On the 31st of December the regiment was placed under orders for Goojerat, and on the 14th of January 1858 it embarked on board the East India Company’s steamers “Auckland” and “Berenice” for the Bay of Cambay, and disembarked at Tankaria, Bunder, on the 17th. On the following day it left Tankaria for Baroda, which it reached on the 23rd, where 200 men were detained by the British resident at the court of the Guicowar of Baroda and Goojerat, in case of force being required in the disarming of the people. Notwithstanding the constant exposure and severe marching to which these detachments were subjected, the men throughout the whole regiment continued very healthy.
The two companies of the regiment which had been left in Bombay soon joined the others at Baroda, although they were not kept together, but were moved by companies from village to village, collecting arms and carrying out executions. The remaining six companies of the regiment left Baroda on the 23rd of January, and reached Ahmedabad on the 31st, and Deesa on the 13th of February. The climate at this season is favourable to marching, the nights and early mornings being cold; so that the men suffered little from fatigue, and remained in excellent health, although recently landed after a long voyage. On the 15th of this month, the regiment left Deesa for Nusseerabad; and on the 18th a few delicate men of the regiment were left at Mount Aboo, the sanitarium station for European troops in this command; these were to rejoin as soon as the regiment should return into quarters.
On the 5th of March 1858, at a village called Beawr, the regiment sustained a great loss by the death, from small-pox, of Major Mackenzie, the senior major of the regiment, and an officer held in universal esteem. After this depressing incident, every precautionary measure was taken, and this dreadful disease did not spread. The regiment reached Nusseerabad on the 8th, where it joined the division under Major-General Roberts, of the East India Company’s Service, destined for the field-service in Rajpootanah, but more especially for operations against the city of Kotah. The cantonment of Nusseerabad no longer remained, having been laid in ruins by the mutineers. The force here collected consisted of one troop of Horse Artillery (Bombay), two batteries Bombay Artillery, 18 heavy siege-train guns of different calibres, one company R.E., one company Bombay Sappers, four small mountain-train guns (mortars), 1st regiment of Bombay Lancers, a strong detachment of Sind irregular horse (Jacob’s), a detachment of Goojerat irregular horse, H.M.’s 72nd Highlanders, the 83rd and 95th regiments, the 10th and 12th Native Infantry. This force was divided into one cavalry and two infantry brigades, the cavalry under Colonel Smith, 3rd Dragoon Guards, who had not joined. The first infantry brigade was under Colonel Macan of the Company’s service, and consisted of H.M.’s 95th Regiment, a wing of H.M.’s 83rd, with the 10th and 12th Native Infantry. The second Infantry Brigade, under Lieut.-Colonel Parke of the 72nd Highlanders, consisted of Her Majesty’s 72nd, a wing of the 83rd, and the 13th regiment Native Infantry, which latter regiment joined on the march to Kotah, having marched from Hyderabad in Sind. A second troop of Bombay Horse Artillery likewise joined the division from Sind after its departure from Nusseerabad. All the artillery of the force was under Lieut.-Colonel Price, R.A.
The cavalry was placed temporarily under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Owen, of the 1st Bombay Lancers. This force was soon increased by the arrival of Her Majesty’s 8th Hussars and two squadrons of the 2nd Bombay Cavalry.
On the 11th of March, the 72nd, under the command of Major Thellusson, who had succeeded Lieut.-Colonel Parke, the first being one day in advance, left Nusseerabad with the second brigade, en route to Kotah, a distance of 112 miles. The principal places passed through were Sawoor, strongly fortified; Jhajpoor, a straggling, ill-defended town; and Bhoondee. This last was a very strong position, situated on the face of a ridge of mountains, approached on one side through a narrow winding gorge, capable of being defended with ease. This gorge or narrow valley runs below the city of Bhoondee, and opens out into a vast plain overlooked by the city and castle. Bhoondee is surrounded by substantially-built irregular walls, bastions and defences extending to the summit of the mountain, on whose side this curious, interesting, and beautiful city is built. Here the second brigade joined the first, only two days’ march from Kotah.
On the 22nd of March, the division reached Kotah, and encamped on the left bank of the river Chumbul, opposite the city; but it was subsequently forced to shift its position more to the rear, to avoid the enemy’s artillery, the round-shot from which reached the camp. The 72nd was on the extreme right of the line of the encampment, and the cavalry on the extreme left, the whole army being exactly opposite the city, and parallel with the river.
