n June 1780, Haidar Ali marched out of Bangalore, in retaliation
against the British capture of Mahé and the complete failure
of negotiations to address his other grievances. Col. William
Baillie, with some 2,800 men -
mainly the 1st Btn 73rd Highlanders and sepoys - commanded
one of the three divisions ordered forward to defend Madras.
However, the inactivity and indecision of the British Commander
in Chief at Madras, Sir Hector Munro,
enabled Tipu to block Baillie's junction with the main army,
attacking Baillie's contingent at Pollilur, near Conjeeveram
(modern Kanchipuram). After valiant and prolonged resistance,
the British square was finally
broken, and Baillie, realising that the their position was
hopeless, raised his handkerchief on the point of his sword,
and asked for quarter. However, the murderous Mysorean advance
continued, and was only halted by the intervention of Haidar's
French officers. Any survivors were taken prisoner, and
Baillie spent six weeks in Haidar's camp before being dispatched,
with his fellow Scotsmen Baird,
Lindsay and Hope, to jail at
Seringapatam.
An account of the prisoners' lot was published as 'The Journal
of an Officer of Col. Baillie's Detachment'. It records
that Col. Baillie arrived at Seringapatam on 8th March 1781
in irons, 'as they had also been during the journey from
Arcott to this place, which is upwards of two and forty
English miles.' The entry for 13th November 1782 records:
'Received the melancholy news of Col. Baillie's death,'
adding that 'his merit and rank had rendered him an object
of terror to the conqueror before he fell into his hands……and
he was treated accordingly with unusual and marked severity.'
There was no attempt to relieve Baillie's suffering during
his long final illness. His monument, which still stands
near Tipu's own mausoleum at
Gumbaz, is an octagonal structure, originally with funerary
urns at each corner of the roof. A last tribute to Baillie
is inscribed on the marble tablet above the sarcophagus.
Baillie had served for many years in India, a brave soldier whom the
inneffective and parsimonious Council at Fort St George had failed
to support at Pollilur. Baillie's men admired and loved him, and the
regiment which he raised, subsequently known as the 64th Pioneers,
was for many years called 'The Baillie-ki-Pultan', 'Baillie's Battalion.'
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