The Battle of Chatra was a conflict that took place during the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

between the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

and the mutinying

sepoys ''Sepoy'' () was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire. In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its oth ...

who were allied certain local

zamindars A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

. The rebels had amassed a force of 3000 men and had taken the town of

Chatra Chatra is the headquarters of Chatra district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. History Chatra was the “headquarters” of Ramgarh district in the 18th-19th century. The renowned reformer, Raja Rammohan Roy, was ''sheristadar'' in Ramgarh di ...

which is located in the Chhota Nagpur region.

Background

Two companies of the Ramgarh Battalion which were stationed in

Hazaribagh Hazaribagh is a city and a municipal corporation in Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is the divisional headquarters of North Chotanagpur division. It is considered as a health resort and is also popular for Hazaribagh ...

revolted against the British authorities as did other troops all across

North India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...

such as in

Meerut Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...

. These sepoys fell under the leadership of local rebel leaders including Jaimangal Pandey and

Thakur Vishwanath Shahdeo Vishwanath Shahdeo (12 August 1817 – 16 April 1858) was the king of the Barkagarh estate and a rebel in the Indian rebellion of 1857. In 1955, he declared himself independent and defeated British forces in Hatia. He led rebels of Ramgarh Batt ...

and formed a ''mukti vahini'' (people's army) and intended to overthrow the British authorities. The rebel force was planning to travel northwards to Rohtas were they would combine their forces with the rebel leader of North Bihar,

Kunwar Singh Kunwar Singh (born: 13 November 1777 – died: 26 April 1858), also known as Babu Kunwar Singh, was a leader and military commander during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. He led a selected band of armed soldiers against the troops under the comm ...

Battle

The various British forces were sent in pursuit of the rebels as they traveled northwards through Hazaribagh until they also reached Chatra. The rebels received word that a clash was inevitable and fortified themselves within the town and in the process were harassing, robbing and looting the local people which caused many of them to assist the British forces. This plunderous behaviour also left the rebels open to a sudden attack. Major Smith drew a rough plan of the town and decided to attack from the South. The advanced guard located the main body of rebels and immediately a skirmish took place in the rice fields. As this progressed, various skirmishes also started to place throughout the town with both sides suffering heavy losses. In the end, the British forces started to attack the town from all flanks. The British took advantage of heavy tree cover on the outskirts of the town else they likely would have suffered even heavier losses. Two rebel leaders, Jai Mangal Pandey and Nadir Ali were captured and quickly hanged.

Aftermath

Two of the major rebel leaders, Vishwanath Shahdeo and Ganpat Rai managed to escape and continued to harass the British forces before being captured in 1858 and hanged.

References

{{reflist 1857 in India 19th-century military history of the United Kingdom