Timeline of the Indian Rebellion of 1857

A timeline of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, which began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on the tenth of May 1857 in the town of Meerut, and soon erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the Upper Gangetic plain and Central India.

Timeline

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1857

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Events of 1857
Date Event
26 February Sepoys of the 19th Native Infantry at Berhampore refuse rifle practice
29 March At Barrackpore, in Bengal, Mangal Pandey wounds two British mutiny of 34th Native Infantry
31 March 19th Native Infantry disbanded
8 April Pandey hanged at Barrackpore
24 April Troopers of the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry at Meerut refuse orders to fire greased cartridges
2 May Unrest at Ambala, 48th Mutiny at Lucknow
6 May Part of the 34th Native Infantry disbanded at Barrackpore
8 May Troops of the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry found guilty by court-martial and given severe sentences
10 May Mutiny and Murders at Meerut, troops head towards Delhi
11 May Europeans, and Christians slaughtered in Delhi
13 May Bahadur Shah Zafar proclaimed new Mughal emperor; British disarm the garrison at Lahore
17 May Delhi Field Force, under George Anson, advances from Ambala
22 May Peshawar garrison disarmed
20–23 May Part of 9th Native Infantry mutiny at Agra
27 May Anson dies of cholera; replaced by Major-General Sir Henry Bernard
30 May Mutinies at Mathura and Lucknow
31 May Rohilkhand and Bhurtpore army mutinies
4 June Jhansi captured by rebels and handed over to Rani of Jhansi
5 June Cawnpore 2nd Cavalry Mutinies
6 June Cawnpore siege begins, Mutiny at Allahabad
7 June Wilson and Bernard meet at Alipore
8 June Battle of Badli-ki-Serai; Massacre at Jhansi
11 June Lucknow police rebels; Neill arrives at Allahabad
25 June Nana Sahib offers terms at Cawnpore
27 June Satichaura Ghat Massacre at Cawnpore
30 June British defeat at Chinhat; Lucknow Residency besieged
1 July Mutiny at Indore
2 July Arrival of Bakht Khan at Delhi
4 July Sir Henry Lawrence dies at Lucknow
5 July General Barnard dies of cholera;Major-General Thomas Reed succeeds as commander of the Delhi Field Force
7 July Allan attacks Delhi leading to the slaughter of Delhi
12 July Brigadier-General Sir Henry Havelock defeats rebels at Fatehpur, en-route to Cawnpore
15 July Allan goes to Barrackpore and assembles a large standing army of nearly 6000 men and prepares for battle
15 July Havelock defeats rebels at Aong and near Pandu river at Cawnpore.
16 July Nana Sahib defeated in first battle for Cawnpore
17 July Sir Archdale Wilson replaces the ailing Reed as commander of the Delhi Field Force
27 July 1857 Kunwar Singh welcomed pre-planed Dinapore cantonment rebellion army at Arrah
27 July Ammunition is blocked from reaching citizens instead it is re-routed to Barrackpore
29 July Havelock's victory at Unnao
30 July First relief of Arrah fails
31 July Lord Canning issues his controversial 'Clemency' resolution, by which he advises against the execution of mutineers not convicted of murder
3 August Siege of Arrah ends after action by Major Vincent Eyre
5 August Havelock's victory at Bashiratganj
12 August Battle between Kher Singh and Ayer Dil, near Jagdishpur
13 August Havelock withdrawal to Cawnpore; Colin Campbell, Anson's successor as Commander-in-Chief of India,arrives at Calcutta
14 August John Nicholson arrives at Delhi Ridge
16 August Havelock victory at Bithur
18 August Rupees 10,000 announced by Patna commissioner E.A. Samuels to apprehend Kunwar Singh
17 August Captain William Stephen Raikes Hodson defeats a large body of rebel cavalry near Rohtak
4 September Siege train, proceeding from Punjab, arrives in the British camp outside Delhi
5 September Suppression of the revolt starts as thousands are slaughtered and Allan moves to Bihar
14 September Wilson's assault on Delhi begins, Nicholson wounded
15 September Rebellion of Muzaffarpur announced to accept leadership of Babu Kunwar Singh
19 September Havelock and Outram marches to Lucknow
20 September Delhi captured and cleared of rebel troops
21 September William Hodson captures Bahadur Shah
22 September Hodson executes Mughal princes
23 September Nicholson dies of wounds
25 September First relief of Lucknow
10 October Agra mutineers defeated
9 November Kavanagh escapes from Lucknow
14–17 November Second relief of Lucknow by Campbell
19 November Women and children evacuated from Lucknow
22 November British withdraw from Lucknow
24 November Havelock dies of dysentery
26–28 November Windham defeated at second battle of Cawnpore
29 November Campbell reaches Cawnpore to join Windham
6 December Tatya Tope defeated at second battle of Cawnpore
Sources: www.britishempire.co.uk and Saul David, The Indian Mutiny

1858

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Events of 1858
Date Event
6 January Campbell reoccupies Fategarh
16 January Hugh Rose begins campaign in central India
February Campbell opens separate campaign for reconquest of Oudh
3 February Rose relieves Saugor after a seven-month siege
2 March Campbell returns to Lucknow
21 March Last rebels removed from Lucknow
1 April Dividing his force, Rose defeats a numerically superior army under Tatya Tope on the river Betwa
3 April Jhansi captured and sacked
15 April Walpole defeated at Ruiya
23 April Rose enters Kalpi
5 May Campbell victory at Bareilly
7 May Rose defeats large force under Tatya Topi and the Rani of Jhansi at Kutch
22 May Rose wins at Kalpi;end of operations in Rohilkhand; start of guerrilla warfare
28 May Rao Sahib, Tatya Topi, the Rani of Jhansi and the Nawab of Banda enter Gwalior State with the remnants of their force and seize Gwalior on 1 June
5 June Death of the Maulvi
12 June James Hope Grant wins at Nawabganj in the final decisive battle in Oudh
17 June Battle of Kotah-ki-Serai, death of Rani of Jhansi
19 June Battle of Gwalior
2 August Queen Victoria approves bill transferring administration of India from the East India Company to the Crown
1 November Royal Proclamation replacing East India Company with the British Indian government and offering unconditional pardon to all not involved in murder or the protection of murderers
Source: www.britishempire.co.uk

1859

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Events of 1859
Date Event
4 January Various Oudh leaders, including Nana Sahib, forced into the Nepal Terai by Hope Grant
7 January Operations in Oudh declared officially over.
29 March Bahadur Shah found guilty
7 April Tatya Tope betrayed to the British,
18 April Tatya Tope executed at shivpuri.
8 July Peace officially declared.[1][2]
Source: www.britishempire.co.uk

Further reading

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Fremont-Barnes, Gregory (2007). The Indian Mutiny 1857-58. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84603-209-7.

References

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  1. ^ Prichard, Iltudus Thomas (1869). The Administration of India from 1859-1868: The First Ten Years of Administration Under the Crown. London: Macmillan & Co.
  2. ^ Buckland, Charles Edward (1901). Bengal under the lieutenant-governors (v.01): being a narrative of the principal events and public measures during their periods of office, from 1854-1898. Calcutta: S K Lahiri.