1759 - British expedition against Masulipatam
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The campaign took place from January to April 1759
Description
Initial situation
In October 1758, Major-General Robert Clive had taken advantage of the departure of the Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau from Deccan to join the forces of the Comte Lally-Tollendal for the siege of Madras (present-day Chennai). Clive immediately sent Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Forde with a force of some 2,600 men against the small French force under the Marquis de Conflans occupying the Northern Circars.
During his operations in Deccan, Forde defeated Conflans at the Battle of Condore on December 9, 1758 and the latter retreated to the Fortress of Masulipatam (present-day Machilipatnam).
Forde wanted to immediately march on Masulipatam but he was delayed by negotiations with his Indian ally the Rajah Anunderaj, who now refused either to supply funds or to set his army in motion to accompany Forde.
On hearing the state of affairs with Forde, Mr. Andrews, who had been sent from Madras to arrange terms with the rajah, came to Forde's assistance, lending him ₤ 2,000, and then proceeding to Anunderaj's hiding-place, which he reached on January 15, 1759.
The rajah ignored the former treaty, which he said he had signed under a misapprehension, and Mr. Andrews was constrained to make a supplementary treaty by which Anunderaj agreed that whatever sums the rajah should furnish should be considered as a loan, and that the revenues of all the districts south-west of the Godavari River which might be reduced should be equally divided between the East India Company and the rajah. This arrangement completed, Anunderaj marched to join Forde's camp, having agreed to assist the British in their attack on Masulipatam; at the same time paying on account ₤ 600, and giving bills for ₤ 6,000 more, payable in 10 days.
Preparations were now made for a general advance. Forde delivered the Fort of Rajahmundry to the rajah who appointed Captain Bristol, a European in his service, governor of the fort where a depot was formed for the British stores, sick, and wounded. At length after six weeks of negotiation, operations could resume. However, 50 precious days had been lost and the French had gained time to recover themselves.
Forde marches on Masulipatam
On January 28, 1759, Forde and the rajah moved from Peddapore (present-day Peddapuram) and resumed their march on Masulipatam. Forde took the direct road while the rajah went out of the line of march to raise contributions.
Meanwhile the Indiaman Hardwicke and two sloops cruised along the coast, extending between the several mouths of the Godavari River and finally proceeded to Masulipatam roads, where they captured some small vessels.
On February 6, Forde occupied Ellore (present-day Eluru), a considerable town with a strong fort some, 77 km north of Masulipatam, the French soldiers who had garrisoned this place having been withdrawn by Conflans as he was retiring from Condore (present-day Chendurthi). Here again Forde stopped to wait for the rajah.
Meanwhile, Conflans had placed garrisons in Narsirpore (present-day Narasapur) situated on an island in the delta of the Godavari and Concale (present-day Kaikaluru), two outlying strongholds to the north of Masulipatam, and had organised, a corps of observation, consisting of 250 French and 2,000 Cipayes with four guns under M. du Rocher.
Forde was still at Ellore, waiting for the arrival of the rajah's forces. When he learned of the poor dispositions of du Rocher's corps, which had left Narsipore in isolation, Forde lost no time in sending Captain Knox with the 1st Battalion of Bengal Sepoy towards the French factory of Narsipore about 32 km from Ellore. The factory was defended by 100 Europeans and 400 Cipayes under M. Panneau. Forde sent letters to the Zamindar (official employed by the Mughals to collect taxes) of Narsirpore and his brother to warn them against any hostile endeavour and any assistance to the French.
The Zamindar of Narsipore met Captain Knox on the march, offered him assistance and promised troops.
As Knox’s detachment approached Narsipore, Panneau sent away all the company’s goods in boat to Masulipatam and retired by water with the garrison to join du Rocher's Corps of observation which was encamped some 50 km from Forde’s positions at Ellore. At Narsipore, Knox captured two 24-pdrs and three 12-pdrs and some small guns with several vessels, boats and marine stores. However, ammunition had been sunk in the river.
Afterwards, Knox’s detachment returned to Ellore, where it joined the headquarters camp of the British army. Then came more delay.
On February 18, Anunderaj’s Army effected a junction with Forde’s Army.
On February 19, the Zamindar of Narsirpore also joined Forde with 1,500 men.
