The news of the mutiny of sepoys at Meerut, followed immediate capture of Delhi and the declaration of Bahadur Shah as the Emperor of Hindusthan, created a great sensation all over India. Its immediate reactions could be found in an abortive rising of the sepoys at Firozpur on May 13, and the outbreak of violent disturbances at Muzaffarnagar, followed by the mutiny of Sepoys on the 14th.
These two minor incidents apart, the sepoys , the civil population, as well as the goonda elements became highly excited by "the most exaggerated reports of the total collapse of British rule". As the days passed by, everyone of them brought evidence of lethargy and inactivity on the part of the British and and stories of their disgrace and discomfiture in Delhi, the signs of reaction began to show themselves.
A series of mutinies of sepoys, followed in many cases by the revolt of civil population, convulsed nearly the whole of northern India.
The first to rise was a detachment of sepoys at Aligarh on May 20,1857. At first they remained not only unmoved, but quite loyal, and even delivered to the authorities a Brahman who had plotted to murder British officers.
Gradually the mutiny spread from Delhi to Punjab-naushara, on May21, and Hoti Mardan during the next two or three days; which were easily put down.then the series of mutinies in Avadh and North-Western provinces ,-- at Etawa and Mainpuri (May 23), Rurki (May 25), Etah (May 27), Hodal, Mathura, and Lakhnau (May 30), Bareilly and Shah-pur (May 31), Moradabadand Budaon (June 4), Jhansi and Allahabad (June 6), Fyzabad(June 7), Dariabad and Fatepur(June 18), Hathras JULY 1), and several other localities.
All these mutinies followed the pattern set by Meerut.They killled the Europeans, released the prisoners from jail, plundered the treasury, burnt Government officers.
