Capture of Lucknow
Encyclopedia
The Capture of Lucknow (Hindi
: लखनऊ का क़ब्ज़ा) was a battle of Indian rebellion of 1857
. The British recaptured the city of Lucknow
which they had abandoned in the previous winter after the relief of a besieged garrison in the Residency, and destroyed the organised resistance by the rebels in the Kingdom of Awadh
(or Oudh, as it was referred to in most contemporary accounts).
East India Company only a year before a general mutiny broke out in the Company's Bengal Army
. The annexation had been accompanied by several instances of expropriation of royal and landholders' estates on sometimes flimsy grounds of non-payment of taxes, or difficulties in proving title to lands. Many sepoy
s (native soldiers) of the Company's Bengal Army had been recruited from high-caste and landowning communities in Oudh. There was increasing unrest in the Bengal Army, as privileges and customary allowances they had previously enjoyed were withdrawn. With uncertainty over their rights to property in Oudh, they felt that their status both as soldiers and citizens was under threat.
When the rebellion broke out in May 1857, it threatened British British authority in several areas of India, but most particularly in Oudh, where the resentful dispossessed rulers and landowners joined with the mutinied regiments (Bengal Native troops, and Oudh Irregular units formerly belonging to the Kingdom of Oudh) in what became a national rebellion.
From 1 July to 26 November, 1857, the British had withstood the siege of the Residency
to the north of the city. When the besieged garrison was finally relieved by the British commander-in-chief, Sir Colin Campbell
, the Residency was evacuated, as Campbell's communications were threatened. He returned to Cawnpore from where the relief expedition had been mounted, with all the civilians evacuated from the Residency and the sick and wounded. However, he left a division of 4,000 men under Sir James Outram to hold the Alambagh
, a walled park two miles south of the city.
During the following winter campaigning season, Campbell re-established his communications with Delhi
and with Calcutta. He also received fresh reinforcements from Britain and built up a substantial transport and supply column. After capturing Fatehgarh
on 1 January, 1858, which allowed him to establish control over the countryside between Cawnpore and Delhi, Campbell suggested leaving Oudh alone during 1858, concentrating instead on recapturing the state of Rohilkhand
, which was also in rebel hands. However, the Governor General, Lord Canning
, insisted that Oudh be recaptured, so as to discourage other potential rebels. Canning wrote
s. The army crossed the Ganges River
in late February, and advanced to rendezvous with Outram at the Alambagh on 1 March. The army was then reorganised into three infantry division
s under Outram, Brigadier Walpole and Brigadier Lugard, and a cavalry division under James Hope Grant
. A force of 9,000 Nepalis (not to be confused with the regular Gurkha
units of the Bengal Army) was approaching Lucknow from the north, commanded by Brigadier Franks.
The defenders of Lucknow were said to number 100,000. This suspiciously large and round figure reflects the fact that the defenders lacked coordinated leadership, and were largely the personal retinues of landowners, or loosely organised bodies of fighters, whose motives, dedication and equipment varied widely. The British were not able to gain any reliable reports of their numbers. The rebels were nevertheless equipped with large numbers of cannon and had heavily fortified the Charbagh Canal, the city and the palaces and mosque
s adjoining the Residency to the north of the city. They had however not fortified the northern approaches to the city on the north bank of the Gumti River, which had not seen fighting previously. (During the British relief moves in 1857, the ground had been flooded by monsoon
rains.)
Campbell began by repeating his moves of the relief of the Residency the previous year. He moved to the east of the city and Charbagh Canal to occupy a walled park, the Dilkusha Park
, although this time he suffered from rebel artillery fire until his own guns could be brought up.
On 5 March, Campbell's engineers constructed two pontoon bridge
s across the Gumti. Outram's division crossed to the north bank, and by 9 March, they were established north of the city. Under covering fire from his siege guns, his division captured the grandstand of the King of Oudh's racecourse (known as the Chakar Kothi). Meanwhile, Campbell's main body captured La Martiniere
(formerly a school for the children of British civilians) and forced their way across the Charbagh Canal with few casualties.
) and a mosque (the Shah Najaf) with little opposition; these two positions had been the scene of heavy fighting the previous November. In front of him was a block of palace buildings, collectively known as the Begum Kothi. There was severe fighting for these on 11 March, in which 600 or 700 rebels died.
