Badli-ke-Serai, Battle of

(1857)

   A late engagement of the Indian Mutiny. On June 8 the rebels offered battle at Badli-ke-Serai, halfway between Alipur and Delhi, taking up a defensive position on both sides of the main road to Delhi. Their right was anchored at a walled village protected by a swamp where they deployed large number of infantry. The left of the rebel line was protected by a sandbag battery made up of four heavy guns and an eight-inch mortar. Nullahs, sharp and narrow gullies, intersected the ground on both sides of the rebel line ’ s flanks. About a mile from the rebel’s left wing ran the Western Jamuna Canal. The British 75th Foot charged at the enemy’s guns and suffered 62 casualties. Brigadier Hope Grant, with 10 horse artillery guns, 3 squadrons of the 9th Lancers, and 50 Jhind sowars turned the enemy ’ s left flank. The rebels then retired to Delhi, leaving their guns and prepared to withstand a long siege.

   FURTHER READING:

    Embree, Ainslie T. 1857 in India: Mutiny or War of Independence? Boston: Heath, 1963;

    Farwell, Byron. Queen Victoria ’ s Little Wars. New York: W. W. Norton, 1972.

   KAUSHIK ROY