Koregaon Village
Koregaon Village, 1908
Village in the Sirur of Poona District, Bombay, situated in 18 degree 39' N. and 74 degree 4' E., on the right bank of the Bhima, 16 miles north-east of Poona city. Population (1901), 689. This was the scene of the last of the three battles in the neighbourhood, which led to the collapse of the Peshwa's power, fought on January 1, 1 8 18. Captain Staunton, on his march to strengthen Colonel Burr, arrived at Koregaon in the morning after a fatiguing night march with a detachment of 500 Bombay native infantry, 300 irregular horse, and 2 six-pounders manned by 24 Madras artillerymen. He found the whole army of the Peshwa, some 20,000 strong, encamped on the opposite bank of the Bhima river. The Maratha troops, mostly Arabs, were immediately sent across against the exhausted handful of soldiers, destitute of both provisions and water. The engagement was kept up throughout the day, and resulted in the discomfiture and retreat of the Marathas. The remarkable feature of this engagement was that the British troops were all natives, without any European support, excepting the 24 artillerymen, of whom 20 were killed and wounded. Of 7 officers engaged, 4 were killed and 1 wounded; total casualties, 276 killed, wounded, and missing. This gallant fight is now commemorated by a stone obelisk. Koregaon contains a small school with 32 boys.
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
