Indian rebellion of 1857: Encyclopedia II - Indian rebellion of 1857 - Lucknow

Indian rebellion of 1857 - Lucknow

Rebellion erupted in the state of Awadh (also known as Oudh, in modern-day Uttar Pradesh) very soon after the events in Meerut. The British commander of Lucknow, Henry Lawrence, had enough time to fortify his position inside the Residency compound. British forces numbered some 1700 men, including loyal sepoys. The rebels initial assaults were unsuccessful, and so they began a barrage of artillery and musket fire into the compound. Lawrence was one of the first casualties. The rebels tried to breach the walls with explosives and bypass them via underground tunnels that led to underground close combat. After 90 days of siege, numbers of British were reduced to 300 loyal sepoys, 350 British soldiers and 550 non-combatants. This action quickly became known as the Siege of Lucknow.

On the 25th of September a relief column under Sir Henry Havelock and Sir James Outram joined them, in what was known as 'The First Relief of Lucknow', but this force was not strong enough to break the siege or extricate themselves. In October another, larger, army under the new Commander-in-Chief, Sir Colin Campbell, was finally able to relieve the garrison and on the 18th of November they evacuated the city, the compound women and children leaving first. They fled to now-retaken Cawnpore.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Lucknow", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki