The siege of Cuddalore was a battle during the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict fought between 1740 and 1748, primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italian Peninsula, Italy, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King Ge ...

on 17 June 1748. After a British raiding squadron left for Madras,

Joseph François Dupleix Joseph Marquis Dupleix (; Unknown – 10 November 1763) was Governor-General of French India and rival of Robert Clive. Biography Dupleix was born in Landrecies, on January 23, 1697. His father, François Dupleix, a wealthy '' fermier gén� ...

decided to make another attack on

Cuddalore Cuddalore, also spelt as Kadalur (), is a heavy industries hub and a port city, and headquarters of the Cuddalore District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Situated south of Chennai, Cuddalore was an important city and port during the Britis ...

, where the British had taken refuge after the fall of Madras. He was assisted by

Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais Bertrand-François Mahé, comte de La Bourdonnais (11 February 169910 November 1753) was a French Navy navy officer, officer and colonial administrator who was employed by the Louis XIV's East India Company, French East India Company. Biography ...

. Commanding a force of 800 Europeans and 1,000 Indian sepoys, Dupleix marched from

Pondicherry Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of the Puducherry (union territory), Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of Indi ...

and arrived on the hills at Bandapolam, three miles from Cuddalore, on the morning of 17 June. Planning to take the town by surprise, Dupleix stopped until night. Forewarned of the advance, major Lawrence Stringer (who had arrived in India in January 1748 to command the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

's forces and had formed the first regular Company battalion on the

Coromandel coast The Coromandel Coast is a coastal region along the southeastern front of the Indian peninsula. Its delimitations are numerous, but generally admitted to be bounded by the Krishna River, Krishna river River mouth, mouth to the north, the Bay of B ...

) managed to thwart this attempt with a force of no more than 400 men by removing the garrison and taking away the guns to Fort St. David, to make the French believe the British were unable to hold it. When night arrived, however, Stringer led his men and guns back into Cuddalore, so that when the French attacked on the stroke of midnight and tried to put their scaling ladders against the town walls they were met with such a hail of musket-fire and gunshot that their advance was stopped dead. In the ensuing panic, the French made a hasty retreat to Pondicherry, with notable losses.

Sources

*William Freke Williams, William Cooke Stafford, ''England’s Battles by Sea and Land : History of England’s campaigns in India and China; and of the Indian mutiny, 1857-1859'', vol. 3, London; New York, Printing and publishing company, 1863, p. 33-37. Sieges involving France Battles involving Great Britain Conflicts in 1748 1748 in India First Carnatic War History of Tamil Nadu {{France-battle-stub