been prohibited previously by any formal order, it had never been the practice in any well-regulated corps for the men to appear with them on parade. The first incident occurred in May . T he men in the 2nd battalion of the 4th regiment at Vellore refused to wear the new turban. When the matter was reported to the Governor by Col.
Fancourt, commandant of the garrison, he ordered a band of the 19th Dragoons (Cavalry) to escort the rebels, against whom charges had been framed, to the Presidency for a trial. The 2nd battalion of the 4th regiment was replaced by the 2nd battalion of the 23rd regiment of Wallajahbad. The Court Martial tried privates (a soldier of lower military rank)– Muslims and Hindus–, for defiance. In pursuance of the Court Martial order two soldiers (a Muslim and a Hindu) were sentenced to receive lashes each and to be discharged from service.
Despite signals of protest the Government decided to go ahead with the change, dismissing the grievance of Indian soldiers. Governor William Bentinck also believed that the ‘disinclination to wear the turban was becoming more feeble.’ Though it was initially claimed that the officers on duty observed nothing unusual during the night of July , it was later known that the English officer on duty did not go on his rounds and asked one of the Indian officers to do the duty and Jameder Sheik Kasim, later one of the principal accused, had done it. The leaders of the regiment who were scheduled to have a field day on the morning of July, used it as a pretext to sleep in the Fort on the night of July. The Muslim native adjutant contrived to post as many of his followers as possible as guards within the Fort.
Jamal-ud-din, one of the twelve princes of Tipu family, who was suspected to have played a XI History - Lesson - - Early Resistance to British Rule All the buildings in the Fort were searched, and mutineers found in them pitilessly slaughtered. Gillespie’s