India 1857

Ganges River

The East India Company is, or rather was, an anomaly without a parallel in the history of the world. It originated from subscriptions, trifling in amount, of a few private individuals. It gradually became a commercial body with gigantic resources, and by the force of unforeseen circumstances assumed the form of a sovereign power. — Bentley's Miscellany (1858)

The East India Company was a massive export company that was the force behind much of the colonization of India. The power of the East India Company took nearly 150 years to build. As early as 1693, the annual expenditure in political "gifts" to men in power reached nearly 90,000 pounds. In bribing the Government, the East India Company was allowed to operate in overseas markets despite the fact that the cheap imports of South Asian silk, cotton, and other products hurt domestic business. By 1767, the Company was forced into an agreement that it should pay 400,000 pounds into the National Exchequer annually.

East India House - Leadenhall Street, London (1817)

In January 1857, at the Dum Arsenal near Calcutta, an Indian Lascar (sailor) asked a Brahmin Sepoy (infantryman) for a drink of water from his brass cup. The Brahmin refused to share his cup; to share his cup with a Lascar would contaminate it because of the Lascar’s lower caste. In anger, the Lascar declared that the Brahmin would lose his caste anyway when he used his new Enfield Rifles because the cartridges contained animal fat from both pork and beef. This announcement alarmed the Brahmin who confided his fears to his fellow Sepoys.

For a long time unrest and discontent had been rife throughout India due to various territorial annexations, dethronements of rulers, and other injustices on the part of the East India Company. The revolt was mainly confined to the Company's Bengal Army, and its immediate cause was the introduction of cartridges lubricated with pigs' and cows' fat, and therefore taboo to both Moslems and Hindus. Eating pig flesh is an abomination to Muslims, and the Hindu religion regards the cow as sacred and therefore banned the consumption of its flesh. Withdrawal of the cartridges did not remove the unrest, and on May 10th, 1857, the native garrison at Meerut, the largest military station in India, released eighty-five of their comrades who were in jail for refusing to use the cartridges. After killing some of the British officers and their families, the mutineers rode to Delhi.

By 1857, the Mogul dynasty had withered to the point of near extinction. The last of the Moguls, Bahadur Shah II, 'King of Delhi', was a frail, opium-addicted old man deprived of any real power. A pensioner of the British, he was king in name only, and it was understood that upon his death his title would no longer exist.

Bahadur Shah II - King of Delhi (Last Mogul Emperor of India)

Mounted Rebel Sepoys - Delhi

The rapid spread of the mutiny in North India provoked unprecedented urgency in the British. Army reinforcements were rushed from Rangoon, Ceylon and the Madras Presidency in South India.

Siege of Delhi - Kashmir Gate . . 1857

June 23rd, 1857, the 100th anniversary of the British victory at the Battle of Plassey, which had marked the completion and consolidation of the British East India Company's control over India, was a difficult day for the British. On this day, bazaar folklore had it, the British Raj would be driven from the subcontinent. In what may have been an attempt to fulfill that prophecy, the Sepoys launched a particularly savage attack on the Ridge. The British won the day, however, driving the attackers back to their Delhi ramparts.

March to Delhi - 1857

Kashmir Gate - September 14th, 1857

Lahore Gate

The "King of Delhi" Captured

On September 14th, the day of assault, till the 20th, when Delhi was completely under British possession, much looting took place in the city.

Eldest Son - King of Delhi

Mosque Roshun ad Dawla . . . circa 1857
Mosque Roshun ad Dawla, stands in the principal street, and its pinnacles and domes are splendidly gilt. It is made famous through its connection with an act of cruelty on the part of Sheikh Nadir. This remarkable, but fearfully cruel monarch, on conquering Delhi in the year 1739, had 100,000 of the inhabitants cut to pieces, and is said to have sat upon a tower of this mosque to watch the scene. The town was then set fire to and plundered.

The gruesome story of the Siege of Cawnpore. On June 27th, 1857, in Cawnpore, India, a British garrison with many women and children, under siege, were offered safe passage and sanctuary. Instead, they were betrayed and butchered. The surviving women and children were later hacked to death. Retribution, when it came, was unrelentingly severe.

Cawnpore on the River Ganges

Cawnpore became a vitally important garrison town, straddling key communication lines. It lay on the approaches to the Punjab, Sind and the newly acquired Oudh provinces. During a long series of years Cawnpore had been one of the most important military stations in India. There were few officers either of the Queen's or the East India Company's Army who, during the period of their Eastern service, had not, at some time or other, done duty in that vast cantonment. Unfortunately, new conquests had denuded the encampment of many of its European soldiers. It was thought that they were needed to help pacify the newly acquired areas.

