Indian mutiny

1856

Fort William in Calcutta begins production of the cartridges for the new Enfield Pattern 1853 rifled musket. Rumours circulated amoungst the men of the Indian army that they were being greased with animal fat. They worried that this grease contained tallow, from cows, and lard, from pigs, which would make them unclean for Hindus and Muslims.

Location: India

Jul 25, 1856

All the men of the Indian army who sign up after this act was passed have to be willing to srver overseas. This is a new requirement as before this point they only needed to serve within marching distance of their home depot.

Location: India

Jan 27, 1857

Orders are sent out that all cartridges were to be issued from free from grease. This was so that they could be greased with whatever the men themselves would prefer. They also modified the drill so that the cartridge would be torn open rather than bitten.

Location: India

Feb 26, 1857

There is unrest amoungst the 19th Bengal Native Infantry (BNI), who still believe that their cartridges had been greased with animal fat. This escalates to the point that there Colonel is forced to confront them with artillery before backing down and cancelling the parade.

Location: India

Mar 29, 1857

Mangal Pandey of the 34th Bengal Native Infantry rebels against his officers and shoots at Sergeant-Major James Hewson when he goes to investigate. He then shoots at Lieutenant Henry Baugh when he goes to investigate. The man on guard duty, Jemadar Ishwari Prasad, refuses to try and arrest him, as do many the other seypoys refuse to restrain him, but do not actively help him either. He tries to kill himself when he is taken into guard, but only wounds himself.

Location: India

Apr 1857

There are many acts of arson in Indian army bases due to unrest over the cartridge issue. This included barracks and British officers' bungalows being set on fire

Location: India

Apr 06, 1857

Mangal Pandey is court marshalled and found guilty

Location: India

Apr 08, 1857

Mangal Pandey is hanged

Location: India

Apr 18, 1857

Sir Henry Lawrence warns Lord Canning about the unrest around Lucknow

Location: Lucknow

Apr 21, 1857

Jemadar Ishwari Prasad is hanged for helping Mangal Pandey

Location: India

Apr 24, 1857

The 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry is ordered to parade and perform firing drills. All but 5 of the men refuse to accept their cartridges.

Location: India

May 01, 1857

7th Oudh Irregular Infantry refuse to bite the cartridges of the Enfield rifles due to the rumours that they had been greased with animal fat.

Location: Lucknow

May 03, 1857

7th Oudh Irregular Infantry is disarmed by loyalist regiments

Location: Lucknow

May 06, 1857

The entire regiment 34th Bengal Native Infantry is disbanded and their uniforms taken back.

Location: India

May 09, 1857

The men of the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry who refused to perform firing drills when ordered are court martialled. Most were sentenced to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour.

Location: India

May 10, 1857

The 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry break into open revolt. Many British junior officers are killed while tying to put down the revolt, as are 50 Indian civilians who had tried to hide or protect the wives and children of the British officers.

Location: India

May 11, 1857

The 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry ride to Delhi and call for Bahadur Shah to lead them in revolt against the British. While this was happening British Ordnance officers blow up the arsenal to avoid it falling into the hands of the mutineers. The blast kills many civilians and helps to tip the regiments stationed around Delhi into open revolt.

Location: Delhi

May 11, 1857

The news of events in Delhi reaches John Nicholson. He immediately starts planning a strong movable column to try and put down any outbreaks of rebellion in his area

Location: India

May 12, 1857

Bahadur Shah holds his first formal court in years. He is persuaded to lead the revolt by the mutinous soldiers.

Location: Delhi

May 16, 1857

50 British prisoners that had been held in the palace, or were discovered in the city, are executed under a peepul tree in a courtyard outside the palace. Bahadur Shah does not have anything to do with this, however, the mutineers believe that by implicating him in these murders it will bind him to their cause.

Location: Delhi

May 17, 1857

An East Indian Company army is mobilised to quell the rebellion

Location: India

May 23, 1857

Lawrence begins to fortify the Residency at Lucknow and stocking it with supplies in order to withstand a siege.

Location: Lucknow

May 27, 1857

General George Anson dies

Location: India

May 30, 1857

The area around Lucknow breaks out into open rebellion during the festival fo Eid ul-Fitr. The British 32nd Regiment of Foot is able to drive the rebels away from the city.

Location: Lucknow

May 31, 1857

Frederick Roberts is promoted to Lieutenant

Location: India

May 31, 1857

A party fo four British officers are leading their Indian troops to the town of Fatehgarh in order to disperse them them and prevent the mutiny from spreading. Two of the British officers ride off to consult the local magistrate. While they are away Indian troops one decapitated one of the remaining British officers, and then killed another as he tried to escape.

