Monson’s Retreat

01Too far forward

When the Company went to war with Holkar in 1804, Lord Lake sent Colonel Monson south with five battalions of sepoys and irregular horse to watch him, and Monson pushed through the Mukundara pass beyond Kota. In early July Yashwantrao came at him with his whole army. Monson, short of food and fearing to be cut off, decided to fall back. The rains had begun. The black soil turned to mud, rivers rose, and the Holkar horse attacked the rear guard day after day.

02The Banas and Agra

The column lost its guns in the mud, and its rearguard was cut to pieces at the crossing of the Banas late in August. What was left of it struggled into Agra at the end of the month, a few broken battalions without baggage. Company writers called it a disaster. Yashwantrao followed up by marching on Delhi in October, where Ochterlony held the city, and then joined the Jats of Bharatpur behind the walls of Deeg.

Person · 3 Dec 1776 – 28 Oct 1811Yashwantrao HolkarA son of Tukoji Holkar, Yashwantrao fought his way to the head of the Holkar house, beat the Peshwa and Shinde together at Pune in 1802, and then took on the East India Company. He destroyed Monson’s column in 1804 and helped hold Bharatpur against four British assaults in 1805.Read →