[3] By the 1800s, the Marathas were organized into a loose confederacy, with the major constituents being the Peshwa of Pune, the Scindia of Gwalior, the Holkar of Indore, the Gaekwad of Baroda, and the Bhosale of Nagpur.

The British intervened in a revenue-sharing dispute between the Peshwa and Gaekwad, and on 13 June 1817, the Company forced Peshwa Baji Rao II to sign an agreement renouncing claims on Gaekwad's revenues and ceding large swaths of territory to the British.

Pune was placed under Colonel Charles Barton Burr, while a British force led by General Smith pursued Peshwa.

[9] Towards the end of December, Colonel Burr received news that the Peshwa intended to attack Pune, and asked the Company troops stationed at Shirur for help.

The Arabs also captured the sole gun guarding the river, and killed eleven gunners, including their officer Lieutenant Chisholm.

[1][8] Peshwa's forces ceased firing and left the village by 9 pm, driven by the fear of approaching British reinforcements under General Joseph Smith.

Captain Staunton, who was not aware of General Smith's advance, believed that the Peshwa would attack the Company troops on the Koregaon-Pune route.

On the night of 2 January, Staunton first pretended to go in the direction of Pune but then marched back to Shirur, carrying most of his wounded soldiers.

[9][13] According to the Interesting Intelligence from the London Gazette: "Accounts have been received from Lt Col Burr, dated the 3rd (January, 1818), intimating that Capt.

Staunton, commanding the 2nd battalion 1st regiment of Bombay Native Infantry, had been fortunately able to commence his march back to Seroor, with 125 wounded, having buried 50 at Goregaum (sic), and left 12 or 15 there, badly wounded; that the Peshwa had proceeded Southward, General Smith in pursuit, which had probably saved the battalion.

[11] The dead Company soldiers of Indian origin included 22 Mahars, 16 Marathas, 8 Rajputs, 2 Muslims, and 1-2 Jews.

[1] Mountstuart Elphinstone, who visited Koregaon two days later on 3 January 1818, wrote that the houses had been burned and the streets were filled with dead bodies of horses and men.

In addition, there were shallow graves of 50 native sepoys, 11 European soldiers and the 2 deceased officers belonging to the Company forces.

Smith intercepted Peshwa in a battle on 19 February 1818 at Ashtoon (or Ashta); Bapuji Gokhale was killed in this action.

A dejected Peshwa then met with John Malcolm on 2 June 1818, and surrendered his royal claims in exchange for a pension and a residence in Bithoor.

[9] As a reward for their bravery in the Battle of Koregaon, the 2nd battalion of the 1st Regiment of the Bombay Native Infantry was made Grenadiers.

[1] The official report to the British Residents at Poona recalls the "heroic valour and enduring fortitude" of the soldiers, the "disciplined intrepidity" and "devoted courage and admirable consistency" of their actions.

[1] General Thomas Hislop called the battle "one of the most heroic and brilliant achievements ever recorded on the annals of the army".

"[23] General Smith, in his official report of this battle, wrote, “The action at Koregaum was one of the most brilliant affairs achieved by any army in which European and Native soldiers displayed the most noble devotion and most romantic bravery under pressure of hunger and thirst almost beyond human endurance.

[25] To commemorate its fallen soldiers, the East India Company commissioned a "victory pillar" (an obelisk) in Koregaon.

[27] The inscription of the pillar declares that Captain Staunton's force "accomplished one of the proudest triumphs of the British Army in the East.

[35] The Battle of Bhima Koregaon: An Unending Journey is a 2017 documentary by Indian filmmaker Somnath Waghmare.