Siege of Seringapatam ( 1792 ) The 1792 Siege of Seringapatam was a battle and siege of the Mysorean capital city of Seringapatam ( Srirangapatna ) at the end of the Third Anglo - Mysore War . An army led by Charles , Earl Cornwallis consisting of British East India Company and British Army forces , along with allied forces from the Maratha Empire and the Nizam of Hyderabad , arrived at Seringapatam on 5 February 1792 , and after less than three weeks of battle and siege , forced Tipu Sultan to capitulate . With his agreement to the Treaty of Seringapatam on 18 March 1792 , the war came to an end . Background . The prospects for Tipu Sultan , the Muslim ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore , had declined significantly during the 1791 campaign season of the Third Anglo - Mysore War . Although he had been able to reverse some advances made by forces of the British East India Company forces under General William Medows in 1790 , he had lost ground on all fronts in 1791 , and only a slash - and - burn policy to deprive his opponents of provisions and forage had prevented company forces under Charles Cornwallis from besieging his capital , Seringapatam . Cornwallis , whose army had been desperately short of provisions , withdrew to Bangalore in May 1791 to resupply his army and wait out the monsoon rains . Tipu took advantage of the British retreat to recover Coimbatore , but he lost several strong points when British forces captured Nundydroog and Savendroog late in 1791 , and Britain ' s allies in the conflict , the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Marathas , also made territorial gains at his expense . British forces . The force that Cornwallis assembled at Savendroog in January 1792 consisted of about 20 , 000 company and British Army troops , a horde of the nizam ' s cavalry , and an enormous civilian camp that trailed after the marching companies when it left Savendroog on 25 January . After stopping at Outradroog to join with additional Hyderabadi troops , the great army marched on , only mildly harassed by Tipu ' s cavalry , until its advance guard got about north of Seringapatam on 5 February , where the plains below Seringapatam opened and Cornwallis established a position from which Tipu ' s defences could be examined . Tipu punctuated the arrival of the British by showering them with rockets in an ineffective yet impressive display of technology . ( Tipu ' s rockets were probably influential on William Congreve , who went on to develop what are now called Congreve rocket s . ) In addition to the grand army , Cornwallis had ordered General Robert Abercromby to lead a supporting army of about 6 , 000 men from the Malabar ( western ) coast . Tipu ' s defences . The city of Seringapatam occupied an island in the Kaveri River , which at that point flowed roughly west - to - east from the Western Ghats on its way to the Bay of Bengal . The city proper occupied the center of the island , with the western end of the island occupied by a strong stone fortress , and the eastern end by a large walled garden that included Tipu ' s palace and the tomb of his father , Hyder Ali . Tipu had arrayed army , which Cornwallis estimated to number between forty and fifty thousand , along a roughly semicircular line on the northern shore of the Kaveri that covered the approaches to the island . This line , three to four miles ( four to five km ) long , was studded with six redoubt s , and much of the line was protected by a thick hedge . To the east ( Tipu ' s right ) the line was anchored by Karigaut Hill , and the entire line was arranged to be within firing range of either the fort or entrenched positions on the island . Cornwallis , after inspecting the city ' s defences on 6 February , decided to attack even though Abercromby ' s column had not yet reached the area . As long as Tipu ' s army was outside the city ' s defences , he could conduct a proper siege , and his opponent ' s freedom to act might also interfere with the arrival of Abercromby , who would have to cross the Kaveri ( a difficult proposition for an army even without hostile forces nearby ) to make a junction with the grand army . Cornwallis planned a nighttime attack with three components . General Medows would lead 7 battalions on the right , where he was to drive Tipu ' s left back toward the fort , while Lieutenant Colonel Maxwell would lead 4 battalions to gain Karigaut Hill on the left . Cornwallis himself would direct 8 battalions in the center with the objective of gaining the river near the eastern end of the fort . If successful , the Mysoreans would be driven onto the island , and either Cornwallis or Maxwell would be able to follow and establish a strong position from which the fort could be besieged . Since the battle was to take place at night , they would be unable to use artillery to provide covering fire , so he ordered the attacks to be made only with musket and bayonet . Cornwallis deliberately excluded the nizam ' s forces from the action , since he did not trust them to act effectively . Battle . Cornwallis did not divulge details of the plan until one hour before the attack . At around 9 pm the three divisions left camp . In the center , Cornwallis advanced to the hedge , which his force reached around 11 . By then gunfire from his left indicated that Maxwell ' s men had already begun their attack on Karigaut Hill , and the sounds had thrown the Mysorean troops in the center into some disorder . Cornwallis ordered his men through the hedge ; the British troops closed with the bayonet on the Mysoreans , who fled in near - panic , leaving artillery , tents , and provisions behind . One redoubt gave resistance and was stormed . Maxwell ' s and Cornwallis ' men chased the fleeing Mysoreans as the crossed the bridges onto the island and sought the shelter of the fort . Tipu , from his position in the fort , observed the disaster and then raised the drawbridge to prevent British troops , which were by then intermingled with the Mysoreans , from gaining entry to the fort . While this secured his own position , it left many of his troops at the mercy of the British . The division of General Medows did not fare quite as well as the other two . Medows strayed too far to the west in the dark , and although he successfully took the westernmost redoubt of the Mysorean line , he was prevented from approaching the island by a series of ravines and swampy ground . This created a gap in the British lines between the center and right , exposing Cornwallis , who had held back from the lines with a single battalion , to personal danger . Tipu sought to exploit this gap in order to recover the camp , and organized an infantry attack against the gap . Cornwallis was able to rally is men and repulse the counterattack , but his hand was grazed by a bullet during the action . When daylight arrived the field of battle was more clearly visible to all , and Tipu ordered his artillery to begin firing on the British positions . Significantly exposed , Cornwallis withdrew his command to Karigaut Hill , abandoning part of his camp in the process , and leaving a detachment of men in the captured redoubt . This enabled the Mysorean cavalry to roam freely through the area while Tipu ' s artillery continued to play on exposed British positions . Unable to support the men in the redoubt , Cornwallis had to watch as the Mysoreans made five attempts to storm the redoubt , all of which were repulsed . When night fell , Cornwallis was able to advance and relieve the beleaguered men in the redoubt . Tipu also used the night to withdraw his men entirely from the north shore of the Kaveri , enabling Cornwallis to completely surround the fort . Siege . In order to hasten the arrival of Abercromby ' s force , Cornwallis dispatched companies of Hyderabadi and Marathan cavalry to meet and escort them to the area . On 10 February Abercromby ' s force arrived in camp , in spite of a sortie led by Tipu personally in an attempt to prevent the meeting from happening . From this point , the siege became a matter of routine , as the British lines slowly advanced on the island toward the fortress . On 23 February Cornwallis inspected the unfinished first parallel . That same day , Tipu sent out negotiators to end hostilities . Peace . Although fire ceased on 24 February , peace was not formally agreed until 18 March , when Tipu agreed to the severe terms of the Treaty of Seringapatam . Cornwallis made a preliminary demand that Tipu surrender two of his sons as hostages of war to guarantee Tipu ' s performance . On 26 February , in a ceremony immortalized in art by Robert Home , who accompanied Cornwallis on the expedition , Tipu ' s sons , aged seven and eleven , were delivered with great pomp and circumstance to Cornwallis ' care . The treaty terms forced by the victors on Tipu were harsh . Mysore ' s size was reduced by half , with the company , the nizam , and the Marathas sharing in the spoils . The territories taken by the company were chosen in part to ease the difficulty of defending against future attacks from Mysore , although the final war with Mysore was initiated by the British in anticipation of further military action by Tipu . In that war , Seringapatam was stormed and Tipu died in its defence . General Medows was apparently distraught over his poor performance in the battle . On 27 February , after meeting with Cornwallis , he returned to his tent , and attempted to commit suicide , firing three bullets into his body with a pistol . He failed in even this , and spent several days in agony . His hopes dashed at ever gaining the command of India , he eventually returned to England . Cornwallis never blamed him for his failures on the night of 6 February .