Part 3

This sally was returned by Tippoo in a few days, who made a vigorous attack with his combined army on the 28th of November, being led by Monsieur Lally at the head of his Europeans. Tippoo’s forces were everywhere repulsed with the greatest gallantry, and the victors profited by their success as much as their disparity in numbers would admit. About two hundred of the dead of the enemy, whom he was not able to carry off, were buried by the British; and a French officer, who led one of the columns to the attack, was taken prisoner. Colonel Macleod and the troops under his command acquired great praise for their gallantry at _Paniané_.

Tippoo acknowledged his defeat by repassing the river Paniané, and placing it as a barrier against the British. A state of inaction succeeded on both sides for several days: but in the night between the 11th and 12th of December, Tippoo suddenly broke up his camp, and returned by rapid marches to Palacatcherry, from whence he proceeded directly back to the Carnatic.

In December 1782, occurred the decease of Hyder Ali, and he left a kingdom of his own acquisition to his son Tippoo Saib, who now became one of the most powerful princes in India.

[Sidenote: 1783]

Brigadier-General Mathews having determined to besiege the city of _Onore_, situated midway between Paniané and Bombay, Colonel Macleod embarked as many troops as the ships were capable of receiving, but the place was taken in January 1783, before their arrival.

The President and Council of Bombay had despatched orders to Brigadier-General Mathews, that he should penetrate through the Ghauts, (as the passes in the mountains on both sides of the Indian Peninsula are termed,) into the Bednore or Canara country, and particularly to gain possession of the capital, which along with a strong fort on a small mountain that joins the city, were the great depositories of the treasures collected by the late Hyder Ali, as well as the grand magazines of his arms and military stores.

After the capture of _Onore_, Brigadier-General Mathews, in pursuance of his orders, proceeded further down the coast, and took the towm of Cundapore with little loss. He subsequently forced a passage through the Ghauts, and the rich Canara kingdom, with its capital, now lay open to the invaders. The city of Bednore had recently changed its name to Hyder Nagur, or the Royal City of Hyder.

The government and command of the city and country were lodged in the hands of Hyat Saib, who surrendered the place to the British, after an action had taken place at the Hussanghurry Ghaut. This occurred early in February 1783; and on the 9th of March _Mangalore_ fell into the hands of the British.

Tippoo Saib, who had now succeeded to the title of Sultan, determined to use every effort for the recovery of these favorite possessions. Having recovered Bednore, which surrendered on the 28th of April, the Sultan, in defiance of the terms of the capitulation, ordered Brigadier-General Mathews and his officers into close confinement, from which they never returned, being afterwards put to a violent death.

Tippoo next proceeded to invest _Mangalore_, on the Malabar coast, and it required all the abilities of Lieut.-Colonel John Campbell, major of the _Forty-second_, seconded by the well-tried valour of the second battalion of that regiment, and other corps, to supply the defects of the fortifications. The place was invested on the 18th of May by the whole of the enemy’s forces, commanded by Tippoo in person. The garrison under Lieut.-Colonel Campbell (Colonel Macleod being employed as a Brigadier-General), made a most gallant and successful defence, subject to hardships and wants which have seldom been exceeded in the annals of sieges.

In consequence of the General Peace which had been entered into with the European Powers, Tippoo became deprived of his French allies, and the Sultan entered into negociations for terminating the war between Mysore and the British, when an armistice took place.

This event terminated the siege of _Mangalore_ about the end of September, at a time when all the works which defended the garrison were nearly shattered to pieces; all the provisions exhausted, and numbers of the brave soldiers were dying daily, victims of want and disease.[6]

The contest was, however, again renewed, and the garrison was a second time invested by Tippoo.

[Sidenote: 1784]

The fortress of _Mangalore_ was defended until the 25th of February 1784, when sickness, and the want of provisions, compelled Lieut.-Colonel Campbell to evacuate the place, after obtaining the most honorable terms from the enemy. Peace was afterwards concluded with the Sultan of Mysore on the 11th of March following.

The battalion embarked in this year for Calcutta, and was employed on active service in the Upper Provinces of Bengal.

