Gwalior – End of the Rising
Horse Artillery in action, c1858.
NAM 1971-02-33-495-11
The rebels took their remaining forces into Gwalior, hoping to defeat its pro-British ruler. On 1 June at Morar, east of Gwalior, Sindia's troops changed sides and joined the rebels. Leaving Kalpi on 6 June, Rose marched through the summer heat to Gwalior. He recaptured Morar and then defeated the rebels at Kotah-ke-Serai on 17 June. The Rani was killed in this action. Rose described the Rani as the ‘bravest and the best’ of the rebels.
Two days later the British recaptured Gwalior. This effectively ended the rising. Most rebels surrendered or went into hiding, but Tantya Tope managed to avoid the British until April 1859 when he was betrayed, captured and then hanged.
Company abolished
Soldiers disembark at Gravesend on their return from the Indian Mutiny, 1858.
NAM 1988-06-49
Following the rising, the East India Company was abolished. The rule of India was transferred to the British government. To ensure that British rule could never be threatened again the Indian Army was reorganised so that it needed its British components to function effectively.
Indian soldiers were issued with a rifle that was inferior to that of their British counterparts and given only limited logistical support. Control of the Indian Army’s artillery (which had proved crucial during the rising) remained firmly in British hands. In effect the sepoys became auxiliaries to British soldiers.
Horrors & atrocities
A British family is sheltered by an Indian family. NAM 1983-08-126-2
The British claimed that they were bringing civilisation to India, yet they reacted to brutality such as that at Cawnpore with their own savagery and violence. Many innocent people were killed, and looting was rife throughout the army.
But at the same time there were great acts of bravery and humanity by Indian people in helping British families to escape from rebels. Often, Indian servants gave their own lives in protecting British children. Soldiers on both sides did what they saw as their duty in defence of their beliefs.
