main body of the enemy, and the battle now became general along the entire front. It was of long continuance, and maintained with great obstinacy. The English, unable to employ their own artillery with any effect, suffered considerably from that of the enemy, and were also seriously annoyed by numerous flights of rockets furnished from the arsenal.[1] Yet, on coming to close combat, they carried, by successive charges, one point after another, till the whole of the Sultan's army was obliged to seek shelter under the fortifications of the city.
- ↑ A missile weapon, consisting of an iron tube about a foot long, and an inch in diameter, fixed to a bamboo rod of ten or twelve feet long. The tube being filled with combustible composition, is set fire to, and, directed by the hand, flies like an arrow to the distance of upwards of a thousand yards. Some of the rockets have a chamber, and burst like a shell; others, called the ground-rockets, have a serpentine motion, and, on striking the ground, rise again and bound along till their force be spent. The rockets make a great noise, and exceedingly annoy the native cavalry in India, who move in great bodies; but are easily avoided, or seldom take effect against our troops,who are formed in lines of great extent, and no great depth. – Dirom.
This missile, as improved by Colonel Congreve, is now one of the most destructive character. The author of this work witnessed its effects, when first tried, at the siege of Flushing, where it produced such horror and amazement that General Bonet, the French commandant, made a formal application to Lord Chatham that it should be discontinued!
