Cite
MLA
“Siege of Cuddalore (1783).” Hindu History, 2026, https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/siege-of-cuddalore-1783/. Accessed .
APA
Hindu History. (2026). Siege of Cuddalore (1783). Retrieved , from https://www.hinduhistory.in/battles/siege-of-cuddalore-1783/
Undecided: after heavy fighting outside the walls the siege was called off when news came of peace between Britain and France.
01Bussy at Cuddalore
Cuddalore, just south of the old Fort St David, had been taken by the French and Haidar’s troops in 1782. Bussy, the old commander of the Carnatic wars, arrived from France to command there. In June 1783 General Stuart marched from Madras with British and Hanoverian regiments and sepoys and camped on the sandy ground south of the fort, between the sea and the low hills. Bussy drew up his army in entrenchments in front of the walls.
02Redoubts, a sea fight and a peace
On 13 June Stuart stormed the French redoubts outside the town in a bloody fight and drove Bussy inside the walls. Out at sea, Suffren’s French squadron fought Hughes’s fleet on 20 June and landed men to strengthen the garrison. A French sortie on 25 June was beaten back. Stuart’s army was worn down by losses and sickness when, at the start of July, word arrived that Britain and France had signed preliminaries of peace. The fighting stopped and the siege was given up.
With France out of the war, Tipu was left to fight the Company alone and made the Treaty of Mangalore in 1784.
