A History of the Mahrattas v2.c45.26

v2.c45.26

By this time the regular battalions on both sides had approached within musket-shot of each other, and the Moghul cavalry were advancing to the support of their infantry with apparent steadiness, when Rughoojee Bhonslay assailed them with a shower of rockets, at the same moment that they received the fire of thirty-five pieces of cannon, judiciously placed on an eminence by Perron. In the course of a very few minutes the whole of the cavalry were put to the rout; but Raymond’s infantry stood their ground, and had even obtained some advantage over Perron’s battalions, when Raymond, by repeated and peremptory orders, was compelled to follow Nizam Ally, who had already retreated towards Kurdla. By the time the detached portions of the Moghul army had been made acquainted with their leader’s intention, the sun had set, and darkness soon augmented the general confusion of the troops. Shots still continued to be exchanged in different directions after the night fell, and few men, except those of the half-disciplined battalions of Raymond, could find their own particular division. At last the multitude, worn out by fatigue and vociferation, gradually sank to rest, or lay down to await the return of day. But in the stillness of night a small patrol of Mahrattas, in search of water for their horses, came by chance to a rivulet, where lay a party of Moghuls, who, discovering what they were, instantly fired upon them. Raymond’s sentries, being in the neighbourhood, also fired, when their whole line, who lay on their arms, with their muskets loaded as they had retreated, started from their sleep and instantly fired a sort of irregular volley. The alarm which such a discharge of musketry occasioned in the state of the Moghul army at that moment may be conceived. The uproar suddenly became greater than ever, and many of Raymond’s Sepoys, seized with the general panic, quitted their ranks and mingled in the confusion. At last the moon rose, and Nizam Ally, in perfect consternation, sought refuge within the walls of Kurdla, a very small fort surrounded by hills. Most of his troops fled, plundering the baggage of their own army as they went off : but they were not allowed to carry away this ill-gotten spoil unmolested : the Mahratta Pindharees overtook them the next day, and, without experiencing the slightest opposition, stripped the panic-struck fugitives of everything.