Jhansi and central india were mickey mouse affairs of 1857

1. JHANSI AND CENTRAL INDIA WERE MICKEY
MOUSE AFFAIRS OF 1857 - 90 PERCENT OF
THE REBEL UNITS WHO WERE 80 % NON
MUSLIM AND LARGELY HINDU RAJPUTS JATS
AND BRAHMANS FOUGHT AT DELHI AND
LUCKNOW
CENTRAL INDIA CAMPAIGN A SMALL AFFAIR
APART FROM MUCH RHETORIC
Sepoy Rebellion of 1857-59 Reinterpreted
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Chapter Seven
The Central India Campaign
1857-1859

2. Maj (Retd) AGHA HUMAYUN AMIN from
WASHINGTON DC gives a brilliant analysis of the
1857 War of Independence
The Central India Campaign was fought over the widest
area in terms of length and breadth as compared to all the
othercampaigns of 1857. It took the British longer in
terms of time to suppress the rebellion in Central India as
compared to all otherregions involved in the rebellion.
Yet the Central India Campaign in terms of forces
involved and casualties suffered was only a very minor
campaign of the Sepoy Rebellion.Fewest number of units
of Bengal Army were actively involved in this campaign,
as far as the Sepoys were concerned. The conflict in
Central India was a minor one because nothingstrategic
was at stake. The Bengal Army before the outbreakof the
rebellion had a sizeable strength in Central India in terms
of number of units. However as soon as these units
rebelled most of them marched towards Delhi because
Delhi was the most popularpoint of concentration of the
Bengal Army Rebels. Some units however did march to
CawnporeKalpi or to Banda. Banda was the hot choice
for the prospectsof looting. The Nawab of Bandawho
had rebelled was active in lootingand his leadership
inspired many rebels to go to Banda. Three units of
infantry entered Central India because of geographical
compulsions. These were led by the indomitableHindu
Rajput Talukdar Kanwar Singh and came to Central India

3. because they could not move to the north because of the
Ganges River and because of proximity of European units
who were marching on the main Grand Trunk Road from
Calcuttato Benares.
The Central India Campaign however was significant
because of presence of three charismatic figures who
caused a lot of troubleto the British. There were the Rani
of Jhansi a Hindu contemporaryof Hazrat Mahal of
Lucknow, Tantia Topi the only sepoy leader who
executed an offensive plan of strategic level to sever the
British Army's communications with Calcuttaand Feroz
Shah a Mughal Prince who fought valiantly and also later
on managed to escape and survive the rebellion by almost
twenty years. The Rani we admire because although a
woman by sex she was more of a man than most of our
worthy feudals whose grandsons later on became our
Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers! Tantia Topi we
admire because without any formal military education or
background he did at least effectively and physically
threaten the British communications. Something in which
our Generals Rajinder and Nasir 108 years later failed
miserably despite possessing much more in terms of
education,manpower and material superiority ! Feroz
Shah we admire because despite being a Muslim he
inspired many Hindus to fight for a just cause at a time
when Muslims in Muslim majority areas were soldiering
for a foreign nation ! After the failure of the rebellionalso

4. he did make many attempts to convince many Muslim
Kings of martial races like Afghanistan or Iran to resist
the British. But all praise to General Nott and Pollock, the
lesson taught in 1842 in the Grand Bazar of Kabul was
too hard to forget. And that handsomesubsidy of Rs. 12
lakh so hard to refuse !!
INITIAL DEVELOPMENTOF TROOPS
Various Bengal Army troops and princely state
contingents were present in Central India and Western
Rajputanain 1857. We have included thefollowing areas
in Central India for the purposes of analysis / discussion:-
- (1) Central India Agency comprising various princely
states in the area between Narbadda River and Jumna
River. (2) The Southernand Eastern Rajputanaarea of
Ajmer JodhpurTonk etc. (3) The Bundelkhand, Saugor
and Narbadda territories.
Rough deployment of various units and contingents was
as following356 :
a. Bengal Army Infantry:-
(1) 12 NI -Wing each at Jhansi
and Nowgong.
(2) 15 NI -Naseerabad
(3) 30 NI -Naseerabad
(4) 72 NI -Nimach

