A History of the Mahrattas v2.c51.82

v2.c51.82

M. Louis Bourquin,³ the officer next in rank to Perron, hearing of the advance of the British force towards Delhi, and that a part of the army was detached in pursuit of Fleury, crossed the Jumna with twelve battalions of regular infantry, amounting to eight or nine thousand men, besides five thousand cavalry and seventy pieces of cannon, for the purpose of attacking General Lake; whose force, after providing for the safety of his baggage, amounted to about four thousand five hundred men. Bourquin took up a strong position with his guns concealed by high grass, and General Lake, in advancing to reconnoitre, became exposed to a very heavy and destructive fire. The line of British infantry were ordered on, but it was a considerable time before they came up, and General Lake in the interim practised a successful feint, by retiring with the cavalry, which the enemy mistaking for a retreat, followed them shouting as if secure of victory. The cavalry, however, opening from the centre, permitted the British infantry, advancing in perfect order, to pass to the front. The fire of grape, round, and cannister from the Mahratta guns, was for some minutes tremendous, but the British troops moved on steadily, without returning a shot, until they were within one hundred yards. They were then ordered to fire a volley and charge bayonets. Sindia’s infantry could not withstand the fury of their onset, but abandoning their guns, fled with precipitation. The line of infantry then broke into open columns of companies, and the cavalry which formed the second line, charging through the intervals, committed great slaughter among the fugitives, many of whom escaped from the sabre but to perish in the Jumna.