Battle of the Betwa

01The march to Jhansi

Rose’s Central India Field Force reached Jhansi in March 1858 and opened the siege on 22 March. Rani Lakshmibai held the fort and the walled city, and sent to Tatya Tope, the general of Nana Saheb’s party then at Kalpi, for help. Tatya came with a large army, including men of the Gwalior Contingent who had joined the rising, and crossed the Betwa on the evening of 31 March. The light of bonfires in the city told the besiegers he had come.

02Fire in the jungle

Rose did not lift the siege. He took part of his force out to meet Tatya on 1 April 1858 while his guns kept firing on Jhansi. His cavalry and horse artillery struck the flanks of Tatya’s first line, which gave way. The second line retreated across the Betwa, setting the dry jungle alight behind it to cover the withdrawal, and lost most of its guns. Thomas Lowe, a surgeon with Rose’s force, wrote the fullest account from the British side.

Person · 19 May 1824 – after 1859 (fate unknown)Nana Saheb PeshwaDhondu Pant, adopted son of Peshwa Baji Rao II, led the rising at Kanpur in 1857 after the Company refused him his father’s pension. He withdrew into the Nepal Terai in 1859 and was never seen again by the British.Read →

03Jhansi falls

With no relief coming, Jhansi was stormed on 3 April. On the night of 4 April Rani Lakshmibai broke out with a small escort and rode to Kalpi to join Tatya. Together they fought on at Kalpi and took Gwalior in June, where the Rani fell on 18 June 1858.