmost confusion towards Rajahmahendri. Had the cavalry of Anandrazbeen at hand to follow up the advantage, great numbers might have beencaptured. As it was, Charlie Marryat, with his little force, harassedthem for some miles; but was unable to effect any serious damage on sostrong a body. The English captured thirty-two pieces of cannon, andall the stores, ammunition, and tents of the French.
Forde at once despatched a battalion of Sepoys, under Captain Knox, inpursuit; and this officer pressed on so vigorously that he approachedRajahmahendri the same evening. Two more native battalions reachedKnox during the night.
So thoroughly dispirited were the enemy, that the sight of thered-coated Sepoys of Knox, whom they could not distinguish fromEnglish, induced them to abandon Rajahmahendri in all haste, althoughit contained a strong mud fort, with several guns. The Godavery is twomiles wide, and all night the passage of the river in boats continued;and when, at daybreak next morning, Knox broke into the town, he foundfifteen Europeans still on the banks, expecting a returning boat.These he captured; and seeing, upon the opposite bank, a party aboutto disembark guns and stores from another boat, he opened fire fromthe guns of the fort towards it; and, although the shot could scarcelyreach halfway across the river, such was the terror of the enemy thatthey forsook the boat, and fled. Knox at once sent a boat across, andbrought back that containing the guns.
The French retreated to Masulipatam, the capital of the province, aport which rivalled Madras in its commerce. Forde determined to followthem there, but he was hindered by want of money to pay his troops.This the Rajah Anandraz, who had promised to supply money, now,excited and arrogant by the victory which he had done nothing towardsgaining, refused to supply; and many weeks were spent in negotiations,before Forde was able to move forward.
Charlie was no longer with him. The very day before the fight ofCondore, letters had arrived from Madras, stating the urgency of theposition there; and, upon the night after the battle, Colonel Fordeordered Charlie to return to aid in the defence of that city, beforewhich the French had appeared on the 29th of November.
Several skirmishes took place outside the city, and the English thenretired within the fort. The force consisted of sixteen hundred whitetroops, and two thousand three hundred Sepoys. The nabob, who had alsoretired into the town, had two hundred horse and a huge retinue ofattendants.
On the morning of the 14th the French occupied the town, and the nextday the English made a sortie, with six hundred men. These, for awhile, drove the French before them through the streets of Madras; butas the French gradually rallied, the fire upon the English was soheavy that the sortie was repulsed, with a loss of two hundredsoldiers and six officers killed, wounded, and prisoners. The Frenchloss had been about the same. Had not a large quantity of the Frenchtroops broken into the wine stores on their arrival, and drunk to apoint of intoxication, it is probable that none of th
e British partywould have returned to the fort. The sortie had, however, the effectthat Saubinet, one of the best of the French officers, was killed, andCount D'Estaign, an able general, taken prisoner.
For some time, the siege proceeded slowly, the French waiting for thearrival of their siege artillery, by ship, from Pondicherry. The fortof Madras was now a far more formidable post than it had been when theFrench before captured it. In the year 1743 Mr. Smith, an engineer,had marked out the lines for a considerable increase in thefortifications. The ditch was dug and faced with brick, but on accountof the expense, nothing further had been done. The French had addedsomewhat to the fortifications during their stay there in 1750.Nothing had been done by the English when they recovered the town,until the news of the preparations which the French were making forthe siege of the place had been received. Four thousand natives werethen set to work; and these, in eighteen months, had completed thefortifications, as designed by Mr. Smith, just before the arrival ofthe French.
The latter determined to attack from the northern side. Here the fortwas protected by a demi-bastion, next to the sea; and by the RoyalBastion, the wall between the two being covered by a work known as theNorth Ravelin. The defence was also strengthened by the fire of thenorthwest lunette, and Pigot's Bastion.
Against these the French threw up four batteries. Lally's Battery,erected by the regiment of that name, was on the seashore directlyfacing the demi-bastion. To its right was the Burying Ground Battery,facing the Royal Bastion. Against the western face of this positionthe French regiment of Lorraine erected a strong work, while fartherround to the west, on a rising ground, they threw up a battery calledthe Hospital Battery, which kept up a crossfire on the Englishposition.
To prevent the French from pressing forward along the strip of shorebetween the fort and the sea, the English erected a strong stockade,behind which was a battery called the Fascine Battery.
