The Battle of Meeanee during the conquest of Scinde shown in military art
prints by Cranston Fine Arts, depicting the Cheshire Regiment by George Jones
reproduced by permission of the Cheshire Regiment
[ Battle of Assaye ] [ Battle of Laswarree ]
Battle of Assaye 23rd September
1803. Governor General Lord Richard Wellesley ordered his younger Brother
General Arthur Wellesley (Later to become Duke of Wellington) to command a
British and native force of 4,500 men to the South -Central part of
the Peninsula. (At thr same time He also Sent General Gerard Lake to the
north of India, see Battle fo Laswarree for further details) General
Arthur Wellesley, met a much larger Maratha Force of some 26,000 strong at
Assaye in Hydrabad. on September 23rd 1803. The Battle of Assaye
became one o fthe bloodiest battle Arthur Wellesley fought, receiving 1500
casualties out of a force of 4,500. But the Maratha were routed and Assaye
was a British Victory.
BATTLE
OF LASWARI (LASWARREE) General Gerard lake took control
of Aligarh, Delhi and Agra, during the opening weeks of the Maratha War.
He then marched to the Maratha Stronghold of Laswari. which lay 78 miles
south west of Delhi. On the 1st November 1803 a British Force and Native
troops 10,000 strong defeated a much larger Maratha force. The Maratha
Army lost several thousand men compared to only a few Hundred British and
allied troops.
The Charge of the 19th Light Dragoons at Assaye by David Rowlands
The battle of Assaye during the first Mahratta war was the third
battle in the campaign against the Mahrattas under the rule of Scindia.
The 74th Highlanders at the Battle of Assaye, 23rd
September 1803 by David Rowlands Although outnumbered ten to one, General Arthur Wellesley defeated the
well trained Mahratta army in one of the fiercest battles in India. It was
the first of many victories by the future Duke of Wellington, and 'the
bloodiest for the number', he recalled, 'that I ever saw'.
