WAR IN AVA. 1824 TO 1826.

The repeated acts of aggression of the Burmese governors in the country adjacent to the British territory, at length rendered it necessary to demand an explanation from the Court of Ava. This terminated by a mutual declaration of war, and troops were assembled to penetrate the Burmese empire. His Majesty’s 13th. and 38th. regiments, and two companies of artillery, and the 40th. Native Infantry, amounting to two thousand one hundred and seventy-five men, proceeded from Bengal, while His Majesty’s 41st. and 89th. Foot, the Madras European regiment, and the 9th., 12th., 28th., and 30th. Madras Native Infantry, and artillery embarked from Madras,—making in all eleven thousand four hundred and seventy-five men. The troops from Bengal embarked in April and May, 1824.^[16] To occupy Rangoon and the country at the mouth of the Irrawaddy was the first object. Brigadier-General Sir Archibald Campbell with his troops took possession of Rangoon on the 12th. of May, without the loss of a man; and Cheduba, on the Arracan coast, was also captured by storm on the 17th. of May, by a detachment under Brigadier-General McCreagh, of the 13th. Light Infantry, three companies of the regiment being employed on this service.

Meanwhile the Burmese army continued in great force in the vicinity of Rangoon, under the fortifications of wood called 42stockades, and of the dense jungle which covered the country. In carrying the stockades without ladders on the 28th. of May, portions of the 13th. and 38th. regiments were specially noticed. On the 10th. of June, Kemmendine was assaulted; when about two miles from the town, the head of the column was stopped by a strong stockade, full of men, against which the artillery opened fire, and in half an hour a breach was made. The 41st., and part of the Madras European regiment, stormed the works in front; and the detachments of the 13th. and 38th. assaulted the rear face, which was ten feet high. The soldiers being encouraged and animated by the spirited conduct of Major (afterwards Sir Robert) Sale, who was the first on the top, climbed the works, one helping another up, and entering simultaneously with the party by the breach, they bayoneted every man that opposed them.

This point being gained, the column advanced about a mile, and at four o’clock in the afternoon took up a position against the principal stockade. Batteries were erected during the night, and the artillery opened a heavy fire at daylight, when the Burmese forsook their works and fled.

An attack was made upon the British pickets on the 1st. of July, which was repulsed. The Burmese position in the rear of the great pagoda was assaulted on the 5th. of July, and a general attack was made on the 8th. of that month, one column advancing by land, under Brigadier-General M‘Bean, while the other column proceeded by water. Major Wahab, with the Native Infantry, landed and immediately attacked the breach; Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Godwin, of the 41st., entered the work higher up by escalade; Major Sale encountered the Burmese commander-in-chief in the works, and slew him in single combat, taking from him a valuable gold-hilted sword and scabbard. Eight hundred of the enemy were killed on this occasion, and thirty-eight pieces of artillery, forty swivels, and three hundred muskets were captured.

An expedition was sent on the 11th. of October against Martaban, on the Saluen river, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin, of His Majesty’s 41st. regiment, and the place was captured on the 30th. of that month.

Meanwhile the Burmese recovered from the consternation 43into which they had been thrown, and a veteran chief, named Maha Bandoola, being appointed their commander, he approached the British position on the 1st. of December, with upwards of fifty thousand foot, a body of Cassay horse, and three hundred pieces of artillery, and commenced forming entrenchments. Major Sale advanced against the left of the Burmese line with two hundred of the 13th. Light Infantry, under Major Dennie, and two hundred and fifty of the 18th. Native Infantry, under Captain Ross, and stormed the entrenchments in sight of the whole army. The soldiers of the 13th. led the charge with great intrepidity; they burst through the intrenchments, and overcame all opposition; this example was followed by the native infantry, when the Burmese fled, and the British troops returned to their posts laden with trophies.

