The Siege of Jhansi
The British took Jhansi by storm in April 1858, and have been arguing about its ruler ever since. The state had been annexed in 1853 under the doctrine of lapse: its raja died leaving an adopted son rather than a natural heir, and the Company refused to recognise the adoption. His widow Lakshmibai petitioned against it, lost, and was granted a pension and the palace. When the rebellion reached Jhansi in June 1857 the European garrison and their families were killed after being promised safe conduct. What Lakshmibai's part in that was is the question nobody has settled. She wrote to the British authorities immediately afterwards saying she had been forced by the mutineers, asked for instructions, and administered the state for the next nine months in the absence of any other government - which is either the conduct of a loyal subject or of a ruler taking her state back, and the evidence supports both readings. Hugh Rose's column arrived in March 1858 and besieged the fort. A relieving force under Tantia Tope was beaten on the Betwa, the walls were breached, and the city was taken and sacked with heavy civilian casualties. Lakshmibai escaped over the wall at night on horseback. She was killed in June at Gwalior, fighting in cavalry dress, at about twenty-nine. Rose wrote that she was the best and bravest of the rebel leaders. She became the central figure of Indian nationalist memory of 1857, and the argument about whether she chose the rebellion or was carried into it has run for a century and a half.
- Year: 1858 CE
- Category: Military