On February 26, Forde detached Captain Macleane with 6 coys of the 2nd Battalion of Bengal Sepoys against the small fort of Concale. The fort was defended by 1 sergeant, 13 Europeans and 2 Cipayes coys who had been instructed to hold their position at all cost.
On March 1, Forde was again able to move. He commenced his advance on Masulipatam
On March 2, the British Army crossed the Lake of Kolleru (unidentified location), at this season little more than a swamp.
On March 3, Macleane attacked Concale. Du Rocher, the French commandant of the corps of observation, had informed the sergeant defending Concale that he would send reinforcement the following day. As Macleane's detachment approached the cannon of the fort opened on them but the Sepoys used a rising ground and the adjacent houses of a village to invest the place. Captain Macleane then attempted to force the gate but was repulsed twice with loss, having several of his men killed or wounded. He then wrote to Forde asking for two guns. Forde immediately sent the required guns with an officer of artillery. The guns were planted close to the gates and blew them open. The British Sepoys entered into the fort and made a great slaughter of Cipayes. As for the Europeans, they hid themselves till the British ceased firing.
The British were master of Fort Concale since a few hours when they were informed of the approach of a French relief force (40 Europeans and some Cipayes). Macleane came out of the fort to meet them but the French having learned that the fort had fallen retired on their own army.
The Marquis de Conflans, leaving a sufficient guard in the fort, was encamped in an advantageous position in a village 3 km from the walls of Masulipatam. Here the army (500 Europeans and 2,000 Cipayes, excluding du Rocher's detachment) was supplied with water (there was no fresh spring in the fort).
On March 6, when Forde appeared before Conflans’ camp, the latter retired into the Fortress of Masulipatam and, in the afternoon, Forde’s Army encamped in Conflans’ former camp.
The place of Masulipatam
The fort of Masulipatam stood nearly 2.5 km from the sea-shore, on the edge of a sound or inlet of the sea, surrounded on the other three sides by a morass or swamp of considerable extent, formed partly by this inlet and partly by a branch of the Krishna River, which disembogued to the westward of the fort; this swamp varied in depth in different parts, and at different seasons, from 1 to 6 meters, with a muddy bottom, and the inlet to the south side of the fort was upwards of 450 meters in breadth.
The defences of the Fortress of Masulipatam had been improved by the French since they had taken possession of it in 1751, and now formed an irregular parallelogram about 730 meters in length and 450 in breadth, open on the south side, where a broad estuary furnished sufficient natural protection, and closed on the three other sides by mud walls faced with brick and strengthened by 11 bastions connected by curtains. There was also a wet ditch and a narrow palisaded space between ditch and parapet, but no glacis. On the landward side the fort was surrounded everywhere by a heavy swamp, the road to the town of Masulipatam (2.5 km distant) being carried on a causeway to the main gate on the north-west front. This causeway was covered for a distance of a 120 meters from the wall by a parapet ending in a ravelin, which commanded the whole length of the road. The only sound ground within reach of the fort was to be found on some sand-hills to east and west of it; of which those on the eastern side, being within 730 meters of the wall, were selected by Forde for his position. Regular approaches for a formal siege were out of the question for so small a force, so Forde was fain to begin the erection of batteries on the sandhills, to play on the works from thence as best they could.
Preparations for the siege
On March 7, Forde invested Masulipatam. The troops of the Rajah Anunderaj and the Zamindar of Narsirpore encamped in the suburb of the fortress, and the British force took up a position on the range of sand hills to the north-east of the fort. The same day, he was informed that the French had raised the siege of Fort St. George at Madras.
From March 7 to 25, Forde's Corps undertook the construction of 3 batteries on the sand bank in front of Masulipatam, one on the south-western angle which abutted on the sea, and near which his transports were at anchor with stores and ammunition; a second to the north, and a third in the centre, about 100 meters in rear of the other two. The siege-guns were landed from two ships which had followed the movements of the army along the coast. The south-western battery had two 24-pdrs, two 18-pdrs, one 13-in. mortar, one 10-in. mortar and one 8-in. mortar.. The northern battery had two 24-pdrs and two 18-pdrs. The central battery had two 12-pdrs captured from the French.
