Manuscript account, sent by an officer of the East India Company to his brother, of his service in the Battle of Pollilur

Manuscript account, sent by an officer of the East India Company to his brother, of his service in the Battle of Pollilur [also called Polilore or Perambakam], 10 September 1780, in the Second Anglo-Mysore War (1779-1784), and of his subsequent treatment, with other British prisoners, by Hyder Ali. A difficult read.At Pollilur Hyder Ali’s son Tipu Sultan inflicted the worst defeat on British forces on the Indian subcontinent until the Battle of Chillianwala. The present account does not appear to have ever been unpublished: it does not correspond with any of those given in the following sources: ‘A Narrative of the Captivity and Sufferings of the Officers, Soldiers, and Sepoys, who fell into the Hands of Hyder Ali, after the Battle of Coneveram, September 10, 1780, by an officer of Colonel Baillie's Detachment’ in W. Thomson, Memoirs of the Late War in Asia (1788); Mills’ History of British India (1818); Wilks, Historical Sketches of the South of India (1820); The Life of General the Right Honorable Sir David Baird, Bart. (1832); and Lives of the Lindsays (1849). It should be possible to establish the identity of the author without too much research. 17pp., 4to. Stitched in original purple wraps. Aged and worn, with the manuscript faded and only decipherable with difficulty. With a handful of emendations. The following extracts give an indication of the qualities of the writing. [p.1, begins] I think my last Letter to you was dated from the Guntoor Circar Feby. 1780. [p.2] In Feby 1780 the Detachment marched from the Guntoor Circar, and went into

at

a small mud Fort in the Massulupatam [for 'Masulipatam'] Circar, during our stay at that place our letters from Madras gave us accounts of Hyder being in the Field at the head of an immense Army. It was strongly suspected he had his eyes upon the Carnatic. The Nabob was alarmed, but the Govenor and Council secure in their own wisdom, were deaf to his repeated applications, and neglected assembling the Army. […] [p.7] T'was [sic] then we learned that Hyder upon hearing of our Army being at Gonjusram, raised the siege of Arcot, and marched immediately towards it. And hearing of Col. Baillie's Detachment having crossed the River, detaches his Son Tippoo Sahib with 10,000 Foot, 15,000 horses and Guns, to attack 2 Companies of Europeans, 4 Battalions of Sepys, and 10 pieces of Cannon. a cruel odds but Baillie was successful. | About 7 in the evening of the 9th. the Detachment was ordered to march by the left by Divisions, the Troops were arranged in the following order. A company of Marksmen formed the advanced Guard. A Battn of Grenadier Sepoys led the Line [p.8] Line, and were followed by the 2nd. Battalion of Sepoys. The Europeans consisting of 3 Companies of Grenadiers, a company of Light Infantry and 2 Battn Companies were in the Centre. […] [p.11] Hyder by this time had formed his Line, and his Guns began to open us from all quarters. The appearance of his army seem'd to strike our Sepoys with dismay, and the rapid retreat of the Grinaders into the Line, threw them into some confusion. After faintly returning the Cannonade a few minutes, our Guns became useless for want of ammunition. Our only hope was now the General's marching to our relief. […] [p.13] It was then my dear brother I began to lament having escaped so many shot which made such havock around, on leaving one to fall a sacrifice to the swords of a set of wretches divested of every spark of humanity. Perceiving there was no hopes of quarter on the contrary that the inhuman dogs drenched their swords in the blood of men, women and children, I was determined to sell my Life as dear as possible; but perceiving a small body of Europeans which had been sent among the action to reinforce the rear Guard, in some order firing and retreating, as my best hope I snatched up a firelock; and made a push to join them, thinking they might have some strong post in their eye where they might make a stand in hope of getting quarter. With some difficulty I crossed a Nullah which was heaped up with the kil'd and wounded, and had almost reached them, when some dastardly scoundrel in my rear, with a blow on my head brought me to the ground. I will not pretend to account for the little impression his broadsword made upon my head, my hair indeed was thick, but I fancy an extraordinary proportion of skull was the circumstance which saved my Life [p.14] all the hurt I received being a stun for a few seconds in the course of these few seconds I was surrounded by a mingled heap of Men women and children, and looking towards the Europeans I saw they were refused quarter and almost cut to pieces. This scene drove me to dispair and made me wish for a friendly blow to put an immediate end to a life I thought then impossible to save. At this moment a fellow who seemed to have more traces of humanity in his countenance, than any I had as yet seen, beckoned me to come to him, with an effort I cleared myself of the slain, and asking for quarter gave myself up to him. The fellow with the greatest difficulty saved my Life even when his prisoner, for the rear of the horse galloping in to partake of the slaughter made a cut at every prisoner they saw. When we had got some distance from the scene of action, and had withdrawn from the rest of the Troops, the fellow dismounted and with the assistance of a companion began to strip me, but upon my remonstrating and growing angry, the wretches appeared alarmed. They only striped