[Sidenote: 1786]

The _Seventy-third_ Highland Regiment, having in the year 1786 been directed to be numbered the _Seventy-first_ Regiment, the _Second Battalion_ of the _Forty-second_ Royal Highland Regiment was constituted a distinct corps, and numbered the SEVENTY-THIRD Highland Regiment, the colonelcy being conferred upon Major-General Sir George Osborn, Bart., (Lieut.-Colonel of the Third Foot Guards), from the 18th of April 1786. The facings were at the same time altered from _blue_ to _dark green_.

The establishment of the regiment for the ten companies serving in India, was fixed as follows:--One colonel, with an allowance in lieu of a company; one lieut.-colonel and captain, one major and captain; eight captains, twelve lieutenants, eight ensigns, one chaplain, one adjutant, one quarter-master, one surgeon, one surgeon’s mate, thirty serjeants, forty corporals, twenty drummers, two fifers, and seven hundred private men. The company kept at home for recruiting consisted of one captain, one lieutenant, one ensign, six serjeants, eight corporals, four drummers, and seventy private men: in all nine hundred and nineteen.

On the 11th of August 1786, Major-General William Medows was appointed to be colonel of the SEVENTY-THIRD, in succession to Major-General Sir George Osborn, Bart., who was removed to the fortieth regiment.

[Sidenote: 1789]

The insatiable ambition of Tippoo Sultan, the powerful ruler of the Mysore, soon involved the British Government in India in another war; he appeared near the confines of Travancore, at the head of a powerful army, made unreasonable demands on the Rajah, a British ally, and commenced hostilities towards the end of December 1789.

[Sidenote: 1790]

This caused the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment to be removed from the Presidency of Bengal, and it joined the troops under Major-General Robert Abercromby, which consisted of His Majesty’s seventy-fifth and seventy-seventh regiments, in addition to other corps belonging to the East India Company.

[Sidenote: 1791]

The Mahratta armies having advanced to Seringapatam in May 1791, later than the appointed period, their delay, and other unforeseen circumstances, compelled General Charles Earl Cornwallis, K.G., to destroy his battering train, after having defeated Tippoo on the 15th of May, in a pitched battle, and obliged his lordship to lead back his army, leaving the siege of the enemy’s capital to be the object of another campaign.

The Bombay army, of which the SEVENTY-THIRD formed part, commanded by Major-General Abercromby, had, with infinite labour, formed roads, and brought a battering train, with a large supply of provisions and stores, over fifty miles of woody mountains called Ghauts, that immense barrier separating the Mysore country from the Malabar coast. This army, after surmounting all its difficulties, had therefore to retrace its steps, worn down by sickness and fatigue, and exposed to the incessant rains which then deluged the western coast of India.

The troops under Major-General Abercromby were again ordered to act from the same quarter as in the former campaign; they marched on the 5th of December towards the Poodicherrim Ghaut, and took possession of the pass on the 15th of that month.

[Sidenote: 1792]

On the 5th of February 1792, General the Earl Cornwallis directed Major-General Abercromby to march from his encampment near Periapatam, and on the 11th of that month he crossed the Cavery, at Eratore, a ford about thirty miles above Seringapatam, and joined the army under Earl Cornwallis on the 16th of February.

Meanwhile the army under General the Earl Cornwallis had attacked the forces of the Sultan on the night of the 6th of February, near _Seringapatam_, and gained a decisive victory.

The power of the Sultan being greatly reduced, and preparations for the siege of his capital having been commenced, he sued for peace, and a treaty was concluded, by which half of his dominions were ceded to the allies. A large sum of money was also to be paid by the Sultan, all the prisoners in his power were released, and two of his sons were delivered as hostages.

[Sidenote: 1793]

The French Revolution, which had commenced a few years previously, had at this period assumed a character which called forth the efforts of other countries to arrest the progress of its destructive principles, and on the 1st of February 1793, shortly after the decapitation of Louis XVI., war was declared by the National Convention of France against Great Britain and Holland.

