Siege of Multan The Siege of Multan was a prolonged contest between the city and state of Multan and the British East India Company . The siege lasted between 19 April 1848 , when a rebellion in the city against a ruler imposed by the East India Company precipitated the Second Anglo - Sikh War , and 22 January 1849 , when the last defenders surrendered . Background . Multan had been captured and incorporated into the Sikh Empire of Ranjit Singh in 1818 . In 1845 , although the population was almost entirely Moslem , it was ruled by a Hindu vassal , Dewan Mulraj . In that year , the First Anglo - Sikh War broke out , and was won by the British East India Company . There was an uneasy peace for three years , during which Mulraj attempted to maintain practical independence while being nominally subject to the East India Company . In 1848 , Multan had a population of 80 , 000 . It was the centre of trade for a wide region , and was renowned for its wealth . There were large stores of spices , silks and valuables . Early in 1848 , the newly appointed Commissioner in the Punjab , Sir Frederick Currie , demanded that Mulraj pay duties and taxes previously paid to the central Durbar of the Sikh Empire and now in arrears . Mulraj attempted to forestall a complete annexation of Multan by abdicating in favour of his son . Currie nevertheless decided to impose a compliant Sikh ruler , Sardar Khan Singh , who was to be accompanied by a British Political Agent , Patrick Vans Agnew . The revolt in Multan . On 18 April , Vans Agnew and another officer , Lieutenant Anderson from the East India Company ' s Bombay Army , arrived outside Multan with a small escort of Gurkha s . The next day , Mulraj conducted Khan Singh and the two British officers to the citadel and handed over the keys , with no sign of hostility . As the two officers began to ride out of the citadel , a soldier from Mulraj ' s army attacked Vans Agnew . This may have been the sign for a concerted attack , as a mob surrounded and attacked them . Mulraj ' s troops either stood by , or joined the mob . Both officers were wounded , and they and Khan Singh retired to a Mosque outside the city , where Anderson wrote a plea for help . A despatch rider carried it to Currie in Lahore , while a second took a copy via a different route , across the Indus River . During the night , most of Vans Agnew ' s escort left . Next morning , the mob pushed Khan Singh aside and hacked the two British officers to death . Mulraj had probably not been a party to the conspiracy among his own troops . He nevertheless regarded himself as committed to rebellion by their actions . He presented Vans Agnew ' s head to Khan Singh and told him to take it back to Currie . The Battle of Kineyri . The British Political Agent in Bannu , Lieutenant Herbert Edwardes , took the first steps to suppress Mulraj ' s revolt . He intercepted the second copy of Vans Agnew ' s letter to Currie , and immediately began to concentrate troops . He , and other junior British officers were to be frustrated by Currie in Lahore , who proposed to do nothing during the Hot Weather and Monsoon seasons . This was partly for reasons of economy and lack of preparation , but he was supported by the Governor General of Bengal , Lord Dalhousie and the Commander - in - Chief of the Bengal Army , Sir Hugh Gough , who did not wish to expose European troops to a campaign during the harsh weather . Meanwhile , Mulraj was reinforced by several other regiments of the Khalsa , the former army of the Sikh kingdom , which rebelled or deserted . He also took other measures to strengthen his defences , digging up guns which had previously been buried and enlisting more troops . In early June , Edwardes began to lead an army against Multan . On 18 June , his leading troops ( Pashtun irregulars ) crossed the Chenab River on a ferry boat . They were engaged by Mulraj ' s artillery and forced to take cover for several hours . Mulraj ' s infantry and cavalry began to advance but Edwardes was reinforced by two regiments of the former Khalsa under Colonel Van Cortlandt , an Anglo - Indian soldier of fortune . Van Cortlandt ' s artillery caused heavy losses among the Multani troops and Edwardes ' s Pashtuns counter - attacked . Mulraj ' s forces retreated to Multan , having suffered 500 casualties and lost six guns . Sher Singh ' s defection . Once Currie learned of this victory , he at last ordered a comparatively small force from the East India Company ' s Bengal Army under General Whish to begin the siege of Multan . As it was too small to encircle the city , Currie decided to reinforce them and Edwardes with a substantial detachment of the Khalsa under Sher Singh Attariwalla . The appointment of Sher Singh alarmed many junior Political Agents , as his father , Chattar Singh Attariwalla , was apparently openly preparing to revolt in Hazara to the north