Disarming the Nagpur Irregular Cavalry

Nagpore, June 23rd, 1857, 12 p.m.

“The irregular cavalry were disarmed this morning. . .The 1st irregular infantry took part in the proceedings. The trials of the native officers commence at ten tomorrow morning. Our great anxiety has, of course, been concerning the other native troops, regular and irregular, for although none but the cavalry have shown the slightest symptoms of disloyalty, it is impossible not to feel that the native troops may turn against us at any moment. For this reason, we have been unceasingly occupied in strengthening and providing for the defence of the hill at Seetabuldee, as the last refuge for the handful of Europeans; for, isolated as we are, and in the monsoon season, possibly no succour from abroad could reach us for weeks.”

Plowden had decided to disarm the cavalry, without any opposition from any of its officers. True, there had been no mutiny per se, but the 4 ringleaders had all been cavalrymen, and as such, the entire regiment had laid itself open to suspicion. As disarmings go, it was a solemn affair. At 11 pm, 22 June, it was decided there was no point in delaying the inevitable, and at two in the cavalry was ordered to assemble on the parade ground, mounted and with their arms. Colonel Cumberledge had been given orders that at the first sign of trouble, he was to attack the cavalry, and in a show of force, he deployed the 1st Battalion of the Nagpur Irregular Infantry, the Horse Artillery and heavy guns, the gunners standing by, port fires lit.
Plowden then spoke to the regiment. He told the regiment why they had been assembled and that according to the proceedings, they would be disarmed. The officers then gave the order to pile arms.
Wordlessly, they obeyed. Then, on command, they gave up their saddles. All their private arms were likewise collected. Then, picketing their horses, they handed over the bridles. As their arms and accoutrements were loaded into carts and taken to the fort, 650 men of the Nagpur Irregular Cavalry Regiment were left standing, holding only the leading ropes of their horses. The disarming was over, and the men returned to their lines. Roll call was ordered at four-hour intervals for the rest of the night – any man not answering would be treated as a deserter.
Nor was Plowden finished with them yet.
The four men, three standing trial by court-martial, were summarily found guilty by a court consisting of their peers on 29 June. Three were sentenced to death by hanging, and one was imprisoned for lack of sufficient evidence. The next morning, Plowden turned out all the military units in Nagpur to bear witness to the hangings. He had wanted to make a point, and it succeeded. Not a single word was uttered, no threatening gestures made; the men watched the proceedings in absolute silence. Wilayat Mia, a minor nawab and son-in-law of Raghuji III, was the first hanged; his promise to pay a rupee by the hour to any all mutineer was too well known as were his secret meetings. Inyatulla Khan of the Irregular Cavalry soon joined him, charged with mutiny. Dildar Khan, sowar of the Mulki police who had alone endeavoured to incite the people of Nagpur to rise, was charged with incitement of mutiny.
Over the next few days and weeks, another ten men were arrested and likewise hanged, while a further six were dismissed from the army and discharged with dishonour. With one Syed Ibrahim, Plowden went a step further – charged with inciting the Kamptee troops to mutiny, Syed Ibrahim was banished from Nagpur province altogether and sent to Warangal. Another two were released from prison for lack of proof. The Nagpur Irregular Cavalry were kept in their lines under close watch for some months, and when it was finally decided that dissent had evaporated in the regiment, it was decided safe to rearm the men and send them off to fight, but far away from Nagpur. As a result, they were sent off to Chattisgarh and Sambalpur to do their duty.
As for George Plowden, sufficiently irritated by a rather large amount of nasty, threatening and altogether anonymous posts he was receiving following the failed mutiny, (the Nagpur citizens having found a way to vent their frustration and anger at the man who had thwarted the uprising), had all eight post boxes removed from Nagpur proper, forcing the people to walk four miles to the civil lines to drop off their missives. As such, anyone sending a letter to Plowden could have been arrested. It was an interesting plan, but Deputy Post Master J.J. Macbride (who had to deal with the complaints from the people who were not interested in harassing Plowden but were finding conducting business rather difficult) demanded Plowden put the post-boxes back, which he duly did. Sitabuldi Fort has withstood the test of time and remains, to this day, protected and maintained by the Indian Army. It is one of the only forts that has never been abandoned since its construction.

We have now established events in Damoh. Jabalpur and Nagpur – we can now turn our attention back to the 52nd BNI and the march of Colonel Miller and his Nagpur Moveable Column. Although Nagpur was quiet and would remain so for the remainder of 1857, it was decidedly not the case in the rest of Central India. The area around Damoh was swarming with rebels who plundered every village and town they came across, while the insurgents loyal to the Shahgarh Raja were daily swelled in numbers, joined by nearly every man of the Lodhi caste. Jabalpur remained in a state of semi-siege, watching the 52nd BNI nervously, who, in their turn, watched as their officers trembled.

^{Sources:
Delhi Gazette, Former Editor of, comp. The Indian Mutiny to the Fall of Delhi. London: G. Routledge & Co., 1857.
Erskine, Walter Coningsby. A Chapter of the Bengal Mutiny as Seen in Central India, by One Who was There in 1857-58. London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1871.
Great Britain Parliament. Further Papers (No. 4) Relative to the Mutinies in the East Indies. London: Harrison and Sons, 1857.
Intelligence Branch, comp. The Revolt in Central India 1857-58. Simla: Government Monotype Press, 1908.
Kaye, John William, and G. B. Malleson. Kaye’s and Malleson’s History of the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58. Edited by G. B. Malleson. Vol. V. London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1907.
Lowe, Thomas. Central India during the Rebellion of 1857 and 1858. London: Longman, Green, Longman & Roberts, 1860}.

^{Links:
For anyone wanting to delve further into corporal punishment in India, you can read
https://theindianlaw.in/punishment-in-ancient-hindu-and-mohammedan-law/ for a more complete overview.}