Category:Kurnool Campaign 1839

Cause of the Campaign

A fanatical spirit was abroad among the Muslim chiefs and the people of India which appears to have originated in Scinde, whence emissaries were sent to induce the chiefs to engage in a holy war against the British raj. Among the chiefs implicated was the Nawab of Kurnool - a potentate of some power and not a little wealth. By treaty he was precluded from storing and collecting war materiel, but nevertheless he had amassed a huge quantity of guns, muskets, shot, shell, bullets, swords, matchlocks, English double-barrelled guns and pistols, salt petre, sulphur, copper, lead, reams of cartridge paper, and about 600,000 lbs. of gunpowder. These warlike stores were cunningly concealed, some within the zenana (women's quarters) at Kurnool, and hundreds of cannon were ranged in the courtyards hidden by grass which had been allowed to grow over them. The Nawab was called upon for an explanation and refused to offer one. The Government therefore moved up a force towards Kurnool.

Field Force

6,000 troops under the command of Colonel James
34th Madras Light Infantry
F Troop Native Horse Artillery
Two Squadrons 13th Light Dragoons
Sappers & Miners
HM 39th Foot
One Company Foot Artillery
39th Native Infantry
7th Native Cavalry
One Company European Artillery
3rd Native Infantry
51st Native Infantry

External Links

Google Books - Kurnool Commission of Enquiry
Auckram Ancestry
Map of Kurnool District