News of this event arrived in India in May 1793; in June the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment was ordered to prepare to take the field; it marched soon afterwards against the French settlement of _Pondicherry_, on the coast of Coromandel, and arrived before the fortress in July,--being formed in brigade, with the seventy-second and seventy-fourth regiments, and the third East India Company’s European regiment, under Lieut.-Colonel David Baird of the seventy-first regiment; the troops employed on this service were commanded by Colonel John Brathwaite.

The siege of _Pondicherry_ was commenced in the early part of August, the army encamping in a thick wood where tigers were so numerous, that the natives durst not travel in the night. On the 22nd of August a white flag was displayed by the garrison, with a request for permission to surrender. The French soldiers in the fortress had embraced democratical principles, and were particularly insubordinate; they insisted that the governor should surrender, but after the white flag was displayed, they fired two shells, which killed several men. During the night they were guilty of every species of outrage, breaking into houses and becoming intoxicated. On the following morning, a number of them environed the house of the Governor, General Charmont, and threatened to hang him before the door, when application was made to the British for protection. The English soldiers rushed into the town, overpowered the insurgents, rescued the governor, and preserved the inhabitants from further violence.

[Sidenote: 1795]

In the early part of the year 1795, Holland became united to France, and was styled the Batavian republic. When information of this event arrived in India, an expedition was immediately fitted out against the large and mountainous island of _Ceylon_, where the Dutch had several settlements, and the SEVENTY-THIRD Highlanders were selected to take part in the enterprise; the troops employed on this service were commanded by Colonel James Stuart, of the seventy-second, who was promoted to the rank of Major-General at this period. The fleet arrived on the coast of Ceylon on the 1st of August, and two days afterwards they landed four miles north of the Fort of _Trincomalee_; the siege of the place was commenced as soon as the artillery and stores could be landed, and removed sufficiently near to the place. On the 26th of August a practicable breach was effected, and the garrison surrendered. The fort of _Batticaloe_ surrendered on the 18th of September, and the fort and island of _Manaar_ capitulated on the 5th of October.

[Sidenote: 1796]

The regiment continued to be actively employed until the whole of the Dutch settlements in Ceylon were reduced, which was accomplished in February, 1796, when the governor, John Geraud Van Angelbeck, surrendered the fortress of _Colombo_ to the British arms. The people in the interior of the island had not been deprived of their independence by the Dutch, and they were not interfered with by the British so long as they preserved a peaceful demeanour.

Major-General Gerard Lake was removed from the colonelcy of the fifty-third to that of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment on the 2nd of November, 1796, in succession to Lieut.-General Sir William Medows, K.B., who was appointed colonel of the seventh dragoon guards.

[Sidenote: 1797]

In April 1797, the regiment proceeded from Colombo to Point Pedro, in Ceylon, and shortly afterwards embarked for Madras. It was removed from Fort St. George to Wallajahbad in October, but returned to Fort St. George in January, 1798.

[Sidenote: 1798]

The regiment proceeded from Fort St. George to Poonamallee in September, 1798, and continued at that station during the remainder of the year.

The reduction of the power and resources of Tippoo Saib, effected by the treaty of Seringapatam in 1792, had weakened, but not extinguished, the evils consequent on his inveterate hatred of the British. The Sultan had entered into a negociation with the Governor of the Isle of France in 1798, and sent an embassy to Zemaun Shah, sovereign of Cabool, for the purpose of exciting him to an attack on the British possessions. Having also derived encouragement from the successes of Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt, from which country the French Directory intended to act against the British dominions in India, Tippoo commenced augmenting his military force, and his hostile designs became every day more apparent. The Governor-General the Earl of Mornington (afterwards the Marquis Wellesley), seeing a rupture inevitable, resolved to anticipate the attack, and ordered the British army to take the field, and march into the heart of the dominions of the Sultan Tippoo Saib.

[Sidenote: 1799]

In conformity to these orders, Major-General George (afterwards Lord) Harris, who was serving with the local rank of lieut.-general, advanced with the army under his command, on the 11th of February, 1799, and entered the Mysore territory on the 5th of March. The SEVENTY-THIRD formed part of the second brigade under Colonel John Coape Sherbroke, Lieut.-Colonel of the thirty-third regiment.

