- Faisal Muhammad Ali
- BBC Correspondent, Delhi
image source, HULTON ARCHIVE
This happened 200 years ago. During the American War of Independence, an American battleship defeated and surrendered the much larger British ship, General Monk, in a 26-minute battle.
The name of the American ship is Hyder Ally. It was named after Hyder Ali, the ruler of Mysore, with a slight variation.
The English word ‘ally’ means friend or partner.
The incident of this battle, which took place on the morning of April 8, 1782, is recorded in the history of the United States Navy. Family members of U.S. Navy Capt. Joshua Burney say a painting related to the Battle of Delaware Bay is on display at the U.S. Naval Academy.
James Fenimore Cooper described it as ‘one of the most spectacular events ever performed under the American flag’ in US naval history. Perhaps it was described as such because it was ‘America’s first major naval victory against Britain’.
“The British general Lord Charles Cornwallis had already knelt before the American commander George Washington in 1781 in a ground battle.”
How did Hyder Ali’s name come to America?
“The south Indian state of Mysore had a global identity from the mid-18th century,” says Professor Sebastian Joseph, former head of the Department of History, University of Mysore.
“After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the East India Company emerged as a regional power in northern India. But Hyder Ali and his successor Tipu Sultan fought four wars against the British in 30 years.
And kept them out of much of the South. Meanwhile, the American War of Independence ended in 1783. A new nation, America, was born,” Professor Joseph said in an interview with the BBC.
image source, PRINT COLLECTOR
However, historian Rajmohan Gandhi in his book ‘Modern South India: A History from the Seventeenth Century to Our Times’ has highlighted the influence of European countries such as Portugal, Holland, England and France due to the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal and their interaction with it.
But the question is, how did Hyder Ali’s name come to America hundreds of miles away from India?
Why were the names Tipu and Haider kept in Britain?
It stems from two sources: letters from French military officers to key players in the American War of Independence and horses, says historian Amin Ahmed, who spoke to the BBC by phone from Edmonton, Canada.
Breguen Bertie, Duke of Ancaster, who was a general and lieutenant general in the British Army, had an interest in horse racing. He named one of his horses Hyder Ali (1765).
A few years before this, Hyder Ali established himself as the ruler of Mysore. Meanwhile the East India Company was defeated at Trivadi (a place near Pondicherry). Tipu Sultan also launched a series of raids on East India Company bases from an early age.
During this time, a racehorse breeder in England named the foal Tipu Saheb. Later a horse descended from these horses was sent to America. Then the process of naming horses after Mysore rulers started there too.
The derivation of the horse Hyder Ali is mentioned in an article written by Amin Ahmed in a pamphlet printed in Portsmouth, USA. A copy is in the US Library of Congress.
image source, BONHAMS
‘The Brave Mughal Prince’
While Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan fought the British East India Company for a long time, it should be remembered that Hyder Ali had commercial and military agreements with the British, says Amin Ahmed.
This may be one of the reasons why some Englishmen named their pets after Mysore rulers.
This is how he responded to a BBC question about why the British name their racehorses after their enemies.
There is a 1777 reference to letters written to key players in the American Revolutionary War, in which Lieutenant General Nécomte de Trazan of the French Army calls Benjamin Franklin a ‘brave Mughal prince’ in a letter to him. Hyder also mentions that Ali could be brought into contact with working Europeans.
image source, SOTHEBY’S
From American war veterans like John Adams, the first vice president and later president of the United States, to John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States, and James Madison, the fourth president, everyone closely observed the Indian struggle.
Due to their ambitions for imperial expansion, there were long fights and wars between Britain, France, Spain, Portugal and other European countries over the Indian subcontinent. The last of these was a long war between France and Britain. Britain eventually won.
A poem about Hyder Ali by the poet of the American Revolution
image source, SOTHEBY’S
“France was a great bridge between the American War of Independence and the rulers of Mysore. There, the American war was made possible by French financial and military assistance. At the same time Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan maintained very close ties with France to receive military training and military technology,” says Prof. Sebastien Josephin.
As a result of a shared friendship and a common enemy (Britain), here are some lines from a poem by Philip Freno, known as the poet of the American Revolution, about Hyder Ali:
It is the name of a prince of the East
The torch of freedom burned in his heart
He avenged the injustice done to his country
Greatly humiliated the British…..
On October 19, 1781, after the American militia defeated the British army, a victory celebration was held in Trundon, New Jersey. Haider Ali’s name was also said in the greetings given to each other by knocking wine cups.
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Source: BBC.com