Siege of Delhi
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| Siege of Delhi | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Indian rebellion of 1857 | |||||||
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Great Britain | Indian rebels | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| General Archdale Wilson Brigadier John Nicholson |
Bahadur Shah II Bakht Khan |
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| Strength | |||||||
| max. 8000 infantry 2000 cavalry |
max. 12000 mutineers c. 30000 irregulars |
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| Casualties | |||||||
| unknown | unknown | ||||||
The Siege of Delhi was one of the decisive conflicts of the Indian rebellion of 1857, or Indian Mutiny as it is often referred to.
Contents |
[edit] Outbreak of the Mutiny
After several years of increasing tension among the sepoys, or Indian soldiers of the British East India Company's Bengal Army, the sepoys at Meerut, 60 miles north west of Delhi, openly rebelled against their British officers. The flashpoint was the introduction of a new Enfield rifle. The cartridges for this were widely believed to be greased with a mixture of cow and pig fat, and to bite them open when loading the rifle (as required by the drill books) would therefore defile both Hindu and Moslem soldiers.
85 men of the 3rd Irregular Cavalry refused to accept their cartridges. They were hastily court-martialled, and on May 9, 1857 they were sentenced to long periods of imprisonment, and paraded in irons before the British and Bengal regiments. Early next morning the Bengal regiments mutinied, killing their British officers and many British civilians in their cantonment.
The senior British officers at Meerut were taken by surprise, and took little action, not even notifying nearby garrisons or stations by telegraph. When they had rallied the British troops in the cantonment and prepared to disperse the mutineers on May 11, they found that they had marched off to Delhi.
[edit] Capture of Delhi by the Rebels
At the time Delhi was not a major centre of British administration. It was the capital of the Mughal Empire, which had been reduced to insignificance over the preceding century. The Emperor, Bahadur Shah II, who was eighty-two, had been informed by the East India Company that the title would die with him.
There were no British units at Delhi. The mutineers from Meerut arrived quite unexpectedly, and called on the Emperor to lead them, and for the sepoys of the three Bengal infantry regiments in Delhi and the Emperor's own token forces to turn on their British officers. The sepoys began to mutiny, hesitantly at first, and were joined by mobs from the city. Some of the sepoys remained loyal, or at least aloof from the disturbances, until the British officers at the arsenal in the city (containing artillery and stocks of firearms) opened fire on their own troops, to prevent the arsenal falling intact into the mutineers' hands.
After a hopeless resistance, the officers defending the arsenal blew it up, but the magazine (containing ammunition and gunpowder) was captured intact. The mutineers killed a few British civilians, but rioters killed more. About half the British civilians in Delhi were able to escape and fled as best they could to Karnaul, several miles west. Some were helped by villagers on the way.
The rebels now proclaimed themselves at the service of Bahadur Shah, who was rather swept along by events. The administration of the city and its new occupying army was chaotic, although it continued to function haphazardly. The Emperor nominated his eldest son, Mirza Moghul, to be commander in chief of his forces, but Mirza Moghul had little military experience and was treated with little respect by the mutineers.
News of the mutiny at Meerut and the capture of Delhi spread rapidly throughout India. Rumour and envoys from the mutineers spread the tidings fast, and precipitated widespread mutinies and uprisings, but the British learned of the events at Delhi even more quickly, thanks to the telegraph, and where the commanders of stations were energetic and distrusting of their sepoys, they were able to forestall some of the most dangerous revolts.
[edit] British Moves
Although there were several British units available in the cool "hill stations" in the foothills of the Himalayas, it took time before any action could be taken to recapture Delhi. This was partly due to lack of transport and supplies. (After the end of the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the Bengal Army's transport units had been disbanded as an economy measure.) Also, the senior British officers were widely regarded as dotards, far too senile to act decisively or sensibly.
Nevertheless, a British force was able to move from Ambeyla to Karnaul starting on May 17, where they were joined by the force from Meerut under Major General Archdale Wilson. The British commander-in-chief, General Anson died there of cholera on May 27. Under General Barnard, the British advanced on Delhi. On June 8, they drove a large but disorganised rebel force from the field at the Battle of Badli-ki-serai, six miles west of Delhi.
The British captured Delhi ridge, and the Bengal infantry units' barracks. Unfortunately, they set fire to the barracks. This was a senseless act, as it condemned the British (and all their sick and wounded and noncombatants) to live in tents through the hot weather and monsoon rain seasons.
The British occupied various fortified posts along the top of the Ridge. The nearest to the city and the most exposed was known as "Hindu Rao's house", defended by the Gurkhas of the Sirmur Battalion.
[edit] The Siege: June through July
It was quickly apparent that Delhi was too well-fortified and strongly held to fall to a coup de main. Barnard ordered an assault on June 13, but the order miscarried and the attack was not made. After this, it was accepted that the odds were too great for any assault to be successful until the besiegers were reinforced.
