Parshuram Bhau's Carnatic Campaign
Parshuram Bhau's Carnatic Campaign[2] (1790–1792) was a military expedition led by Maratha general Parshuram Bhau Patwardhan during the Third Anglo-Mysore War. As part of the alliance between the Maratha Empire, the British East India Company, and the Nizam of Hyderabad, the campaign targeted the Kingdom of Mysore under Tipu Sultan. Maratha forces advanced into the Carnatic region, capturing key fortresses and engaging Mysorean troops. The campaign played a significant role in weakening Mysore and contributed to the eventual Treaty of Seringapatam in 1792, which forced Tipu Sultan to cede territory and pay indemnities.
| Parshuram Bhau's Carnatic Campaign | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Maratha–Mysore Wars | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Maratha Empire East India Company Nizam of Hyderabad |
 Kingdom of Mysore | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Parshuram Bhau Hari Pant John Little Charles Frederick John Sartorius Mahabat Jung |
Tipu Sultan Badr ul-Zaman Khan Sahib Reza Sahib (POW) | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Parshuram Bhau burned down all 6,000 houses in the town, with widespread sexual violence and abduction of Kannada women.[1] | |||||||||
BackgroundEdit
The Maratha-Mysore War ended after the final conflict during Mysore's successful siege of Bahadur Benda in January 1787, and the Marathas settled for peace with the kingdom of Mysore, to which Tipu Sultan obliged with the signing of the treaty of Gajendragad in April 1787. Tipu who was desperate to focus on defending Mysore from the British agreed to pay an annual tribute of 12 lakhs per year to the Marathas, to end hostilities with them, which would allow him to focus on his rivalry with the British.[3][4] In addition to this Tipu agreed to return all territories captured by Hyder Ali from the Marathas.[5][6][7]
Tipu Sultan would release Kalopant and return Adoni, Kittur, and Nargund to their previous rulers. Badami would be ceded to the Marathas. In return, Tipu would get all the places he had captured in the war, including Gajendragarh and Dharwar. Tipu would also be addressed by the Marathas by an honorary title of "Nabob Tipu Sultan, Fateh Ali Khan".[8][9]. However the tribute from Tipu Sultan never came hence Madhavrao II ordered Parshuram Bhau to carry out a Carnatic campgain and help the British against Tipu Sultan.
BattlesEdit
March towards SeringapatamEdit
The siege of Darwar was a twenty-nine-week siege of the fort at Dharwad in 1790 and 1791, then near the frontier, between the Kingdom of Mysore and the Maratha Empire. The Marathas, assisted by forces of the British East India Company, began the siege on 18 September 1790 and resulted with the surrender of Mysore garrison on 3 April 1791.[10]. The allied forces then marched towards Hooly. The Capture of Hooly Honore, a town and fortress held by forces of the Kingdom of Mysore, occurred on 21 December 1791, after two days of siege by combined forces of the British East India Company and the Maratha Confederacy. The battle was part of a campaign during the Third Anglo-Mysore War by Maratha leader Purseram to recover Maratha territories taken by Hyder Ali in an earlier conflict between Mysore and the Marathas.[11][12][13]. The Capture of Shimoga, a town and fortress held by forces of the Kingdom of Mysore, occurred on 3 January 1792, after a preliminary battle with the attacking forces of the British East India Company and the Marathas, not far from the town on 29 December, had scattered much of its defending army. The defenders surrendered after the fort's walls were breached. The battle was part of a campaign during the Third Anglo-Mysore War by Maratha leader Purseram Bhow to recover Maratha territories taken by Hyder Ali in an earlier conflict between Mysore and the Marathas. By the end of the siege, Reza Sahib a leading Mysore commander, was among the captured.[14]
Fall of SeringapatamEdit
Cornwallis did not divulge details of the plan[4] until one hour before the attack. At around 9 pm the three divisions left camp. In the center, Cornwallis advanced to the hedge, which his force reached around 11. By then gunfire from his left indicated that Maxwell's men had already begun their attack on Karigaut Hill, and the sounds had thrown the Mysorean troops in the center into some disorder. Cornwallis ordered his men through the hedge; the British troops closed with the bayonet on the Mysoreans, who fled in near-panic, leaving artillery, tents, and provisions behind. One redoubt gave resistance and was stormed.[15] Maxwell's and Cornwallis' men chased the fleeing Mysoreans as they crossed the bridges onto the island and sought the shelter of the fort. Tipu, from his position in the fort, observed the disaster and then raised the drawbridge to prevent British troops, which were by then intermingled with the Mysoreans, from gaining entry to the fort. While this secured his own position, it left many of his troops at the mercy of the British.
