Capture of Delhi, 1857

Coloured lithograph by Bequet Freres after R de Moraine, published by E Morier, Paris, 1858 (c).

By 14 September 1857 the British had about 9,000 men before the rebel-held city of Delhi. A third were British while the rest were Sikhs, Punjabis and Gurkhas. The assault began when artillery breached the city walls and sappers blew in the Kashmir Gate. It took a week of vicious street fighting before Delhi was finally taken. The British and their Indian allies then ransacked the city in an orgy of looting and killing. The capture of Delhi was key to the suppression of the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859).