India's first war for independence, moniker-ed "The Sepoy Mutiny", took place in Meerut in the year 1857. However, this is not completely accurate. Unknown to most, Visakhapatnam hosted the first ever Sepoy mutiny in India nearly 236 years ago! The Vizagapatam mutiny took place on October 3, 1780 Which was 77 years before the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, and much ahead of other mutinies like Vellore in 1806 and Barrackpore in 1824. This has been even recorded in the Gazetteer of the London Archives. Sadly, this is not known to many Indians and rarely finds mention in our history.
History: This Vizagapatnam Sepoy Mutiny was led by Shaik Mohammad Khan, who was a Subedar of the Grenadiers Regiment which worked at Vizagapatam in the 1780s.
During that period, two troops of Indian sepoys led by British officers were posted in Vizagapatam and Masulipatam (Machilipatnam), of which majority of the Indian Sepoys were Muslims and it was during that period the Anglo-Mysore war between Hyder Ali and East India Company was at its peak. The war with Hyder Ali and the Carnatic war had weakened the British in the south and to reinforce its strength, the then Governor of Madras, John Whitehall, addressed a letter on September 14, 1780, to the then chief of Vizagapatam and Masulipatam settlements, James Henry Casamajor, to send troops for reinforcement. As per the Gazetteer and Prof. Suryanarayana, the Sepoys of Vizagapatam and Masulipatam were by then a disgruntled lot as they were not paid any commission for the tax collection duty, which they felt was an additional work to their normal Sepoy duty. This apart, being Muslims they were averse to the idea of fighting a fellow Muslim like Hyder Ali.
The sepoys in Vizagapatam were supposed to board the Sartine frigate under the command of Capt. Lysaught on October 3, 1780. After the inspection of guards, at around 3 PM. the Sepoys refused to board the ship. This argument reached a flashpoint when a few British officers tried to use force.
Led by Sheikh Mohammed Khan, a few of the Sepoys levelled their muskets and fired a volley, instantly killing Lt. Crisps, Cadets Kingsford Venner and Robert Rutherford, the paymaster. Capt. Maxtone and Capt. Lane were seriously injured and the rebels took hold of the town, took Casamajor and several other civil servants into captivity and freed a French spy who was confined in the prison for some time. The mutineers looted the Company’s property that included cash kept in the treasury amounting to Rs.21,999. On the morning of October 4, the mutineers marched out of the town with the chief Casamajor and the other officials as their captive, to join the forces of Hyder Ali. But at the behest of Gajapathi Narain Deo, a local zamindar, they freed the captives, and that turned to be their faux pas.
Casamajor returned directly to the Sartine and ordered Capt. Ensign Butler to gather the sepoys loyal to the Company and with the help of the crew and weapons on board, to go after the rebels. He also instructed the neighbouring zamindars, to support them. “It is learnt that the rebels were cornered near a gorge in Gudderallywanka at Payakraopeta, now a border town in Visakhapatnam district. There is no clear understanding or record of what happened to them. But it is believed that some of them were killed in the ambush and the others, including Shaikh Mohammed, were executed mercilessly by the Company’s men.
Although this was a small mutiny in scale, its effect shook up even London while the other mutinies in India are proudly celebrated, this incident has been neglected!
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