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{{short description|Mysorean-British battle}}
{{for|the 1792 siege of Seringapatam that ended the Third Anglo-Mysore War|Siege of Seringapatam (1792)}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=November 2008}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict = Siege of Seringapatam
| partof = the [[Fourth Anglo-Mysore War]]
| image = Tipu death.jpg
| image_size = 300px
| caption = ''The Last Effort and Fall of Tipu Sultan'' by [[Henry Singleton (painter)|Henry Singleton]]
| date = 5 April – 4 May 1799
| place = [[Srirangapatna|Srirangapatam]], [[Kingdom of Mysore]]
| coordinates = {{coord|12|25|26.3|N|76|41|25.04|E|region:IN|display=inline,title}}
| result = British victory
Fall of Mysore Sultanate
| combatant1 = {{plainlist|
*{{flagicon image|Flag of the British East India Company (1707).svg}} [[East India Company]]
*{{flagicon image|Asafia flag of Hyderabad State.png}} [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]]}}
{{flagicon image|Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg}} [[Maratha Empire]]
| combatant2 = {{flagicon image|Flag of Mysore Hyder Ali & TipuSultan.png}} [[Kingdom of Mysore|Mysore]]
| commander1 = *{{flagicon image|Flag of the British East India Company (1707).svg}} [[George Harris, 1st Baron Harris|Lieutenant General George Harris]]
*{{flagicon image|Asafia flag of Hyderabad State.png}} [[Nizam Ali Khan, Asaf Jah II|Nizam Ali Khan, Nizam of Hyderabad]]
*{{flagicon image|Flag of the British East India Company (1707).svg}} [[Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet|Major General David Baird]]
*{{flagicon image|Flag of the British East India Company (1707).svg}} [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Colonel Arthur Wellesley]]
| commander2 = *{{flagicon image|Flag of Mysore Hyder Ali & TipuSultan.png}} [[Tipu Sultan]]{{KIA}}
*{{flagicon image|Flag of Mysore Hyder Ali & TipuSultan.png}} Diwan [[Purnaiah]]
*{{flagicon image|Flag of Mysore Hyder Ali & TipuSultan.png}} [[Sipahsalar]] Sayyid Abdul Ghaffar Sahib{{KIA}}
*{{flagicon image|Flag of Mysore Hyder Ali & TipuSultan.png}} Mir Golam Hussain
*{{flagicon image|Flag of Mysore Hyder Ali & TipuSultan.png|}} Mohomed Hulleen Mir Miran
| strength1 = 50,000
| strength2 = 20,000 soldiers
10,000 volunteers
| casualties1 = 1,400 killed and wounded
| casualties2 = 6,000 to 10,000 killed
| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Fourth Anglo-Mysore War}}
}}
[[File:A Qajar Persian copy of a British painting of the assault.jpg|thumb|244px|A Qajar Persian copy of a British painting of the assault]]
[[File:The Siege of Seringapatam by Joseph Mallord William Turner.jpg|thumb|244px|The Siege of Seringapatam by Joseph Mallord William Turner]]

The '''siege of Seringapatam''' (5 April – 4 May 1799) was the final confrontation of the [[Fourth Anglo-Mysore War]] between the [[British East India Company]] and the [[Kingdom of Mysore]]. The British, with the allied [[Nizam Ali Khan, Asaf Jah II|Nizam Ali Khan, 2nd Nizam of Hyderabad]] and [[Maratha Empire|Marathas]], achieved a decisive victory after breaching the walls of the fortress at [[Seringapatam]] and storming the citadel. The leader of the British troops was Major General [[Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet|David Baird]], among the lesser known allies were the [[British rule in Portuguese India|Portuguese in Goa and Damaon]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Arabia, Egypt, India: A Narrative of Travel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lJFAAAAYAAJ&dq=Seringapatam+1799+Goa+allied+British&pg=PA428|last1 = Burton|first1 = Lady Isabel|year = 1879}}</ref> [[Tipu Sultan]], the [[de facto]] ruler after the death of his father, who had [[usurp]]ed the throne of Mysore, was killed in the action.<ref name=Naravane>{{Cite book |last=Naravane |first=M.S. |title=Battles of the Honorourable East India Company |publisher=A.P.H. Publishing Corporation |year=2014 |isbn=9788131300343 |pages=178–181}}</ref> The British restored the [[Wodeyar]] dynasty back to power after the victory through a treaty of [[subsidiary alliance]], [[Krishnaraja Wodeyar III]] was crowned the King of Mysore. However, they retained indirect control ([[British paramountcy]]) of the kingdom's [[external affairs]].

