Captain Wilson had with him Lieutenant Elderton, as adjutant of the wing, and Ensigns Trenchard and Wish, with a native officer in charge of the two guns.  They reached Bhetae at 7 A.M., were joined by the Bhetae force at 8 A.M., and the two forts of Bhetae and Munmutpore were forthwith invested.  Munmutpore stood about three hundred yards to the west of Bhetae; and both forts were held by Thakur Purshad and Bhugwunt Sing, members of the same family of pansee robbers, and their gangs.  Captain Wilson was the chief in command; and he, with his own and Captain Boileau’s wing, took up his position on the north side of Bhetae, and placed Captain Barlow on the west side of Munmutpore.  There was a deep dry ditch all round outside the outer wall, and a thick fence of bamboos inside.  Between this fence and the citadel in both forts was a still deeper ditch.  Between the fence of bamboos and the inner ditch was a small intricate passage, intersected by huts and trenches.

The wall of the citadel was about twenty feet high, and the upper part formed a parapet eight feet high, filled with loopholes for matchlocks.  Between Bhetae and Munmutpore, midway, was a large bastion filled with matchlock-men, to keep open the communication and prevent an enemy from taking up any position between the two forts.  The investing force was distributed all round, with orders to attack the nearest and weakest points as soon as Captain Wilson should commence his upon the main point, the northern face.

On the afternoon of the 29th, about half-past three, a small party of the garrison came out of the gate on the northern face, and appeared disposed to attack Captain Wilson’s two nine-pounders, and a third gun, which had all three been advanced on to within a short distance of the gate.  During this time Captain Barlow was throwing shells into both forts from his position to the west of Munmutpore.  The subahdar-major had command of the advanced party in charge of Captain Wilson’s three guns.  He charged and drove back into the fort the small party which threatened his guns, and Captain Wilson hastily assembled all his and Captain Boileau’s force, and followed to support the subahdar-major.  Finding his officers and men all excited and anxious to push on into the fort, Captain Wilson unfortunately yielded to the impulse, and entered the outer gate with one of his two nine-pounders, in the hope of taking the place by a coup-de-main.

The garrison all retired into the citadel as he entered, and kept up a distressing fire upon the assailants as they went along the narrow passage between the bamboo fence and the ditch in search of a way into the citadel.  Several rounds were fired from the gun, in the hope of making a breach in the wall, but the balls penetrated and lodged midway in the wall, without bringing down any part of it; and musketry was altogether useless against a thick parapet with loopholes, so slender on the outside and so wide within.  The huts, which might have sheltered officers and men, were set fire to by accident, and tended to increase the confusion.  The entrance to the citadel was over a narrow mud causeway, which the garrison had not had time to remove; but it was hidden from the assailants by a projection which they could not attain, and the men began to fall fast before the fire from the loopholes of the parapet.