Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/179

 Wellesley staff of the Madras establishment, and on 8 Feb. 1803 he left Seringapatam with his division.

By the end of the month the Madras army, under General James Stuart, was assembled on the frontier at Hurryhur, and Wellesley, with nine thousand men, was sent forward to Poonah. Learning that the place was to be set on fire on his approach, he made a forced march of forty miles with his cavalry and one battalion, and was in time to save it. He reached it on 20 April, and the peshwah returned to his capital on 13 May.

For some months the attitude of Holkar and Scindiah was doubtful. Wellesley was made on 26 June chief political and military agent in the southern Mahratta states and the Deccan, and did all he could to preserve peace, but in vain. On 7 Aug. war was declared against the two chiefs, and they were attacked by Lake in the north, by Wellesley in the south. The latter had under his orders, besides his own division, some Bombay troops in Gujerat, and the nizam's corps of eight thousand men under Colonel Stevenson, which was near Jaulnah, covering the nizam's dominions. The fort of Ahmednuggur, reckoned one of the strongest forts in India, was taken by Wellesley after a two days' siege (ib. 12 Aug.) Marching northward, he reached Aurungabad on the 29th; but meanwhile Scindiah and the rajah of Berar had slipped past Stevenson and were advancing on Hyderabad. Wellesley moved down the Godavery to intercept them, and they turned back. On 21 Sept. Wellesley and Stevenson met at Budnapoor, and arranged to attack them at Bokerdun on the 24th, Stevenson falling on their right, Wellesley on their left. When the latter reached his camping-ground on the 23rd, he was told that the Mahrattas were within six miles, but were moving off. Sending word to Stevenson, he marched on, and about 1 found himself in presence of their whole army.

It was drawn up behind the Kaitna, with its left near the village of Assye, past which the Juah flows to join the Kaitna. On the right were thirty thousand horsemen, on the left ten thousand infantry trained by European officers, with over a hundred guns. Having left some of his troops to guard his camp, Wellesley had with him only 4,500 men—viz. six battalions and four regiments of cavalry, two battalions and one regiment of cavalry being European. He had seventeen guns and about five thousand Mysore and Mahratta horsemen, not much to be relied on. But 'he fully realised the supreme importance in eastern warfare of promptitude of action and audacity in assuming the offensive, even though the enemy might be enormously superior in number' (, p. 40). He decided to turn their left, seize Assye, and fall upon their flank and rear. To do this he must cross the Kaitna, and he was told there was no ford. But he noticed that, a little above its junction with the Juah, there was a village on the left bank opposite a village on the right bank, and he directed his troops on this point, confident that they would find some means of passage there (, i. 353). He found a ford, and, leaving the irregular horse on the right bank, led the rest of his army across, and formed it between the two streams, whose nullahs covered his flanks. His infantry were in two lines, his cavalry in a third.

The formation was carried out under a heavy fire from the enemy's guns, while their infantry changed front with surprising precision, and placed their right on the Kaitna, their left on the Juah at Assye. 'When I saw that they had got their left to Assye, I altered my plan; and determined to manœuvre by my left and push the enemy upon the nullah, knowing that the village of Assye must fall when the right should be beat' (Desp. 24 Sept.) By a misunderstanding the British right attacked Assye; it was exposed to 'a most terrible cannonade;' the cavalry had to be sent forward to cover its withdrawal, and could not be used afterwards for pursuit. The battle was obstinately contested, but the victory was complete, the enemy leaving nearly all their guns on the field. The loss of the British was a third of their strength, and included 640 Europeans. Wellesley had a horse shot under him and another bayoneted. One of his staff wrote: 'I never saw a man so cool and collected as he was the whole time, though I can assure you till our troops got orders to advance, the fate of the day seemed doubtful' (Suppl. Desp. 3 Oct. and 1 Nov.;, War in India, 1803-6; Asiatic Annual Register, 1803, p. 43; , Decisive Battles of India, pp. 286-95).

Scindiah retreated westward, and Wellesley watched him while Stevenson took Asseerghur. The two divisions then marched into Berar to besiege Gawilghur. Scindiah, having learnt that his best troops had been routed by Lake at Laswarree, opened negotiations with Wellesley, and on 23 Nov. a suspension of hostilities was agreed upon so far as he was concerned. But he did not observe it, and his cavalry joined the troops of the rajah of Berar in resisting Wellesley's advance on Gawilghur. On the 29th a