Cite
MLA
“Battle of Changama (Chengam).” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-changama-1767/. Accessed .
APA
Hindu History. (2026). Battle of Changama (Chengam). Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-changama-1767/
Smith’s outnumbered army beat off the allied attack and held the field, then fell back on Tiruvannamalai for supplies.
01Into the Carnatic
In August 1767 Haidar Ali and Nizam Ali of Hyderabad, now allies against the Company, came down the passes from the Mysore plateau into the Carnatic. Colonel Joseph Smith, who had been in the field with the Nizam only months before, was falling back towards the plains with the Madras army. On 3 September the allies attacked him near Chengam, where the road from the Baramahal comes down through the hills.
02Smith holds
The allied army was far larger, but much of it was horse that could do little against formed infantry and steady guns. Smith seized a rise, drew his sepoys and Europeans into line, and broke the attacks with artillery fire. The allies drew off with the loss of some guns. Smith was too short of food to follow up, and marched on to Tiruvannamalai, where the two armies met again three weeks later.
Chengam showed that Haidar’s horse could not break Company infantry in the open, a lesson he took to heart in the war of raids that followed.