The division of General Medows did not fare quite as well as the other two. Medows strayed too far to the west in the dark, and although he successfully took the westernmost redoubt of the Mysorean line, he was prevented from approaching the island by a series of ravines and swampy ground. This created a gap in the British lines between the center and right, exposing Cornwallis, who had held back from the lines with a single battalion, to personal danger. Tipu sought to exploit this gap in order to recover the camp, and organized an infantry attack against the gap. Cornwallis was able to rally his men and repulse the counterattack, but his hand was grazed by a bullet during the action.[15]
When daylight arrived the field of battle was more clearly visible to all, and Tipu ordered his artillery to begin firing on the British positions. Significantly exposed, Cornwallis withdrew his command to Karigaut Hill, abandoning part of his camp in the process, and leaving a detachment of men in the captured redoubt. This enabled the Mysorean cavalry to roam freely through the area while Tipu's artillery continued to play on exposed British positions. Unable to support the men in the redoubt, Cornwallis had to watch as the Mysoreans made five attempts to storm the redoubt, all of which were repulsed. When night fell, Cornwallis was able to advance and relieve the beleaguered men in the redoubt. Tipu also used the night to withdraw his men entirely from the north shore of the Kaveri, enabling Cornwallis to completely surround the fort.[16]
In order to hasten the arrival of Abercromby's force, Cornwallis dispatched companies of Hyderabadi and Marathan cavalry to meet and escort them to the area. On 10 February Abercromby's force arrived in camp, in spite of a sortie led by Tipu personally in an attempt to prevent the meeting from happening. From this point, the siege became a matter of routine, as the British lines slowly advanced on the island toward the fortress. On 23 February Cornwallis inspected the unfinished first parallel. That same day, Tipu sent out negotiators to end hostilities.
AftermathEdit
Although fire ceased on 24 February, peace was not formally agreed until 18 March, when Tipu agreed to the severe terms of the Treaty of Seringapatam. Cornwallis made a preliminary demand that Tipu surrender two of his sons as hostages of war to guarantee Tipu's performance. On 26 February, in a ceremony immortalized in art by Robert Home, who accompanied Cornwallis on the expedition, Tipu's sons, aged seven and eleven, were delivered with great pomp and circumstance to Cornwallis' care.[17]
The treaty terms forced by the victors on Tipu were harsh. Mysore's size was reduced by half, with the company, the nizam, and the Marathas sharing in the spoils. The territories taken by the company were chosen in part to ease the difficulty of defending against future attacks from Mysore,[18] although the final war with Mysore was initiated by the British in anticipation of further military action by Tipu. In that war, Seringapatam was stormed and Tipu died in its defence.
General Medows was apparently distraught over his poor performance in the battle. On 27 February, after meeting with Cornwallis, he returned to his tent, and attempted to commit suicide, firing three bullets into his body with a pistol.[19] He failed in even this, and spent several days in agony. His hopes dashed at ever gaining the command of India, he eventually returned to England. Cornwallis never blamed him for his failures on the night of 6 February.[19]
ReferenceEdit
- ↑ Not Available (1883). Gazetteer Of The Bombay Presidency Vol Xv, Part Ii, Kanara.
- ↑ Chhatrapatis of Kolhapur. Manohar Malgonkar. 1971. p. 305.
- ↑ Hasan, Mohibbul (2005). History of Tipu Sultan (Reprint ed.). Delhi: Aakar Books. ISBN 9788187879572.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Naravane, M.S. (2014). Battles of the Honorourable East India Company. A.P.H. Publishing Corporation. p. 175. ISBN 9788131300343. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "Naravane" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Naravane, Wing Commander (Retired) M. S. (1 January 2006). Battles of the Honourable East India Company: Making of the Raj. New Delhi: APH Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978-81-313-0034-3.
- ↑ Anglo-Maratha relations, 1785-96
- ↑ Sailendra Nath Sen (1994). Anglo-Maratha Relations, 1785-96, Volume 2 (Reprint ed.). Bombay: Popular Prakashan. ISBN 9788171547890.
- ↑ Hasan, Mohibbul (2005). History of Tipu Sultan. Aakar Books. ISBN 978-81-87879-57-2.
- ↑ Sen, Sailendra Nath (1994). Anglo-Maratha Relations, 1785-96. Popular Prakashan. ISBN 978-81-7154-789-0.
- ↑ Moor, Edward (1794). A Narrative of the Operations of Captain Little's Detachment, and of the Mahratta Army, Commanded by Purseram Bhow: During the Late Confederacy in India, Againt the Nawab Tippoo Sultan Bahadur. author.
- ↑ Duff, James Grant (1921). A History of the Mahrattas. H. Milford, Oxford University Press.
- ↑ Mill, James (1858). The History of British India. James Madden; Piper, Stephenson and Spence.
- ↑ Moor, Edward (1794). A Narrative of the Operations of Captain Little's Detachment, and of the Mahratta Army, Commanded by Purseram Bhow: During the Late Confederacy in India, Againt the Nawab Tippoo Sultan Bahadur. author.
- ↑ Jaques, Tony (2006-11-30). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity through the Twenty-first Century [3 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 936. ISBN 978-0-313-02799-4.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Wickwire, p. 167
- ↑ Wickwire, p. 168
- ↑ Wickwire, p. 170
- ↑ Wickwire, p. 172
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Wickwire, p. 173
External linkEdit
- Wickwire, Franklin & Mary (1980). Cornwallis: The Imperial Years. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-1387-7.