Early in February the Commander-in-Chief received his final orders to advance from Madras, and on April 14 he joined hands with Stuart's column in the immediate vicinity of Seringapatam. Three days afterwards the siege commenced, and on May 3 the breach was declared practicable. Baird claimed the privilege of leading the stormers (a privilege his by right). He had been a prisoner in the fortress for over four years as a young Captain, and he had been present in command of a brigade of Madras sepoys at Cornwallis's capture of the fortress seven years before. Taking into consideration the strength of the work and the immense numerical superiority of the enemy, the fortress was carried with marvellously slight loss, the killed numbering 69 English and but 12 sepoys, the wounded 248 and 32 respectively, that of the Mysoreans being estimated at 1,000 killed alone. The total casualties during the siege, however, testified to the stubborn stand made prior to the assault, as the following figures show: CASUALTIES AT THE SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF SERINGAPATAM IN MAY, 1799. +---------------------------+-----------+-----------+ | |_Officers._| _Men._ | | _British Troops._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+ | | K. | W. | K. | W. | |---------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+ |19th Light Dragoons | 2 | 6 | 17 | 49 | |22nd Light Dragoons | - | - | - | - | |Royal Artillery | 2 | 2 | 35 | 85 | |12th Foot (Suffolks) | - | - | 17 | 49 | |33rd W. Riding Regiment | - | - | 6 | 28 | |73rd Royal Highlanders | 1 | 4 | 21 | 99 | |74th Highland L.I. | 4 | - | 45 | 111 | |75th Gordon Highlanders | 1 | 3 | 16 | 64 | |77th Middlesex | 1 | 2 | 10 | 51 | |94th Connaught Rangers | - | - | 14 | 86 | |1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers | - | 1 | 5 | 17 | |2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers | - | 1 | 9 | 25 | +---------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+