[Illustration: GOLD MEDAL FOR MAIDA, 1806.
Awarded to Sir Henry Edward Bunbury, Bart., K.C.B.]
=Assaye.=[3]--Meanwhile Major-General the Hon. Arthur Wellesley had besieged and taken Ahmednuggur, possibly at the time the strongest stone fort in India. This he made his base of operations, and hastened to get into touch with Colonel Stevenson in order to make a combined attack on the enemy on September 24th, but while Wellesley was on the march he discovered, when at Naulmah on the 23rd, that he was within 6 miles of the Mahratta army; he decided, therefore, to take what he afterwards termed "a desperate expedient." With a force of 6,400 infantry and 1,600 cavalry (of these only 1,500 were British) and only 17 guns, the man who was to become the hero of Waterloo offered battle to the armies of the confederate chiefs, which included 30,000 horse and 128 cannon in position behind the steep banks of the River Kaitna. The result of the battle was as brilliant as the commander's resolve was daring, for the Mahratta army was routed by one only a fifth its size, and left 2,000 dead on the field; but the cost to the British was a third of the army killed or wounded, including 170 officers. Wellesley had one horse killed under him by a cannon shot, and another by a bayonet wound in the breast--sufficient evidence of the part the General took in the attack. The battle of Assaye, Wellington's first victory, is excellent evidence that he was as bold in attack as he was brilliant in defence. The 19th Light Dragoons (since disbanded), the 74th and 78th Foot were the British regiments engaged in the battle, and while the latter bore the brunt of the conflict, the Dragoons largely contributed to it by their brilliant charge.
[3] Spelt ASSYE on bar of Army of India Medal.
=Siege of Agra.=--The Mahrattas, who had evacuated Delhi after the surrender of their European officers, fell back on Agra, where the garrison, desirous of keeping the great treasure the city held, had shut the gates to their Mahratta countrymen. General Lake, having ordered his army in pursuit, had therefore to deal with these before laying siege to Agra. After a stiff fight, a charge of sepoys was all that was necessary before proceeding to take the city, which when it fell, on October 18th, was found to contain treasure worth £280,000. For this battle no recognition was given, as we shall see when listing the bars for the medals granted for the wars and battles in India between September 4th, 1803, and January 1826.