Siege of Gurramkonda

01The Nizam’s siege

Gurramkonda stands on a steep rock in the hills north-east of Bangalore, on the road the Nizam’s army used to join Cornwallis. From September 1791 the Hyderabad troops, stiffened by Company infantry and guns, besieged it. After about a month the Company soldiers stormed the outer works and the town below the rock, then handed them to a detachment of the Nizam’s men and moved on. The upper fort, on the summit, was still in Mysore hands.

02Fateh Haidar’s stroke

Tipu sent his eldest son, Shahzada Fateh Haidar, with a light force. In November he fell on the Nizam’s men in the town by surprise, cut them up and threw fresh supplies into the upper fort. The Company had to come back. Its troops stormed the lower works a second time on 25 December 1791. It was one of the few bright moments for Mysore in that campaign, and it showed how little the Nizam’s contingent could do without Company infantry beside it.