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As the Maratha commander, [[Murari Rao|Morari Rao]], was collecting his pay, Raza Sahib learned of the threat. He quickly offered Clive honorable conditions and a gift if he would surrender. Knowing the Marathas were at hand and that another force was coming from Madras, Clive refused. Then Raza Sahib sent word that he would immediately storm the fort, and put every one of its defenders to the sword. Clive coldly replied that his father was a usurper, his army a rabble, and that he should think twice before he sent such cravens into a breach defended by English soldiers. | As the Maratha commander, [[Murari Rao|Morari Rao]], was collecting his pay, Raza Sahib learned of the threat. He quickly offered Clive honorable conditions and a gift if he would surrender. Knowing the Marathas were at hand and that another force was coming from Madras, Clive refused. Then Raza Sahib sent word that he would immediately storm the fort, and put every one of its defenders to the sword. Clive coldly replied that his father was a usurper, his army a rabble, and that he should think twice before he sent such cravens into a breach defended by English soldiers. | ||
==Battle== | |||
{{Unreferenced section|date=October 2023}} | |||
[[File:WAR ELEPHANTS CHARGE THE GATES OF THE FORT AT ARCOT..gif|thumb|[[War elephant]]s belonging to [[Chanda Sahib]], assisted by a small number of troops from the [[French Indies Company|French East India Company]] batter the gates of [[Arcot]].]] | |||
[[Robert Clive]] sent a messenger to inform Maratha general [[Murari Rao]] of his situation to immediately march to [[Arcot]] to relieve the besieged garrison. The messenger returned to the fort safely and brought a letter from Murari Rao to Clive in which he said he would immediately send a detachment of Marathas to assist the defenders of Arcot.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Malcolm |first=John |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.48868 |title=Life Of Robert, Lord Clive Vol.1 |pages=89–90|date=1836}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bence-Jones |first=Mark |url=http://archive.org/details/cliveofindia0000benc |title=Clive of India |page=46|date=1974 |publisher=London, Constable |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-09-459830-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gleig |first=George Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lXJfAAAAcAAJ&q=Robert+clive |title=The Life of Robert, First Lord Clive |page=37|date=1848 |publisher=Murray |language=en}}</ref> | |||
=== Arrival of Maratha assistance === | |||
On 9 November a detachment of [[Maratha]] troops arrived in the neighbourhood of the city and intercepted some ammunition going to the enemy. They attempted to enter the city but finding every street in the city barricaded. They contented themselves with plundering and setting fires to the houses after which they retreated.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Malcolm |first=John |url=http://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.48868 |title=Life Of Robert, Lord Clive Vol.1 |page=91|date=1836}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Forrest |first=George |url=http://archive.org/details/lifeoflordclive01forriala |title=The life of Lord Clive |date=1918 |publisher=London, New York : Cassell |others=University of California Libraries}}</ref> | |||
Raza Sahib resolved to venture an assault, and fixed it for 14 November, a day on which is celebrated the great Muhammadan festival of the [[Moharram]], in memory of Hassan, the son of Wallajah. But on 13 November, a spy alerted Clive to the oncoming assault. The enemy advanced, driving before them elephants whose foreheads were armed with iron plates. It was expected that the gates would yield to the shock of those living battering-rams. But the huge beasts no sooner felt the English musket-balls, than they turned round and rushed furiously away, trampling the multitude which had urged them forward. A raft was launched on the water which filled one part of the ditch. Clive, perceiving that the gunners at that post did not understand their business, took the management of a piece of artillery himself, and cleared the raft in a few minutes. | |||
Where the moat was dry the assailants mounted with great boldness, but the British fire was so heavy and well directed that they made no progress. The rear ranks of the British kept the front ranks well supplied with a constant succession of loaded muskets, and every shot told upon the living mass below. After these desperate assaults the besiegers retired behind the ditch. | |||
The struggle lasted about an hour. Four hundred of the assailants fell, while the defenders lost only five or six men. The besieged passed an anxious night, looking for a renewal or the attack. But when day broke the enemy were no more to be seen. Under cover of fire, Raza Sahib had raised the siege and withdrawn his army to [[Vellore]], leaving behind several guns and a large quantity of ammunition. | |||
==Reference== | ==Reference== | ||
{{reflist}} | {{reflist}} | ||