Some successful operations were now carried on against Ameer Khan, whose predatory bands were pursued for several hundred miles by a British detachment under General Smith, which, after compelling him to repass the Ganges, returned to the camp before Bhurtpore. During their absence the position of the camp had been shifted – a measure absolutely necessary to the health of its occupants, and which, moreover, was called for by a change of purpose as to the future point of attack. The army had also been strengthened by the arrival of the division under General Jones, originally commanded by Colonel Murray, and further attempts had been made for the reduction of Bhurtpore. Batteries had been erected and brought into operation on a new point, and the state of the breach was deemed to warrant a third attempt to storm.
The 20th of February was appointed for this purpose, and the storming-party was ordered to the trenches at an early hour, to be in readiness for attack as soon as the batteries should have beaten down the defences and stockades which might have been raised in the night. At break of day the enemy made a sortie on the British trenches, and for a time appear to have retained a decided advantage. They were at length driven back; but the conflict seems to have lasted for several hours, and the English troops, fatigued by their exertions, and dispirited by the long resistance opposed to them, were not in the best condition for the duty of assaulting a strong fortress from which they had been twice repulsed.
A column under Colonel Don, composed partly of Europeans and partly of Sepoys, was to advance to storm; a second column, similarly composed, under Captain Grant, was to carry the enemy's trenches and guns outside the town; and a third, composed in like manner of European and native troops, under Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor, was to attack the Beem Nurram gate, which was reported to be easily accessible. Captain Grant, with the second column, carried the intrenchments
