208 | 
wards, with the rest of his army, 
to join a Jarge body of cavalry, 
which were now coming from the 
Nizam to his assistance, under the 
command of Raja Feijee Wunt. 
Qn the first day of his march he 
fell in with the rear of Tippoo’s 
army, which he put to flight, and 
obliged the Sultan to abandon the 
plan which he had formed to pre- 
vent the intended junction. After 
a pleasant journey for several days, 
in which he was unmolested by the 
enemy, and superabundaatly sup- 
plied with provisions by the friend- 
ly Polygars, his Lordship was at 
last joined by the Nizam’s cavalry, 
to the number of 15,000, little dis- 
tinguished however by order, dis- 
cipline, or skill. A large force had 
been left to the southward when 
General Meadows left Trichin- 
opoly. This had been ordered to 
proceed to Amboor, and to join the 
grand army without delay. Lord 
Cornwallis, becoming anxious for 
its fate, now hastened upon its 
route, and had the pleasure to find 
it in safety at the edge of the 
Ghauts. Having thus succeeded 
in every thing to his mind, he re- 
turned to Bangalore.—And here 
prudence would have directed him 
to remain. 
advanced; the monsoon might be 
expected to set in before he could 
have any reasonable hopes of com- 
pleting his plan; he had not made 
any proper arrangements for being 
regularly supplied with provisions ; 
numberless strong forts remained 
untaken on his. rear: however, 
anxious lest things should take an 
unfavourable turn; alarmed at the 
fluctuating state of politics in Eu- 
rope; eager, on account of the 
Company’s finances, to bring the 
war to a speedy termination ; 
wishing to maintain, the favourable 
The season was far. 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1792. 
impression which had been made 
upon the allies by the capture of 
Bangalore; expecting to be speedily 
joined by the Bombay and. the 
Mahratta armies, and to be liberally 
supplied by them,—Lord Corn- 
wallis set forward about the begin- 
ning of May for the enemy’s capital. 
Unfortunately, at this period, 
there happened a very heavy fall 
of rain, a thing at this season ex- 
tremely rare, which rendered the 
roads, rugged by nature, deep, 
heavy, and almost impassable. Af- 
ter a difficult, laborious, and fatigu- 
ing march of ten days, in whicha 
great part of the bullocks, died, 
and the ordnance and entrenching- 
tools were obliged to be drawn 
chiefly by the troops, the army 
arrived at Arakerry, a village about 
nine miles from Seringapatam. 
Tippoo, guessing the purpose of 
Lord Cornwallis, had returned to 
his capital four days before, and 
was now posted, with his army, 
betwixt him and the town, at the 
foot of the hills which rise on 
the north bank of the Cavery. 
The British General wished to 
attack him; but a track ofswampy 
ground, intersected with deep ra- 
vines, extended between the two 
armies; and the command of this 
passage, naturally so difficult, Tip- 
poo had secured by the erection 
of several strong batteries. Still 
he must be dislodged; and as the 
only means, Lord Cornwallis hav- 
ing left the baggage, artillery, &c. 
in the camp, with a corps de reserve, 
set out with the rest of the army 
himself, soon after dark, intending 
to make a circuit round the hills 
on the right, and to fall unex- 
pectedly on the enemy’s camp 
at day-break. It rained violently 
all night, and the cattle were ex- 
hausted. with drawing the guns 
along 