A few days after the siege began, it was found that the numberscrowded up in the fort could scarcely be accommodated; and the rajahwas, therefore, invited to leave by sea, on board a ship which wouldland him at the Dutch settlement of Negapatam, whence he might journeythrough the Tanjore country to Trichinopoli. This proposal hewillingly accepted, and embarked with his wife, women, and children,his other followers leaving by the land side, opposite to thatinvested by the French. Thus the garrison were relieved of theembarrassment, and consumption of food, caused by four hundred men andtwo hundred horse.
Charlie rode, with his troop, without interruption through thecountry, avoiding all bodies of the enemy until he reached the sea,fifteen miles north of Madras. Here he hired a native boat and,leaving the troops under the command of Ensign Anstey, sailed forMadras; in order to inform the garrison of Forde's victory over theFrench, and to concert, with the governor, as to the measures which hewished him to carry out to harass the enemy. He was accompanied onlyby Tim and Hossein.
The wind was fair and, starting an hour before sunset, the boat raninto Madras roads two hours later. The Harlem, which had that dayarrived with artillery for the French from Pondicherry, fired at thelittle craft; and the native boatmen were about to turn the head ofthe craft northward again. Charlie, however, drew his pistol, andHossein took his place with his drawn tulwar by the helmsman. Theboatmen, thereupon, again continued their course; and, though severalshots fell near them, they escaped untouched, and anchored justoutside the surf, abreast of the fort.
The English had taken the precaution of erecting a number of hutsunder the walls of the fort for the boatmen, in order to be able tocommunicate with any ship arriving, or to send messages in or out. Assoon as the boat anchored, a catamaran put out, and brought Charlieand his followers to shore. There was great joy at the receipt of hisnews, and the guns of the fort fired twenty-one shots towards theenemy, in honor of the victory.
Governor Pigot was in general command of the defence, having under himColonel Lawrence, in command of the troops. The latter, afterinquiring from Charlie the character of the officer he had left incommand of his troop, and finding that he was able and energetic,requested Charlie to send orders to him to join either the force underCaptain Preston, at Chingalpatt, or that of a native leader, MahomedIssoof, both of whom were ravaging and destroying the country aboutConjeveram, whence the French besieging Madras drew most of theirprovisions. Charlie himself was requested to remain in the fort, wherehis experience in sieges would render him of great value.
At daybreak on the 2nd of January, the Lorraine and Lally Batteriesopened fire. The English guns, however, proved superior in weight andnumber, dismounted two of the cannon, and silenced the others. TheFrench mortars continued to throw heavy shell into the fort, and thatnight most of the European women and children were sent away, innative boats. The French batteries, finding the superiority of theEnglish fire, ceased firing until the 6th, when seven guns and sixlarge mortars from Lally's Battery, and eight guns and two mortarsfrom the Lorraine Battery, opened upon the town.
The cannonade now continued without intermission, but the enemy gainedbut little advantage. Every day, however, added to their strength, asfresh vessels with artillery continued to arrive from Pondicherry.They were now pushing their approaches from Lally's Battery towardsthe demi-bastion. The losses on the part of the besieged wereconsiderable, many being killed and wounded each day. This continuedto the end of the month, in spite of many gallant sorties by partiesof the besiegers, who repeatedly killed and drove out the workingparties in the head of the French trenches. These progressed steadily,and reached to the outworks of the demi-bastion.
On the 25th the Shaftesbury, one of the Company's trading vessels,commanded by Captain Inglis, was seen approaching. The five Frenchships hoisted English colours. A catamaran was sent out to warn her,and at nine o'clock in the evening she came to anchor. She had onboard only some invalids, but brought the welcome news that threeother ships, with troops, would soon be up. She had on board, too,thirty-seven chests of silver, and many military stores, among themhand grenades and large shell, which were most welcome to thegarrison, who had nearly expended their supply. The native boats wentoff from the fort, and brought on shore the ammunition and stores.
In the afternoon the Shaftesbury was attacked by the two French ships,the Bristol and the Harlem. She fought them for two hours, and thensailed in and anchored again near the fort. The French ships lay offat a distance, and these and one of their batteries played upon theShaftesbury after she had anchored, and continued to do so for thenext three days.
