Both breaches were carried without much resistance from the enemy, and the gateway of the inner wall being soon secured, the fort fell into the possession of the British. Many of the enemy were killed, and several, in attempting to escape, were dashed to pieces over the precipices. It was an additional source of gratification, that this important service had been achieved without the loss of a British soldier.
In a few days subsequently to the fall of Nundydroog, the army retraced its route to Bangalore.
On the 4th of December the troops were again put in movement, directing their march towards Savendroog, a fortress situated on the side of a mountain, environed by almost inaccessible rocks. The fort being reconnoitred, a detachment under Lieut.-Colonel James Stuart, of the Seventy-second regiment, was selected, and ordered to reduce the place. On the 17th the British were enabled to open upon the fort a battery of six eighteen-pounders and three twelve-pounders, with considerable effect.
The flank companies of the Seventy-first and seventy-sixth regiments joined the detachment under Lieut.-Colonel Stuart on the 20th of December, and on the following day the flank companies of the fifty-second, Seventy-first, seventy-second, and seventy-sixth, were selected for the attack upon Savendroog (in which a practicable breach had been effected), and formed under Lieut.-Colonel Colebrook Nesbitt, of the fifty-second regiment.
The storming party, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Nesbitt, was directed to four different attacks. Captain James Gage, with the grenadiers of the fifty-second and flank companies of the seventy-sixth regiment, to gain the eastern hill to the left; Captain the Honorable William Monson, with the light company of the fifty-second, to scour the works towards the western hill on the right; Captain the Honorable John Lindsay and Captain James Robertson, with the flank companies of the Seventy-first, to separate, and attack the works or parties they might discover in the chasm or hollow between the hills; the fifty-second and seventy-second regiments were to follow the flank companies; parties were detached under Lieut.-Colonel Baird and Major Petrie round the mountain, to draw the attention of the enemy from the main object, and to endeavour to prevent his escape.
At eleven o’clock in the morning of the 21st of December, on a signal of two guns being fired from the batteries, the flank companies, in the order described, followed by the fifty-second and seventy-second regiments, advanced to the assault; the band of the fifty-second playing “Britons, strike home!” while the grenadiers and light infantry mounted the breach.
Immediate success followed the attempt, the fort being carried without the loss of a man. The troops were thanked in general orders for their gallant conduct, in which it was stated,—
“Lord Cornwallis thinks himself fortunate, almost beyond example, in having acquired by assault a fortress of so much strength and reputation, and of such inestimable value to the public interest, as Savendroog,[15] without having to regret the loss of a single soldier.”
In the course of a short time afterwards, the following places surrendered, with trifling loss, to detachments of the British army; namely, Outredroog, Ram Gurry, and Sheria Gurry.