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Wholesale Slaughter at Delhi: British Vengeance Surpasses Nadir Shah
September 20After hand to hand fighting on the streets, Delhi today fell to the British. The first impulse of the victors was to raze the entire city to the ground including Jama Masjid and the Red Fort.
The wholesale slaughter of men, women and children followed. Old and young, sick and wounded, none were spared and all were put to the sword.
Chandni Chowk received a special “privilege.” Gallows were erected all along this road and people were hanged in dozen at a time.
This is what Lord Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay wrote to Sir John Lawrence on hearing about the massacre in Delhi “After the siege was over, the outrages committed by our army are simply heartrending. Wholesale vengeance is being taken without distinction of friend or foe. As regards the looting, we have indeed surpassed Nadir Shah.”
[…] the British recaptured Delhi, they went from house to house looking for mutineers (which meant any man who could breath); women and children had to leave the houses so British can look for […]
William Dalrymple’s book covers the horrors of the capture and sack of Delhi in considerable detail.
Yes. But fifty years back Mr N K Nigam covered this subjecr excellently in his book “Delhii in 1857″ , published by S Chand and Co, Delhi.,1957. Dalrymple has not brought any facts which are not already known.
Is Nigam’s book still in print ? Is there a book on the action in Lucknow and elsewhere ?
Nigam’s book is quite rare and out of print. One may not even get it easily at the libraries.As regards the sack of Lucknow read William Howard Russell’s My Diary in India in the year 1858-59 (Two Volumes, London, 1860). In Chapter XX of the Volume I, one would find a graphic description of the sack of Lucknow. Russell, an Irish journalist was the world’s first war cprrespondent having first covered the Crimean War He was sent by the Times of London to India to report on the “Mutiny”.For Kanpur read Manohar Malgonkar’s invaluable The Devil’s Wind ,The Viking Press, New York.1972..Though it is a fictioalised account of the story of Nana Sahib, this immensely readable book is largely based on facts..
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