BATTLE OF KIRKEE, AND BATTLE AND CAPTURE OF POONA. November, 1817.

On the 2nd. of November accounts were received of the Peishwah’s renewed treachery, when the division under Brigadier-General Lionel Smith, C.B., was instantly put in motion, and on arrival at Ahmednuggur on the 8th., it was ascertained that the gallantry of the troops at Poona under Lieutenant-Colonel Burr, of the 7th. Bombay infantry, had successfully resisted the Peishwah’s attempt to annihilate them, in their position at Kirkee, on the 5th. of November. After some slight skirmishing on the road, the force under Brigadier-General Smith (of which the King’s 65th. regiment formed a portion), joined the Poona brigade at their position on the 13th. of November, when immediate preparations were made for attacking the enemy’s camp, which was on the opposite side of the Moottah Moola. The force moved down before daybreak on the 14th. of November, but finding the river too deep to cross, it again encamped. The ford having been more particularly ascertained under some skirmishing and trifling loss, the left wing under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Milnes, of the 65th., crossed on the evening of the 16th., in face of the enemy, whose artillery and matchlocks occasioned considerable loss during the passage and advance to a position on the right of the Peishwah’s camp.

During the night the Peishwah abandoned his capital, and moved to the southward. The inhabitants made their submission, and about noon on the 17th. of November, the British flag was hoisted on his palace, under a royal salute.

The 65th. regiment, for the above and subsequent services, has received authority to bear on its colours and appointments the figure of the Royal Tiger, with the word India above, and Arabia beneath, also the 84th., this regiment now being linked to the 65th.

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