me of my Coat, and for their own safety thought it necessary to pinion me with a thick rope 'till they joined the troops again. | I had now some little time to reflect upon the misfortunes of the day, and thinking myself the only Officer spared in the action, and how much I was indebted to the fellow who saved [p.15] my Life, I forget his treatment and gave him all the valuables I had about me. | We were marched from the Field of action to Damul a Village about 7 miles distant, in the course of the march I saw many Officers and Men whose lives had been spared, but all appeared wounded. At Damul Hyder ordered all the Prisoners to be brought before him, and gave a reward of 15 Rupees to those of his people who brought him European Prisoners, and 5 Rupees for every European head, many of which were thrown on the ground before his Feet. After receiving Prisioners with great politeness, and expressing his concern for those who appeared much wounded, he ordered them to the Bank of a shaded by high Trees, as a convenient spot for washing and dressing the wounded, and ordered all his European surgeons to attend immediately; in a short time after he came himself to the spot to see that his ideas had been put in execution. The next day the army marched to Musshalawauk, a small Fort where Hyder had left his baggage camp with 25,000 Horse, upon his marching to Conjeveram to meet his army; we remained on this ground 2 days, and on the 14th. all the Officers and soldiers who were able to undergo the fatigue of a long march were ordered to Bangalore, The Officers amounting to 24 men indulged with small horses; the sick and wounded were ordered to Arnee, then only 28 days march from his camp. As I was one of those who were able to undergo the Fatigue of a long march, I joined the [p.16] the rest, and arrived at Bangalore the 29th. The Officers were marched into the Fort and confined in a small house every man having as much room as he could conveniently sleep upon; The Soldiers were marched into the Pallah. Our subsistence was there each Officer a measure of rice, a spoonful of Ghee and <9 lash?> pr day and 3 spoon among the whole. Such a scanty allowance and scarce a shift of cloaths upon our backs threw us all into a state of despair; poverty and wretchedness stared us in the face, and our own desponding ideas served to increase the wretchedness of our situation. A few days however served to reconcile us in some little degree to our situation. We might perhaps have been happy had it not been for a disagreeable circumstance which threw us again into a train of gloomy ideas. This was no less than the unhappy circumstance of putting us all in Chains. Such unexpected treatment together with the scantiness of our allowance made us conceive we were destined to fall a sacrifice to the caprice of a Tyrant in so despotic a Government as that of Hyder Allii what had we not to fear. The Kellidar whose general character contains more instances of a mild and humane disposition than is generally met with among black men, exprest great concern at being obliged to inforce the orders of his master which proved so unhappy to us, and in his frequent visits used every thing he could to alleviate our minds and reconcile us to our miserable situation., a situation he always expressed a wish to relieve, but could not do it without its coming to the Knowledge of his Nabob, and insuring his displeasure. [p.17] It was some consolation to us to think we were under the charge of a man who seemed to express a feeling for our sufferings, but dissimulation is so predominant among them that we could not help having our doubts of his sincerity. | It was some time before we could reconcile ourselves to the dreadful idea of being put in Chains and the gloomy nights we passed were greatly aggravated by an inclination that prevaled of talking over the circumstances of our unhappy defeat. The first news that rousd us from this dreadful <...> [At this point the manuscript breaks off.]