1781.
Upon the 17th January the army, being reassembled, took the field under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Eyre Coote. At this time the strength of the regiment did not exceed 500 men, and was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel James Craufurd, this officer having succeeded Lord McLeod, who relinquished his command, and returned to England, having, it is said, differed in opinion with General Munro on the subject of his movements. Hyder Ali was in the Tanjore country committing every species of outrage and devastation.
On the 1st June, 1781, Colonel Lord McLeod received the local rank of Major-General in the East Indies. In June Sir Eyre Coote moved his force southwards along the coast towards Cuddalore, where his outposts were attacked by Tippoo Saïb, who was repulsed. He afterwards moved to Chillumborem, upon the Coleroon, where the enemy had a large magazine of grain. The Pagoda was attacked by the pickets under Major John Shaw, Seventy-third Highlanders, but they were repulsed and that officer wounded.
Hyder Ali, apprehensive for the safety of Chillumborem, moved his army in that direction from Tanjore and Trichinopoly, whilst Lieutenant-General Sir Eyre Coote, with the view of obtaining supplies from the shipping, proceeded towards Cuddalore. By forced marches and manœuvres, however, Hyder Ali succeeded in nearly surrounding the latter on the plains of Porto Novo, about two days’ march south of Cuddalore.
About 4 a.m. on the 1st of July, the enemy, whose force was computed at 25 battalions of infantry, 400 Europeans, 45,000 horse, and above 100,000 matchlock-men, peons, and polygars, with 47 pieces of cannon, was seen to draw up in line-of-battle. The British force did not exceed 8,000 men, of which the Seventy-third was the only European regiment. Notwithstanding this immense disparity of force, Sir Eyre Coote determined to attack the enemy, and drew up his army in two lines, the first, of which the Seventy-third Highlanders formed a part, being commanded by Major-General Sir Hector Munro, the second by Major-General James Stuart. A plain divided the two armies, beyond which the enemy was drawn up on ground strengthened by front and flanking redoubts and batteries. The action commenced by an advanced movement of the English troops, and after eight hours’ hard fighting the enemy was forced from all his intrenchments and compelled to retire. The Seventy-third was on the right of the first line, and led all the attacks to the full approbation of the general commanding. His attention was particularly attracted by one of the pipers, who always blew up more heartily the heavier the fire became. This so pleased the general that he cried out “Well done my brave fellow, you shall have a pair of silver pipes for this!” The promise was not forgotten, for a handsome pair of pipes was presented to the regiment, with an appropriate inscription bearing testimony to the general’s esteem for its conduct and character. Meer Saïb, Hyder Ali’s favourite general, was mortally wounded in this action, and amongst the 4,000 killed were many of his principal officers.
The results of this battle enabled Sir Eyre Coote to reach Cuddalore, his point of destination, on the 4th July, and soon afterwards the army was moved to St. Thomas’s Mount. On the 3rd August the force from Bengal under the orders of Colonel Pearse, arrived and formed a junction with Sir Eyre Coote’s army at Pulicat, to which place the army had moved to facilitate that object. The British force now amounted to 12,000 men; the 1st Brigade, composed entirely of Europeans, was commanded by Colonel Craufurd, Seventy-third Highlanders, and had its station generally in the centre of the line. Major-General Sir Hector Munro commanded the right wing, and Colonel Pearse the left. About this period died Major James Mackenzie, universally regretted by the regiment. His exertions in the early part of the campaign had brought on an illness, which terminated his valuable life.
On the 16th August the preparations which had been actively carried on for the siege of Arcot and the relief of Vellore being completed, the army was put in motion. On the 20th Tripassoor was retaken, and a large supply of grain found there. Hyder Ali’s camp was now at Conjeveram, and every exertion was made by his detachments to check the progress of the troops. On the 27th August, the enemy was found drawn up in order of battle upon the very ground which had witnessed Colonel Baillie’s defeat, a position which Hyder Ali’s religious notions induced him to consider fortunate. Here he had determined to try the issue of a second general action, the result of which will be best told by the following extract from General Meadows’ despatch:—
“Hyder thought proper to fall back a few miles to the ground on which he had defeated the detachment under Colonel Baillie, where he took up a strong position, and, influenced by a superstitious notion of its being a lucky spot, had determined, as I was informed by my intelligence, to try his fortune in a second battle. I accordingly marched on the 27th, in the morning, towards him, and, as reported, about 8 o’clock we discovered his army in order of battle and in full force to receive us, and in possession of many strong and advantageous posts, rendered the more formidable by the nature of the country lying between, which was intersected by very deep watercourses; in short, nothing could be more formidable than the situation of the enemy, and nothing more arduous than our approach to present a front to them. I was obliged to form the line under a heavy cannonade from several batteries, as well as from the enemy’s line, which galled us exceedingly, and was a very trying situation for the troops, who bore it with firmness and undaunted bravery, which did draw the highest honour and showed a steady valour not to be surpassed by the first veterans of any nation in Europe. The conflict lasted from nine in the morning till near sunset, when we had driven the enemy from all their strong posts, and obliged them to retreat with precipitation, leaving us in full possession of the field of battle.” The loss of the British was upwards of 400 killed and wounded, almost all being native troops.
There was one circumstance peculiar to this field of battle, which stamped it with aggravated horrors. It is described by Captain Munro in his narrative as follows:—
“Perhaps there come not within the wide range of human imagination scenes more affecting or circumstances more touching than many of our army had that day to witness and to bear. On the very spot where they stood lay strewed amongst their feet the relics of their dearest fellow-soldiers and friends, who near twelve months before had been slain by the hands of those very inhuman monsters that now appeared a second time eager to complete the work of blood. One poor soldier, with the tear of affection glistening in his eye, picked up the decaying spatterdash of his valued brother, with the name yet entire upon it, which the tinge of blood and effects of weather had kindly spared.... The scattered clothes and wings of the flank companies were everywhere perceptible, as also their helmets and skulls, both of which bore the marks of many furrowed cuts.”