With astonishing labour and exertion, Major Montague, on the night of the 2nd October, got two 24–pounders into the battery by means of ropes fastened round posts driven into the ground, and trees, and all the resources which an artillery officer must bring into play in such circumstances; and on the 4th, this and a mortar battery from the pettah opened, but the height was too great, for the mortars, and the guns were unable to make any impression on the solid blocks of stone of which the walls were formed; regular approaches were resolved on, and an 8–gun battery (18–pounders) got ready up the hill, into which, on the 11th October, the guns were drawn by two elephants each, aided by four drag-ropes and crowds of men. On the 12th this battery opened with excellent effect, and soon silenced all the guns in its direction, except one on the south-east angle, which did much mischief; a traverse was raised against this, and an advanced battery for two 6–pounders; into this, with infinite labour, a 12–pounder was also conveyed, and the angle gave way to a few well-directed shots by Major Montague, and the troublesome gun came tumbling down the rock. The ammunition running short, the fire was slack until the 16th, when a fresh supply arrived from Bangalore.
The breach being now practicable, on the 18th the army moved up, and on that evening the assault took place. An artillery officer, with a party of men and a small mortar, to be used as a petard for blowing open the gate of the inner wall, accompanied the storming party. The resistance, though great at first, was not continued, and the place was won without a heavy loss.
Lieutenant T. Hill, of the artillery, was wounded, during the siege, in the thigh by the bursting of a shell, and Lieutenant Cranch slightly in the shoulder.
Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart’s division now proceeded against Savendroog, a hill fortress on a rocky mountain, half a mile high, and eight or ten miles in circumference; on the 10th December, the division was within three miles of it, the Commander-in-Chief covering the siege with the main army; the hill was surrounded by a deep belt of jungle, composed of bamboos and trees, interspersed with large masses of rock; a narrow path was the only road, and this was rendered difficult from barriers. A road for the guns was with great labour formed through this forest, and they were transported with much difficulty through; the enemy offered little or no interruption, confident in the strength of their post and the fearful ally, malaria, which haunted the jungle, and, which Tippoo affirmed, would destroy one-half of the army, while he would slaughter the other. On the 17th December, two batteries opened, one of three 18–pounders, at 800 yards, at an elevation of 23°, and the other of three 12–pounders and two 18–pounders, at 700 yards; the artillery was under Major Montague, but we are unable to ascertain what company.
The wall being formed of solid slabs of stone fastened together by iron rivets, and the guns firing at an elevation, the effect of the 12–pounders did not at first answer the expectations formed. Two 2–gun batteries were pushed on to within 250 yards, and the 12–pounders were replaced by 18–pounders drawn from the main army, and their continued fire soon opened a breach in the upper wall. On the 20th, the breach was reconnoitred, and Major Montague not considering it sufficiently open, kept up an incessant and well-directed fire upon it all day, and before dark the breach was widened, and the outer wall shattered to its foundation.
On the 21st the storm took place; the signal was to be given when the fogs, which daily rise from the low ground and ascend the hill, should wrap the fortress in their sombre mantle, hiding from the besieged the besiegers’ intentions. At about 11 o’clock A.M. the signal-guns were fired, and the enemy moved down to defend the breach, but the batteries opened a deadly fire of grape, under cover of which the storming party advanced, and rapidly drove the enemy back, entering the citadel with them, and gaining possession of the place. Major Montague’s successful exertions in bringing his guns into battery, and his professional skill in directing their fire, again earned the praises of the Commander-in-Chief in Government Orders.
Other fortresses fell—Ramghurry, Sheriaghurry, and Outredroog, with little resistance; Lieutenant Shipton, Lieutenant-Fireworkers Charles Brown and Butler, were present at their taking; but now all attention was turned to the main object of the campaign, the siege of Seringapatam.
During the operations above detailed, convoys of stores and ordnance had been arriving, and every care taken to put the matériel of the army on the best possible footing; every thing was collected in Bangalore, and the train under Colonel Duff arrived there on the 12th January, 1792, in high order; “the draught cattle were in such high order” (to quote from a letter of that period), “that they literally came in with the heavy guns on a gallop.”
The train consisted of—
| 4 | 24–pounders, |
| 24 | 18–pounders, |
| 4 | 12–pounders, |
| 60 | 6–pounders, |
| 3 | 8–inch howitzers, |
| 4 | 5½-inch howitzers, |
| 6 | 5½ and 4⅕ mortars, |
| 1 | 8–inch mortar, |
| 60 | 6–pounder tumbrils, |
| 206 | store tumbrils, |
| 9 | spare carriages, |
| 225 | carts. |