The army reached Mallavelly on the 27th of March, when on approaching the ground of encampment, the forces of Tippoo Sultan were discovered drawn up on a height at a few miles distance. The advanced piquets were attacked by the enemy, and a general action ensued. The enemy lost one thousand killed and wounded, and immediately retreated upon Seringapatam.

On the following day the army advanced, and arrived before Seringapatam on the 5th of April, when preparations for the siege were commenced.

On the 20th of April an attack was made on an entrenchment of the enemy, about six o’clock in the evening. Colonel Sherbroke, commanding the advanced posts, directed the attack. Three different columns were to advance at the same time from Macdonald’s post; one to the left, under Lieut.-Colonel Michael Monypenny, of the SEVENTY-THIRD, consisting of four companies of that regiment, and four of the Bengal volunteers, was to proceed along the bank of the river Cavery, and to turn the right flank of the enemy’s entrenched post. Another, to the right, consisting of the flank companies of the twelfth regiment, and two companies of Bengal volunteers, under Lieut.-Colonel Gardiner, was to move along Macdonald’s nullah, and to turn the enemy’s left. The centre column, composed of six companies of the SEVENTY-THIRD, and four of the Bengal volunteers, under Brevet Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable George St. John, (Major of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment), was directed to make a feint, which was to be converted into a real attack, should it be deemed expedient.

The three columns at dusk, advanced under a well-directed fire from the guns which commanded the entrenchment. The enemy’s resistance was unavailing, and the several attacks were completely successful. It was afterwards ascertained, that the enemy had two hundred and fifty men in killed and wounded, and it is remarkable, that although about eighteen hundred of Tippoo’s infantry occupied the entrenchment, the British, in this attack, had only one man wounded.[7]

The siege of Seringapatam was prosecuted with vigour. On the 26th of April, the SEVENTY-THIRD had Lieutenant James Todd wounded; and Lieutenant Archibald John Maclean was wounded on the following day. A breach being reported practicable on the 3rd of May, the assault was ordered, and the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment was selected to take part in this enterprise, which was ordered to be commenced in the heat of the following day, as the enemy’s troops would then be the least prepared to oppose the attack.

The assault took place about half-past one o’clock in the afternoon of the 4th of May, and the troops for this service, commanded by Major-General David Baird, were divided into two columns of attack. The SEVENTY-THIRD, with the seventy-fourth regiment, four European flank companies, fourteen Sepoy flank companies, with fifty artillerymen, formed the right column, under Colonel Sherbroke. Each column was preceded by one serjeant and twelve men, volunteers, supported by an advanced party of one subaltern and twenty-five men. A brigade of engineers, under Captain Caldwell, accompanied the storming party; Lieutenant James Farquhar, of the seventy-fourth, commanded the European pioneers, and Lieutenant John Lalor, of the SEVENTY-THIRD, both of whom had examined the ford, conducted the columns.

The attack was completely successful, and in a short space of time the British colours waved over the fortress. The body of Tippoo Sultan was found among heaps of slain, and was afterwards interred in the magnificent mausoleum which he had erected over the tomb of his father, the once powerful Hyder Ali; a portion of the victorious troops attended the ceremony.

In this manner terminated the siege of _Seringapatam_,[8] and the fall of this capital placed the kingdom of Mysore at the disposal of the British government, and extinguished a power in India which had proved itself a formidable enemy.

In the assault on the 4th of May, the SEVENTY-THIRD had Lieutenant John Lalor killed; Captain William McLeod, Lieutenant John Thomas, and Ensigns Henry Antill and John Guthrie, wounded.

During the siege the regiment sustained a loss of twenty-one killed, and ninety-nine wounded, including all ranks.

The SEVENTY-THIRD afterwards received the Royal authority to bear on the regimental colour and appointments, the word “SERINGAPATAM,” in commemoration of the distinguished gallantry displayed by the regiment in the storming and capture of that fortress.

