The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-12 00:00:00

~.. ,
r-
. .
- „
of his felle*e, ret at nought - the former general's
orders, attacked the Russians, and suffered: the pre-
dicted defeat ras a consequence.. Tliis
imwrortadivstertid
aging news, but mire startlingand
was the additional intelligence, brought by the same
messenger, that the majority of the successful army bad
marched, after the battlee towards Ezeroum, and were
already as far on the way as Taprakale, with :the view.
Of attacking the Kars army-in the rear, while tebutoff,
the Russian .commandenin-chief, our .neighhow- at
Hadjivelek-ey, fell upon rit in the front' with -the-re-
mainder of his farce.-' Here was startling sews,: deed,
fen-she Musllie I. _Hurriedly earring tegetherdhu Turkish
paellas, he sought couf4elas to what was to be done ;
but unfortunately 'their suggestive faculties..wereenot
much brighter or more lively than his own. Pietba
This suggested one thing, which Pacha That eieelared
to be suicide, and proposed something eise in ite'etead,
whisk Pacha the Other assured the helplesi comenanclUe-
in-chief must end in defeat, and finished by adeieseg
something equally bad. Zarif Pacha was in etAr. But
" orthodox' counsellors having failed him, he fell back
upon his dernid ressort, and unwillingly sought. relief
reetlecieliveranee-irom Guyon. This general- -saw at.
proposed one of two courses d
send
d. . . h
a secondly,tvision agathartnstoteye
glance wh;,t the circumstances demanded,
sranmdyasthoonurd
-the following morning, attack Belentoff whilst
should, on
eitherhostil e fail
columnbaek o
atn KTaarpsr,
aaknale;or
fight,
to
the
—ever willing to avoid a general
, his forces were divided, and after having dTefhesetemelnhishin
dispose similarly of the body in the .
deemed the second the more partialourschidwPsaeha and -.the
other Pueepean officers
formenof these plans ; but Kh
After much hesitation,
ad-
visable one, and accordingly
many c counselled s:
el lr;do
ui
et s adoption.
misgivings,
the General.iii-Chief consented, but stipulated that the
as the 4th and sth were'' unlucky'
calendar, t'he moon being, he alleged, in lliAeign of the
attack should We' pOStponed till thednaliosrniiangthofe
Tutherkeitahh,
t-toebe-
arding
ttorno,zolirt.eorfabc,ooniroeozieoilo.theTrheeqnueacllesysfiatytelofa Iti,n,ego
this suii'eistition was forcibly insisted on, but
,the ram
and crab were not to be overruled by
'any argumentwhich Guyon ecn'd calf to his aid-and so the attack
was definitely fixed fonthe 6th. When it became known
through tibe camp, an the afternoon of the sth, that •the
Mushir bud at length `screwed his courage to the stick-
ing pta6e;' great was -the general satisfaction. Little
groups assembled at all pointe- in eager,' and see :nine),
confiererit, di;ett4eion of the result of the 'morrow's teel
of strength between the two armies, and when the 'Ben
assembled on parade that evening, to give the usual
shouts of 'Long live the Sultan,' the bibs around Had-
jiveickeY echoed as they had never done before. During
the afternoon ammunition had been distributed, on the
backs of mules, to the various regiments ; arms were
individually 'looked to,' and all seemed eager for the
coining novelty of a fight.
" An hour after sunset- had been the time fixed on
by Guyon for the march of the troops, so Its to secure
their having the light of the moon en route, and
reach the enemy in time for an attaelt ,at dawn.
It came, but brought not the necessary order
from the Mu,hir ; and it was only after the moon
had risen, shone, and gone down that the march began.