5. (5) 23 NI -Mhow
(6) 31 NI -Saugor
(7) 42 NI -Jubbulpur
(8) 52 NI -Jubbulpur
(9) 50 NI -Nagode
b. Bengal Army Cavalry
(1) 1 LC -Wing each at Mhow and
Nimach.
(2) 14 Irregular Cavalry - Wing
each at Jhansi and Nowgong.
(3) 3rd Irregular Cavalry- Saugor.
c. GwaliorContingent(8318 men)
(1) Infantry-Seven Regiments at
Gwalior, Goonah, Sipri, Nimach
etc.
(2) Cavalry-Two Regiments.
(3) Artillery-FourField Batteries
and a Light Siege Train.
c. Jodhpur Contingent. A Composite Force of infantry,
cavalry and artillery comprising approximately three
Troops of Cavalry, eleven Companies of Infantry, and
two Nine PounderCamel Guns stationed at Erinpurain
JodhpurState. Cavalry entirely Hindustani

6. Muslim/Ranghar/Kaimkhani Muslim and eight Infantry
companies out of the total entirely consisting of
Hindustanis.
d. Malwa Contingent. Similar to JodhpurContingent.
e. Other Contingents. There were similar other but
smaller contingents of otherstates like Jaipur State
Troops and Kotah Contingent.
DEVELOPMENTOF THE REBELLION IN
CENTRALINDIA AND RAJPUTANA
On 28 May 1857 the sepoys at Nasirabad comprising of
15 and 30 NI regiments rebelled,killed their British
officers and after plunderingthe town marched towards
Delhi357.
In Central India the initial development of the rebellion
was slower than Eastern Rajputana. Here on 9 June the
Malwa contingent rebelled and on 14 June the Gwalior
contingent rebelled at Gwalior and Sipri. The wings of 12
NI and 14 Irregular cavalry stationed at Jhansi and
Nowgong rebelled on 6th and 9th June respectively. On
1st of July the Indore contingent rebelled.The Indore
contingent was soon joined by the Bhopal contingent
comprising mostly Pathans and some Hindustanis.
However most of its Sikh troops who constituteda
minority stayed loyal. The Begum of Bhopal like the Rani
of Jhansi was a woman, but was made of the same passive

7. fibre as most of the Muslim Hindu and Sikh Feudals of
that era. Thus she stayed loyal to the British. The 23 NI
and the wing of 1st Light Cavalry stationed at Mhow
rebelled on 1st July and marched towards Gwalior on the
Grand Trunk Road. They reached Gwalior on 31st of July
1857 and from here marched to Delhi via Agra. The 23 NI
and 1st Light Cavalry sepoys played an important role in
reviving the spirits of the Gwalior contingent troops who
after their initial rebellion on 14 June had subsequently
become very demoralised because of clever propaganda
by their ruler the Sindhia who was secretly in League with
the British at Agra. Anotherfactor in the earlier
demoralisation of the Gwalior contingent troopsstationed
at Gwalior was the arrival of remnants of the 6th Infantry
Regiment of Gwalior contingent who had earlier rebelled
at Lalitpur and had joined the Nana Sahib at Cawnpore.
These troops withdrew from Cawnporeto Gwalior after
having been routed by General Havelock in July 1857.
Anyhow after 31 July the Gwalior Contingent troops
gained greater resolution, thanks to successful exhortation
by the 23 NI and 1st Light Cavalry who stopped at
Gwalior on their way to Delhi for a few days358.
Meanwhile followingwas the situationin eastern half
of Central India359 : -
a. The 42 NI and 3rd Irregular Cavalry stationed at
Saugor rebelled on 1st July. The 31 NI stationed at