Large contingents of mutineers and other rebels continued to arrive in Delhi. The rebels made attacks on Hindu Rao's house and other outposts on several successive days. A major attack was made on June 23, the centenary of the Battle of Plassey. (It was believed that British rule in India would end one hundred years after this event).
Although all these attacks were beaten off, the British were ground down through exhaustion and disease. Conditions on the ridge and in the encampment were extremely unhealthy and unpleasant. General Barnard died of cholera on July 5. His successor (Reed) was also stricken with cholera and forced to hand over command to Archdale Wilson. Wilson himself was scarcely capable of exercising command, and in every letter he wrote, he complained of his exhaustion and prostration. Brigadier Neville Chamberlain, a much younger officer who might have provided better leadership, was severely wounded on July 14.
Meanwhile, in Delhi, there had been some loss of morale due to the failures of Mirza Moghul and Bahadur Shah's equally unmilitary grandson, Mirza Abu Bakr. A large party of reinforcements arrived from Bareilly under Bakht Khan. Pleased with the loot they brought with them, Bahadur Shah made Bakht Khan the new commander in chief. Bakht Khan was able to replenish the finances and inspire the rebel soldiers to renewed efforts. Bahadur Shah however, was growing discouraged, and turned away offers of assistance from other rebel leaders.
[edit] The Siege: August to September
In one vital area of India, the Punjab, the Bengal Native units were quickly disarmed to prevent them mutinying, or defeated when they did mutiny. Most of the available British units were stationed there, along with units of the Punjab Irregular Force which were formed from Sikhs and Pakhtuns who had little in common with the high caste Hindus of the Bengal Native Infantry units.)
As the situation in the Punjab stabilised, units could be despatched to reinforce the besiegers at Delhi. The first to arrive, the Corps of Guides, made an epic forced march of several hundred miles through the hottest season of the year, which also coincided with the month of Ramadan during which their Moslem soldiers could neither eat nor drink during the day, and yet they went into action immediately when they arrived at the Ridge.
The major forces now despatched from the Punjab to Delhi were a "Flying Column" of 4200 men under Brigadier John Nicholson and a siege train. The Flying Column arrived on August 14. The rebels had heard of the imminent arrival of the siege train, and sent a force out of the city to intercept it. On August 25, Nicholson led a force against their position at Najafgarh. Although the monsoon had broken, and the roads and fields were flooded, Nicholson's force made a rapid march and gained an easy victory, raising British morale and depressing the rebels.
[edit] The Capture of Delhi
[edit] The Bombardment
The siege train arrived on September 6. Wilson's chief Engineer Officer, Richard Baird Smith, had drawn up a plan to breach the city walls and make an assault. Wilson was unwilling to risk any attack, but was urged by Nicholson to agree to Baird Smith's plan. On September 7, the first battery was established, and after a long duel, silenced the rebels' guns. A second battery opened fire on September 11, and a third, less than 200 yards from the city walls, the next day. The Indian sappers and pioneers who carried out much of the work suffered heavy casualties, but the batteries quickly made breaches in the bastions and walls.
The opening of this phase of the siege seems to have coincided with the exhaustion of the ammunition the rebels had captured from the magazine, as the rebel fire became suddenly much less effective. Also, the rebels had started to become depressed through lack of supplies and money, and because agents and spies organised by William Hodson were continually spreading defeatist rumours.
[edit] Preparation for the Assault
The attack was scheduled for 3 a.m. on September 14. The British storming columns moved into position during the night of September 13. The future Field Marshal Lord Roberts, then a junior staff officer, recorded their composition.
- 1st Column - Brigadier General Nicholson
- 75th Foot - 300
- 1st Bengal Fusiliers - 250
- 2nd Punjab Infantry (Greene's Rifles) - 450
- Total - 1000
- 2nd Column - Brigadier Jones
- 8th Foot - 250
- 2nd Bengal Fusiliers - 250
- 4th Sikhs - 350
- Total - 850
- 3rd Column - Colonel Campbell
- 52nd Foot - 200
- Kumaon Battalion (Gurkhas) - 250
- 1st Punjab Infantry (Coke's Rifles) - 500
- Total - 950
- 4th Column - Major Reid
- Sirmur Battalion (Gurkhas)
- Guides Infantry
- Collected picquets
- Total - 850
- Plus Kashmir contingent in reserve - 1000
- 5th Column - Brigadier Longfield
- 61st Foot - 250
- 4th Punjab Infantry (Wilde's Rifles) - 450
- Baluch Battalion - 300
- Total - 1000
Detachments of the 60th Rifles preceded all the columns, as skirmishers.
