The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-08 00:00:00

which they had uninterruptedly been subjected for five days
and nights whenever they showed themselves, and not only
from the north-eastern face of' Punalla Ghur, but of heavy
guns on the north-western face of the adjoining fortress of
Pewanghur. Having arranged with Lieutenant-Colonel
Poole, G. 8., to march immediately, I at once preceded the
reserve, and took personal direction of Major Conway's ad-
' ced party, with whom I arrived about three o'clock, r.m.
I took with me also a small detachment of her Majesty's
14th Light Dragoons, and Brevet Captain Chambre, who
was placed at my disposal by Captain Shaw. At Major
Conway's post there were two 6-pounder guns under Lieute-
tiara crawsord, Bombay Artillery, very judiciously placed,
and which had occasionally thrown spherical case shot with
excellent effect over the enemy's parapets. These two guns
I directed at once to be brought into a forward position
which I had. reconnoitred in the morning with Major Con-
way, and to be loaded with grape ; my wishes were Most
ably and instantly seconded and attended to by Lieutenant
Crawford.
These preliminaries were scarcely completed, And the re-
serve were scarcely over the first range of hills, and 'were
eagerly 'ascending the second, being separated now but a
short interval from the advance, when a cheer and a thril-
ling shout from the parapets of Punalla annottnced"to us that
the breach had been stormed. -
We immediately rushed forward in the direction of the
gateway ;'a few fugitives escaped-down the hill by the ravine
on our levet and left, but no mass of the enemy came down
front the gateway e and our own troops were distinctly seen-
ia
possession of Punalla. I', therefore, allowed the men no
time for firing, but pushed them on as rapidly as possible
round the ravine in the direction of Powanghur; and I am
happy to be able to add briefly, that we succeeded in ceptur-
ing that fortress. In advancing along the petta, or village,
and round the head of the ravine by points much exposed to
tire, I was surprised that we were not opposed by any guns
from Powanghur; and I concluded the enemy were evacuat-
ing the' place. I, therefore, hurried on the men as much
as I could, and was vigorously seconded by Major Con-
way, Captain Chain-bre, and Lieutenant Brennan, who
cheered on the leading sub-division of her Majesty's 22d.
The officers ' and men of the Bombay 2d Grenadiers,
under Captain Hogg, were climbing up the steep side of
Powanghur, as well as the nature of the ground would per-
mit,in the hope of effecting an entrance over the lower part
of the scarp by the neck of land connecting the two forts,
or of surpnsing the gateway on the north-west side, situated
at a coosiderable elevation. This latter object we effeeted,
for the enemy in their hurry to get away had not sufficiently
barricaded' it, and 'it was forced in by our soldiers ; but few
shots were interchanged, and consequently, I 'am happy to
say, our-casualties Lira few. The results of our capture were
a fele guns and a body of prisoners. It gives me great
gratification to add that, notwithstanding the provocations
they had received Tor .some days past, our men behaved
with the greatest humanity and forbearance; the prisoners
taken in the fort threw away their arms, and I believe not
one was injured, though a very considerable deal of firing
took place on a few armed people escaping down the slopes of
the hills. In a very short time we were joined by our
reserve, under Lieutenant-Colonel Poole, with Captain Hogg,
commanding Grenadiers, and Lieutenant Grimes, of the same
regiment. Major Clemons, also, of the Madras 20th Native
Infantry, and a few of his men, and I believe also Captain
Bailey and another officer of the Madras Infantry belonging
to the let Brigade, and the latter named officer, of whom I
have' omitted mention, I had previously observed very for-
ward below the fort of Punalla, and reported themselves to
me in Powanghur.
I have also omitted till now to mention our left wing, or
rather our left post, under the north-west angle of Povran-
ghat.; which I had placed under Major George, C. 8., her
liealesty's 22d Regiment, the third officer in seniority of this
brigade: They consisted of an infantry picket under Lieut.
Carrow;her Majesty's 23d Regiment (the same officer who
ca.Ptureda rebel with a document of some importance upon
him); and also of a cavalry picket, under Lieutenant Fitz-
gerald, her Majesty's 14th Light Dragoons. I am much
indebted to Major George for his superintendence of these
important posts.
Having placed the fortress under the command of Lieut.-
Colonel Poole, C. 8., and withdrawn the Grenadiers, I re-
turned with the latter to the camp, where, from the extreme
ruggedness of the paths and darkness, we only arrived at 9
o'clock, P.K.
My extreme right infantry picket of 150, her Majesty's
22d and 30th Grenadiers, under Ensign Black, opposite, or
rather near to, a blocked-up gate near the northern angle of
the Pnnalla Fort, whence it was expected many of the enemy
would endeavour to escape, were commanded by Captain
Mainwaring, her Majesty's 22d Regiment. Beyond ravines
on the north-western side of Punalla, and in a direction lead-
ing to the Concan, I had placed Captain Bromwich and
Lieutenant Prettejohn, and a strong picket of her Majesty's
14th Light Dragoons ; and in connexion with Captain Brom-
wich on the one side, and with the sentries of General
Delamotte's own camp on the other, I placed a long line of
horsemen, belonging to his Highness the Raja of Sattara, and
commanded by Rao Sahib Buckshee, a relation of the Raja's,
and dozree Singh Rissaldar. My Brigade-Major, Captain
Clarke, of the 2d Grenadiers, with great zeal and mnch per-
sonal exertion, did use the favour himself to place this long
chain of Sattara Irregular Horsemen. lam much indebted
to Captain Clarke for the judicious manner in which this
service was performed. From an eminence fee in advance
on the right he watched the progress of the operations of the
Ist sad 2d Brigades, and of the guns; and I believe could
. distinguish the storming party proceeding to the breach ;
thus putting the Satter& troops particularly on the alert at
the proper moment.
Captain Stuart, her Majesty's I4th Light Dragoons, com-
manding the squadron with my brigade, having made ar-
rangements for the protection of our camp during the ab-
sence of our reserve, him if took one troop or rather more,
14th Light Dragoons, and placed them near the gorge of the
ravine, between the two hills of Punalla and Powanghur,
and held his troop in hand to act as circumstances might
require.
Thus for many miles of circuit these fortresses were hem-
med in by a complete line of sentries and videttes, extending
from the-head-quarter camp on the southward and westward
of our extreme right along the north-west and north-east
faces of Punalla; and north-west and north of Powanghur
to my extreme left, where my cavalry parties communicated
with
.Captain Arthur, commanding several detachments, I
believe, of the Ist Brigade.
I venture to. hope that Major-General Delamotte, C. 8.,
commanding our force, will recommend to the most favour-
able notice of his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief of this
presidency, the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men,
European and native, of this brigade, which I have had the
honour to command, and whose zeal and gallantry on this
occasion it is impossible too much to commend. It would be
presumptuous in me, unless called upon, more particularly
than I have done to specify names.
I beg to enclose Captain Clarke's letter of his operations.
I have the honour to be, &c.,
EDWARD HARVEY, Lieutenant-Colonel,
Commanding 3d Brigade of General Delamotte's force.