During this short period it seemed as though fate had laid itself out to raise every possible obstacle against Forde's success. No sooner had he invested Masulipatam than du Rocher's Corps of observation (250 Europeans, 2,000 Cipayes) woke to sudden activity, and moved round upon Rajahmundry and the British communications with the north. Bristol, the officer in charge of that fort, being unable to make any defence, was obliged to evacuate the town, sending his sick to Vizagapatam (present-day Visakhapatnam) and the treasure, which had been received from Bengal, to the Dutch factory of Kukanar (present-day Kukunoor). The French captured baggage and effects that British officers had left there and took 20 Europeans and 40 Sepoys prisoners. Thus Forde's supply of ready money was cut off. Du Rocher occupied Rajahmundry and then advanced a little to the northward of the town, vowing vengeance against Anunderaj's country. Forde was left absolutely penniless. He had already borrowed all the prize-money of his officers and even of his men, and knew not whither to turn for cash for the payment of his troops. The soldiers became apprehensive and discontented.
Conflans, feeling perfectly secure in his fortified position, now only needed a powerful ally to attack the besiegers in rear, and therefore placed himself in communication with Salabat Jung the nizam (ruler) of the Deccan, asking assistance. Conflans' request was so readily acceded to that Salabat Jung immediately marched to the relief of the beleaguered French garrison with an army of 35,000 men, having previously sent his commands to the Rajah Anunderaj and to the Zamindar of Narsipore to join him at once with all the troops at their disposal.
On March 19, the whole of the soldiers of the Bengal European Battalion accompanying the British expeditionary force turned out with their arms in open mutiny and threatened to march away. With great difficulty Forde persuaded them to return; and the men, once conciliated, went back to work with all their former ardour.
Siege begins
On March 25, Forde's batteries were completed. The front of the fort thus attacked, consisted of four bastions with the connecting curtains. Of these, the one in the south-east angle, resting on the sound, was called the François Bastion, mounting 10 guns; from hence the line of works receded, owing to the nature of the terrain, and formed a re-entering angle in which was situated a bastion without flanks, the faces affording sufficient defence to the curtains on either side, this was called the Dutch Bastion; further on was the St. John's Bastion, mounting 8 guns, and to the north-east angle of the fort was another bastion, called the Caméléon Bastion, mounting 10 guns. The southern British battery played upon the Francois and Dutch Bastions, the centre battery, on the St. John's Bastion, and the northern on the Caméléon Bastion – but their fire was far inferior to that of the batteries in the fort, and no other guns were available, except the 9-pdrs with which the Indiaman Hardwicke was armed, and some old honeycombed pieces belonging to the rajah.
Forde's batteries opened against Masulipatam, maintaining a hot fire and doing considerable injury to the fortifications; but the French were usually able to repair at night the damage of the day. The British mortars, however, destroyed and set on fire several important buildings in the fortress.
On March 27, news arrived that Salabat Jung, was arrived at the Krishna River, not more than 60 km away, with an army of 40,000 men, to expel the intruders who had dared to invade the provinces under his suzerainty. On the same day, the news arrived that du Rocher had taken possession of Rajahmundry and was preparing to advance upon Vizagapatam, the capital of Rajah Anunderaj.
On Mach 28, the rajah was so terrified that he declined to employ either his money or his credit for the service of the British army. He left the British camp with all his followers and marched to protect his own dominions.
Forde dispatched Mr. Johnson to Anunderaj now en route to his own territories to point out to him that he was exposing himself to great danger by separating himself from his alliance with the British. He could not, observed Forde, hope to escape from the clutches of both Salabat Jung and Du Rocher, but, returning to his allegiance and joining in the attack on Masulipatam, he would, as soon as the fortress was reduced, have all the countenance and support of the British. Anunderaj was only with difficulty recalled by Forde's representations and occupied the town of Masulipatam, now entirely denuded of the enemy's troops. In the faint hope of gaining time, Forde proposed to open negotiations with Salabat Jung, who to his great relief consented to receive his emissary and undertook, for the present, to advance no farther. Here, therefore, was a respite, though not such as could be counted on for long endurance.
On April 1, Mr. Johnson proceeded to the camp of Salabat Jung. These negotiations had the desired effect of retarding his march, which was all that Forde anticipated from them.
During these negotiations with Salabat Jung, the siege continued. Damage done to the works by day were regularly repaired by the besieged at night, three of the bastions had been sufficiently ruined to give foothold to a storming party.
On April 5, the southern monsoon broke with a flood of rain that soaked the morass around the fort to its deepest. The storm put a stop to the artillery fire.
