A History of the Mahrattas v2.c57.32

v2.c57.32

Giving their fire, and receiving that of the line, they rode right at the 7th. Colonel Burr took his post with the colours of that corps; it had long been his own battalion, he had ‘formed and led’ it for many years, he was then suffering under a severe and incurable malady,¹ but he showed his wonted coolness and firmness in this moment of peril. He was the first to perceive the moving mass: he had just time to stop the pursuit of De Pento’s battalion, already routed, and to call to the men, who could not be dressed in line, to reserve their fire, and prove themselves worthy of all his care. Fortunately there was a deep slough, of which neither party was aware, immediately in front of the British left. The foremost of the horses rolled over, and many, before they could be pulled up, tumbled over those in front; the fire, hitherto reserved, was now given with great effect, numbers fell, the confusion became extreme, and the force of the charge was completely checked: a very small proportion came in contact with the bayonets, a few continued the attack in the rear, but many turned back; some galloped round the left as if to plunder the camp, but they were driven off by a few shots from two iron guns at Khirkee, and the Sepoys had nearly repulsed the attack before a company of Europeans could arrive to their support. This failure completely disconcerted the Mahrattas; they began to drive off their guns; their infantry retired from the distant position they occupied, and upon the advance of the British line, the whole field was cleared. The brigade returned to its position at Khirkee after nightfall, and the light battalion and auxiliary horse joined it next morning. The report of their arrival, and the effect of the forward movement, deterred Gokla from renewing the attack. The Mahrattas in Captain Ford’s battalion deserted, and a part of the newly raised auxiliary horse were, at their own desire, permitted to quit the British camp; but not one Sepoy of the regular service left his colours. The number of the British troops engaged at the affair of Khirkee, including Captain Ford’s battalion, was 2,800 rank and file, of whom about 800 were Europeans. Their loss was comparatively trifling, amounting only to eighty-six men in killed and wounded, fifty of whom were of the Sepoys on the left. The Mahratta army consisted of 18,000 horse and 8,000 foot, with 14 guns.¹ They suffered considerably, having lost five hundred men in killed and wounded; and though the proportion of horses killed on the spot was inconsiderable, a very great number were disabled. Amongst the sufferers was the minister Moro Dixit, who, by rather a strange fatality, was mortally wounded by a grape-shot from one of the guns attached to the battalion of his friend Captain Ford.