This victory was followed by another over the left wing of the Burmese army, on the 5th. of December. The first advantage was followed up, the enemy was overthrown, and of the three hundred pieces of ordnance which they had in position, two hundred and forty were brought into the British camp.^[17]

On the 7th. of December the trenches were assaulted in four columns of attack, under the superintendence of Lieutenant-Colonel Miles, the second in command, and led by Lieutenant-Colonels Mallet (both of the 89th.), Parlby, Brodie, and Captain Wilson, of the 38th. regiment. At a quarter before twelve every gun that would bear upon the breaches opened fire. Major Sale at the same time made a diversion on the enemy’s left and rear. At noon the cannonade ceased, and the columns moved forward to their points of attack, when the total defeat of Bandoolah’s army ensued, his loss being estimated at five thousand men.

44In an attack on the enemy’s corps of observation, on the Dalla side of the river, on the 9th. of December, the 89th. regiment highly distinguished itself.

Rallying his broken legions, the Burmese commander called reinforcements to his aid, and took up another position, which he fortified with great labour and art. These formidable works were attacked on the 15th. of December, when two hundred of the 13th., under Major Sale, with three hundred of the 18th. and 34th. Madras Native Infantry, formed the right column of attack under Brigadier-General (afterwards Sir Willoughby) Cotton; this made a detour round the enemy’s left to gain the rear of his position at Kokien, which was to be attacked in front by another column. Sir Archibald marched with the left column, which consisted of five hundred Europeans, from the 38th., 41st., 89th., and Madras European Regiment, with portions of native infantry, to attack the foe in front. Of this column two divisions were formed, the command of one being given to Lieutenant-Colonel Miles, of the 89th., and the other to Major Evans, of the 28th. Madras Native Infantry. On arriving in front of the position it presented a very formidable appearance; but when the signal was given, the soldiers rushed forward, and in less than fifteen minutes they were in full possession of these stupendous works. Major Sale received a severe wound in the head, and was succeeded by Major Dennie, who although wounded in the hand, continued at the head of the 13th., regiment until the action was over. The Burmese after a short resistance, fled in a panic, leaving their camp standing, and abandoning all their baggage, together with a great portion of their arms and ammunition.

These successes, connected with those of the royal navy, had produced important results; the maritime provinces of Mergui, Tavoy, Yeb, and Martaban, had been captured, and seven hundred pieces of artillery had been taken from the Burmese. Lieutenant-Colonel Elrington, with a small detachment, consisting of a portion of the 47th., with some seamen and marines, carried by storm the factory and stockades of Syriam on the 11th. and 12th. of January, 1825. To wrest additional territory from the court of Ava, Major Sale proceeded 45against the city of Bassein, in the south-west part of the ancient kingdom of Pegu, which constituted part of the Burmese empire. The troops, after a tedious passage, arrived in the evening of the 24th. of February, off Pagoda Point, Great Negrais. On the 26th. the expedition entered the river, and the 13th., 38th., and the 12th. Native Infantry landed and captured a stockade. The force afterwards re-embarked, and proceeded to the next stockade, which the Burmese abandoned as the soldiers went on shore to storm the works; so great was their consternation, that the City of Bassein was set on fire and abandoned, the enemy retiring on Donabew.

Brigadier-General Cotton, in the interim, with a detached force, of which the 47th. and 89th regiments formed a part, had attacked the pagoda stockade in advance of Donabew, on the 7th. of March. The troops were formed in two columns, under Lieutenant-Colonel O’Donaghue, 47th., and Major Basden, 89th. regiment. All were exposed to a heavy fire, which was kept up to the last, with greater spirit and perseverance than was usual. The operations against the second defence, distance about five hundred yards from the pagoda stockade, were not successful, and the force was re-embarked on the 18th., after the enemy’s cannon had been spiked and his arms destroyed.

