Record of the Intelligence Department of the Government of the North-West Provinces of India

A collection of correspondences and communications – mostly official-that had been exchanged during the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny makes up the two volumes of During the Revolt of 1857. These records of The Intelligence Department of the Government of the North-West Provinces of India were sent by William Muir (who has complied these documents) and other British military personnel (or administrators) to their counterparts in Calcutta, or Kanpur (Cawnpore), Delhi, Meerut, etc. Most of the letters?were?despatched?from?Agra.

In addition to the Introduction, which recounts the progression of the Sepoy Mutiny at a personal level too, one can get a stage-by-stage account through the intelligence notes, memoranda, telegrams and letters of the unfolding of the revolt, and the apprehension, uncertainties, anguish and concerns that the officers experienced when the news of massacres and brutalities reached them. One, thus, comes across military advices; status of ammunition, garrisons, cavalry; shortages/ status of medical and other supplies; and precautions and steps decided?upon.

Divided into ‘series’, under various heads, Volume One, which opens with a letter dated 18 May 1857 – William Muir has addressed to his mother (in Edinburgh), with news of the rising discontentment among the sepoys – and ends with ‘Eighth Series’. Volume Two, which comprises from ‘Ninth Series’ to the ‘Thirteenth Series’, has similar communications besides details of casualties, wounded or missing. These military communications, thus, provide a detailed narrative of the mutiny, and the mounting tensions and resulting emotions are palpable.