Over the next three days, Campbell's engineers and gunners blasted and tunnelled their way through the buildings between the Begum Kothi and the main rebel position in the King of Oudh's palace, the Kaisarbagh. Meanwhile, Outram's guns bombarded the Kaisarbagh from the north. The main assault on the Kaisarbagh took place on 14 March. Campbell's and Frank's forces attacked from the east, but Campbell surprisingly refused Outram permission to cross the Gumti and take the Kaisarbagh between two fires. As a result, although the Kaisarbagh was easily captured, its defenders were able to retreat without difficulty.
On 16 March, Outram finally recrossed the Gumti, and his division advanced on and stormed the Residency. There were disjointed rebel counter-attacks on the Alambagh and the British positions north of the Gumti, which failed. A rebel force which was supposed to contain Begum Hazrat Mahal
, the wife of the dispossessed King of Oudh
, and her son Birjis Qadra
whom the rebels had proclaimed King, was driven from the Musabagh, yet another walled palace four miles northwest of Lucknow.
The last rebels, 1,200 men under a noted leader, Ahmadullah Shah, also known as the Maulvi of Faizabad, were driven from a fortified house in the centre of the city on 21 March. The city was declared cleared on this date.
Outram had also failed to protest his orders not to advance on 14 March, which had allowed most rebels to escape. Outram was Civil Commissioner for Oudh in addition to his military command, and may have allowed his hopes for pacification and reconciliation to override his soldier's instincts.
Rebel casualties were hard to estimate. British troops usually executed any prisoners they captured, whether armed or not. One of the prominent British casualties was William Hodson, who led an irregular cavalry unit and also served as an Intelligence officer, killed during the capture of the Begum Kothi on 11 March.
Hindi
Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...
: लखनऊ का क़ब्ज़ा) was a battle of Indian rebellion of 1857
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
. The British recaptured the city of Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
which they had abandoned in the previous winter after the relief of a besieged garrison in the Residency, and destroyed the organised resistance by the rebels in the Kingdom of Awadh
Awadh
Awadh , also known in various British historical texts as Oudh or Oude derived from Ayodhya, is a region in the centre of the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh...
(or Oudh, as it was referred to in most contemporary accounts).
Background
Oudh had been annexed by the BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
East India Company only a year before a general mutiny broke out in the Company's Bengal Army
Bengal Army
The Bengal Army was the army of the Presidency of Bengal, one of the three Presidencies of British India, in South Asia. Although based in Bengal in eastern India, the presidency stretched across northern India and the Himalayas all the way to the North West Frontier Province...
. The annexation had been accompanied by several instances of expropriation of royal and landholders' estates on sometimes flimsy grounds of non-payment of taxes, or difficulties in proving title to lands. Many sepoy
Sepoy
A sepoy was formerly the designation given to an Indian soldier in the service of a European power. In the modern Indian Army, Pakistan Army and Bangladesh Army it remains in use for the rank of private soldier.-Etymology and Historical usage:...
s (native soldiers) of the Company's Bengal Army had been recruited from high-caste and landowning communities in Oudh. There was increasing unrest in the Bengal Army, as privileges and customary allowances they had previously enjoyed were withdrawn. With uncertainty over their rights to property in Oudh, they felt that their status both as soldiers and citizens was under threat.
When the rebellion broke out in May 1857, it threatened British British authority in several areas of India, but most particularly in Oudh, where the resentful dispossessed rulers and landowners joined with the mutinied regiments (Bengal Native troops, and Oudh Irregular units formerly belonging to the Kingdom of Oudh) in what became a national rebellion.
From 1 July to 26 November, 1857, the British had withstood the siege of the Residency
Siege of Lucknow
The Siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defense of the Residency within the city of Lucknow during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After two successive relief attempts had reached the city, the defenders and civilians were evacuated from the Residency, which was abandoned.Lucknow was the capital of...
to the north of the city. When the besieged garrison was finally relieved by the British commander-in-chief, Sir Colin Campbell
Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde
Field Marshal Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde GCB, KSI was a British Army officer from Scotland who led the Highland Brigade in the Crimea and was in command of the ‘Thin red line’ at the battle of Balaclava...
, the Residency was evacuated, as Campbell's communications were threatened. He returned to Cawnpore from where the relief expedition had been mounted, with all the civilians evacuated from the Residency and the sick and wounded. However, he left a division of 4,000 men under Sir James Outram to hold the Alambagh
Alambagh
Alambagh is a large walled enclosure situated at about 4 miles from Lucknow, near Kanpur road in India. It contains a palace, a mosque and other buildings, as well as a beautiful garden. Alambagh was converted into a fort by Indian freedom fighters in 1857...