This was blunder No. 1, and its consequences were soon
felt. Soon after getting clear of the camp confusion be-
gan on all sidc3- men, horses, and waggons tumbling
pell-mell in the darkness into the ruts and holes which
honeycomb the first portion of the line of march. After
another hour lost in this way lanterns were procured,
and the troops proceeded, literally groping their way
through the darkness thus made 'visible.' In this
manner they crept along, cavalry running foul of in-
fantry, and artillery of both—all, in fact, in as delight-
fully unmilitary disorder as the (supposedly) sleeping
and unexpecting Bebutoff could have wished. The first
grey streaks of dawn struggling over the hill tops of
Georgia revealed these consequences of the Musbir's
procrastination. and with them the startling proximity
of the whole Russian army some few hundred yards
ahead, close by the geserted village of Perget. Fortu-
nately this unexpected neighbourehip was discovered in
time to allow of the scattered columns being gathered
together, and arranged in something like order, before
there was sufficient light for the enemy to take advan-
tage of she Turkish status quo. When this was accom-
plished, the march was resumed for a short dis-
tance, when a general halt was made, and the first
division (consisting of twenty battalions of infantry,
one of rilec., three regiments of cavalry, and six bat-
teries of artillery—the whole commanded by Kerim
Pacha) advanced and deployed in order of battle. I
should mention, that on the previous evening the avant-
garde composed of a detached corps from the Ist divi-
sion, and formed of four battalions of foot, one battalion
of riflemen, and one mountain battery, bad been sent
on to occupy this Caradagh (black mountain) which over-
looks the 1-tussian camp, for the purpose of operating
against their rear during the battle. This force re-
mained on the heights throughout the entire action,
without firing a single shot—though within musket-
range of the Russians below—or even attempting to
silence a masked battery which opened a few yards
before them on the right of the Turkish left wing. Had
they efficiently executed their assigned duty the Russian
rear must have suffered severely, and the fortune of the
day have been materially influenced : as it was, they
merely remained safe spectators of the storm which
raged on either side and in front of them below.
" A. gun on the left of the Turkish right wing ' opened
the ball,' and after the firing of a few shots—which
were promptly returned by the Russians—the cannonade
soon became general. For nearly an hour the Rust* .
firing was execrable, nearl}levery shot and shell passing
high over the enemy, and bursting far in the rear ; but •
atter that it improved, and, as I can personally testify,
'told' with a precision which could not well be sure
passed. Not so with the Turkish artillery : from the
very first it had fired most admirably—with a splendid
accuracy of aim, indeed, which would have done honour
to any army in Europe, and which well accounted for
the ultimately great losses of the enemy. The com-
pact battalions of the Muscovites offered an excellent
target ; and it required but little " length" of sight
to perceive how terribly every discharge from the Turk.
ish guns mowed them down. For the first half of the
engagement success thus went strongly with the Mos-
lems ; but after that the balance of victory turned—
owing to causes now to be mentioned—and their defeat
went steadily and rapidly on to its consummation.
Early in the action Resul Pacha, of Bagdad (mentioned
in a former letter from Erzeroum in terms of confidence
which his subsequent conduct has not justified), fled at
the head of 3,000 Bashi-bazouks, before a fire of. Rus-
sian musketry and one field-piece, on the right wing. I
was close by them at the time, and can bear witness that
no mob ever ' absquatulated' more rapidly before the
watery discharge of a fire-eneine than he and his Arabs
did before—no pursuers. The force of this example soon
began to work upon the regular infantry engaged in the
same part of the field, and when some additional Russian
guns were brought up, whole battalions actually fell flat
upon their faces at each discharge—exactly as at their
evening prayers par pelotons. At this juncture Ichour-
schid Pacha (who had no command during ;the action
thanks to the jealousy of the Mushir), seeing the aspect
of affairs, ordered Vely Pacha,' who commanded the
,:econd division behind, to advance to the support of the
first ; but this individual—allowing personal enmity to
overrule public duty--refused to move without a direct
order from the Mushir. Now the Muehir being "no-
where," could not be found till after an interval of nearly
an hour, when he galloped into sight bare-headed, and
in most comical perturbation at having unwittingly
come within range of a Russian gun in another part of
the field. I happened to be passing at the time, when a
shell flew over his staff, and burst some 12 or 15 yards
off, without injuring any one. Its effects upon his Ex.
