VELLORE MUTINY, 1806

The Vellore Mutiny, which occurred in 1806 is the first in the sort. The soldiers of India launched an aggressive rebellion against the East India Company. The Vellore Mutiny took place in the South Indian city of Vellore in 1806. The capture of the Vellore fort was made as well as two hundred British troops were massacred, over the period of 24 hours.  It was conducted by Arcot’s cavalry and artillery. 

CAUSES OF VELLORE MUTINY, 1806-

• The immediate reason for the Vellore mutiny, in 1806 was displeasure over revisions to the sepoy clothing code, which had been implemented in November 1805.
• While on duty, Hindus were not allowed to wear religious symbols on their foreheads, and compelled the Muslims to cut and trim their beards and moustaches.
• General Sir John Craddock who was the Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army, ordered the soldiers wear a round hat similar to those worn by Europeans and Indians who have converted to Christianity at the period. The new hat, which incorporated a leather cockade, was meant to take the place of the previous turban.  Hindu and Muslim sepoys were angered by these actions, which went against a military board’s earlier warning.
• Since their previous patrons vanished, the sepoys were obliged to serve under the Company. The patrons in the past were their Kinsmen, while the British were strangers. The inability to assimilate resulted in a rise in anti-British sentiment.
• The English considered the Indian sepoys as second-class citizens. Then there was the issue of racial discrimination. The psychological foundation for the mutiny was established as a result of this. 

COURSE OF THE VELLORE MUTINY, 1806

Vellore, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, was the scene of the uprising.

Sir John Cradock and Lord Howdon, the commander in chief at Madras, issued some illogical instructions to govern the Sepoys’ dress.

Turbans were to be changed to resemble more like British helmets, according to the directives.

Aside from that, Hindu Brahmin Sepoys were required to wear caste markings on their foreheads, while Muslims were told to shave their beards.

The sepoys perceived themselves to be “Christianized,” which prompted a sense of resistance.

A mob assembled at midnight on July 10, 1806, commanded by one of Tipu Sultan’s sons, with sepoys among them.The act of defiance was brief, lasting about one day. It was a long day, but it was awful. Around 200 British troops were killed or wounded when the sepoys stormed the Vellore Fort. They raised the flag of the Mysore Sultanate after massacring the Europeans. The mutiny was put down by Arcot’s cavalry and artillery. Many of the recalcitrant sepoys were eventually executed, and others were court-martialed.

OUTBURST OF THE VELLORE MUTINY, 1806-

In July 1806 the Vellore Fort was garrisoned by four British infantry companies from H.M. 69th (South Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot and three Madras infantry battalions: the 1st/1st, 2nd/1st, and 2nd/23rd Madras Native Infantry.  In Vellore, sepoys with families used to dwell in single huts located outside the walls. However, because the Madras forces enjoyed a field day on the 10th of July,  many sepoys had to sleep in the fort so that they could be called on parade before daylight.

On the 10th of July, two hours past midnight, the sepoys slaughtered fourteen officers and 115 soldiers from the 69th Regiment, the majority of whom were sleeping in their barracks. Colonel St. John Fancourt, the fort’s commander, was among those murdered. By sunrise, the rebels had taken control of the fort and placed the Mysore Sultanate flag above it. Tipu’s second son Fateh Hyder’s retainers appeared from the royal section of the building and joined the mutineers.

Major Coopes, a British officer, spent the night outside the fort walls and had the chance to inform the troops in Arcot. A relief party consisting of the British 19th Light Dragoons, galloper cannons, and a squadron of Madras cavalry rode from Arcot to Vellore nine hours after the mutiny began, travelling 16 miles (26 km) in around two hours. It was headed by Sir Robert Rollo Gillespie (at the time, one of India’s one of the most capable and active commanders), who left Arcot within a quarter-hour of the alarm being raised. With a single troop of roughly twenty soldiers, Gillespie rushed ahead of the main force.

When Gillespie arrived at Vellore, he discovered the Europeans who had survived, roughly sixty soldiers from the 69th Regiment, led by NCOs and two assistant surgeons, who were still fighting against the ramparts but were falling short of ammunition. Gillespie ascended the wall with the use of a rope and a sergeant’s sash that was lowered to him, and then led the 69th in a bayonet charge along the ramparts to gain time. When the remainder of the 19th arrived, Gillespie ordered to use their galloper guns to open the gates, then led a second attack with the 69th to make a space inside the entryway so the cavalry could deploy. Sepoys standing in the way was assaulted and sabred by the 19th and Madras Cavalry. Approximately 100 sepoys who had taken safety inside the palace were dragged out and, on Gillespie’s orders, were lined up against a wall and shot.

The swift and brutal response to this mutiny put an end to any further disturbance in one stroke, giving the British in India’s history one of its truest epics; indeed, as Gillespie conceded, even a five-minute delay would have meant the British would have lost everything. Before the conflict was over, over 350 rebels had been killed and equally had been wounded. Outside the fort, surviving sepoys were scattered across the countryside. Many were apprehended by local cops, only to be released or sent back to Vellore for a court-martial.

REPERCUSSION OF THE VELLORE MUTINY, 1806- 

Six of the mutineers were blasted away byg uns, five were slain by firing squad, eight were hung, and five were transported after a proper trial. All three of the Madras battalions that took part in the insurrection were dissolved. The business refused to pay even his transportation to the senior British officers who were responsible for the offending clothing standards, including the Commander-in-Chief of the Madras Army, John Craddock. The orders for the ‘new turbans’ (round hats) were cancelled as well.

The royals imprisoned at Vellore fort were moved to Calcutta after the tragedy. The Governor of Madras, William Bentinck, was also summoned, with the Company’s Board of Directors regretting that “more care and caution had not been used in investigating into the true thoughts and dispositions of the sepoys before measures of severity were adopted to enforce the directive concerning the new turban’s use.” The problematic meddling with the sepoys’ social and religious practises was also repealed.

CONCLUSION- 

The Vellore Insurrection, which occurred on July 10, 1806, and was the first large-scale and violent mutiny by Indian sepoys against the East India Company, was a momentous act of disobedience. The Vellore mutiny, 1806 was one of the first signs of a major uprising in the nineteenth century. This act of disobedience occurred before the legendary 1857 Rebellion. It marked the beginning of a new era in the sepoys’ opposition to British rule.