Location: India

Jun 01, 1857

Lieutenant Cox fires on his Indian guard while drunk. He misses and is thrown into jail.

Location: Cawnpore

Jun 01, 1857

The two remaining British officers return from their visit with the magistrate. On their return they are warned by an Indian officer about what happens before. He advises them to flee, but before they can they are attacked. One is killed but the other escapes.

Location: India

Jun 02, 1857

Lieutenant Cox is acquitted of trying to murder the man that he shot at the night before. This leads to discontent amongst the Indian soldiers, and rumours begin to circulate that the British were planning to massacre them.

Location: Cawnpore

Jun 04, 1857

The rebellion breaks out at Sitapur 51 miles from Lucknow. It is followed by rebellions at other cities and over the next 10 days the British authority over the Oudh region evaporates.

Location: Lucknow

Jun 05, 1857

Nana Sahib sends a note to General Wheeler stating that he intended to attack at 10AM the next morning

Location: Cawnpore

Jun 06, 1857

The remaining men of the 53rd Natice Infantry rebel. They seize ammunition and the regimental treasure before leaving for Delhi. The 1st NI also rebel at this point. This leaves only 150 sepoys still loyal to General Wheeler to face Nana Sahib.

The Indians begin their attack at 10:30AM, as they had promised the day before. Despite being outnumbered and unprepared the British manage to push them back and the siege begins.

Location: Cawnpore

Jun 08, 1857

East Indian Company army under Major General Henry Barnard reaches the outskirts of Delhi and discover that the rebels had already started to dig in at Badli-ki-Serai. The british advanced on the rebel positions and suffered heavy casualties from the Indian artillery. Cavalry under Colonel James Hope Grant is sent to outflank the rebels on their left, and an infantry brigade is sent to encircle the right. As these forces close in on the enemy the main force charges the artillery and captures it at bayonet point causing the rebels to flee back to Delhi.

Location: Delhi

Jun 10, 1857

Nana Sahib attracts more rebels to his banner as the siege went on and by the 10th he was commanding over 12000 men

Location: Cawnpore

Jun 11, 1857

Nana Sahib changes tactics to concentrate all of his fire at specific buildings

Location: Cawnpore

Jun 12, 1857

Nana Sahib mounts his first major assault on the Cawnpore fortifications. However, his troops were convinced that the British had laid booby traps and were reluctant to press home their attack.

Location: Cawnpore

Jun 13, 1857

The British hospital inside the Cawnpore fortifications is destroyed by a fire killing many of the wounded men in it

Location: Cawnpore

Jun 13, 1857

Barnard orders an assault on the walls of Delhi, but his orders do not reach his subordinate officers in time and the entire assault fails.

Location: Delhi

Jun 19, 1857

More mutineers arrive at Delhi, and they attempt to break the siege by attack the British lines from three directions. The British line holds, just, and the siege continues.

Location: Delhi

Jun 21, 1857

Nicholson leaves Peshawar for Delhi

Location: India

Jun 23, 1857

Nana Sahib chose the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Plassey for his assault on Cawnpore. They are repulsed by British volleys of rifle and artillery fire.

Location: Cawnpore

Jun 23, 1857

There is another attempt to break out from the siege of Delhi, which fails

Location: Delhi

Jun 24, 1857

Nana Sahib sends a European prisoner, Mrs Rose Greenway, with a message for General Wheeler. He offered to safe passage for them to Satichaura Ghat, a landing on the Ganges from which they could depart for Allahabad, in exchange for their surrender. Wheeler rejects the offer as it had not been signed by Nana Sahib himself.

Location: Cawnpore

Jun 25, 1857

Nana Sahib sends another prisoner, Mrs Jacobi, restating his offer of and this time the note had been signed by him.

Location: Cawnpore

Jun 26, 1857

General Wheeler decides to accept Nana Sahib's offer safe passage in exchange for his surrender.

