With but few exceptions, the cavalry was undisciplined and unorganized, but well mounted, and the men as a rule admirable swordsmen. To combat this possible alliance, the Marquess of Hastings determined to utilize the troops of all three Presidencies, and to take the field in person, and so assume the direction of the operations. The Bengal army would deal with Scindia, and then push to the south and west to assist the troops of the other Presidencies. The Madras troops, with Secunderabad as their base, after assuring the neutrality of the Nizam, would operate from the south, whilst the Bombay army was left to deal with the Peishwa, whose disaffection was beyond doubt.
The Bengal army was composed of four divisions, under the personal command of the Marquess of Hastings. These were commanded respectively by Major-Generals Browne, Donkin, Marshal, and Sir David Ochterlony. Each division comprised one cavalry and two infantry brigades. Of the troops which composed that army, few regiments are left. The 24th Light Dragoons were disbanded shortly after the campaign, and the majority of the native regiments fell away from their allegiance in the unfortunate rebellion of 1857. Of the regiments which went to make up the First Division, the 87th (Royal Irish Fusiliers) still survive; of the Second Division, the 8th (Royal Irish) Hussars, the 14th (West Yorkshires), and Gardner's Horse are yet on the rolls of the army. The 67th (Hampshires) and the 2nd Gurkhas, with Skinner's Horse, also survive.
The Madras army was under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Hislop. Of its cavalry brigade no representatives remain; of its four infantry brigades we have many survivors--first and foremost, the Royal Scots and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers; then the 1st Madras Europeans, which, with the 17th Madras Infantry (now the 93rd Burmah Infantry), composed the First Brigade. The Second Brigade was made up of three light infantry regiments (native), of which the 63rd Palamcottah Light Infantry and the 74th Punjabis are with us. There were, all told, two regiments of British and six of native infantry.
The Hyderabad Division, commanded by Major-General Doveton, comprised a battalion of the Royal Scots and ten regiments of Madras infantry; whilst the Hyderabad Subsidiary Brigade was made up of a wing of the 1st Madras Europeans (now the Royal Dublins) and three native regiments. Sir John Malcolm commanded the Third Division of the Madras army. It comprised a regiment of Madras cavalry, four battalions of Madras infantry, 4,000 Mysorean horse, and three regiments of what were so long known as the Hyderabad Contingent.