Sepoy Mangal Pandey of the 34th Regiment, Bengal Native Infantry revolts against the East India Company's government in India in 1857, sparking the lengthy Indian Rebellion of 1857. It is often referred to as the "First War of Independence."
On March 29, 1857, at the Barrackpore parade field outside Calcutta, 29-year-old Mangal Pandey of the 34th BNI stated his intention to revolt against his superiors, incensed by the East India Company's previous acts. Sergeant-Major James Hewson went to investigate after being informed of Pandey's behaviour, only to be shot at by Pandey. Hewson had sounded the alarm. When Pandey's adjutant, Lt. Henry Baugh, arrived to investigate the commotion, he opened fire, but instead struck Baugh's horse.
Related On This Day
Anupam Roy was born in Kolkata, West Bengal, in 1982, and is an Indian vocalist, writer, composer, and playback singer.
The Eiffel Tower formally opens in Paris in 1889. Built during the Exposition Universelle, it holds the record for the highest man-made tower at 300m for 41 years.
Isaac Newton, an English scientist and astronomer, died in London in 1727 at the age of 84.
In 1867, the United States purchases Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000, or about 2 cents per acre.
Guru Har Krishan, the eighth of the ten Sikh Gurus, died in 1664. He was also one of the youngest gurus, having become a guru at the age of five.
Vincent van Gogh, a Dutch artist, painter, and Expressionism pioneer, was born in Groot-Zundert, Netherlands, in 1853.
Project Tiger, a tiger conservation initiative, is begun in India's Jim Corbett National Park in 1973.
Devika Rani Chaudhuri Roerich, an actress in Indian cinema of the 1930s and 1940s, was born in 1908.