TODAY IN HISTORY, JUNE 25: BRITISH DEFENDERS OF CAWNPORE MASSACRED AFTER THEY SURRENDER; A GALVANIZING INCIDENT IN THE GREAT MUTINY, 1857! After enduring a 20 day siege at Cawnpore, General Sir Hugh Wheeler surrenders to Sepoy mutineers and native rebels; under offer of safe conduct. As the British officers and dependents board barges waiting to take them down-river to safety, they are fired upon by artillery and musketry. Only 6 of the British officers escape, while 120 women and children were taken hostage. Within weeks, a British rescue column (including the 78th Highlanders) led by Sir Henry Havelock was relentlessly closing on Cawnpore. After defeating two Indian armies sent to stop them, the Mutineer leader, Nana Sahib, allowed (or ordered) the hostages to be murdered. The Sepoy soldiers sent to execute the prisoners quickly became disgusted and refused to kill women and children. Butchers from the market were brought in to finish the job with cleavers. The dismembered bodies were then dumped into a well or into the Ganges. Upon arriving at Cawnpore, Havelocks men encountered a scene of utter horror: walls bespattered with blood; piles of childrens clothing and severed womens hair blew on the wind and lodged in tree branches around the compound; the tree in the courtyard nearest the well was smeared with the brains of numerous children and infants who had been dashed headfirst against the trunk before being thrown down the well; and the well itself, filled to capacity with body parts. The enraged British took out their fury on the townsmen (who they blamed for supplying the butchers and failing to speak out against Nana Sahibs outrages. Mutineers captured nearby were swiftly executed, by being tied to the muzzle of cannons and blown to pieces (a practice that would be repeated throughout the Mutiny thereafter). The massacre galvanized British righteous indignation and determination to crush the Mutiny; as their battle cry became, Remember Cawnpore!
Posted on: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 02:36:39 +0000
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