In the General Orders issued on the 5th of May by Lieut.-General Harris, the gallantry of Lieut.-Colonel Michael Monypenny, and Brevet Lieut.-Colonel the Honorable George St. John, of the SEVENTY-THIRD regiment, is particularly recorded.

In the General Orders issued by the Earl of Mornington (afterwards the Marquis Wellesley), dated Fort St. George, 15th May, 1799, it was stated:--

“The Right Honorable the Governor-General in Council having this day received from the Commander-in-Chief of the allied army in the field, the official detail of the glorious and decisive victory obtained at Seringapatam, on the 4th of May, offers his cordial thanks and sincere congratulations to the Commander-in-Chief, and to all the officers and men composing the gallant army which achieved the capture of the capital of Mysore on that memorable day.

“His Lordship views with admiration, the consummate judgment with which the assault was planned, the unequalled rapidity, animation, and skill with which it was executed, and the humanity which distinguished its success.

“Under the favour of Providence and the justice of our cause, the established character of the army had inspired an early confidence, that the war, in which we were engaged, would be brought to a speedy, prosperous, and honorable issue: but the events of the 4th of May, while they even surpassed the sanguine expectations of the Governor-General in Council, have raised the reputation of the British arms in India to a degree of splendour and glory, unrivalled in the military history of this quarter of the globe, and seldom approached in any part of the world.

“The lustre of the victory can be equalled only by the substantial advantages which it promises to establish, in restoring the peace and safety of the British possessions in India on a durable foundation of genuine security.”

Upon the division of the territory subject to the late Sultan Tippoo, Seringapatam, with several extensive districts, was allotted to the East India Company; another portion was given to the Nizam; and a third to the Mahratta power; the remainder continued to form an independent state under a descendant of the ancient Rajahs of Mysore. Thus was the hostile combination against England confounded, the British territory extended, and its power and revenue increased.

The SEVENTY-THIRD regiment remained encamped until November, 1799, when it was selected to garrison Seringapatam.

[Sidenote: 1800]

Major-General George Harris was appointed, from lieut.-colonel of the seventy-sixth, to the colonelcy of the SEVENTY-THIRD, on the 14th of February, 1800, in succession to Lieut.-General Gerard Lake, who was removed to the eightieth regiment.

The regiment remained at Seringapatam until May, 1800. The SEVENTY-THIRD, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Michael Monypenny, afterwards served with distinction against the Polygars, during which campaign great exertions were made, and losses sustained, of which no distinct record has been preserved.

[Sidenote: 1801]

In October, 1801, the regiment was removed from its encampment to Gooty.

[Sidenote: 1802]

The regiment remained at Gooty until December 1802, when it proceeded to Bellary.

[Sidenote: 1803]

In July, 1803, the regiment returned to Gooty, and in September following, it proceeded to Pondicherry, in the capture of which place it had participated in the year 1793.

[Sidenote: 1804]

The SEVENTY-THIRD remained at Pondicherry until September, 1804, when the regiment proceeded to Fort St. George, Madras, where it continued to be stationed during the remainder of the year.

[Sidenote: 1805]

On the 8th of September, 1805, the SEVENTY-THIRD embarked at Fort St. George, Madras, for England, after having transferred five hundred and twelve men to other regiments serving in India.

[Sidenote: 1806]

The regiment arrived in England in the beginning of July, 1806, and disembarked at Greenwich, where it was quartered until the middle of November, when, after discharging the men recommended to be invalided, the remainder proceeded to Scotland, on board of some Leith packets. Shortly after the disembarkation of the SEVENTY-THIRD at Leith, the head-quarters of the regiment proceeded to Stirling Castle, from whence recruiting parties were sent to all the towns in Scotland, and some to England and Ireland, as far as officers were disposable for that service.

[Sidenote: 1807]

In February, 1807, the regiment was ordered from Stirling Castle to Glasgow, as a better recruiting station; but not having proved as successful there as was expected, it was removed in May following to Perth, which, from being the town where the regiment was originally embodied, was expected to prove a better recruiting station.