The Andamans reminds us of those freedom fighters who on 10th May 1857,
gave the clarion call to rise against the British rule. This was our First War of Independence,
what the British in their history books refer to as the Sepoy Mutiny. To totally stomp out the
uprising the British sent thousands to the gallows and even hung them up from trees, tied them
to cannons and blew them up, destroyed them with guns and swords as if they had gone mad and were
out to get revenge. The revolutionaries, who survived, were exiled for life to the Andamans
so that their connection with their families and their country would be severed and their countrymen
would forget them forever. For this reason, in January 1858, the British reoccupied Port Blair, Andamans.
For the first time on 10th March 1858, Supdt. J.B. Walker arrived with a batch of 200 freedom fighters.
The second batch of 733 freedom fighters prisoners arrived in April 1868 from Karachi.
They had been sentenced for life imprisonment. After this however it is not known how many thousands of
freedom fighters were sent to the Andamans from the harbours of Bombay, Kolkata and Madras. Their numbers,
names and addresses are not known.
