Battle of Assaye

The Battle of Assaye occurred September 23,1803 near the village of Assaye in south-central India. It was one of the decisive battles of the Second Anglo-Maratha War.

The Background

The Second Maratha War arose initially from internal conflict within the Maratha Confederacy. The Peshwa, Baji Rao II, was the official head of the Marathas, but the most powerful princes were Doulut Rao Sindhia of Gwalior, and Jaswant Rao Holkar of Indore. Baji Rao was defeated by Holkar at the battle of Poona (25 October 1802). After his defeat Baji Rao fled to British protection and, by the Treaty of Bassein, formed an alliance with the British Governor-General of India Lord Richard Wellesley and the British East India Company.

The Governor General determined to support the Peshwa. He re-installed Baji Rao in Poona on 13 May 1803 and attempted to negotiate with Sindhia but by early August negotiations had failed. The Governor General moved against the two principal Maratha forces: a combined army of Sindhia and the Raja of Berar.

Marquess Wellesley formed two armies, the northern under General Gerard Lake, and the southern under General Arthur Wellesley, his younger brother. Collaborating with General Wellesley was the East India Company's Hyderabad Contingent, some 9,400 strong, under the command of Colonel Stevenson. In addition to General Wellesley's own army were some 5,000-allied Mysore and Maratha light horse.

The Governor-General ordered General Arthur Wellesley, who was later to become Duke of Wellington, to command a British and Sepoy force of 13,500 men to the south-central part of the Indian peninsula.

The Battle

On the 20th September General Wellesley and Colonel Stevenson separated at Bednapur; Stevenson advancing through a valley some 14 miles west of Wellesley's line of march. He and Wellesley had planned to join forces again at a village twelwe miles from Bokerdunon on the 24 September. But Wellesley encountered the army of Sindhia and Ragojee Bhonsla at Assaye on 23 September. The latter numbered between 40,000 and 50,000 strong, including three brigades of regular infantry, the largest under the command of Pohlmann, a German soldier of fortune. The Maratha forces had taken position between the Kaitna and the Juah rivers; a position that the princes thought would be only attacked from across the Kaitna. Despite the numbers facing him Wellesley determined to attack.

Nearby, Wellesley found a place to ford the river near the village of Assaye. He then attempted to attacked a flank of the princes' army. This maneuver failed because his party was spotted as he crossed the river; the Indian army turned their front so they were again facing the British. But a valorous charge led by two Scottish battalions, HM 74th Highlanders (which lost all its officers) and 79th Highlanders, shattered the combined forces and the armies of the princes fled. The casualties of the princes' forces numbered about 6,000 men, while the British lost approximately 1,500. Despite sustaining such heavy casualties in their frontal attack, the British/Indian combined force won a considerable victory but having sustained such casualties, and having fought the battle after a 24-mile march, Wellesley's exhausted army was unable to pursue his defeated enemy.

This was 34 year old Wellesley's first major success, and one that he always held in the highest estimation, even when compared to his later triumphant career. According to anecdotal evidence, in his retirement years Wellington considered this his finest battle, surpassing even his victory at the Battle of Waterloo.