A History of the Mahrattas v2.c41.20

v2.c41.20

¹ [Keene thinks this may be ‘a mistake for some such word as Lestonneaux.’ Compton (Military Adventurers of Hindustan, pp. 368–9) spells the name Lestineau, and states that he commanded a corps in the service of Ranjīt Singh, Rājā of Bharatpur, about 1788. After the battle of Lālsot in 1787, Sindia was allied with Ranjīt Singh, and Lestineau’s corps acted in conjunction with the Marāthās at Chaksāna and Agra. It is stated that when Ghulām Kādir Rohilla fled from Meerut, his jewels, which he carried with him in his saddlebags, fell into Lestineau’s hands, and that with these and the stolen pay of his own battalions Lestineau absconded, and found his way to Europe. John Hessing (see infra, p. 219) was also in this campaign, as may be gathered from the epitaph on his tomb at Agra (Keene, p. 157). The battle described by the author took place near Fathpur Sikrī on the Bharatpur (Bhurtpoor) road.]