The whole regiment consisted of
| ORGANIZATION OF THE REGIMENT. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Returns Dec. 1818. | ||||
| Colonels. | 4 | 4 | ||
| Lieutenant-Colonels. | 8 | 8 | ||
| Majors. | 9 | 9 | ||
| Captains. | 44 | 44 | ||
| 1st Lieutenants. | 80 | 75 | ||
| 2nd Lieutenants. | 52 | 43 | ||
| HORSE ARTILLERY. | EUROPEAN. | Non-commissioned Staff. | - | 7 |
| Non-commissioned Officers. | 52 | 46 | ||
| Bombardiers and Gunners. | 320 | 321 | ||
| Farriers, Rough-riders, Trumpeters. | 24 | 13 | ||
| Native Officers. | 6 | 6 | ||
| NATIVE. | Non-commissioned Officers. | 36 | 56 | |
| Troopers. | 270 | 246 | ||
| Farriers, Rough-riders, Trumpeters. | 18 | 12 | ||
| Non-commissioned Officers. | 21 | - | ||
| Lascars. | 168 | - | ||
| FOOT ARTILLERY. | EUROPEAN. | Non-commissioned Staff. | - | 23 |
| Non-commissioned Officers. | 264 | 249 | ||
| Bombardiers and Gunners. | 2160 | 1469 | ||
| Buglers. | 48 | 37 | ||
| NATIVE. | Native Officers. | 45 | 39 | |
| Non-commissioned Staff. | - | - | ||
| Non-commissioned Officers. | 240 | 245 | ||
| Privates. | 1500 | 1632 | ||
| Buglers. | 30 | 32 | ||
| LASCARS. | Native Officers. | 39 | 49 | |
| Non-commissioned Officers. | 156 | 190 | ||
| Privates. | 2730 | 3261 | ||
| DRIVERS. | Sirdars. | 76 | 129 | |
| Drivers. | 1615 | 2640 | ||
Forming a total of 8,094, including lascars, and excluding drivers.
The infantry of the army at this period amounted to about 64,000 men, or nearly in the proportion of eight infantry to one artilleryman, bringing the relative numbers of the two branches pretty much to what they were in 1796, at which time the infantry were 7½ to one artilleryman.
In a preceding page we have alluded to the operations of the Governor-General for the purpose of rooting out the Pindaree hordes by whom Central India was overrun, and the Company’s provinces yearly threatened, and in some instances plundered. Their numbers may have reached some 20,000 horse, undisciplined, and prepared to run rather than fight, and were scattered about in small durras or bands, so that no large bodies of troops would have been necessary to overcome them had it not been for the tacit protection afforded these freebooters by the Mahratta powers, and whose attitude was such, that preparations were forced to be made on a scale sufficient to meet their armies, and this called a far larger portion of the armies of India into the field than would otherwise have been required.
The Bengal divisions took the field about November, 1817. The masterly position taken up by Lord Hastings, with the centre division of the grand army threatening Scindeah’s capital, his park and magazines, in case he ventured to move from Gwalior to join the Mahratta confederacy, completely paralyzed him; but the Peshwah and Nagpoor rajah being unawed by any sufficient body of troops at hand, attacked the residents at their courts, and it was only by the heroic exertions of the small escorts, and which have immortalized the names of Poonah and Seetabuldee, that the posts were made good till reinforcements could arrive.
Many portions of the regiment were employed with the five divisions of Bengal troops, and in operations extending over so great a space, must necessarily have undergone much severe marching; but as the actual service was partial, and we do not pretend to enter into a detailed account of the whole campaigns, we shall only refer to the occasions on which they came in contact with the enemy.
We have already mentioned that the galloper-guns of the cavalry regiments were incorporated into troops of horse artillery; the gallopers of two regiments employed on the Nerbudda were formed into a troop under Lieutenant G. Blake, and, with a squadron of native cavalry, detached by Colonel Adams to Nagpoor on the first news of the expected attack on the residency, to share in the noble defence of Seetabuldee; they arrived too late, but they joined Brigadier Doveton’s force on the 16th December, and were employed in the action fought against the Arabs, who formed the chief strength of the Nagpoor army.
In the battle of Mahidpoor, fought by Sir T. Hyslop’s army on the 21st December against Holkar and the Peshwah’s forces, one Bengal Artillery officer was present—Lieutenant Sotheby, commanding the golundaz company of the Russell brigade.
Major-General Brown was detached with a column from the grand army against Jawud, and on the 20th January, 1818, attacked the troops of Holkar, drawn up under the walls, and drove them into the fort by a charge of cavalry, supported by a fire of shrapnell from two guns of the 2nd troop horse artillery under Lieutenant Mathison,[[72]] silencing the enemy’s guns. This success was followed up by an immediate attack; the guns of Captain Biggs’s native troop were drawn up on the right and left to destroy the defences of the entrance, while a 12–pounder, under Mathison, was dragged up by the European artillery and pioneers to blow open the gate, and which was not effected until the third round, during which time the party were exposed to a heavy and galling fire.