Battle of Pollilur
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Pollilur | |||||||
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Part of Second Anglo-Mysore War | |||||||
Mural of the Battle of Pollilur on the walls of Tippu's summer palace, painted to celebrate his triumph over the British.]] |
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Combatants | |||||||
Commanders | |||||||
William Baille | Tipu Sultan | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
approx. 4,000 | approx. 10,000 | ||||||
Casualties | |||||||
160 Europeans killed and local sepoys killed was very high |
? killed |
The Battle of Pollilur took place in 1780 at Pollilur near the city of Kanchipuram in present-day Tamil Nadu state, India. It was waged between Tipu Sultan, (also known as the Tiger of Mysore), and Col William Baille of the East India Company. The army of the East India Company was virtually wiped out, this was the first and serious blow that the British had encountered in India [1]; Baille and many of his officers were captured and taken to Tipu Sultan's capital, Srirangapattana.Sir Hector Munnroe, the hero of Buxar, who had defeated three rulers of India (Mughal Emperor Shah Alam, Oudh Nawab Shuja-ud-daula and the Bengal Nawab Mir Qasim) in a single battle, would not face Tipu. He ran for his life to Madras throwing all his cannons in the tank of Conjeevaram.