Siamese fight against the Haws
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On the 22nd of February we reached the field of battle. The oracles were consulted, and it was decided
that ten o'clock in the morning was the right time to fire the
first gun to commence the attack on the Haw. We reached Phya
Pichai's
stockade about eleven o'clock; they were then hard at
work, the cannonading was going on vigorously at the Haw stockade
at the other end of the plain, distant about two miles. Rossmussan
and I moved on to within three-quarters of a mile of the stockade,
so that we could get a better view of what was going on. The
stockade was about four hundred yards long and two hundred broad,
and was surrounded by growing bamboos which made it difficult
to see into the stockade. There were seven towers about forty
feet high, and judging from the constantpuffs of smoke that were
issuing, the greatest execution appeared to be going on from them.
North, west, and east of the stockade were open rice-fields,
to the south was jungle. The Siamese had surrounded the stockade,
the north and east were occupied by the Luang Phrabang contingent,
and men from Pichai and Sokathai; the west and south by the contingent
from Nawng Kai. The north and west sides were well in view, and
it would appear that they were advancing in columns of about fifty
men, carrying several white-elephant flags, and each company provided
with an Armstrong six-pounder mountain howwitzer. They seemed
to be moving to take up their positions behind a temporary palisade
that had been constructed by others who had come before, and had
advanced bearing shields of double rows of bamboos. These shield
were very heavy, and the feet, the parts that it was impossible
to protect.
The cannonading went on briskly
from each side, but apparently it was only noisy display from
the stockade, as there was no evidence anywhere that any particularly
large shots were being fired. But with the small arms considerable
execution was being done. The Siamese planted themselves within
a hundred yards of the stockade and proceeded to make a palisade.
Many men were coming from the stockade in groups of twos and
trees, some poor fellows, who were wounded, were riding on ponies
or being carried. They seemed indifferent to their wounds, and
all appeared in excellent spirits.
About two in the afternoon, each side ceased firing, and there was a lull in the operations.
About three the firing was resumed more vigorously, and a short
time after the news came that Phya Rat was wounded. He had been
struck by a shot weighing about two pounds, it had glanced off
one of the posts of a Chinese joss-house, near which he was standing,
and struck him in the leg.
Evening came on, and the stockade
had not yetbeen taken, but the firing was kept up all night, and
shouts of defiance from each side could be heard from a great
distance. It was known the Haw were inveterate opium-smokers, and that if the firing
was kept up they would be kept from sleeping and fagged out.
The Siamese loss for the day was serious, about fifteen men belonging
to Phya Pichai's stockade were killed and twenty wounded, while
Phya Rat's loss consisted of not less than fifty killed and wounded.
The Siamese settled down to
a regular siege; some charges were made on the Haw stockade, but
as one section did not act in concert with the other, they were
repulsed with heavy loss. The stockade was daily filling with
wounded. Collins and Rossmussan filled the post of doctors, attending
and dressing the wounds of about forty men daily. Some of the
wounds took hours to dress. Rossmussan had admirable nerve for
surginal operations; the way he extracted some of the bullets
might have made a doctor stare, but it eventually gave the men
relief.
One day when all was quiet Rossmussan
and I went within four hundred yards of the Haw stockade and observed
that the roofs of the towers were made of grass. Rossmussan possessing
some knowledge of artillery, immediately suggested to Phya Pichai,
who had come to warn us to leave, to use heated shot and thus
set the towers on fire. The idea was adopted, but the details
were to be carried out by the Siamese themselves. Bamboo scaffoldings
were erected opposite each tower, about forty feet in height,
that being the height of the towers. The howitzers were hauled
up to these platforms, the powder was rammed home with grass for
wadding, and then a cylinder of wood was introduced, the hot shot
poured in and immediately fired off. So far so well, the signal
was given. Phya Pichai's gun at the north-east corner responded,and
the tower was in flames in a moment. What were the other guns
doing? I was told that one of the hot shot fell fizzing into
the midst of a crowd of Siamese who were quietly smoking at the
foot of one of the scaffolds. The Haw saw the danger, and in
an incredibly short time they had whipped the roofs off the other
six towers. The north-east tower was burnt to the ground and
another opportunity lost.
Continued
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