The Cawnpore Division was then commanded by General Sir Hugh Wheeler. He was an old and a distinguished officer of the East India Company's Army. He had seen much good service in Afghanistan and in the Punjab, and had won his spurs under Gough in the second Sikh War. He had then been in command of a division of Gough’s army. His fine military record gave the Europeans in the area a reason to feel confident that the mutiny might pass them by. Other than the East India Officers, the European contingent was a strange collection of military families, business owners, barbers, operators of toll roads, telegraphs and railway engineers.

The station at Cawnpore was a large, straggling place, six or seven miles in extent. There was nothing peculiar to Cawnpore in the fact that the private dwelling houses and public offices of the English were scattered about in the most random manner, as though they had fallen from the sky. At the north-western extremity, lying between the road to Bithii and the road to Dehli, were the principal houses of the civilians, the Treasury, the Jail, and the Mission premises. These buildings lay beyond the lines of the military cantonment, in the extreme north-western corner of which, was the Magazine. In the centre, between the city and the river, were the Church, the Theatre, the Telegraph office, and other public edifices, whilst scattered about here and there, without any apparent system, were the principal military buildings, European and Native. The Native lines lying for the most part in the rear towards the south-eastern point of the cantonment.

Cawnpore Street Scene . . . circa 1857

Cawnpore Mutiny

General Hugh Wheeler

Cawnpore Battle_1857

Then it was that the General, much against the grain, availed himself of an offer made by the Nana Sahib, and agreed that 200 of the Bithur chiefs men should be posted at Nuwdbganj, guarding the treasury and the magazine.

So when danger threatened them, it appeared to the authorities at Cawnpore that assistance might be obtained from Nana Sahib. He had an abundance of money and all that money could purchase, including horses and elephants and a large body of retainers, almost, indeed, a little army of his own. He had been in friendly association with the British up to this very time, and no one doubted that as he had the power, also he had the will to be of substantial use to them in the hour of their trouble. It was one of those strange revenges, with which the stream of time is laden.

Nana Sahib lived near Cawnpore, in the town of Bithur. Nana Sahib was the adopted heir of the last great Mahratta King Baji Rao, who, after defeat by the British, had been settled in luxurious exile at Bithur. For 33 years the British paid the Prince a lavish pension, but when he died in1851, unfortunately for Nana Sahib, the East India Company decided that Baji Rao's pension would die with him and would not be passed on to any successors. Nana Sahib lobbied hard sending an envoy to London, to petition the Queen directly, but to no avail. This dispossessed Hindu aristocrat would play a dangerous double game before deciding who to support in the mutiny.

On May 23rd, 1857, the reinforcements from Lucknow arrived. Fletcher Hayes, amongst the relief force, graphically described the situation in a private letter, "I never witnessed such a scene of confusion, fright, and bad arrangement as the European barracks presented. Four guns were in position loaded, with artillerymen in nightcaps with sidearms on, hanging to the guns in groups, looking like melodramatic buccaneers."

Nana Sahib

But during that last week of May, 1857, whatever plots and perils might have been fermenting beneath the surface, outwardly everything was calm and reassuring. And the brave old General began to think that the worst was over, and that he would soon be able to assist Sir Lawrence at Lucknow.

But everywhere in the Lines and in the Bazaars the plot was working. And the plotters were not only there. Out at Nawabganj, where the retainers of the Bithur were posted, were the germs of a cruel conspiracy.

During the first days of June, 1857, there were frequent meetings between the chiefs of the rebellious Sepoys and the inmates of the Bithur Palace. It was known to the soldiery before they broke into rebellion that the Nana was with them, and that all his resources would be thrown on the side of the nascent rebellion.

On the night of the June 4th, 1857, the 2nd Cavalry and the 1st Infantry Regiment were ready for immediate action. The troopers had got to horse and the foot soldiers were equipping themselves. As ever, the former were the first to strike. There was a firing of pistols, with perhaps no definite object. Then a conflagration which lit up the sky and told the British in the entrenchments that the game of destruction had commenced. Then, a mad nocturnal ride to Nawabganj, scenting the treasure and the stores in the Magazine. The Regiment soon followed them. The Sepoys did not wish to harm their officers, but they were bent on rebellion. They hurried after the Cavalry, setting their faces towards the north-west, where lay the Treasury, the Jail, and the Magazine, with Dehli in the distance. As they went they burnt, and plundered, and spread devastation along their line march, but left the Christian people behind them, not lusting for their blood.

But Nana Sahib, stimulated by those about him, and chiefly, it is thought, by the wily Muhammadan, Azimullah, looked askance at the proposed centralization of the rebellion, and urged upon the Sepoy leaders that something better might be done. They had made one march towards the imperial city, but had halted at Kalianpur, whither the Nana had accompanied them. Then they began to listen to the voice of the charmer, and to waver in their resolution. The Bithur people might be right they thought. It might be better to march back to Cawnpore.

