The troops were almost on famine rations, worn out by fatigue, and by the march through heavy rains, and nights spent on the sodden ground.

Tippoo's horsemen hovered round them.

The cavalry of the Nizam, which had been specially engaged to keep the foe at a distance, never once ventured to engage them.

It was absolutely impossible to communicate with General Abercrombie, and after remaining but a couple of days in his new camp, Lord Cornwallis felt that the army could only be saved from destruction by immediate retreat.
No time was lost in carrying out the decision, when once arrived at.
Some natives were paid heavily to endeavour to make their way to Abercrombie, with orders for him to retire down the ghauts again into Malabar.

Then the whole of the battering train, and the heavy equipments, were destroyed; and on the 26th of May, the army started for its long march back to Bangalore.
It had made but six miles when a body of horsemen, some two thousand strong, were seen approaching.