Storming of Seringapatam, 4 May 1799.

Coloured aquatint by J C Stadler after William Heath, published by Thomas Tegg, 1 Apr 1818.

On 5 April 1799, in the culminating act of the Fourth Mysore War (1799), British forces besieged Seringapatam, fortress capital of Mysore, whose ruler, Tipu Sultan, demonised by the British, was believed to be in alliance with the French. On 4 May the city was assaulted and captured. Tipu was killed in the fighting; with his death the war ended and the state of Mysore was partitioned.