At Kalianpur, therefore, the Nana arrested the march of the mutineers to Dehli. It is not very clearly known what arguments and persuasions were used by him or his ministers to induce the mutinous regiments to turn back to Cawnpore. It is probable that they were induced by promises of large gain.

Ominously for the British, the mutineers trundled back into town. This time, they made sure that they had expunged all the Europeans from outside of the entrenchment and systematically plundered and destroyed all European owned property. Native Christians were also singled out for gruesome fates. Whilst all this was happening Nana Sahib took the time to write a letter to General Wheeler informing him to expect an attack the next morning.

Only a few days before the regiments had broken into rebellion, Nana Sahib had been in friendly and familiar intercourse with English officers, veiling his hatred under the suavity of his manners and the levity of his speech. But as day dawned on Saturday, the 6th of June, Wheeler was startled by the receipt of a letter from Nana Sahib, intimating that he was about to attack the entrenchments. There was not an hour to be lost. Forth went the mandate for all the English to concentrate themselves within the entrenchments.

Barracks Entrenchments

The June sky was little less than a great canopy of fire. The summer breeze was as the blast of a furnace. To touch the barrel of a gun was to recoil as from red-hot iron. Even under the fierce meridian sun, this little band of English fighting men were ever straining to sustain the strenuous activity of constant battle against fearful odds.

The Mutineers had an immense wealth of artillery. The Cawnpore Magazine had sent forth vast supplies of guns and ammunition. And now the heavy ordnance of the Government was raking the British with a destructiveness which soon diminished the numbers working in the trenches. The English artillerymen dropped at their guns, until one after another the places of the trained gunners were filled by volunteers and amateurs, with stout hearts but untutored eyes, and the lighter metal of their guns could make no adequate response to the heavy fire of the Mutineers’ twenty-four pounders.

The General's son and aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Wheeler, was lying wounded in one of the barrack-rooms, when, in the presence of his whole family, father, mother, and sisters, a round shot boomed into the apartment, and carried off the young soldier's head!

There was a well a little way outside the entrenchments, which served as the general cemetery of the Christian people, and night after night the carnage of the day was carried to this universal mausoleum. And there were some who died hopelessly, though not in the flesh, for the horrors of the siege were greater than they could bear, and madness fell upon them, perhaps as a merciful dispensation. It is known that in the space of three weeks the English consigned to the well two hundred and fifty of their party. The number of bodies buried by the insurgents, or devoured by the vultures and jackals, must have been at this amount many times told. If hands were scarce in the entrenchments, muskets were not, and every man stood to his work with some spare pieces ready-loaded, which he fired with rapidity.

It was the centenary of the Battle of Plassey (June 23rd, 1757). On the previous night there had been signs of extraordinary activity in the enemy's ranks, and a meditated attack on the outposts had been thwarted. As the morning of the 23rd dawned upon Cawnpore, the insurgents, stimulated to the utmost by the associations of the day (legend called for the defeat of the British 100 years after Plassey), came out in full force of Horse, Foot, and Artillery, flushed with the thought of certain success, determined to attack both outposts and entrenchments.

There was a stern resolution, in many cases strengthened by oaths on the Ganges-water or the Koran, to destroy the English or to die in the attempt. The excitement of all branches of the rebel-army was at its highest pitch. The impetuosity of the Cavalry far exceeded their discretion, for they galloped forward furiously within reach of the British guns, and met with such a reception, that many horses were left rider-less, and the troopers who escaped wheeled round and fled in confusion. The Infantry, more cautious, improvised moving ramparts to shelter their movement. They advanced huge bales of cotton, but the British guns were too well served to suffer this device to be of much use to the enemy, for some well-directed shots from the batteries set fire to these defenses, and the assault was defeated.

Nana Sahib

But there was a more deadly foe than this enemy mass of Hindus and Muhammadans to be encountered. The Nana Sahib perceived another source of victory than that which lay in the number of his fighting men. For hunger had begun to gnaw our little garrison. Food, which in happier times would have been turned from with disgust, was seized with avidity and devoured with relish. To the flesh-pots of the besieged no carrion was unwelcome. A stray dog was turned into soup. An old horse, fit only for the knackers, was converted into savory meat. And when glorious good fortune brought a Brahmani Bull within the fire of the defenses, and with difficulty the carcass of the animal was hauled into the entrenchments, there was rejoicing as if a victory had been gained. But in that fiery month of June the agonies of thirst were even greater than the pangs of hunger. The well from which scant supplies of water were drawn was a favorite mark for the Sepoy gunners. It was a service of death to go to and fro with the bags and buckets which brought the priceless moisture to the lips of the famished people. Strong men and patient women thirsted in silence, but the moans of the wounded and the wailings of the children was pitiable to hear. And so as day by day the English people were wasting under these dire pangs of hunger and thirst, the hopes of the Nana Sahib grew higher and higher, and he knew that the end was approaching.

