Cawnpore, 1858

Photograph by Felice Beato (1825-1907), Indian Mutiny (1857-1858), 1858.

Cawnpore (Kanpur), a strategic city on the River Ganges and Lucknow-Jhansi road, became the site of some of the uprising's most terrible deeds. The rebellion reached the city by June 1857 and under the command of Major-General Sir Hugh Wheeler (1789-1857) the British retreated to a fortified encampment where they endured a three-week siege in frightful conditions. When offered safe passage the British accepted, only for them to be massacred as they tried to depart by boat. This picture is reputedly of the location of the massacre on the River Ganges.

Women and children who survived the massacre were imprisoned. On 15 July, when news of the approach of a British relief force reached the city, they were murdered and thrown down a well.

Cawnpore was soon recaptured and the horrors of the massacre were revealed. More than anything else this deed inspired the terrible vengeance, which became known as 'The Devil's Wind' that the British wrought upon the Indian rebels.