Having abundance of spare time while preparations were making for a second attack on the fort, Lord Lake determined to disturb Holkar in his hiding-place; for which purpose a party of infantry was dispatched with about four six-pounders. We soon came within sight of him, sheltered a good deal from his view by high trees and jungle. The fort, observing our manœuvres, commenced a heavy cannonade. Holkar, alarmed, got on the move and made towards Futtypore Seccrah, one of his old haunts. Once from under the walls of the fort, our cavalry soon put his troops to flight; immense numbers were killed, and elephants, horses, camels, spears, matchlocks, colours, &c., were brought into camp. Holkar's best elephant was that day taken, and some little treasure was found on camels. Notwithstanding this routing, however, they took up their old ground, and we returned to camp, with some few men killed and wounded. This skirmish, instead of decreasing their impudence, seemed only to increase it; for they were day and night hovering round our piquets, the object of which was to take our attention from their main body, who had been dispatched to intercept a small detachment that was on the way to join us, from Muttra. Our spies soon brought intelligence of this, and, in little more than ten minutes after, three regiments of dragoons were on the move to rescue them, and arrived just in time to save our stores and the lives of the little party. Holkar commanded in person on this occasion; and it was reported that he was killed, though this proved afterwards to be false. A reward was offered for his head, and a great number were tendered, but none belonged to one-eyed Holkar. It is true, heads were produced without an eye, but the phiz of that notorious Pin was too well known to Chiggram (our best spy) to admit of our being imposed on.
My wounds at this time were nearly well; and, having been unsuccessful in the first forlorn hope which I led, I volunteered to lead the second. One night, previous to the time appointed for the second attack, I sauntered to a retired spot, far from the observation of my comrades, to muse over the prospect then immediately before me, and to ask His aid who alone has the power to protect us. Scarcely had I entered a wood about one hundred yards from the trenches, when my attention was arrested by a soldier on his knees, fervently supplicating the aid of Almighty God in the coming storm. The moment he heard my footstep, he suddenly arose, and, seeming ashamed of the way in which he was engaged, he said, "Who's that?" I answered, "Sergeant Shipp; who are you?" He replied, "Private Murphy."—"Murphy!" I repeated; "is it possible that such a blasphemer as you, who, day after day, and hour after hour, boast your own infamy in a wanton disbelief and contempt of every quality that can constitute the man and the Christian, and who, no later than yesternight, solemnly protested before your comrades, that you firmly believed there was no place of punishment save a man's own conscience, and that hell was merely a name to frighten and intimidate schoolboys—can it be possible," continued I, "that you have at this late hour retired to this lonely place, and are found in the act of prayer?"—"Shipp," he replied, in a softer tone, and in nearly the following words, "whatever men may boast or say in their deluded and more irrational moments, there is a period when all those blasphemous expressions rush across the human mind, and the recollection of having uttered them leaves an inconceivable pressure on the humbled heart; but I pray you, do not expose me to my comrades, or I shall become their jeer and ridicule. I beg this as a favour."—"What!" said I, "more afraid of the derision of men, than the wrath of an offended God?"—"No, no," replied he; "but you know how religious soldiers are held in derision by some of our comrades."—"Well," I said, "I shall keep your secret, and you may confidently trust me on this subject; I will promise you most solemnly that I will never join in the laugh against you, and, if you have not finished, I shall be gratified in joining you in prayer, as I have rebuked you for your profligacy." He affectionately seized my hand, and pulled me toward the earth.
On the following day this poor fellow was summoned to his last account; and who knows but this single act of faith and devotion might have saved his immortal soul?
Two o'clock in the afternoon of the 20th of January, 1805, was arranged for the second storming of Bhurtpore. To prevent any obstruction by the trench, which was supposed to be at this part deep and wide, a bridge of bamboos was made, that would admit of three file a-breast. This bridge could be thrown a considerable distance by a hundred men, and was supported by ghee dubbahs (skins) in which the natives keep oil and butter for exportation; which, when dried, are light, and will bear a considerable weight before you can sink them. Elephants and camels were also laden with tents, and hackeries, or carts drawn by bullocks, with bales of cotton, all to fill up the ditch, to enable us to cross to the breach.
