1857 Uprising: ‘The Outburst’ in Haryana

Abstract

A study of the events at both Ambala and Meerut indicates that the sepoys’ plan was to rise in revolt while the Europeans were attending the Sunday church services. They wanted to catch them, unaware and unguarded. The uprising of the sepoys at Ambala in the morning and at Meerut in the evening is explained by this fact. The rest of the details of the uprising were to be worked out locally by the leaders in the two cantonments. The existence of a premeditated plan of rising at Meerut—the 20th N.I. and 11th N.I. would rise and the 3rd Light Cavalry would follow them after releasing their fellows from the jail, was confessed by a native officer of the 3rd L.C. to Lt. Gough. The final part of the plan involved going to Delhi after completely destroying the Europeans at the two stations. The British were, however, too alert to be caught napping at Ambala, and the sepoys failed to translate their plans into action. But they succeeded at Meerut. Had the Ambala troops succeeded like those at Meerut, the British would have found their work of a century undone overnight.