less encouraged by the smallness of the British force, now considerably under 2,000 fighting-men, as well as by a recent defeat of a weak British detachment before the strong stockade of Zitoung in Pegu, where Lieutenant-Colonel Conroy and another officer were killed, with a very heavy loss in men for so small a force.
Sir Archibald Campbell, however, continued to advance; and on approaching Pagahm-mew, a town about one hundred miles above Melloon, he obtained positive information that a levy of 40,000 men had been ordered by the "Golden Foot." This new army was honoured with the flattering appellation of "Retrievers of the King's Glory," and was placed under the command of a savage warrior, styled Nee Woon-Breen, which has been variously translated as "Prince of Darkness," "King of Hell," and "Prince of the Setting Sun."
On the 8th of February it was ascertained that the enemy were about five miles in advance on the road to the city of Pagahm, and on the 9th the British columns moved forward to attack. The advanced guard was met in the jungle by strong bodies of skirmishers; and after maintaining a running fight for several miles, the column debouched into the open country, and there discovered the Burmese army, from sixteen to twenty thousand strong, drawn up in an inverted crescent, the wings of which threatened the little body of assailants on both their flanks. But Sir Archibald pushed boldly forward for their centre, threw the whole weight of his column upon that point, broke it, and left the unconnected wings severed from each other.[1] The enemy fled into a second line of redoubts and stockades, close under the walls of Pagahm-mew; but the British column followed them so closely that they had but little time to rally for their defence, and several hundreds perished at this spot, either pierced by the bayonet, or drowned in vain attempts to cross the river. With the exception of two
- ↑ This is the account of the action given by the military secretary, Major Snodgrass; though, strange to say, the official report by Sir Archibald Campbell states the attack to have been made on the wings.
