Battle of Najafgarh The Battle of Najafgarh was an engagement during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 , or " First War of Indian Independence " as it has since been termed in Indian histories of the events . It was a subsidiary event of the Siege of Delhi . A large Indian force sortied from Delhi , intending to attack the rear of the British force besieging the city . A detachment from the besiegers marched to intercept them , and defeated them while they were disordered by difficult terrain and by quarrels among their commanders . Siege of Delhi . During the earliest days of the Rebellion , sepoy s ( Indian soldiers ) of the British East India Company ' s Bengal Army stationed at Meerut rose in revolt against their British officers , and marched to Delhi . When they arrived there , they were joined by mobs from the city and sepoys from regiments stationed near Delhi . They captured the city on 11 May 1857 , killing British officers and civilians . They proclaimed themselves to be at the disposal of the Mughal Emperor , Bahadur Shah II , who reluctantly gave his support to the rebellion . News of the restoration of the Empire ' s authority induced many other regiments of sepoys , and other irregular bodies , to rebel and to march to Delhi . A small British force advanced on Delhi and occupied a ridge outside the city , where they awaited reinforcements before they could consider storming the city . Sepoys and other forces repeatedly attacked the ridge but were defeated and driven back into Delhi . There was no coordinated leadership among the Indians at first ; each sepoy regiment refused to accept orders from the officers of other regiments , and although Bahadur Shah appointed his son Mirza Mughal as Commander in Chief of his armies , Mirza Mughul had no military experience and was ignored by most of the sepoys . On 1 July , the sepoy regiments which had rebelled at Bareilly arrived in Delhi , together with 4 , 000 Muslim ghazis . They were led by Bakht Khan , a veteran artillery officer of the East India Company . Pleased with the numbers of troops ( and treasure ) he had brought , Bahadur Shah appointed him Commander of his armies . However , the officers of other sepoy regiments were jealous of his authority . Under Bakht Khan ' s direction , a major attack was launched on the British positions on 9 July , but was driven back after coming close to success . By the end of the month , after further attacks had failed , Bakht Khan ' s critics induced Bahadur Shah to place a committee of ten men headed by Mirza Mughal at the head of the army . Indian movements . By mid - August , the last substantial reinforcements of sepoys had reached Delhi , but large numbers of sepoys had become discouraged by successive failures , quarrels among their commanders and shortage of supplies , and were deserting . Bakht Khan belatedly suggested attacking the rear of the British position . A large detachment would leave the city and head west , as if making for Jaipur , but instead double back to cross the Jumna Canal , which protected the British rear , at a bridge at Najafgarh . The force left Delhi on 24 August , in heavy rain . It consisted of the sepoy regiments which had moved to Delhi from Bareilly , Nasirabad and Nimach , and numbered about 8 , 000 in total , with 13 guns . They reached the Jumna Canal late that day , but found that the bridge at Palam which they intended to use had been destroyed earlier by the British . They had anticipated this , but it took them 24 hours to repair the bridge properly , during which the troops were drenched by rain and had no food , as supplies in Delhi were very short . On 25 August , the Nimach brigade of sepoys led the advance , skirting the edge of the Najafgarh " jhil " ( swamp ) . British moves . Bakht Khan ' s attack had been launched at least ten days too late . On 14 August , the British had been reinforced by the " Punjab Moveable Column " , numbering 4 , 200 and consisting of British , Sikh and Punjabi units . Its commander was Brigadier John Nicholson , who was well known as a forceful and uncompromising soldier , in contrast to the nervous and infirm commander of the troops on Delhi Ridge , Major General Archdale Wilson . On 24 August , Bakht Khan ' s force was seen departing Delhi and moving west . Nicholson was detached to intercept them . He set out early on 25 August . Sir Theophilus Metcalfe , the former Chief Magistrate of Delhi , who had narrowly escaped from the city on 11 May , accompanied him as a guide . In spite of the heavy rain and floods , Nicholson drove his men to make a rapid march . By 4 . 00 pm , Metcalfe had discovered the position of the Nimach troops . Their main body , with four guns , occupied a caravanserai , behind a stream . Nine more guns were posted between the serai and the bridge at Palam . Most of the exhausted Indian troops were pitching camp , and had piled their arms and equipment . Battle . The Indians ' guns covered the bridge over the stream , but Nicholson ' s troops crossed by a ford upstream , and formed up in two lines while the British artillery shelled the serai . Nicholson sounded the advance , and himself led the 61st Foot and 1st Bengal Fusiliers as they charged across of mud to storm the serai . On their right , the 2nd Punjab Infantry ( Greene ' s Rifles ) attacked the village of Najafgarh itself . As they tried to retreat , the Nimach troops suffered heavy casualties from artillery fire as they tried to cross or skirt the Najafgarh swamp . The survivors were rescued by the Nasirabad brigade , which advanced on the British right . The Punjab infantry lost their commanding officer and were held up until the 61st went to their aid . However , Bakht Khan did not move his own Bareilly brigade forward , instead retiring to Delhi once the routed Nimach soldiers retreated through his position . The British had captured all Bakht Khan ' s guns , and inflicted heavy casualties . Nevertheless , Nicholson had not been aware of the presence of the Bareilly brigade at Palam , and was disappointed not to have been able to attack them the next day . He complained to his friend John Lawrence , the Commissioner for the Punjab , " . . . I had no information , not even a guide I did not pick up for myself on the road " . Results and aftermath . The British rejoiced at their first definite success against a rebel force in the field for over two months . On the Indian side , the sepoys became increasingly disillusioned . Their defeat had been caused largely by poor administration , which left the troops hungry and exposed to the monsoon rains , and quarrels among their commanders . Only three days before the battle , the commanders of the Nimach troops ( General Sudhari Singh and Brigade Major Hira Singh ) had attempted to depose Bakht Khan from his command , and Bakht Khan ' s refusal to move to their aid when they came under attack caused further dissensions .