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, India Result Rebel victory
Belligerents
East India Company	Nana Sahib's forces Rebel Company soldiers
Commanders and leaders
Hugh Wheeler † John Moore †	Nana Sahib 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 Bibi Ghar. 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 Bibi Ghar 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!".