On the 13th, a cavalry party sent out to reconnoitre, fell in with the advance of Tippoo’s army, and falling back on their supports, kept the enemy at bay till he drew off, and then returned to camp. Tippoo soon followed, but Colonel Floyd took up a position which confined his attack to a cannonade, commencing with three pieces, which he advanced under cover of the hedges, and which, from being at a distance, and the supply of ammunition with the British being short, were not at first molested, he gradually increased them until, by 2 o’clock, there was a semicircle of 15 pieces playing with much execution on the British line; but it may be as well to extract, from a letter of Lieutenant Hardwicke, who was in the action with Captain Sampson’s company, to Lieutenant Wittit:—“The enemy advanced so fast, that the camp was struck a second time, and all baggage thrown into a place of security. The line formed and advanced, and about 10 o’clock the enemy’s guns opened upon us, and by 11 o’clock we had taken our position and returned the fire. The enemy extended his line so as to form a crescent, and opened guns to bear upon us in every situation, and so well were they served that every shot did execution. * * * On the right of our line an 18, two 12, and two 6–pounders kept up a smart fire, against which the enemy returned a most galling one. About 12 o’clock our commandant, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Deare,[28] received a shot in his breast, and expired immediately. Half an hour afterwards, Captain Sampson, our second in command, while speaking to me, received a very dangerous wound in the head, from a stone which a shot, that at this moment killed my horse, had raised; whole files of the grenadiers were swept away; half our gun bullocks fell; and the desertion of all the drivers increased the confusion. The cannonade continued till the close of day, and before it was quite dark we could perceive they were drawing off their guns. The two 12–pounders were rendered useless very early in the day by the axletrees giving way; the 18–pounder limber received a shot and blew up; both my 6–pounders were so damaged by shot that one only could travel; except the left of the line, every part of the ordnance suffered much, and it appeared impossible to bear such a cannonade till relief could come from the grand army; to stand another day seemed likely to lessen our means of getting off, and while we had guns to defend ourselves in a retreat, that measure was thought most advisable.” The day had been disastrous, many killed and wounded, and three guns disabled, but Colonel Floyd reported that the “rest of the guns fired with excellent aim, but sparingly, for the stock of ammunition was not great. H. M.’s regiments and the artillery did themselves justice with their accustomed valour.”