==Opposing forces==
The battle consisted of a series of encounters around Seringapatam (the anglicised version of [[Srirangapatna]]m) in the months of April and May 1799, between the combined forces of the [[British East India Company]] and their allies, numbering over 50,000 soldiers in all, and the soldiers of the [[Kingdom of Mysore]], ruled by [[Tipu Sultan]], numbering up to 30,000. The [[Fourth Anglo-Mysore War]] came to an end with the defeat and death of Tipu Sultan in the battle.

==British troop composition==
When the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War broke out, the British assembled two large columns under General [[George Harris, 1st Baron Harris|George Harris]]. The first consisted of over 26,000 British East India Company troops, 4,000 of whom were European while the rest were local Indian [[sepoys]]. The second column was supplied by the [[Nizam of Hyderabad]], and consisted of ten battalions and over 16,000 cavalry. Together, the allied force numbered over 50,000 soldiers. Tipu's forces had been depleted by the [[Third Anglo-Mysore War]] and the consequent loss of half his kingdom, but he still probably had up to 30,000 soldiers.{{Citation needed|date=November 2008}}

The British forces consisted of the following:<ref name=battleorder/>

*[[19th Light Dragoons|19th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons]]
*[[25th Light Dragoons|25th Regiment of (Light) Dragoons]]
*[[Suffolk Regiment|12th (East Suffolk) Regiment of Foot]]
*[[Duke of Wellington's Regiment|33rd (1st Yorkshire West Riding) Regiment of Foot]]
*[[73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot|73rd (Highland) Regiment of Foot]]
*[[74th (Highland) Regiment of Foot]]
*[[75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment of Foot|75th (Highland) Regiment of Foot]]
*[[77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot|77th Regiment of Foot]]
*Scotch Brigade [later [[94th Foot|94th Regiment]]]
*[[Regiment de Meuron]] (Swiss mercenaries in British pay)

The Indian (sepoy) forces consisted of the following:<ref name=battleorder>Macquarie University {{cite web |url=http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/digital/seringapatam/regiments.html |title=Seringapatam 1799: British Regiments |access-date=2009-01-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007081409/http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/digital/seringapatam/regiments.html |archive-date=7 October 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BlkIAAAAQAAJ&q=%222nd+madras%22&pg=PA313|title=History of the Madras Army|date=27 July 1882|publisher=E. Keys at the Government Press|via=Google Books}}</ref>
*[[61st Pioneers|1st Madras Native Infantry]]
*[[80th Carnatic Infantry|2nd Madras Native Infantry]]
*[[1st Madras Native Cavalry]]
*[[2nd Madras Native Cavalry]]
*[[7th Light Cavalry|3rd Madras Native Cavalry]]
*[[4th Madras Native Cavalry]]
*[[Madras Pioneers]]
*[[Madras Artillery]]
*[[Bengal Regiment|1st Bengal Native Infantry]]
*[[Bengal Regiment|2nd Bengal Native Infantry]]
*[[Bengal Artillery]]
*[[71st Coorg Rifles]]

==Siege==
[[File:The assault of Seringapatam.jpg|thumb|right|The assault of Seringapatam]]

Seringapatam was besieged by the British forces on 5 April 1799. The [[Kaveri River|River Cauvery]], which flowed around the city of Seringapatam, was at its lowest level of the year and could be forded by infantry – if an assault commenced before the monsoon. When letters were exchanged with Tipu, it seemed that he was playing for time. He requested two persons to be sent to him for discussions and also stated that he was preoccupied with hunting expeditions. Tipu Sultan's Chief Minister, [[Mir Sadiq]], is alleged to have been bought over by the British.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mysorean Military Commanders and Officials|work=Seringapatam 1799|url=http://www.mq.edu.au/macquarie-archive/seringapatam/mysoreans.html|access-date=10 June 2019}}</ref> The British had sought the assistance of Mir Sadiq who, like Purnaiya and Qamar-ud-din Khan, had been for sometime past carrying on correspondence with the English against his master(<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=History of Tipu Sultan|last=Hasan, Mohibbul 1908-1999|date=2009|publisher=Aakar Books|isbn=978-8187879572|edition=Reprint|location=Delhi|oclc=985562987}}</ref> p. 313).

