frantic desperation, and being beaten at all points, and having lost their guns and from three to four thousand men in killed and wounded, they dispersed and fled. But the loss on our side was very severe: we had 106 killed, 684 wounded, and seven missing. Seven officers were either killed on the field or subsequently died of their wounds. Her Majesty's 40th regiment lost two successive commanding officers, Major Stopford and Captain Codrington, who fell at the very muzzles of the Mahratta guns.[1]
The enemy having been dislodged from Maharajpoor, General Valiant, supported by the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, moved on the right of the enemy's main portion at Chonda. During his advance he had to take in succession three strongly-intrenched positions, where, in the language of the despatch, the enemy defended their guns with frantic desperation. The brigade of General Littler, after dispersing the right of the enemy at Maharajpoor, advanced, supported by Captain Grant's troop of Horse Artillery, and the 1st regiment of Light Cavalry, to attack the main position at Chonda in front. It was carried by a rush of the Queen's 39th, supported by the 56th Native Infantry.
The victory was complete; but so strenuous a resistance had rarely been offered by a native army when opposed to a British force, even when the disparity of numbers had been far greater than on this occasion. The Commander-in-Chief thus expresses himself on the subject: "I regret to say that our loss has been very severe, infinitely beyond what I calculated upon: indeed, I did not do justice to the gallantry of my opponents."
On the same day another brilliant victory was obtained by the left wing of the army under Major-General Grey, at Punnear, over ten or twelve thousand Mahrattas, who lost all their guns – twenty-four in number, a standard, all their ammunition, and some treasure.
The consequence of these two victories was the prompt
- ↑ Sir Hugh Gough's Despatch.
