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176 ear and the word was accompanied or instantly followed by a shot or the thrust of a bayonet. The siege and fall of Lucknow formed the prelude to the end of the rebellion. There was considerable fighting in various parts of India during 1858 and early in the following year, but the battles were of no great moment and an almost continuous series of defeats for the rebels. In the autumn of 1858 the rule of the East India Company came to an end, after an existence of more than two hundred and fifty years, and the control of the Indian empire passed to the British government.