1793–1799.

france declares war—expedition against pondicherry—surrender of pondicherry—peace reigns in india—lunkia naik—floyd’s large allowances—french adventurers in india—tippoo’s growing hostility—disarmament of nizam’s force under french officers—army formed under general harris—tippoo’s intrigues—galloper guns—advance on mysore—battle of mallavelly—seringapatam invested—the bombay army—the rajah of coorg—signal guns—seringapatam taken—tardy recognition in england of services performed in india—badge of “seringapatam.”

on the 1st february 1793, the french national convention declared war against great britain. the news was[100] at once dispatched to india by the british consul at alexandria, and reached calcutta on the 11th june. lord cornwallis acted with great promptitude, and, without awaiting further communications from england, issued orders for taking possession of the french territories in india. the troops in the vicinity of wallajabad, among whom were the 19th light dragoons, were at once put in motion under colonel floyd, and encamped before pondicherry on the 11th july, while the place was blockaded by sea by such ships as were available. on the 28th july, colonel brathwaite, who had succeeded major general medows as local commander in chief, took command of the force, which by this time amounted to 10,500 men. according to the returns of 1st august, the strength of the 19th light dragoons, at that date, was 274, exclusive of sick. siege operations were commenced on the 10th august, and fire was opened on the 20th. on the 22nd pondicherry capitulated, and was taken possession of on the following day. the british loss amounted to 248 killed, wounded, and missing. one hundred and sixty-six guns, with a great quantity of military stores, fell into the hands of our troops, and pondicherry ceased to be a french possession until the peace of amiens. the part taken in the siege by the cavalry was naturally a subordinate one, as the enemy had no force in the field that could interrupt operations.

on the fall of pondicherry, the 19th light dragoons returned for a time to their old quarters at shevtamodoo. colonel floyd remained at pondicherry, in command of the place, for a few months, when he was appointed to command the southern division of the madras forces, with his head quarters at trichinopoly. in 1794, we find the 19th quartered at seringham, near trichinopoly. in the following year, they were encamped on the trichinopoly plain, and in[101] 1796, they were moved into the cavalry cantonments at trichinopoly.

for five years the war was confined to europe. the french flag was not seen on the coasts of india, nor was any frenchman in arms, with the exception of those in the service of native states, to be found in the country. while war raged in europe, the peace of india was practically undisturbed. in the beginning of june 1795, a detachment of the 19th was employed in the capture of an insurgent polygar chief, named lunkia naik, under the following circumstances. on the night of the 7th june, lieutenant oliphant, with a detachment of two native officers and twenty-two sepoys, surprised and captured lunkia naik, at manapur, about twenty-four miles from trichinopoly. the chief’s retainers gathered to the rescue in large numbers, and attacked oliphant, who had retired with his prisoner into a choultry, where he defended himself for nine hours, repelling several assaults. the following morning, two troops of the 19th appeared, drove off the assailants, and brought oliphant’s detachment back to trichinopoly, with lunkia naik securely tied to a trooper.

towards the end of 1796, the 25th light dragoons landed in madras from england.

in his first regimental order to the regiment, when it was raised, sir john burgoyne took occasion to point out that service in india was “not less honourable than lucrative.” there could be no doubt on the latter point, so far as the senior officers were concerned. the advantages given to the king’s officers in point of rank over the company’s officers, had the intended effect of throwing most of the chief commands into their hands, and the allowances that were granted in some cases, showed how strong a shake they were able to give to the “pagoda tree.” lieutenant colonel stapleton cotton (afterwards[102] lord combermere) in a letter from madras in january 1797, wrote—

“as the command of a station is everything here ... i am very desirous of getting the rank of colonel, which would ensure a command. an officer commanding at any station receives full batta, which, if a colonel, is very considerable. i now only receive half batta, as a lieutenant colonel, and my king’s pay. on the bengal establishment every officer receives full batta, and the commanding officer double full batta. a bengal command is a sure fortune in five years. general floyd is now (including his king’s pay as major general and lieutenant colonel of the 19th light dragoons, his company’s pay, and his allowance from the company and the nizam as commandant of the southern district) in the receipt of from ￡14,000 to ￡16,000.”

