Immediately after the affair of Arkadi, I had, in conveying to our
Government the petition of the Cretans for ships to be sent to carry
away their families, recapitulated the course I had taken, and proposed
to the Government that, if an American man-of-war came to Crete for
the deportation of non-combatants, and the local government made any
protest, I should reply that, their conduct having been in violation
of every dictate of humanity and law, they were not entitled to appeal
to the latter in their own behalf, and that I should advise the
officer in command to remove the families without reference to Turkish
prohibition. I received in reply the following despatch:
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, Dec. 25, 1866.
W. J. STILLMAN, Esq., U. S. Consul, Canéa:
SIR: Your despatch No. 32, with regard to the Cretan insurrection and
the attitude you have assumed in the matter, has been received.
Your action and proposed course of conduct, as set forth in said
despatch, are approved. Mr. Morris, our minister resident at
Constantinople, will be informed of the particulars set forth in your
despatch, and of the approval of your proceedings.
Rear-Admiral Goldsborough has been instructed to send a ship-of-war to
your port.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
W. H. SEWARD.
This despatch was immediately communicated to Mr. Morris; by him to the
Hellenic minister at Constantinople; and thence to the committee at
Athens; thence to the insurgents, through whom it rapidly spread and
confirmed their warlike resolutions. The Russian commander, like Pym,
had been obliged to desist from any new attempt, and waited for our
steamer to come. The Italian commanders were eager to avail themselves
of their standing instructions to follow the ships of other nations in
this work, and so a new phase of the struggle awaited the appearance of
the Stars and Stripes.
Meanwhile, Mustapha Pasha, skirmishing along the coast of Sphakia,
bargaining and cajoling the chiefs of the formidable Sphakiotes, wasted
his time and troops in fruitless encounters and under the inclement
season. At length, unable to proceed by land, and compelled by his
programme to pass through the canton, he embarked all his troops at
Suia, and transported them to Franco Castelli, where there is a plain
country between the mountains and the sea, and, after negotiations with
the chiefs of the villages on the south slope, was permitted to go,
without molestation, through the defile of Comitades into the plain of
Askyfó, where he encamped to receive the submission of the Sphakiotes.
What were the inducements which permitted him to pass by a ravine where
one hundred resolute men could have destroyed his whole army, I do not
know; but it is hardly conceivable, considering subsequent events,
that it was owing to any general complicity of the mountaineers, but
probably to the defection or bribing of that chief whose place it was
to guard the shore end of the defile near which his village was. He had
long been known to be a warm personal friend of the Pasha, and had on
one occasion prevented a blockade-runner from landing her cargo on his
territory.
The day after Mustapha had entered Askyfó, one of the captains of
that section came to me to ask for counsel, saying that they were
undecided whether to submit or fight, on account of their families;
but, if the foreign ships were coming, as they had heard, they would
attack Mustapha in Askyfó. I replied that I could in no wise counsel
him, or make myself responsible for what they should do, but translated
for him Mr. Seward's despatch, and told him that I expected daily a
ship, and that as soon as she came she would go, in company with the
Russian, to the coast of Sphakia, and relieve the families there. He
returned to Askyfó, and a council was held, at which it was decided
to attack Mustapha at once. The Pasha, warned by his spies, broke up
his camp at midnight, and, when the Christians gathered at the head of
the defile of Krapi at daybreak, they found the heights guarded and
the rear-guard of the Turkish army already entering the ravine. The
Christians were but six hundred men, but they attacked at once. The
pass is not a simple gorge, but a precipitous pass, in some places
divided by sub-ridges with only mule-paths, and in some passages
very bad at that, the way being partially choked with boulders and
overgrown with scrubby oaks, amongst which the Christians concealed
themselves in squads, and fired on the passing troops in security
and deliberation, sometimes even throwing stones on them. The latter
lost all order, and in confusion and separate parties passed through,
scarcely having the courage to stop and return the fire. An attendant
of the Pasha, who rode at his side (when the path permitted), told me
that the balls were like an infernal hail, and that the Pasha pushed
through without stopping to make any defence. Defence was impossible,
indeed; for no rear-guard dared make a stand, with the certainty of
being blockaded and cut off when the main body had passed through. The
Egyptians--timid as sheep in danger, but brutal as wolves when they had
to deal with defenceless Christians--paid the penalty of their cruelty,
and received no quarter. The native guides saved themselves in the
rout, and many of the troops, confused in the intricacies of the way,
hid themselves in the thickets, where, for several days after, parties
were discovered and despatched, no quarter being given.
What the losses were was never known, returns not being to the taste of
the old irregular, or consoling to his Government; but when the army
reached the Apokorona and reassembled, it was reported by Mustapha
(official report, February 6, 1867) at 6,000 men, too large an estimate
in the opinion of the officers of the men-of-war at Suda, who witnessed
the defile as they debouched on the plain of Canéa, whence they had
gone out for the Theriso campaign, in October, 17,850, with eight
guns, by the official statement to Mr. Dickson (Cretan Blue Book, Mr.
Dickson's despatch of October 15, 1866), besides several thousand
irregular reinforcements. The commander of one of the Italian ships,
who took the trouble to count some of the battalions, reported one
of them to me at less than 300, and this an Egyptian battalion which
had come 900 strong. It was evident to all in Canéa that Mustapha's
administration was an utter failure. The spring had come; new bodies
of volunteers had been thrown into the island, and the trips of the
blockade runners continued without a single disaster. The Turkish
forces, which, at the assumption of the command by the Commissioner,
had been above 30,000, were now, by my estimate, less than 20,000. The
official reports, as usual, chanted victory, but the under-officials
at Canéa were not so reticent, and a profound gloom settled over
the whole Mussulman population. The more energetic of the Turkish
commanders openly attacked Mustapha's cautious policy, and demanded a
more dashing campaign.
