Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c53.s3.46

v4.c53.s3.46

But the toughest part of the battle now began. During this close engagement on the right, Dudrenec’s brigade (the left of their front line) was charged by the Rāthor cavalry. James Skinner, who fought in this battle in Pohlmann’s wing, gives the following spirited description of the scene that ensued: “The Rāthors were seen approaching from a distance; the tramp of their immense and compact body rising like thunder above the roar of battle. They came on first at a slow hand gallop, which increased in speed as they approached: the well-served guns of the brigade showered grape upon their dense mass, cutting down hundreds at each discharge; but this had no effect in arresting their progress;—on they came, like a whirlwind, trampling over fifteen hundred of their own body, destroyed by the cannon of the brigade; neither the murderous volleys from the muskets, nor the serried hedge of bayonets could check or shake them: they poured, like a torrent, on and over the brigade, and rode it fairly down, leaving scarce a vestige of it remaining.”