Mangal Pandey’s actions while stationed in Barrackpore (now in West Bengal) in 1857 sparked the Indian Rebellion, also often called India’s First War of Independence. He incited his fellow sepoys (soldiers) to rise up against their British officers and shot and wounded two of those officers. From Barrackpore, the mutiny spread to sepoys in Meerut and then across India. The rebellion led to the abolition of the British East India Company in favor of direct British rule.