Historical Record of the Thirty-sixth, or the Herefordshire Regiment of Foot: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1701, and of its subsequent services to 1852Cannon, Richard
History
Historical Record of the Thirty-sixth, or the Herefordshire Regiment of Foot: containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1701, and of its subsequent services to 1852
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army. Herefordshire Light Infantry -- History; Great Britain. Army. Regiment of Foot, 36th -- History
The entrenched camp of Tippoo was reconnoitred on the 6th of
February, and at dark the army was formed in three columns of
attack. The right, under Major-General Medows, consisting of the
THIRTY-SIXTH and Seventy-sixth King’s regiments. The centre under
the Commander-in-Chief, General the Earl Cornwallis, consisting
of the Fifty-second, Seventy-first, and Seventy-fourth King’s
regiments. The left, under Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell, of the
Seventy-fourth, was composed of the Seventy-second regiment. The
native troops were divided among the three columns.
The right column, to which the THIRTY-SIXTH regiment was attached,
under the command of Major-General Medows, was directed to
penetrate the left of Tippoo’s line, and turning to the left,
overthrow the troops of the enemy there posted, and proceed on
until it joined Lord Cornwallis in the centre column, and receive
further orders; but the officer charged to guide the column led it
wrong, bringing it to the advanced redoubt on the left of Tippoo’s
lines, known by the name of the _Ead-gah_ redoubt,--which was
mounted by eight pieces of cannon, and was defended with great
bravery. The grenadiers of the THIRTY-SIXTH rushed steadily forward
to escalade the work, with the officer of engineers in charge of
the scaling ladders, but a heavy fire of grape shot and musketry
killed most of the men in charge of the ladders, which, being
consequently lost, it appeared impossible to enter the redoubt.
The work near the gorge had not been quite finished; the troops
again rushed forward, but the enemy’s fire was so destructive
as to sweep all opposed to it; a momentary pause ensued, and at
this crisis Captain Andrew Wight, who commanded the THIRTY-SIXTH
regiment, Brevet Lieut.-Colonel the Honourable John Knox having
charge of a brigade, observing a narrow pathway leading to the
rampart, ordered his corps to follow him, when the soldiers resumed
the attack with increased animation, and advancing with the bayonet
carried the work; only a few of the defenders escaped instant
death, and that by leaping from the embrasure into the ditch,
which, from its height, must have proved equally fatal to them. The
loss of the enemy at the Ead-gah redoubt was more considerable than
at any other post of his lines.
The loss in private men fell chiefly on the THIRTY-SIXTH, that
regiment and the flank companies of the Seventy-sixth being
the troops which formed the front division of the column. The
grenadiers of the THIRTY-SIXTH, who led, in advancing to the
redoubt, had twenty men killed and wounded.[12]
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