October 22, 1764

Battle of Buxar

Munro's Company army breaks the Mughal–Awadh coalition at Buxar

Munro said his army went from camp to a complete line of battle in less than twenty minutes, and by the end of the morning it held the enemy's abandoned camp and roughly 130 cannon.

Daylight at Buxar, and a line formed in twenty minutes

The East India Company army under Major Hector Munro engaged the forces of the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II and Awadh's Shuja-ud-Daula near Buxar in Bihar, by the Karamnasa River, on 22 October 1764 — the conventional date. Munro's own contemporary dispatch instead dates the fighting to 23 October, and some accounts span the battle across 22–23 October. Mir Qasim, the deposed nawab of Bengal, had helped create the anti-Company alliance, but his presence and command on the field that morning are disputed.

Munro had advanced from Patna after the monsoon and camped within artillery range on 22 October; the opposing army deployed the following morning before his intended attack. He reported that he went out at daylight to reconnoitre, saw the opposing army already under arms, and formed his battle line in less than twenty minutes.

After a hard-fought morning the allied army retreated across the Karamnasa, abandoning its standing camp and its artillery train.

22 or 23 October: the arrival, or the fighting?

Britannica and most reference works give 22 October. Munro's contemporary report and substantial British historiography date the fighting to 23 October, and other accounts span 22–23 October.

The variation may reflect the Company's arrival and encampment on 22 October and the general engagement the next morning.

The same haze covers Mir Qasim, routinely listed as one of three commanders on the field. Recent scholarship says Shuja-ud-Daula had arrested him and confiscated his assets at Buxar before the October battle.

Strength and casualty totals that vary substantially

Strength and casualty totals vary substantially. The Oxford History of the British Empire puts Munro's fighting force at about 5,300 sepoys, 850 Europeans and 20 field pieces.

Munro claimed at least 50,000 opposite him and 6,000 of them dead, a victor's battlefield estimate rather than an independently verified count. Later histories offer totals ranging from roughly 2,000 to 6,000 opposing dead, alongside conflicting Company returns.

Munro's report counted 130 captured artillery pieces. Shah Alam II sought Company protection after the defeat, Shuja-ud-Daula escaped and kept resisting, and Shah Alam's grant of the Diwani followed only in August 1765.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes, 1 issue open Date disputed

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

Date disputed. Sources disagree about when this happened.

What the sources leave uncertain

Munro's contemporary report and substantial British historiography date the battle to October 23. Some modern Indian references give October 22, while others span October 22–23, apparently combining Munro's arrival and encampment with the next morning's fighting.
Strength and casualty totals vary substantially. Munro's figures were a victor's battlefield estimates; later histories offer totals ranging from roughly 2,000 to 6,000 opposing dead and conflicting Company returns.
Mir Qasim's political responsibility for the alliance is clear, but his personal presence and command during the battle are disputed or overstated in generic accounts.