Next morning (there was then an armistice), Azimullah and Jawala-l arshad, presented themselves near the entrenchments, and Captain Moore and others went out with power to treat with the emissaries of the Nana. It was then proposed that the British should surrender their fortified position, their guns, and their treasure, and that they should march out with their arms and sixty rounds of ammunition in each man's pouch. On his part, the Nana was to afford them safe conduct to the river side, and sufficient carriage for the conveyance of the women and the children, the wounded and the sick. Boats were to be in readiness at the ghaut (flight of steps leading down to a river) to carry them down the Ganges, and supplies of flour, sheep and goats also were to be laid in for the sustenance of the party during the voyage to Allahabad.

These proposals were committed to paper and given to Azimullah, who laid them before his chief, and that afternoon a horseman from the rebel camp brought them back, saying that the Nana Sahib had agreed to them.

Sati Chaura Ghaut

The place of embarkation was known as the Sati Chuara Ghaut, so called from a ruined village near by which bore that name. The road ran across a wooden bridge. Over this bridge they filed down into a ravine, which led on to the river-side. Near the ghaut was a Hindu temple, known as the Temple of Hardeo, or the Fisherman's Temple, a structure of somewhat fanciful and picturesque design. The incidents of this mile-march were not many.

At the place of embarkation, the uncouth vessels were seen a little way off in the stream in shallow water, for it was the close of the dry season and the river was at its lowest. The boats were the ordinary eight-oared budgerows of the country. They were ungainly structures with thatched roofs, looking at a distance like floating hay-stacks, and into these the people began to crowd without order or method, even the women with children in their arms, with but little help from others, wading knee-deep in the water, and scrambling as they best could up the sides of the vessels. It was nine o'clock before the whole were aboard the vessels.

So foul an act of treachery was prepared by Dondu Pant Nana Sahib. The adopted son of the last of the Peshwa had studied to some purpose the early history of his race. He knew how the founder of the Maratha Empire, the head of the great family who had been the masters of the Peshwas had, under false pretext of friendly embrace, dug his Vaknak into the bowels of a Muhammadan envoy, and gained by foulest treachery what he could not gain by force. The Vaknak was now ready - "Vaknak of a Thousand Claws" in the hands of the man who aspired to be the founder of a new or renovated Maratha Empire. ["Valcnak" or "Vagnak", is a weapon made of five rings, to each of which is attached a steel claw, like that of a tiger. The rings fit the fingers of the hand, and the claws lie concealed in the palm, till the moment for striking arrives]

While this terrible scene was being acted at the ghaut, the Nana Sahib, having full faith in the malevolent activity of his lieutenants on the riverbank, was awaiting the issue in his tent on the cantonment plain. It is related of him that, unquiet in mind, he moved about, pacing hither and thither, in spite of the indolence of his habits and the obesity of his frame. After a while, tidings of the progress of the massacre were brought to him by a mounted trooper. What had been passing within him during those morning hours no can know. Perhaps some slight spasm of remorse may have come upon him, or he may have thought that better use might be made of some of British alive than dead. But, whether moved by pity or by craft, he sent orders back by the messenger that no more women and children should be slain, but that not an Englishman was to be left alive. So the Mutineers, stayed their hands and ceased from the slaughter. Probably one hundred and twenty-five half drowned, all dripping with the water of the Ganges and begrimed with its mud, were carried back in custody to Cawnpore, by the way they had come.

The hunting down of fleeing survivors occupied several days. All who had not been burnt, bayoneted, sabre’d, or drowned in the great massacre of the boats on the 27th of June, had been swept up and carried to the Savada House. A building which had figured in the history of the siege. For a time, it had been the head-quarters of the rebel leader. And now these newly-made widows and orphans were added to the shuddering herd of condemned innocents. Eighty was their number. They were brought back on carts, and arrived on June 30th, 1857.

Delafosse, with privates Murphy and Sullivan, alone survived to reach the territory of a friendly Eajah, and lived to tell the story of Cawnpore.

Nana Nawab had got together some cunning Native artificers, who experimented with red-hot shot and other combustibles, not without damage to the lives of those working in the batteries. It was a projectile from one of his guns, described as a ball of resin, which set fire to the barrack in the entrenchments. Among the Muhammadans of the neighborhood he was held in high estimation, and large numbers of followers attended him as he went down every day to his battery.

And now there was some talk of setting up the Nawab as head of the new Government. If this had been done, there would have been faction fights between Hindus and Muhammadans.

Then other disturbing rumors reached him. The English reinforcements were advancing from Allahabad, hot for revenge, eager for blood. The story ran that the British soldiers were hanging every Native who came in their way. A great fear was settling down upon the minds of the inhabitants of Cawnpore.

