Cite
MLA
“Siege of Ambur.” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/siege-of-ambur-1767/. Accessed .
APA
Hindu History. (2026). Siege of Ambur. Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/siege-of-ambur-1767/
The small garrison held out for nearly four weeks until Colonel Smith’s army came up and the besiegers withdrew.
01The fort on the rock
Ambur sits in the Palar valley where the road from Bangalore and the Baramahal comes down into the plains towards Vellore and Arcot. Its fort crowned a steep rock above the town. After Tiruvannamalai, Haidar Ali and the Nizam turned on it to open the road behind them. Captain Calvert held it with a few Company soldiers and local sepoys, and refused every call to surrender.
02Relief
Haidar’s guns breached the lower town and pounded the rock for weeks, but the defenders kept the upper fort. On 7 December 1767 Colonel Smith’s army arrived and Haidar lifted the siege. The Company rewarded the sepoys who had held Ambur, and the regiment bore the fort’s name and a rock as an honour for many years after.
The failure before Ambur ended the allies’ offensive of 1767 and hastened the Nizam’s break with Haidar.