One officer wrote in a letter home:
- "There was not much sleep. Just after midnight we fell in as quickly as possible, and by the light of a lantern the orders for the assault were read to the men. Any man who might be wounded was to be left where he fell.
The Roman Catholic Chaplain Bertrand blessed the 75th Highlanders and prayed for mercy "on the souls of those soon to die."
[edit] The Assault
The first three columns gathered in and behind a building known as the Khudsia Bagh, about a quarter of a mile from the north walls. The fourth column was intended to attack only when the Kabul Gate on the west of the city walls was opened from behind by the other columns. The fifth column was in reserve.
The attack was supposed to be launched at dawn, but the rebels had repaired some of the breaches and further bombardment was required. Eventually, Nicholson gave the signal and the attackers charged. The first column stormed through the breach in the Kashmir Bastion and the second through that in the Water Bastion, by the Jumna River.
The third column attacked the Kashmir Gate on the north wall. Two sapper officers, Lieutenants Home and Salkeld (who subsequently won the Victoria Cross), led a party of British and Indian sappers which placed gunpowder charges and sandbags against the gate, under fire. The explosion demolished the gate and the third column charged in.
Meanwhile, the fourth column encountered a rebel force in the suburb of Kishangunj outside the Kabul Gate before the other columns attacked, and was thrown into disorder. Reid was killed and the column retired. The rebels followed up and threatened to attack the British camp, which had been emptied of its guards to form the assault force. A cavalry brigade under James Hope Grant and artillery at Hindu Rao's House stopped them, although the cavalry suffered heavy casualties.
In spite of this reverse, Nicholson was keen to press on into the city. He led a detachment down a narrow lane to try and capture the Burn Bastion, south of the Kabul Gate. Rebel soldiers held most of the flat rooftops, and guns mounted on the bastion fired grapeshot down the lanes between the houses. After two rushes were stopped with heavy casualties, Nicholson led a third charge and was mortally wounded.
Temporarily repulsed, the British now withdrew to the Church of Saint James, just inside the walls of the Kashmir Bastion. They had suffered 1170 casualties in the attack. Archdale Wilson moved there and wished to order a withdrawal. The dying Nicholson threatened to shoot him. Eventually, Baird Smith and other officers persuaded Wilson to hold on to the British gains.
[edit] The Capture of the City
The rebels were discouraged and disorganised, which was just as well for the besiegers. The British foothold included many of the liquor stores and over the next two days, the British soldiers became drunk and incapable on looted spirits. Wilson eventually ordered all liquor to be destroyed, and discipline was slowly restored. Slowly, the attackers began to clear the rebels from the city. They captured the magazine on September 16. Bahadur Shah and his entourage abandoned the palace on September 18, and a British force captured the great mosque, the Jama Masjid, and the abandoned palace the next day. Most rebels who had not already left the city now did so before the British captured all the gates and trapped them.
The city was finally declared to be captured on September 21. John Nicholson died the next day.
[edit] Aftermath
It is impossible to estimate how many civilians died during the fighting in Delhi. Many were subsequently expelled from the city, as there was no way of feeding them until order was restored to the entire area. The British, Sikh and Pakhtun Punjabi soldiers were all fairly callous with regard to life. There was extensive looting, although British soldiers were more interested in drink than material possessions. Prize agents later moved into the city behind the troops, and organised the search for concealed treasure on a more systematic basis.
Several hundred suspected rebels and sympathisers were subsequently hanged without much legal process. In many cases, the Army's officers were inclined to be lenient, but East India Company officials such as Theophilus Metcalfe, who had narrowly escaped from the mutineers, were more vengeful.
Bahadur Shah and three of his sons had taken refuge at Humayun's Tomb, six miles south of Delhi. Although urged to accompany Bakht Khan and rally more troops, the aged King was persuaded that the British were seeking vengeance only against the mutineers, and he would be spared. On September 20, a party under William Hodson took him into custody on promise of clemency, and brought him back to the city. The next day, Hodson also took prisoner Bahadur Shah's sons, but with no guarantee of any sort. On the pretext that a mob was about to release them, Hodson executed the three princes. Their heads were later presented to Bahadur Shah.
[edit] Sources
- The Great Mutiny - India 1857, by Christopher Hibbert, Penguin, 1980, ISBN 0-14-004752-2
- Battles of the Indian Mutiny, by Michael Edwardes, Pan, 1963 ISBN 0-330-02524-4
- Soldier Sahibs, by Charles Allen, Abacus, 2000, ISBN 0-349-11456-0
[edit] External links
[edit] Notes
- ↑ The Bengal Fusiliers were "European" infantry, mainly Irish, raised by the East India Company. They were later absorbed into the British Army.
- ↑ Not to be confused with Sir Colin Campbell, recently appointed commander-in-chief in India.