There was one remarkable escape story that may have had a kernel of truth to it. As the Sati Chaura massacre took place, a Sowar rode off with one of General Wheeler's daughters slung over his saddle. It was believed (or rather hoped) that she had slain her captor before he had his wicked way with her. This is what this picture shows. However, the truth may have been that she was indeed rescued by a Sowar named Ali Khan. Some fifty years later an old lady in Cawnpore on her deathbed confessed to a Catholic Priest that she was the daughter of General Wheeler. Perhaps she had been too embarrassed or perhaps genuinely felt for the safety of her captor.  Needless to say, this image shows the Victorian ideals of a lady who would choose death before dishonor.

General Henry Havelock

They did not then know the worst. The great tragedy of Cawnpore was yet to come. On the afternoon of that l5th of July, Nana Sahib, learnt that Havelock's army had crossed the Pandu Nadi, and was in full march upon his capital. The messenger who brought the evil tidings was Bala Rao himself, with a wound in his shoulder, as proof that he had done his best. What now was to be done? The chief advisers of the Nana Sahib were divided in opinion. They might make a stand at Bithur, or form a junction with the rebel force at Fathgarh, or go out to meet the enemy on the road to Cawnpore. The last course, after much discussion, was adopted, and arrangements were made to dispute Havelock's advance.

Massacre at Cawnpore - July 15th, 1857

Then, this feat accomplished, the Nana Sahib and allies prepared to make their last stand for the defense of Cawnpore and the Peshwaship.

Meanwhile, General Havelock and his men, unconscious of the great tragedy that, a few hours before, had been acted out to its close, were pushing on, under a burning sun, the fiercest that had yet shone upon their march. The hour of noon had passed before the English General learnt the true position of the enemy. It was plain that there was some military skill in the rebel camp, for the troops of the Nana Sahib were disposed in a manner which taxed all the power of the British Commander, who had been studying the art of war all his life. To Havelock's column advancing along the great high road from Allahabad, to the point where it diverges into two broad thoroughfares, on the right to the Cawnpore cantonment and on the left, the "Great Trunk," to Dehli, the Sepoy forces presented a formidable front. It was drawn up in the form of an arc, bisecting these two roads. Its left, almost resting on the Ganges, had the advantage of some sloping ground, on which heavy guns were posted, while its right was strengthened by a walled village with a great grove of mango-trees, which afforded excellent shelter to the rebels. Here also heavy guns were posted. And on both sides were large masses of Infantry, with the 2nd Cavalry in the rear, towards the left centre, for it was thought that Havelock would advance along the Great Trunk Road.

Havelock's former victories had been gained mainly by the far reaching power of the Enfield Rifles and the unerring precision of Maude's guns. But now he had to summon to his aid those lessons of warfare, both its rules and its exceptions, which he had been learning from his youth upwards. The order was given for the advance, and primed with good libations of malt liquor, they moved forward in column of subdivisions, the Fusiliers in front, along the high road, until they reached the point of divergence. Then the Volunteer Cavalry were ordered to move right on, so as to engage the attention of the enemy and simulate the advance of the entire force, while the Infantry and the guns, favored by the well wooded country moved off unseen to the right. The feint succeeded admirably at first. The Cavalry drew upon themselves the enemy's fire. But presently an open space between the trees revealed Havelock's designs, and the Nana's guns opened upon the advancing columns, raking the Highlanders and 64th, not without disastrous effect. But nothing shook the steadiness of the advance. The last subdivision having emerged from the wood, they were rapidly wheeled into line, moved forward with a resolute front and disconcerted the arrangements on which the Nana had prided himself so much and so confidently relied. But the native legions had strong faith in the efficacy of their guns, which outmatched the English own in number and in weight of metal.

Battle of Cawnpore, India - July 16th, 1857

Scottish Highlanders

The once boastful army of the Nana Sahib was broken and dispersed, and none clearly knew whither it had gone. But those were days in which whole races were looked upon as enemies, and whole cities were declared to be guilty and blood-stained.

"Your comrades at Lucknow," said General Havelock in his order of thanks to his men, “are in peril. Agra is besieged, Dehli is still the focus of mutiny and rebellion. You must make great sacrifices if you would obtain great results. Three cities have to be saved, two strong places to be disblockaded. Your General is confident that he can accomplish all these things."

Scarcely had the force reached Cawnpore, when drunkenness was upon it. "Whilst I was winning a victory," said Havelock, "on the 16th, some of my men were plundering the Commissariat on the line of march. And, once within reach of the streets and bazaars of Cawnpore, strong drink of all kinds, the plunder chiefly of our European shops and houses, was to be had in abundance by all who were pleased to take it."

