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The eldest of the seven sons of a distinguished Scottish
judge, John Campbell of Stonefield began his military service in the
American War of Independence. When peace was made he returned to
England, and was soon afterwards sent out to India in command of the
Seaforth Highlanders. On arriving at Bombay he found that he had been
appointed to the 2nd Battalion of the 42nd Highlanders or Black Watch.
The 42nd joined a body of troops under Lieutenant-Colonel Mackenzie
Humberstone, and were sent into the interior to attack an important
fortress in the territory of Hyder Ali. Several small forts were taken
on the way, but the large one proved to be much stronger than had been
expected; and having heard that Tippoo Sahib was on his way with a large
army to relieve it, Colonel Humberstone was obliged to retreat.
He withdrew to a small fort in possession of the British;
then hearing that Tippoo’s army was pressing forward in great numbers,
he retreated towards Paniane after first blowing up several native
strongholds. Advance guards of the enemy harassed the soldiers on their
march, but the retreat was covered by Major Campbell, who had a horse
killed under him. The officer in command reported that it was entirely
owing to the soldierly conduct of the major that the natives were held
at bay and the expedition enabled to reach Paniane in safety.
Lieutenant-Colonel Macleod now assumed command of the
British, who were reduced by sickness and fighting to three hundred and
eighty Europeans and two thousand two hundred Sepoys. The position they
occupied was a strong one, and the defenders were endeavouring to
strengthen it by field-works when they were surrounded by a force of ten
thousand cavalry and forty thousand infantry, including two corps of
Europeans under the French general Lally.
On the 29th of November Lally advanced at the head of his
European troops, directing his attack against the post occupied by the
Highlanders. There was a sharp contest, which was well maintained on
both sides; but the Highlanders, making charge after charge with the
bayonet, drove back the enemy, who were entirely defeated and dispersed.
The action was mentioned in these terms in General Orders
:—
“. . . this little army, attacked, on ground not nearly
fortified, by very superior numbers skilfully disposed and regularly led
on. They had nothing to depend on but their native valour, their
discipline, and the conduct of the officers ; these were nobly exerted,
and the event has been answerable. The intrepidity with which Major
Campbell and the Highlanders repeatedly charged the enemy was most
honourable to their character.”
The gallant 42nd lost three sergeants and nineteen rank
and file, while three officers and thirty-three men were wounded.
After this defeat Tippoo retreated towards Seringapatam,
having heard rumours of the death of his father. The post being no
longer molested, Colonel Macleod was sent with his battalion to join
Brigadier-General Matthews, who was invading Hyder’s provinces in the
interior. The two forces met and marched towards Bednore, being followed
and harassed on the way by flying parties of the enemy. Strong
field-works had been erected on the slopes of the mountains which they
had to ascend. Seven of these forts in succession were stormed and taken
by the 42nd, who "attacked the positions with the bayonet, and, pursuing
like Highlanders, were in the breastwork before the enemy were aware of
it.” Four hundred of the defenders were bayoneted, and the others driven
back into the forts.
The principal redoubt, Hyder Gurr, was discovered on the
summit of a lofty precipice, with a dry ditch in front and twenty pieces
of cannon threatening the invaders. On the face of the
mountain were seven batteries on terraces, one above the
other; and large trees had been cut down and so placed as to prevent the
approach of the troops except on parts exposed to the fire of the guns.
Major Campbell gave the word; and the lower defences of the stronghold
were attacked with such spirit by the Highlanders that the enemy were
completely terrorized, and fled from the strong position during the
night. All resistance for the time being was at an end, and Bednore was
taken possession of by the British.
In February the Highlanders under Major Campbell attacked
and carried the fort of Annanpore with great loss to the defenders, the
cost to the British being trifling. On the following day Major Campbell
thanked his little army for their spirited behaviour, and on the 28th of
February again led his men against two small forts, which they reduced.
While there news came of the entire defeat of General
Matthews and his army, and the Highlanders were sent to join the
scattered remnant of the defeated forces at Mangalore.
His superior officer having been recalled, Major Campbell
was promoted lieutenant-colonel, and placed in charge of the troops at
Mangalore. Emboldened by his successes, Tippoo advanced towards the
town, sending on an advance guard of four thousand horse and foot and
several field guns. The force halted in a position about twelve miles
distant from the place, and Colonel Campbell resolved to take them by
surprise. Making a midnight march, he reached the enemy’s camp while
they were asleep; attacked and completely defeated them. Four field
pieces fell into his hands, as well as a hundred and eighty draught
bullocks—a most valuable prize, the entire country being in the hands of
the enemy.
