Hazard in Circassia
Page 23
The Circassians of Soujak, Anapa, and the Kouban have repeatedly requested Mustapha Pasha to visit them, in order that they might be assured he was desirous of their co-operation, and to arrange some future plan of proceedings against the Russian posts.
The Pasha had now done so, and although his force of regular troops is small, he has, he assures me, every certainty of collecting around this neighbourhood, in about twenty days, a force of not less than twenty thousand or thirty thousand armed Circassians, horse and foot.
Upon my expressing doubts as to the Circassian assistance being much to be relied on, Serfir Pasha as well as the General declared that there was no doubt now of a general rising, and that they held documents from almost every Circassian officer in Russian employ in the Kouban, declaring that they were ready when the opportunity was offered them to show that they were still Circassians.
Mustapha Pasha said his plan was to carry on a purely guerilla warfare, to blockade and harass Soujak and Anapa, and to occupy two small posts which lie between these two towns. I strongly concurred in the wisdom of his employing his men in a manner best adapted to their roving and predatory habits, and assured His Excellency that you would be highly pleased to see his plans carried out to the letter, moreover that I was sure he would best serve the plans you had in mind against Kertch, by keeping up the impression, among the Russians, that an attack of a serious nature was contemplated upon Soujak and Anapa.
Having heard that the Pasha had eleven battalions of regulars under his command, I asked him, in the event of your desiring to join him in any operations against the Russians in this neighbourhood, what was the actual number of troops he could move up from Abassia without weakening his position there. His reply was that he could not spare more than two thousand or three thousand regular troops, and that only with some risk—indeed, His Excellency appeared rather to avoid the question.
However, he promises to establish a military post here within twenty days, and so anxious are the Circassians that he should do so, that several chiefs have gone with him to Soukoum Kaleh (whither he sailed this morning) to insure his returning among them. At Ponahs, about sixty miles S.E. of this place, the Pasha has already established a post.
Mustapha Pasha is, as I dare say you are already aware, Sir, the son of the 1st Turkish Governor of Anapa. He is evidently well known and liked here, and his visit has caused considerable excitement . . .
All my information goes to confirm the fact of the great strength of Anapa as a fortified place, but that the want of water within the works renders it incapable of withstanding a rigid blockade by land and sea, a fact that Mustapha Pasha insists on. At Soujak, five more heavy guns have been mounted.
The despatches for yourself, Admiral Bruat, Omar Pasha and the Porte, will be taken by that zealous officer, Lieutenant Armytage who, having been present and heard all that passed between the Pashas and myself, will be able to give you, Sir, all further information that you may require.
The Vesuvius will leave this place in two hours’ time for Kertch, visiting the coast on the way up.
I have, etc.,
(Signed) Sherard Osborn.
Despatch from Captain John Moore to Rear-Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons.
Highflyer, off Kertch 2nd June, 1855.
Sir,
I have the honour to inform you that, in obedience to your orders, I have visited various points on the Circassian coast, as far as Soukoum Kaleh, and everywhere the news of the occupation by the Allies of the Straits of Kertch and Sea of Azoff was received with the greatest joy.
At Soukoum, I found Mustapha Pasha . . . he appeared to find the operations at Kertch of the utmost importance, and to be most anxious to second them, by appearing himself in the neighbourhood of Anapa with a small Turkish force, and a levée en masse of the Circassians, which he seemed very confident of being able to effect. He informed me that, during his late absence in Circassia, the Russians had made an attack on Redoute Kaleh, which had been repulsed, and that they also threatened his positions at St Nicolai and Chorouk-sou, and that . . . he found it necessary to visit his army before again proceeding to Circassia which, however, he would certainly do as soon as circumstances allowed. He hoped to be at liberty in about ten days to bring up two or three Turkish battalions and several light field-pieces, and he hoped you would be able to assist him in transporting them . . .
In the meantime, I took charge of a letter from him to Serfir Pasha (who is in the neighbourhood of Ponahs) containing a proclamation calling on the Circassians to rise and complete the success of the Allies in cutting off the Russian communications in all directions. On reaching Ponahs and finding that Serfir Pasha was at some distance in the country, I was obliged to despatch the letter to him by a Circassian messenger, as I did not feel justified in awaiting his return, which was very uncertain . . .
This morning I reconnoitred Anapa and I perceived convoys leaving in the direction of Kouban Lake, which confirms what I have heard from the Circassians, that they are sending away the inhabitants and their property from the town.
I have, etc.,
(Signed) John Moore.