Meanwhile, a force of eleven thousand men, under Brigadier-General Morrison, of the 44th., of which that regiment and the 54th. formed a portion, had been assembled at Chittagong towards the end of September of the preceding year, moved forward early in January, in order to penetrate through Arracan, and across the mountains into Ava, where it was to effect a junction with the army at Rangoon. The first attack at Arracan, on the 29th. of March, failed, owing principally to a dense fog, which prevented the great strength of the position from being discovered. On the night of the 31st., Brigadier Richards proceeded by a circuitous route, and gained the summit of the range unperceived; and on the morning of the 1st. of April the Burmese were attacked in flank, while the front was assailed by the main body. In a short time the heights were abandoned, and Arracan was gained. The Burmese army having retreated to Donabew, two 46columns were formed to attack it by land and water, the land column being under the command of Sir A. Campbell, and the water column under Brigadier-General Cotton. Donabew was strongly fortified by a stockade extending nearly a mile along the Irrawaddy, composed of teak beams fifteen to seventeen feet high, driven into the earth as closely as possible to each other. Behind this wooden wall was the old brick rampart, and the works were mounted with one hundred and fifty guns and swivels. The marine attack failed, after carrying the first stockade, and the flotilla retreated ten miles down the river, leaving the wounded in the power of the enemy. Next day most of the killed and wounded that had been left in the stockade, were crucified and placed on rafts, which were sent down the stream to the boats of their comrades.

After a bombardment by the land column, Donabew was taken possession of by Sir Archibald Campbell on the 2nd. of April; Maha Bandoolah having been killed by a rocket, the other chiefs could not prevail on the garrison to remain, and the place was evacuated during the night of the 1st. of April.

After this success the march was resumed to Prome, where the army arrived on the 25th. of April, the Burmese having evacuated the town after setting it on fire, but the decisive measures adopted saved the place from a general conflagration.

In consequence of the season of military operations being over, the army remained inactive at Prome, and in the autumn overtures of peace were made by the Burmese, but hostilities were resumed in the middle of November; and the army of Ava, having repulsed the attack of three bodies of Sepoys, became suddenly elevated with a high idea of its own power, and advanced to attack the British troops at Prome, which had been reinforced by the detachments left at Rangoon.

About sixty thousand Burmese environed six thousand Anglo-Indian troops; but undismayed by this formidable host, four native regiments were left for the defence of Prome, and the remainder advanced on the 1st. of December to attack the enemy’s left wing at Simbike. This post was gallantly stormed by the troops under Brigadier-General Cotton, and the works were carried in ten minutes. The flank companies of the Royals, under Captain Thomas John Harvey, with the 4741st. and 89th. regiments, commanded respectively by Major Peter Latouche Chambers, and Brevet-Major Henry Ross Gore, supported by the 18th. Madras Native Infantry, and led by Lieutenant-Colonel Godwin, performed this service.

After a harassing march of about twenty miles, the troops bivouacked at Ze-ouke, and at daylight on the morning of the 2nd. of December they were again in motion, to attack the formidable position occupied by the enemy’s centre division on the Napadee Hills. Arriving in the vicinity, the British artillery commenced a sharp cannonade; Brigadier-General Elrington’s troops drove the enemy from the jungle, and six companies of the 87th. Royal Irish Fusiliers carried the posts at the bottom of the ridge; the Burmese were driven from the valley to their principal works on the hills, which appeared very formidable, as the heights could only be ascended by a narrow road, commanded by artillery, and defended by stockades crowded with men armed with muskets. When the artillery had made an impression on the works, the 13th. and 38th. regiments, the latter leading, rushed into them, overthrew all opposition with the bayonet, and forced the Burmese from hill to hill, over precipices that could only be ascended by a narrow stair, until the whole of the position nearly three miles in length, was captured. Scarcely a shot was fired in return to the enemy’s continued volleys, and the six companies of the 87th. advancing through the jungle to the right, drove everything before them on that side.

On the 5th. of December the enemy’s right wing was driven from its post. The division employed under Brigadier-General Cotton consisted of two hundred and fifty of the Royal Regiment, two hundred and seventy of the 41st., two hundred and sixty of the 89th., the light company of the 28th. Madras Native Infantry, and one hundred pioneers. The immense army of Ava was thus forced from its positions, and the Burmese legions sought safety in flight. After this success the army continued to advance; the Burmese evacuated Meeaday, and took post at Melloon, at the same time they renewed their offers for terminating the war; but this appeared to be with the view of gaining time to re-organize their forces for a more determined resistance.

