Battle of Agra

Who Fought

History & Significance

The Battle of Agra was a comparatively minor but nevertheless decisive action at the end of a prolonged siege during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

In the early days of the rebellion, the countryside around Agra fell into widespread disorder. Many East India Company administrators and their families and servants fled to the protection of the fort. When a rebel army composed mainly of sepoys who had mutinied against their British officers approached Agra they defeated a sortie by the garrison, which was incompetently led by aged officers. However, they lacked the heavy artillery needed to assault the fort, and moved instead to join the rebels who had rallied to the nominal leadership of Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar in Delhi.

Over the next few months, the British inside the fort endured a desultory siege. The British leaders in the fort took no decisive action against the rebels. When the Siege of Delhi ended in a British victory, they feared an attack by rebels retreating from Delhi and appealed to the commander of a nearby British column for help. The British column relieved the fort but complacently pitched camp outside. The Indian rebels attacked and achieved complete surprise, but the battle-hardened troops of the column rallied, and defeated and dispersed the rebels. This allowed the British to establish tenuous communications from east to west across the territories of Northern India previously in rebel hands, and to concentrate troops for the vital Relief of Lucknow.

The city and fort of Agra stand on the River Yamuna, close to the Taj Mahal. Before the rebellion broke out, Agra was the administrative centre of what was then known as the North-Western Provinces (not to be confused with the later North-West Frontier Province). The Lieutenant Governor of the province was John Russell Colvin. Stationed in the military cantonments nearby were the 3rd Bengal Fusiliers (a "European" regiment of infantry of the East India Company's army), a battery of artillery also manned by white troops, and the 44th and 67th Regiments of Bengal Native Infantry. The 3rd Bengal Fusiliers had recently been raised and had a large number of unacclimated men on the sick list. The military commander was an aged Brigadier Polwhele.

The loyalty of the sepoys (Indian soldiers) of the Bengal Army had been wavering for several years, as they feared that the actions and reforms of the East India Company were threatening Indian society and their own caste and status. After increasing unrest during the early months of 1857, the sepoys at Meerut broke into rebellion on 10 May 1857. They subsequently moved to Delhi, where they called on more sepoys to join them, and for the Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar to lead a nationwide rebellion. The city soon fell to the rebels. On 16 May, 52 British refugees who had failed to escape from the city were executed in front of the King's palace.

The ground they fought on

The site of Battle of Agra lies on Lower Old Red Sandstone, bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Scheduled Monuments near Battle of Agra

Windhill,standing stone N of

Scheduled monument · Bronze Age · ~1.1 mi

Windhill is a Bronze Age standing stone in Inverness-shire, northern Scotland. The monument stands upon bedrock formed during the Early Devonian period, when this region lay beneath ancient seas and was subsequently shaped by substantial geological processes. The underlying Old Red Sandstone comp…

Windhill,standing stone NNE of

Scheduled monument · Bronze Age · ~1.2 mi

Windhill is a Bronze Age standing stone located in Inverness-shire in the Scottish Highlands. The monument rises from bedrock of Middle Old Red Sandstone, a foundation of Devonian conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone that would have been exposed or barely covered when the stone was rai…

Dun Mor,fort

Scheduled monument · Iron Age · ~1.5 mi

Dun Mor is a Iron Age fort situated in Ross-shire, Scotland. The fort occupies a naturally defensible location founded upon Lower Old Red Sandstone bedrock, a conglomerate and sandstone formation deposited during the Early Devonian period. The underlying geology of mixed conglomerate, sandstone,…

Beauly Priory,priory and burial ground

Scheduled monument · Medieval · ~2 mi

Beauly Priory is a medieval priory founded in the thirteenth century by the Valliscaulian order in the village of Beauly in Inverness-shire, Scotland. The surviving remains comprise the substantial ruins of the priory church, characterised by pointed Gothic arches and masonry work typical of medi…

Balvaird,chambered cairn 250m E of Balvaird House

Scheduled monument · Neolithic · ~2 mi

Balvaird is a Neolithic chambered cairn situated 250 metres east of Balvaird House in Ross-shire, Scotland. The monument stands on bedrock of Middle Old Red Sandstone, a mixed sequence of conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone deposited during the Middle Devonian period. This geology und…

Dun Fhamhair,fort

Scheduled monument · Iron Age · ~2.5 mi

Dun Fhamhair is a Iron Age fort located in Inverness-shire, Scotland. The fort sits upon bedrock belonging to the Loch Eil Group, a psammite formation dating to the Neoproterozoic era. This sandy metamorphic stone would have provided a firm foundation for the defensive structures built here durin…

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• Battle of Agra · Wikipedia