1. Abul Fazl Allami, Ain-i Akbari (1988), 2:141–368. Dirk H. A. Kolff compiled these figures; see Naukar (1990), p. 3. Not all of these men were, however, prepared to serve as professional soldiers in the Mughal imperial armies.

2. See Irfan Habib, Agrarian System of Mughal India (1963).

3. From CoD July 12, 1782, FTWM 9:61.

4. To CoD April 5, 1783, FTWM 9:378.

5. See Henry Dodwell, Sepoy Recruitment (1922), pp. 1–12.

6. P. J. Marshall, East Indian Fortunes (1976), p. 15.

7. Arthur Broome, History (1850), 1:92–93; John Williams, Historical Account (1970 reprint), p. 4

8. E.g., Sayid Ghulam Husain Khan, Seir Mutaqherin (1902).

9. Marshall, East Indian Fortunes, pp. 163–66, 179.

10. See Henry Yule and A. C. Burnell, Hobson-Jobson (1903), s.v. “Sepoy.”

11. See Letter to Court September 3, 1766 in J. Long, Selections (1869), 1:427; Bruce P. Lenman, “Weapons” (1968); Gayl D. Ness and William Stahl, “Western Imperialist” (1977).

12. Mir ‘Abdul-Latif Khan Shustari, Tuhfat al-‘alam va zayl al-tuhfah (1992), p. 10.

13. See BSMC May 1, 1770; Great Britain, Parliament, “Account” (1773); Lenman, “Weapons,” p. 119; Raymond Callahan, East India Company (1972), p. 6.

14. See Bayly, Indian Society; and Douglas M. Peers, “War and Public Finance” (1989).

15. See Michael H. Fisher, Politics of the British Annexation (1993), pp. 1–49.

16. Broome, History, 1:455–58; Charles Caraccioli, Life of Clive (1775–77), 2:46–47.

17. Despite the English Company's policies against military labor contractors, it continued occasionally to recruit bodies of soldiers from them. Dodwell, Sepoy, p. 19; Madras Military Consultation March 15, 1781, ff. 668–69; Military Consultation February 19, 1799, ff. 1018–19; Provincial CinC June 10, 1782, BPbC July 9, 1782.

18. From CoD April 11, 1781, FTWM 8:295; BSMC August 6, 1781.

19. For differing interpretations of the sepoy in the English Company's armies, see Philip Mason, Matter of Honour (1974); Douglas M. Peers, Between Mars and Mammon (1995); Seema Alavi, The Sepoys and the Company (1995); and Dodwell, Sepoy, pp. 29–30.

20. See Thomas Williamson, East Indian (1810), 1:426.

21. Minutes of Council May 7, 1781, BMCG May 11, 1781.

22. Broome, History, Appendices; Williams, Historical, p. 3.

23. GRT July 31, 1770. See also Statement of the Army, BPbC December 16, 1769; and From CoD March 16, 1768, FTWM 5:99–100.

24. Broome, History, Appendices P-W; Callahan, East, p. 6.

25. See From CoD May 27, 1779, FTWM 8:242; HMS 24, p. 113; Committee on Shipping Report December 3, 1776, in Arthur N. Gilbert, “Recruitment and Reform” (1975); Callahan, East, p. 5.

26. Minutes of CoD, September 16, 1785.

27. E.g., From CoD April 16–17, 1777, FTWM 8:85–86, 103–4.

28. Smith Letter, November 2, 1768, in BSMC November 17, 1768.

29. I calculated these figures from “Infantry Native Officers and Sepoys Examined…” BMC 1778–84. The Madras Army had similar proportions, Dodwell, Sepoy, pp. 11, 40–49.

30. Minutes of Council April 22, 1782, BMCG April 29, 1782; GOCC May 11, 1782.

31. “Circumstances of the People…in Confinement…,” in Alexander Letter March 16, 1770, BSMC March 29, 1770. The specific names which Dean Mahomet used—Adams, Boudmal, and Corexin—do not appear in surviving Company records. Nevertheless, he recounted a typical scenario.

32. Broome, History, 1:552–54; Innes Munro, Narrative (1789), p. 186.

33. To CoD March 18, 1770, FTWM 6:197.

34. H. Palmer, June 15, 1771, Patna Factory Records January 1, 1771 to July 30, 1771, pp. 228–30.

35. The Brigade spent nine months in Monghyr cantonment, resuming its journey to Calcutta in February 1772. To CoD March 26, 1772, FTWM 6:390.

