Cite
MLA
“Battle of Porto Novo.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-porto-novo-1781/. Accessed .
APA
Hindu History. (2026). Battle of Porto Novo. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/battle-of-porto-novo-1781/
Coote’s army broke out of the trap between the sea and Haidar’s entrenchments and drove the Mysore army from the field.
01After Pollilur
Haidar Ali had swept over the Carnatic in 1780, destroyed Baillie’s column at Pollilur and taken Arcot. Calcutta sent the veteran Eyre Coote, victor of Wandiwash in 1760, to Madras. Through the first half of 1781 Coote, short of carts and bullocks, failed to take Chidambaram, whose temple-fort Haidar had garrisoned. Haidar then threw up entrenchments across the coast road near Porto Novo, the old Portuguese and Dutch trading town at the mouth of the Vellar, to pin Coote against the sea.
02The march through the dunes
On 1 July 1781 Coote found a track among the sandhills that let his columns pass along the flank of Haidar’s batteries. A ship of the Royal Navy fired on the Mysore lines from the sea. Haidar’s cavalry charged the British lines several times and were beaten back. By evening the Mysore army had left the field, its guns safely carried off. Haidar withdrew towards Arcot. Coote could not follow far for want of supplies, but the Company had its first real victory of the war.
Porto Novo saved Madras from the crisis that followed Pollilur, though Haidar’s army survived it intact.
