Question

Which one of the following is considered a major strategic event of the 1857 Mutiny/First War of Independence?
A) Wheeler’s entrenchment
B) Massacre at Sati Chaura Ghat
C) Bibighar massacre
D) All of the above

Answer 1

Hint: Tensions had been building for some time when Bengal army men mutinied in Meerut on May 10, 1857. The deployment of the new breech-loading Enfield rifle, whose cartridge was supposedly coated with pork and bull fat, caused instant military discontent.

Complete answer:
During Britain's colonial domination of the Indian subcontinent, the 1857 uprising posed the greatest danger to British imperial power. The East India Company's rule came to an end as a result of this bloody fight, and the army was reorganised. It was also the beginning of many Indians' long battle for independence.

Cawnpore was a key Ganges River crossing place as well as an important intersection where the Grand Trunk Road and the road from Jhansi to Lucknow intersected. The sepoys there revolted in June 1857, laying siege to Major-General Sir Hugh Wheeler's garrison.

Wheeler had retired to a fortified position on the outskirts of town. The insurgents were led by Nana Sahib, a local monarch who had lost his estate to the British. For nearly three weeks, 1,000 Britons waited for rescue under incessant fire and a scorching sun.

Since the 1857 Indian Sepoy Mutiny, Sati Chauraha Ghat has been historically significant. On June 27, 1857, Kanpur (then named Cawnpore) witnessed one of the most tragic episodes in Indian independence history. At the Satti Chaura Ghat, later known as Massacre Ghat, some 300 British men, women, and children were slaughtered. Those who managed to escape the massacre that day were killed subsequently in the Bibighar Massacre. Nana Sahib of Peshwa is thought to have spearheaded the revolt, and the Ghat was renamed Nana Rao Ghat in his honour.

Therefore the correct answer is option ‘D’.

Note: Uprisings erupted across northern and central India following the commencement of the Indian Mutiny in Meerut in May 1857. Delhi, Cawnpore, Lucknow, Jhansi, and Gwalior were the principal hotbeds of resistance.