A History of the Mahrattas v2.c53.4

v2.c53.4

The men, marching over the dead bodies of their companions, which crowded the ditch and glacis, rushed on with a desperate resolution, which would have overcome any practicable obstacles. On this, as on every former occasion, none of the troops relaxed in their efforts; and for two hours, until ordered to desist, they persevered at the breach, or in climbing up a high bastion, which adjoined it. But as fast as the leaders got up, they were knocked down with logs of wood, or speared by rows of pike-men who crowded the tops of the parapets. The besieged took every precaution, and used every effort of prudence and resolution; the damage done to the mud wall by the shot was generally repaired during the night, their guns were drawn within the embrasures, to prevent their being dismounted, and during the assaults, particularly in the last, pots filled with combustibles, burning cotton bales steeped in oil, with incessant discharges of grape from the cannon, and a destructive fire of small-arms were poured upon the British troops, whose casualties were very great, and in the four assaults 3,203 men were killed and wounded, of whom 103 were European officers. The most afflicting circumstance attending these failures was the necessity of leaving many of the wounded behind, who were almost invariably put to death by a sally of the garrison.