, a walled park two miles south of the city.
During the following winter campaigning season, Campbell re-established his communications with Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
and with Calcutta. He also received fresh reinforcements from Britain and built up a substantial transport and supply column. After capturing Fatehgarh
Fatehgarh
Fatehgarh is a cantonment town in Farrukhabad district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located on the right bank of the Ganges River. It is the administrative headquarters of Farrukhabad District. Fatehgarh derives its name from an old fort. It is a small city with no significant...
on 1 January, 1858, which allowed him to establish control over the countryside between Cawnpore and Delhi, Campbell suggested leaving Oudh alone during 1858, concentrating instead on recapturing the state of Rohilkhand
Rohilkhand
Rohilkhand is a region of northwestern Uttar Pradesh state of India.Rohilkhand lies on the upper Ganges alluvial plain and has an area of about 25,000 km²/10,000 square miles...
, which was also in rebel hands. However, the Governor General, Lord Canning
Charles Canning, 1st Earl Canning
Charles John Canning, 1st Earl Canning KG, GCB, PC , known as The Viscount Canning from 1837 to 1859, was an English statesman and Governor-General of India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.-Background and education:...
, insisted that Oudh be recaptured, so as to discourage other potential rebels. Canning wrote
Oudh is not only the rallying point of the sepoys, the place to which they all look, and by the doings in which their own hopes and prospects rise and fall; but it represents a dynasty; there is a King of Oudh "seeking his own".
Campbell's advance
Campbell's army consisted of seventeen infantry battalions, twenty-eight cavalry squadrons and 134 guns and mortars, with a large and unwieldy baggage train and large numbers of Indian camp followerCamp follower
Camp-follower is a term used to identify civilians and their children who follow armies. There are two common types of camp followers; first, the wives and children of soldiers, who follow their spouse or parent's army from place to place; the second type of camp followers have historically been...
s. The army crossed the Ganges River
Ganges River
The Ganges or Ganga, , is a trans-boundary river of India and Bangladesh. The river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of North India into Bangladesh, where it empties into the Bay of Bengal. By discharge it...
in late February, and advanced to rendezvous with Outram at the Alambagh on 1 March. The army was then reorganised into three infantry division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
s under Outram, Brigadier Walpole and Brigadier Lugard, and a cavalry division under James Hope Grant
James Hope Grant
General Sir James Hope Grant GCB , British general, was the fifth and youngest son of Francis Grant of Kilgraston, Perthshire, and brother of Sir Francis Grant, President of the Royal Academy.-Military career:...
. A force of 9,000 Nepalis (not to be confused with the regular Gurkha
Gurkha
Gurkha are people from Nepal who take their name from the Gorkha District. Gurkhas are best known for their history in the Indian Army's Gorkha regiments, the British Army's Brigade of Gurkhas and the Nepalese Army. Gurkha units are closely associated with the kukri, a forward-curving Nepalese knife...
units of the Bengal Army) was approaching Lucknow from the north, commanded by Brigadier Franks.
The defenders of Lucknow were said to number 100,000. This suspiciously large and round figure reflects the fact that the defenders lacked coordinated leadership, and were largely the personal retinues of landowners, or loosely organised bodies of fighters, whose motives, dedication and equipment varied widely. The British were not able to gain any reliable reports of their numbers. The rebels were nevertheless equipped with large numbers of cannon and had heavily fortified the Charbagh Canal, the city and the palaces and mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
s adjoining the Residency to the north of the city. They had however not fortified the northern approaches to the city on the north bank of the Gumti River, which had not seen fighting previously. (During the British relief moves in 1857, the ground had been flooded by monsoon
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
rains.)
Campbell began by repeating his moves of the relief of the Residency the previous year. He moved to the east of the city and Charbagh Canal to occupy a walled park, the Dilkusha Park
Dilkusha Kothi
Dilkusha Kothi is the remains of an eighteenth-century house built in the English baroque style in the quiet Dilkusha area of Lucknow in India. Today there are only a few towers and external walls as a monument, though the extensive gardens remain...
, although this time he suffered from rebel artillery fire until his own guns could be brought up.
