Eye Witness Accounts

1. A “native”

The following is a summary of a letter written by an eye witness to his father of the events at Mangalore, on April 5th and 7th, 1837. The letter is quoted by Brown in his letter written from Tellicherry on May 31, 1837 to the Government in Madras. From the scattered information given in Brown’s letter, he appears to have been a Mangalorean Catholic living in Bolar, and working in the court.

The letter was written in Mangalore on April 15, 1837. It begins by saying that most of its inhabitants had fled, and that several had lost their houses and property. On Monday, April 3rd, as news of the retreat of sepoys from Puttur and advance of Kodavas toward Mangalore spread, general panic set in. Some boarded pattamars, and others gathered on the sea-shore. Together with some other families, the eye witness sheltered in a pattamar from Monday night to Wednesday morning, intending to sail from Mangalore in case of an attack.

While on the boat, the rumour spread that "the devil Apparampura was coming." Nothing happened. Finally, considering that the news was false, and finding the cost of hire (Rs 12 a night) exorbitant, they left the boat on Wednesday morning about 8 a.m. However, on reaching their homes, they heard that the Kodavas were on the other side of the Ullal river. The writer ran to the marine yard from where he saw the rebels gathering. He ran home. All household articles were moved to the garden, so that they could be saved in case the house, being close to the sub-collector's kutcheri, was set of fire. The judge and collector with their staff having abandoned Mangalore, the government was totally inactive.

The Kodava’s appeared shortly after, and halting near his uncle's house, were said to have made a bow to the Roman Catholic Church (Rosario). They appeared to number 2,000. Several houses were on fire, among them the large house of Mr. Sheffield. The mob advanced as far as the old Court-house, and entered Mr. Hudleston's compound, while the Sepoys, gathered in the Old Fort, seemingly directionless.

As it neared the barracks, an officer with some sepoys advanced. Another with more sepoys approached from the mess-house. They fired at the mob which had collected near the writer’s uncle's house. Two or three were hit and fell. The rest immediately dispersed. The sepoys followed down the Bolar road and killed more than a hundred while they were attempting to cross the river in boats. Others who had reached the barracks from the Milagres side also ran away as soon as the sepoys opened fire, some of them dying.

Their condition evoked pity from the writer. A boy, lying wounded on the road, told him most of them were inoffensive villagers and farmers forcibly brought by the ringleaders. About one in twenty carried a matchlock, and some carried large coithas (billhooks). Some walked with the aid of a cane, others were armed with just sticks and clubs. Their alarming shouts and cries which frightened the town more than their arms, the eye witness writes, “was the best prowess of their military skill.” Just a few shots from a few sepoys was enough to send them fleeing.

A second attack followed on Friday. The writer remained at home with his family. The sepoys fired for just 15 minutes before the Kodavas retreated. That was the end of the rebellion.

The writer adds that since then about 800 men with some guns had arrived in Mangalore from Cannanore (including 200 Europeans), 200 men with 60 cavalry from Nagar, and 300 sepoys and 200 Europeans from Bombay.

2. Mr Burtsall, Captain of the ship Eamont, in Tellicherry.

On April 5, on reaching Mangalore, he was told that the town had been captured by insurgents, and the civilians and garrison massacred. Several boats were sailing out of the harbour. One carrying women had drifted ashore and had been wrecked. Burtsall arranged to have them collected and taken on board.

Meanwhile, a member of the garrison came on board and requested help against the enemy who were expected at any moment. Burtsall arranged to send the ship’s guns. They reached the garrison lines at the sepoys’ huts just as some houses were set on fire. There was great confusion, resistance being considered hopeless.

Burtsall also reported that on March 30, three officers and 150 men, had marched to Puttur, 40 miles distant, and taken possession of the traveller's bungalow. Large bodies of insurgents besieged them for two days, and cut off the water supply. As they retreated, to Mangalore, insurgent fire, for a distance of about 18 miles, killed some 50 men including officers.

3. A letter from Mangalore, apparently by an Englishman 

"after hard fighting, they completely drove away the insurgents. Two guns landed from the Eamont did tremendous execution." Contradicting this, locals said that of the two shots fired by the guns, one struck a tree, the other a house.

4. An eye witness who had fled left Mangalore

Nothing was done during the two days and a half from the return of the sepoys, until the insurgent attack. This is corroborated by an official report which confirms that during the three preceding days, almost all government staff and establishments had left Mangalore.

References

Brown, Francis Carnac. 1838. Letters to and from the Government of Madras relative to the disturbances in Canara in April 1837. London