Soon after the
commencement of the late war between Turkey and
Russia, General Guyon was sent to Kars at the
end of 1863 as chief of the staff and president
of the military council. He disciplined the
Turkish army, and constructed defenses. He was
succeeded in 1854 by Lieutenant-Colonel Williams
(now Major-General Sir William Williams) as her
Majesty's Commissioner with the Turkish forces in
the East. The defenses were extended and
improved, so that when the Russian General
Mouravieff, who had invested Kars, attempted to
take it by assault, Sept. 29,1855, he was
repulsed with great slaughter. The brave
garrison, however, after being reduced to the
extremity of starvation, were obliged to
capitulate. General Mouravieff treated the
garrison, soldiers and inhabitants, as well as
officers, with great humanity and kindness. By
the treaty of peace concluded at Paris in 1856, Kars
was evacuated by the Russian army, and restored
to Turkey.
At my
lecture in late 2008 at my talk at the Textile
Museum two people in the audience brought in very
nice Kars rugs both with the distinctive black
field. Harold Keshishian told the audience about
Kars and mentioned the siege referenced above.
Harold compared the siege of Kars by Mouravieff
to the campaign of Caesar in Gaul Except of
course that Caesar prevailed. Russ Pickering
concurred.