The siege of Coimbatore was a siege conducted by forces of the Kingdom of Mysore against a garrison of

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

and

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

troops holding the fortress at Coimbatore in southern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

during the

Third Anglo-Mysore War The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790–1792) was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company, the Kingdom of Travancore, the Maratha Empire, and the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was the third of four Angl ...

. The siege began in May 1791, and several men trying to storm the fort were repulsed on 11 June, after which the garrison of Lieutenant John Chalmers was reinforced, and a larger Mysorean force was brought against it. The garrison eventually surrendered on 2 November.

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery.Dalrymple, p. 243 He i ...

broke the terms of the surrender, and held the garrison's commanding officers prisoner. John Chalmers was also held prisoner by Tipu Sultan and his forces. It is believed that around 100 British soldiers were executed in captivity by the Mysorean forces.

References

*Mill, James
''A history of British India'', Volume 5
{{coord missing, Tamil Nadu Coimbatore Coimbatore 1791 Coimbatore 1791 Coimbatore 1791 1791 in India Coimbatore History of Coimbatore