The revolt of 1857

                The Beginning and Spread of the Revolt: 

                          On March 29, 1857, an Indian sepoy of 34 Native Infantry, Mangal Pandey, killed two British officers- Hugeson and Baugh –on parade at Barrack pore (near Calcutta). The Indian soldiers present, refused to obey orders to arrest Mangal Pandey. However, he was later on arrested, put to and hanged.

                                                 The mutiny really started at Merrut on 10^th May 1857. The occasion was the punishment of some sepoys for their refusal to use the greased cartridges. The soldiers along with other groups of civilians went on a rampage shouting ‘Maro Firangi ko’. They broke open jails, murdered Europeans, burnt their houses and marched to Delhi after sunset. 

                                               The appearance of the marching soldiers next morning (i.e. 11^th May) in Delhi was a signal to the local soldiers, who in turn revolted , seized the city and proclaimed the 82- year old Bahadur Shah ‘Zafar’, as Shahenshah-i-Hindustan (i.e. Emperor of India).

Centre	Beginning Date	Ending Date	Indian Leader	British Suppressor
Delhi	11 May,1857	20 Sep., 1857	Bahadur Shah  II ‘Zafar’ and Bakht Khan (Commanding General)	John Nicholson
Kanpur	4 June, 1857	6 Dec.,1857	Nana Shib and his loyal Colin Campbell commander Tantiya Tope	Colin Campbell Huge Rose
Lucknow	4 June, 1857	21 Mar., 1858	Begum Hazrat  Mahal	Colin Campbell
Jhansi	4 June, 1857	18 June ,1858	Rani Laxmi Bai	Huge Rose
Allahabad	5 June .1857	March, 1858	Liyaqat  Ali	Colonel Neil
Jagdishpur (Bihar)	Aug., 1857	Dec., 1858	Kuer Singh  and Amar Singh	William Taylor and Vincet Eyre

                                      Within a month of the capture of Delhi, the revolt spread to the different parts of India (esp. all over the North India, Central India and Western India). South remained quiet and Punjab and Bengal were only marginally affected. 

Note: 

                                   Bahadur Shah II: was deported to Rangoon, where he died in 1862. His sons were dead; Nana Sahib (original Name _ Dhundhu Pant). Begum Hazrat Mahal and Khan Bahadur Khan: Escaped to Nepal; Tantiya Tope (Original name _ Ramchandra Pandurang): was captured and executed on 15^th April, 1859; Rani Laxmi Bai: Died in the Battle –field; Kuer Singh: was wounded and died on 26 April, 1858.

                           Sir Huge Rose described Laxmi Bai as ‘the best and bravest military leader of the rebel’.

                            Other Important Leaders: Khan Bahadur Khan (Bareilly ), Maulavi, Ahmadullah (Faizabad ), Azimullah Khan (Fatehpur ), Devi Singh (Mathura), kadam Singh (Merrut ) etc.

English authority re-established in India during July –Dec .1858.