Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Marquis de Conflans

The Marquis de Conflans commanded the French army and governed the French provinces on the Telugu coast in 1758–1759. Bussy handed them over to him in August 1758 near Machilipatnam, when Lally called Bussy south. In December 1758 Colonel Forde and the Raja of Vizianagaram routed Conflans at Condore, near Pithapuram, and he fled forty miles to Rajahmundry that night. In April 1759 Forde stormed Machilipatnam and Conflans surrendered, ending French rule in the Northern Circars.

The Marquis de Conflans commanded the French in the Northern Circars, the coastal provinces of the Telugu country.12 He held them for less than a year, from August 1758 to April 1759.12 His defeats at Condore and Machilipatnam ended French rule on the Telugu coast.34 See the French East India Company.

Taking command

In July 1758 Lally, the new Governor of Pondicherry, summoned Bussy south with all the troops he could spare.5 On 3 August the French army reached Reyoor, on the left bank of the Krishna, about 20 miles from Machilipatnam.1 There Bussy handed over the command of the army and the government of all the ceded provinces to Conflans.1 Bussy took 250 of the best Europeans and 500 sepoys south with him.1

Condore, December 1758

Almost as soon as Bussy had gone, the new Raja of Vizianagaram seized Visakhapatnam and offered to help the English if they invaded the Circars.5 Clive sent an expedition from Bengal under Colonel Francis Forde.5

Conflans gathered the French troops from all parts at Rajahmundry and advanced against the Raja.6 They had 500 Europeans, 500 horse, 6,000 sepoys and many local troops.7 They camped at Gollaprolu, near Pithapuram.7

Robert Orme tells how, early on 9 December, Conflans sent six guns forward in the night to fire on the Raja’s camp.7 He did not know that Forde was marching on the village of “Condore”.7 Thinking that the English meant to seize a village between the camps, he crossed the plain with his whole army to stop them.8

The French were routed.3 They lost 30 guns, seven mortars and their tents and ammunition.3 Orme writes: “No victory could be more complete.”3 Changing horses, Conflans reached Rajahmundry at full gallop before midnight, forty miles from the field.3 The Godavari gazetteer identifies Condore with Chandurti, seven miles north by east of Pithapuram.9 See Chandurti.

Machilipatnam, April 1759

Conflans fell back to Machilipatnam.10 He wrote to the Nizam, Salabat Jang, begging him to march from Hyderabad so that their forces together could destroy the English.10 Forde reached the town on 6 March 1759.11 On the night of the 7th of April he stormed it.122 Orme says that Conflans stayed at his house near the Sound, the harbour channel, sending orders that new reports made him take back.12

Conflans then offered to surrender on honourable terms.2 Forde answered that he would give none: the garrison must surrender at once, or every man would be put to the sword.2 Conflans ordered his troops to lay down their arms.2 The English took 500 Europeans and 2,537 sepoys and others prisoner, more men than had attacked.2 The Kistna manual called “that midnight struggle” the turning point of the French and English contest for India.413

Where the sources disagree

  • The name of the battle. Orme calls it the battle of Condore, but elsewhere he writes of Conflans’s defeat “at Peddipore”.710 The Godavari gazetteer identifies the field with Chandurti.9
  • The day of the battle. Orme puts it on 9 December 1758.7 The Godavari gazetteer’s account of Chandurti has the armies moving “on the early morning of the tenth”.14

Footnotes

  1. Robert Orme, A History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan, Vol. II (1861 reprint), p. 352 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 489 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  3. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 382 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  4. Gordon Mackenzie, A Manual of the Kistna District (1883), p. 66 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  5. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (1907), p. 31 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 376 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  7. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 377 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  8. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 378 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  9. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 227, s.v. Chandurti (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  10. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 475 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  11. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 32 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  12. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 488 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  13. Mackenzie, Kistna District (1883), p. 67 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  14. Hemingway, Godavari (1907), p. 228 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Dynasties

French East India Company

1750–1759 CE

The French Compagnie des Indes in the Telugu country. It traded at Masulipatam (Machilipatnam) from 1669 and at Yanam from before 1750. Dupleix and Bussy helped the Nizams Muzaffar Jang and Salabat Jang to the throne. In return the Company received Masulipatam and its country (1750), the Kondavid country (1751–52) and the four Northern Circars of Mustafanagar (Kondapalli), Ellore, Rajahmundry and Chicacole (1753), to pay for Bussy's army in the Deccan. Bussy governed the Circars through the Raja of Vizianagaram and the zamindars. In 1757 he destroyed Bobbili and took the English factories. Colonel Forde's victory at Condore (Chandurti) in December 1758 and his storm of Masulipatam in April 1759 ended French rule on the coast. By the treaty of May 1759 Salabat Jang shut the French out of the Deccan. Yanam, taken and given back several times, stayed French until 1954.

References

Sources (3)
  1. Robert Orme, A History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan, Vol. II (Madras reprint) (opens in a new tab), Pharoah and Co., Madras, 1861, pp. 352, 376–378, 382, 475, 488–489. [Public domain]
  2. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1907, pp. 31–32, 227–228. [Public domain]
  3. Gordon Mackenzie, A Manual of the Kistna District in the Presidency of Madras (opens in a new tab), Government of Madras (Lawrence Asylum Press), 1883, pp. 66–67. [Public domain]

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