The Vellore mutiny
Vellore Fort, Tamil Nadu
Sepoys in Vellore fort rise against new dress rules on 10 July and kill over a hundred British troops; Gillespie's cavalry retakes the fort by morning.
New regulations in the Madras army forbade caste marks and earrings, ordered chins shaved and introduced a round hat with a leather cockade, which Hindu and Muslim sepoys alike read as a step towards conversion. In the early hours of 10 July 1806 men of the three Madras battalions in Vellore fort, where Tipu Sultan's sons were held, killed fourteen of their officers and about 115 men of the 69th Regiment, and raised Tipu's flag.
Colonel Gillespie rode in from Arcot, some 25 kilometres away, blew in the gate and recaptured the fort the same morning. About 350 sepoys were killed and more were later executed, some blown from guns. The regulations were withdrawn, the Governor of Madras, Lord William Bentinck, was recalled, and Tipu's family was moved to Calcutta.
Fifty years before 1857, Vellore showed the Company the danger of touching its soldiers' religion. Historians disagree over whether it was a planned rising on behalf of Tipu's house or a spontaneous protest.
- war
- colonial
- religion