Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 41.djvu/360

 ments, and, with a force under Colonel Burn, so weak that they were unable to afford reliefs and the men had to be provisioned at their posts on the ramparts, he defended the place from 7 Oct. to 16 Oct. 1804. Holkar had already made breaches, and was prepared to assault, when the advance of Lake's army raised the siege. No action of the war with Holkar deserves greater commendation than this brave and skilful defence of an almost untenable position.

On 5 June 1806 Ochterlony was appointed to command the fortress of Allahabad, and a very complimentary order from the governor-general in council was issued on his relinquishing the appointment of British resident at the court of the mogul. In 1808 the Sikhs, under Ranjít Singh, attempted to advance beyond the Satlaj to Jamna, and Ochterlony was selected to command a force on the north-west frontier to keep them in check. Ochterlony placed the prince of Sirhind under British protection, and a treaty of peace was concluded with Ranjít Singh. Ochterlony established a position on the banks of the Satlaj, and continued in command there. He was promoted colonel on 1 Jan. 1812, and major-general on 4 June 1814.

On 29 May 1814 the Nípálese had attacked and murdered the British police at Batwál, and it was determined to invade Nípál. The force was divided into four columns. Ochterlony, with six thousand men and sixteen guns, took part on the west of the Gúrkha frontier to operate in the hilly country near the Satlaj. General Gillespie advanced with 3,500 men on the east, and there were two central columns—one of 4,500 men under General J. S. Wood, and the other of eight thousand men under General Marley. These two central columns were to advance on Khátmándu, the Gúrkha capital, Lord Hastings directing the whole of the operations from Lucknow. The British troops had to advance through a rugged, unknown, and almost impracticable region, full of defensive defiles. They had no experience of mountain warfare, while the Gúrkhas were a very warlike people, who understood the value of the mountain passes, and had occupied and fortified them. The campaign opened disastrously. Gillespie's column met with reverses, was beaten back, and Gillespie himself killed before it succeeded in capturing Kalánga or Nalápáni on 30 Nov. It was again repulsed before Jaitak. Wood's division, after a slight check, remained inactive. Marley's column did nothing. Ochterlony alone succeeded. He crossed the plains from Loodiana, entered the hill country, and on 1 Nov. 1814 encamped before the fort of Nalagur. After pouring a continuous fire into the fort for thirty hours, it surrendered. Ochterlony advanced by paths indescribably bad as far as Bíláspur, forcing the local rajas to submit, and turned the enemy's flank at Arki. This was the state of affairs at the end of January 1815. Early in February Lord Hastings determined to make a diversion by attacking with Rohillá levies the province of Kumáun, lying between the two theatres of war, which were four hundred miles apart. The diversion was successful. Almora was captured, and on 27 April 1815 a convention was agreed to, by which the province of Kumáun was surrendered to the British.

In the meantime General Martindell, who had succeeded to Gillespie's command, was still investing Jaitak. Ochterlony by the end of March had reduced and occupied all the forts that were besieged in rear of his advance to Bíláspur. His communications being clear, he advanced against a strongly fortified position on a site near to which Simla now is. At an elevation of five thousand feet, at the most inclement season of the year, amid falls of snow, his pioneers blasted rocks and opened roads for the two 18-pounder guns, and men and elephants dragged them up the heights. Ochterlony's energy enkindled enthusiasm in his force. On 14 April he attacked Amar Singh by night, and carried two strong points. On the 15th Amar Singh found himself confined to the fort of Maláun on a mountain ledge, with a steep declivity of two thousand feet on two sides. On the 16th Amar Singh, with his whole force, assaulted the British position, and, after a desperate fight, was defeated with the loss of his ablest general and five hundred men killed. Ochterlony now closed upon Maláun, the chief work of the position. Early in May a battery was raised against it, but it was not until a breach was made, on 15 May, that Amar Singh capitulated. Ochterlony took possession of Maláun, and allowed Amar Singh to march out with his arms and colours and personal property, in consideration of the skill, bravery, and fidelity with which he had defended his country. For his services Ochterlony was made a K.C.B. and created a baronet by the prince-regent, while the court of directors of the East India Company on 6 Dec. 1815 granted him a pension of 1,000l. per annum, to date from his victory of 16 April of that year.

By the convention the Gúrkhas retired to the east of the Káli river, and the whole of the Nípálese territory to the west was surrendered to the British. Jaitak also capitulated. During the hot weather preparations were made in view of a renewal of hostilities.