The determined attack on Rangoon by the Burmese in the month of December, 1824, gave the 26th Madras, now the 86th Carnatic, Infantry an opportunity of putting an additional battle honour on their colours. KEMMENDINE, NOVEMBER 30 TO DECEMBER 9, 1824. This battle honour is borne only by the 86th Carnatic Infantry, and was granted to that corps, then the 26th Madras Infantry, by the Governor of Madras, in recognition of the gallant defence of the Kemmendine stockade during the repeated attacks by the Burmese in the month of December, 1824. Kemmendine was the name given by the Burmese to one of the principal defences of Rangoon. We had captured it with some loss on the first occupation of the city. It was rightly looked upon as one of the most important works in the vicinity of Rangoon. In December, when the Burmese made their desperate attempts to retake Rangoon, the Kemmendine stockade was the object of their fiercest attacks. It was held by the 26th Madras Infantry, now the 86th Carnatics, a company of the Madras Europeans, and some gunners, the Honourable Company's cruiser _Sophie_ being moored off its river face. The conduct of the Madras sepoys was beyond all praise, and even Havelock, ever chary of encomiums, except to his beloved 13th, wrote in the most eulogistic manner of the 26th. "The sepoys of the 26th acquired a lasting reputation for their firmness at Kemmendine," wrote that distinguished General in his "History of the War in Ava." "Major Yates, who commanded them, sent for, and received, frequent supplies of ammunition, but never talked or dreamt of reinforcements, surrender, or retreat. Hungry and watching, pent in, outnumbered, and wearied by night and day, they repelled their assailants with slaughter." Another contemporary writer says: "Worn out with fatigue, they successfully repulsed the successive attacks of the enemy, contenting themselves with dry rice, not even laying aside their arms for cooking food." The safety of the stockade was entirely due to the ceaseless watchfulness of the little garrison. The Burmese had no stomach for an assault on a foe who was ready for them, and so it was that the garrison of Kemmendine escaped with few casualties. +---------------------------------+-----------+-----------+ | |_Officers._| _Men._ | | _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+ | | K. | W. | K. | W. | +---------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+ |Dublin Fusiliers | - | 1 | 4 | 13 | |86th Carnatic Infantry (British) | - | 2 | - | - | |86th Carnatic Infantry (Natives) | - | 2 | 6 | 21 | +---------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+