Historical Record of the Seventy-first Regiment, Highland Light Infantry: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1777, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1852Cannon, Richard
History
Historical Record of the Seventy-first Regiment, Highland Light Infantry: Containing an Account of the Formation of the Regiment in 1777, and of Its Subsequent Services to 1852
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army -- History; Great Britain. Army. Regiment of Foot, 71st (Highland Light Infantry)
picture of the most inhuman cruelties and unexampled carnage.
“The last and awful struggle was marked by the clashing of arms
and shields, the snorting and kicking of horses, the snapping of
spears, the glistening of bloody swords, oaths and imprecations;
concluding with the groans and cries of bruised and mutilated men,
wounded horses tumbling to the ground upon expiring soldiers, and
the hideous roaring of elephants, stalking to and fro, and wielding
their dreadful chains alike amongst friends and foes.
* * * * *
“Lieut.-Colonel Fletcher and twenty-nine European officers, with
one hundred and fifty-five European rank and file, were killed;
Lieut.-Colonel Baillie, with thirty-four officers, and almost all
the European privates, were miserably wounded; sixteen officers and
privates, from a Divine protection, and the generous clemency of
the French hussars, remained unhurt, who, with the rest, were all
made prisoners. The whole of the sepoys were either killed, taken,
or dispersed.”
The flank companies were almost annihilated. Captain Baird received
seven wounds, and Lieutenant the Hon. John Lindsay nine; both were
made prisoners.
Lieutenant Philip Melvill[8] was totally disabled by his wounds,
and was conveyed to Hyder’s camp, where many other wounded
prisoners were crowded together in one tent, so as to prevent a
moment’s ease or rest. They were afterwards confined at Bangalore,
where they endured the greatest suffering for three years and a
half, when, peace being concluded, the captives were released.
Lieutenant William Gunn, of the grenadiers, and Lieutenant Geddes
Mackenzie, of the light company, were killed.
These were the whole of the officers serving with the two
companies. Of the non-commissioned officers and privates only
two men joined the battalion, and those were found in the jungle
desperately wounded.
The melancholy fate of these companies rendered it necessary for
Colonel Lord Macleod to form two new flank companies from the
battalion.
After the defeat of Lieut.-Colonel Baillie, Major General Sir
Hector Munro retired with the army to Chingleput, much pressed
on the march by the enemy. The wounded and sick being left at
Chingleput, the army went into cantonments on Choultry Plain for
the rainy season, which had set in. The troops in the retreat had
suffered severely from fatigue and want of provisions.
Captain Alexander Gilchrist, of the grenadiers, whose ill-health
prevented him from being with his company when Lieut.-Colonel
Baillie was attacked, died at this period[9], and Lieutenant
Alexander Mackenzie was wounded, together with several soldiers, in
skirmishes with the enemy.
[Sidenote: 2d bat.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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