The Bengal Artillery during the last few months had been weakened by the loss of officers: Captain Smith and Lieutenant Horsborough died in October, 1791, at Bangalore, and Captain Sampson early in January, 1792; but Captains Howell and Burnett supplied their vacancies.

On the 1st February, the army marched from Bangalore, the troops on the right, the battering-train in the centre, and the baggage on the left; the cattle and the carriages were so good that the train moved without difficulty, and on the 5th February, the army came in sight of Seringapatam. Tippoo had drawn his army into a fortified camp on the north side of the Cavery; Lord Cornwallis, on the 6th, reached Seringapatam, and resolved to attack the enemy that night. The army marched at 7 o’clock in the evening, in three divisions, for this purpose, leaving their artillery in camp, protected by the cavalry, quarter, and rear-guards, under the command of Colonel Duff. No guns accompanied the army; but with Lord Cornwallis’s division were Major Montague (Captain Ross, Royal Artillery), and subalterns, and 50 European artillerymen; with General Meadows, Captain Howell, 2 subalterns, and 50 European artillerymen; 150 lascars went with each division to carry the scaling-ladders; and with Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell were 2 subalterns, 30 European artillerymen, and 50 lascars. In spite of the opposition and the difficulties the nature of the ground presented, the intentions of the Commander-in-Chief were carried out, and the morning of the 7th found the British army in possession of the camp; but several attempts were made by Tippoo to dislodge them from some of the redoubts they had taken, particularly the one called, hitherto, the Sultan’s redoubt, but from this day Sibbald’s, in compliment to the gallant man who, with a very small force, held it this day against Tippoo’s repeated attacks. In this defence, the life of a valuable officer of the Bengal Artillery, Lieutenant Buchan, was lost, one to whose resources in the hour of emergency its successful defence was indebted.

The detachment with Major Montague was actively employed in securing the field-artillery in the enemy’s camp; instead of spiking the guns, Major Montague directed that they should be thrown off their carriages and the wheels rolled different ways, by which means the guns taken were secured without being damaged, and the parts afterwards easily collected: upwards of sixty guns were thus taken.[[29]] The chief loss fell on the lascars, of whom eight were killed and twenty-two wounded or missing.

The fortress was now invested by the combined armies, and preparations made for the siege; in this Lieutenant Hind, of the Bengal Artillery, with 300 lascars assisted, collecting and preparing materials for gabions and fascines; but a treaty formed with Tippoo rendered these useless, and in May the army broke up.

The artillery marched to the coast, where Colonel Duff left them, and sailed for England in the “Dutton,” Indiaman, with General Meadows: the rest embarked in the “Ardesir,” “Mary,” “Hero,” and “Juliana Maria,” and reached Bengal early in July.

The following tabular statement, compiled from the Prize-money Distribution Statements, will shew more clearly the officers who were present in these campaigns, as each officer had not been mentioned at the time of his joining.

Rank.Name.Proportion of Shares for Companies.Remarks.
909191½
ColonelP. Duff Staff fullfull
Lieut.-Col.C. R. Deare Staff¾ killed at Sattimungalum.
MajorW. Woodburn Stafffullfullfull
MajorE. Montague Stafffullfullfull
CaptainP. Cranell Stafffullfullfulldied at Madras.
CaptainT. Hardwicke Stafffullfullfull
CaptainT. Ellwoodfullfullfull
CaptainG. Howell ¾full
CaptainA. Glass fullfull
CaptainJ. Horsfordfullfullfull
CaptainJ. Smith full
CaptainG. F. Sampsonfullfull
CaptainJ. Burnett full
CaptainC. Wittit fullfull
LieutenantJ. Horsboroughfullfull
LieutenantD. McPhersonfull½
LieutenantH. Douglas ¼full
LieutenantJ. R. Exshaw fullfull
LieutenantT. Greene fullfull
LieutenantJ. Tomkynsfullfullfull
LieutenantJ. Nellyfullfullfull
LieutenantE. Clarke fullfull
LieutenantT. Hardwickefullfullfull
LieutenantH. Balfourfullfull
LieutenantW. Shipton full
LieutenantT. Hill full
LieutenantJ. P. Drummond full
LieutenantT. Dowell fullfull
LieutenantR. Tulloh full
Lt.-Firewk.A. Dunn½fullfull
Lt.-Firewk.A. McLeod fullfull
Lt.-Firewk.A. Buchan fullfull
Lt.-Firewk.A. Mathews fullfull
Lt.-Firewk.W. Winboltfullfullfull
Lt.-Firewk.H. Greenfullfullfull
Lt.-Firewk.W. Feade fullfull
Lt.-Firewk.E. Butlerfullfullfull
Lt.-Firewk.Charles Brownfullfullfull
Lt.-Firewk.J. J. Briscoefullfullfull
CadetJ. P. Keeble fullInf. Invalided Lt.Co. 1820.
CadetP. Fortnham fullresigned Aug 1800.
CadetJ. Gore fullInf., died at sea 97–8.

During these campaigns the following officers lost their lives, either in action or from disease:—Lieutenant-Colonel C. R. Deare, killed; Captains Smith and Sampson; Lieutenants Macpherson and Buchan, killed. Lieutenants Horsborough, Nash, and Jones, and several others, were forced to seek health in a sea-voyage.

The services of the native troops, including the artillery lascars, on this occasion, were rewarded by a medal, and six months’ batta was given to all the officers and troops.