8. Saugor however remained loyal. The 3rd Irregular
Cavalry and the 42 NI for some time marched around
Saugor looting and plunderingbut finally they marched
towards Banda which they reached around September
1857. Here they joined the Nawab of Bandawho had
declared himself independentin the aftermath of a
rebellion led by sepoys of the detachment of 1st NI
stationed at Banda on 14 June 1857. (Subsequentlythey
went to Kalpi)
b. Prince Ferozeshah who had gone to Mecca for Haj in
1857 meanwhile was in Central India after returningvia
the port of Surat. Ferozeshah was in area inhabited mostly
by Hindus and had no army. It is an irony of history that
the two finest Muslim military commanders Hyder Ali
and Tipu Sultan offered the toughest resistance to the
British despite the fact that they were ruling a Hindu
majority state. This clearly proves that it is not mere
majority in population but superiority in terms of quality
of leadership which is the deciding factor. On the other
hand we see that many Muslim majority areas were
rendered impotent merely because of absence of good
leadership. Ferozeshah managed to reach Mandesar in
Gwalior state territory with some followers. He was still
wearing the ahram which pilgrims on Haj wear. He
reached Mandesaron 26 August 1857. There was a
detachment of Gwalior troopsstationed here. These being
mostly Hindus but from Northwest province immediately

9. joined Ferozeshah and raised the standard of revolt in
Mandesar !
c. Meanwhile the Rani of Jhansi had already raised the
standard of rebellion oncethe Bengal Army troops
stationed at Jhansi had rebelled on 6 June 1857. It must be
noted that most of these troopshowever marched towards
Cawnporeand the Rani raised a local force to defend her
rule.
d. The Raja of Banpurhad raised the standard of revolt in
Chanderiarea from May 1857.
The Gwalior Contingent was a very large force of troops
but till October 1857 it stayed idle. Two of its units
marched to Delhi and Cawnporebut the remaining seven
i.e. five infantry and two cavalry regiments remained in
inertia till October 1858. This situation continuedtill
October when Tantia Topi a retainer of the Nana Sahib
arrived at Gwalior. Tantia Topi was a Hindu Mahrattaand
a civilian. He had joined the Cawnpore Sepoys after the
rebellion at Cawnpore in June 1857. In July 1857 after
having been defeated by Havelock he had withdrawn to
Oudh. From here Nana Sahib sent him Gwalior in order to
convince the Gwalior contingent Sepoys who were mostly
Hindus from Oudh and Northwest provinces (UP) to
attack Cawnpore which had been reoccupied by General
Havelock in July 1857. Tantia thus reached Gwalior and
by 15 October1857 the Gwalior contingent started its

10. march towards Kalpi under Tantia with a plan to attack
and recaptureCawnpore. This meant severing the line of
communication of the British army fighting at Lucknow
underSir Colin Campbell the British C in C.
Meanwhile during this periodthe followingother
developments tookplace in Central India360 : -
1) The 52 NI at Jabbalpurrebelledon 28 September,
marched towards Bandato join the Nawab of Banda.
2) The 50 NI stationed at Nagode also rebelled and
marched to Banda to join the forces of Nawab of Banda.
3) The 7 NI, 8 NI and 40 NI who had earlier rebelled at
Dinapur on 25 July 1857 arrived at Banda underthe
leadership of the indomitable Hindu Rajput Talukdar Raja
Kanwar Singh. Kanwar Singh was very big landlord of
Shahabad district in Bihar. In July 1857 he led the
rebellion of the 7, 8 and 40 NI regiments at Dinapur. In
1857 Kanwar Singh at 70 years of age was doing what
many young men of that time feared to do. He attacked
Arrah but after being repulsed from there retreated to
Rewah and finally arrived at Banda on 29 September
1857. He was welcomed by the Nawab of Banda.
Subsequentlyon 18 October 1857 Kanwar Singh marched
towards Kalpi from where he crossed the Jamna into the
Doab. From the Doab, Kanwar Singh crossed the Ganges
and joined the rebels at Lucknow in November 1857.

