DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2373#0082
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MYSORE, CANARA, AND MALABAR.
63
high and steep, as to shelter an assailant from the fire of the CHAPTER
ramparts. In the island also, in order to water a garden, he had ^J1'
duo- a deep canal parallel to the works of the fort, and not above May 20, &c„
eight hundred yards distant from them. He was so unskilled, as to
look upon this as an additional security to the place; but had it
been deemed necessary to besiege the town regularly from the
island, the assailant would have found it of the utmost use. Had
Tippoo's troops been capable of defending the place properly, this
mode of attack would have been necessary; but the confidence
which our officers justly reposed in the superiority of their men,
and the extreme difficulty of bringing up the immense stores ne-
cessary to batter down many heavy works, made them prefer an
attack across the river, where the works were not so strong, and
where they ventured on storming a breach, that nothing, but a very
great difference between the intrepidity of the assailants and de-
fendants, could have enabled them to carry. The depth of the
river was of little importance; but the assailants, in passing over
its rocky channel, were exposed to a heavy fire of artillery, and
suffered considerable loss.
On ascending the breach, our men found an inner rampart lined Capture.
with troops, separated from them by a wide and deep ditch, and
defended at its angle by a high cavalier. By this they were for a
little while discouraged; as, from the information of spies, they
had expected to have been able to mount the cavalier from the
breach, and to form a lodgement there, till means could be taken
to gain the inner works, and expel the garrison, which consisted
of about eight thousand men, nearly the same number with that
employed on the storming party.
After, however, the first surprise occasioned by this disappoint-
ment, the troops soon recovered their spirits, and pushed on, along
the outer rampart, towards both the right and left of the breach.
Those who went to the left found great opposition. At every
twenty or thirty yards distance, the rampart was crossed by
^^^^^1
MYSORE, CANARA, AND MALABAR.
63
high and steep, as to shelter an assailant from the fire of the CHAPTER
ramparts. In the island also, in order to water a garden, he had ^J1'
duo- a deep canal parallel to the works of the fort, and not above May 20, &c„
eight hundred yards distant from them. He was so unskilled, as to
look upon this as an additional security to the place; but had it
been deemed necessary to besiege the town regularly from the
island, the assailant would have found it of the utmost use. Had
Tippoo's troops been capable of defending the place properly, this
mode of attack would have been necessary; but the confidence
which our officers justly reposed in the superiority of their men,
and the extreme difficulty of bringing up the immense stores ne-
cessary to batter down many heavy works, made them prefer an
attack across the river, where the works were not so strong, and
where they ventured on storming a breach, that nothing, but a very
great difference between the intrepidity of the assailants and de-
fendants, could have enabled them to carry. The depth of the
river was of little importance; but the assailants, in passing over
its rocky channel, were exposed to a heavy fire of artillery, and
suffered considerable loss.
On ascending the breach, our men found an inner rampart lined Capture.
with troops, separated from them by a wide and deep ditch, and
defended at its angle by a high cavalier. By this they were for a
little while discouraged; as, from the information of spies, they
had expected to have been able to mount the cavalier from the
breach, and to form a lodgement there, till means could be taken
to gain the inner works, and expel the garrison, which consisted
of about eight thousand men, nearly the same number with that
employed on the storming party.
After, however, the first surprise occasioned by this disappoint-
ment, the troops soon recovered their spirits, and pushed on, along
the outer rampart, towards both the right and left of the breach.
Those who went to the left found great opposition. At every
twenty or thirty yards distance, the rampart was crossed by