events were in progress, that were, before long, destined to bring the british armies in india into the field again. british authority in india was menaced by french hostility in a peculiarly subtle and dangerous form. the memory of his defeats and losses in 1792, had long rankled in tippoo’s mind, and his animosity against the english was inflamed by the numerous french officers in his employ, through whom he maintained informal relations with france. in hyderabad, there was a fairly disciplined force of 14,000 infantry, with an adequate proportion of artillery, commanded by french officers in the nizam’s service, who flew the tricolour flag, and were in secret correspondence with tippoo. in upper india, scindia’s disciplined battalions were also commanded by a french officer. fortunately, the mahrattas were at this time too much occupied with their own quarrels to meddle with affairs in the south. the news of french successes, under bonaparte, induced tippoo to believe that the time had arrived to strike a blow against the english.

in march 1796, he dispatched an embassy to cabul, inviting zeman shah to invade india, conquer delhi, and[103] join hands with him in destroying the british, the portuguese, the mahrattas, and the nizam. in the following year, tippoo despatched ambassadors to the mauritius, proposing an offensive and defensive alliance against the english, and asking for a french force, which he engaged to pay and to furnish with all necessary supplies. but the governor of the mauritius had no troops to spare, and could only send under 100 men, among whom were several officers and artificers, who landed in india in april 1798. a few weeks later, tippoo despatched an embassy to paris. in may 1798, lord mornington, afterwards known as the marquis of wellesley, arrived in india to take up the office of governor general, and tippoo’s dealings with the french became known, a few days after his arrival. it was known also that a great french expedition was preparing in the mediterranean, which was believed to be aimed at egypt, as in fact it was. the times were critical, and demanded prompt action: the new governor general was not the man to waste time, when action was required. the first move made by lord mornington was to break up the force at hyderabad, which for the moment was the most dangerous factor in the situation. the nizam and his ministers were loyal to the british alliance, but the french officers present had become possessed of so much influence, that the hyderabad government had lost control of them, while their arrogance and overbearing conduct filled the nizam and his ministers with alarm. the nizam therefore willingly entered into a treaty engaging himself to get rid of his french officers, and to break up the formidable body they had created. by dexterous measures, and by taking advantage of a mutiny that occurred in the force, it was surrounded and disarmed without bloodshed, on 22nd october. one hundred and twenty-four french officers, whose lives were at the time in danger from their own men, were removed[104] and shipped off to calcutta, and a serious danger successfully averted.[34] four days before this occurrence, intelligence of the invasion of egypt by bonaparte reached calcutta. meanwhile, by way of precaution against a sudden blow from tippoo, a force was collected at wallajabad, among which was the 19th light dragoons, who marched from trichinopoly at the beginning of august. from wallajabad the regiment was moved to madras; their muster roll, dated 20th september, shows that they were cantoned at the mount on that date. the effective strength of the regiment, then present, was 361 of all ranks; of whom 12 were recruits recently received from england, and 30 were volunteers from the 12th, 19th, 73rd, and 74th regiments. so valuable were european cavalry, that on the bare prospect of war their numbers were at once filled up from the infantry. the dispersal of the french contingent at hyderabad having been accomplished, lord mornington addressed tippoo with regard to his dealings with the french government. preparations were at the same time made for an advance on seringapatam from the bombay coast, while the madras forces assembled at vellore. tippoo’s replies were evasive. his object was to gain time, till the arrival of the expected french force. delay was dangerous, and it was evident that further negotiations could lead to no good result, so, early in february 1799, the advance of the army was determined on. meanwhile, shah zeman had reached lahore, and, though he was unable to advance farther south, and was forced to return to cabul, on account of his own territories[105] being invaded by persia, his presence in the punjab necessitated the preparation of a british force in the north, to hold him in check.

up till this time the artillery of the british army in india was entirely drawn by bullocks. an attempt to furnish artillery of greater mobility was now made. while the army lay at vellore, an order was issued for attaching to each regiment of european dragoons and native cavalry two 6 pr. guns, in order to increase their independent action.