Location: Cawnpore

Jun 27, 1857

General Wheeler leads his remaining forces out of Cawnpore, but ends up getting massacred as they make their way down river

Location: Cawnpore

Jun 30, 1857

Lawrence takes his forces out, but they switch sides and he only just manages to get back to Lucknow

Location: Lucknow

Jul 01, 1857

The rebels attack Lucknow and are repelled beginning the siege

Location: Lucknow

Jul 1857

Campbell arrives in India

Location: India

Jul 03, 1857

Lawrence is hit by a cannon ball. He was not immediately killed, but is mortally wounded. Colonel John Inglis will take over command of the siege from him

Location: Lucknow

Jul 04, 1857

Sir Henry Lawrence dies of the wound that he received the day before

Location: Lucknow

Jul 04, 1857

Private William Dowling goes out to spike the enemy guns

Location: Lucknow

Jul 05, 1857

General Barnard dies of cholera. He is succeeded by Archdale Wilson who is promoted to Major General

Location: Delhi

Jul 07, 1857

Samuel Hill Lawrence performs a sortie against the rebels to investigate whether they were trying to undermine the walls from inside one of the buildings near the residency. He was the first to mount the ladder up into the windows of the building. His pistol was knocked from his hand by one of the rebels inside and had to fight hand to hand.

Location: Lucknow

Jul 09, 1857

Private William Dowling goes out again from the siege of Lucknow to spike rebel guns. Unlike his first attempt the spike that he had this time was too small and would not completely block the touch hole of the gun he had targetted.

Location: Lucknow

Jul 12, 1857

Campbell is promoted to full General and given command of all British forces in India

Location: Britain

Jul 12, 1857

Campbell leaves Britain for India

Location: Britain

Jul 15, 1857

The surviving women and children from the Satichura Ghat massacre are killed

Location: Cawnpore

Jul 16, 1857

Begum Hussaini Khanum hires street sweepers to strip the bodies of the murdered prisoners and throw them down a well. Some of the women and children had survived the massacre the day before, but they were still stripped and thrown down the well. They threw the little boys in one at a time, the youngest first, so that they were buried alive under the heap of butchered corpses.

Location: Cawnpore

Jul 17, 1857

The British capture Bibighar. They had hoped that they would find the prisoners alive as Nana Sahib had been using them as bargaining chips. When they got there the house was splattered in blood. The tree in the courtyard nearest the well was smeared with the brains of numerous children and infants who had been dashed headfirst against the trunk. Then they looked in the well and found the well full of the butchered bodies of the prisoners.

Location: Cawnpore

Jul 19, 1857

The British take Nana Sahib's palace without any resistance. They seize guns, elephants and camels, and then set the palace on fire.

Location: Cawnpore

Jul 27, 1857

Private William Dowling makes his third sortie to spike enemy guns bombarding the Lucknow residency.

Location: Lucknow

Jul 31, 1857

Lord Canning issues a resolution which distinguished between sepoys from regiments which had mutinied and killed their officers and European civilians, and those Indian soldiers who had disbanded and dispersed to their villages, without being involved in violence who were not to face any punishment for their actions.

Location: India

Aug 1857

The crew of HMS Sans Pareil man Fort William to prevent it from falling into rebel hands. They remain here over summer before returning to China.

Location: Calcutta

Aug 04, 1857

Havelock wins the battle, but his force was too weak to continue and withdrew towards Cawnpore

Location: Cawnpore

Aug 05, 1857

The rebels attempt to destroy the walls of the residency by tunnelling under them to set a mine

Location: Lucknow

Aug 06, 1857

HMS Shannon arrives on the Ganges

Location: India

Aug 12, 1857

HMS Pearl disembarks troops from Singapore at Calcutta, and then Captain Sotheby offers to lead a Naval Brigade

Location: Calcutta

Aug 13, 1857

General Havelock returns to Cawnpore to wait for the reinforcements that he needed to fight his way through to Lucknow

Location: Cawnpore

Aug 14, 1857

The Naval Brigade from HMS Shannon to join up with the column that was going to relieve Lucknow.

Location: India

Aug 14, 1857

Brigadier General John Nicholson arrives at Delhi with 4200 men to reinforce the besiegers.

Location: Delhi

Aug 20, 1857

The Naval Brigade is at Allahabad, near the junction of the Jumna with the Ganges. It consists of 516 men of all ranks. 240 are left to garrison the city while the rest go onwards to link up with the army column heading towards Cawnpore.

Location: India

Aug 20, 1857

The rebels set fire to the Baillie Guard Gate. Lieutenant Aitken is the first man there. Despite being under fire the whole time Lieutenant Aitken and his men opened the gate and removed all the burning wood to save the gate.

Location: Lucknow

Aug 25, 1857

The Indian's guns were covering the bridge over the stream, but the British forded the river upstream instead. Th British then formed up and advanced on village. The Indians were routed from their position and mustered again under Bakht Khan. Bakht then withdrew to Delhi allowing the British to capture the position and all of the Indian's artillery.

Location: Delhi

Aug 25, 1857

Lieutenant Aitken leads his men out of the Baillie Guard Gate to attack two guns that had been positioned opposite it. After that they went on to attack Three Kotee

Location: Lucknow