I once more took my station with my twelve volunteers, supported by my two companies as before. A shell from one of the howitzers was a signal to move. On this signal being given, the shell, bursting in the muzzle of the gun or mortar, killed two of our grenadiers—a sad beginning. The bridge followed the forlorn hope, carried on men's shoulders, and must have appeared some extraordinary monster to those who were not acquainted with its intended use. We moved on; and, before I got half way down to the fort, six of my men were killed or wounded. The enemy, no doubt encouraged by our late defeat, had redoubled their fire, both in guns and men; and on the right side of the breach they had thrown out an underwork, which was filled with matchlock-men, and in which they had several guns. My men kept falling off one by one; and when I arrived at the edge of the ditch, which appeared wide and deep, and was assisting the men with the bridge, I received a matchlock ball, which entered over the right eye, and passed out over the left. This tumbled me, my forehead literally hanging over my nose, and the wound bleeding profusely. I was at this time close to our gallant Captain Lindsay, who, at the same moment, received a ginjall ball[10] in the right knee, which shattered the bone to pieces. I recovered a little from the stun of my wound, when, the first thing that met my eye—for I could only see with one—was the bamboo bridge quietly gliding down the stream, being some yards too short. Nothing but killed and wounded could be seen, and there was not the most distant chance of getting in. To have attempted crossing the ditch would have been an act of madness. In descending we must have plunged over our heads in water; and they had two small guns bearing on the spot. At last a retreat was ordered. Previous to this, our poor fellows stood like sheep to be shot at, without the remotest hope of success. The camels and elephants, alarmed by the tremendous firing and shouting, could not be induced to approach the fort, many of them throwing their loads and running back to camp, and wild into the woods. Seven hundred men were killed and wounded on this occasion. Our brave Captain Lindsay's wound was so bad that his leg was amputated in the battery. My wound was a dangerous one, having touched the bone. I was immediately sent home to camp, where I lay completely blind for several days. This, added to our disastrous defeat, threw me into a fever, and nearly cost me my life; but, with the aid of a kind Providence, and the advantage of a strong and unimpaired constitution, I soon recovered.
Our engineer now gave up this side of the fort as perfectly hopeless, and we went more to the eastward, breaching a prominent bastion; but the whole fort was so constructed that one part protected the others; and therefore, wherever we breached we were sure of a destructive cross-fire. From our melancholy failures, our poor fellows became disheartened; scarcely a man had escaped without being wounded, and the sad recollection of their poor comrades that were left behind in a mutilated state, was the constant topic of conversation. Our mortification was greatly increased by seeing our men's clothing paraded on the ramparts, and worn by the miscreants in the fort. However, we still lived in the fond hope that our next effort would prove more successful.
I could again go abroad, although my wound was by no means healed. It was now truly distressing to enter our men's tents, where, but a month before, the merry joke went round, and mirth and hilarity prevailed. Naught but gloomy faces, and even them but few, were to be seen: some had lost brothers; others, dear comrades; Captain Lindsay had lost his leg; Lieutenant Creswell had been cut to pieces; and every other officer was wounded. Our loss in killed and wounded in the two assaults, in our two companies alone, was nearly the one half of the total number.
After the storm, our breaching-guns were again sent to the park to be re-bushed. This was a seasonable pause to enable us to recruit our shattered frames and spirits; but it also gave the enemy an opportunity of repairing and reinforcing every point of attack.
On the 18th of February things began to wear a more enlivening appearance. The breached bastion seemed to bow its haughty head to our roaring guns, and the 20th was talked of as the day for storming it. Our last disastrous repulse was scarcely eradicated from our minds; the massacre of our brave comrades was still alive in our memories; but the fond hope of retaliation—I do not mean in cutting up a poor defenceless creature, not a single instance of which can, in the long course of our wars, be brought against the Company's army—spirited us up, and we looked forward to the time when we might drag the garments of our murdered comrades from the backs of the vaunting foe. They were now daily and hourly exhibiting to our view the number of muskets they had taken; our ammunition which had fallen into their hands was now turned against ourselves; as also our cannon-shot, which they had picked out of the two old breaches. We again possessed our wonted spirits and cheerfulness, and made preparation to retrieve the British character. The patient conduct and intrepid gallantry of our officers and soldiers when in the hour of their utmost distress, from repeated defeats, did not pass unnoticed by the enemy; and it is not improbable that the resolution and heroism then displayed by the troops were the means of facilitating that long friendship which afterwards subsisted between the rajah of Bhurtpore and the Company.
The day appointed (20th of February) arrived, and was ushered in with a new and unexpected scene. About four hundred men from the fort, emboldened, no doubt, by our tardiness, and the repeated defeats which our troops had experienced, rushed out upon us just as we were relieving trenches, and actually reached and had possession of our batteries and trenches before we could return. Every one of these men was in a state of intoxication, and fought desperately; but we soon drove them from the batteries; then, turning our guns against them, dreadful was the carnage. The fort fired indiscriminately at the whole party. These fellows were, no doubt, a set of vagabonds they wished to get rid of; and, if this was the case, their wish was fully realized, for a very few returned to tell the tale. This was the kind of retaliation we sighed for; but we lost a considerable number of men, killed and wounded, in this affray; but these they had not the barbarous gratification of cutting up. Their wounded men left within our reach were sent to the native hospitals, and every comfort administered to them. They were in the same wards with our wounded men, where friendship presided instead of murder. Had the war been between native and native, the cruelties would have been equal on both sides.