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The Massacre Ghat at Cawnpur

On June 27, 1857, the banks of the Ganges at Cawnpur were the scene of a massacre of more than three hundred British by the natives, who, headed by Nana Sahib, had risen in rebellion against the foreigners. Relying upon a promise of safe conduct, some four hundred and fifty of the English, men, women, and children, had prepared to leave Cawnpur and embarked at the Sati Chaura Ghat. No sooner were they in the boats than they were suddenly fired upon and butchered by the sepoys. The survivors, a hundred or more women and children, were slaughtered in the city some ten days later. Their bodies were thrown into a well, which has since been known as the Memorial Well, from a monument which records the atrocities.