away they ran, but the Burmese never gave and never expected quarter. Lowering their heads to a butting position, they blindly charged upon our soldiers' bayonets, and were killed in heaps, for our men had dried their muskets, and could now pour in volleys as well as use the bayonet. Few or none were spared, as, from the barbarous and treacherous mode of warfare practised by the Burmese, death alone afforded safety.[1] In this desperate hand-to-hand fight the enemy suffered severely, and the victors did not escape, the loss on their part including some valuable and meritorious officers.
On the 10th of June Sir Archibald Campbell moved on the strong position of Kemmendine, a war-boat station, only three miles above Rangoon. His force consisted of about three thousand men, with four 18-pounders, four mortars, and seven field-pieces; and he sent at the same time two divisions of vessels up the river. The enemy had laboured day and night to strengthen this position: the ground behind the village was elevated and commanding, and was surrounded by a thick forest in the rear; the heights had already been strongly stockaded and abatised in front; and the approach on the land faces was rendered difficult by a thick jungle, while the swampy nature of the ground towards the Irawaddi strengthened the work on that side.
About two miles from the town the head of the column was stopped by a stockade, apparently of great strength, and filled with men; but two heavy guns and some field-pieces having been opened upon it, in less than half-an-hour a considerable gap became apparent in the outer works. A part of the Madras European regiment, supported by a part of H.M. 41st, then moved on to assault. At the same time an attack by escalade was made on the other side by a party formed from H.M. 13th and 38th regiments, who, by helping each other up the face of the stockade, which was at least ten feet high, succeeded in
- ↑ Snodgrass. "Narrative of the Burmese War."
