Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Campbell, John (1753-1784)
CAMPBELL, JOHN (1753–1784), lieutenant-colonel, the defender of Mangalore, second son of John Campbell of Stonefield, lord Stonefield, a lord of session and of justiciary in Scotland, by Lady Grace Stuart, sister of John, earl of Bute, the favourite of George III, was born at Levenside House, near Dumbarton, on 7 Dec. 1753. He entered the army as an ensign in the 37th regiment on 25 June 1771, and was promoted lieutenant into the 7th fusiliers on 9 May 1774. He was at once ordered to America, where he served in the war of independence, and was soon taken prisoner, but exchanged and promoted captain into the 71st regiment, or Fraser's Highlanders, on 2 Dec. 1775. He continued to serve in America, and was promoted major into the 74th Highlanders on 30 Dec. 1777. In 1780 he returned to England, and in the following year exchanged into the 100th regiment, or Seaforth Highlanders, in command of which regiment, 1,000 strong, he landed at Bombay on 26 Jan. 1782. After leaving England his exchange had been effected into the 42nd Highlanders, or Black Watch; and on hearing the news he proceeded to Calicut and assumed the command of the second battalion there in time to co-operate in the second war against Hyder Ali. The British forces on the Malabar coast were at first successful: Bednore was occupied, and the fort at Annantpore stormed by the 42nd under the command of Campbell. But the gross misconduct of Brigadier-general Mathews, who commanded in chief, prevented the British from taking any advantage of these successes. Hyder Ali was able to defeat the English armies on his eastern frontier, and to capture the division of Colonel William Baillie [q. v.]; while Tippoo Sultan, his son, cut off and destroyed the various British detachments which had been carelessly left about by General Mathews on the Malabar coast, and drove the remnant of the army there into Mangalore. General Mathews was recalled to answer for his conduct, and Colonel Norman Macleod went sick to Bombay, so that the command of the small garrison devolved on Campbell, who had been promoted lieutenant-colonel on 7 Feb. 1781. The siege of Mangalore was one of the most protracted, and its defence one of the most famous, in the history of the eighteenth century. Tippoo Sultan, who was accompanied by several experienced French officers, regularly invested the place on 19 May 1783. The defence lasted, with the most terrible privations and continual hard fighting, until 23 Jan. 1784, when Campbell surrendered with all the honours of war, and on the condition that the small remnant of his garrison, 856 men, should be allowed to proceed to Bombay. The defence of Mangalore was justly praised in every quarter, and formed the only bright spot in the disastrous war against Hyder Ali. Campbell was quite prostrated by his exertions. He left his army on 9 Feb., and died at Bombay on 23 Feb. 1784.
[Memoir of the Life and Character of the late Lieutenant-colonel John Campbell, Major 2nd Battalion 42nd Highlanders, by a Retired Officer, who served under him in the attack on Annantpore and the defence of Mangalore, Edinburgh, 1836 (by Captain J. Spens, who wrote a short notice of him for Chambers's Dictionary of Eminent and Distinguished Scotsmen).]