Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c58.s6.10

v4.c58.s6.10

The iron tempest that had overwhelmed the British right had also broken their centre, consisting of two battalions of native infantry. These Telingas, unable to advance or stand against such a fire, without the power of reply, swerved away from the enemy, and crowded in upon the 78th Highlanders on the extreme left. "In many cases the sepoys sheltered themselves from the deadly shower in hollows in the ground, and even in some few instances, not all the endeavours of their officers could persuade them to move forward." "Several sepoys who were either wounded or pretended to be so, crouched down with their backs to the enemy, in such a manner that their knapsacks completely sheltered them from everything but round shot." Nor did the terror altogether spare the whites; Elphinstone reports that "two of the European officers were vehemently accused of skulking in a *nālā*."* But the main body of the sepoys in the centre were at last rallied by their officers and led on to join Wellesley's new line parallel to the Juah, completed by the addition of the other two sepoy battalions from the original second line.