Delhi.

City plan of Delhi published shortly after the successful siege during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was an ultimately unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow the British East India Company (representatives of British authority on the subcontinent) and replace it with a former leader of the defunct Mughal Empire.

Despite widespread animosity towards the company and it’s affiliates, there lacked a central figurehead around which the rebellion could coalesce, and the city of Delhi was one of the few areas that saw a large coalition of rebels engage British troops. This manifested in a siege that lasted between June and September in which the British successfully retook the capital.

This map, published in the Illustrated London News a few weeks after victory was attained, shows the outline of British forces in the early stages of the battle. A plan and view immediately below reflect the Siege of Cawnpore, another engagement which saw the evacuated British males killed by rebel forces. Subsequent reprisals against Indian sepoys were encouraged by cries of “Remember Cawnpore!”