This place having been accounted by the natives of the Kattawar as impregnable, its early reduction, with the cool and steady valour by which it was carried, filled with astonishment and admiration the several vakeels of the different chieftains, who were in attendance on Lieut.-Colonel Walker, and afforded them proof of the irresistible effects of British discipline, skill, and prowess. This afterwards operated beneficially in producing the organization of so rude and uncivilized a tract of country, as the greater part of the peninsula of Guzerat then was.
In the general orders issued on this occasion, it was stated:—“To Captain D. Daly, the officers and men of the Fifty-sixth Regiment, the commanding officer returns his particular acknowledgments; they have nobly supported the reputation of the senior battalion, in all the characteristics of good soldiers.” ... “The commanding officer cannot omit the expression of his warmest acknowledgments to Captain Arnot, of the Fifty-sixth Regiment, for his exertions at the erection of the batteries, and for his conduct at the storm; and it would be injustice to withhold his thanks to Lieutenant Newman, for his spirited support of Captain McKenzie in the advanced party.”
The casualties, amounting to eighty-two killed and wounded, prove the arduous nature of the enterprise; and of this number the Fifty-sixth Regiment had six rank and file killed; Captain Arnot, and twelve rank and file wounded. In December the troops were ordered to return to their former stations, and the detachment of the Fifty-sixth rejoined the head-quarters of the second battalion at Barachie.
Meanwhile the party of the first battalion at the Isle of Roderigue had sailed from thence with the forces under Lieut.-Colonel Keating, to co-operate with the British navy in blockading the Isles of France and Bourbon, and in attacking the enemy’s ports. At five o’clock on the morning of the 21st of September, six hundred men landed in three columns, seven miles from the port of St. Paul’s, in the Isle of Bourbon, then called by the French the Isle of Bonaparte, and by a forced march crossed a causeway extending over the lake, before the enemy discovered their disembarkation or approach to the town; they also passed the enemy’s strongest position by seven o’clock, and gained possession of two batteries before the enemy could form in force. Captain Imlack, of the Bombay Native Infantry, was detached with one hundred and fifty men to take possession of a third battery; and on his way he encountered the French forces, concentrated behind a stone wall, with eight field-pieces on their flanks. This post was instantly attacked in a most gallant manner; Captain Hanna of the Fifty-sixth Regiment arrived with the third column, and charging, captured two guns; and Captain Forbes, of the Fifty-sixth Regiment, advancing with the reserve, the enemy was compelled to retreat with the loss of his artillery. A few men were detached in pursuit; two additional batteries were captured, and by half-past eight o’clock the town, batteries, magazines, eight brass field-pieces, and one hundred and seventeen new iron guns, were in possession of the British troops: at the same time the enemy’s shipping were forced to surrender to the British naval force. Thus was accomplished a most brilliant exploit, in a few hours, and it reflected great credit on the commanding officer, Lieut.-Colonel Keating, of the Fifty-sixth, and on all the troops engaged. The loss of the regiment was one serjeant, and five rank and file killed; one serjeant and twenty-six rank and file wounded.
The town being commanded by the British naval force, the troops returned on board the fleet; part of the enemy’s stores and the guns were destroyed; the remainder were embarked on board the company’s recaptured ship Streatham, which, with the Europe, were placed under their former commanders. In October the troops sailed for the Isle of Roderigue. The conduct of Ensign Pearce, of the Fifty-sixth Regiment, was highly commended in the public despatch of Lieut.-Colonel Keating.
In the beginning of this year, a detachment of the regiment, under Lieutenant John Elliot Cairnes, performed duty as marines, in the Indian Sea, on board of His Majesty’s ship Psyche, which was engaged in the war with the Rajah of Travancore, who governed a populous province at the south-west extremity of Hindoostan. This province was indebted for its independence to the valour of British troops, who rescued it from the power of Tippoo Sultan, when the forces of the Mysore had overrun the country, in 1790; and in 1795 a treaty of alliance was concluded with the rajah, who engaged to subsidize three battalions of British Sepoys for the defence of his dominions. Some disputes arising from the payments to be made in consequence of this treaty, produced war; the British Sepoys stationed at Quilon were menaced with annihilation; the house of the resident, Colonel C. Macauly, at Cochin, was attacked; and the Twelfth and Nineteenth British regiments were suddenly ordered to the scene of contest. A detachment of the Fifty-sixth, on board the Piedmontaise frigate, were employed in services connected with the safety of the troops at Quilon, and the preservation of the life of the British resident. This frigate cannonaded the port of Aleppi, where a party of the Twelfth Foot had been treacherously seized, their wrists broken with a heavy piece of iron, their hands tied behind them, and after lying several days in a dungeon, were precipitated from a rock into the sea. This detachment of the Fifty-sixth landed at Quilon, under Lieutenant Warren, to co-operate in the preservation of the life of the British resident, who had escaped from Cochin. The services of the detachment under Lieutenant Cairnes, on board of the Psyche, were connected with the operations of the army under Brigadier-General the Honorable A. St. Leger; and under the cover of the frigate’s broadside, the soldiers of the regiment stormed and captured a strong battery, commanding Colatchi Bay; thus co-operating in the capture of Travandrum, the capital, which reduced the refractory Rajah of Travancore to submission.
Measures for enforcing a system of economy, having interfered with the emoluments which British officers in the command of native regiments had been accustomed to receive, from the contract for supplying their corps with camp equipment, the civil and military authorities of Madras became opposed to each other; from this misunderstanding resulted serious disaffection and disobedience of orders in the native army; and the head-quarters and companies of the first battalion of the Fifty-sixth at Bombay, were suddenly ordered to Madras. They embarked on board the Cornwallis frigate and two transports, on the 30th of July, under secret orders, and landed at Madras on the 11th of August, before any disclosure of the approach of this reinforcement had reached the army of that presidency. The governor addressed a communication to the regiment on this occasion, in which he stated he felt—“particular satisfaction that the selection for this delicate service had fallen to the first battalion of the Fifty-sixth Regiment, whose distinguished and characteristic zeal for the maintenance of professional subordination to the authority of legal government, must so powerfully tend to recall the misguided to a sense of their duty.”
The regiment proceeded to the Marmalong camp immediately, and after the return of the native corps to their duty, it received the thanks of the Governor in Council, in general orders,—“for the manner in which His Majesty’s officers and soldiers, who rallied round the cause of government, loyalty, and duty, conducted themselves.” In October the battalion proceeded to Bellary.
1810