TO:CAPTAIN DONNELLY, ASSISTANT-ADJUTANT-GENERAL,
SOUTHERN DIVISION OF TIIE ARMY.
Camp before Punalla, Dec. 2, 1844.
Sir,—ln continuation of my report of the 30th, I beg to
inform the Major-General that the working parties during
the night of that date succeeded in advancing the 18-pounders
to a position fixed upon by Major Peat and myself, within
*boat 350 yards of the walls. The field guns were also
moved to a more commanding position on the left flank. In
the meantime the 8-inch mortars which had been got into
position by dusk, continued to play during the night, at
intervals of about an hour, on the gateway and its vicinity.
At an early hour yesterday morning I opened tire on the
walls on a point about 100 yards to the right of the gate,
the field guns keeping down the enemy's fire. The masonry
was very solid, and resisted our shot for some time, but
about 8 o'clock the accuracy of our fire began to tell, and the
wall to crumble. From this time the breach progressed
rapidly, and by 4 o'clock, P.M., was pronounced practicable.
After this, as the Major-General himself witnessed the ope-
rations, no report is necessary.
During the day the mortars kept up a fire on different
parts of the fort where the enemy was reported to be; but
towards the afternoon the fire was confined to the rear of the
breach ; some of the 51 and 4 3-5 mortars brought into po-
6ition also played on the breach. During the afternoon, to
cover the advance of the storming party, I separated my
field guns, placing. half on the right of the breaching battery,
and advancing those on the left as much as possible. Towards
the close of our operations, the 18-pounders were employed
dimaatling the flanking defences on the breach, the field
wins propelling shell to cover the advance of the troops.
I have the honour to he, &c.,
J. LLOYD, Lieutenant-Colonel,
Commanding Artillery Field Force.
T. DONNELLY, Captain, A3siltant Adjutant-General,
Southern Division of the Army.