11. 4) On 15th October the 5th Irregular Cavalry also reached
Banda all the way from Rohneein Bihar. In November
the larger part of 32 NI also reached Bandahaving
marched for more than 500 miles. From various places in
Orissa Region, the larger part of this unit marched
towards Kalpi in December 1857.
Situationin Central India from June 1857 to
December 1857361
The rebellion in Central India occupied a large area but
was not a serious threat in strategic terms. The British had
two completearmies i.e. the Bombay Army comprising
some 31,601men and the Madras Army comprising some
49,737men362. I have deliberatelyexcluded the 5,109
and 10,194363 Europeantroops of both Bombay and
Madras Armies since these were special troopsof
Europeanorigin and had been sent to Bengal Army area.
Thus keeping in view the strategic insignificance of
Central India, while Delhi was captured by September
1857 and Lucknow effectively contained by November
1857 the pacification of Central India did not even
commence till January 1858.
Meanwhile during this time the rebels were fighting
among each otherover division of the spoils. The
situation in Central India was highly complex because the
region was divided into some one hundredand fifty
princely states. There were scores of leaders and there

12. was no unity even as outward as at Delhi or Lucknow.
There were very few sepoy Regiments and most of these
were either at Banda for the prospect of loot or at Kalpi
which was the centre of operationsof Tantia Topi.
In June 1857 hostilities erupted between Raja of Banpur
and the 6th Gwalior contingent Infantry over division of
booty. The Gwalior contingent consisted mostly of
Hindustanis (roughly 75% Hindu and 25% Muslim) while
the Raja of Banpurwas Hindu Bundela. In the ensuing
conflict the Gwalior sepoys severely mauled the Raja's
local levies and then marched north towards Cawnpore
via Jhansi and Kalpi.
Conflict started between the Rani of Jhansi and the Tehri
state. The state force of Tehri state actuallybesieged
Jhansi from 3rd to 22 October 1857364. It is interesting
to note that later on the Raja of Tehri claimed that he was
acting against Jhansi on behalfof the British government.
The Raja of Banpuralso attacked territory of Jhansi.
The Nawab of Banda who managed to attract the largest
number of sepoy regiments in Central India also started
waging private wars on other states. The first target of the
Nawab was the Chief of Ajaigarh. Subsequently, he
marched against Kirwi state and extorted from it Rs. two
lakhs !

13. The only Muslim State of any worth in Central India was
the Bhopal state but this state was ruled by a worthless
woman who stayed loyal despite the fact that her state
troopsrevolted. Many of her male relatives however,
actively participated in the rebellion. Notableamong these
was Nawab Ali Khan of Bhopal.Dilan Singh of
Madanpurwas also active in the southern part of Central
India.
The JodhpurLegion based at Erinpurarebelled on 23rd
August. They operated in Jodhpurstate for sometime and
cooperatedwith Khushial Singh the Thakur of Awah who
was in rebellionagainst the British. On 8 September the
Legion defeated a force of Jodhpur's loyal Raja's local
levies. Subsequentlythis Legion remained at Awah till 10
Oct. 1857. On 10 Oct 1857 they marched towards Delhi
via Marwar and Rewari. Meanwhile, Brigadier Gerrard
had been sent with a force to intercept the JodhpurLegion
from Delhi. A battletook place at Narnaul on 16
November with Gerard's force and the Legion was
defeated but Gerrard suffered mortal woundsduring the
pursuit and subsequentlydied.
March of Sir Hugh Rosefrom Mhow to Gwalior365
Sir Hugh Rose assumed the command of the Central India
Field Force on 17 December 1857. He divided his force
as following: -

14. 1st Brigade (Brigadier Stuart)
1) One Squadronof HM 14 Light
Dragoons.
2) One Troop of 3rd Light Cavalry
of Bombay Army.
3) HM 86 Foot (Two compa- nies,
othercompanies joined at
Chanderion 16 March 1858).
4) 25 Bombay Native Infantry.
5) Two Batteries of European
Artillery.
6) Sappers & Miners Detachment.
2nd Brigade
1) HeadquartersHM 14 Light
Dragoons.
2) Headquarters3rd Bombay
Light Cavalry.
3) 3rd Bombay European
Regiment.
4) Bombay NI.
5) Battery Horse Artillery.
6) One Field Battery.
7) Madras Sappers and Miners.
8) Siege Train (Joined 15 January

