by G. A. Henty
As Major Brereton, moving up his men, reached the intrenchment, a heavy fire was poured upon him. Major Brereton fell, mortally wounded, and many of his men were killed. The rest, however, with a rush carried the intrenchment, and firing down from the parapet on the guns on Lally’s left, drove the gunners from them. Two companies held the intrenchment, and the rest formed in the plain on its left, to prevent Lally’s regiment attacking it on this side.
Bussy wheeled Lally’s regiment, detached a portion of it to recover the intrenchment, and with the rest marched against Draper’s troops in the plain. A heavy musketry fire was kept up on both sides, until the two guns, posted by Draper’s regiment, and left behind when they attacked the intrenchment, came up and opened on the French. These began to waver. Bussy, as the only chance of gaining the day, put himself at their head, and endeavoured to lead them forward to attack the English with the bayonet. His horse, however, was struck with a ball and soon fell; the English fire was redoubled, and but twenty of Lally’s men kept round him.
Two companies of the English rushed forward and surrounded the little party, who at once surrendered. Bussy was led a prisoner to the rear, and as he went was surprised at the sight of the three hundred grenadiers, the best troops in the English army, remaining quietly in reserve.
While on either flank the French were now beaten, the fight in the centre, between the European troops of the English and French Companies, had continued, but had been confined to a hot musketry and artillery fire. But upon seeing the defeat of their flanks, the enemy’s centre likewise fell back to their camp.
From the moment when the Lorraine regiment had been routed, four field pieces kept up an incessant fire into their camp, to prevent them from rallying. The three English regiments now advanced in line, and entered the enemy’s camp without the least opposition. The Lorraine regiment had passed through it, a mass of fugitives. The India regiment and Lally’s went through rapidly, but in good order.
Lally had, in vain, endeavoured to bring the Sepoys forward to the attack, to restore the day. The French cavalry, seeing the defeat of Lorraine’s regiment, advanced to cover it, their appearance completely intimidating the English irregular horse. Charlie’s troop were too weak to charge them single handed.
Reanimated by the attitude of their cavalry, the men of the Lorraine regiment rallied, yoked up four field pieces which were standing in the rear of the camp, and moved off in fair order. They were joined in the plain by Lally’s regiment and the India battalion, and the whole, setting fire to their tents, moved off in good order. The four field pieces kept in the rear, and behind these moved the cavalry. As they retired, they were joined by the four hundred and fifty men from the batteries opposite Vandivash.
Colonel Coote sent orders to his cavalry to harass the enemy. These followed them for five miles, but as the native horse would not venture within range of the enemy’s field guns, Charlie, to his great disappointment, was able to do nothing.
Upon neither side did the Sepoys take any part in the battle of Vandivash. It was fought entirely between the two thousand two hundred and fifty French, not including those in their battery, and sixteen hundred English, excluding the grenadiers, who never fired a shot. Twenty-four pieces of cannon were taken, and eleven waggons of ammunition, and all the tents, stores, and baggage that were not burned. The French left two hundred dead upon the field. A hundred and sixty were taken prisoners, of whom thirty died of their wounds before the next morning. Large numbers dropped upon the march, and were afterwards captured. The English had sixty-three killed, and a hundred and twenty-four wounded.
The news of this victory reached Madras on the following morning, and excited as much enthusiastic joy as that of Plassey had done at Calcutta; and the event was almost as important a one. There was no longer the slightest fear of danger, and the Madras authorities began to meditate an attack upon Pondicherry. So long as the great French settlement remained intact, so long would Madras be exposed to fresh invasions; and it was certain that France, driven now from Bengal, would make a desperate effort to regain her shaken supremacy in Madras.
The force, however, at the disposal of the Madras authorities, was still far too weak to enable them to undertake an enterprise like the siege of Pondicherry; for their army did not exceed, in numbers, that which Lally possessed for its defence. Accordingly, urgent letters were sent to Clive to ask him to send down, in the summer, as many troops as he could spare, other reinforcements being expected from England at that time. The intervening time was spent in the reduction of Chittapett, Karical, and many other forts which held out for the French.
After the battle of Vandivash, Charlie kept his promise to his men. He represented to Mr. Pigot that they had already served some months over the time for which they were enlisted, that they had gone through great hardships, and performed great services, and that they were now anxious to retire to enjoy the prize money they had earned. He added that he had given his own promise that they should be allowed to retire, if they would extend their service until after a decisive battle with the French. Mr. Pigot at once assented to Charlie’s request, and ordered that a batta of six months’ pay should be given to each man, upon leaving.
The troop, joined by many of their comrades, who had been at different times sent down sick and wounded to Madras, formed up there on parade for the last time. They responded with three hearty cheers to the address which Charlie gave them, thanking them for their services, bidding them farewell, and hoping that they would long enjoy the prize money which they had gallantly won. Then they delivered over their horses to the authorities, drew their prize money from the treasury, and started for their respective homes, the English portion taking up their quarters in barracks, until the next ship should sail for England.
“I am sorry to leave them,” Charlie said to Peters, as they stood alone upon the parade. “We have gone through a lot of stirring work together, and no fellows could have behaved better.”