of the Punjab . Despite warnings , Currie nevertheless ordered a detachment from Chattar Singh ' s army under his second in command , Jundial Singh , to reinforce Sher Singh . This allowed Jundial Singh and other officers to influence Sher Singh and spread disaffection among his regiments . At this stage the besiegers consisted of Whish ' s division ( 8 , 089 men , 32 siege guns , 12 horse artillery guns ) , Edwardes ' s irregulars ( 4 , 033 cavalry and 7 , 718 infantry ) , a contingent from the Moslem state of Bahawalpur ( 1 , 900 cavalry and 5 , 700 infantry ) and Sher Singh ' s force ( 3 , 382 cavalry and 909 infantry ) . On 14 September , Sher Singh openly rebelled against the East India Company . This left the East India Company ' s forces too weak to maintain the siege , and they were forced to retreat . Most of Edwardes ' s troops and the Bahawalpur troops dispersed to their homes . Sher Singh and Mulraj nevertheless were not prepared to cooperate . At a meeting at a neutral mosque outside the city , it was agreed that Sher Singh would move north into the mainly Sikh - populated areas of the Punjab . The Siege . Late in November , Whish was reinforced by a substantial force from the East India Company ' s Bombay Army . Some observers claimed that the sepoy s of the Bombay contingent , being of generally lower caste than those of the Bengal Army , were more willing and skilled at comparatively menial tasks such as digging trenches . Whish ' s combined force amounted to 32 , 000 , of which 15 , 000 were from the British Army or European ( mainly Irish ) troops of the Bengal and Bombay armies . He also had 150 pieces of artillery , many of which were heavy guns or mortars . It was comparatively easy to supply this large force , as Multan lay near the Indus River , and steamships could bring supplies some way up the river and to within a short distance of the city . Inside the city , Mulraj commanded 12 , 000 troops , with 54 guns and 12 mortars . ( Some sources state that 80 guns were mounted in the citadel , though some of these may have been obsolete or decorative pieces ) . On 27 December , Whish ordered four columns of troops to attack the suburbs . Mulraj ' s forces were driven back into the city , and Whish ' s force set up batteries 500 yards from the city walls . Under cover of their fire , breaching batteries were set up only 80 yards from the walls , and created two breaches in them while causing great damage in the city . On 30 December , the main magazine in the citadel exploded , killing 800 of the defenders . Mulraj nevertheless maintained his fire and sent a defiant message to Whish , stating that he still had enough powder to last a year . He attempted to mount a sortie against the besiegers on 31 December but this was driven back . Whish ordered a general assault on 2 January 1849 . The attackers successfully scaled the breaches , and the battle became a bloody house - to - house fight in the city , in which many defenders and civilians were killed indiscriminately . Whish ordered the civilians to be herded into the main square ; he may have intended to spare them from further fighting but the action of corralling them was also accompanied by further casualties . With the fall of the city , only the already - scarred citadel remained , but it held out for another fortnight against heavy bombardment . On 18 January , Whish ' s sappers exploded three mines under its walls , causing heavy losses and destroying large sections of its walls . Mulraj offered to surrender if his life was spared , but Whish insisted on unconditional surrender , and on 22 January , Mulraj gave himself up , with 550 men . Aftermath . Corporal John Ryder of the ( European ) Bombay Fusiliers later wrote of the city after the siege , The British gained vast quantities of loot . Mulraj ' s treasury was worth three million pounds , a huge sum for the time . There was also much looting in the town , by both British and Indian soldiers . With the fall of Multan , Whish ' s army was able to reinforce the main Bengal Army force under Sir Hugh Gough . Whish ' s heavy guns were decisive at the Battle of Gujarat , which effectively broke Sher Singh ' s and Chattar Singh ' s armies and ended the war . Mulraj was placed on trial for the murders of Vans Agnew and Anderson . He was cleared of premeditated murder , but was found guilty of being an accessory after the fact , in that he had rewarded the murderers and openly used the deaths as pretext for rebellion . ( Under British law at the time , an " accessory after the fact " of a crime was liable to the same punishment as the criminal . ) Mulraj was sentenced to death , but the sentence was later commuted to exile for life . In August 1849 , the Indus and Chenab rivers overflowed , and the heavily damaged citadel was washed away , eventually resembling an " island of mud " amidst the floods .