OPERATIONS OP THE IRRAWADY COLUMN, UPPER BURMAH. 
381 
one Sepoy on guard outside the post severely wounded aud two others 
during reconnaissance. Lieutenant Harrison sent out a party to 
reconnoitre; they reported several hundred Kachins in Sadon and the 
village barricaded. He ordered all men inside post and took all 
military precautions. Total losses two men severely, one slightly 
wounded. 
February 8 th .—Kachins attacked post in large numbers (700 or 800 
at least) firing incessantly ail day and night from surrounding jungle ; 
our loss one man severely and two men slightly wounded. The great 
difficulty in the post was scarcity of water, one spring being 250 yards 
below the post, another 400 yards. Lieutenant Harrison twice sallied 
out and cleared the jungles nearest the fort, but directly he retired in¬ 
side the fort the Kachins returned. The rest of the day was spent in 
filling empty ration bags with sand, constructing impromptu gabions, 
making precautions against fire, and defending some of the flank¬ 
ing tambours with kit bags, etc. The inside of the fort rose above the 
terreplein of the stockade, and was swept by the enemy’s bullets; loss, 
one native officer slightly wounded, one Sepoy severely, one slightly. 
February 9th .—The garrison was obliged to go out for water, and to 
do this the enemy had to be turned out from the vicinity of the water. 
They were found to be strongly entrenched and stockaded. In turning 
them out four of our men were killed and three severely wounded, 
water was got in and ten stockades were destroyed by the garrison. 
During the night of the 8th the Kachins had come up and established 
a lodgment behind a rock only 80 yards away from a stockade. 
Lieutenant Harrison turned them out of this with a hand grenade; it 
was found that the Kachins had made gabions and filled them with 
earth ; the gabions were beautifully made and filled the sappers’ hearts 
with envy. The garrison retired inside the post about 3 p.m., as the 
enemy had come up in large numbers, and great difficulty was ex¬ 
perienced in bringing in the wounded men ; one had been killed and 
one severely wounded 15 yards from a stockade at the head of the 
village of Scintong, some 300 yards from the post. This stockade was 
surrounded by chevaux-de-frise, and extended into the impassable 
jungle. As we had already lost many men and it appeared impossible 
to capture the stockade without losing more men than the small 
garrison could afford, Lieutenant Harrison ordered the men to retire. 
Two wounded men of the Madras Infantry were brought in by four 
Sikhs of the 3rd Burmah Regiment under a heavy fire—two of them 
were wounded in so doing—and one of them subsequently died of his 
wounds. The three survivors have been recommended for the Order 
of Merit. 
The garrison captured ten stockades during the sorties of the 9th. 
About 7 p.m. the garrison heard firing in the valley below Sadon, 
and shortly afterwards were agreeably surprised at hearing a British 
cheer some 300 yards from the post, and the writer of this arrived 
with 12 men and a native officer of the Mogany Ghoorka Levy 
Mounted Infantry. 
I will now give a short account of my adventures before continuing 
the diary of the siege. 