15. 1858).
ContingentHyderabad (Worthless) State
1) 1st Hyderabad Cavalry.
2) 4th Hyderabad Cavalry.
3) Artillery : -
1st Company Hyderabad Artillery
2nd ' ' '
4th ' ' '
4) Two Howitzers.
5) Wing of 3rd Hyderabad
Infantry.
6) Wing of 5th Hyderabad
Infantry.
Sir Hugh Rose's march from Mhow to Gwalior has been
projected out of proportionas an outstandingfeat of arms.
This tendencyemerged when Hugh Rose became C in C
India in 1858. Various post 1858 authorstook special care
to give it undueimportancein order to please Hugh Rose.
This sycophancy is however universal and found in plenty
in all armies / government service.
The broad overall plan of the British was to conduct
operationswith two major forces i.e. the Central India
Field Force underHugh Rose which consisted largely of
troopsfrom the Bombay Army and from the Hyderabad

16. contingent, the second major force was General
Whitlock's force constituted from Madras Army Troops.
Hugh Rose was to march from Mhow to general direction
Jhansi and then to Kalpi clearing the vast multitudeof
small rebel forces on the way. Whitlock was to march
from Jabbalpurtowards Banda. The aim was to clear Sir
Colin Campbell's rear from which the sepoys who were
raiding his communications i.e. the CalcuttaCawnpore
Road. But this actuallyhad been effectively done when
Tantia Topi was routed at Cawnporeon 06 Dec 1858. The
authorof this very broad plan of action was Sir Robert
Hamilton, Agent to the Governor General in Central
India.
Sir Hugh Rose left Mhow on 6 January 1858 and joined
his 2nd Brigade which had assembled at Sehore. His plan
was to proceed towards Saugor and northward to Jhansi
and subsequentlyto Kalpi with the 2nd Brigade. The First
Brigade was to march north on the Main Grand Trunk
Road from Bombay to Agra starting from Indore.
The first major aim of Hugh Rose was to relieve Saugor
fort garrison who had been confined to this fort since 29
June 1857. They were, however, well defended by the 31
NI which remained loyal to the British. On 28 January
1857 the Raja of Banpurwas defeated by the 2nd Brigade
in a Skirmish type battle. At Barodia the Raja of Banpur
again and Anant Singh were defeated in a battlewhose

17. intensity and magnitude may be gauged from the fact that
the 2nd Brigade only suffered casualties of 2 men killed
and 21 wounded366! Saugor was relieved by the 2nd
Brigade with whom Rose was marching on 3rd February
1858. The relief of Saugor made communication and
cooperationwith the 1st Brigade possible because of the
direct road link of Saugor with Goonah where the
advance guard of the 1st Brigade was located.From here
i.e. Saugor Hugh Rose (2nd Brigade) advanced to
Garhakota which was captured after a brief siege on 12
February 1858. The casualties suffered were nonekilled
and four wounded367!After this Hugh Rose went back to
Saugor for rest / replenishment.
Rose resumed his advance on 27 Feb 1858 and forced the
passes leading into Bundelkhandby resorting to some
feint attacks misleading the various local rulers about his
direction of attack. Again these were insignificant
operationssince the fighting was nominal. At the battleof
MadanpurPass fought on 3rd March 1858 Hugh suffered
casualties of none killed and 12 wounded 368.
Chanderiwas besieged and captured by the 1st Brigade
on 17 March 1858 with a loss of just 3 killed and 23
wounded369.Meanwhile Rose had ordered the 1st
Brigade to join him for the siege of Jhansi. Thus the 1st
Brigade marched from Chanderi towards Jhansi and
joined the Brigade on 25th March at Jhansi.

