Eyre Coote ( East India Company officer ) Lieutenant - General Sir Eyre Coote , KB ( 1726 – 28 April 1783 ) was a British soldier . He is best known for his many years of service with the British Army in India . His victory at the Battle of Wandiwash is considered a decisive turning point in the struggle for control in India between British and France . He was known by his sepoy troops as Coote Bahadur ( Coote the Brave ) . Early life . A member of the Coote family headed by the Earl of Mountrath , he was born near Limerick , Ireland , the son of the Reverend Chidley Coote and Jane Evans , daughter of George Evans and sister of George Evans , 1st Baron Carbery . He entered the 27th Regiment of Foot . He first saw active service in the Jacobite rising of 1745 , and later obtained a captaincy in the 39th Regiment , the first regular British regiment sent to India . Seven Years War . Recapture of Calcutta . In 1756 a part of the regiment , then quartered at Madras , was sent forward to join Robert Clive in his operations against Calcutta which had recently been captured by captured by the forces of the Nawab of Bengal , which had been followed by the Black Hole of Calcutta . The city was reoccupied without difficulty in January 1757 . However , Coote and Clive argued so violently over who should reoccupy Fort William that they almost fired at each other , which began a lifelong rivalry and hatred between the two men . Plassey . Coote was soon given the local rank of Major for his good conduct in surprising the camp of the Nawab of Bengal . Soon afterwards came the Battle of Plassey , which would probably never have taken place but for Coote ' s advice at the council of war ; after the defeat of the Nawab he led a detachment in pursuit of the French for 400 miles under extraordinary difficulties . His conduct won him the rank of Lieutenant - Colonel and the command of the 84th Regiment of Foot , newly raised in Britain for Indian service , but his exertions had seriously damaged his health . Wandiwash . In October 1759 Coote ' s regiment arrived to take part in the decisive struggle between French and British in the Carnatic . He took command of the forces at Madras , where a French siege had recently been defeated , and on 22 January 1760 led them in the decisive victory of Battle of Wandiwash . After a time the remnants of Lally ' s forces were besieged in Pondicherry . For some reason Coote was not entrusted with the siege operations , but loyally supported William Monson , who brought the siege to a successful end on 15 January 1761 . In the latter year he sat for Maryborough in the Irish House of Commons . Soon afterwards Coote was given the command of the British East India Company ' s forces in Bengal , and settled of a serious dispute between the Nawab Mir Qasim and a powerful subordinate . In 1762 he returned to England , receiving a jewelled sword of honour from the Company and other rewards for his great services . In 1771 he was made a Knight of the Order of the Bath . In 1768 , he was elected M . P . for the borough of Leicester in the Parliament of Great Britain , before transferring to Poole , nearer his Hampshire estates , in 1774 . He relinquished the seat in 1780 after his last return to India . American War of Independence . Return to India . In 1779 he returned to India as Lieutenant - General commanding in chief . He allied himself to Warren Hastings , the Governor General who generally deferred to him and gave him a free hand over military matters , in opposition to Hasting ' s opponents on the ruling Council Edward Wheler and Philip Francis . He spent much of his time visiting outlying garrisons and chose to attend meetings of the Calcutta Council only when it was necessary to pass some important measure . Without Coote ' s support , Hastings was likely to be outvoted on the Council . This situation only ended when Francis returned home where he began to stir up criticism of Hastings ' conduct with ultimately led to his failed impeachment . Hyder attacks . Following Hyder Ali ' s opening of the Second Anglo - Mysore War in southern India Coote returned to active service . It was not until 1 June 1781 that Coote struck the first heavy blow against Hyder in the decisive Battle of Porto Novo . The battle was won by Coote against odds of five to one , and is regarded as one of the greatest feats of the British in India . It was followed up by another hard - fought battle at Pollilur ( the scene of an earlier triumph of Hyder over a British force ) on 27 August , in which the British won another success , and by the rout of the Mysore troops at Sholinghur a month later . His last service was the arduous campaign of 1782 , which finally shattered a constitution already gravely impaired by hardship and exertions . Coote died at Madras on 28 April 1783 . The war with Mysore was brought to an inconclusive end by the Treaty of Mangalore in 1784 . Subsequent conflicts fought , the Mysorean capital twice captured , and Hyder ' s dynasty eventually overthrown in 1799 . Legacy . Coote is generally remembered for his victory at Wandiwash and capture of Pondicherry which were decisive moments in the struggle between Britain and France for dominance in India . Although he often quarrelled with other British officers and officials , Coote was adored by the sepoy troops under his command . Following his death a monument was erected to him in Westminster Abbey and another within West Park , Rockbourne , Hampshire . His nephew was Sir Eyre Coote , GCB who served as Governor General of India . He married in 1769 a daughter of Charles Hutchinson , Governor of St . Helena . They had no children , and his property , worth over £200 , 000 , was left to his brother , Doctor Charles Coote , dean of Kilfenora , in County Clare , Ireland . In his autobiography the American General and Secretary of State Colin Powell claims direct descent from Coote ' s identically named nephew Eyre Coote while he was serving as Governor of Jamaica , which has led to Powell sometimes being incorrectly referred to as a direct descendent of the elder General Coote .