The Battle of Agra was a comparatively minor but nevertheless decisive action during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (also known as the First War of Indian Independence or the Indian Mutiny). Indian rebels attacked a column of British troops which had relieved a garrison at Agra, but although they surprised the column, they were defeated and dispersed. This allowed the British to establish communications across all of Northern India, and to concentrate troops for the vital Relief of Lucknow.

Before the rebellion broke out, Agra was an important centre of British administration and commerce. Stationed in the military cantonments nearby were the 3rd Bengal Fusiliers (a "European" regiment of infantry of the British East India Company's army), a battery of artillery also manned by white troops, and the 44th and 67th Regiments of Bengal Native Infantry.

The loyalty of the sepoys (Indian soldiers) of the Bengal Army had been wavering for several years, as they feared that the actions and reforms of the East India Company were threatening Indian society and their own caste and status. After increasing unrest during the early months of 1857, the sepoys at Meerut broke into rebellion on 10 May 1857. They subsequently moved to Delhi, where they called on more sepoys to join them, and for the Emperor Bahadur Shah II to lead a nation-wide rebellion.

Agra (ⁱ/ˈɑːɡrə/; Hindi: आगरा, Urdu: آ گرہ), the erstwhile capital of Hindustan, is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, 363 kilometres (226 mi) west of state capital, Lucknow and 200 kilometres (124 mi) south of the national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 (2010 est.), it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most populous in India. Because 80 percent of the city's sewage flows into Yamuna River, it is 20th most polluted city in India. Agra can also refer to the administrative district that has its headquarters in Agra city.

The city finds mention in the epic Mahābhārata where it was called Agrevaṇa, or 'the border of the forest'. Legend ascribes the founding of the city to Rājā Badal Singh, a Sikarwar Rajput king (circa 1475), whose fort, Badalgarh, stood on or near the site of the present Fort. However, the 11th century Persian poet Mas'ūd Sa'd Salmān writes of a desperate assault on the fortress of Agra, then held by the Shāhī King Jayapala, by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. Sultan Sikandar Lodī was the first to move his capital from Delhi to Agra in the year 1506; he died in 1517 and his son Ibrāhīm Lodī remained in power there for nine more years, finally being defeated at the Battle of Panipat in 1526. It achieved fame as the capital of the Mughal emperors from 1526 to 1658 and remains a major tourist destination because of its many splendid Mughal-era buildings, most notably the Tāj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpūr Sikrī, all three of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.