The Devil's Trap : Victims of the Cawnpore Massacre During the Indian Mutiny - James W. Bancroft

The Devil's Trap

Victims of the Cawnpore Massacre During the Indian Mutiny

By: James W. Bancroft

Hardcover | 4 January 2019

At a Glance

Hardcover


$56.50

or 4 interest-free payments of $14.13 with

 or 

Aims to ship in 15 to 25 business days

At the height of the savage and bitter Indian Mutiny, the British garrison at Cawnpore found itself surrounded in June 1857\. Through a lack of resources, its commander, Major General Wheeler, agreed to surrender the city providing all the British inhabitants were granted free passage out of Cawnpore. But, just as the men women and children were about to embark on the boats that would take them to safety, the Mutineers attacked.

All the British troops were killed, as were some of the women and children, with others being wounded. Those who survived, approximately 200 in number, were moved to a small villa called Bibighar. Held in awful conditions, many subsequently died from cholera and dysentery.

When the rebel leader, Nana Sahib, learned that a large British force was approaching to relieve the captives, he ordered all the women and children to be killed. Though some of the sepoys refused to act, others began to hack about them with swords and cleavers. In the orgy of horror that followed, women were raped and mutilated, children stripped and murdered.

In a bid to conceal the atrocity from the revengeful British troops, the corpses were thrown into a deep well. Just four of the original 200 people captured at Cawnpore lived to tell the gruesome tale by hiding under the bodies of the dead.

Over many years James Bancroft has collected information on the victims and has interviewed some of the descendants. This has enabled him to examine the events at Cawnpore in 1857 through the lives of those who died and survived the atrocity, throwing new light on this very dark tale. The book is completed with photographs of the sites in India taken by one the families of the victims.

16 images

About the Author

In the four decades James W. Bancroft has been writing he has produced more than 100 books and articles, the subjects of which reflect his varied interests. He contributed a number of articles for The New Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and his book Rorke's Drift: The Zulu War, 1879 has been re-printed seven times.
Industry Reviews
"Illustrated by a section of images in color or black and white, this hardcover book is a gripping portrayal of personal stories underlying historic events."-- "Toy Soldier & Model Figure"

More in Military History

We Do Not Part - Han Kang

RRP $35.00

$31.75

Churchill : Walking with Destiny - Andrew Roberts

RRP $35.00

$31.75

The Choice : A true story of hope - Edith Eger

RRP $24.99

$23.75

Colonialism : A Moral Reckoning - Nigel Biggar

RRP $34.99

$31.75

The Siege : The Remarkable Story of the Greatest SAS Hostage Drama - Ben Macintyre
The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy : Leather-bound Classics - Confucius
Blitzed : Drugs in Nazi Germany - Norman Ohler

RRP $22.99

$21.90

Band of Brothers - Stephen E. Ambrose

RRP $24.99

$23.75

Kokoda : Updated Edition - Peter FitzSimons

RRP $39.99

$32.75

18%
OFF
The End of Everything : How Wars Descend into Annihilation - Victor D Hanson
Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow

RRP $27.99

$26.50

The Battle of Long Tan - Peter FitzSimons

RRP $49.99

$38.75

22%
OFF