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British Retaliation : Burning of the villages
July 2After the sepoys left from Mhow, the British let loose a wave of horror.
Captain Hungerford, who was in charge of a mixed battery of artillery took charge and arrogated to himself the role of the Agent to the Governor General and adopted the policy of slaughter and mayhem. He proclaimed martial law and began destroying all the villages surrounding Mhow. Village after village was set on fire and innocent peasants were butchered mercilessly. Gallows were erected outside the fort gate and scores of innocent people along with the guilty, were hanged.
The Europeans have now declared that “Mercy is a word we have scratched out of our memories; in fact mercy to them is death to us”.
Author RG
Why would sepoys leave the british officers behind and not eliminate them or confine them? Wasn’t Mhow under the Rebel Sepoy control at that time?
There was already some apprehension in the British mind about an impending ‘mutiny ‘ therefore the Eropeans, along with their families had taken refuge in the fort of Mhow and it was impossible for the sepoys to storm the fort. Subsequent the nationalist forces left for Delhi while
the Europeans, 80 of them, maintained their position in the fort till the a force from Bombay arrived and reoccupied the region.
Subedar Gatam Gupta