The Assault of Seringapatam on 4 May 1799

Coloured aquatint after Alexander Allan DQMG. Published by Anthony Cardon and Schiavonetti, London, February 1802.

Captain Alexander Allan was Deputy Quartermaster General with the expedition against Seringapatam, the fortress capital of Tipu Sultan. The British, under the expansionist governor-generalship of Richard Wellesley, 2nd Earl of Mornington, believed that Tipu was in league with France and invaded his territory, sparking the Fourth Mysore War (1799).

Supported by the Nizam of Hyderabad, the British greatly outnumbered Tipu's army, but he made a stand at Mallavelly on 27 March 1799. Defeated by Colonel Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, Tipu was forced back to his capital Seringapatam, which was soon besieged by Lieutenant-General George Harris. As he was running short of supplies, Harris stormed the city as soon as a practicable breach had been opened, Major-General David Baird leading the assault by 4,800 men on 4 May 1799.

Tipu led a stout defence that saw nearly 10,000 Mysoreans killed, including Tipu himself who may have been betrayed by one of his own confidants. His body was dragged from beneath a pile of dead by the city's northern gate, suggesting that he had continued fighting to the very end. Following his death, Mysore was partitioned and the rump of the state given to a British client ruler.