18. The siege of Jhansi was again a minor operation. Its only
worthwhileevent was an attempt by Tantia Topi to
relieve it which was defeated by Rose. This engagement
was known as the Battleof Betwa River and was fought
on 31 March 1858. The Cambridge History of India puts
Tantia's strength at 22,000370which is a big joke with
history ! That Tantia managed to kill only 17 men of
Hugh Rose's force and wound 63 only proves that we
should divide the figure of 22,000by three or four !
The subsequent captureof Jhansi on 3rd April 1858 was
again a minor show. The British losses were only 42
killed and 211 wounded371.
The battleof Jhansi was followed by the battleof Kunch.
This battlewas more of a series of outflanking
manoeuvres by Hugh Rose which threatenedTantia's
position at Kunch in such a way that Tantia had to
withdraw without a fight. The British losses in this battle
fought on 7th May 1858 were just 9 killed and 47
wounded372.
This was followed by anothersmall battleat Kalpi fought
on 22 May 1858. Here Rose again outflanked Tantia and
made good use of Jumna River to protect his right flank.
In addition, superior handlingof artillery in this battle
also played a decisive part in ensuring a decisive victory
achieved with minimum casualties. In this battleRose
manoeuvred in such a way that he changed his direction

19. of advance from a previously southwest-northeast axis to
a east-west axis. Thereby, he turned Tantia's left at Kalpi
forcing him to fight by facing eastwards whereas he was
expecting the British to attack from the south west.
Fortescuemade an observation about the rebels of 1857
and I agree with him when he said '...they were
disconcerted by Campbell's line of advance, which was
not what they expected; and the moral effect of anything
like a surprise is very potent among Orientals373.
The rebels of 1857 were not from the officer class and
had very rudimentary notions about handlingof troops.
Nevertheless, the battleof Kalpi was definitely a fine
example of Hugh Rose's handlingof troopsin which he
resorted to a brilliant manoeuvre which greatly reduced
his casualties which may have occurred had he followed
the line of advance along the Jhansi-Kalpi Road. The
British casualties in this battlewere just 31 killed and 57
wounded.
The total casualties of Hugh Rose's Central India Field
Force from Mhow to Kalpi were 560 out which 112 were
killed374.Their smallness can be gauged from the fact
that in just one engagement in Oudh i.e. the battleof
Chinhat fought on 30 June 1857 the British casualties
were 112 Europeanskilled and 44 Europeans
wounded375.Of Central India it may be noted that out of
the 112 killed in actual battlejust about around 30 were

20. Europeans!Many more Europeansmust have died due to
heat stroke but that too is doubtful because by the time
Kalpi was captured it was only 22 May and the hottest
season was still many weeks away.
The battleof Kalpi was the end of the campaign.
However, Tantia Topi managed to seize Gwalior by
having boldlymarched to Gwalior with what remained of
his army at Kalpi. Tantia had withdrawn from Kalpi with
around 5,000 to 6,000 sepoys. He reached Gwalior on 30
May 1857 along with the Rani of Jhansi and Rao Sahib.
The Sindia Maharaja attempted to face him with his local
levies but these men deserted him at the last moment and
joined Tantia Topi. Thus Tanti succeeded in capturing
Gwalior the strongest fortress of Central India. But the
situation in May 1858 was not as it was in December
1857. Tantia hardlyhad any artillery and everyone by
May 1858 when Lucknow and Delhi had already fallen,
knew that the sepoy cause was a doomed cause.
Rose immediately marched from Kalpi to Gwalior and
after a short siege where he heavily outgunned Tantia
captured Gwalior. The magnitude can be imagined from
the fact that the total British casualties were just 22 killed
and 62 wounded. These included just 9 Europeanskilled
includingone from sunstroke376.