“No,” Peters agreed. “It is singular that, contemptible as are these natives of India when officered by men of their own race and religion, they will fight to the death when led by us.”
CHAPTER 29
The Siege Of Pondicherry
As the health of the two officers was shaken by their long and arduous work, and their services were not, for the moment, needed, they obtained leave for three months, and went down in a coasting ship to Columbo, where several English trading stations had been established. Here they spent two months, residing for the most part among the hills, at the town of a rajah very friendly to the English; and with him they saw an elephant hunt, the herd being driven into a great inclosure, formed by a large number of natives who had, for weeks, been employed upon it. Here the animals were fastened to trees by natives, who cut through the thick grass unobserved; and were one by one reduced to submission, first by hunger, and then by being lustily belaboured by the trunks of tamed elephants. Tim highly appreciated the hunt, and declared that tiger shooting was not to be compared to it.
Their residence in the brisk air of the hills completely restored their health, and they returned to Madras perfectly ready to take part in the great operations which were impending. Charlie, on his return, was appointed to serve as chief of the staff to Colonel Coote; Captain Peters being given the command of a small body of European horse, who were, with a large body of irregulars, to aid in bringing in supplies to the British army, and to prevent the enemy from receiving food from the surrounding country.
Early in June, the British squadron off the coast was joined by two ships of the line, the Norfolk and Panther, from England; and a hundred Europeans, and a detachment of European and native artillery came down from Bombay.
Around Pondicherry ran a strong cactus hedge, strengthened with palisades, and the French retired into this at the beginning of July. They were too strongly posted there to be attacked by the force with which the English at first approached them, and they were expecting the arrival of a large bod
y of troops from Mysore, with a great convoy of provisions.
On the 17th these approached. Major Moore, who was guarding the English rear, had a hundred and eighty European infantry; fifty English horse, under Peters; sixteen hundred irregular horse; and eleven hundred Sepoys. The Mysoreans had four thousand good horse, a thousand Sepoys, and two hundred Europeans, with eight pieces of cannon.
The fight lasted but a few minutes. The British native horse and Sepoys at once gave way; and the English infantry retreated, in great disorder, to the fort of Trivadi, which they gained with a loss of fifteen killed and forty wounded. Peters’ horse alone behaved well. Several times they charged right through the masses of Mysorean horse; but when five-and-twenty were killed, and most of the rest, including their commander, severely wounded, they also fell back into the fort.
Colonel Coote, when the news of the disaster reached him, determined, if possible, to get possession of the fort of Vellenore, which stood on the river Ariangopang, some three miles from Pondicherry, and covered the approaches of the town from that side. The English encampment was at Perimbe, on the main road leading, through an avenue of trees, to Pondicherry. Colonel Coote threw up a redoubt on the hill behind Perimbe, and another on the avenue, to check any French force advancing from Pondicherry. These works were finished on the morning of the 19th of July.
The next morning the French army advanced along the river Ariangopang, but Coote marched half his force to meet them, while he moved the rest as if to attack the redoubts, interspersed along the line of hedge. As the fall of these would have placed the attacking force in his rear, Lally at once returned to the town. The same evening the Mysoreans, with three thousand bullocks carrying their artillery and drawing their baggage, and three thousand more laden with rice and other provisions, arrived on the other bank of the Ariangopang river, crossed under the guns of the redoubt of that name, and entered the town.
The fort of Vellenore was strong, but the road had been cut straight through the glacis to the gate, and the French had neglected to erect works to cover this passage. Coote took advantage of the oversight, and laid his two eighteen-pounders to play upon the gate, while two others were placed to fire upon the parapet. The English batteries opened at daybreak on the 16th, and at nine o’clock the whole of the French army, with the Mysoreans, advanced along the bank of the river.
Coote at once got his troops under arms, and advanced towards the French, sending a small detachment of Europeans to reinforce the Sepoys firing at the fort of Vellenore. By this time the batteries had beaten down the parapet, and silenced the enemy’s fire. Two companies of Sepoys set forward, at full run, up to the very crest of the glacis.
The French commander of the place had really nothing to fear, as the Sepoys had a ditch to pass, and a very imperfect breach to mount, and the fort might have held out for two days, before the English could have been in a position to storm it. The French army was in sight, and in ten minutes a general engagement would have begun. In spite of all this, the coward at once hoisted a flag of truce, and surrendered. The Europeans and Sepoys ran in through the gate, and the former instantly turned the guns of the fort upon the French army. This halted, struck with amazement and anger, and Lally at once ordered it to retire upon the town.
A week afterwards six ships, with six hundred fresh troops from England, arrived.
The Mysoreans, who had brought food into Pondicherry, made many excursions in the country, but were sharply checked. They were unable to supply themselves with food, and none could be spared them from the stores in the magazines. Great distress set in among them, and this was heightened by the failure of a party, with two thousand bullocks with rice, to enter the town. This party, escorted by the greater portion of the Mysorean horse from Pondicherry, was attacked and defeated, and nine hundred bullocks, laden with baggage, captured. Shortly afterwards the rest of the Mysorean troops left Pondicherry, and marched to attack Trinomany.
