Before following this division to its victorious conclusion, we shall find it more convenient to glance at the proceedings of the other forces, which were acting against the Goorkha line of frontier.
Major-General J. S. Wood’s division left Gorukpoor late in December: the 5th company 2nd battalion artillery was attached to it.[[67]] In January it entered the Teraie, and, coming suddenly on a stockade at Jeilgurh, carried it at once, in which operation Captain McDowall was wounded. Fearing that he could not retain the stockade if attacked, Major-General Wood retired to Nichloul, and, though reinforced by more troops, remained inactive till the end of the season, when he made an attempt with his guns on Bootwul, and retired to Gorukpoor.
To the eastward, Major Bradshaw, with the advance of Major-General Marley’s army, on the 25th November attacked and carried the post of Burhurwa, on the Baghmuttee, on which the Goorkhas evacuated the Teraie, and Major Bradshaw occupied posts at Boragurhee, Sumunpoor, and Pursa.
Major-General Marley, with the main army, arrived on the 12th December: the 6th company 2nd battalion, and detachment, were with this force, and the artillery officers noticed in the margin,[[68]] and a small train of heavy guns, some field and mountain train guns, and wall pieces. The force moved in four columns; the main one towards the Bicheea-koh and Hetounda passes; the second towards Hurheehurpoor; the third by the Sookturdurree pass and Joorgooree; while the fourth was kept in Jusspoot. The end of the month of December found the main body at Puchroutee Tuppah, with the posts of Pursa and Sumunpoor twenty miles on the left and right flanks of the army, the posts in the same state they had been three weeks previously, and no steps taken to strengthen them. They were garrisoned by about 500 men each, and Pursa had, in addition, a single 6–pounder, commanded by Lieutenant Mathison. On the night of the 17th January, 1815, both posts were attacked by the Goorkhas; the party at Sumunpoor was taken by surprise and cut to pieces; that at Pursa was a little better prepared, and, aided by Mathison’s gun, defended themselves for some time; but the enemy, availing themselves of the shelter the trees afforded, picked off nearly every artilleryman. Mathison then proposed to charge the enemy, but the sepoys refused, and a retreat was attempted, Lieutenant Mathison serving the gun by himself, when all his men were killed or wounded, by which the enemy were kept back; the gun being lost, the retreat became a flight, and had the enemy followed, all must have perished.
Lieutenant Mathison, in his report, says, “I cannot refrain from particularly mentioning the persevering bravery displayed by Matross William Levey, who, though wounded by a musket-ball through one leg and one arm, yet gallantly continued to keep his station until the priming-pouch was blown away from his side, and his wounds becoming too painful to endure, obliged him to sit down. ‘Sillaree,’ gun-lascar of the 42nd company, is also deserving of particular mention; who, although wounded in both hand and foot, continued alone to assist me to the last, and was the person who seized and carried away with him the silver spear planted by the enemy close to the gun at the commencement of the action, and now in the possession of Major-General Marley.”
In the orders of the day, the Major-General “expressed his best thanks to Lieutenant Mathison for his gallant conduct in defending his gun till every man, European and native, fell around it, and all the ammunition was expended.”
The artillery in this unhappy affair lost 4 Europeans and 6 natives killed, and 6 Europeans and 11 natives wounded; and it is probable that many of the wounded died afterwards. Want of foresight in not strengthening the position, and want of proper information of the enemy’s movements, seem to have been the chief causes of this catastrophe: we may add another,—the detaching a single gun. Two guns mutually support each other, and in case of a misfire occurring, the second gun is ready to pour in its fire, should it be attempted to carry the first by a rush; and we have heard it said that Lieutenant Mathison declared on this occasion, that had he had another gun he could have beaten off the enemy. A general order has since prohibited the practice by declaring that never less than two are to be detached.
After this, Major-General Marley gave up all idea of penetrating the hills; he strengthened the post of Baragurhee, and never again entered the forest. On the 10th February he left his division, and Major-General G. Wood arrived on the 20th, but the season passed away in inactivity.
In February detachments of irregulars under Lieutenant-Colonel Gardiner and Major Hearsey advanced on Almorah from Kasheepore and Pilheebheet, and were followed by a small division of regulars under Colonel Nicolls, with which was a detachment of European artillerymen under Lieutenants C. H. Bell and R. B. Wilson, with ten pieces of artillery. On the 5th April the force entered the hills, and heard of the defeat of the irregulars before Almorah; on the 23rd, a detachment from it overtook Hastee-Dull with his troops, near Gunnanath; an action followed, in which the Goorkhas were beaten and their leader slain. On the 25th the whole force attacked the breastworks on the Seetolee heights, and, following up their success, drove the enemy into Fort Almorah, and formed a lodgment on the ridge. “With considerable exertion on the parts of the officers of artillery, Lieutenants Bell and Wilson, the small mortars were laid in the battery, and opened at six in the evening, and the larger ones (8–inch) at midnight.” Several shells were thrown into the fort, which compelled the garrison to remain concealed; many Goorkhas and Cassiahs having quitted the fort, it was supposed that the garrison had fled, but during the night a sharp attack on the outposts proved that they had determined to make a last effort; this failing, on the 27th they evacuated the fort.
In Colonel Nicolls’s report he says, “I feel much indebted to Lieutenants Bell and Wilson for their activity in laying and bringing these mortars into use so soon,” and in the General Orders the Governor-General records that these officers “are mentioned in terms of strong commendation.”