ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the circumstances under which British valor was demonstrated during the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, particularly the military and cultural imperatives that made a single battle on a single day–the storming of the Sikander Bagh on November 16, 1857. In Awarded for Valour, Melvin Charles Smith situates the birth of the Victoria Cross (VC) at a historical crossroads: "A combination of political uncertainty, royal anxiety, and public outrage came together to create the VC. The fall of Cawnpore was not solely an inglorious military defeat that called into question Britain's assumptions of racial superiority, but also one freighted with the additional burdens of twice failing to protect British women and children. In Victorian Britain, the creation of the Cross acknowledged that common soldiers and sailors were necessary to maintain empire, but for many, there was little space or support once their service concluded.