Siege of Aligarh

{{Short description|1803 battle in India}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}

{{Use Indian English|date=October 2018}}

{{Infobox military conflict

| conflict = Siege of Aligarh

| partof = the Second Anglo-Maratha War

| date = 1–4 September 1803

| place = Aligarh, India

| result = British victory

| combatant1 = File:Flag of the British East India Company (1801).svg British East India Company

| combatant2 = File:Flag of the Maratha Empire.svg Maratha Empire

| commander1 = *General Lake

• James Skinner{{cite book |last1=Holman |first1=Dennis |title=Sikander Sahib; Life Of Colonel James Skinner 1778 - 1841 |date=1961 |publisher=Heinemann |page=80 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.533403/page/n18/mode/1up}}

| commander2 = *Pierre Cuillier-Perron

| strength1 =

| strength2 =

| casualties1 = 900

| casualties2 = 300

| image = Attack on Perron's camp and storming of Allyghur, Aug - Sep 1803.jpg

| caption = Attack on Perron's camp and storming of Allyghur, Aug – Sep 1803

}}

{{Campaignbox Second Anglo-Maratha War}}

The siege of Aligarh also known as the Battle of Aligarh was fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the British East India Company during the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805) at Aligarh, India.{{Cite book |last=Naravane |first=M.S. |title=Battles of the Honorourable East India Company |publisher=A.P.H. Publishing Corporation |year=2014 |isbn=9788131300343 |pages=75}}

Aligarh Fort, one of the strongest forts in India, was fortified and commanded by a French mercenary officer Pierre Perron. It was laid under siege on 1 September 1803, by the British 76th Regiment, now known as the Yorkshire Regiment, under General Lord Gerard Lake. It was captured from the Marathas and French on 4 September 1803.{{cite book|url=http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/t/thackeray/william_makepeace/gahagan/chapter2.html |title=The Tremendous Adventures of Major Gahagan Chapter 2 |first=William Makepeace |last=Thackeray |publisher=CreateSpace |year=2013 |isbn=978-1490979120 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070623054041/http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/t/thackeray/william_makepeace/gahagan/chapter2.html |archivedate=2007-06-23 }} During the assault, fourteen ditches were lined with sword-blades and poisoned chevaux-de-frise around the fort by the French soldiers. The then Duke of Wellington declared the capture as "One of the most extraordinary feats of the British conquest of Northern India".{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CtP1ImudK88C&pg=PA239|title=The Evolution of the Artillery in India | first=Ramesh C. | last=Butalia | year=1998 | isbn=9788170238720 | publisher=Allied | page=239 | accessdate=10 October 2018 }}