Page:Calcutta, Past and Present.djvu/95

 Suraj-ud-Dowlah's army mustered eighteen thousand horse, fifteen thousand foot, ten thousand Bildars or Pioneers, forty pieces of heavy artillery drawn by oxen, fifty elephants, and an armed rabble of followers. This huge army crossed the river near Hughly, and, approaching Calcutta from the Dum Dum side, settled like a swarm of locusts on the villages which skirted the settlement.

A little to the south of where the Dum Dum Road then, as now, entered the town, stood the houses of two wealthy natives, Govindram Mittre, and Omichand. At the time the Mahratta Ditch was dug, it was carried round these two houses, although they lay outside its course, so as to include them in its protection. The nawab on reaching Calcutta established his head-quarters in Omichand's garden, leaving his body-guard of Mogul horse on the opposite side of the Ditch, with the main body of the army, whose outskirts extended nearly as far south as Ballygunge. On learning of the isolated position of the nawab's personal camp, Clive formed the bold plan to make a night attack on the enemy's artillery, spike the guns, and then, in the confusion, attack Suraj-ud-Dowlah's head-quarters, and thus strike terror into his army. The plan, though considerably