In the first major incident of the 1857 Uprising, Mangal Pandey, a sepoy belonging to the 34th Bengal Native Infantry, attacked British officers in Barrackpore on this day.
A deep resentment had spread among Indian soldiers after many came to believe that the new cartridges for the Enfield rifle, which needed to be bitten off, were greased with the lard of cow or pig, forbidden for Hindus and Muslims, respectively. Many sepoys felt that the British had deliberately used such lard to hurt religious sentiments of Indians.
Several accounts exist of Pandey’s assault on the officers. They generally agree that on the day of the attack, Pandey, in a frantic state, asked other sepoys to join him and attacked two officers. He tried to shoot himself and was restrained and arrested. He was tried, sentenced to death and hanged on April 8, 1857.
The resentment against the cartridges did not burn out. Soon the larger uprising started. Within a month, the garrison town of Meerut erupted.