Page:Our Indian Army.djvu/395

Rh with fifteen guns, was destined to clear the Terraie, or border of jungle that extends along the base of the mountains, and to re-establish the British authority in the usurped lands; Major-General Gillespie, with ten thousand five hundred men and twenty guns, together with six or seven thousand irregulars, was to seize the passes of the rivers Jumna and Ganges, in order to cut off the retreat of the enemy; while Colonel Ochterlony, with seven thousand men and twenty-two guns, was to act against the western provinces and the western army of the Goorkhas, under Ummeer Sing Thappa, which was understood to be composed of the flower of their troops. The regular army of the Goorkhas consisted of 12,000 men, dressed, armed, and disciplined in imitation of the Company's Sepoys; but their principal strength lay in the difficult nature of the country, and its almost impregnable passes, of which they were in full possession.

The campaign was commenced by the division under General Gillespie, which was assembled at Saharumpore by the middle of October, 1814, and marched soon after to the Deyra Dhoon, one of the finest valleys that diversify the Himalaya and the main channel of communication between the eastern and western districts. The Tinley Pass, which led into this valley, was seized on the 20th by Lieutenant-Colonel Carpenter, of the 17th Native Infantry, having been detached for that purpose by General Gillespie, who entered the Dhoon himself on the 24th, by the Kerree Pass, and immediately marched upon Kalunga, while detachments occupied the passes and ferries of the Jumna.

The fortress of Kalunga or Nelapaunee was rendered formidable, not by artificial bulwarks, but by its situation on the top of a hill, where it could only be approached through a thick and entangled jungle. General Gillespie, perceiving that it formed the key of the territory, determined to attempt its reduction; and for this purpose divided the attacking-party into four columns, which, advancing from different points, were to meet at the