had thrown up close under their fort, where they had a battery of cannon, and upon our advancing down the road, they fired some shots at us.  We detached some parties through a wood, and drove them from the road into their batteries with the loss of some men; we then sent for the Colonel, who, as soon as he joined us, sent to the camp for more troops.  We continued firing at each other in an irregular manner till about noon, at which time the Colonel ordered me to continue with my grenadier company and about 200 sepoys at the advance post, and that he would go with the rest of our troops to the entrance, which was about a mile back.  About 2 o’clock word was brought me that the French were making a sortie.  Soon after, I perceived the sepoys retiring from their post, upon which I sent to the Colonel to let him know the French were coming out.  I was then obliged to divide my company, which consisted of about 50 men, into 2 or 3 parties (very much against my inclination) to take possession of the ground the sepoys had quitted.  We fired pretty warmly for a quarter of an hour from the different parties at each other, when the French retreated again into their battery.  On this occasion I had a gentleman (Mr. Tooke[40]), who was a volunteer, killed, and 2 of my men wounded.  The enemy lost 5 or 6 Europeans and some blacks.  I got close under the battery, and was tolerably well sheltered by an old house, where I continued firing till about 7 o’clock, at which time I was relieved, and marched back to camp.”

The defenders were much exhausted, as well by the fighting as by the smoke and heat from the burning houses and the heat of the weather, for it was almost the hottest season of the year.  It seemed probable that the English would make another attack during the night, and as the defenders already amounted to a very large portion of the garrison, it was almost impossible to reinforce them without leaving the Fort itself in great danger, if Clive managed to approach it from any other quarter.  Renault called a council of war, and, after taking the opinion of his officers in writing to the effect that the outposts must be abandoned, he withdrew the defenders at 9 o’clock, under cover of the darkness:  The French had suffered a loss of only 10 men killed and wounded.  Clive mentions that, at the same time, all the other outposts and batteries, except those on the river side, were withdrawn.

Mustering his forces in the Fort, Renault found them to be composed of 237 soldiers (of whom 117 were deserters from the British), 120 sailors, 70 half-castes and private Europeans, 100 persons employed by the Company, 167 Sepoys and 100 Topasses.  Another French account puts the total of the French garrison at 489, but this probably excludes many of the private people.[41]

On the 15th the English established themselves in the town, and drove out the Moors who had been stationed on the roofs of the houses.  This gave them to some extent the command of the interior of the Fort, but no immediate attack was made on the latter.  A French account[42] says this was because—­