The Revolt of 1857: Causes, Course, Nature and Consequences — Part 4: 3. The Outbreak and Spread

3. The Outbreak and Spread

3.1 Meerut, Delhi and Bahadur Shah Zafar

On 29 March 1857, Mangal Pandey, a young sepoy at Barrackpore, revolted single-handedly against his British officers. He was hanged, and the incident was initially dismissed. On 24 April 1857, ninety men of the Third Native Cavalry at Meerut refused to use the greased cartridges. Eighty-five were tried and sentenced to ten years' imprisonment on 9 May. The following day — 10 May 1857 — the entire Indian garrison at Meerut revolted. Sepoys freed their imprisoned comrades, killed British officers, plundered government buildings, cut the telegraph line to Delhi, and rode toward the Mughal capital. Gujars from surrounding villages poured in and joined the revolt.

The sepoys arrived at the gates of the Red Fort early on 11 May. Bahadur Shah II — the elderly pensioner Mughal emperor, in the month of Ramzan — was initially horrified. But surrounded by sepoys who entered the Red Fort without observing court etiquette and demanded his blessing, the old emperor agreed to be the nominal leader. He was proclaimed Shahenshah-Hindustan (Emperor of India). The revolt thus acquired symbolic legitimacy — it could now be conducted in the name of the Mughal emperor, and all the sepoys, whether Hindu or Muslim, gave the call "chalo Delhi." Wherever the sepoys reached, cow-slaughter was banned as a mark of respect to Hindu sentiments — a remarkable emblem of Hindu-Muslim unity.

Within twenty-four hours, a sepoy mutiny had swelled into a full-scale political rebellion. "In the months of May and June, the British had no answer to the actions of the rebels," noted the corpus material — British rule had collapsed across the Gangetic plain.

3.2 Major Centres: Kanpur, Lucknow, Jhansi, Bareilly, Bihar

By the first week of June 1857, mutinies had broken out at Aligarh, Mainpuri, Bulandshahr, Etawah, Mathura, Lucknow, Bareilly, Kanpur, and Jhansi. By mid-June and September, revolts had spread to Gwalior, Mhow, Sialkot, and in Bihar to Danapur, Hazaribagh, Ranchi, Bhagalpur, and to Nagode and Jabalpur in central India.

Kanpur: Nana Sahib, the adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II — who had been denied a pension by the British — was pushed by popular pressure to lead the revolt. He led the siege of the British garrison. After its fall, the killings of British soldiers and civilians inflamed British opinion and hardened the counter-insurgency.

Lucknow (Awadh): This was the most sustained centre of resistance. Begum Hazrat Mahal, wife of the exiled Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, led the revolt and crowned her young son Birjis Qadr as Nawab. Many taluqdars dispossessed by the Summary Settlement of 1856 joined the uprising. The Battle of Chinhat (30 June 1857) saw British forces under Henry Lawrence defeated by the rebels. In Awadh, the sepoys proclaimed that "Telinga Rai" (Sepoy Raj) had arrived. According to one estimate, 100,000 of the 150,000 who died in Awadh were civilians. Lucknow was not re-taken until March 1858.

Jhansi: Rani Lakshmi Bai, whose state had been annexed by Dalhousie in 1854 under the Doctrine of Lapse (her husband Gangadhar Rao having died without a natural heir), was forced by popular pressure to assume leadership. Over 20,000 of Gwalior's troops went over to Tantia Tope and the Rani. She became the most iconic figure of the revolt, fighting until her death in battle in June 1858.

Bareilly / Rohilkhand: Khan Bahadur Khan, who claimed descent from Rohilla chiefs, led the revolt.

Bihar (Arrah): Kunwar Singh, an elderly zamindar from Arrah, carved a base of operations in Azamgarh and Ghazipur, fighting with remarkable skill and courage until his death in May 1858.

Other notable leaders included Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah ("Danka Shah"), who had preached jehad against the British from 1856 and was elected by the mutinous 22nd Native Infantry as their leader; he fought at the Battle of Chinhat and was killed in June 1858. Shah Mal mobilized the headmen and cultivators of 84 villages in pargana Barout (Uttar Pradesh) but was killed in battle in July 1857. Tantia Tope operated across central India, eventually crossing the Narmada — he was finally captured and put to death in 1859.