The army returned to Coimbetore on the 23rd of September, when the flank companies rejoined the regiment; and Lieut.-Colonel Stuart, having captured and garrisoned Palacatcherry, arrived on the 26th of that month.
Disappointed in his object of destroying the divisions of the British army in detail, the Sultan resolved to attack the chain of depôts; he gained possession of Erroad, and the stores at that place, and afterwards marched southwards. The English army advanced from Coimbetore on the 29th of September, and, arriving at Erroad on the 4th of October, found the place abandoned, and Tippoo’s army gone. He had marched in the direction of Coimbetore, but, hearing that the garrison was augmented, he advanced rapidly upon Daraporam, of which he gained possession on the 2nd of October.
The British army marched in search of the Sultan, traversing extensive tracts of country, and undergoing much fatigue under an Indian sun. In these services the SEVENTY-SECOND Highlanders preserved a high state of discipline and efficiency. Lieut. Campbell of the regiment stated in his journal, “We perform our journeys with ease and comfort; marching is become familiar and agreeable to us.” In the middle of November the army traversed the difficult pass of Tapoor, winding through deep valleys, and dragging the guns over precipices. On emerging from the pass, Tippoo’s camp was seen at a distance; it was supposed to be that of the Bengal division, under Colonel Maxwell, and three guns were fired as a signal, when the Sultan struck his tents and made a precipitate retreat. Colonel Maxwell’s division joined two days afterwards, and the seventy-first, SEVENTY-SECOND, and seventy-fourth regiments were formed in brigade under Lieut.-Colonel Clarke, with six twelve-pounder and six six-pounder guns attached to them.
The Sultan resolved to leave the British army in his own country, and to invade the Carnatic, which would bring the English back for the defence of Trichinopoly. Major-General Medows was about to carry offensive plans into execution, when the movements of Tippoo rendered it necessary to return to the Carnatic, and the army arrived at the vicinity of Trichinopoly in the middle of December. The Sultan’s success was limited to devastations and the capture of a few posts; he was pursued as far as Trincomalee; the British army afterwards turned off to Arnee, where the SEVENTY-SECOND regiment arrived on the 12th January, 1791, and was encamped several days.
1791
General Charles Earl Cornwallis, K.G., assumed the command of the army, and some alteration was made in the disposition of the troops; the SEVENTY-SECOND Highlanders, commanded by Captain Frazer, continued to form, with the seventy-first and seventy-fourth regiments, the second European brigade, under Lieut.-Colonel Clarke, in the left wing of the army: Lieut.-Colonel Stuart, of the SEVENTY-SECOND, commanded the right wing. The army advanced to Vellore, where it arrived on the 11th of February, 1791. Tippoo was ready to oppose any attempt to penetrate into the country under his dominion by the easiest passes; but Earl Cornwallis contrived the appearance of a march towards Amboor, which completely imposed upon the Sultan, and then turning suddenly to the north, traversed the difficult pass of Mooglee, without the enemy having power to offer the least obstruction, and arrived on the 20th of February on the table-land of the Mysore. On the 22nd of February the troops commenced their march towards the strong fortress of Bangalore, where Tippoo had built a splendid palace, with extensive gardens; and the safety of his harem, &c., so engrossed his attention, that he marched with his army to accomplish the removal of his women and valuables from the palace, and left the English at liberty to continue their march unmolested, until they arrived within ten miles of the town. He made an attempt on the baggage on the 5th of March, but was frustrated, on which occasion the SEVENTY-SECOND Highlanders had a few men wounded: in the evening the army took up a position before the town.
On the 7th of March the pettah was stormed by the thirty-sixth regiment, supported by the third brigade of sepoys; and the siege of Bangalore was immediately commenced. During the night, the SEVENTY-SECOND Highlanders were posted under the outer pettah wall, close to the gate. “The enemy kept up a sharp fire; their shots, which were many of them thirty-two pounders, came very close to the regiment, making a great rattling in the trees and bamboo hedge, near the line; but no casualties occurred.”[11]
On the evening of the 10th of March, the regiment was on duty in the trenches, the grenadier company taking the advance post, and many of the men of the other companies working at the batteries; it was relieved on the evening of the 12th.
During the night of the 15th of March, the troops were ordered under arms, in consequence of circumstances indicating the approach of Tippoo’s army; a flight of rockets came into the camp, and the grenadiers of the SEVENTY-SECOND rushed towards the spot from whence the rockets came; but the Mysoreans fled without waiting the attack. At five o’clock on the following evening the regiment marched into the pettah, and relieved the thirty-sixth on duty in the trenches. Soon after midnight a crowd of Mysorean musketeers entered the thick jungle near the pettah, and commenced a sharp fire; the SEVENTY-SECOND formed behind a mud wall expecting their post to be stormed every moment by thousands of enemies, whom they were prepared to receive with fixed bayonets: but the Mysoreans did not venture on so desperate an enterprise; many of the soldiers’ bayonets were hit by bullets, but not one man injured. On the evening of the 18th the regiment was relieved and returned to camp.