At four o’clock in the morning of the 1st of July, Sir Eyre Coote put his army of about 8,000 men in movement, while that of the enemy, computed at 100,000, was observed to range itself in order of battle.
The army of Lieut.-General Sir Eyre Coote formed on the plain in two lines; the first battalion was commanded by Colonel James Craufurd[10] (Lord Macleod having returned to England), and had its station in the first line under the orders of Major General Sir Hector Munro. Major General James Stuart commanded the second line. The action commenced by an advanced movement of the English troops, and the contest was sustained with great spirit by both parties until night, when the firing ceased, and the British remained masters of the field.
The veteran chief, Sir Eyre Coote, was so well pleased with the conduct of the battalion upon this occasion that he was heard to exclaim, addressing himself in the heat of the battle to one of the pipers, “Well done, my brave fellow, you shall have silver pipes when the battle is over!” The general did not forget his promise, and in addition to a general order expressive of his sense of the gallantry and steadiness of the battalion in the battle of _Porto Novo_, he presented a handsome pair of silver pipes (value one hundred pagodas[11]) to the corps, upon which was engraved a suitable inscription; this he desired might be preserved as a lasting monument of his approbation of its conduct in that battle, the result of which enabled Sir Eyre Coote to reach Cuddalore, the point of destination, on the 4th of July.
Shortly afterwards the army was moved to St. Thomas’s Mount.
On the 3d of August the force from Bengal, under the orders of Colonel Pearse, arrived and formed a junction with Sir Eyre Coote’s army at Pulicat, to which place the army had moved in order to facilitate that important object. The British force now amounted to twelve thousand men.
The first brigade, composed entirely of Europeans, was commanded by Colonel Craufurd, of the present SEVENTY-FIRST regiment, and had its station generally in the centre of the line. Major General Sir Hector Munro commanded the right wing, and Colonel Pearse the left.
In August, Major James Mackenzie of the battalion died, universally regretted. His exertions in the early part of the campaign had brought on illness, which terminated his career.