cellency's nerves were most amusing to a leas sensitive
observer • sheeting Al-pale! he dug the spurs into his
horse's side till the animal- bounded from the ground as •
if struck by a whole fry of.electric eels, nor stopped till
he was far beyond the• reach of Russian metal. When
he had sufficiently recovered the effects of this fright,
the necessary order was given to Vely Pacha, but it
was now too late to recover the lost ground ; the first
division, borne down by the whole force of the enemy,
was in full retreat, and no efforts of the Mushir could
stop them. Khourscbid Pacha succeeded in arresting
two battalions of infantry and a battery of guns,
.prevent
with these returned to the charge, regained the heights
which the Russian dragoons had- Already taken from
Berim Pacha, and held them till the last. But no
efforts of individual skill or courage could now .pre
the fall catastrophe of
paaasnddehfaeaat
d neithervacno we
ebadrr,
ad
butvi c ee r
y (awnn
idot
nor ability
nancilpi atl
yy-
ecoituyldh
regainad l os ti
tt.h e
vdaeyiy,
20,,0,10n0
ameecn) could
gting ofnly
ersoulpultiokecloyvaerretiasueltreatsretahti.s
signal
defeat of a well-found army of more than 40,000 men,
troopsN
early
a rly themselveseaodnf
thsh
uoe uci their
co aftert
conduct
regiments,
tuthethe
et battle
saattuld majorityhfi
understoodTurkishmaea d
to
begun,ua
nte r gh
de
it would neither be sufficient nor just to confine
tthe
balcatmede
acted infamously, but all their superior e them
to
worse.tke
maneEaumr
camp
tphteee,
dsertsend off their baggage to .ars„ In
hardly a major or colonel was on the field eal ofttis a
they
rewardhahecakd adne
certain enough ; but here it e • xcited only some short-
lived and fruitless remark. Of the different arms of
li
the service I may mention the special and Pecut
cowardice of the cavalry, who behaved from Est -I.'
last in a manner that would have disgraced t,,he rawest
Bashi-bazouks. Two regiments of infantry—the sth
Arabistan and 4th Desardat_4oeght gallantly, : and
left two-thirds of their number on the field, but with
these exceptions the foot rivalled the natilrY• DI
-
striking contrast, however, to
suuhabndnct was the
whoa.
sustained and splendid bravery'
of
etaeartillery,rider, Tahir Pacha,
behaviour, with that of their co
tnnl
who was educated at Woolwich, as before mentioned,
would have done honour to any army in Europe. To
alone is to be ascribed the
weighty loss of the foe. .r
their efficiency and herois m
Ina full swoop of the Russian
cavalry down _
their four batteries, reserved their
upon
in were within fifty paces of the guns,
and then poured
fire till the enemy a fire
of _
grape which swept down
reainnued to ad-
hundreds at onc
allae
ntthe artillem
ristsd remainder
wereconti cut down to a
vanes, and the g

In".
Thus was fought and lost the battle of Kurackdere
POI
'
I
—so s calledbane
no
Wfro
time
mteh et
ovi laladgde
merely nearest
ht bee numberßussianof
b
camo
armies losses, reserving other details and some ha-
P
ortant subsequent information for the next post. The
Turkish returns represent a loss of 2,345 killed, in-
cluding one pacha ; 1,201 wounded, and about 4,224
prisoners and deserters, besides 15 guns, which were
lost through their horses being shot and there being
none in reserve. Whilst Russian deserters, who have
come in since the battle, report Bebutoft's loss at more
than 8,000 killed, including one general and three
colonels. A. few more such victories would leave the
Czar's province of Georgia without a defender. The
defeated army retreated to Kars ; but in what order
and with what subsequent intentions on the part of
commander I shall deacribe at length in iny letter vt
the next post."