India & the East India Company

Defender casualties are not reliably recorded in contemporary sources. Tippu Sultan was killed during the assault.

The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War ended with the storm of Tippu Sultan’s island fortress at Seringapatam. The British breached the walls after a month-long siege and stormed the fortress on 4 May. Tippu Sultan was killed fighting at the northern gate. Arthur Wellesley commanded a reserve column during the assault and was afterwards appointed governor of the captured city, where he demonstrated the administrative ability that would later sustain his Peninsular campaigns.

Maratha casualties are estimated at approximately 6,000 but contemporary Indian sources are limited and figures vary significantly between historians.

Wellington attacked a Maratha army that outnumbered him roughly five to one because he judged, correctly, that the ground between the rivers Kaitna and Juah would channel the enemy’s numerical advantage. The fighting was ferocious. Two horses were shot under Wellington and his orderly was killed at his side. He later called Assaye the bloodiest battle he had ever seen, a verdict he maintained even after Waterloo. The victory shattered Scindia’s army and opened the Deccan to Company expansion.

Maratha casualties estimated at approximately 5,000 but not reliably documented in contemporary sources.

A month after Assaye, Wellington confronted and destroyed a second Maratha army at Argaum (also known as Adgaon). This was a more decisive and less costly engagement than Assaye: the Maratha force, drawn mainly from the Bhonsle of Nagpur’s army, broke under British volleys and a cavalry charge. The victory completed the destruction of the Berar army and cleared the way for the assault on Gawilghur.

Defender casualties were not recorded by British sources. The gap in the historical record reflects how the Company documented its wars.

Gawilghur was a seemingly impregnable hill-fortress perched on a cliff above the Deccan plateau, protected by ravines and massive walls. Wellington coordinated simultaneous attacks on the outer and inner works from two separate columns. The fortress fell in a single day. Its capture effectively ended the Second Anglo-Maratha War and confirmed Company dominance across central India.