Behind the Walls of Delhi

Nor was it any better behind the walls of Delhi. In the city, conditions were quickly deteriorating, and the king himself was slowly starting to realise his army, though strong and well-armed, was essentially leaderless. His own sons, who had styled themselves generals and colonels, were incapable of holding the men’s loyalty, nor had the power to prevent the army from descending into lawlessness. An army of such magnitude needs to be housed, fed and paid, and there was neither enough shelter, provisions or money to go around – the royal coffers were being rapidly depleted, and with no revenue from taxes coming in, the army for its part started to show a growing level of dissatisfaction. The promises of higher pay were mostly words – many of the regiments found they were financially not better off than they had been under the British.
Fear and distrust continued to blanket the city. Anyone trying to leave was considered a traitor and could be killed; those who stayed had to face relentless harassment as each new regiment arrived looking for pillage. Bahadur Shah’s sons were not proving themselves as capable leaders, and he was unable to stop either the plundering or the constant claims on the royal purse. The war was not to his taste, and throwing the infidels into the sea was proving harder than anyone thought. Instead of scurrying back to England, the British were holding on with the tenacity of a bulldog. While the British on the Ridge complained their leaders were fools, the rebel army quickly realized at Delhi they had only an old king, his arrogant sons and the remains of their officers to look to, who were likewise without guidance.

Throughout July, regiments that had left their salt continued to arrive to add to the force already behind the walls.

1-2 July
Rohlikhand Brigade
8th BNI
18th, 28th, 29th and 68th BNI
No.6 Company, 8th Battalion, with no. 15 Field Battery, Bengal Artillery

During July from Jhansi and Nowgong: (800 in all)
14th BNI
12th BN, one wing only
No. 4 Company, 9th Battalion, with no. 18 Field Battery, Bengal Artillery – three guns

End of July
Neemuch Brigade
1st Bengal Light Cavalry; one wing only.
Malwa Contingent Cavalry
72nd BNI
7th Infantry Gwalior Contingent
Kotah Contingent (all arms, consisting of some 700 men)
4th (Native) Troop, 1st Brigade, Bengal Horse Artillery

This significantly augmented the rebels who had been there since June and would present even more problems for General Bakht Khan, as each regiment that arrived insisted on being paid. It was not a happy situation for anyone.
On the 1st of July, Bakht Khan arrived with the Rohilkhand Brigade, reinforced liberally by Rohilla men. He would take on the mammoth task of organising the rebel army and introducing some sense of calm to the city of Delhi. He was well known to the British, and in turn, he knew them. 40 years of service in the Company army had not been lost, and he was a formidable leader, just what the rebel army needed.
From the Ridge, the British could see the arrival of Bakht Khan and the Bareilly Brigade. He had with him upwards of 3000 men – amongst them the mutinous regiments of Moradabad and Shajahanpore -and treasure valued at over 4000 rupees. No one had stopped their advance to Delhi – General Hewitt in Meerut, the only man who could have, had placidly stood by and watched as Bakht Khan had ransacked the company stud at Babooghar before stealing the horses and killing the syces. After this little sojourn, which had lasted several days, Bakht Khan casually made his way to Delhi.
He set up camp at first on the other side of the Jamuna river, his men housed in tents taken from the Company stores and over two consecutive nights, he organised for his men to be ferried over. The British could only watch – their artillery was out of range, and besides, they did not have the means for an outright attack on Bakht Khan’s force; he could have crossed the river in the middle of the day, and the British would have been unable to stop him.
Bakht Khan was a man of some repute. Of his personal history, he had social standing as the nephew of Najib-ud-Daulah – a renowned Rohilla military chief (who had won the third battle of Panipat) and commander-in-chief to the Mughal army. Military life coursed freely in Bakht Khan’s veins. For forty years, he served with distinction in the Bengal Army in the artillery, gaining accolades for actions during the First Afghan War under Sale and notably in Jalalabad, for which his battery’s guns were given an honorary decoration of a mural crown. Following the war, Bakht Khan rose to the rank of Subadar. In 1857, he and his regiment were in Bareilly, where we met him during that ill-fated mutiny. With a strong reputation as a leader, Bakht Khan was able to assemble, organise and march his force of 3000 men to Delhi at the behest of the rebel Khan Bahadur Khan, the Rohilla chieftain of Bareilly. Leaving Bareilly on the 11th of June, Bakht Khan took a rather circuitous route to the city, passing through Badaun and Farrukhabad, collecting troops, plunder and revenue along the way.
His arrival in Delhi was greeted with delight by the old emperor. He was facing not just the stubborn British on the Ridge, but very real anarchy in his ranks as two different groups of sepoys vied for favour with his ambitious sons, both of whom were looking for the opportunity to overthrow their ailing father and take the throne. Bahadur Shah had tried different tactics to calm the city, but he had failed – his sons would not listen to him and the sepoys in and around Delhi were belligerent at best and at worst, showing signs of mutiny. Bahadur Shah felt Bakht Khan would not just save the city but himself.
On the 2nd of July, the emperor sent a delegation to welcome the subadar and invite him to the palace.
Bakht Khan listened gravely to the emperor’s grievances. He had given orders, the emperor said, the city was not to be plundered, but he had no one to enforce his will, and as for getting rid of the British, Bakht Khan could see for himself how successful the venture had been until now. With little hesitation, Bakht Khan offered his services to Bahadur Shah as Commander-in-Chief of the forces – an offer the emperor could not refuse.
Gratified by this first interview, Bakht Khan returned to his own men and acquainted the subadars with the emperor’s acceptance of his services and asked them whom they, in turn, would obey. The men swore their allegiance, not to the emperor but to Bakht Khan, their only leader. Satisfied his men would follow him, Bakht Khan returned to the palace. He was granted a private audience with the emperor, following which, Bahadur Shah proclaimed Bakht Khan Commander-in-Chief and the title of General, and, in an official proclamation, “ordering the attendance of all officers in command of regiments to receive orders from Mahommed Bakht Khan.”
Bahadur Shah gave the following orders to General Bakht Khan:

