May 10, 1857 · North India Theater

On May 10, 1857, Indian sepoys of the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry and two infantry regiments at Meerut killed their British officers, freed 85 imprisoned troopers, and marched through the night to Delhi to restore the Mughal Emperor. The immediate trigger was the greased Enfield cartridges whose loading required biting paper sealed with beef-and-pork fat — ritually polluting to both Hindu and Muslim soldiers.

June 8 – September 21, 1857 · North India Theater

Delhi was the heart of the rebellion. A British siege force assembled on the Ridge north of the city and held it for nearly four months under cholera, typhoid, and repeated rebel sorties, until Nicholson arrived with Punjabi reinforcements. The Kashmir Gate was blown on September 14; Nicholson was shot in the chest leading the assault and died nine days later. By September 21 the Red Fort had fallen and Bahadur Shah Zafar surrendered at Humayun's Tomb.

June 5 – July 16, 1857 · North India Theater

The British garrison at Kanpur — several hundred soldiers plus some 400 women and children — was besieged from early June by Nana Sahib's forces. After three weeks under fire, with dysentery killing the men, Wheeler negotiated surrender under guarantee of safe passage. As the garrison attempted to board boats on June 27, firing broke out; most men were killed. The surviving women and children were held in the Bibighar house. On July 15-16, as Havelock's column approached, they were killed. British troops arriving at the Bibighar found the well.

June 30 – November 19, 1857 · North India Theater

The British Residency compound at Lucknow — some 1,700 soldiers and 1,280 civilians — was besieged from July 1 by rebel forces of perhaps 30,000. Commander Henry Lawrence died from a shell burst on July 4. Havelock's First Relief reached the Residency September 25 but the column was too weak to evacuate and became besieged with the garrison. Colin Campbell's Second Relief in November finally extracted the defenders after 140 days total.

March 23 – April 4, 1858 · Central India Theater

Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi — whose state had been seized under the Doctrine of Lapse — organized the city's defense personally. General Hugh Rose besieged Jhansi in late March 1858. When the walls were breached, Lakshmibai dressed in soldier's uniform, fought at the walls, then escaped through the British lines on horseback with her adopted son tied to her back. She rode to join Tantia Tope's forces at Kalpi.

June 17–18, 1858 · Central India Theater

After escaping Jhansi, Lakshmibai joined Tantia Tope and seized Gwalior fortress with its great arsenal. Hugh Rose followed rapidly. On June 18, Lakshmibai commanded one sector of the rebel defense and was killed — shot or cut down by a cavalry trooper, accounts differ. She was dressed in soldier's uniform, fighting on horseback. She was twenty-nine years old. Her body was cremated by followers before the British could take it. Tantia Tope escaped into the jungles and conducted guerrilla warfare for another year.