Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/653

Book XII he returned with the line to the camp. The garrison consisted of a captain, a lieutenant, 80 other Europeans, and 280 Sepoys; they had lost only two men kitted, and three wounded; and the English not more. There were in the fort 25 pieces of cannon, and some paddy. Colonel Coote, as soon as he had taken possession, detached 200 of the black horse, with 300 Sepoys, under the command of Assaf beg, to take Trivadi, in which were some Sepoys that protected the district, and gathered the produce for the French government. Of the French prisoners which had been taken in the late successes, the Presidency of Madrass had inlisted 60 of those confined there, and sent them to the camp. These men, as soon as they came before Valdore, so near their own army and their capital, deserted daily, and 40 of them were gone before the place was reduced; some of the company of French Volunteers likewise went off, although they had hitherto behaved with as much spirit as if fighting under, instead of against, their own colours. But as soon as Valdore fell, new deserters began to come over from the enemy, three, four, and five in a day: nevertheless all that remained of those sent from Madrass were returned thither to be confined again, for the perfidy of their comrades. On the 19th, Colonel Coote went out again in the afternoon, with the cavalry, and six companies of Sepoys, to reconnoitre on the Red-hill; the French cavalry, supported likewise by some Sepoys, came out, and advanced along the nearest avenue, but only the Sepoys on either side engaged, and that with distant firing, until four field-pieces came up from Villenore, on which Colonel Coote returned to the camp. Two of his black horsemen were killed, and the horse of a trooper, with five Sepoys, wounded.

During these operations of the main army, Colonel Monson was advancing with his division from Karical. The French prison taken there were sent to Tritchinopoly, under the escort of two companies of Sepoys, and of 60 of the Europeans, who had been drawn from that garrison on this service; two other of these companies, and two lent by the Nabob, with 12 Europeans, were left