He then set out
with his army to bar the passage of the British to Seringapatam.
The weather was extremely bad when the British started. Rain storms
had deluged the country, and rendered the roads well nigh impassable,
and the movement was, in consequence, very slow. Tippoo had taken up a
strong position on the direct road and, in order to avoid him, Lord
Cornwallis took a more circuitous route, and Tippoo was obliged to
fall back.
The whole country through which the English passed had been wasted.
The villages were deserted, and not an inhabitant was to be met with.
Suffering much from wet, and the immense difficulties of bringing on
the transport, the army, on the 13th of May, arrived on the Cauvery,
nine miles east of Seringapatam. Here it had been intended to cross
the river, but the rains had so swollen the stream that it was found
impossible to ford it. It was, therefore, determined to march to a
point on the river, ten miles above Seringapatam, where it was hoped
that a better ford could be found; and where a junction might be
effected with General Abercrombie's Bombay army, which was moving up
from the Malabar coast, and was but thirty or forty miles distant.
To effect this movement, it was necessary to pass within sight of the
capital.
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