Capture of Gawilghur

The Capture of Gawilghur fort in western India by British East India Company forces under the command of Sir Arthur Wellesley on 15 December 1803 during the Second Anglo-Maratha War was the culminating act in the defeat of the forces of Raghoji II Bhonsle, Rajah of Berar. Gawilghur was commanded by killa-dar Beny Singh.^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Prelude

At the time, Gawilghur was considered unassailable and the defenders believed they could hold the mountain fortress regardless of whatever the British Army threw at it. The defensive works consisted of two fortress, one outer and one inner. The Outer Fort was considered more of a decoy, and behind that lay a ravine, across which lay the gate to the Inner Fort. An army could theoretically capture the Outer Fort before realizing that the greater task lay in assaulting the inner. The Inner Fort was protected by several gates, the first of which was the least defensible. After breaking through that first gate, however, an assaulting army would turn sharply to the left and follow a narrow passage up to a second gate, all the while being harangued by the defenders from above.

Assault

This was largely the case when Arthur Wellesley's army attacked Gawilghur. Lieutenant-Colonel Kenny, of the 11th Regiment of Foot succeeded in taking the Outer Fort, and led the assault on the Inner Fort, supported by flank companies of the 94th Regiment of Foot, and sepoys from Major General James Stevenson's division. At the same time, the 74th and 78th highlanders diverted the attention of the defenders by false attacks from the south.

The assault might have been doomed to failure in the narrow passageways of the Inner Fort had it not been for the bravery of an officer of the 94th. Captain Campbell and his Light Company discovered a way to climb the ravine and cross the Inner Fort's wall. They were then able to successfully assault the gatehouses from behind and win the day for the British. The British lost only 150 soldiers, while the Maratha defenders lost at least half of their garrison of 8,000 soldiers.

Aftermath

When the Second Anglo-Maratha war ended, Gawilghur was returned to the Maratha Empire, although it was never again used as a stronghold.

Popular culture

Lady Elizabeth Longford, in her book Wellington, the Years of the Sword, quotes Jac Weller whose opinion of Gawilghur was that 'three reasonably effective troops of Boy Scouts armed with rocks could have kept out several times their number of professional soldiers'.

The battle of Gawilghur was dramatized in Sharpe's Fortress by Bernard Cornwell.

Notes

References

• Naravane, M. S (2007). Battles of the honourable East India Company:making of the Raj. APH Publishing. ISBN 978-81-313-0034-3. 
•  Stephens, Henry Morse (1886). "Campbell, Colin (1776-1847)". In Stephen, Leslie. Dictionary of National Biography 8. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 350–351.