“the plan adopted by government for attaching flying artillery to the cavalry corps having been communicated to the heads of regiments respectively, the commander in chief is now pleased to direct that the detail of european artillery and gun lascars to be attached to each regiment be sent to the several corps from the 1st and 2nd battalions of artillery agreeably to the following arrangements, viz: 1 lieutenant fireworker, 1 serjeant, 1 corporal, 1 syrang, 2 second tindals and 20 lascars for each regiment of european dragoons, and 1 serjeant, 1 gunner, 1 first tindal, and 18 lascars for each regiment of native cavalry. (g.o.c.c. 13th january 1799).”[35]

little mention of these guns is anywhere made during the ensuing campaign, though their efficiency on subsequent occasions is frequently mentioned. thorn, the historian of the mahratta war, writing four years later of the formation of the army under the commander in chief, says:—

“among the different military improvements practised on these occasions, the use of the galloper guns was one of the most important, as afterwards appeared in the terror which they produced on the mahratta horse. two of these guns, of six pounders, were attached to each regiment; and nothing could exceed the celerity and exactness of the man?uvres made with them at full speed by this large body of cavalry &c. &c.”[36]

[106]

in spite of the good service done by the galloper guns on many occasions, difficulties as to their control in the field frequently arose, after the formation of a corps of artillery drawn by horses, in 1805, owing to their not having formed an integral part of the regiment they were attached to.

at first the guns closely attended their regiment, in action, seconding its efforts with their fire when possible. in line of battle they were placed in pairs, in the intervals between different corps. after a time this system was discontinued, and the guns were brigaded together under command of a cavalry officer, or they were brigaded with artillery guns, in which case difficulties arose as to their command. in 1815, it was ordered that, whenever galloper guns were brigaded, they should be commanded by an artillery officer. but complaints were made that the want of uniform training rendered them unfit to be brigaded with horse artillery guns, and they were finally abolished in may 1819.

the 19th light dragoons, taking their galloper guns with them, as well as those for the 25th light dragoons and the 1st native cavalry, marched from madras on 23rd january, to join the army under general harris, which was assembled at vellore to the number of nearly 21,000 men. on the 14th february, the whole force moved forward. the cavalry under major general floyd comprised the 19th, 430 strong, the 25th dragoons, and four regiments of native cavalry: 2635 sabres in all, divided into two brigades. on the 20th, the army was joined by 16,000 men from hyderabad, about 10,000 of which were the contingent furnished by the nizam, who, throughout the campaign, co-operated most heartily with the british commander. the command of the nizam’s contingent was given to colonel the honourable arthur wellesley,[37][107] who had with him also his own regiment, the 33rd foot. simultaneously, the force from bombay consisting of 6400 men under lieutenant general stuart,[38] advanced from cannanore, and, on 2nd march, encamped on the mysore frontier, near periapatam.

marching by rycottah, general harris crossed the mysore frontier on 5th, and directed his march northwards, as if for the purpose of attacking bangalore. when in sight of that place he turned southwards, and encamped five miles from mallavelly, on the 26th march. meanwhile, tippoo had not been idle. on the 6th, he crossed the frontier near periapatam, and attempted to cut off a detached brigade of the bombay force at sedaseer. in spite of his great numerical superiority, the attack was repulsed with heavy loss, and tippoo withdrew to seringapatam. he had between seventy and eighty thousand men, about thirty thousand of which were in or near seringapatam, the whole in a state of complete efficiency.

