Siege of Cuddalore

The siege of Cuddalore was a siege attempt by British troops against a combined French and Mysorean garrison at the fortress of Cuddalore in the Second Anglo-Mysore War. The siege ended when news arrived of a preliminary peace treaty between France and Britain.

Siege

British troops were under the command of Major-General

.

On 6 June, the army took up a position on the sandy ground two miles from the garrison. They were between the sea on the right and the Bandipollum hills on the left, with a reserve line in the rear. The French and Mysoreans, commanded by Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau, took an intermediate and parallel position half a mile (0.8 km) in front of the fort.

Attack on the redoubt

On 13 June, Stuart decided to attack the redoubt in front of the fort in order to press the allies harder within Cuddalore itself. The assault took place at four in the morning, granting the British army an element of surprise. Eventually, the allies were driven from their principal defences and the last allied counterattack was defeated. By mutual consent, a cessation of firing took place. The allies suffered serious losses of nearly 500 casualties. Stuart's forces also suffered heavily: more than 900 British, Hanoverian, and Sepoys were killed or wounded. Though significantly weakened, Stuart continued to besiege Cuddalore proper and prepared for further reinforcements from the sea.

Naval Battle

Key naval support for the British was interrupted on 20 June by the arrival of a French fleet under the

. Suffren, with this advantage, was able to land 2,400 soldiers, marines, and sailors in support of de Bussy's garrison, resulting in nearly equal-sized forces.

Repulse of the French sortie

De Bussy's additional reinforcements now had enough men to launch a

.

End of the siege

The siege continued for another five days. Both sides were weakening from disease and growing casualties, but Stuart's forces suffered more heavily than De Bussy's. Stuart wrote letters to the Madras government asserting that he had been abandoned. De Bussy planned another attack by a more circuitous route directed at the main camp of the British forces, but this attack was not carried out before a British frigate arrived on 30 June with news of a preliminary peace between France and Britain.

Aftermath

On 2 July, Britain and France negotiated a cessation of hostilities, although the war between Mysore and Britain remained ongoing. In the

was signed in March 1784.

Notes

References

• Fortescue, Sir John William (1902), A history of the British army, vol. 3, Macmillan, pp. 481–485
• Gaudart, Edmond (1922), Catalogue des manuscrits des anciennes archives de l'Inde française ..., vol. 1, Leroux : Pondichéry, Bibliothèque coloniale, p. 129
• Grant, R. G. (2017). 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History. Chartwell Books.
  ISBN 978-0785835530
  .
• Wilks, Mark; Murray, Hammick (1989) [1810], History of Mysore, vol. 2, Asian Educational Services, p. 181,
  ISBN 978-81-206-0491-9
• Wilson, W. J. (1882), History of the Madras Army, vol. 2, E. Keys at the Government Press, p. 76
• Knesebeck, Ernst von dem (1845), Geschichte der churhannoverschen Truppen in Gibraltar: Minorca und Ostindien (in German), Im Verlage der Helwingschen Hof-Buchhandlung, p. 140