Tippoo now sank
into such a state of despondency that he would listen to none of the
proposals of his officers for strengthening the position, and would
not even agree to the construction of a retrenchment, which would cut
off the western angle of the fort, against which it was evident that
the attack would be directed.
He knew that, if captured, there was little chance of his being
permitted to continue to reign; and had, indeed, made that prospect
more hopeless, by massacring all the English prisoners who had, by his
order, been brought in from the hill forts throughout the country on
his return to Seringapatam, after the repulse he had suffered in his
attack on the Bombay force.
On the 2nd of May, the batteries opened on the wall of the fort, near
its northwest angle; and so heavy was their fire that, by the evening
of the 3rd, a breach of sixty yards long was effected. General Harris
determined to assault on the following day. General Baird, who had,
for four years, been a prisoner in Seringapatam, volunteered to lead
the assault; and before daybreak 4,376 men took their places in the
advance trenches, where they lay down.
It was determined that the assault should not be made until one
o'clock, at which time Tippoo's troops, anticipating no attack, would
be taking their food, and resting during the heat of the day.
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