==The breach==
[[File:Plan of Seringapatam.jpg|thumb|right|Plan of the attack on the north-west angle of Seringapatam]]

The Governor-General of India, [[Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley|Richard Wellesley]], planned the opening of a breach in the walls of Seringapatam.{{Citation needed|date=November 2008}} The location of the breach, as noted by Beatson, the author of an account of the Fourth Mysore War, was 'in the west curtain, a little to the right of the flank of the north-west bastion. This being the old rampart appeared weaker than the new.' The Mysorean defence succeeded in preventing the establishment of a battery on the north side of the River Cauvery on 22 April 1799. However, by 1 May, working at night, the British had completed their southern batteries and brought them up to the wall. At sunrise on 2 May, the batteries of the [[Nizam Ali Khan|2nd Nizam of Hyderabad]] succeeded in opening a practical breach in the outer wall. In addition, the mines that were laid under the breach were hit by artillery and blew up prematurely.

The leader of the British troops was Major General [[Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet|David Baird]], an implacable enemy of Tipu Sultan: twenty years earlier, he had been held captive for 44 months. The storming troops, including men of the [[73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot|73rd]] and [[74th (Highland) Regiment of Foot|74th regiments]], clambered up the breach and fought their way along the ramparts.

On the night of 3 May some officers crossed over to the glacis, examined the breach and the manner of attacking the fort (Lushington, ''Life of Harris'', p. 325). It was probably on this occasion that it was arranged between the English officers and Mir Sadiq that the assault should take place at midday(<ref name=":0" /> p. 313).

==Storming of Seringapatam==
[[File:The storming of Seringapatam - John Vendramini, 1802 - BL P779.jpg|thumb|left|The storming of Seringapatam, John Vendramini, 1802]]

The assault was to begin at 1:00 p.m. to coincide with the hottest part of the day when the defenders would be taking refreshment. Led by two [[forlorn hope]]s, two columns would advance upon the defences around the breach, then wheel right and left to take over the fortifications. A third reserve column, commanded by [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Arthur Wellesley]], would deploy as required to provide support where needed.

At 11:00 a.m., on 4 May 1799, the British troops were briefed and whiskey and a biscuit issued to the European soldiers, before the signal to attack was given. The forlorn-hopes, numbering seventy-six men, led the charge. The columns quickly formed, were ordered to fix bayonets, and began to move forward.

As the hour approached, Mir Sadiq withdrew the troops stationed at the breach under the pretext of distributing their pay. There was no one to protest against such a measure. Sayyid Abdul Ghaffar, who was very loyal to the Sultan, was killed by a cannon ball. Immediately after the Sayyid was killed, the traitors made a signal from the fort holding out a white handkerchief to the English troops who were assembled in the trenches, waiting for such a signal<ref name=":0" /> p. 313-314).

The storming party dashed across the River Cauvery in water four feet deep, with covering fire from British batteries, and within 16 minutes had scaled the ramparts and swept aside the defenders quickly. The British follow-up columns turned right and left, sweeping along the inside of the walls until they met on the far side of the city.

==Death of Tipu==
[[File:Finding the body of Tippoo Sultan - Samuel William Reynolds, 1800 - BL P428.jpg|right|244px|thumb|Finding the Body of Tipu Sultan, by Samuel William Reynolds]]
[[File:The spot where Tipu Sultan died in Srirangapatna (c. 1880s).JPG|right|244px|thumb|The spot where Sultan died (1880s)]]

The column that rounded the northwest corner of the outer wall was immediately involved in a serious fight with a group of Mysorean warriors under a fat officer, which defended every traverse. The officer was observed to be discharging hunting weapons loaded and passed to him by servants. After the fall of the city, in the gathering dusk, some of the British officers went to look for the body of [[Tipu Sultan]]. He was identified as the fat officer who had fired hunting weapons at the attackers, and his body was found in a choked tunnel-like passage near the Water Gate.

Benjamin Sydenham described the body as:

{{blockquote|wounded a little above the right ear, and the ball lodged in the left cheek, he had also three wounds in the body, he was in stature about {{convert|5|ft|8|in|m|abbr=on}} and not very fair, he was rather corpulent, had a short neck and high shoulders, but his wrists and ankles were small and delicate.
He had large full eyes, with small arched eyebrows and very small whiskers. His appearance denoted him to be above the Common Stamp.
And his countenance expressed a mixture of haughtiness and resolution. He was dressed in a fine white linen jacket, chintz drawers, a crimson cloth round his waist with a red silk belt and pouch across his body and head.
He had lost his turban and there were no weapons of defence about him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/tipu-sultan-throne-finial-to-be-auctioned/657350/|title=Tipu Sultan throne finial to be auctioned - Indian Express}}</ref>}}

