NAM.1992-10-17-1

The Battered Barracks, in which General Sir Hugh Wheeler defended himself, Cawnpore 1857. Tinted lithograph by Vincent Brooks after Lt Charles Wade Crump, Madras Artillery, No. 1 in the series 'A Pictorial Record of the Cawnpore Massacre', published by Henry Graves and Company, London, 8 Feb 1858. Associated with the Siege of Cawnpore, Indian Mutiny (1857-1859). When news of the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859) at Meerut reached Cawnpore, General Sir Hugh Wheeler built a fortified position, based around two barracks, outside the city as a possible refuge for the European community. In early June 1857 all the Europeans made for the entrenchment, whose enclosing wall, built of dry crumbly earth, was not yet finished. The subsequent Siege of Cawnpore lasted just over three weeks, and took place in June when the sun is at its hottest. The entrenchment had almost no shade, and contained only one well. This was in an exposed position, covered by enemy fire.

Cawnpore, Siege of, 1857 (Indian Mutiny 1857-1859)