Seeing that there was little fear of their returning to succour Pondicherry, the English now determined to complete the blockade of that place. In order to have any chance of reducing it by famine, it was necessary to obtain possession of the country within the hedge; which, with its redoubts, extended in the arc of a circle from the river Ariangopang to the sea. The space thus included contained an area of nearly seven square miles, affording pasture for the bullocks, of which there were sufficient to supply the troops and inhabitants for many months. Therefore, although the army was not yet strong enough to open trenches against the town, and indeed the siege artillery had not yet sailed from Madras, it was determined to get possession of the hedge and its redoubts.
Before doing this, however, it was necessary to capture the fort of Ariangopang. This was a difficult undertaking. The whole European force was but two thousand strong, and if eight hundred of these were detached across the river to attack the fort, the main body would be scarcely a match for the enemy, should he march out against them. If, on the other hand, the whole army moved round to attack the fort, the enemy would be able to send out and fetch in the great convoy of provisions collected at Jinji.
Mr. Pigot therefore requested Admiral Stevens to land the marines of the fleet. Although, seeing that a large French fleet was expected, the admiral was unwilling to weaken his squadron; he complied with the request, seeing the urgency of the case, and four hundred and twenty marines were landed.
On the 2nd of September two more men-of-war, the America and Medway, arrived, raising the fleet before Pondicherry to seventeen ships of the line. They convoyed several Company’s ships, who had brought with them the wing of a Highland regiment.
The same evening Coote ordered four hundred men to march to invest the fort of Ariangopang; but Colonel Monson, second in command, was so strongly against the step that, at the last moment, he countermanded his orders. The change was fortunate, for Lally, who had heard from his spies of the English intentions, moved his whole army out to attack the—as he supposed—weakened force.
At ten at night fourteen hundred French infantry, a hundred French horse, and nine hundred Sepoys marched out to attack the English, who had no suspicion of their intent. Two hundred marines and five hundred Sepoys proceeded, in two columns. Marching from the Valdore redoubt, one party turned to the right to attack the Tamarind redoubt, which the English had erected on the Red Hill. Having taken this, they were to turn to their left and join the other column. This skirted the foot of the Red Hill, to attack the redoubt erected on a hillock at its foot, on the 18th July.
Four hundred Sepoys and a company of Portuguese were to take post at the junction of the Valdore and Oulgarry avenues. The regiments of Lorraine and Lally were to attack the battery in this avenue, Lorraine’s from the front, while Lally’s, marching outwards in the fields, was to fall on its right flank. The Indian battalion, with the Bourbon volunteers, three hundred strong, were to march from the fort of Ariangopang, across the river, to the villages under the fort of Vellenore; and, as soon as the fire became general, were to fall upon the right rear of the English encampment.
At midnight a rocket gave the signal, and the attack immediately commenced. The attack on the Tamarind redoubt was repulsed, but the redoubt on the hillock was captured, and the guns spiked. At the intrenchment on the Oulgarry Road the fight was fierce, and Colonel Coote himself brought down his troops to its defence. The attack was continued, but as, owing to some mistake, the column intended to fall upon the English rear had halted, and did not arrive in time, the regiments of Lorraine and Lally drew off, and the whole force retired to the town.
The ships arriving from England brought a commission appointing Monson to the rank of Colonel, with a date prior to that of Colonel Coote; ordering him, however, not to assert his seniority, so long as Coote remained at Madras. Coote, however, considered that it was intended that he should return to Bengal, and so handing over the command to Monson, he went back to Madras.
Colonel Monson at once prepared to attack the hedge, and its re
doubts. Leaving sufficient guards for the camp, he advanced at midnight, with his troops divided into two brigades, the one commanded by himself, the other by Major Smith. Major Smith’s division was first to attack the enemy, outside the hedge in the village of Oulgarry; and, driving them hence, to carry the Vellenore redoubt, while the main body were to make a sweep round the Red Hill, and come down to the attack of the Valdore redoubt.
Smith, moving to the right of the Oulgarry avenue, attacked that position on the left; and the advance, led by Captain Myers, carried by storm a redoubt in front of the village, and seized four pieces of cannon. Major Smith, heading his grenadiers, then charged the village, tore down all obstacles, and carried the place.
The day had begun to dawn when Colonel Monson approached the Valdore redoubt. But at the last moment, making a mistake in their way, the head of the column halted. At this moment the enemy perceived them, and discharged a twenty-four pounder, loaded with small shot, into the column. Eleven men were killed and twenty-six wounded by this terrible discharge, among the latter Colonel Monson himself, his leg being broken. The grenadiers now rushed furiously to the attack, swarmed round the redoubt and, although several times repulsed, at last forced their way through the embrasures and captured the position.
The defenders of the village of Oulgarry had halted outside the Vellenore redoubt; but, upon hearing the firing to their right, retreated hastily within it. Major Smith pressed them hotly with his brigade, and followed so closely upon their heels that they did not stop to defend the position, but retreated to the town. Major Smith was soon joined by the Highlanders, under Major Scott, who had forced a way through the hedge between the two captured redoubts.