a flag upon it, and displayed his hat on the point of his sword. His men soon collected around him, and, being joined by the rest of the troops engaged in this attack, they advanced rapidly, the enemy retreating before their bayonets. The remaining cavaliers were carried in succession; and in less than an hour after ascending the breach, this party, after occupying the whole of the southern ramparts, arrived in triumph at the eastern gateway, where it was halted to give the men breathing time, after such violent exertion under a burning sun.
The progress of the left column was not quite so rapid. Colonel Dunlop, by whom it was commanded, had been wounded in the conflict at the summit of the breach; and just as the party began to advance from that point, the resistance in front was powerfully aided by the flanking musketry of the inner ramparts. All the leading officers being either killed or disabled, Lieutenant Farquhar placed himself at the head of the party, but instantly fell, dead. Captain Lambton, brigade-major to General Baird, now assumed the command; and the column, though not without sometimes being brought to a stand, pushed forward, killing many of the enemy, and driving the rest before them, till they reached a point where the approach of the right column was perceptible. Here the enemy were thrown into the utmost confusion, and the slaughter became dreadful.[1] The operations of this column were ably supported by a detachment under Captain Goodall, which, having effected a passage over the ditch between the exterior and interior ramparts, took the enemy in flank and rear. The result of these combined attacks, was, that when both divisions of the British force met on the eastern rampart, the whole of the works were in their possession. The only remaining objects of anxiety were the palace and person of the Sultan, to whose conduct during the assault we must now revert.
- ↑ A number of the garrison escaped by uniting their turbans, and lowering themselves from the bastions. This precarious means of escape occasionally failed, and many were found at the base of the walls, maimed or killed from the attempt.
