William Baillie ( East India Company officer ) William Baillie ( died 1782 ) was a lieutenant - colonel in the East India Company ' s service . He was captured by Hyder Ali in 1780 at the Battle of Pollilur , and died in captivity in Seringapatam . Records in the India Office show that he entered the army of the East India Company on 18 October 1759 as a lieutenant in the infantry at Madras , and that the dates of his subsequent commissions were as follows : brevet - captain 5 September 1763 , substantive captain 2 April 1764 , major 12 April 1772 , lieutenant - colonel 29 December 1775 . The historian Wilks identifies him with the Captain Baillie who did good service as commandant of one of the three ' English ' battalions in the pay of the company , employed under Colonel Joseph Smith , in the operations against Hyder Ali in 1767 - 8 ( Wilks , Hist . Sketches , vol . i . and index to work ) . He was in command at Pondicherry during the destruction of the French works there in 1779 ( Vibart , vol . i . ) , and in 1780 was at the head of a detached force , consisting of two companies of European infantry , two batteries of artillery , and five battalions of native infantry , in the Northern Circars . When Hyder Ali , with an army of 100 , 000 fighting men , swooped down on the Carnatic by way of the Changama Pass in July of that year , Baillie was ordered to unite his force with the army collecting near Madras under command of Lord Macleod , who was immediately afterwards succeeded by Sir Hector Munro . Moving down with the gigantic camp - following then customary , and , as some writers assert , with many needless delays , Baillie drew near to Madras , defeating a division of the enemy under Hyder ' s son Tipu Sultan , which attacked him on the march near the village of Perambaukum . Thence he sent on word to Munro , who was encamped at Conjeveram , fourteen miles distant , that his losses prevented his further movement . Munro appears to have feared having his stores exposed at Conjeveram , and , instead of bringing the help which Baillie expected , merely sent a small reinforcement of Highlanders and sepoys under Colonel Fletcher . Indeed , a want of judgment and energy seems to have pervaded the measures of both commanders , the result being that Baillie , moving forward from Pollilur in the direction of Conjeveram , on the morning of 10 September 1780 , found himself assailed by Hyder All ' s entire host . In the engagement which ensued , the blowing - up of two tumbril s within the oblong into which Baillie had formed his troops , followed by a general stampede of camp - followers through his ranks , produced irretrievable confusion . Despite the heroic efforts of their officers , the sepoy s , panic - stricken , could not be rallied ; but the Europeans , to the number of five hundred , got together in square under Colonel Baillie , who was on foot , and , taking post on a rising bank of sand , fought with a stubborn determination never surpassed . Again and again they withstood the fierce charges of fresh bodies of Hyder ' s horse , supported by masses of infantry in the intervals , until all the officers lay killed or wounded , and but sixteen soldiers out of the five hundred of all ranks in the square remained unhurt . The survivors , including such of the wounded as were thought worth removal , were swept from the field as prisoners , and carried off to Seringapatam . Among the number grievously wounded was Colonel Baillie , whose personal courage in the fight and in the subsequent captivity was admitted alike by friends and foes . In dungeons at Seringapatam , and most of the time in chains , the prisoners remained until 1784 , when the survivors were returned to Madras . A few among them , like Captain David Baird , 73rd ( 71st ) Highlanders , afterwards General Sir Baird , witnessed the day of retribution , long deferred , when the fortress fell to British arms on 4 May 1799 ; but Colonel Baillie was not of the number , death having ended his sufferings in captivity on 13 November 1782 ( Hook ' s Life of Baird , vol . i . ) .