Mustapha, by way of reply and justification, gave to the most noisy
of his insubordinates a division to attack the insurgents at Omalos,
where the prudent, if a little useless, Zimbrakaki commanded a body
of volunteers, and was supported by Hadji Mikhali with his Lakiotes,
Criaris, one of the bravest of Crete, with the Seliniotes, and all the
men of the destroyed villages of the Rhizo and Kissamos, a desperate
throng which every movement of the Turks did but increase. Ali Riza
Pasha, to whom the movement was entrusted, unwilling to risk again the
twice-attempted road by Lakus, made his attack by a pass further to the
west, which led to a declivity by which approach to the plain of Omalos
was possible but not easy, and which the Cretans call _kakoi plevroi_
(bad slopes). The assault was against men hidden amongst huge fragments
of rock and brushwood, and, though obstinately pushed, made no headway,
and the troops, after losses, as usual unreported, retreated to Hostí
in the valley, where they were followed and surrounded by the Cretans,
and all communication was cut off with Canéa for two or three days.
Here Hadji Mikhali performed one of those feats which recall the old
days of Greek heroism. Descending at night with a small party of picked
men, he cut his way through the Turkish camp, and disappeared on the
other side. The Turks began an indiscriminate firing of musketry
and artillery in every direction, and kept it up until daylight.
Mikhali was certainly the most remarkable character developed by the
insurrection. The son of a chieftain of the same name, who is one of
the traditional heroes of the "great insurrection" (1821 to 1830), he
inherited an influence, with genuine strategic abilities and undaunted
courage, which, with great personal prowess, made him the terror of the
Turkish authorities. I have often remarked the unconscious adaptation
of Homer's description of Achilles used by the Cretans in speaking
of Mikhali, his most-dwelt-on characteristics being his beauty, his
swiftness of foot, and immense strength and stature.
Ali Riza was only rescued from the hands of the Cretans (for M.
Zimbrakaki never ventured from his safe retreat, though he had now an
opportunity to destroy the whole division of Turks by an energetic and
concentrated attack, and the Hadji had to work with his own people)
by a strong column from Canéa opening up the way for his retreat; and
with the abandonment of this plan all hopes of making any impression on
Sphakia were abandoned, the more as all the villages now took up arms
and threw off any pretence of composition.
In the eastern provinces, at the same time, Reschid Effendi, organizing
an army including all the disposable forces at Candia and Retimo,
estimated at 10,000 men, moved to attack the volunteers and Cretans
under Coroneos, Petropoulaki (chief of the Mainotes), Korakas, Skoulas,
and others, for once fortunately united, in Amari, the broken country
on the western slope of Ida. Their plan seemed to be to pass through
the canton to the south shore, and return by the plain of Messara and
the eastern slope of the mountain to Candia. The Christians drew the
whole force of the Turks into a difficult position at Yerakari, and
then, by a vigorous hand-to-hand attack, cut the column in two, the
smaller half pursuing the proposed route, the other being driven back
to Retimo, losing baggage, two guns, and quantities of ammunition and
provisions. The smaller detachment, pursued, were overtaken at St.
Thomas, where they had halted to rest, and again routed and pursued to
the neighborhood of Candia.
Both the divisions of Ali Riza and Reschid, in returning, avenged
themselves on the submitted Cretans in their way. The following extract
from a letter from Lieut. Murray to Mr. Erskine, English Minister at
Athens, characterizes the position of things in the whole island:
"CANEA, February 24, 1867.
"Things appear to get worse and worse, and the end appears further
off than it did six months ago. To-day the troops returned from an
unsuccessful attempt to force a passage into Omalos, partly owing,
they say, to the plain being covered with melted snow, but in a great
measure owing to the stubborn resistance offered by the insurgents
under Zimbrakaki. What the next move will be I am as yet unable
to say; report says they are going to Kissamos. I fancy, unless
reinforcements arrive, they will soon have to withdraw inside the
fortified towns.
"_February 25._--A sad tale was told to me yesterday. A shoemaker
living in Canéa, and well known to all as a quiet, peaceful man, fled
to the hills when the insurrection broke out. There he followed his
trade till three months ago, when, the country round Canéa appearing
to be pretty quiet, he came and settled at the village of Fourna,
in the plain of Alikianu. A few days ago, his wife ran in and said,
'There are soldiers coming into the village.' He replied, 'Don't be
alarmed, they have been here before.' A few minutes afterwards, two
soldiers dragged him out of the house, and beat him so that they
broke his arm, which caused him to faint. His wife brought him some
water, as did also an officer, and left him. Shortly afterwards, while
he was still unable to rise, two other soldiers came up and despatched
him with their swords. This is the history of one out of eighteen
killed in the same village that day, told me by his poor wife, who,
together with her four children, came to seek redress from Mustapha
Pasha. He gave her two hundred piastres, and said he would enquire
about it.
"I am sorry to tell you that the troops have again gone out--one
division to Kissamos, the other to Apokorona. The people are again
flying to the hills before the advent of the troops, and I greatly
fear more atrocities."