A History of the Mahrattas v2.c51.51.1

v2.c51.51.1

Having directed his deputy adjutant-general, Captain Barclay, to place the baggage in the village of Naulnye under the protection of a battalion and some details from the native corps, and to bring on the rest of the line with all convenient dispatch, General Wellesley moved out in person at the head of the picquets to reconnoitre, and in a short time, on ascending a rising ground, the host of the confederates was seen extending in a vast line along the opposite bank of the Kailna river, near its junction with the Juah. Their army amounted to upwards of 50,000 men, of whom more than 30,000 were horse, and 10,500 were regular infantry supported by upwards of one hundred guns. The handful of British troops, which now moved straight down upon this formidable array, did not exceed four thousand five hundred men,¹ but the general sentiment was that of their commander, ‘they cannot escape us.’ As General Wellesley drew nearer the enemy's line, he found their right composed entirely of cavalry, and that their cannon and infantry, which it was his object to take and destroy, were on their left, near the village of Assaye. He therefore moved round and passed the Kailna river at a ford beyond the enemy's left flank, forming his infantry into two lines and his cavalry as a reserve in a third, with his right towards the Juah, and his left on the Kailna.