To me the Cawnpore massacre is one of the most horrifying events in the history of mankind . . . the torture and killing of those chilldren and women just sickens me. As a parent, the thought of anyone being depraved enough to intentionally harm a child makes me want to cause serious bodily harm. So I totally understand the reaction of the British forces to the sepoys after the fact.
Louis,
The reaction of the British forces, while understandable, was so over the top as to be almost inexcusable.
Of course its easy for me to sit here and say something like this because I didn't witness the aftermath of the massacres. For the record, although the Sepoy Mutineers took part in the massacre at the Sati Chowra, they refused to join in the killing of innocents at Bibighar. The atrocities there were committed by four butchers to trade who were paid 21 Rupees each by Nana Sahib for their evenings work.
The quote below is from page 439 of the book and describes the reaction of the British forces who re-took Cawnpore;
"The bogus inscriptions and atrocious fictions acted like torches on the murderous blend of outrage and alcohol that coursed through the soldiers' veins, and in bands of a dozen or more they raged off into the native quarter to descend", wrote Archibald Forbes, "into intoxication, plunder and rapine".
"What acts they committed as they rampaged through Cawnpore's Indian homes and shops that first night remains obscured by the protective veil of imperial piety".
In addition to the quote above is the well-known life story of "Hodson the dashing young executioner of Moghul Princes".
I'd like to make clear that I do not take sides or make judgements of what happened in 1857. I would say however that I vividly remember the first time I read this book. I couldn't put it down and finished it in around 30 hours straight.
I loaned it to an Indian friend of mine who also read it from beginning to end in one go. It is one of those books that is best described as simply enthralling.
Best Regards
H