NOTE
Captain Moore landed at Soujak on 28th May, following its evacuation by the Russians. He found it in the possession of the Circassians and landed Captain Hughes (liaison officer) there.
From The Russian War, 1885: edited by Captain A. C. Dewar, O.B.E., B.Litt., F.R.Hist.S., R.N., and published by the Navy Records Society.
Also details from: A History of the War Against Russia, E. H. Nolan (2 vols., 1857).
Mustapha Pasha distinguished himself at the Battle of Oltenitza (Nov., 1853) and in the Danube campaign of 1854, under Omar Pasha. He succeeded Selim Pasha as Turkish Commander-in-Chief at Batoum in August, 1854, after the former—suspected of having been bribed by the Russians— sustained a heavy defeat at Karaboulah, near Bayazid, and fled from the battle at the head of the Turkish reserve, which he did not bring into action. Twenty-five hundred Turks were taken prisoner and at least twice this number killed or wounded.
Richard Debaufre Guyon was born on 31 March, 1813, at Walcot near Bath, the son of a Commander, R.N. He entered the Austrian service in 1831, played a distinguished part in the Hungarian war of independence under Kossuth (1848) after which he fled to Turkey. He was appointed a General in November, 1853, in the Army of Asia Minor and was one of the few European officers who refused to embrace the Mohammedan faith. He died of cholera in 1856.
BOOKS CONSULTED
ON THE CRIMEAN WAR
GENERAL
History of the War Against Russia, E. H. Nolan (2 vols., 1857)
History of the War With Russia, H. Tyrell (3 vols., 1857)
The Campaign in the Crimea, G. Brackenbury, illustrated W. Simpson (1856)
The War in the Crimea, General Sir Edward Hamley (1891)
Letters from India and the Crimea, Surgeon-General J.A. Bostock (1896)
Letters from Headquarters, by a Staff Officer (1856)
The Crimea in 1854 and 1894, Field-Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood (1895)
The Destruction of Lord Raglan, Christopher Hibbert (1961)
Battles of the Crimean War, W. Baring Pemberton (1962)
The Reason Why, Cecil Woodham Smith (1953)
Crimean Blunder, Peter Gibbs (1960)
The Campaign in the Crimea, 1854–6: Despatches and Papers, compiled and arranged by Captain Sayer (1857)
Letters from Camp During the Siege of Sebastopol, Lt.-Colonel C.G. Campbell (1894)
The Invasion of the Crimea, A.W. Kingslake (1863)
With the Guards We Shall Go, Mabel, Countess of Airlie (1933)
Britain’s Roll of Glory, D. H. Parry (1895)
Henry Clifford, V.C., General Sir Bernard Paget (1956)
BIOGRAPHIES
The Life of Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde, Lt.-General L. Shadwell, C.B. (2 vols., 1881)
A Life of Vice-Admiral Lord Lyons, Captain S. Eardley-Wilmot, R.N. (1898)
NAVAL
&
nbsp; The Russian War, 1854 (Baltic and Black Sea), D. Bonner-Smith and Captain A.C. Dewar, R.N. (1944)
Letters from the Black Sea, Admiral Sir Leopold Heath (1897)
A Sailor’s Life Under Four Sovereigns, Admiral of the Fleet the Hon. Sir Henry Keppel, G.C.B., O.M. (3 vols., 1899)
From Midshipman to Field-Marshal, Sir Evelyn Wood, V.C. (2 vols., 1906)
Letters from the Fleet in the Fifties, Mrs Tom Kelly (1902)
The British Fleet in the Black Sea, Maj.-General W. Brereton (1856)
Reminiscences of a Naval Officer, Sir G. Gifford (1892)
The Navy as I Have Known It, Vice-Admiral W. Freemantle (1899)
A Middy’s Recollections, The Hon. Victor Montagu (1898)
Medicine and the Navy, Lloyd and Coulter (vol. IV, 1963)
The Price of Admiralty, Stanley Barret, Hale (1968)
The Wooden Fighting Ship, E.H.H. Archibald, Blandford (1968)
Seamanship Manual, Captain Sir George S. Naes, K.C.B., R.N., Griffin (1886)
The Navy of Britain, England’s Sea Officers, and A Social History of the Navy, Michael Lewis, Allen & Unwin (1939—60)
The Navy in Transition, Michael Lewis, Hodder & Stoughton (1965)
Files of The Illustrated London News and Mariner’s Mirror
Unpublished Letters and Diaries
The author acknowledges, with gratitude, the assistance
given by the Staff of the York City Library in obtaining books,
also that given by the Royal United Service Institution and
Francis Edwards Ltd.
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