2nd Lieut. Todd,
2nd Lieut. Sage.
The trains and stores were collected at Agra and Muttra, and started, in two divisions, on the 9th December. On the 17th they were united before Bhurtpoor, and the grand park formed. The cavalry and horse artillery had preceded the army and secured the bund of the lake, just as the enemy were about to cut it, to flood the ditch of the fortress.
The laboratory tents were pitched on the 16th, and the preparation of the platforms and stores commenced upon. On the 23rd, the first battery was armed, and it opened its fire on the 24th; daily the approaches, parallels, and batteries were extended, under a fire from the enemy always hot, and generally well directed. In addition to breaching-batteries, a mine was driven under the N.E. bastion, and sprung, but without effect, on the 7th January, the charge being too small. The gun breach was by this time practicable, and Lieutenant-Colonel Stark and his adjutant ascended it; the firing was directed to be continued, to improve it, but the shot buried themselves, pounding the earth into fine dust. On the 9th a depôt of ammunition, formed to supply the batteries, was blown up by a shot from the enemy passing through a tumbril; the whole was consumed with a fearful explosion; but although the enemy kept up a heavy fire all night, from every gun which would bear upon the spot, clearly indicated by the burning stores, the casualties were few. A mine was sprung in the counterscarp opposite the gun breach, making the descent into the ditch easy. On the 12th, a mine was commenced under the long-necked bastion; it was ready and loaded by the 18th January, and the firing it was to be the signal for the assault. A heavy fire was kept up from all the batteries on the morning of the 18th; the mine was sprung, and scarcely had the heavy mass of dust and smoke cleared away, when the columns moved out to the assault and were shortly in possession of the place.
The artillery casualties in this siege were remarkably few; the labours undergone by both officers and men in the batteries for twenty-six days were extreme, but borne with the utmost cheerfulness and good temper. The ammunition expended was,
| 24–pounder round shot | 18,331 |
| 24–pounder shrapnell | 345 |
| 24–pounder case | 639 |
| 18–pounder round shot | 22,533 |
| 18–pounder shrapnell | 524 |
| 18–pounder case | 391 |
| Shells, 13–inch | 236 |
| Shells, 10–inch | 4,506 |
| Shells, 8–inch | 13,720 |
| Shells, 8–inch shrapnell | 119 |
| Grand Total | 61,446 |
The average rate of firing was forty-eight rounds per gun, and twelve per mortar per diem; the greatest, 142 and 20. Nine 24–pounders, sixteen 18–pounders, one 10–inch and seven 8–inch mortars, were rendered unserviceable, and the carriages of six 8–inch (brass) howitzers broke down during the siege.[[82]]
General Orders of the Commander-in-Chief:—“To Brigadier MacLeod, C.B., in the general command of the artillery, and Brigadiers Hetzler and Brown, commanding the siege and field artillery respectively, the Commander-in-Chief feels greatly indebted for their highly creditable exertions, as, also, to the whole of the officers and men of the artillery, for the excellent display of scientific correctness in the batteries, as well as for their commendable endurance of fatigue which the nature of the service necessarily exposed them to.”
The Commandant issued the following regimental order:—“The Commandant begs to offer to officers and men of that part of the regiment engaged in the field under his more immediate command his best thanks for their conduct and exertions during the siege, which have, in General Orders to-day published, obtained the approbation of the Right Honourable the Commander-in-Chief; and to Brigadiers Hetzler, C.B., and C. Brown, he has more especially to tender his acknowledgments for the assistance he has derived from them in their respective commands.”
“To Captain Tennant, the assistant adjutant-general of the arm, he feels much indebted for his able assistance on this and many other occasions, for which he is entitled to his warmest acknowledgments and thanks. To Lieutenant Dashwood, his aide-de-camp, he also tenders his best thanks for his conspicuously useful exertions.”