guns were lighter, but they were fifty-five in number. About three hundred was the total amount of killed and wounded on the English side; the loss of the enemy was estimated at ten thousand.
After sundry marches and countermarches Hyder once more waited battle in a position chosen by himself, being no other than the fortunate spot, as he deemed it, near the village of Polliloor, where he had triumphed over the corps of Colonel Baillie. Here General Coote led his troops to an action, which proved more bloody than decisive; but the Mysorean at length yielded the ground on which the battle was fought, and the English reached it over the dead bodies of their yet unburied countrymen, who had fallen in the former action.[1]
Having learned that the important fortress of Vellore was besieged and reduced to extremity, Sir Eyre Coote determined on a vigorous attempt to relieve it; and, finding that Hyder was posted at Sholinghur, resolved upon another effort to bring him to action. On the morning of the 27th of September, he pushed forward with such vigour as nearly to surprise the enemy before their ranks could be fully formed. They rallied, however, and made several brisk charges, but were finally obliged to betake themselves to flight, with the loss of five thousand men, while only a hundred fell on the side of the assailants. General Coote was thus enabled, though not without difficulty,[2] to march upon Vellore, the siege of which was abandoned on his approach.
Intelligence having been received of hostilities between
- ↑ "On the very spot where they stood lay strewed amongst their feet the relics of their dearest fellow-soldiers and friends, who near twelve months before had been slain by the hands of those very inhuman monsters that now appeared a second time eager to complete the work of blood. One poor soldier, with the tear of affection glistening in his eye, picked up the decaying spatterdash of his valued brother with the name yet entire upon it, which the tinge of blood and effect of weather had kindly spared! The scattered clothes and wings of the 73rd's flank companies were everywhere perceptible, as also their helmets and skulls, both of which bore the marks of many furrowed cuts." – Munro's "Operations on the Coromandel Coast."
- ↑ "General Coote was never once provided with a sufficient quantity of provisions to render any one action decisive, for a victory was no sooner gained than he was forced to retire to Madras for a fresh supply of grain." – Munro's" Operations on the Coromandel Coast."
