Thomas Gordon ( British Army officer ) Major - General Thomas Gordon ( 1788 – 20 April 1841 ) was a British army officer and historian . He is remembered for his role in the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s and 1830s and his " History " of the war published in 1833 . Early career . He was born at Cairness House to Charles Gordon of Buthlaw and Cairness in Lonmay , Aberdeenshire and his wife Christian , née Forbes of Ballogie . He was educated at Eton College and Brasenose College , Oxford . From 1808 to 1810 he served in the Scots Greys . In May 1810 he left service in the British Army for travel and on 26 August was well received in Ioannina by Ali Pasha , local governor for the Ottoman Empire . Between 1810 and 1812 , his travels included Athens , Constantinople , Thessaloniki as well as parts of Anatolia , Persia and Barbary . In 1813 , he served as a captain on the staff of the Russian Army , and in November 1813 was in the army of Count von Walmoden at Pretzer in Mecklenburg . Early in 1814 , he returned to his seat of Cairness House until 1815 when he went abroad again to Constantinople , where he married Barbara Kana ( afterwards Baroness de Sedaiges ) . Military service in Greece during the 1820s . Gordon returned to Greece in 1821 at the commencement of the Greek War of Independence . He served through the campaign of 1821 in the Morea in the Peloponnese as " chef d ’ état major " under Demetrios Ypsilantis . He took part in the siege of Tripolitza . After the capture , he strongly protested against the massacre by the Greeks of several thousand Turks there . On being ignored , he retired for a time from service . In November 1822 , the provisional Greek government at Hermione sent a letter asking him to return . He declined but joined the Greek committee in London ( formed 8 March 1823 ) and contributed money and military supplies . He refused the committee ’ s invitation to go to Greece as one of three commissioners in charge of stores and funds stating that the Greeks were unwilling to submit to European discipline . As a committee member he strongly supported the appointment of George Byron , 6th Baron Byron . Early in 1824 , a Greek deputation raised a loan in London and again unsuccessfully asked Gordon to return . In 1826 , renewed representations from Greece and the Greek deputies in London persuaded him to return to promote unity and military discipline . He reached Nafplion in May 1826 and found that bitter dissentions among the Greeks had quenched even their animosity against the Turks . He was well received and arrived in time to prevent the disbanding of the regular corps . Towards the end of June , Rumeliots forced the government to seize $ 10 , 000 from Gordon to give to the Suliot " Kapetanioi " from Epirus . By the end of 1826 , Gordon had spent all the public funds which the Greek deputies in London had entrusted to him . In 1827 , Gordon accepted the command of the expedition to Piraeus , with the rank of brigadier , his troops consisting of the corps of Ioannes Notaras , that of Ioannis Makrygiannis , the regulars , and the foreign volunteers . His aim was to relieve Athens , which was being blockaded . Gordon successfully landed his troops at Faliro “ under the nose of Reshid Pasha ” . Having found that the Greeks besieged in the Acropolis were still able to hold out , Gordon wished to resign and only continued on condition of receiving supplies and being “ entirely master of his own operations ” . He remained in command of the troops at Faliro until the arrival in April of General Richard Church , who took over the supreme command . On 16 April 1827 , Church appointed Gordon director - general of the army . He probably continued to serve in this capacity until the Greek defeat of 6 May . Nevertheless continued resistance , the success of the Battle of Navarino , and the backing of France , the Russian Empire and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland enabled the Kingdom of Greece to emerge with a northern frontier from Arta to Volos , but without Crete or Samos . In July 1827 , Gordon returned to Scotland . Archaeological and historical interests in Greece . Gordon returned to Greece in 1828 . While at Argos from 1828 to 1831 with his secretary James Robertson and the historian George Finlay , he worked on the site of the ruined Heraeum near Argos . Archaeological plans also included a proposal to form a joint stock company for the purchase of Epidaurus . Finlay also suggested that he might be president of the Greek national assembly , but Gordon had no such ambitions . While at Argos , Gordon collected both written and oral material for a history of the Greek revolution . He also built a magnificent mansion which was modeled on Cairness House although smaller . He returned to Cairness in 1831 and completed his book in 1833 . It was acclaimed for its detail and accuracy . Last military role in Greece . With the arrival of Prince Otto of Wittelsbach as the new King of Greece , Gordon returned to Greece in 1833 and was commissioned colonel in the Hellenic Army . His campaigns that year included rooting out brigands in Aetolia and Acarnania , who were supported by Turks across the border . Gordon spoke the Turkish language fluently , to the astonishment of local pashas , and this was of considerable value in negotiations . He was also appointed president of the military court set up to try the rebels in the Messenian disturbances . Due to poor health , Gordon resigned his commission in February 1839 and returned to Cairness , although he made another short visit to Greece in 1840 . Death and controversy . Gordon died at Cairness and was survived by his wife . He had no issue with her and in his will left most of his estate , including a large landholding in Jamaica , to an illegitimate son called Charles Wilkinson , who later took the surname Gordon . His existence seems to have been a secret from the rest of the family as he had been brought up by a tutor in Elgin . The inheritance caused much scandal and led to a long period of litigation within the family . Thomas Gordon ’ s historical library and manuscripts were sold in March 1850 , and his antiquities in the following June , although some items remained at Cairness House until 1938 , after the last of the Gordons sold the estate . Honours . Gordon was awarded various honors , including being made Grand Commander of the Order of the Redeemer by the Greeks on his retirement . He was a member of many learned societies including the Royal Society ( 1821 ) , the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland ( 1828 ) , and the Royal Asiatic Society ( 1834 ) , and in Greece the Society for Natural History ( 1837 ) and the Archaeological Society ( 1840 ) .