1791 Fort Seige: The Fall Of The Last Resistance In Bangalore's History

March 21 marks the anniversary of Lord Marquess Cornwallis' advance into Tipu Sultan's fort in Bangalore on a moonlit night in 1791. The British troops crossed ditches with ladders and fought with the forces of the Sultan of Mysore. The 'front and back attack' on the fort overwhelmed the defenders, and after the heroic death of the killadar Bahadur Khan, the troops in the Sultan's Army lost their morale to fight. The 20-day long battle that ensued further was the last resistance against the British that shaped the history of the city of Bangalore.

Bangalore Fort As The Military Base

The British captured the Pete in a bloody battle on March 7, 1791, two weeks before the military fort fell. The Economic Times reported that the siege of Bangalore resulted in Pete finding its name on a ship owned by the East India Company. Subsequently, Lord Cornwallis used the Bangalore fort as the base for the siege of Seringapatam, Tipu Sultan's capital. After occupying the fort for over a year, the British handed it over to Tipu Sultan in 1792. However, the occupied the fort again in 1799 after the Sultan's death. The fort was occupied by the British troops until the late 1800s, after which it was handed over to the Wadiyars.

2000 Mysoreans Died Defending The Fort

While the British accounts mention that only 21 of their officers died during the attack on the fort and that 98 were wounded, the final battle saw the death of 431 soldiers. On the other side, over 2000 Mysoreans sacrificed their lives defending the Bangalore fort, and Tipu's faithful men's dargahs were included in the fort's vicinity. A cenotaph for British soldiers who lost their lives was built opposite the present-day corporation building, and it was demolished on October 28, 1964.

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