The Battle of Najafgarh was a subsidiary engagement of the Siege of Delhi during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. A large Indian force sortied from Delhi, intending to attack the rear of the British force besieging the city. A detachment from the besiegers marched to intercept them, and defeated them while they were disordered by difficult terrain and by quarrels among their commanders.
British troops clash with Sepoy mutineers at the 1857 Battle of Najafgarh
The Siege of Delhi was one of the decisive conflicts of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The rebellion against the authority of the East India Company was widespread through much of Northern India, but essentially it was sparked by the mass uprising by the sepoys of the Bengal Army, which the company had itself raised in its Bengal Presidency. Seeking a symbol around which to rally, the first sepoys to rebel sought to reinstate the power of the Mughal Empire, which had ruled much of the Indian subcontinent in the previous centuries. Lacking overall direction, many who subsequently rebelled also flocked to Delhi.
Battle damage to the Kashmiri Gate in Delhi, 1857.
The Flagstaff Tower, Delhi, where the British survivors of the rebellion gathered on 11 May 1857
View of Delhi, from the Palace Gate, 1858
Hindu Rao's house in Delhi, now a hospital, was extensively damaged in the fighting.