"As the last knot of mutineers stood against the charge of the 10th Bombay Native Infantry, there must have been many who marvelled at the regiment's bravery. Kotah-ki-Serai in June 1858 was the stiffest fight that the 10th experienced in the so-called ‘Sepoy Mutiny'. Bengal troops – trained, armed, dressed, and equipped just like the 10th – fought with great ferocity against their East India Company masters.
The mutineers were supported by swarms of local fighters – undisciplined, but full of the same desperate courage. Both sepoys and civilians had come to hate the British and their vassals from distant Bombay. But, as volleys from the new Enfield rifles scythed through them, and as bayonets stabbed flesh and butts smashed bone, there were many in the rebel ranks who wondered at the steadfastness of the 10th.
Although there was no sign of it in this bitter fight, only a few months before, 800 miles away to the south, these same troops had been paraded and disarmed by the Queen's regiments now fighting alongside them. At that moment, the British had stared down their barrels, fingers on triggers, expecting to fire into their comrades at the least sign of unrest. Then, as the 10th stood and sweated in the sun, the court-martial's sentence was passed on three comrades who just days before had been arrested on suspicion of planning mutiny. All were found guilty. One was to be transported, but Havildar Sayad Hussein and Sepoy Mangal Cadiya were to face the executioner…"
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Amicalement
Armand