The immediate cause of these operations against Kotah was as follows:—The Rajah of Kotah had always professed himself an ally of the British Government, and for many years a British Resident had been attached to his court; but when the mutiny at Neemuch broke out among the Bengal troops, the British Resident, Major Burton, had left Kotah for a short time for some purpose. During his absence, however, the Rajah warned Major Burton against returning to Kotah, as the inhabitants had joined the rebellion, and considerable numbers of mutineers from Nusseerabad, Mundesoor, and Neemuch, had taken up their quarters in the city. Nevertheless, Major Burton returned to Kotah, and with his two sons was barbarously murdered. The Rajah refused to join his subjects against the British Government, shut himself up in his palace, which was situated in one of the strongly fortified quarters of the city, and was regularly besieged by his own subjects, now aided by their fellow rebels, from the neighbouring states of Rajpootanah. To avenge the murder of the British Resident, and to inquire into, and if necessary punish, the conduct of the Rajah, were the primary objects of the expedition, of which the 72nd regiment now formed a part.
On the 24th of March, two batteries were erected on the banks of the Chumbul, one on the right and the other on the left of the British position. On these the enemy opened a steady and well-directed fire. On the 26th, at the invitation of the Rajah, Major-General Roberts placed a body of troops in the entrenched quarter of the city, which was still in the Rajah’s possession; while 200 men of Her Majesty’s 83rd regiment and the rifle company of the 13th Native Infantry crossed over the river. On the 27th, 28th, and 29th, preparations were made for bringing over some of the heavy ordnance and mortars to be placed in position within the Rajah’s quarters, as it had been decided by the Major-General to assault the enemy’s portion of the city on the 30th, after a few hours’ heavy fire from all the guns and mortars. Accordingly, at two o’clock A.M. of that day, three columns of 500 men each passed over in large, square, flat-bottomed boats into the Rajah’s city; the reserve was under Colonel Macan. The leading column of the assault, under Lieutenant-Colonel Raimes, of the 95th, was composed of 260 men of the 72nd and 250 of the 13th Native Infantry; the second column, under Lieutenant-Colonel Holmes, of the 12th Native Infantry, of a similar number of Her Majesty’s 95th regiment, with the 10th regiment of Native Infantry; the third column, of 200 of the 83rd, with the 12th Native Infantry.
The column to which the 72nd belonged took up its position in the rear of a wall which separated the Rajah’s quarters from that part of the city held by the rebels, close to the Hunnyman Bastion. The design was to blow open a gap in the wall sufficiently large to admit of the 72nd making a rush through it upon the enemy; the engineers, however, found the wall too solid to admit of a successful result, and at eleven o’clock A.M., the regiment was ordered to the Kittenpole Gate, which had been strongly built up. This was instantly blown out by the engineers, and the column, headed by the 72nd under Major Thellusson, rushed through, and turned immediately to the right, under cover of a party placed on the walls of the fortifications of the Rajah’s quarters. But little resistance was offered, and the advance of the column was rapid, the principal object of attack being a bastion called the Zooraivoor, on the outer walls of the city. On the approach of the column, a few shots were fired by matchlock-men, but Enfield rifles cleared the way; and on the 72nd reaching the bastion, most of the enemy had fled, while some, throwing themselves from the ramparts, were dashed to pieces at the bottom. The column then proceeded along the top of the outer wall of the city as far as the Soorjpole Gate, one of the principal entrances, through which a considerable body of the enemy was making a precipitate retreat; the gateway was at once taken possession of, and the column rushed into the city itself. No sooner, however, had the regiment left the walls than the matchlock-men opened fire from a strongly-built stone house, facing the gateway, an entrance into which was attempted by Lieutenant Cameron of the 72nd with a small party of men. This officer in a very gallant manner dashed up a narrow passage and stair-case leading into the upper part of the building, when he was met by a determined band of rebels, headed by “The Lalla,” the commander-in-chief of the rebels. Lieutenant Cameron was cut down and severely wounded, while one man of the Royal Engineers, and one of the 83rd, who happened to be with the party, were killed, and one of the 72nd was wounded. Lieutenant-Colonel Parke deemed it expedient not to risk more lives in the narrow, dark, and intricate passages of the building; and accordingly he ordered the company of Royal Engineers to lay powder-bags and effect an opening by that means; this was immediately done, and some of these determined fanatics were destroyed by the explosion, the remainder being slain by the troops. A few other instances of desperate resistance occurred, but anything like united, determined opposition was nowhere encountered.
The other two columns had been equally successful, and by the evening of the 30th of March 1858 the city of Kotah, one of the strongest positions in India, was in possession of the British. Upwards of 70 guns of various calibres, some very heavy, besides a vast amount of powder and war material, fell into the hands of the captors. The escape of the rebels was unfortunately not intercepted by the cavalry. On the 31st, the detachment of the 72nd was relieved by a party of the regiment which had remained in camp.