Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c58.s7: § 10. Assaye—second stage of battle, the advance to the Juah
Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c58.s7
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§ 10. Assaye—second stage of battle, the advance to the Juah
v4.c58.s7.1
It was Wellesley himself, leading the British left, who turned the tide of the battle. At a quarter to three P.M. the word was given to advance and the 78th Buffs and two sepoy battalions marched in quick time upon the enemy, without firing a shot. On coming within 150 yards of the enemy's line, they stopped for a moment to prepare for charging. The campoo opposite them fired a volley, "and about the same time some European officers in the enemy's service were observed to mount their horses and ride off. The 78th instantly redoubled its pace, and the enemy's infantry, deserted by its officers, broke and ran. The 78th overtook and bayoneted a few individuals. The gunners, however, held firm to their guns, many being killed in the act of loading...... and none quitted their posts until the bayonets were at their breasts."†
v4.c58.s7.2
∗ Telingas crouch, Fortescue, v. 28. Elphin. i. 67. Blackiston, i. 164 and 174. White officers skulk, Elphin. i. 76.
v4.c58.s7.3
† Macveigh, Hist. Records of 78th Highlanders (1887), p. 53. "Pohlmann, whose conduct throughout the day bears strong marks of treachery to his master, seized the opportunity to retreat." Fortescue, v. 31. "Their infantry fought well, and stood by their guns to the last.... Their cavalry did us but little mischief." (A. W. in Gurwood, ii. 327.)
v4.c58.s7.4
The new British line that faced the Maratha position parallel to the Juah was a very thin one, and the battle had yet to be won. The English army had covered the quarter-circle from the south to the west by forcing its way onwards, but had had no time to conquer the enemy posts within this area. The whole field between their first and second positions was dotted with enemy pockets from which Wellesley's new line was being fired upon in the rear. Many of the Maratha gunners had concealed themselves under their gun-carriages, and several of the campoo infantrymen had fallen down feigning death, in order to escape the advancing British bayonets. The concentration of Sindhia's reserve and guns at the corner of Assaye still stood intact. And beyond Wellesley's extreme left, the full force of Sindhia's best infantry under Pohlmann (four thousand strong) had halted in a menacing posture, with their arms and munitions not yet spent.
v4.c58.s7.5
But while the British line, without a single gun of its own, stood anxiously exposed to fire from front rear and right, deliverance again came from its cavalry. The 19th Light Dragoons, only 360 strong, followed by the 4th Madras Cavalry, seeing that the enemy horse pushed back by their charge had crossed the Juah and were making off, themselves crossed that nālā by a ford a little east of Assaye and cut up these fugitives. With the arrival of the British line opposite to them, the enemy's infantry, from their position south of the Juah, began to retreat across the stream in increasing numbers. The intense anxiety of Wellesley's hard pressed infantry found relief in loud huzzahs as they saw their own cavalry under Maxwell dress their ranks on the opposite bank and sweep the enemy crowds on that side from end to end, cutting down the fugitives and destroying their formation. Then they recrossed the Juah and drew up on the left of Wellesley's line.
v4.c58.s7.6
The sight took the heart out of the campoo infantry. The 19th Light Dragoons during their 24 years' service in south India had created for themselves a name of terror by their toughness and vigour. They had cut off 500 men of Tipu Sultan’s choice Body Guard by driving them into a bound hedge and there killing every one of them with the sword and lance. No Indian horse or foot could face them. The right wing of the Maratha second line was dissolved. [Biddulph, 73.]