On April 6, the storm ceased, but the day was ushered in by the gloomiest of tidings for Forde. Salabat Jung was advancing from the Krishna River and du Rocher was on the point of junction with him. Finally, on the same evening, the artillery-officers reported that but two days ammunition was left for the batteries. Here, therefore, was the climax. Before Forde was a fortress with a garrison of greater strength than his own army; behind him was a force which outnumbered his own by more than 10 to 1; his communications were cut, and his ammunition and his funds were exhausted. It was open to him to embark his European troops and retire ignominiously by sea, leaving his Sepoys behind, or to stake all on a single desperate venture. He chose the bolder course and resolved to storm the fort.
The storming of Masulipatam
During the progress of the siege: it had been remarked that at the south-western corner of the fort, adjoining the sound, no ditch had been constructed; the ground without being a mere waste of mire, which might well be accounted a more difficult obstacle than any ditch. Natives, however, had more than once been seen traversing this quagmire; and Captains Yorke and Knox on making trial of it found it to be stiff and heavy indeed, but not more than knee-deep. This, therefore, was a point at which at least a false attack could be made and Forde resolved to take advantage of it. Another point at which a feint might be directed was the ravelin outside the main gate. The true attack must of necessity be delivered against the front which had been damaged by the batteries; and the north-east bastion, known as the Caméléon Bastion, was the place selected. The necessary dispositions were quickly settled. The rajah's troops were some of them to guard the camp, and the rest to make a demonstration against the ravelin in front of the gate. Captain Knox at the head of the 1st Battalion of Bengal Sepoys and a detachment of the Madras Sepoys, a total of 700 men, was to conduct the feint attack upon the south-west angle, and the remainder of the troops were detailed for the true assault on the Caméléon Bastion. The British, who numbered 312 men of the Bengal European Regiment, 30 artillerymen and 30 sailors borrowed from the “Hardwicke”, were told off into two divisions, the first under Captain Callender (grenadier company of the Bengal European Regiment and grenadier companies of the Bengal Sepoys battalions), the second under Captain Yorke (4 coys of the Bengal European Regiment and 30 sailors); while of the 2nd Battalion of Bengal Sepoys (700 men) formed a third division under Captain Macleane, and the remainder a reserve under Forde himself. It was ordered that both the true and false attacks should begin simultaneously at midnight, when the tide would be at ebb and no more than one meter of water in the ditch; and the last stroke of the gongs within the fort was to be the signal for the storming parties to advance.
During the night of April 6 to 7, the French repaired the two breaches created the previous day.
On April 7, the British batteries maintained a fierce fire all through daylight, playing impartially upon the three bastions of the eastern front. At length night came to silence the guns, and at 10:00 p.m. the troops fell in for the assault. Knox having the longer distance to traverse was the first to move off, and his column presently disappeared into the darkness. The minutes flew by, and the time came for the advance of the British troops; but Captain Callender, the leader of the first division, was not to be found. There was anxious enquiry and search for him during some 30 minutes before Forde decided to replace him with Captain Fischer. The British column finally marched off without Callender. By midnight, the men were still struggling through the morass towards the Caméléon Bastion when the sound of firing told them that Knox, punctual to a second, had opened his false attack. Furthermore Anunderaj, with his troops, immediately rushed along the causeway firing in all directions and making a terrible noise, which speedily attracted the attention of the garrison, many of whom rushed to defend the entrance gate.
Quickening their speed as best they might, the troops of the three columns of attack plunged heavily on, knee-deep in mire over the swamp, waist-deep in mud and water through the ditch; when, just as Fischer's column reached the palisade, a sharp fire from the breach and from the bastions on either hand showed that they were discovered. All the more eagerly Fischer's men hewed and hacked at the palisade while Yorke's division engaged the St. John's Bastion to his left and Macleane the Small-Gate Bastion to his right. The men fell fast, but presently the palisades were cleared away, and the first division swarming up the breach swept the French out of the Caméléon Bastion. Fischer halted for the arrival of Yorke with the second division, and then the two officers parted, Fischer to the right to clear the northern, and Yorke to the left to clear the eastern face of the fort.
