Planning, leaders and followers

The revolt was not entirely spontaneous: there was communication and planning. Sepoys and emissaries carried messages from station to station. For example, the 7th Awadh Irregular Cavalry wrote to the 48th Native Infantry, saying that they had acted for the faith and awaited their orders.

British officials later found that panchayats of native officers met nightly in the sepoy lines, to take collective decisions. In a sense, the sepoys were the makers of their own rebellion.

The rebels needed leaders, and often pushed traditional figures to lead them. Bahadur Shah in Delhi; Nana Sahib, the adopted son of the last Peshwa, at Kanpur; the Rani of Jhansi; and Kunwar Singh, a local zamindar in Arrah, Bihar, were pressed into leadership. In Lucknow, the people hailed Birjis Qadr, the young son of the deposed Nawab, as their leader.

There were also popular leaders from humbler backgrounds: Shah Mal of Barout pargana in Uttar Pradesh, who mobilised the villagers; Gonoo, a tribal cultivator of Singhbhum in Chotanagpur; and a fakir who rode an elephant at Meerut.

Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah, also called Danka Shah (the man with the drum), travelled from village to village preaching jehad against the British, and fought bravely at Chinhat. Leaders were often chosen by their followers.