II. A second Bengal column under Brigadier Shuldham, was to penetrate by way of Sylhet.
III. A mixed column of Bengal and Madras troops, under Brigadier-General W. Morrison, was to advance from Chittagong into Arracan, with the support of a flotilla of the Indian Marine.
IV. The main attack was entrusted to a joint Bengal and Madras army, under Major-General Archibald Campbell, of the 38th (South Stafford Regiment), an officer who had done good service in the Peninsula. The troops composing the main army comprised a Bengal brigade, which consisted of the 13th (Somerset Light Infantry), 38th (South Stafford), and the 20th Bengal Infantry. The 1st Madras Brigade comprised the 41st (Welsh Regiment), the Madras European Regiment (now the 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers), and five battalions of Madras sepoys, with two companies of artillery.
The 2nd Madras Brigade consisted of the 89th (Royal Irish Fusiliers), five battalions of Madras sepoys, and two companies of artillery.
The Bengal and Madras troops assembled in Cornwallis Bay, in the Andaman Islands; thence the main army proceeded to Rangoon, whilst Colonel McCreagh, of the 13th (Somersets), was detached to seize the island of Cheduba. Rangoon was occupied after very feeble resistance, but in the month of December the Burmese, finding we were not disposed to advance farther into their country, made desperate attempts to retake the city. They found, however, that we were as good behind stockades as they were, and from that date the war resolved itself into a number of desultory expeditions, in which stockade after stockade was carried at the point of the bayonet, often with heavy loss. There was little glory to be gained in such a war, nor was there scope for any display of military talent; but the gallantry of the officers and the ready valour of our men was never better exemplified.
The determined attack on Rangoon by the Burmese in the month of December, 1824, gave the 26th Madras, now the 86th Carnatic, Infantry an opportunity of putting an additional battle honour on their colours.
Kemmendine, November 30 to December 9, 1824.
This battle honour is borne only by the 86th Carnatic Infantry, and was granted to that corps, then the 26th Madras Infantry, by the Governor of Madras, in recognition of the gallant defence of the Kemmendine stockade during the repeated attacks by the Burmese in the month of December, 1824. Kemmendine was the name given by the Burmese to one of the principal defences of Rangoon. We had captured it with some loss on the first occupation of the city. It was rightly looked upon as one of the most important works in the vicinity of Rangoon. In December, when the Burmese made their desperate attempts to retake Rangoon, the Kemmendine stockade was the object of their fiercest attacks. It was held by the 26th Madras Infantry, now the 86th Carnatics, a company of the Madras Europeans, and some gunners, the Honourable Company's cruiser Sophie being moored off its river face. The conduct of the Madras sepoys was beyond all praise, and even Havelock, ever chary of encomiums, except to his beloved 13th, wrote in the most eulogistic manner of the 26th. "The sepoys of the 26th acquired a lasting reputation for their firmness at Kemmendine," wrote that distinguished General in his "History of the War in Ava." "Major Yates, who commanded them, sent for, and received, frequent supplies of ammunition, but never talked or dreamt of reinforcements, surrender, or retreat. Hungry and watching, pent in, outnumbered, and wearied by night and day, they repelled their assailants with slaughter." Another contemporary writer says: "Worn out with fatigue, they successfully repulsed the successive attacks of the enemy, contenting themselves with dry rice, not even laying aside their arms for cooking food." The safety of the stockade was entirely due to the ceaseless watchfulness of the little garrison. The Burmese had no stomach for an assault on a foe who was ready for them, and so it was that the garrison of Kemmendine escaped with few casualties.
| Regiments. | Officers. | Men. | ||
| K. | W. | K. | W. | |
| Dublin Fusiliers | - | 1 | 4 | 13 |
| 86th Carnatic Infantry (British) | - | 2 | - | - |
| 86th Carnatic Infantry (Natives) | - | 2 | 6 | 21 |
The battle honour was only conferred on the 26th Madras Native Infantry, which also was allowed to assume the honour "Ava." The 1st Madras European Regiment, a detachment of which was so closely associated with them in the defence, has been obliged to content itself with the one distinction "Ava."