On 5 March, Campbell's engineers constructed two pontoon bridge
Pontoon bridge
A pontoon bridge or floating bridge is a bridge that floats on water and in which barge- or boat-like pontoons support the bridge deck and its dynamic loads. While pontoon bridges are usually temporary structures, some are used for long periods of time...
s across the Gumti. Outram's division crossed to the north bank, and by 9 March, they were established north of the city. Under covering fire from his siege guns, his division captured the grandstand of the King of Oudh's racecourse (known as the Chakar Kothi). Meanwhile, Campbell's main body captured La Martiniere
La Martiniere Lucknow
La Martinière College is an educational institution located in Lucknow, the capital of the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. The college consists of two schools on different campuses for boys and girls. La Martinière Boys' College was founded in 1845 and La Martinière Girls' College was established...
(formerly a school for the children of British civilians) and forced their way across the Charbagh Canal with few casualties.
Capture of the main defences
By 11 March, Outram captured two bridges across the Gumti near the Residency (an iron bridge and a nearby stone bridge) although heavy rebel artillery fire forced him to abandon the stone bridge. Meanwhile, Campbell occupied an enclosed palace (the SecundrabaghSikandar Bagh
Sikandar Bagh , formerly known by the British as Sikunder/Sikandra/Secundra Bagh, is a villa and garden enclosed by a fortified wall, with loopholes, gateway and corner bastions, approx. 150 yards square, c. 4.5 acres, located in the city of Lucknow, Oudh, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was built by the...
) and a mosque (the Shah Najaf) with little opposition; these two positions had been the scene of heavy fighting the previous November. In front of him was a block of palace buildings, collectively known as the Begum Kothi. There was severe fighting for these on 11 March, in which 600 or 700 rebels died.
Over the next three days, Campbell's engineers and gunners blasted and tunnelled their way through the buildings between the Begum Kothi and the main rebel position in the King of Oudh's palace, the Kaisarbagh. Meanwhile, Outram's guns bombarded the Kaisarbagh from the north. The main assault on the Kaisarbagh took place on 14 March. Campbell's and Frank's forces attacked from the east, but Campbell surprisingly refused Outram permission to cross the Gumti and take the Kaisarbagh between two fires. As a result, although the Kaisarbagh was easily captured, its defenders were able to retreat without difficulty.
Final capture of Lucknow
Most of the rebels were abandoning Lucknow and scattering into the countryside. Campbell failed to stop most of them, by sending his cavalry after some rebels who had left earlier. Operations temporarily halted while the British reorganised and most regiments fell to looting the captured palaces.On 16 March, Outram finally recrossed the Gumti, and his division advanced on and stormed the Residency. There were disjointed rebel counter-attacks on the Alambagh and the British positions north of the Gumti, which failed. A rebel force which was supposed to contain Begum Hazrat Mahal
Begum Hazrat Mahal
Begum Hazrat Mahal , also known as Begum of Awadh, was the first wife of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah.-Queen of Awadh:Her maiden name was Muhammadi Khanum and she was born at Faizabad, Awadh, India. She was a courtesan by profession and had been taken into the royal harem as a Khawasin, after being sold by...
, the wife of the dispossessed King of Oudh
Nawab of Awadh
The Nawab of Awadh is the title of rulers who governed the state of Awadh in India in the 18th and 19th century. The Nawabs of Awadh originated form Persia-Establishment:...
, and her son Birjis Qadra
Birjis Qadra
Berjis Qadr was the son of Wajid Ali Shah and was last, Padshah-e Awadh, Shah-e Zaman.-External links:* * * *...
whom the rebels had proclaimed King, was driven from the Musabagh, yet another walled palace four miles northwest of Lucknow.
The last rebels, 1,200 men under a noted leader, Ahmadullah Shah, also known as the Maulvi of Faizabad, were driven from a fortified house in the centre of the city on 21 March. The city was declared cleared on this date.
Outcome
Campbell had advanced cautiously and had captured Lucknow with few casualties, but by failing to prevent the rebels escaping, he was forced to spend much of the following summer and monsoon season clearing the rebels from the countryside of Oudh. As a result, his army suffered heavy casualties from heatstroke and other diseases.Outram had also failed to protest his orders not to advance on 14 March, which had allowed most rebels to escape. Outram was Civil Commissioner for Oudh in addition to his military command, and may have allowed his hopes for pacification and reconciliation to override his soldier's instincts.
Rebel casualties were hard to estimate. British troops usually executed any prisoners they captured, whether armed or not. One of the prominent British casualties was William Hodson, who led an irregular cavalry unit and also served as an Intelligence officer, killed during the capture of the Begum Kothi on 11 March.