On the 19th May Tippoo’s vanguard arrived, and by the
23rd the little garrison was surrounded by an army of not less than a
hundred and forty thousand men, including two bodies of European
soldiers under General Lally and Colonel Cossigny. The Sultan himself
was with this formidable force, which was accompanied by a hundred
pieces of artillery.
The siege which followed is one of the most remarkable
achievements of the British army, the troops in Mangalore amounting only
to eighteen hundred and eighty-three men, of which some three or four
hundred were British soldiers, the rest being sepoys or native infantry.
The supplies were insufficient, and the garrison were short of every
necessity for withstanding a siege. The defences being incomplete, the
handful of men had to be on the alert day and night to prevent Tippoo’s
huge force from swarming in at one of a thousand weak points.
Early in the siege a small outpost, defended by some
sepoys, about a mile distant from the place, was almost surrounded by
the enemy. An attack being made upon the small body, the 43rd, with a
corps of sepoys, made all speed to their assistance, but arrived only in
time to witness their defeat, and the troops had literally to cut their
way back to the walls of the fortress.
Attack after attack followed, the natives being supported
by their French allies, but every assault was repelled. Besides
cannon-ball, the enemy threw into the city immense stones, which were
fired from enormous mortars. Large breaches were made in the walls,
leaving the besieged exposed to the enemy’s marksmen when they tried to
fire their cannon. The houses were laid in ruins, and having no means of
rebuilding them, the garrison were without shelter when the monsoon set
in. Sickness prevailed, and the men were in want of food, clothing,
medicine, and the commonest necessities of life.
Colonel Campbell encouraged the defenders by word and
example, checking all complaints, relieving their distresses as far as
was possible, and inspiring them with courage to continue. The losses of
the enemy were greater at each successive assault, and after the siege
had lasted about two and a half months, a truce was made through the
intervention of the French envoys.
This splendid defence had filled Tippoo with admiration
for his gallant antagonist. During the truce he invited Colonel Campbell
and several of his officers to an audience in his tent. All the enemies
sat down together to a splendid feast, and their host paid them many
compliments upon their bravery. He greatly admired the Highland uniform
of his Scottish guests, and, after entertaining the whole party with
great hospitality, presented the colonel with an Arabian charger and
sabre.
Some days later the enemy sprang a mine while the flag of
truce was still flying, and hostilities immediately recommenced. The
provisions of the garrison were almost exhausted when some troopships
arrived in the bay, conveying General Macleod and a reinforcement for
the defenders. Some provisions were conveyed into the city, but an
armistice being in force, the general retired to Tillycherry with all
his men. Another reinforcement arrived in November, but after the troops
had begun to disembark, the defenders had the bitter disappointment of
seeing them return to the ships and sail away.
Repeated disappointments were telling terribly upon the
men, who were reduced by wounds and sickness to nearly half their
number. Many of the sepoys had become blind, and others were so reduced
by starvation and sickness that they fell down while shouldering their
firelocks. “The troops were eating horses, frogs, dogs, crows, catfish,
etc., etc.,” and enduring privations of every kind ; they had no hope of
relief, and did not know the whereabouts of the rest of the British
forces.
In the circumstances Colonel Campbell called a council of
war, and it was agreed that to hold out any longer would be a mere
useless sacrifice of life. The besieged surrendered upon condition that
the small remnant of the garrison should be allowed to proceed to
Bombay; and, after nine months of a most courageous and stubborn
resistance, the little force left Mangalore with all the honours of war.
This wonderful defence was of the greatest importance to
the British at that time. By keeping all Tippoo’s forces in one place,
the small garrison prevented him from attacking in any other part of the
empire, which he would certainly have done had he been free.
The defence of Mangalore was the one bright spot in the
campaign against Hyder Ali. In his “Views of the British Interests in
India ” Colonel Fullerton says: “We now arrive at the most interesting
moment of the war; the garrison of Mangalore, under its inestimable
commander, Colonel Campbell, had made a defence that has seldom been
equalled and never surpassed. With a handful of men, worn out by famine,
he resisted for many months a formidable force under Tippoo Sultan. The
whole power of the Prince, assisted by the science of the French
auxiliaries, could not force a breach that had long been laid open, and
he was repulsed in every attempt to take it by storm.”
Another writer says: "The defence of Colberg, in
Pomerania, by Major Heiden and his small garrison, and that of
Mangalore, in the East Indies, by Colonel Campbell and the 2nd Battalion
of the Royal Highlanders, now the 73rd Regiment, we conceive are as
noble examples as any in history.” The hero of this great achievement
was entirely worn out by his exertions. He left his regiment on the 9th
of February, and went to Bombay; but he was past all hope of recovery,
and died on the last day of February 1784, in the thirty-first year of
his age. |
