Battle of Chatra | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of Indian Rebellion of 1857 | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
East India Company United Kingdom | Mutinying sepoys and rebel zamindars | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Major English Major Smith Lt. Earle | Thakur Vishwanath Shahdeo Pandey Ganpat Rai Madhav Singh | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
200 | 3000 rebels | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
56 in total. 46 Europeans and 10 Sikhs. | 150 |
The Battle of Chatra was a conflict that took place during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 between the East India Company and the mutinying sepoys who were allied certain local zamindars. The rebels had amassed a force of 3000 men and had taken the town of Chatra which is located in the Chhota Nagpur region. [1]
Two companies of the Ramgarh Battalion which were stationed in Hazaribagh revolted against the British authorities as did other troops all across North India such as in Meerut. [2] These sepoys fell under the leadership of local rebel leaders including Jaimangal Pandey and Thakur Vishwanath Shahdeo and formed a mukti vahini (people's army) and intended to overthrow the British authorities. The rebel force was planning to travel northwards to Rohtas were they would combine their forces with the rebel leader of North Bihar, Kunwar Singh. [2]
The various British forces were sent in pursuit of the rebels as they traveled northwards through Hazaribagh until they also reached Chatra. [3] The rebels received word that a clash was inevitable and fortified themselves within the town and in the process were harassing, robbing and looting the local people which caused many of them to assist the British forces. [4] This plunderous behaviour also left the rebels open to a sudden attack.
Major Smith drew a rough plan of the town and decided to attack from the South. The advanced guard located the main body of rebels and immediately a skirmish took place in the rice fields. [3] As this progressed, various skirmishes also started to place throughout the town with both sides suffering heavy losses. [5] In the end, the British forces started to attack the town from all flanks. The British took advantage of heavy tree cover on the outskirts of the town else they likely would have suffered even heavier losses. [3] Two rebel leaders, Jai Mangal Pandey and Nadir Ali were captured and quickly hanged.
Two of the major rebel leaders, Vishwanath Shahdeo [6] and Ganpat Rai managed to escape and continued to harass the British forces before being captured in 1858 and hanged. [7]
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major, but ultimately unsuccessful, uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the Company's army in the garrison town of Meerut, 40 mi (64 km) northeast of Delhi. It then erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and east. The rebellion posed a considerable threat to British power in that region, and was contained only with the rebels' defeat in Gwalior on 20 June 1858. On 1 November 1858, the British granted amnesty to all rebels not involved in murder, though they did not declare the hostilities to have formally ended until 8 July 1859. Its name is contested, and it is variously described as the Sepoy Mutiny, the Indian Mutiny, the Great Rebellion, the Revolt of 1857, the Indian Insurrection, and the First War of Independence.
Mangal Pandey: The Rising is a 2005 Indian historical biographical drama film based on the life of Mangal Pandey, an Indian soldier known for helping to spark the Indian rebellion of 1857.
Hazaribagh is a city and a municipal corporation in Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is the divisional headquarters of North Chotanagpur division. It is considered as a health resort and is also popular for Hazaribagh Wildlife Sanctuary. It is represented in the Indian Lok Sabha by its Member of Parliament Jayant Sinha.
Mangal Pandey was an Indian soldier who played a key part in the events immediately preceding the outbreak of the Indian rebellion of 1857. He was a sepoy (infantryman) in the 34th Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) regiment of the British East India Company. In 1984, the Indian government issued a postage stamp to remember him. His life and actions have also been portrayed in several cinematic productions.
Chatra district is one of the twenty-four districts of Jharkhand state, India. The district was formed after separation from Hazaribagh district in 1991. Chatra is the administrative headquarters of this district. The district covers an area of 3706 km2.
The Santhal rebellion, was a rebellion in present-day Jharkhand, Eastern India against both the East India Company (EIC) and zamindari system by the Santhal. It started on June 30, 1855 and on November 10, 1855, martial law was proclaimed by the East India Company which lasted until January 3, 1856 when martial law was suspended and the rebellion was eventually suppressed by the Presidency armies. The rebellion was led by the four Murmu Brothers - Sidhu, Kanhu, Chand and Bhairav.
Shaikh Paltu was a soldier (sepoy) with the British East India Company who served in the 34th Bengal Native Infantry in March 1857, shortly before widespread discontent broke out in the Bengal Army. When on March 29, Sepoy Mangal Pandey of the same regiment attacked a British officer, it was Shaikh Paltu, who saved the life of the adjutant by seizing Mangal Pandey. The sepoys of the quarter guard on duty and others present refused to take any action against their comrade and remained as "idle spectators of a murderous assault".
The region have been inhabited since the Stone Age. Copper tools from the Chalcolithic period have been discovered. This area entered the Iron Age during the mid-2nd millennium BCE.
Kunwar Singh was a leader during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. He belonged to a family of the Ujjainiya clan of the Parmar Rajputs of Jagdispur, currently a part of Bhojpur district, Bihar, India. At the age of 80, he led a selected band of armed soldiers against the troops under the command of the British East India Company. He was the chief organiser of the fight against the British in Bihar. He is popularly known as Veer Kunwar Singh.
Babu Amar Singh was a revolutionary in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the brother of Babu Kunwar Singh, the zamindar of Jagdishpur.
Ranchi district is one among the twenty-four districts of the state of Jharkhand in Eastern India. This region was under the control of the Magadha Empire, then it was a part of the Mauryan Empire under Ashoka and later a part of the Gupta Empire. After the fall of the Gupta Empire a legendary king named Phanimukut established the Nagvanshi dynasty and controlled the Chota Nagpur plateau region for several centuries thereafter.
This is a list of successful candidates from constituencies in Bihar in the 1977 general elections to the 5th Lok Sabha, the lower house of the parliament of India.
Purbiya was a common term used in medieval India for Rajput and Brahmin led mercenaries and soldiers from the eastern Gangetic Plain - areas corresponding to present-day western Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh. The Purbiyas played a significant role in the militaries of various principalities in Western India including the Marwar army.
Nagpuri or Nagpuria, historically referred to as Sadan, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who traditionally speak Nagpuri as their native language and reside in western Chota Nagpur Plateau region of Indian state Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
Sadan are the Indo-Aryan-speaking ethnolinguistic groups of Jharkhand and neighbouring states who speak Nagpuri, Khortha, Panchpargania and Kurmali language as their native language.
Hare Krishna Singh was the commander-in-chief of Kunwar Singh's forces in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and also served under his brother Babu Amar Singh.
Vishwanath Shahdeo was the king of Barkagarh estate and a rebel in the Indian rebellion of 1857. He and his followers attacked a force of the British East India Company in Ranchi and caused the British to flee. He was eventually caught, found guilty of treason and was hung from a tree along with his accomplices.
Pandey Ganpat Rai (1809-1858) was a revolutionary and rebel leader in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and a chieftain in Lohardaga district of Bihar.
Nilamber and Pitamber were freedom fighters from Jharkhand. They were brothers who led a revolt against the East India Company in 1857. They were born in a Chemo-Senya village to a family of a Bhogta clan of the Kharwar tribe in Latehar district. Their father, Chemu Singh, was Jagirdar. They decided to declare themselves independent from company rule. They got inspired by the Doronda Revolt in Ranchi led by Thakur Vishwanath Shahdeo and Pandey Ganpat Rai. Chero Jagirdar Devi Baksh Rai joined them.