When talking concerning the historical past of Bengaluru, ‘battle’ won’t be the primary phrase that involves thoughts – but in 1791, the town would show to be an important location within the end result of the Third Anglo-Mysore Struggle. The town that was the positioning of Wodeyar and Mughal intrigues within the time of Chikka Devaraja Wodeyar would now be a battleground between the British East India Firm and Tipu Sultan.
Earlier than the Third Anglo-Mysore Struggle, Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan had already confirmed amongst the best resistance the British had seen, properly past the hazard posed by the nominal Mughal vassals that that they had to date confronted in Bengal and Awadh.
Simply over a decade earlier, 3,800 troopers commanded by Colonel William Baillie have been reduce off en path to a bigger British drive in Kanchipuram and ambushed by the Mysore forces at Pollilur. Whereas that they had initially managed to defend towards a number of Mysorean cavalry assaults, the British shortly grew to become a goal for cannons and Tipu Sultan’s well-known rockets. The colonel’s youthful brother wrote afterwards that for over an hour, the British have been “uncovered to the most popular cannonade that was ever recognized in India.” They quickly sustained 1000’s of casualties, with the survivors being captured.
However the Mysore that Britain confronted in 1791 was not the identical that had humiliated it at Pollilur. As an example, Hyder Ali was no extra. Whereas his son Tipu Sultan was, like his father, a seasoned battlefield commander, he didn’t share Hyder Ali’s diplomatic functionality. Hyder Ali had managed to make sure that the forces of the Nizam and the Marathas have been both impartial or nominally on his aspect for essentially the most half when battle towards the British ensued. Tipu Sultan had turned these main powers towards him.
To successfully assault Tipu Sultan in his island fortress at Srirangapatna, Bengaluru couldn’t be left as a menace within the British ‘rear’, and Earl Charles Cornwallis due to this fact moved to seize it. Lt Col EWC Sandes writes in The Army Engineer in India, “Bangalore, like Madras, had a fort, with a pettah, or fortified city, outdoors it. This format was a characteristic of just about all of the cities or settlements in India… The fort at Bangalore had a fringe of about one mile; it was of strong masonry, surrounded by a large ditch which was commanded from 26 towers positioned at intervals alongside the ramparts. To its north lay the pettah, a number of miles in circumference and guarded by an detached rampart, a deep belt of thorn and cactus, and a small ditch. Altogether, Bangalore was not a spot which invited assault. However Cornwallis had no alternative within the matter.” His transfer towards Bangalore started in March.
The British needed to seize the pettah or city earlier than transferring towards the fort, which had been bolstered with stone since its authentic building by Kempe Gowda. However neither the garrison nor the Sultan would permit this uncontested – Tipu Sultan himself was current, organising fixed harassment of the British positions with raids and rockets. The British initially breached the northern gate of the pettah, however not with out the lack of the senior officer, Lt Col Moorhouse, who was killed alongside a number of different British troopers by gunfire from Mysorean positions on close by turrets and homes.
Preliminary casualties however, the British quickly captured a big portion of the city of Bangalore. However other than the lack of the city itself, an enormous amount of navy provides fell into the fingers of the British, significantly aiding their efforts. Opposite to the orders of Tipu, these provides had not been destroyed to forestall them from being captured. Roderick Mckenzie, who wrote an in depth account of the siege from the British perspective, provides us an concept of what the town appeared like again then: “There are numerous streets laid out with regularity, and of nice width, few cities of Hindustan can boast of higher homes, or of richer inhabitants…”
Story continues beneath this advert
Under no circumstances was Tipu Sultan content material to go away the pettah in British fingers – 6.000 troops have been dispatched to bolster the Bangalore Fort whereas giving the looks of attacking the British camp. Nonetheless, the trick was seen by way of by Cornwallis, who despatched the thirty sixth and 76th regiments to dam the Mysoreans from reinforcing their comrades. The battle devolved right into a close-range wrestle, and the Mysore troopers have been repulsed with just a few hundred casualties. Even in retreat, they inflicted heavy casualties on the boys of the 76th whereas preventing for each inch of defensible floor.
Having established a number of batteries of cannons to smash the defences of the Fort, the British lastly took it by storm by way of a shock evening assault on March 21. The Pioneers, who later grew to become right this moment’s Madras Engineering Group, have been stated to be foremost within the assault.
Among the many quite a few lifeless Mysoreans, one gained the admiration of the British who had fought him – the Qiledar or fort commander, the aged Bahadur Khan. Mckenzie remembers in his writings that, “True to his belief, he resigned it with life, after receiving virtually as many wounds as have been inflicted on Caesar… wounds all obtained from earlier than (the entrance) and near the purpose of assault, clearly declared that this resolute Mogul, apart from a agency attachment to his Prince, possessed the real spirit of a soldier.”
Mckenzie data that when Lord Cornwallis had supplied to return the Qiledar’s physique after the seize of Bangalore, Tipu Sultan had replied that there was no higher place for him to be buried than that which he had given his life defending. The Qiledar’s funeral was additionally attended by the Muslim troopers serving within the British military on the time, “with each mark of respect and a spotlight.”
Story continues beneath this advert
The success of the evening assault couldn’t have come at a greater time for the British – at this level, that they had exhausted most of their grain provides, ammunition for heavy cannons, in addition to a whole bunch of losses within the cattle used for transportation.
The lack of Bangalore marked a significant downturn in Tipu Sultan’s battle effort. Aside from the seize of 85 usable cannons (together with French, Spanish, and captured English weapons), the British had additionally captured an enormous amount of ammunition. In depth gunpowder factories had additionally been current in Bangalore, together with amenities for manufacturing gun barrels.