During the entire day, the injured and trapped English battalion was offered no quarter. A section of the force wished to surrender, to which Staunton “represented the forlorn prospect of a surrender to a cruel and barbarous enemies (sic), pointing out how Lieut. Chisholm had been treated and telling them ‘such was the way all would be served, who fell dead or alive in the hands of the Mahrattas’, on which they declared ‘they would die to a man’. The fortitude and staunch defence of the English force was thus reinforced with the realisation that surrender meant certain death.

On the night of the 1 January 1818, Staunton felt his situation was desperate. He sought help and decided to send a letter to Col Burr at Pune. The messenger belonged to the Poona Auxiliary Horse and had to pass through the Maratha cordon. “He managed with great dexterity and courage to pass through several bodies of the enemy on his route to Poona. At one time, he unexpectedly came on their advance picquet in a nullah, and with singular presence of mind, commenced ringing his horse, brandishing his spear and proclaiming aloud the titles and valour of the Peishwa. The picquet of course, taking him for one of their party did not trouble themselves about him,.. and when he suddenly dashed across the nullah and left them in the greatest surprise and disappointment…”.

The call for help reached Pune, however before any help could be sent, the Peshwa had heard of General Smith having reached Chakan, and decided to move his camp towards Jejuri after sending a part of the force to Wagholi under Naropunt Apte and asking Bapu Gokhale to stay at the rear and harass Smith thereby delaying his pursuit.

After the Peshwa’s army left and the Arabs withdrew, Staunton gathered his wounded and unit colours and made his retreat to Shirur under cover of darkness on the night of 2 January.

On 3 January Mountstuart Elphinstone reached Koregaon and his journal gives an account of the events as he saw them:

"The Battalion__ had taken post was hard pressed and lost 2 officers killed (poor young Wingate was one of them) and 3 or 4 wounded out of the 8 _?more___ of the artillery men were killed with many of the sepoys when the wholewere saved by the flight of the Peishwa alarmed at the near approach of Gen Smith. This took place yesterday morning after the attack had lasted one afternoon and the whole night. The Peishwa and all his _____ sat on a hill near Phulshahar about two miles off to enjoy the sight of the battle. We …arrived here about one. Immediately went to the village and found some wounded sepoys who could not be removed for want of carriage. We then entered the village which showed all signs of violence and havoc, the houses were burned and scattered with accoutrements and broken arms and the streets were filled with the bodies of dead men and horses. The men were mostly Arabs and must having attacked most resolutely to have fallen in such numbers. There were some wounded likewise which we took care of like our own. I suppose I saw 50 bodies within the village and half a dozen without, which with the wounded and the dead who were in places from where they could be carried away would make a great account not perhaps under 200. About 50 bodies of sepoys were found imperfectly buried and ____ of Europeans besides the officers (Mr Chisholm’s body without the head). Our great loss was in a sally in which almost every man was said to have been cut off.”

On 6 January 1818, Elphinstone proceeded to Shirur and after meeting Staunton wrote what he learnt of the battle”

...”bodies of Arabs coming up the river bed, …got in and after ___ fighting occupied a great part of the village. There was then incessant firing and frequent charges. The Arabs did not ____ well in the latter but were excellent shots all the artillery men killed were hit on the head. All the men but one gun were killed. Gun taken but__-recovered by a charge. ….Wingate (was) taken in a temple when wounded but released by a charge. Horse charged into the village; but the great damage was done by Arabs in an enclosure which could not be stormed The__ men could not be got to …. The Europeans talked of surrendering. The native officers behaved very ill and the men latterly could scarce be got even by kicks and blows to form small parties to defend themselves. They were ____under ______ thirst fatigue and despondency. ____ that I have seen tried to ?challenge themselves and are surprised to find they only thought to ___ done a great action. Yet an action really greater has seldom been ?achieved”.

The battle at Korgaon influenced Elphinstone profoundly. After his near experience of the battlefield and seeing the injured at Shirur, he was impressed by the perseverance of the entire English force. He also knew that only a small part of the Peshwa’s army participated in this battle and moved away on Gen Smith’s arrival at Chakan. Nevertheless, in June 1818, days after the Peshwa had surrendered, Elphinstone returned to Koregaon and sent a proposal to erect a victory pillar here to the Governor General. His decision to choose Koregaon over Khadki or Ashti to establish a victory pillar seems odd, however, at that time it affirmed to the public - that this was indeed a triumph of the British rather than what the various participants seemed to indicate in their letters and reports. The proposal was approved and when it was erected, it carried names of the killed and some of the wounded from the British side. It also carried a plaque that declared:

“This Column is erected to commemorate the defence of Corygaum

By a detachment commanded by Captain Staunton of the

Bombay establishment

Which was surrounded on the 1st of January 1818

By the Paishwa's whole army under his personal command

And withstood throughout the day a series of the most

Obstinate and sanguinary assaults of his best troops

Captain Staunton

Under the most appalling circumstances

Persevered in his desperate resistance

And seconded by the unconquerable spirit of his detachment

At length achieved the signal discomfiture of the enemy

And accomplished one of the proudest triumphs

Of the British army in the East’.

The soldiers and officers at Koregaon came for special treatment from the British in the years to come as far as service, pay and promotions were concerned. Staunton was handsomely rewarded by rapid promotions and a sword of honour. Indian troops received an extension of service for five years beyond their initial service period. The gallant defence of Koregaon undoubtedly deserved many awards; however, it was overstating the case to convert it into a victory.

Many of the soldiers in the British ranks were Muslims, there were men from the ‘Mahar’ community, Marathas as well as soldiers from south India. The Maratha army too had an army of many communities led by the Peshwa. From the British side, a Maratha named Cundojee Mullajee who was injured in the battle was promoted to Jamadar and appointed as caretaker of the monument in perpetuity when it was completed in 1824.

The various accounts of the battle testify to the obstinate defence of the British forces over an entire day. With the impending arrival of Gen Smith’s army, the Peshwa had to resume his running battle while waiting for other Maratha chiefs to join him. Captain Staunton, picking up most of his wounded and hurriedly burying some of the dead, ‘retreated’ to Shirur rather than complete his mission of providing any relief to Pune.

For Elphinstone however, it was the ‘proudest triumph of the British army in the East’. His interpretation of events remains with us to this day.

Eventually, history is always written by the victors. Thereby hangs a tale.