[Illustration: THE CRIMEAN MEDAL.] * * * * * The pioneer medal from India is usually spoken of as the 1778 decoration awarded for services at Poona, but, as no specimens are known to exist, there is reasonable doubt as to whether the decoration was ever struck. The records, however, state plainly that the Bombay Council decided to give medals to all the officers among the grenadier-sepoys who went with Colonel Egerton to quell a native rising in Poona. In 1780, a campaign in Deccan took place against Tippoo Sahib and his father. A medal was afterwards minted by the Honourable East India Company and presented to all officers and men forming the Bengal Army. There were gold and silver specimens, vast numbers of both being struck. The obverse showed Britannia, leaning forward, offering a wreath to a fort flying a British flag. The reverse bore a Persian inscription. A second encounter with Tippoo Sahib, known as the Mysore Campaign, took place in 1791-2. The medals which were subsequently struck for the officers and men who served under Colonel Cockerell were made in gold and silver and were intended to be worn around the neck, suspended by a yellow silk cord. The obverse depicted a sepoy grasping a half-unfurled British flag, trampling at the same time on the enemy's colours; the reverse bore the inscription, "For Services in Mysore, A.D. 1791-1792." If medals were ever dearly won, those of the Mysore Campaign seem to have been, for many stories have been told of the great daring shown by Cockerell's men. Thomas Carter in his work on "War Medals" writes as follows: "One of the most dashing exploits in the War of Mysore was the capture of Bangalore, the second city in the dominions of Tippoo. It was enclosed by a high wall and a deep ditch, and the gate was covered by a close thicket of Indian thorns. The attack was made without any examination of the ground, and the troops in advancing and endeavouring to force an entrance were exposed to a destructive fire of musketry. Colonel Moorhouse, one of the best officers in the service, fell mortally wounded. At length, Lieutenant Ayre, a man of diminutive stature, succeeded in forcing his way through the shattered gate; which gallant action being observed by General Meadows, he shouted to the stormer, 'Well done! Now, whiskers, try, if you can, to follow and support the little gentleman.' This animated appeal succeeded: the troops rushed through the gate into the town and drove out the enemy at the point of the bayonet."