Thursday, August 11, 2011

End of Rebellion of 1857

This rebellion lasted for 26 February, 1857, (when the sepoys of Berhampore revolted against the new cartridges of the guns) to 15th April, 1859,(when after court martial Tantia was hanged).
As soon as  the news of the mutiny reached Lord Canning, the Governor - General, he took all possible steps to concentrate all tjhe available forces from Bombay, Madras, and Bengal. At the same time he ordered John Lawrence, the Chief Commissioner of the Panjab, to send down every available Sikh and European soldier from the Panjab to Delhi.
In answer to Canning's appeal Colonel James Neill of the 1st Madras Fusiliers arrived in Calcutta towards the end of May, and was entrusted with the work of securing Banaras and Allahabad, and releving Kanpur. But Neill was not content with suppression of the mutiny. He instituted a veritable reign of terror in which the guilty and the innocent were alike treated with the most barbarous cruelty.
After thebfallof Delhi, Sir Colin Campbell, the new Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in India, made the the relief of Lakhnau his first objective.He started on October 27, and reached the city about the middle of November.
Govt . of Nepal also helped the British with a Gurkha army to reconquer Avadh.
After all thye British suppressed the mutiny with heavy casualities.