48The conditions of peace not being ratified by the stipulated time, hostilities were resumed on the 19th. of January, 1826, on which day the 13th. and 38th. regiments embarked in boats under Lieutenant-Colonel Sale, to assault the main face of the enemy’s fortifications at Melloon. At the same time Brigadier-General Cotton, with the flank companies of the 47th. and 87th. regiments, and the 89th., under Lieutenant-Colonel Hunter Blair, the 41st. regiment and the 18th. Madras Native Infantry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Godwin, commanding the first brigade of Madras troops, and the 28th. Madras Native Infantry, with the flank companies of the 43rd. Madras Native Infantry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Parlby were to cross above Melloon, and, after carrying some outworks, were to attack the northern face of the principal work. The whole of the boats quitted the shore together; but the current and breeze carried the 13th. and 38th. to their point of attack before the other divisions could reach the opposite bank of the river, and Lieutenant-Colonel Sale was wounded in his boat; but the two regiments landed, formed under the command of Major Frith, of the 38th. (who was wounded in the assault), and rushed forward with such intrepidity that they speedily became masters of these formidable works. When Brigadier-General Cotton saw that they were carried, he ordered the brigade under Lieutenant-Colonel Blair, of the 87th., to cut in upon the enemy’s line of retreat, which was performed with much effect.

On the 28th. of January, the 87th., with the flank companies of the 28th. Native Infantry, and detachments of the Governor-General’s body-guard and artillery, under Brigadier Hunter Blair, were sent from Tongwyn, to attack the position of Moulmein, eleven miles distant. The position, being a great annoyance to the surrounding country, was destroyed, and the troops returned to camp the same evening.

The army advanced upon the Burmese capital, and the legions of Ava resolved once more to try the fortune of war. A new army of 40,000 men was raised, and placed under the command of a noted warrior named Nee Woon-Breen, which has been translated—“Prince of Darkness,” “King of Hell,” and “Prince of the Setting Sun.” They met the British 49in the open fields near Pagahm Mew, where an action took place on the 9th. of February. The 13th. Light Infantry led the right attack, supported by the 38th. and 89th. regiments. That on the left was supported by the 41st. Part of the Burmese troops, broken by the 38th., retired into a well-constructed field-work, but were so closely pursued that they had not time to form for its defence: here from three to four hundred of them perished either by the bayonet or plunging into the river to escape. The result was another defeat to the enemy. The “Prince of Darkness” fled to Ava, where he was put to a cruel death by the order of the King.

After this victory the army continued its advance upon Ummerapoora, the capital, situated upon the shores of a beautiful lake; and when within four days’ march of that city the king of Ava sent the ratified treaty, paying the expenses of the war, and relinquishing a considerable portion of territory. The treaty of peace was finally signed at Gandaboo, February 24th., 1826. The King of Ava renounced all claim on Assam, ceded to the East India Company Arracan, and four other provinces with their islands and dependencies, and agreed to pay a crore of rupees as a war indemnity; free trade also to be allowed to British subjects in all parts of his dominions. In one of the conferences the negotiators had objected to the payment of money, and stated, that by using great economy, they might furnish a million baskets of rice within a year, but they did not grow rupees; and if the British had any objection to the rice, there was abundance of fine trees in the forest, which they might cut down and take away in lieu of the money.

On the conclusion of this campaign, the following statement appeared in general orders:—“While the Governor-General in Council enumerates, with sentiments of unfeigned admiration, the 13th., 38th., 41st., 89th., 47th., 1st. (or Royals), 87th, and 45th. regiments, the Honorable Company’s Madras European regiment, and the Bengal and Madras European artillery, as the European troops who have had the honour of establishing the renown of the British arms in a new and distant region, His Lordship in Council feels that higher and more justly-merited praise cannot be bestowed on those brave troops than that, amidst the barbarous hosts whom they have fought and conquered, they have eminently displayed the virtues, and sustained the character, of the British Soldier.”^[18]

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