Siege of Cawnpore

Siege of Cawnpore
Part of the Indian Rebellion of 1857
A contemporary engraving of the massacre at the Satichura Ghat
Date 5–25 June 1857 Location Cawnpore, United Provinces, Company Rule in India Result Rebel victory Surrender and killing of the besieged Company forces and non-combatants Recapture of Cawnpore and violent reprisals by the Company forces
Belligerents
East India Company	Nana Sahib's forces Rebel Company soldiers
Commanders and leaders
Major General Sir Hugh Wheeler † Brigadier Alexander Jack † Major Edward Vibart † Captain John Moore †	Nana Sahib Azimullah Khan Yusufzai Tantya Tope Bala Rao
Strength
Around 900 including civilians and 300 soldiers	Around 4,000 rebels
Casualties and losses
All, except five men and two women	Unknown

The siege of Cawnpore was a key episode in the Indian rebellion of 1857. The besieged East India Company forces and civilians in Cawnpore (now Kanpur) were duped into a false assurance of a safe passage to Allahabad by the rebel forces under Nana Sahib. Their evacuation from Cawnpore thus turned into a massacre, and most of the men were killed and women and children taken to a nearby dwelling known as Bibighur. As an East India Company rescue force from Allahabad approached Cawnpore, 120 British women and children captured by the rebels were butchered in what came to be known as the Bibighar Massacre, their remains then thrown down a nearby well.^[1] Following the recapture of Cawnpore and the discovery of the massacre, the angry Company forces engaged in widespread retaliation against captured rebel soldiers and local civilians. The murders greatly enraged the British rank-and-file against the Sepoy rebels and inspired the war cry "Remember Cawnpore!".