Many of the guns of the fort were dismounted by the artillery fire,which had continued, with scarcely any intermission, for a month. Theparapets of the ramparts were in many places beaten down, and thewalls exposed to the enemy's fire greatly damaged. The enemy nowopened their breaching battery close to the works, and on the 7th twobreaches had been effected, and Lally ordered his principal engineerand artillery officers to give their opinion as to the practicabilityof an assault.
These, however, considered that the assault would have no prospect ofsuccess, as the guns commanding the ditch were still uninjured, andthe palisades which stormers must climb over before reaching thebreach untouched. So heavy a crossfire could be brought to bear by thebesieged upon an assaulting column, that it would be swept away beforeit could mount the breach. These officers added their opinion that,considering the number of men defending the fort in comparison withthose attacking it, final success could not be looked for, and furtherprosecution of the works would only entail a useless loss of life.
On the 9th of February, the French attacked Mahomed Issoof's men andthose of Captain Preston; the whole under the command of MajorCalliaud, who had come up from Trichinopoli, and had taken stationthree miles in rear of the French position. The greater part of thenatives, as usual, behaved badly; but Calliaud, with the artillery anda few Sepoys, defended himself till nightfall; and then drew off.
For the next week the French continued to fire, and their approacheswere pushed on. Several sorties were made, b
ut matters remainedunchanged until the 14th, when six English ships were seen standinginto the roads; and that night the French drew out from theirtrenches, and retreated. The next morning six hundred troops landedfrom the ships, and the garrison, who had so stoutly resisted theassaults made upon them for forty-two days, sallied out to inspect theenemy's works. Fifty-two cannon were left in them, and so great wasthe hurry with which the French retreated that they left forty-foursick in the hospital behind.
The fort fired, during the siege, 26,554 rounds from their cannon,7502 shells, threw 1990 hand grenades, and expended 200,000 musketrycartridges. Thirty pieces of cannon and five mortars had beendismounted during the siege. Of the Europeans, the loss in killed,wounded, and prisoners was five hundred and seventy-nine. Threehundred and twenty-two Sepoys were killed and wounded, and fourhundred and forty deserted during the siege.
In spite of the resolution with which the French had pushed the siege,it was, from the first, destined to failure. The garrison were wellprovisioned, had great stores of ammunition, and plenty of sparecannon to replace those disabled or dismounted. The works were strong,and the garrison not greatly inferior in number to the besiegers. TheFrench, on the other hand, had to bring their artillery, ammunition,and stores by water from Pondicherry; and the activity of the Englishparties in their rear rendered it extremely difficult for them toreceive supplies of food, by land. Lally had disgusted even the Frenchofficers and soldiers by his arrogance, and passionate temper; whileby the Sepoys he was absolutely hated.
During the siege, Charlie had been most active in the defence. ColonelLawrence had assigned no special post to him, but used him as whatwould now be called his chief of the staff. He was ever where the firewas thickest, encouraging the men; and, during the intervals ofcomparative cessation of fire, he went about the fort, seeing to thecomforts of the men in their quarters, to the issue of stores, andother matters.
Upon the very morning after the French had withdrawn, he asked to beallowed to rejoin his troop, which was with Major Calliaud, and atonce started to rejoin Colonel Forde. He wished to take the whole ofhis corps with him; but Colonel Lawrence considered that these wouldbe of extreme use in following up the French, and in subsequentoperations, as cavalry was an arm in which the English were greatlydeficient.
Colonel Forde had been terribly delayed by the conduct of RajahAnandraz, and the delay enabled the French again to recover heart. Hewas not able to move forward until the 1st of March. On the 6th hearrived before Masulipatam, and the following day Charlie joined him,with his troop.
The fort of Masulipatam stood in an extremely defensible position. Itwas surrounded by a swamp, on three sides. The other face rested onthe river. From the land side, it was only approachable by a causewayacross the swamp, and this was guarded by a strong ravelin, which isthe military name for an outwork erected beyond the ditch of afortress. It was, in all respects, capable of a prolonged defence. Inform it was an irregular parallelogram, about eight hundred yards inlength and six hundred yards wide, and on the walls were eleven strongbastions. The morass which surrounded it was of from three to eighteenfeet in depth.
On the approach of Forde, Conflans evacuated the town; which, alsosurrounded by swamps, and lying two miles to the northwest of thefort, was itself a most defensible position; and retired across thenarrow causeway, more than a mile long, to the fort.