Large numbers of the Cawnpore population flocked panic stricken out of the town to hide themselves in the adjacent villages, or to seek safety on the Oude side of the river. Meanwhile, the British forces were plundering in all directions, the Sikhs, as ever, showing an activity of zeal in this their favorite pursuit. General Havelock set his face steadfastly against it, and issued an order in which he said, "The marauding in this camp exceeds the disorders which supervened on the short-lived triumph of the miscreant Nana Sahib.”

After General Havelock captured Cawnpore by defeating Nana Sahib in the hotly contested battle on June 16, 1857, Tantya Tope, the able General of Nana Sahib, was successful in winning over the troops at Shivajinagar and Morar. With the concerted strength of these troops Nana Sahib and Tantya Tope recaptured Cawnpore in November 1857. But they could not keep Cawnpore under their charge for long because the English General Campbell appeared there with a large force. The British won a decisive victory against the forces of Nana Sahib in the battle which was fought from December 1st to the 6th, 1857. Nana Sahib fled towards Nepal, where he probably died, while Tantya Tope migrated to Kalpi.

On finding the scenes of murder, and inflamed with anger, the English extracted revenge. Most of the perpetrators had made good their escape, but  the British made captured Indians, whether involved or not, lick the blood stains of the dead. Hindus were forced into eating beef, Muslims pork. The latter were tied up in pigskin before being executed. Many inhabitants of Cawnpore who had played no part in the violence were summarily executed for having failed to do anything to prevent the killings. The preferred method of execution was to blow the perpetrator from the guns as hanging seemed to easy a death. The victim was tied to the muzzle of an artillery gun and blown to pieces. Retribution had been brutal.

Where the woman and children were mercilessly killed, the British left the room untouched, and filled in the well of the house only partially, so that they could stand as terrible reminders to new troops from England that their duty must be sustained by a desire for revenge. One soldier, his head full of tales of atrocities, reported: "I seed two Moors [Indians] talking in a cart. Presently I heard one of 'em say 'Cawnpore.' I knowed what that meant; so I fetched Tom Walker, and he heard 'em say 'Cawnpore,' and he knowed what that meant. So we polished 'em both off."

The house in which they were butchered, and which is stained with their blood, would not be washed or cleaned by their English countrymen, but Brigadier-General Neill had determined that every stain of that innocent blood shall be cleared up and wiped out, previous to their execution, by such of the miscreants as may be hereafter apprehended, who took an active part in the mutiny, to be selected according to their rank, caste, and degree of guilt. Each miscreant, after sentence of death is pronounced upon him, will be taken down to the house in question, under a guard, and will be forced into cleaning up a small portion of the blood-stains, the task will be made as revolting to his feelings as possible, and the Provost Marshal will use the lash in forcing any one objecting to complete his task. After properly clearing up his portion, the culprit is to be immediately hanged, and for this purpose a gallows will be erected close at hand!

The first culprit was a Subahdar of the 6th Native Infantry, a very high Brahman. The sweeper's brush was put into his hands by a sweeper, and he was ordered to set to work. He had about half a square foot to clean. He made some objection, when down came the lash, and he yelled again. He wiped it all up clean, and was then hung, and his remains buried in the public road. Some days after, others were brought in. One a Muhammadan officer of the civil court, a great rascal, and one of the leading men. He rather objected, was flogged, made to lick part of the blood with his tongue.

It was contended that, as there were different degrees of murder, there should also be different degrees of death punishment. Colonel John Nicholson, was eager to have a special Act passed, legalizing in certain cases more cruel forms of execution, that is to say, death with torture. "Let us," he wrote to Colonel Edwardes, at the end of May 1857, "propose a Bill for the flaying alive, impalement, or burning of the murderers of the women and children at Dehli. The idea of simply hanging the perpetrators of such atrocities is maddening. I wish that I were in that part of the world, that if necessary I might take the law into my own hands."

Again, a few days later, vehemently urging this exceptional legislation: “You do not answer me about the Bill for a new kind of death for the murderers and dishonorers of our women. I will propose it alone if you will not help me. I will not, if I can help it, see fiends of that stamp let off with simple hanging." Edwardes, it seems, was naturally reluctant to argue the question with his energetic friend, but Nicholson could not rid himself of the thought that such acts of cruel retribution were justified in every sense, and he appealed to Holy Writ in support of the logical arguments which he adduced. Writing at a later period, he said, "As regards torturing the murderers of the women and children; If it be right otherwise, I do not think we should refrain from it, because it is a Native custom. We are told in the Bible that stripes shall be meted out according to faults, and, if hanging is sufficient punishment for such wretches, it is too severe for ordinary mutineers. If I had them in my power to-day, and knew that I were to die to-morrow, I would inflict the most excruciating tortures I could think of on them with a perfectly easy conscience. Our English nature appears to be always in extremes. A few years ago men (frequently innocent) used to be tortured merely on suspicion. Now there is no punishment worse than hanging, which is a very easy death, for atrocities which could not be exceeded by fiends.”

