File:Plate 18, Alum Bagh, from the advance 24-pounder Battery Picket (cropped).jpg

A plate from General Views & Special Points of Interest of the City of Lucknow, from Drawings made on the spot by Lieut. Col. D. S. Dodgson, A.A.C. London: Day & Son, Gate Street, Lincoln's Inns Fields. Lithographed title and 27 tinted lithographed views on 11 sheets, engraved plan at the end. Dedicated to Lieut. Gen. the Ho. Sir James Outram, Bart. G.C.B. Member of the supreme council of India, &c. &c.
In May 1857, Indian sepoys (soldiers) from the British Indian army mutinied at Meerut cantonment in North India. This triggered a year-long uprising against the British, which seriously threatened their rule in India. The siege of Lucknow was a key episode of the conflict, and the garrison at the Residency came under tremendous pressure from rebel forces. In November 1857, British troops under Sir Colin Campbell arrived at Alam Bagh and from there advanced to the Lucknow Residency, providing relief to the beleaguered garrison. Removed from the more built-up areas and narrow streets of Lucknow, Alam Bagh was an important post from the British perspective. Originally a leafy glade, it is now a dilapidated enclosure containing the grave of General Havelock, who died on 24 November 1857 due to overwork and dysentery, soon after evacuation by Campbell's troops.