Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c56.s21: § 9. Lake’s forced march to Laswari
Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c56.s21
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§ 9. Lake’s forced march to Laswari
v4.c56.s21.1
Lake therefore left his camp, infantry and guns near Katumbar and started at 11 o'clock that very day at midnight with a purely cavalry force (three British and five Sepoy regiments), with no artillery except a pair of galloper-guns (6 pounders) attached to each of these regiments, and covering 25 miles in a little over six hours, sighted the enemy at Laswari, next day at dawn.
v4.c56.s21.2
The village of Laswari (correctly called Naswari)† crowns the steep northern bank of a rivulet named Baraki nālā, 20 miles due east of Alwar city. Two thousand yards northwest of it and half a mile away from the rivulet stands the walled village of Mālpur. A mile south-west of Mālpur and two miles due west of Laswari, is the village of Barwara, on the same bank, the three villages forming a triangle whose apex is at Mālpur. Lake really fought two battles on that November day: the first, on the plain east of the line joining Laswari to Mālpur, *i.e.*, the side remote from the river, and the second west of that line, *i.e.*, between the river and Mālpur and around that village. This first battle, fought in the morning, was a purely cavalry attack on a line of artillery and ended in a British withdrawal with heavy loss. Then followed a four hours' lull in the combat. The fighting was renewed at 2 P.M., by an infantry advance westwards, hugging the northern bank of the rivulet and arriving due south of Mālpur village. The spear-head of this attack was a single cavalry regiment, the 29th Light Dragoons. In three hours the victory achieved with the bayonet was completed by the entire British cavalry annihilating the retreating enemy, among whom only two thousand men saved themselves by throwing down their arms. Ambāji's sole cavalry force of some 1,250 Deccani light horse fled away without once plying their sabres.
v4.c56.s21.3
∗ Bakhtawar S. the Raja of Macheri, entered into an offensive and defensive alliance with the British Government. His astute vakil Ahmad Bakhsh Kh. joined Lake to whom he rendered valuable services in procuring supplies for the army, in sending a small force from Alwar to co-operate with it, and especially in supplying information as to the movements of the Marathas which led to the victory of Laswari. The British made him Nawab of Luhari (in Hariana) and independent of Alwar. Rajputana Gazetteer, 1880, vol. iii. 184. The Raja of Bharatpur made a treaty of mutual defence and offence with the English on 29th September, 1803.
v4.c56.s21.4
† It is 8 m. south-east of Ramgarh (a revenue collector's office) in the Alwar State.