Throughout the centuries there have been many execution methods used to take the lives of
people who were condemned to death. But one of the most brutal and barbaric utilised a
weapon which for centuries had been used on the battlefield to pummel and pound castles
and fortifications. But these executions by cannon were known for being brutal and they
were used by different armies to send a clear message to their enemies to fall into line.
But what cannot be dismissed is the eyewitness testimony of those people who saw someone
being blown from a gun or a cannon. Join us today as we look at the executions of the
men blown from a cannon, as always to support our channel please make sure to subscribe.
Blowing from a gun was an execution method which has been around for centuries, from
the 1500s to the 1900s. It was used by many different armies including the Portuguese
in their colonies, and also it was used by the Mughals against rebels who were wanting
to send messages to their enemies. But it is most closely remembered as a figment of
the brutality of the British colonial rule in India. It was used to suppress rebellions
across the country and to execute rebels as well as Indian sepoys who had been found guilty
of deserting and betraying the British. But the method was one which was completely barbaric,
and the cannon would be loaded with a cannonball on times, but also blanks and grapeshot. There
were many problems with the executions, as often when the cannon was fired with the individual
tied to the end of the barrel, parts of the body would scatter everywhere, and bones would
splinter and actually embed into the bodies of those who were witnesses and they too would
be injured. The inidivual would be literally tied to the end of the cannon which was then
fired, and there was little chance of escape also.
The birds of prey in the local area would also work out what was happening and they
would circle around the execution areas and pick up and eat the parts that were scattered
by the canyon fire, and some witnesses saw dogs waiting for their feast. During one execution
which went wrong, as the soldier who was being shot just slipped slightly down the cannon
as the shot went off, it was said by a witness, ‘One wretched fellow slipped from the rope
by which he was tied to the guns just before the explosion, and his arm was nearly set
on fire. While hanging in his agony under the gun, a sergeant applied a pistol to his
head; and three times the cap snapped, the man each time wincing from the expected shot.
At last, a rifle was fired into the back of his head, and the blood poured out of the
nose and mouth like water from a briskly handled pump. This was the most horrible sight of
all. I have seen death in all its forms, but never anything to equal this man's end.’
Another witness described the method saying, ‘The prisoner is generally tied to a gun
with the upper part of the small of his back resting against the muzzle. When the gun is
fired, his head is seen to go straight up into the air some forty or fifty feet; the
arms fly off right and left, high up in the air, and fall at, perhaps, a hundred yards
distance; the legs drop to the ground beneath the muzzle of the gun; and the body is literally blown
away altogether, not a vestige being seen.’
It was used also in afghanistan and one witness said that, ‘The three men were then tied
with ropes to the guns, their backs against the muzzle. The rope, fastened to one of the
spokes of the wheel, passed with a knot round the arms, over the muzzle of the gun, round
the other arm, and then to the spoke of the opposite wheel, which kept the body fixed.’
The Portuguese explorer Francisco de Almeida would blown many people from guns during his
conquests, and during one Portuguese campaign during the 17th century, one woman turned
to cannibalism, and the conquestidors were so repulsed by this that they were going to
blow her from a gun, but local churchmen managed to try and prevent this.
But the British in India would have a long history of executing people in this way, as
they would use capital punishment for a long time. They decided to adopt the old Mughal
punishment, and it was the East India Company who settled on this, and they would execute
thieves in this manner to deter others. Those who tried to convince others to rebel and
protest British colonial ruler were also executed in this way. In 1806 during the Vellore mutiny,
there was a nighttime massacre of British officers and soldiers, and many sepoy were
killed during the suppression of the mutiny, and 6 were blown from guns. Further plots
were uncovered in the years later, and these men were then blown from guns. Sometimes on
the rare occasion someone who was sentenced to be blown from a cannon could be pardoned,
for example in 1784 when a regiment rose up regrind their pay, 12 were ordered to be blown
from a gun, and the last one was lucky. However he was tied to the mouth of the cannon, and
three times the fuse blew out, but the man in charge then decided to pardon him.
One man had a terrible ordeal, as following his court martial he was condemned to be blown
from a gun, but instead his sentence was commuted to be hanged in chains when he was placed
in a gibbet and he suffered a slow and painful death. It was used a lot during the suppression
of the Indian rebellion of 1857, when many people were executed in this way to try and
deter those who were committing insurrection against the British. It was said, ‘On 8
June, two sepoys from the 35th light Infantry were blown from guns. 10 June, in Ludhiana,
Peshawar, some 40 from the 54th regiment were blown from guns. On 13 June, ten[50] sepoys
from the 45th Regiment at Firozpur were blown from guns, two hanged. The same day, in Ambala,
10 sepoys from the 54th regiment suffered the same fate. The 26th of the same month,
in Aurungabad, 1 was blown from a gun, 1 hanged, and 3 were shot. On 8 July, in Jhelum,
it is assumed that captured rebels would be blown away. On the 19th, Aurungabad, 1 was
blown away, 2 shot. On 5 September, Settara, 6 were blown away. On 17 September, Multan,
1 was blown away, 121 were summarily executed. On 23 September, in Karachi, 1 was blown
away, 7 were hanged and 20 deported. (The local body count on court-martialed individuals
then came to 4 blown away, 14 hanged, 22 deported and 3 beheadings.) At the end of October,
in Rohilkhand near Agra, 1 was blown away. On 16 November, Bombay, two sepoys from the
10th regiment were blown away.’
In certain regions of India, dozens were blown from cannons for their participation in different
rebellions. It was a brutal execution method that was deployed as a way of trying to keep
people down and scare them from joining mutiny’s and rebellions. It was one of history’s
most horrific methods and would result in someone being quite literally blown to pieces.
For those who witnessed the executions it would be disturbing and barbaric to witness.
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