A History of the Mahrattas v2.c42.18

v2.c42.18

(Oct. 30.) The first operation of any consequence was an attack on a party of the enemy who had advanced outside the town, but were driven back with the loss of three guns and a considerable proportion of killed and wounded, principally from the fire of the British troops. By their exertions also the Pettah was stormed and taken; Captain Little, the commander, and Lieutenant Forster were the first who mounted the wall, and both were wounded, the former severely, the latter mortally. This acquisition, which cost the British detachment sixty-two men in killed and wounded, was made over to a body of Mahrattas under Appa Sahib the son of Pureshram Bhow; but no sooner had the British returned to their camp than the garrison sallied, and a very severe conflict ensued in the Pettah; five hundred Mahrattas were killed, and a still greater number of the garrison. Although the advantage was rather on the side of the Mahrattas, Appa Sahib withdrew his troops to camp and permitted the garrison to re-occupy the town. After a truce, in order to allow each party to burn and bury their dead, the Mahrattas, who were ashamed again to call in the aid of the British detachment, attacked and retook the Pettah themselves. (Dec. 18.) The feeble and absurd operations, however, which generally distinguish Mahratta sieges, were never more conspicuous than on the present occasion. It must ever be a reflection upon those under whose orders the auxiliary force from Bombay was equipped, that there was no efficient battering train to assist the operations of the Mahrattas: whose aid, if so supplied, might have contributed much more to the success of the war. In the first instance it was excusable, because it might have been expected that the Mahrattas, if unprepared with battering cannon, would not employ themselves in sieges; but Captain Little had early represented how necessary it became to send some heavy guns, ammunition and stores, not merely to save the credit of the British arms, but to ensure some useful co-operation on the part of their Mahratta allies. No battering train was sent, but a battalion of Europeans and another native corps were dispatched under Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick, who arrived in camp before Dharwar on the 28th December, and assumed command of the British force.