page_title: Sikandar Bagh
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Sikandar Bagh / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: Interior of the Secundra Bagh after the Slaughter of 2,000 Rebels by the 93rd Highlanders and 4th Punjab Regiment. First Attack of Sir Colin Campbell in November 1857, Lucknow. Albumen silver print, by Felice Beato, 1858. Located on the outskirts of Lucknow, it was the scene of intense fighting in November, 1857. Following the action, the British dead were buried in a deep trench but the Indian corpses were left to rot. Later, the city had to be evacuated and was not recaptured until March 1858 and it was shortly afterwards that Beato probably took this photograph. As one contemporary commentator described it: "A few of their [rebel] bones and skulls are to be seen in front of the picture, but when I saw them every one was being regularly buried, so I presume the dogs dug them up." A British officer, Sir George Campbell, noted in his memoirs Beato's presence in Lucknow and stated that he probably had the bones uncovered to be photographed. However, William Howard Russell of The Times recorded seeing many skeletons still lying around in April 1858 Photographic views of Lucknow taken after the Indian Mutiny, Albumen silver print 26.2 x 29.8 cm. The image was taken by Felice Beato, a Corfiote by birth, who visited India during the period of the Indian Mutiny or First War of Indian Independence; possibly on a commissioned by the War Office in London he made documentary photographs showing the damage to the buildings in Lucknow following the two sieges. It is known that he was in Lucknow in March and April of 1858 within a few weeks of the capture of that city by British forces under Sir Colin Campbell. His equipment was a large box camera using 10" x 12" plates which needed a long exposure, and he made over 60 photographs of places in the city connected with the military events. Beato also visited Delhi, Cawnpore and other 'Mutiny' sites where he took photographs.
context_page_description: Sikandar Bagh, formerly known by the British as Sikunder/Sikandra/Secundra Bagh, is a villa and garden enclosed by a fortified wall, with loopholes, gateway and corner bastions, approx. 150 yards square, c. 4.5 acres, located in the city of Lucknow, Oudh, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was built by the last Nawab of Oudh, Wajid Ali Shah, as a summer residence. The name of the villa signifies '"Garden of Sikandar", perhaps after Alexander the Great, whose name lives on in this form in these parts, or perhaps after Sikandar Mahal Begum, the Nawab's favourite wife. It was stormed in 1857 by the British during the Indian Rebellion and witnessed within its walls the slaughter of all 2,200 sepoy mutineers who had made it a stronghold during their Siege of Lucknow. The site now houses the National Botanical Research Institute of India.
context_section_description: After the fighting, the British and loyal native Punjab Infantry dead were buried in a deep trench. Later elephants were used to drag the corpses of the mutineers out of the Sikandar Bagh, where they were slightly covered over in a ditch which they themselves had recently dug outside the north wall in order to strengthen the defences.
  The 4th Punjab Infantry remained quartered in the Sikandar Bagh until Lucknow was evacuated by the British 11 days later on 27 November, while the Commander-in-Chief and his staff occupied a site to the west of the gate, under the south wall, from 18 to 22 November. 
  In early 1858 Felice Beato photographed the Sikandar Bagh, showing skeletal remains strewn across the grounds of the interior. These were apparently disinterred or rearranged to heighten the photograph's dramatic impact.
caption: Interior of the Sikandar Bagh, scene of the slaughter of 2,200 mutineers by the 93rd Highlanders and 4th Punjab Infantry. Note skulls on ground (staged). Photo by Felice Beato in 1858
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