“It is necessary in all Eastern lands to establish a fear and awe of the Government. Then, and not till then, are its benefits appreciated. Previously, they are ascribed to weakness. We must be sternly, rigorously just against all treason, violence, and treachery, and hand down a tradition of our severity. Otherwise these troubles will recur."

Lucknow, India - 1857

British Residency - Lucknow . . 1857

Sepoys at Lucknow

Sir Henry Lawrence, the Chief Commissioner of Oudh, knew the dangers of the British position in Lucknow, and when mutiny swept through Oudh not long after the events at Meerut, he was reasonably well prepared. He decided to make his stand inside the Residency compound and he fortified it strongly. All the European residents in Lucknow were called into the lines of the Residency. The small European force being then divided between that post and the Mutchee Bawn, a strong fort three-quarters of a mile distant. The Residency, a 33 acre refuge, had a garrison of about 1,700 men. Half the defending force were Sepoys who had remained loyal to the British. Inside the Residency compound there were nine separate buildings and a high mud-wall strengthened by earthworks formed the perimeter. Lawrence had prepared the position as much as possible. Trenches and gun pits had been dug, wire-entanglements laid out and booby traps set.

Unfortunately, the Residency was almost in the centre of the city. On its eastern side stood the old palace of the kings of Oudh. To the north flowed the river. All round, however, were the narrow streets and lanes of the old city sometimes coming up to the very walls of the compound itself.

Crowded in dark rooms, living on the most meager food—for all the comforts, such as tea, sugar, wine, spirits, etc., were exhausted, and even the bread was made of flour ground, each for himself, between rough stones—without proper medicines, attendance, or even bedding ; tormented by a plague of flies, sickened by disgusting smells, condemned to inaction and confinement, the women and children died off rapidly, and the men, although better off with regard to light and air, were under tremendous stress. Half the officers were laid up with disease, and all were lowered in health and strength.

Lucknow Relief Column - September 25th, 1857

The sick and wounded, heavy baggage, and large supply train were left at Alambagh, protected by a guard of three hundred men drawn from all units in the force.

On the 25th of September the advance from Alambagh began. General Neill's Brigade was in the lead and the 78th Highlanders and Ferozepore Regiment were detailed as rearguard and ordered to hold the bridge at Charbagh until everything had passed. The Madras Fusiliers, with the 84th Foot, forced the bridge and Havelock then led his force round east of the city. This move evidently surprised the rebels, for he met no serious opposition until he arrived a short distance from the Residency.

Meanwhile, the Highlanders and Sikhs were heavily engaged at Charbagh, where they were attacked by a large force of rebels. After three hours' fighting they defeated the enemy and were able to push on. However, they had lost touch with the main British column and took the wrong road. This mistake proved most fortunate, for they suddenly encountered the rear of some guns which were holding up Havelock's advance and rushed them without ceremony. The 78th Highlanders and Ferozepore Regiment were now in front. The Residency was only some five hundred yards away, but since it was now dusk and the column was strung out over a considerable distance General Outram suggested halting. General Havelock, however, was determined to reach the Residency without delay and ordered the 78th Highlanders and Brasyer's Sikhs to advance.

                            General James Neill

The rearguard, with a number of sick and wounded, had not been able to reach the Residency and had remained in the Moti Mahal. So, on the next day, a detachment of the 5th Fusiliers and Brasyer's Sikhs was sent to reinforce them and help them to withdraw to the Residency. Although the Sikhs and Fusiliers fought their way through and drove the enemy back from the buildings and gardens adjacent to the Mod Mahal, the enemy fire from the Kaiserbagh was found to be too heavy to admit of the rearguard convoy being moved back. Further reinforcements from the 78th Highlanders were then sent forward and the rearguard was safely withdrawn to the Residency after dark.

With the increased number of troops in the Residency positions had to be enlarged and so for the next few days several sorties were made to improve the position. The Regiment of Ferozepore was in General Havelock's sector and took part in the sorties along the eastern face of the Residency to clear the enemy from the gardens and houses up to the Chattar Manzil. These sorties were entirely successful and improved the defenses of the Residency.

Siege of Lucknow - Chattar Manzil Palace . . 1857
A magnificent three storied structure with an elegant façade and a fine dome, surmounted by a gilt umbrella, which gives it its name, Chattar Manzil. Overlooking the river, its fabulous furnishings and lofty halls made it a premier palace. There are huge tah khanas or cellars, and secret tunnels. The palaces were strongholds for Indian rebels during the uprising of 1857, and the British valued their capture.
At the approach of Sir Henry Havelock with 3,000 troops on September 25th, 1857, a large mine beneath the outer wall of the Chattar Manzil Palace, occupied by part of the British garrison, was exploded by the mutineers. The high wall of the Chattar Manzil was later destroyed in November of 1857, and the British opened heavy batteries upon the Indians, before storming and capturing it.