21. The campaign ended with anotherinsignificant battleat
Jaura Alipur in which Rose's casualties were 4 killed and
8 wounded.
From 22 June 1858 till 7 April 1859 the British forces
pursued Tantia Topi all over Central India, Rajputanaand
Berar. Tantia was betrayed to the British by a rebel turned
loyal Raja Man Singh on 7th April 1859. He was taken to
Sipri, court martialled and hanged on 18 April 1859. Rao
Sahib was capturedin 1862 and hanged on 20 August
1862 at Cawnpore. Firoz Shah disguised as a pilgrim
escaped to Karbala and died in 1877 as a poor but very
great and free man!
We had earlier left Feroze Shah at Mandesor. Feroz Shah
subsequentlymarched towards Dhar which he occupied
on 31 August 1857. Feroze Shah was defeated at Dhar on
22 Oct 1857 by a British force known as the Malwa Field
Force. Dhar fort was captured by the British on 31 Oct
1857. From Dhar Feroze Shah marched to Mehidpur
which he attached on 8 Nov. 1857. Later on the Malwa
Field Force defeated Feroze Shah at Mandisur on 23
November 1857. After this defeat Feroze Shah withdrew
to Rahatgarh fort which he left a day before it was
captured by Hugh Rose i.e. on 28 January 1858. From
here Feroze Shah moved into Rohailkhand.He left
Rohailkhandafter its clearance by General Campbell in
May 1858. In December 1858 he was operating in Etawah

22. area in the Central Doab from where he was repulsed by
Mr. Allan Octavian Hume (of All India Congress fame)
who at that time was collectorof Etawah377. On 09 Dec
1858 Feroze Shah crossed the Jamna at Uriya Ghat and
moved south into Central India. He was pursued in
Gwalior area by General Napier and was forced to
withdraw towards Chanderi. From here he kept on
running till he joined our Mahrattahero Tantia Topi in
January 1859. In an action around 14 January Feroze
Shah and Tantia were chased by the British for 25 hours
during which they covered 57 miles ! Finally Feroze Shah
took refuge in the jungles of Sironj and we hear of him
last at Goonah on 15 April 1857 after which he
disappeared from India! The last time he revisited India
was in 1868378when he entered Swat / Bunnerarea via
Afghanistan.The pursuit of Tantia Topi though militarily
insignificant was an inspiring part of the rebellion.The
modern guerilla warfare's foundationwere laid in the
Jungle of Central India by Tantia Topi. The magnitude of
Tantia's long marches and countermarches may be
gauged from the fact that one of the British force ie the
Nasirabad Brigade which was tasked to pursue had to
march for some 984 miles and 5 1/2 Furlongs from 18
December 1858 to Ist March 1859379.During this period
the Nasirabad Brigade failed to captureTantia. The very
fact that an Indian betrayed him proves symbolically that
it was not the British who actuallywon, but the Indians
who made their victory possible.

23. Notes
356 Constructed from Lord Stanley's Statement in British
Parliament . Pages-31 to 36-Fitz Gerald and Lee-Op Cit.
Pages-4 to 58-TheRevolt in Central India-Op Cit.
357 Page-32-Fitz Gerald and Lee-Op Cit.
358 Pages-33, 34 and 35-Ibid.Pages-4 to 98-The Revolt in
Central India-Op Cit.
359 Ibid and Pages-371 & 386-C.Hibbert-OpCit..Pages-
157,158 & 159-Battlesof the Indian Mutiny-Op Cit.
360 Pages-24 to 58-TheRevolt in Central India-Op Cit.
361 Pages-34 to 79-Ibid
362 Appendix-One-Incidentsin the Sepoy War-Op Cit.
363 Ibid.
364 Page-25-The Revolt in Central India-Op Cit.
365 Pages-160 to 230-Ibid
366 Page-260-Ibid.
367 Ibid.
368 Ibid.
369 Ibid.
370 Page-202-TheCambridge History of India-The Indian
Empire-1858-1918-Op Cit.
371 Page-260 & 261-TheRevolt in Central India-Op Cit.
372 Pages-260-261 & 262-Ibid.
373 Page-326-J.W Fortescue-Vol-XIII-Op Cit.
374 Pages-260 to 264-ReturnOf Casualties in the Central

24. India Campaign-Revolt in Central India-Op Cit.Compare
these with just one engagement of the British with 500
men of the 14th Native Infantry at Jhelum in which the
British lost 44 killed and 109 wounded (See End Note
Number 210). The much projected siege of Jhansi was in
reality a minor engage- ment.
375 Page-743-Henry Beveridge-Volume-III-Op Cit.
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377 Page-251-Malleson-VolumeFive-Op Cit.
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