Lieutenant Colonel Maxwell’s splendid service was fittingly recognized by the East India Company, who granted a pension of £300 to his widow, “although we find that there is no example of the Company’s making any allowance to the widow of a King’s Officer.”[51]
“As long as the word Assaye exists, and has a meaning will the valiant deeds and reckless bravery of the old 19th Light Dragoons the 74th and 78th Highlanders be remembered.”[52]
In his dispatch to the Governor General, dated the day after the battle, Wellesley wrote: “I have also to draw your Excellency’s notice to the conduct of the Cavalry commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Maxwell, particularly that of the 19th Dragoons”: and, in a General Order published in Calcutta on the 30th October, it was said, “The Governor General in Council has remarked with great satisfaction the gallant and skilful conduct of the Cavalry, commanded by Lt. Colonel Maxwell and particularly of His Majesty’s nineteenth regiment of Light Dragoons, a corps distinguished in India by a long and uninterrupted course of arduous service and of progressive honour.” Honorary colours in commemoration of the battle were granted to the 19th Light Dragoons, the 74th and 78th “to be used by those corps while they shall continue in India, or until His Majesty’s most gracious pleasure be signified through his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief.”
The damage inflicted on the Mahratta host was far in excess of that indicated by their loss in men and material. Many of the disciplined battalions had been destroyed, and hearty co-operation between the leaders was at an end. They fled northwards through the Ajunta Pass, abandoning some guns which were afterwards picked up by Stevenson, and then separated. Scindia, who believed that he had not been loyally supported by the Berar Rajah, retreated to Thalnair in Khandesh; the Berar Rajah retired to his fortress at Gawilghur, while five battalions belonging to the Begum Somroo, four of which had been employed to guard the Mahratta camp, and therefore took no part in the action, retreated to Burhanpore, whence they made their way back to Sirdhana in the North West, and took no further part in the campaign.
The sound of Wellesley’s guns at Assaye was heard by Stevenson, who at once broke up camp and attempted to join him; but being without information, and misled by his guides, he marched first on Bokerdun, which he did not reach till next day, being entangled in a nullah during the night. His force was greatly harassed by night marching and want of rest, so that he did not join Wellesley till the evening of the 24th. All the 25th he remained at Assaye, in order that his surgeons might assist the wounded, and, on the 26th, marched in pursuit of the enemy. Wellesley remained encamped near the field of battle till the 8th October, to make arrangements for the care of his numerous wounded, and for the captured guns and stores. Nor was there urgent necessity for an immediate move, till something was known of the movements of the enemy. The General’s first movements after the battle were in the direction of Aurungabad, as Scindia showed an intention of marching on Poona. Then, learning that Scindia had turned back towards Burhanpore, on which place Stevenson was advancing, Wellesley turned northwards to Ajunta. Stevenson meanwhile had occupied Burhanpore on the 15th, and attacked the fortress of Asseerghur, which surrendered on the 21st. Wellesley, hearing that Scindia and the Berar Rajah had joined forces again, and were threatening Stevenson, descended the Ajunta Pass on the 18th, and moved northwards; but, on receiving news that Asseerghur had fallen, and that the confederates had again separated, he retraced his steps, ascended the Pass on the 25th, and marched to Aurungabad to protect some convoys which were threatened by the Berar Rajah. From Aurungabad he made several attempts to surprise the Bhonslay’s camp without success, although he forced him to move his camp five times between the 29th and the 31st.
Wellesley continued moving slowly eastwards, to cover the Nizam’s territory, till the 11th November, when he struck northwards from Patree to Rajoora, which he reached on the 23rd. For some days, Scindia, under the influence of his defeat at Assaye in conjunction with bad news from his forces in the North West, had made overtures for a cessation of hostilities, and, on the 23rd, an armistice was agreed on; the principal condition of which was that Scindia should separate himself from the Berar Rajah, and take up a position fifty miles east of Ellichpore.
The agreement was not however faithfully observed by Scindia, some of whose troops took part in the subsequent battle. The Berar Rajah, meanwhile, had entered his own territories, and was encamped at Argaum. On the 27th, Wellesley reached Akola, and, about 2 o’clock in the afternoon on the 29th, he joined Stevenson at Parterly, for the purpose of undertaking the siege of Gawilghur with their united forces.
The Berar Rajah, who was encamped at Argaum about six miles from Parterly, had meanwhile opened negotiations with Stevenson for a suspension of hostilities, so preparations were made for encamping at Parterly. On putting out the picquets to take up the ground, they were molested by parties of the enemy, and, a reconnoissance showed the Mahratta army drawn up in battle array, on an extensive plain in front of the village of Argaum. The troops were at once ordered to fall in, and the two divisions moved to the front in parallel columns. At about 1000 yards in front of the enemy was the village of Sirsoni. It was Wellesley’s intention to pass by the left of the village, and then, wheeling to the right, to form line in front of it, parallel with the Mahratta line of battle. The column was led by the native infantry picquets, accompanied by some field pieces drawn by bullocks, followed by two native infantry battalions, all of whom had taken part in the battle of Assaye. On the head of the column clearing the village, the Mahratta guns opened fire with great effect. The bullock drivers lost their presence of mind and the management of their cattle, which turned round and threw into confusion the ranks behind them. The troops coming up in rear, not knowing the cause of the confusion, and suffering from the cannonade, were seized with panic, and fell back in disorder, to seek shelter behind the village. Wellesley, who was close by, giving orders to the brigadiers, seeing what had happened,
“stepped out in front hoping by his presence to restore the confidence of the troops; but seeing that this did not produce the desired effect, he mounted his horse, and rode up to the retreating battalions; when, instead of losing his temper, upbraiding them and endeavouring to force them back to the spot from which they had fled, as most people would have done, he quietly ordered the officers to lead their men under cover of the village, and then to rally and get them into order as quickly as possible. This being done, he put the column again in motion, and leading these very same runaways round the other side of the village, formed them up on the very spot he originally intended them to occupy, the remainder of the column following and prolonging the line to the right.”[53]