The British were not able to do the enemy much injury, for the six-pounders scarcely reached his line; the slaughter among the draught cattle was very great, nearly two-thirds of them being killed. The Thirty-sixth had Lieutenant Dennis Kelly Armstrong and twenty-five men killed; Lieutenant John Vallancy and about forty men were wounded.
When the cannonade ceased, every assistance was given to the wounded; from the situation of the baggage and stores no refreshment could be procured for the men except a dram of arrack, the cattle carrying water for the men having been mostly killed, and the drivers fearing to come to the lines, water was much wanted. A council of war was held during the night, in which it was agreed to force a way through the enemy’s lines about three o’clock in the morning of the 14th of September, and join Major-General (afterwards Sir William) Medows, to whom information had been sent on the night of the 12th or morning of the 13th. Every endeavour was made to repair the two twelve-pounders, and settle the other guns so as to move; the want of cattle was so great that it was impossible to draw all the guns; the baggage was searched, and all the private draught bullocks that could be obtained were brought to the lines, but on trial would not move the guns. The necessary instructions were given for the march, which was to take place, from the left, in the following manner:—The grenadiers of the Thirty-sixth regiment to lead, provided with instruments for spiking the enemy’s guns; the Twenty-fifth Native battalion next, then the Fifth battalion; the battalion companies of the Thirty-sixth regiment; the Sixteenth and First Native battalions; the light company of the Thirty-sixth regiment in the rear. The cavalry were to march in a separate column on the left. The sixteenth battalion of sepoys was ordered to be withdrawn from the fort about twelve at night, but did not arrive until five, to which may be attributed the engagement on the 14th, as the troops would otherwise have been two hours’ march in advance of the enemy. It was only found possible to repair one of the twelve-pounders, and that with much exertion; upon collecting all the bullocks that could be obtained, the eighteen-pounder, two six-pounders, and two tumbrils were obliged to be left on the ground, besides the broken down twelve-pounder; one wheel of the eighteen-pounder had been much damaged, as was the timber, and one of the six-pounders; unfortunately the followers, the people with the baggage, and the wounded, who were moved behind one of the hills in the rear, being out of danger, were not properly informed of the intended march, and were left almost to the mercy of the enemy’s horse. The first they knew of the movement was seeing the line in motion, and every one then endeavoured to make the best of his way to it; some of the dooly-men ran off, as did most of the followers, leaving the sick and a great portion of the baggage on the ground; when it was sufficiently light, it was perceived that the enemy had left the position occupied by him during the night. The British line moved off about five o’clock, and was obliged to lift the guns on by hand, which caused the troops to get on very slowly. Before the ground had been well quitted, it was covered by the enemy’s troops, who could be seen cutting down every straggler they met; they came close on the rear, annoying it as much as they could; all the wounded and sick as were able to make their way to the line were placed on the guns, and such officers’ horses as could be found; in a short time the guns were laden with them as much as could by any method be placed on them, which much increased the difficulty of moving, the soldiers being chiefly obliged to drag the guns. The march was continued unmolested except by small parties of horse, until the troops arrived within about four miles of Shawoor, five miles from Sattimungulum. The country was very close, and there being but one road between two rugged hills, the British formed one column, the cavalry leading; these moving faster than the infantry had reached Shawoor, and were most of them dismounted collecting forage, when Tippoo’s forces were perceived on some rising ground on the right flank, gaining on the British with great rapidity. The centre of the line had just reached some rising ground, when the enemy opened two guns; the second shot killed and wounded four men of the Thirty-sixth regiment. The line kept still moving forward, the enemy closing on it in all directions, his cavalry making several charges in front, and particularly on the rear; some of his infantry had by this time got very close without being perceived, as the country was much intersected with hedges, and annoyed the line greatly with musketry and rockets, particularly the centre and rear. The line halted, and fronted the enemy. When the British musketry commenced, the enemy’s horse had formed completely round the troops, and were making constant charges at the line in all directions, several times coming close to the ranks; the most numerous attacks were on the rear flank; the light company of the Thirty-sixth was much pressed, and several were killed and wounded; this company continued the arduous conflict until the ammunition was expended, when charging with the bayonet Captain William Hartley of the Thirty-sixth was killed.
The light company was immediately relieved by a battalion company of the Thirty-sixth, which was again relieved by another company on the ammunition being expended.
In this cool and spirited manner the engagement was carried on for about two hours and a half with the same regularity as on a common field day, when the enemy’s cavalry, consisting of about two thousand, in two dense columns, made a circuit and charged the grenadier company, commanded by Captain Robert Burne, of the Thirty-sixth, but were effectually checked by a steady and well-directed fire from the company, which caused them to wheel off to the south. During the engagement, and immediately after this event, an officer of the British artillery, seeing a chief of the enemy’s army mounted on an elephant encouraging his troops on to the attack, directed his fire against him, and killed him with the third shot. This chief proved to be Bunham-ud-deen, the commander of the army, and a near relative of the Sultan Tippoo Saib.
This event, in addition to the discouraging circumstance of having been repulsed with considerable loss in every attempt to break the British line, decided the fate of the day; the enemy retired from the contest, and by four o’clock in the afternoon left his opponents complete masters of the field of battle.
Colonel Floyd, with the cavalry, being a few miles in advance, on the sudden appearance of the enemy’s cavalry, and hearing from Colonel Oldham the situation of the infantry, immediately formed line, and charged the foe, who, dreading to come in contact with the troops that had, in the early skirmish on the previous day, given him such a severe specimen of their prowess, moved off at too rapid a rate to be overtaken; a pursuit was, however, kept up for some time, and, after scouring the country for a distance round, the troops were enabled to rest quietly during the night at the village of Shawoor, where they arrived about seven o’clock in the evening.
Colonel Floyd having during the action received intelligence of the arrival of Major-General Medows at Vellady that day, a distance of about twenty miles from Shawoor, the march of the entire detachment was in consequence directed to that village; and, moving off at three o’clock in the morning of the 15th of September, arrived there at sunset in the evening, quite overcome by fatigue, thirst, and hunger.
The Thirty-sixth regiment, which had borne the brunt of the contest, had no refreshment from the evening of the 13th until late on that of the 15th of September, excepting a supply of tobacco procured by Lieutenant William Chambers, of the Thirty-sixth, immediately after the action, from a cabin in the neighbourhood of the line. The good qualities of this plant are well known to soldiers and sailors, and under these circumstances this timely supply proved a matter of great importance to the men. It allayed their hunger and thirst, revived their spirits, and afforded infinite relief during the remainder of their long and fatiguing march.
It is to be observed that Tippoo’s regular troops, called the “Tiger Infantry,” were the attacking force on this occasion, and were so named from their jackets having the emblem stripe of the royal tiger woven in the cloth. A report was also current, that after the battle Tippoo asked the officers why they had not destroyed the Feringhee battalion; to which they replied, that “they had done their best, but the battalion wearing the colour of their prophet (the facings of the Thirty-sixth being green), could not be vanquished by any troops in the world.”