==Legacy==
All members of the British-led forces who took part in the siege were awarded a [[Seringapatam medal|medal]] by the Governor-General of India.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mayo|first1=John Horsley|title= Medals and Decorations of the British Army and Navy, Volume 1|date=1897|publisher= A. Constable & Co |page=[https://archive.org/details/medalsdecoration01mayouoft/page/134 134]|url=https://archive.org/details/medalsdecoration01mayouoft|access-date=10 June 2019}}</ref>

[[File:0147 Seringapatam (1803).jpg|thumb|right|244px|Seringapatam, by [[James Welsh (East India Company officer)|James Welsh]], 1803.]]

Two cannon captured by the British during the battle are displayed at the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]], now standing in front of the officers' mess. [[Tipu's Tiger]], an [[automaton]] now in the [[Victoria & Albert Museum]], was captured at Seringapatam.

Much of the site of the battle is still intact including the ramparts, the Water Gate where the Tipu Sultan's body was found, the area where the British prisoners were held, and the site of the destroyed palace.

Around 80 men of the Swiss ‘[[Regiment de Meuron|de Meuron Regiment]]’, who fell during the siege, and their family members are buried in the [[Garrison Cemetery, Seringapatam]].<ref name=Hindu-Garrision>{{cite news|last1=Kumar|first1=M T Shiva|title=There is life at the cemetery|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-districtplus/there-is-life-at-the-cemetery/article4489629.ece|access-date=3 February 2015|issue=Bangalore|work=The Hindu|date=9 March 2013}}</ref>

==Depictions in literature==
[[Wilkie Collins]]'s novel ''[[The Moonstone]]'' begins with the looting of the jewels removed from Seringapatam in 1799 from Tipu's treasury. The siege was also depicted in H.M Milner's play ""Tippo Saib, Or The Storming of Seringatam" in 1823 at the Royal Colburg Theatre on the South Bank, London. The siege and Tipu's death also received considerable attention in France, as Tipu had been viewed as an ally of the French, with the most prominent being Étienne de Jouy's "Tippo-Saëb,tragédie" which premiered at the Comédie-Française in 1813 with Talma in the lead role.

The Battle of Seringapatam is the main conflict in the novel ''[[Sharpe's Tiger]]'', by [[Bernard Cornwell]].

==Memorial by the Mysore government==
<gallery widths="200px" heights="150px">
File:Memorial the Siege of Seringapatam (1799) by the Mysore Government, Seringapatam.JPG|Memorial the siege of Seringapatam (1799) by the [[Kingdom of Mysore|Mysore government]], Seringapatam
File:European Office killed in the Siege of Seringapatam (1799), Seringapatam.JPG|European officers killed in the siege of Seringapatam (1799), Seringapatam
File:Forces Engaged in the Siege of Seringapatam (1799) Seringapatam.JPG|Forces engaged before Seringapatam (1799), Seringapatam
File:Forces Engaged in the Siege of Seringapatam (1799), Seringapatam.JPG|Forces engaged before Seringapatam (1799), Seringapatam
File:Memorial to the Siege of Seringapatam (1799), Seringapatam.JPG|Memorial to the siege of Seringapatam (1799), Seringapatam
</gallery>

== See also ==
* [[Anglo-Mysore Wars]]
* [[Garrison Cemetery, Seringapatam]]
* [[Regiment de Meuron]]
* [[Seringapatam medal]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}
* Jac Weller, 2006, ''Wellington in India'', [http://www.greenhillbooks.com/ Greenhill Books, London], {{ISBN|978-1-85367-397-9}}. ([http://www.napoleon-series.org/greenhill/library/c_weller_india.html Review].)
* [[Elizabeth Longford]], 1996, ''Wellington: The Years of the Sword'', Smithmark Pub, New York, {{ISBN|978-0-8317-5646-8}}.

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [http://livelystories.com/2015/02/16/fall-seringapatam-final-enemy/ A detailed analysis of the war with Tipu]

[[Category:1799 in India]]
[[Category:Battles involving the Kingdom of Mysore|Seringapatam 1799]]
[[Category:Srirangapatna]]
[[Category:Sieges involving Great Britain|Seringapatam 1799]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1799|Seringapatam]]
[[Category:Battles involving the Maratha Empire|Seringapatam]]

Siege of Seringapatam (1799) - Revision history

Shenna87P79423: revised

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article