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Treating an uprising's own administrative records (petitions, pay rolls, orders, complaints) as the primary source reveals the rebellion as a governing bureaucracy rather than a spontaneous frenzy. The mundane documents show what insurgents actually spent their days doing: allocating grain, settling salary disputes and adjudicating neighbourhood grievances, not only fighting.
Bahadur Shah Zafar and his court, placed at the head of the uprising, received a stream of petitions from soldiers, merchants and ordinary Delhi residents seeking redress. The king intervened on supplies, compensation and protection of residents from soldiers, though regiments and commanders did not always obey the orders issued in his name.
Under the British siege, the rebel administration in Delhi devoted substantial effort to grain supply, price control and keeping traders and cultivators bringing food into the city. Its orders about hoarding, grain prices and stray soldiers show provisioning and public order being managed together as ongoing concerns of the besieged regime.