as general harris’ force approached their camping ground, on the 26th, the cavalry found themselves confronted by a large body of the enemy commanded by tippoo in person. as the infantry closed up, the sultan slowly moved off, and the british force encamped within sight of the enemy, who withdrew towards mallavelly. at daybreak, on the 27th, the army marched on mallavelly, while the nizam’s contingent under wellesley moved parallel to it, on the left, enclosing the baggage between the two bodies. the front was covered by major general floyd with five regiments of cavalry. on approaching mallavelly, the heights beyond the village were seen to be occupied by infantry, while a large force of cavalry were on the british right. wellesley’s division was directed to[108] attack the enemy’s right, supported by floyd and his cavalry, while the right wing of the army entered mallavelly, and attacked the enemy’s centre. as the force advanced, the enemy drew back, as though declining an action, and preparations were made by the british troops for marking out a new encampment. while this was in progress, the enemy suddenly opened fire from twelve or fourteen guns, which did some execution. upon this, the infantry picquets, the 25th light dragoons and a native cavalry regiment pushed forward, and occupied a village in front of the enemy’s left, in which was a party of the enemy’s horse and rocket men, while the rest of the army formed line of battle. in the meanwhile, colonel wellesley’s division advanced, supported by major general floyd, with the 19th light dragoons, and 1st and 3rd regiments of native cavalry. as the british force advanced, nearly simultaneous attacks were made by the enemy on both flanks. on the right a large body of cavalry hovered on the flanks, while a smaller corps charged the 1st brigade under major general baird. the steady fire of the 12th foot and the scotch brigade repulsed them with considerable loss. on the left, a body of men, about 2000 strong, advanced in good order against the 33rd, till it was thrown into confusion by a heavy fire at sixty paces’ distance. seizing the moment, floyd charged with his three regiments of cavalry, and completely routed them, taking six standards and sabreing many men. “into them, with disciplined impetuosity, dashed general floyd at the head of the old 19th light dragoons and two regiments of native cavalry, who in a few minutes sabred nearly the whole of the fugitives.”[39] the retreat of the enemy became general, as the advance of the british continued, and by two o’clock they had completely withdrawn from the field. after the action,[109] the army returned and camped near mallavelly. this success was purchased with a loss of only seven killed, fifty-three wounded and six missing. the 19th light dragoons, which suffered the most among the cavalry regiments, had eight wounded, among them captain kennedy, three horses killed, twenty-two wounded, and three missing. it is said that, of the column charged by major general floyd, all but 230 were put hors de combat.

on the 29th and 30th, the army crossed the cauvery at sosilay. this move was entirely unexpected by tippoo, who had made up his mind that the army would march directly on seringapatam to attack it, as cornwallis had attacked it seven years before. in this belief, he had wasted the whole country in the vicinity on the north bank of the river. by this adroit move general harris was favourably situated to join hands with the bombay force on its arrival, while he was able to draw abundant supplies from the villages in his neighbourhood, and from the rich country in his rear, which tippoo had preserved for himself. continuing his march westward, within five miles of seringapatam, and watched, but not molested by tippoo’s cavalry, general harris took up ground for the siege, on the 5th april, opposite the west face of the fort of seringapatam, and at a distance of two miles from it. the left of the army rested on the river; the cavalry were encamped in the rear of the army.

on the 6th april at daybreak, floyd with four regiments of cavalry, among them the 19th light dragoons, six regiments of infantry, twenty guns, and a corps of the nizam’s horse, marched westward to join the bombay force under major general stuart. on the 8th, he established communication with stuart, and on the 10th, the two forces were united at periapatam. during the whole march, floyd’s force was closely[110] attended by the enemy’s cavalry, who were however unable to make any impression.

the rajah of coorg, our constant and loyal ally, had accompanied major general stuart to periapatam, from which place he was to return to look after his own territories, and to arrange for forwarding supplies to the army.

“his romantic character rendered him an object of peculiar interest to general floyd and the officers of the division from the eastward; and a squadron of the 19th dragoons sent as an escort with general stuart (the first european cavalry the rajah had ever seen) was a novelty at which he expressed his admiration.... he accepted with enthusiasm the invitation to see the line of the eastern division under arms, and was received with suitable honours. he expressed a just admiration, but continued after his return to general floyd’s tent, to testify his particular and unwearied admiration of the 19th regiment, intimating a wish to procure at a proper time for his own personal use, one of the dragoon’s swords.... on his rising to take leave general floyd unclasped his own sword, and in a few words judiciously suited to the occasion, begged that he might be permitted to present it for the rajah’s use.”[40]

at half-past seven in the evening of the 13th, floyd’s signal guns were heard in general harris’ camp, and were answered ten minutes later to show that they were understood.[41] twenty-four hours later, the united forces of floyd and stuart joined general harris in front of[111] seringapatam. on the same date letters reached the army from the governor general congratulating them on the success at mallavelly. these letters were brought by a native messenger, written on a very narrow slip of paper, and sealed up in a quill. this was the general method of communication, public and private, as would appear from the following notice in the calcutta gazette.

fort william, public department, 10th april 1799.