Bengal Sepoys

The Sikander Bagh in Lucknow was the venue for a fierce battle during the 1857 uprising. This picture, taken by Felice Beato, an Italian who visited India soon after the mutiny and, some say, had the bones dug out for this photo, is possibly the first photographic depiction of human corpses

Lucknow - Storming Sikander Bagh

On the day of the arrival of the British at Dil I'loosha, signals from the towers of that palace had established communication with the Residency, and it was arranged that as soon as the relieving forces obtained possession of the Sikander Bagh the troops of the garrison should begin to fight their way to join them.

Delighted at taking the offensive after their long siege, Havelock's troops on the 16th attacked the enemy with fury, and carried two strong buildings. First, the Hero Khana and then dashed on through the Chattar Manzil, and carried all before them at the point of the bayonet.

It soon became apparent, however, that the enemy had no intention of deserting their stronghold. Lucknow abounded with palaces and mosques, each of which had been turned into a fortress, while every street was barricaded, every wall loop-holed. From forty to fifty thousand men, including many thousands of drilled soldiers, stood ready to defend the town, foot by foot. It was clear that the fighting force at Sir Colin Campbell's command was utterly inadequate to attempt so serious an operation as the reduction of the whole city.

The situation at Cawnpore, however, had again become critical and General Campbell had to return there as quickly as possible. The commander-in-chief therefore determined to evacuate the Residency and city altogether, to carry off the entire garrison, and to leave Lueknow to itself until the reinforcements from England should arrive, and he should be able to undertake the subjugation of the city with a force adequate for the purpose. On the night of the November 22nd, 1857, all the British forces were withdrawn successfully from the Residency, together with all the women, children and wounded. The enemy were taken completely by surprise by this operation, which had been carefully planned and boldly executed.

General Outram was left with a force of some four thousand men to hold Alambagh.

Gurkhas 66th Regiment

Rebel Sepoys - 1858

At the beginning of March, 1858, Sir Colin Campbell's force, joined General Outram at Alambagh and started methodical operations against the rebels at Lucknow. The Sepoys were holding three lines of defenses north of the city covering the Kaiser Bagh, their citadel. These had been strengthened since the relief of the Residency, and houses were now fortified and roads barricaded.

On March 3rd, 1858, the advanced division occupied the Dil I'loosha, meeting with but slight resistance, and General Campbell at once took up his headquarters there. The next three days were spent in making the necessary disposition for a simultaneous attack upon all sides of the town—General Outram on one side, Sir Hope Grant upon another, Jung Bahadoor, with his Nepaulese, on the third, and the main attack, under Sir Colin Campbell himself, on the fourth. The cavalry will not go into the city, but will wait outside to cut off the enemy's retreat.

The fighting began with General Outram's division, which worked round the city, and had on the 7th, 8th, and 9th, to repulse heavy attacks of the enemy.

Day by day the troops fought their way forward, and on the 14th, the Imaumbarra, a splendid palace of the King of Oude, adjoining the Kaiser Bagh, was breached and carried under terrible fire, by the Sikhs and the 90th Light Infantry, led by Captains Brasyer and Havelock (Son of General Havelock). The panic-struck defenders fled through the court and garden into the Kaiser Bagh, followed hotly by the Sikhs, Gurkhas, and Highlanders. Such was the terror which their appearance excited that a panic seized also the defenders of the Kaiser Bagh, and these too fled, deserting the fortifications raised with so much care, and the British poured into the palace. For a few minutes a sharp conflict took place in every room, and then the Sepoys being annihilated, the victors fell upon the spoil.

Kaiser Bagh_1858

Plundering the Kaiser Bagh

There were still considerably more than one hundred thousand of the enemy scattered in large bodies over the country. There were a number of encounters in rounding up parties of rebels and pacifying the countryside.

Sikh Troops Looting_1859

Execution of Rebels

Sir Colin Campbell

The Mutiny was not completely put down until the end of 1859. But the insurrection had revealed such a terrible state of affairs. A transfer of 800,000 square miles and 200 million people to the Crown, was announced by Royal Proclamation at Government House, Calcutta, on November 1st, 1858, and in all districts and towns of India. The Governor General, Lord Canning, was appointed first Viceroy.

In the Proclamation, Queen Victoria intimated that she had assumed the direct government of India, and the East India Company, after a duration of over 250 years, ceased to exist. The troops in the Company’s service were to be transferred to that of the Crown, and the distinction between Royal Troops and the East India Company’s European Troops, which had existed for over 100 years, was to disappear.

A hand-written caption identifies the man above as Gungoo Mehter who was tried at Cawmpore for killing many of the Sati Chaura survivors, including many women and children.
He was convicted and
hanged at Cawnpore on
September 8th, 1859

Blowing the Mutineers From the Guns