Early in the morning an advance party proceeded to reconnoitre, and soon returned with the intelligence that a band of the enemy, some 400 strong, had entrenched themselves in the old Dutch fort of Reshire, which lay between our army and the town of Bushire. The enemy had opened fire with matchlocks upon our men.
The fort consisted largely of old houses and garden walls, and afforded good enough cover, so a general assault was ordered, the fort being encircled by our men except towards the sea, where cavalry were posted to cut down any of the enemy attempting to escape.
The columns of the 64th and 20th regiments under General Stopford advanced to the attack, and the enemy’s fire at once became heavy. The affair was over in a few moments, and the Persians ran out at the rear of the work and up the beach, anywhere away from our rifles and bayonets, taking no heed of, or probably not understanding, the summons to surrender, and many were shot down while endeavouring to escape. General Stopford himself was killed by a bullet from a matchlock while leading the assault.
Colonel Malet, in command of the slender cavalry force, met his death by treachery. Seeing one of his troopers about to cut down a Persian who, kneeling on the beach, implored mercy with outstretched arms, Colonel Malet bade the trooper spare the wretch, and passed on. No sooner was his back towards the two when the Persian he had spared seized his matchlock from a bush where he had concealed it, and shot the Colonel in the back.
Inside the fort many Persians were found hiding, and some of these were killed, while others made good their escape. Here also were found a large store of dates, of which our troops partook heartily, till a rumour was set on foot that they were poisoned. For some time considerable panic ensued, but the report was, to everyone’s relief, proved to be unfounded.
Our troops then bivouacked near the captured fort, while the fleet, with our wounded on board, moved slowly and cautiously down towards Bushire to commence a bombardment the following morning. In the meantime, Commander Jones had proceeded, in a small steamer carrying a flag of truce, to approach the town from the sea, with a view to summoning the Persian Governor to an honourable surrender, but on entering the narrow channel leading to the roadstead he had been fired upon by the town batteries. Accordingly the orders were given to reverse engines, and Bushire lost its final opportunity of effecting an amicable settlement. Early on the following morning the sound of heavy firing from the town apprised the British camp at Reshire that the fleet had commenced their share of the day’s operations. By nine o’clock the land force was under arms, and marched to within a mile of the land force of Bushire, where they were halted to await the issue of the bombardment.
This was not long in coming. Terrified by the heavy ordnance from the British warships, and paralysed by a sight of the land force, now drawn up in line and giving an extended front, the Persian Governor held a hurried council on the rampart.
A writer in “Blackwood’s Magazine” of that period has given amusing extracts from that momentous conclave:—
“‘They stretch from sea to sea,’ said one councillor. ‘Their guns are innumerable,’ said another; while a third observed, ‘They will kill us all if we resist!’”
Small wonder that the sadly perplexed and harassed Governor decided, most humanely, that discretion was the better part of valour, and “pulled down his flag, or rather ordered the flagstaff to be cut down, agreeably to the inconvenient fashion of his country, which gives the victors the trouble of putting it up again.”