“notice is hereby given that all letters, whether public or private, for the grand army in the field, are in future to be limited to a small slip of paper not exceeding one eighth of a sheet of quarter-post, rolled (not folded up), which restriction will continue until further notice.”

some of these notes, 2 inches wide by 6? inches long, are still in existence.

some solicitude was experienced at this time concerning supplies, and the cavalry were busily employed in protecting and bringing in convoys. on the 16th, floyd, with five regiments of cavalry and the left wing of the army, brought in a party of brinjarries who had been sent out to the southward to collect cattle and grain. on the 19th, floyd marched again with the whole of the regular cavalry, a brigade of infantry, and the nizam’s cavalry, towards the coveripoorum pass, for the purpose of protecting two large convoys of provisions en route from coimbatore and the baramahal. on the 30th, he was joined by the convoy from rykottah, at the head of the pass, but it was not till the 6th may that the coimbatore convoy arrived, and on the 11th, the whole returned to seringapatam bringing with them forty thousand bullocks, most of which carried loads of grain, twenty-one thousand nine hundred sheep and other necessaries, thus placing the subsistence of the army out of danger for many days.

[112]

but the campaign was already at an end. a practicable breach having been made, at one o’clock on the 4th may, seringapatam was stormed by the british troops, and after two hours’ desperate fighting the british colours were planted in the fortress. tippoo’s dead body was found at night under a heap of slain, the short-lived mahommedan kingdom of mysore was at an end, and the most imminent menace to british rule in india was averted. this gallant feat of arms cost the british force a loss of 367 in killed, wounded, and missing, of whom 321 were europeans. nine hundred and twenty-nine guns and an enormous quantity of warlike material fell into the hands of the victors. the french officers found in seringapatam had commissions from the french government. by tippoo’s orders, all the european prisoners who fell into his hands during the siege had been barbarously put to death. a number of prisoners also, who had fallen into his hands in former wars, and who had been detained, in breach of agreements in 1784 and 1792, were massacred by his orders at the commencement of hostilities.

in an order published after the siege, general harris thus spoke of the cavalry division:—

“the advantage derived from the exertions of the cavalry upon every occasion, although opposed by such superior numbers on the part of the enemy, are so important, as to give this corps the strongest claims to the warmest approbation of the commander in chief, which he requests major general floyd will take an early occasion of conveying to them.”

the 19th light dragoons remained in mysore during the settlement of the country, in the course of which the representative of the old ruling family was replaced on the mysore throne. on the 13th november they parted from wellesley at ooscottah, and marched for vellore, and so back to their old quarters at trichinopoly, which they reached about the end of the year.

[113]

great reluctance appears to have been felt by the government in england, to treat services performed under the east india company as worthy of recognition by the crown. the court of directors issued a medal in 1808 to the officers and men of the king’s and company’s troops who had taken part in the operations in mysore, but the royal permission for the king’s troops to wear the medal in england was not granted till 1815, in which year general harris was raised to the peerage for his services in 1799. in 1818 his lordship made a special representation for some permanent badge to be bestowed on the regiments concerned, when permission to bear the word “seringapatam” on colours and appointments was granted.

horse guards,

24th june 1818.

sir,

i have the honour to acquaint you, that his royal highness the prince regent, in the name and on the behalf of his majesty has been pleased to approve of the 19th regiment of light dragoons (lancers) being permitted to bear on its colours and appointments, in addition to any other badges or devices which may have heretofore been granted to the regiment, the word “seringapatam,” in commemoration of the distinguished gallantry displayed by the regiment in the storming and capture of seringapatam, in the month of may 1799.

i have &c.

harry calvert

a. g.

m. general

sir j. o. vandeleur, k.c.b.

colonel of the 19th lancers.