Second Anglo-Sikh War

Background to the War
The Sikh kingdom of the Punjab was consolidated and expanded by Maharaja Ranjit Singh during the early years of the nineteenth century. During the same period, the British East India Company's territories had been expanded until they were adjacent to the Punjab. Ranjit Singh maintained an uneasy alliance with the East India Company, while increasing the military strength of the Khalsa (the Sikh Army, which also saw itself as the embodiment of the state and religion), to deter the British from interference with his state.
When Ranjit Singh died in 1839, the Punjab began to fall into disorder. There was a succession of short-lived rulers at the central Durbar (court), and increasing tension between the Khalsa and the Durbar. The East India Company began to build up its strength on the borders of the Punjab. Eventually, the increasing tension goaded the Khalsa to invade British territory, under weak and very possibly treacherous leaders. After the hard-fought First Anglo-Sikh War ended in defeat for the Sikh army, the Punjab was partially governed by the East India Company.

[edit] Aftermath of the first Anglo-Sikh War
The infant Maharaja Duleep Singh was allowed to retain his throne, but a British Resident (Sir Henry Lawrence) now controlled the policy of the Durbar. The Sikhs were made to cede some valuable territory (the Jullundur Doab) to the British and the Maharaja Gulab Singh, the ruler of Jammu, was allowed to acquire Kashmir from the Sikh kingdom by a large cash payment to the East India Company. These conditions naturally humiliated and angered the Sikhs.
At the same time, some of the Khalsa had to be kept in being, since many predominantly Muslim areas of the Sikh kingdom threatened to ally with Dost Mohammed Khan in Afghanistan or to lapse into disorder, and only force of arms could keep them in subjugation. The British were unwilling to incur the financial and manpower costs of using large numbers of British or Bengal units for this task. The leaders of the Khalsa naturally resented carrying out the orders of comparatively junior British officers and administrators, who at the same time were imposing British administration and weakening the authority of the Sikh Sirdars (generals).
Early in 1848, Sir Henry Lawrence, who was ill, departed on leave to England. Although it was assumed that his younger brother, John Lawrence would be appointed in his place, the Governor-General of India Lord Dalhousie, appointed Sir Frederick Currie instead, who was unfamiliar with military matters and with the Punjab. While the Lawrences were comparatively informal and familiar with the junior officers who were Residents and Agents in the various districts of the Punjab, Currie was stiffer in manner, and inclined to treat his subordinates' reports with caution. In particular, he refused to act on reports from James Abbott, the Political Agent in Hazara, who was convinced that Sirdar Chattar Singh Attariwalla who commanded the troops from the Khalsa in Hazara, was actively plotting a rebellion with other Sirdars.

[edit] First outbreak
The city of Multan, although part of the Sikh kingdom, had nevertheless been governed by a Hindu viceroy, Dewan Mulraj. After the end of the First Anglo-Sikh war, Mulraj had behaved independently. When required by the British-controlled Durbar in Lahore to pay taxes and revenues which had been owed for some years, Mulraj attempted to give up power to his son, so as to maintain his family's position as rulers. Currie instead imposed a Sikh governor, with a British Political Agent, Lieutenant Patrick Vans Agnew.
On April 18, 1848, Vans Agnew arrived at Multan, with another officer, Lieutenant William Anderson, and a small escort. Mulraj handed over the keys of the fortress, but as Vans Agnew's party attempted to take possession, they were attacked by a party of Mulraj's irregular troops, and a mob from the city. When both officers were wounded, their escorts fled, and the officers were murdered by the mob the next day.
Mulraj not only instigated these attacks but was committed to rebellion because of them. He presented Vans Agnew's head to the Sirdar who Currie had tried to impose, and told him to take it back to Lahore. The news of the killings spread over the Punjab, and unrest and disquiet increased. Large numbers of Sikh soldiers deserted the regiments loyal to the Durbar to join those prepared to rebel under the leadership of Mulraj.