No. 712.

TO THE ♦DJGTANT-CENERAL OF THE ARMY, BOMBAY.

Sir,—W ith reference to the concluding paragraph of my
letter, No. 710, of the 29th instant, I have now the honour
to forward, for the information of his Excellency the Com-
mander-in-Chief, the report of the proceedings connected with
the capture of the pettas near the gate on the north side of
the forts of Powanghur and Ponalla this morning, received
from Lieutenant-Colonel Poole, C. B. _ . .

I have further the honour to report, for the infbrmation of
his Excellency, that every available man in camp was yes-
terday and last night employed in transporting the heavy
ordnance, &c., to the heights in the neighbourhood of the fort
of Punalla, and at six o'clock this morning the guns as noted
below• were placed in position at the distance of about 700
yards from the gate of t he tort.
I have directed the officers commanding the Engineers and
Artillery to furnish me daily reports of their operations, which
ball be forwarded for his Excellency's information.
I have the honour to be, &c.,
P. DELAMOTTE, Major-General,
Lommanding Southern Divi3ion of the Army.
Head-quarters of the Southern Division of the Army.
Camp before Yunalla, Nov. 30, 1844.

Camp near Punalla, Nov. 29, 1844.
Sir,—The command of the 3d Brigade having devolved
upon me in consequence of Lientenant-Colonel Hicks being
mortally wounded, I called on Major George, of her Ma-
jesty's 24d Regiment, the next ronior officer (in command
of the detachment sent to take possession of the pettas
near the gate of Fort Punalla) to furnish a detailed state-
ment for your information of the operations on the occasion.
I have the honour to enclose the statement, together with
a casualty return, and I have even' reason to believe the po-
sition was carried in the most gallant manner.
It has since been held by a detachment of 200 of her Ma-
jesty's 22d Regiment and 100 of the 2d Grenadiers, with a
proportion of officers, under a constant fire of guns and small
have the honour to be; &c.,
J. H. POOLE, Lieutenant-Colonel,
Commanding her Majesty's 22d Regiment, in
charge of the 3d Brigade.

To li AJOFt- G E N EFlliitlmc.
FORCE NEAR
EL
near. 4A i op Tor
wt7E; Cjala: LANDING FIELD
anghur, Nov.. 28, 1844.
forii field
infonnation of
Sir,—l hare the honour to re o
?dojor-General Delamotte, comml'nitt'ngl gfree, that agree.
camvproactee6de.yl;i
ably to brigade order of the 26th tilt
with a party detailed as stated at nit.,
once to storm the pettas on the northernasnidle of Punalla,
party, and from
the Brigadier and staff accompanying the
him I received orders in person, until he fell mortally
wounded.
(in ascending the hills the enemy, who were in consider_
able numbers, commenced firing on us from behind rocks and
other cover, and were immediately driven into the petta by
the skirmishers.: • • .
The main body of the party were then halted under cover
en the edge of the pettas, the advance parties, half Eu-
ropean and half natives, moving on under Ensign Budd, her
Majesty's 22d Regiment, and Ensign Black, 2d Grenadiers,
led by Lieut.-Col. Outram, C. 8., and attended by Captain
Clarke, 2d Grenadiers, Acting Brigade Major.
The enemy were speedily driven up inte the Fort of Punalla.
The party then passed close under the gate of the fort,
enabling Colonel Outram to make a full and satisfactory re-

4 Two 18-pounders, three 24-pounder howitzers ; one 12-pounder,
Dad four 9-pounder field pieces.
t 33 men of the 14th Light Dragoons, under the command of
11re-vet-41'aptam Chambre.
300 rank and Me of her 3fajesty's 22d Regiment, under the com-
mend of Brevet-Major George.
100 men of the 9.1 Grenadier Native Infantry, under the contraaDd
10054. Hogg.
4 c'azumiuttetl b'Y Lieut. Daterg, of Inr Maietrtr'§ 211 Begin:mt.