The Outbreak of the Revolt and Its Suppression
The first signs of unrest appeared early in 1857 at Barrackpore and Berhampore in Bengal; they were, however, quickly suppressed and the culprits were punished, But the Sepoys broke out into open revolt at Meerut on the 10th May, 1857, swarmed into the prisons, released their imprisoned comrades, murdered a few European officers and burnt their houses. General Hewitt, the incapable commanding officer at Meerut, although he had 2,200 European troops under him, took no steps to suppress the mutineers, who galloped the next morning to Delhi, where not a single British regiment was stationed at that time, and brought it under their control. They massacred many Europeans and destroyed their houses. Two signallers in the telegraph office, outside the city, warned the authorities in the Punjab in time by sending them a telegraphic message. Lieutenant Willoughby, the officer in change of the magazine, defended it for a few days with his eight brave companions, but at last finding himself overwhelmed he blew it up. This caused great losses to the mutineers, who, however, soon occupied the palace and proclaimed the aged nominal king, Bahadur Shah II, whose name still conjured up to many the vanished glories of the once mighty Mughul Empire, Emperor of Hindustan. The loss of Delhi, which had fallen into British hands as a result of much hard fighting and diplomacy, dealt a severe blow to the prestige of the British Empire.
There was a comparative respite of about three weeks, during which Sir John Lawrence, the Chief Commissioner of the Punjab, managed to keep that province tranquil. But before any attempt could be
made to recover Delhi, insurrections broke out by the first week of June in almost all the upper Gangetic provinces and parts of Central India–at Nasirabad in Rajputana, at Bareilly in Rohilkhand, at Cawnpore, at Lucknow in Oudh, at Benares and in certain parts of Bihar. The Bihar movement under the leadership of the brave Rajput hero Kunwar Singh of Jagadishpur near Arrah was put down for the time being by William Tayler, Commissioner of the Patna Division, and Major Vincent Eyre of the Bengal Artillery in August, 1857. But leaving Bihar after this Kunwar Singh moved from place to place outside fighting against the English and returned here again in April, 1858, to fight his last battle with them before his death on the 23rd April, 1858. There were outbreaks also in other parts of Bihar and, after the death of Kunwar Singh, his brother, Amar Singh was the acknowledged leader of the movement in this area. The Benares outbreak was suppressed by Colonel Neill of the Ist Madras Fusiliers, who put to death all the mutineers who could be captured; and in the surrounding districts that were placed under martial law by the Governor-General, “rebels, suspects, and even disorderly boys were executed by infuriated officers and unofficial British Residents, who volunteered to serve as hangmen”. The famous fort of Allahabad, defended bravely by Captain Brasyer with a small Sikh force, was relieved on the 11th June by Neill. The mutineers became very active at Cawnpore, Delhi and Lucknow. But, fortunately for the English, the regions south of the Narmada were not on the whole affected by the revolt though there were discontent and unrest at some places.
The mutineers at Cawnpore were led by Nana Saheb, who had been living at Bithur near Cawnpore and had proclaimed himself as Peshwa. They invested the British entrenchments, which had been hurriedly constructed, in a manner too inadequate for effective defence, by Sir Hugh Wheeler, the seventy-five-years-old commander of that station. From the 8th till the 26th of June, the invested garrison, consisting of about four hundred men capable of bearing arms and a number of women and children, defended themselves bravely in the midst of dreadful suffering and privation. They surrendered on the 27th, being given assurances of safe conduct to Allahabad. But as the deluded British garrison were leaving the place in boats, a murderous fire was opened on them at the Satichaura Ghat with the result that most of the men were massacred at the river-side, only four being able to escape. A large number of women and children were confined in a building, known as the Bibigarh, where they were mercilessly put to death on the 15th July by Nana’s troops and their bodies were flung into a well. Nana has been held guilty for this massacre. He pleaded that he was not aware of it. But “until it is conclusively proved that he had no knowledge of it, he cannot be absolved of the charge of connivance and must share the obloquy and opprobrium of that shameful act”. It is difficult to say definitely how far these atrocities were perpetrated as a reprisal for the repressive measures of British and Sikh soldiers at Benares and Allahabad. The results of the Cawnpore massacre were very lamentable. It aroused a burning desire for revenge in the minds of Englishmen, both in India and England, and led the Company’s troops to perpetrate acts that have left very unpleasant memories. An avenging British force under Havelock reached Cawnpore one day after the tragic incident. Neill, appointed Brigadier-General next in rank to General Havelock, arrived at Cawnpore on the 20th July. The city was occupied by the mutinous Gwalior contingent on the 27th and 28th November, but Sir Colin Campbell recovered it on the 6th December.
The recovery of Delhi, the important rallying centre of the insurgents, could not but engage the serious attention of the British Government. On the 5th June a relieving British force from Ambala, joined by a party from Meerut, defeated a mutinous army at Badli Sari and took up a position on the famous Ridge overlooking the city of Delhi. Additional reinforcements, including a number of Sikhs, were sent from the Punjab by Sir John Lawrence, under a brave officer named Nicholson, to join the British troops on the outskirts of Delhi. Nicholson frustrated an attempt of the opposing force to intercept his advance, and assisted by Sir Archdale Wilson, Baird Smith and Neville Chamberlain, delivered a vigorous assault on the mutineers.