a. Defeat the British and destroy them
b. The Sepoys and troopers intruding the fort was to be provided with alternate accommodation outside the city to remove them from the temptation for indiscriminate plunder
c. Steps were to be taken to distribute salaries to old and new servants to the emperor
d. Collection of revenue was to be started immediately throughout the area in and around Delhi
e. Ruffians and badmashes posing as sepoys and invading the houses of peaceful citizens were to be dealt with.

The tallness of the orders would have daunted an ordinary man, but as we shall see, Bakht Khan was anything but an ordinary man. Barely a day after arriving in Delhi, he sent out his first proclamation to the Kotwal of Delhi, giving him full responsibility for law and order in the city; failing to do so would result in the Kotwal’s hanging. The news was further supported by messengers beating drums, who, marching through the city, announced to the terrified inhabitants that all shopkeepers, bankers and tradesmen were to arm themselves – should they not possess any, they could pick them up for free from the headquarters of Bakht Khan. Any sepoy caught plundering would have his arm chopped off, and anyone with ammunition in their possession was to hand it over without fail to the Magazine. He then ordered the men of Nawab Abdul Rahman Khan of Jajjr to vacate the Kala Mahal in favour of the sepoys. He had taken the first steps to restore order to the city.
Throughout the day, the General continued to issue orders, all sanctioned by Bahadur Shah, even where the emperor’s own sons were concerned. He visited Prince Mirza Moghul, who had but lately been appointed Adjutant-General, and it would appear his interview with the prince was not the resounded success Bakht Khan had hoped for. Returning to the emperor after meeting the prince, he informed his liege that “if any of the Princes attempted to plunder the city, he would cut off their noses and ears.” Bahadur Shah acquiesced and gave the general permission to do what he felt was necessary. The next day, the princes were relieved of any further duties connected with the army.
General Bakht Khan wasn’t quite finished yet. In the following days, he inspected the Magazine and ordered the stores and materials to be properly arranged; he then looked into several local grievances from the much-beleaguered population, ordering anyone who had been a victim of the sepoys’ plundering would receive compensation. He then turned his attention to the civil administration, the police and the revenue departments, putting together plans and strategies to form a working government in Delhi, and then, as if his days were not busy enough, he held a parade to inspect all the regiments. However, we cannot forget the main objective of Bakht Khan was not to pander in politics – it was to drive the British from the Ridge and into the sea.