Leaders

Their contributions

Bakht Khan at Delhi

– Bahadur Shah served as the leader of Delhi. However, the soldiers held true power. 

– On July 3rd, 1857, Bakht Khan, who had organised the soldiers’ uprising in Bareilly, arrived in Delhi and assumed real power.

– He assembled a Court of soldiers made up of both Muslim and Hindu rebels.

Begum Hazrat Mahal at Lucknow

– Begum of Awadh provided the leadership and proclaimed her son, Birjis Kadr, the Nawab of Awadh. 

– But, Maulavi Ahmadullah of Faizabad, who organised rebellions and fought the British, was the most popular leader. 

Rani Lakshmi Bai at Jhansi

– She believed that she had been robbed of her ruling rights in defiance of recognised Hindu law and fought valiantly.

– Led the rebels in the region of Bundelkhand against the British.

– Battle: East India Company’s forces under Hugh Rose encircled the fort of Jhansi. 

• Tatya Tope and Lakshmibai successfully assaulted the British in Gwalior and proclaimed Nana Sahib as the Peshwa.

Nana Saheb at Kanpur

– Nana Saheb was the leader of the Kanpur regiment.

– He attacked the British soldiers of the 53rd Native infantry at Kanpur with Tatya Tope in June 1857.

• Attack on the British East India Company’s entrenchment under General Sir Hugh Wheeler. 
• Sir Hugh Wheeler surrendered to Nana Saheb in exchange for a secure passage to Allahabad. 

– Nana Saheb announced himself as the Peshwa or the ruler after expelling the British from Kanpur.

Kunwar Singh at Bihar

– He marched hundreds of miles to reach Mirzapur, Banda, and the area around Kanpur with a war band of Danapur sepoys and the rebel Ramgarh state battalion. 

– He reached up to Rewa state and returned to Banda and then back to Arrah, where he engaged and defeated the British troops. 

– He suffered severe injuries and passed away on April 27, 1858, in his ancestral home in the Jagdishpur village. 

Tatya Tope at Kanpur

– Rebelled against the British at Kanpur and later at Gwalior.

– He’s known for his fearsome guerilla tactics. 

– In 1857, he captured Kanpur and established the authority of Nana Sahib there. 

• But after being forced to retreat by the British at the Second Battle of Kanpur, he went to Gwalior.