Finding a field-gun with its ammunition in the Caméléon Bastion, Yorke at once trained it along the rampart to southward, and was preparing to follow in the same direction himself, when he observed a party of French Cipayes advancing between the rampart and the buildings of the town to reinforce the Caméléon Bastion. Instantly he ran down, and seizing the officer at their head bade them lay down their arms and surrender. Startled beyond all thought of resistance they obeyed, and were at once sent back to the captured bastion; while Yorke, taking the way by which they had advanced, pressed on against the St. John's Bastion. The French guard, which had sought shelter within the angles from the raking fire of Yorke's field-gun, fired upon him and struck down not a few of his men, but surrendered immediately afterwards. They too were sent back to the Caméléon Bastion, where the Sepoys took charge of them; and Yorke pursued his way to the next bastion to southward, named the Dutch Bastion, where the same scene was repeated and a fresh consignment of prisoners was sent back to the custody of the Sepoys. The François Bastion, the most southerly of all, alone remained untaken, and Yorke was eager to prosecute his success; but now the men hung back. The division had been not a little thinned by previous losses and by the detachment of guards for prisoners and for the captured bastions; and the handful of men that remained with the captain began to wonder where such work was going to end. By threats and exhortations Yorke after a time induced them to follow him; but while passing an expense-magazine a little way beyond the Dutch Bastion, one of the men caught sight of powder-barrels within it and cried out “A mine, a mine.” Immediately every man rushed back in panic to the Caméléon Bastion; and Yorke was left alone, with his black drummers by his side vainly beating the Grenadiers' March. Fortunately the guards in the captured bastions stood fast; and Yorke returning to the fugitives, who were on the point of leaving the fort, stopped the panic by threatening death to the first man who attempted to run. Rallying 36 men he went back to complete his work but the delay had given the French in the François Bastion time to train a gun upon the line of his advance. Waiting until his party was come within close range they fired, killed 16 of them outright and wounded several more, including Yorke himself, who was brought to the ground with a ball in each thigh. The survivors picked him up and carried him off; but with his fall the attack in that quarter came, for the time, to an end.
Fischer meanwhile had been even more successful on the northern front. He cleared the two first bastions without difficulty, and on reaching the third, by the causeway, seized the gate and cut off the troops in the ravelin from the fort. Captain Callender, the missing officer, suddenly appeared, no man knew from whence, in the middle of the affair, but was instantly shot dead; and Fischer was still pushing on, when he received orders from Forde to halt. Conflans throughout the attack had remained by the south front of the fort, quite at his wits’ end, and adding to the general confusion by a succession of contradictory orders. Knox's attack distracted him on one side, the rajah's troops made an unearthly din by the ravelin, and the true assault on the eastern front fairly broke his spirits down. At the very moment when Yorke's men were returning discomfited from the François Bastion, he sent a messenger to Forde, offering to surrender on honourable terms. Forde was far too shrewd to betray his own weakness. He replied that he could hear of nothing but surrender at discretion; and Conflans, concluding his position to be hopeless, acceded. Soon, 500 French and 2,539 French Sepoys laid down their arms. The French had lost 113 European soldiers killed in this affair.
During this attack, the British lost 2 officers (Callender and Mallitore) and 22 European soldiers killed and 62 wounded and 50 Sepoys killed and 150 wounded.
On April 8 at daybreak the British collected their prisoners (409 Europeans and 2,039 Cafres, Topasses and Cipayes) on the parade-ground, and placing them under a guard of 100 Europeans and 2 Sepoys coys (200 men), with 2 field-pieces, the British flag was hoisted on the staff, and the fortress and town of Masulipatam passed over, by conquest to the East India Company.
The British also captured more than 150 cannon including one 32-pdr and five 24-pdrs.
Aftermath
Salabat Jung was within 24 km and du Rocher even nearer at the time of the assault; but the victory was sufficient to paralyse them also. The nizam quickly consented to open negotiations.
Meanwhile a French relief force (400 men) under M. de Moracin had been sent on board the Harlem and the Bristol.
On April 12, the Rajah Anunderaj took his departure, and in two forced marches crossed the Godavari River with his whole army. Colonel Forde had gladly dispensed with his services; but it is only just to record that the soldiers of his army had satisfactorily done the work appointed to them during the siege and capture of Masulipatam, several of them being wounded in maintaining their position on the causeway which Forde had instructed them to hold.
