While the artillerymen were pouring shot after shot into the gate, the
roar of musketry was unceasing, the 36th keeping up an incessant fire
upon the enemy upon the wall, in order to cover, as much as possible,
the operations of the gunners. At last, the gate gave way. The troops
poured in, cheering loudly, and the enemy at once fled.
Many, however, took up their positions in the houses, and kept up a
galling fire, until their places of refuge were stormed by detachments
of troops, scattered through the town. By nine o'clock all was over,
and the town completely in the possession of the British.
Tippoo, furious at its having been so speedily captured, moved down
early in the afternoon with a strong force of infantry; and, marching
along by the side of the fort, endeavoured to force his way into the
town through the open space at that end. He was aided by the guns of
the fort, while his artillery kept up a heavy cannonade upon the
British encampment.
When the sultan was seen marching towards the town, with the evident
intention of endeavouring to retake it, the 76th Regiment was sent in
to reinforce the garrison; and the three battalions opposed so steady
a resistance to Tippoo's infantry that the latter were forced to fall
back, after sustaining a loss of five hundred men.
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