page_title: Central Indian campaign of 1858
section_title: Outbreak of the Rebellion
hierarchical_section_title: Central Indian campaign of 1858 / Outbreak of the Rebellion
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of Lakshmibai, the Ranee of Jhansi, (1850s or 1860s). Probably done after her death (June 1858): she wears a valuable pearl necklace and a cavalrywoman's uniform
context_page_description: The Central India Campaign was one of the last series of actions in the Indian rebellion of 1857. A small British and Indian Army overcame a disunited collection of states in a single rapid campaign, although determined rebels continued a guerrilla campaign until the spring of 1859.
context_section_description: The area known to the British at the time as Central India is now occupied by parts of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan states. A large part of it was included in the region of Bundelkhand named after its former Bundela rulers. In 1857, it was administered as the Central India Agency and consisted of six large and almost 150 small states, nominally ruled by Maratha or Mughal princes, but actually controlled to a greater or lesser degree by Residents or Commissioners appointed by the British East India Company. Opposition to British control centred on the state of Jhansi, where the Rani Lakshmibai, widow of the last Maratha prince, opposed the British annexation of the state under the notorious doctrine of lapse. (Jhansi and Lalitpur districts are now in the state of Uttar Pradesh.)
  The loyalty of the Indian soldiers (sepoys) of the East India Company's Bengal Army had been under increasing strain over the previous decade, and on 10 May 1857, the sepoys at Meerut, north of Delhi, broke into open rebellion. News of this outbreak spread rapidly, and most other units of the Bengal Army also rebelled.
  Nine regiments of Bengal Native Infantry and three of cavalry were stationed in Central India. There was also a large Gwalior Contingent, raised largely from Oudh (or Awadh) and similar in organisation to the irregular units of the Bengal Army, but in the service of the Maharajah Jayajirao Scindia of Gwalior, who remained allied to the British. Almost all these units rose up against their officers during June and July. There were very few British units to oppose them, and Central India fell entirely out of British control.
  At Jhansi, British officers, civilians and dependents took shelter in a nearby fort on 5 June. They emerged three days later after being assured of their safety and were immediately murdered by the rebellious sepoys and irregulars. Rani Lakshmibai had no complicity in this act but was nevertheless blamed by the British (the rebels were then the only armed force in the city and no British forces were there to oppose them).
  Over the next few months, most of the former Company regiments marched to take part in the Siege of Delhi, where they were eventually defeated. The Gwalior Contingent remained largely inactive until October, when they were led to defeat at Cawnpore by Tantya Tope. These defeats deprived the rebels of a substantial body of trained and experienced troops, and made the subsequent British campaign easier. Meanwhile, most of the now independent princes began raising levies and warring with each other, or demanding ransoms from each other on threat of force. The Nawab of Banda, who induced several units of sepoys to join his service on the promise of loot, appears to have been particularly rapacious.
  One Mughal prince, Firuz Shah, attempted to lead an army into the Bombay Presidency to the south, but was defeated by a small force under the acting Commissioner for Central India, Sir Henry Durand. Durand then overawed the Holkar Tukojirao II (the ruler of Indore in southern Central India), into surrender.
caption: Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi.
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