On April 15, the Harlem and the Bristol arrived in the road of Masulipatam. The same day, the Hardwicke Indiaman, which was at anchor there with 40 prisoners on board, engaged the two ships. The Hardwicke finally escaped. M. de Moracin ignoring that the place had already fallen in the hands of the British sent a boat ashore around midnight.
On April 16, discovering his mistake, Moracin sailed for Ganjam.
On April 23, Moracin's detachment arrived at Ganjam, where it would stay till the beginning of November.
On May 14, after haggling for a whole month, Salabat Jung finally concluded a treaty whereby he granted to the British 128 km of the coast and engaged himself not only never to entertain French troops again, but even to compel such as remained to evacuate the Circars. Thus not only was the district secured, but French influence was displaced in favour of British at the court of Hyderabad.
On May 18, Salabat Jung's Army commenced its march to Hyderabad.
After the capture of the Fortress of Masulipatam the British army in the Northern Circars was broken up, and the right wing of the Bengal European Regiment returned to its own Presidency. Forde also sent back the contingent of Madras Sepoys (now only some 450 men) who had come to Bengal with Colonel Clive in 1756.
On September 30, Clive sent Captain Sampson from Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) with the Indiaman Hardwicke to chase Moracin from Ganjam. The crew of the Hardwicke was completed from the other vessels in the river to 100 men, and well supplied with arms: on board of this vessel were also embarked 30 artillerymen and 30 of the Bengal European Battalion.
About October 15, Colonel Forde left Masulipatam by sea for Calcutta, delivering over command of the garrison (300 men of the Madras European Regiment and 800 Sepoys) to Captain Fisher.
On October 7, the Hardwicke entered the roads at Ganjam under Dutch colours. Two French officers came on board to learn the news and were immediately made prisoners. Captain Sampson now went on shore under a passport from Monsieur Moracin, to whom he magnified the strength of the force he had brought, and recommended him to avoid unnecessary bloodshed by a surrender; but Moracin being better informed on these points, was not to be so easily entrapped.
On October 20, Captain Sampson set sail and returned to Bengal.
At the beginning of November, Monsieur Moracin embarked with 40 Europeans in a small sloop, and proceeded to Kukanar, leaving command at Ganjam to the Chevalier Poete whose force consisted of 250 Europeans and Topasses and 100 Cipayes. Part of the French prisoners taken at Masulipatam, and who had been admitted to parole, were residing in Kukanar, waiting for an opportunity to return to Pondicherry (present-day Puducherry).
In mid-November, Moracin reached Pondicherry with a few men.
On December 5, Fisher marched with the greater part of his garrison to Coconadah (present-day Kakinada) near Rajahmundry towards the Dutch factory of Kukanar.
On December 19, the Chevalier de Poete landed with 50 Europeans and 100 Cipayes. The same day, his two sloops were driven on shore by a gale and destroyed .
On December 28, Fisher captured nearly all the Chevalier Poete's detachment of Europeans. The chevalier himself and a few of his men had escaped in a vessel lying at anchor off the nearby Dutch factory.
In mid-January, 1760, Captain Fisher embarked at Vizagapatam with the detachment of the Bengal European Battalion and Bengal European Artillery aboard two British vessels and sailed for Bengal, where they arrived at the end of the month. The 1st and 2nd Battalions of Bengal Sepoys under the command of Captain Macleane, continued their route by land, marching by way of Ganjam and Kuttack, and arrived in Bengal in the month of March 1760.
References
This article is essentially a compilation of texts from the following books which are now in the public domain:
- An anonymous staff officer; Historical Record of the Honourable East India Company's First Madras Regiment, London: Smith, Elder and Co; 1843, pp. X-xvi, 165-168, 175
- Cambridge, Richard Owen: An Account of the War in India between the English and French on the Coast of Coromandel from the Year 1750 to the Year 1760 together with a Relation of the late Remarkable Events on the Malabar Coast, and the Expeditions to Golconda and Surat; with the Operations of the Fleet, London: T. Jefferys, 1761 pp. 207-214
- Broome, Captain Arthur: History of the Rise and Progress of the Bengal Army, Vol. 1, Calcutta, 1850, pp. 223-250
- Fortescue, J. W., A History of the British Army, Vol. II, MacMillan, London, 1899, pp. 445-453
- Innes, P. R.; The History of the Bengal European Regiment, now the Royal Munster Fusiliers and how it helped to win India, 2nd ed., London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1885, pp. 82-94