36. The Brigade left Baharampur in February 1775 and paused at Denapur until November 1775 when it transferred west to Bilgram in Awadh, remaining there through October 1777.

37. Dean Mahomet visited Allahabad in December 1775 but parts of his description of that city (Letter XIX) paraphrase an earlier account in Jemima Kindersley's Letters (1777), pp. 251–53. We cannot tell if he went to Delhi (some 225 miles from Bilgram) but since he anachronistically referred to Emperor Ahmed Shah (r. 1748–54) instead of the incumbent, Emperor Shah Alam II (r. 1759–1806), he may also have taken his account of Delhi from an earlier visitor. Dean Mahomet never saw Surat or Bombay; his descriptions of these cities come from Grose, Voyage (1766), pp. 29–52, 98–99, 107–14. I analyze Dean Mahomet's use of these European sources in Chapter Three.

38. BSC January 20, 1776.

39. For details of this march, see Stibbert Letters October 28, 1777, November 18, 1777, BMC November 21, 1777, December 5, 1777. The Third Brigade reached Calcutta on January 22, 1778.

40. After some ten months in possession, the Company restored this fortress to its ally, the ruler of Gohad. Two years later, the Marathas recovered it by strategem. Warren Hastings, Memoirs (1841), 2:378–81. Dean Mahomet either quoted or paraphrased a first-hand account by an unnamed participant in the capture of this fortress.

41. This Regiment was raised in 1778 as the Thirty-Seventh sepoys, renumbered as the Thirtieth Regiment in 1781, again renumbered as the Thirty-Third Regiment in 1784, and disbanded in 1785.

42. Baker had induced the Commander-in-Chief of the Bengal Army to supersede the Colonel of the Third Brigade so as to transfer Baker's profitable appointment as Quartermaster to his younger brother, Lieutenant William Massey Baker. BPbC November 23, 1780.

43. Foreign Secret Original Consultations March 19, 1781 No. 8; April 14, 1781 No. 6; April 27, 1781 Nos. 16–18; May 7, 1781 Nos. 8–9.

44. Since these events occurred prior to Dean Mahomet's arrival, his dating the death of Stalker, Symes, and Scott one day prematurely is understandable.

45. Warren Hastings, Narrative (1782), pp. 180–84.

46. William Popham Letter October 9, 1781, BSMC October 29, 1781.

47. Hastings, Memoirs, 2:415–16, 428–29, and Narrative, p. 190n.

48. Baker and Simpson Letter November 9, 1781, BPbC December 17, 1781.

49. From CoD August 28, 1782, To CoD February 14, 1782, July 15, 1782, April 5, 1783, January 17, 1785, FTWM 9:70, 318–19, 381, 526.

50. The Company's Resident, William Markham, oversaw the Regent, Drigbijai Singh, father of the infant Raja.

51. Dean Mahomet's promotion to subadar must have come through Baker's influence. Ordinarily, promotion to subadar came only after many years' service, going by regulation to the battalion's most senior jemadar.

52. Hastings Letter July 15, 1782 in Hastings, Memoirs, 2:584–87. Hastings to Doorbijey Sing July 15, 1782, Persian Correspondence, Translations of Issues, 1781–85, No. 26, pp. 1–18, No. 38, NAI.

53. Minute of Council June 16, 1786 in Henry Grace, Code (1791), p. 11.

54. Baker Letter November 27, 1783, BPbC December 18, 1783; Minutes of CoD September 10, 1784, IOL.

55. Of the 107 writers of the years 1768–70, 43 percent had died and about 8 percent returned to Britain. HMS 79, p. 3.

56. From CoD March 17, 1769, FTWM 5:186; To CoD February 12, 1771, From CoD July 12, 1782, FTWM 9:58–59.

57. To CoD April 5, 1783, FTWM 9:374; see also CoD to Madras July 8, 1782, HMS 163, pp. 175–86.

58. To Fredricksnagore March 6, 1783, BPbC March 6, 1783; From Bie March 18, 1783, BPbC March 24, 1783.

59. To CoD July 15, 1782, FTWM 9:314.

60. Ole Feldbaek, India Trade (1969), appendix.

61. Foreign Letter from Bengal March 16, 1784, To CoD March 16, 1784, FTWM 15:242–43; To CoD January 14, 1785, FTWM 15:328–31; HMS 57, pp. 53–86, 227; Foreign Department Consultation, December 16, 1783, Nos. 28, 31.

62. To CoD November 10, 1782, FTWM 15:158–59.

63. Dean Mahomet says he landed at Madapallam, but he apparently mistook the name since that port was three hundred miles north of Madras.