- On 11th May, the soldiers set foot from Meerut and made their way to Delhi.
- In Delhi, they reached the Red Fort.
- The Red Fort was the official residence of the Mughal Emperor, at that time Bahadur Shah Zafar. Upon arrival at the Red Fort, the sepoys announced Bahadur Shah Zafar as their leader under whose guidance they would continue the Revolt
- This did not come without its own set of problems: army members belonging to the religious communities such as Sikhs refused to aid the uprising in any way as they did not want to work under an Islamic leader.
- The Emperor took an immediate decision and wrote letters to all the chiefs and rulers of India urging them to organise a confederacy of Indian states to fight and replace the British regime.
- At the same time, the sepoys fought away all British resistance and extended their control to areas such as present day Haryana,Bihar, and the Central and United Provinces.
- Other provinces where the British were made to flee include Awadh, Rohilkhand, the Doab, the Bundelkhand, East Punjab.
- People from various genders, castes, states and of different ages and walks of sepoys such as the peasants, the artisans, shopkeepers, day labourers, zamindars, religious mendicants, priests and civil servants began to actively participate in the revolt to show their discontent.
- The zamindars and merchants in particular took advantage of the revolt to destroy the moneylenders’ account books and debt records which had been a major source of tension for these people.
- Within a month of the capture of Delhi the revolt spread to different parts of the country.