Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India

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FREEDOM MOVEMENT

The last major campaign of the British was

against the Rani of Jhansi and Tantia Tope.

Driven out of Jhansi, the Rani joined forces

with Tantia to occupy Gwalior. In June 1858,

clad like a man and mounted on a horse, she

met her death in the defence of this last major

rebel stronghold.

Jhansi

garrison

comprised

10,000

Bundelas

and

Velaities and 1500

sepoys, while the

British

strength

commanded

Rose consisted of

two brigades (of

2,000

each).

Despite these odds,

Rose launched an

offensive and raided the city and fort, on 22

March. He used his batteries to carry out

heavy bombardment but, in spite of the heavy

bombardment and the incessant fire from the

British infantry, the besieged, under the

inspiring guidance of the Rani, offered a gallant

resistance, “Their guns never ceased firing

except at night. Even women were seen

working in the batteries, and distributing

ammunition.”

The seizure of Gwalior created a sensation

throughout India only equalled by that which

was caused by the first mutinies. Rebel leader's

movements were unknown during the fort-

night following the capture of Gwalior. In the

meantime the British were regrouping and

seized the strategic position of Morar Kotah-

ke-serai on the outskirts.

The Rani herself led the troops and took up

her position on the range of hills between

Gwalior and Kotah-ke-serai. Smith

immediately attacked this force, but met with

a stiff resistance.

“Clad in the attire of a man

and mounted on horseback, the

Rani of Jhansi might have been

seen

animating

her

troops

throughout the day. When inch by

inch the British troops passed

through the pass, and when

reaching its summit Smith ordered

the hussars to charge, the Rani of

Jhansi boldly confronted the British

horsemen. When her comrades

failed her, her horse, in spite of her

efforts, carried her along with

others. With them she might have

escaped but that her horse, crossing

the canal near the (Phulbagh)

cantonment, stumbled and fell A

hussar, close upon her track,

ignorant of her sex and rank, cut

her down. She fell to rise no more.

”

According to another account the

Rani was struck by a bullet. Thus

died the Rani of Jhansi, and Sir

Hugh Rose, the Commander of the

British army against which she

fought from the beginning to end,

paid her a well-deserved tribute

when he referred to her as “the

best and bravest military leader of

the rebels."

By the middle of 1858, most of the major

centres of revolt such as Kanpur, Lucknow,

Bareilly, Jhansi and Gwalior had been recap-

tured by the British troops under John

Nicholson, John and Henry Lawrence, Henry

Havelock, Colin Campbell, James Outram

and James Neill. Most of the leaders of the up-

rising were either killed, captured or hanged

and a few had to take shelter outside India.

The suppression of the uprising had re-

sulted in brutal massacres, mass executions,

arson and plunder. In Oudh alone, 150,000

people were killed.

The mutiny of the sepoys revealed the

very weak foundation on which the British

authority rested in India.

The inferiority in generalship, strategy,

military skill, and indiscipline of the muti-

neers was an important cause for the failure of

the outbreak. In spite of all their defects and

drawbacks, the sepoys and Indian rebels, by

their very number and favourable situation

threatened to destroy the whole fabric of the

British empire. They succeeded in shocking

the British out of their smugness and thus set-

ting the stage for a new relationship between

the rulers and the ruled.

The memories of the great rebellion con-

tinued to haunt the British rulers for long and

inspired the people of India in their struggle

for freedom. The revolt marked a turning