TheRussian mode of conducting the invasion of the Caucasus has been different at different times. When the Emperor Nicholas, after the treaty of Adrianople in 1829, revived the old war with Circassia in order to compel by force of arms the acknowledgment of those pretended rights of supremacy which by that treaty had been made over to him by Turkey, he supposed that his Cossacks, aided by a small force of infantry, would be sufficient to intimidate the mountaineers and to accomplish his purpose. Earlier in the century, Russia had acquired from Persia the vast provinces of the southern Caucasus, and had afterwards, partly by the consent of the tribesand partly by force, succeeded in keeping open the two great routes to these possessions, the one along the Caspian, and the other over the centre of the chain by the pass of Dariel. It remained therefore to subjugate only that portion of the Caucasus not included in the territories adjacent to these two roads, and lying the larger portion of it south of the Kuban, and the smaller south of the Terek.
Nicholas accordingly sent his proclamations into the mountains saying, "Russia has conquered France, put her sons to death, and made captives of her daughters. England will never give any aid to the Circassians, because she depends on Russia for her daily bread. There are only two powers in the universe—God in heaven, and the emperor on earth! What then do you expect? Even though the arch of heaven were to fall, there are Russians enough to hold it up on the points of their bayonets!" At the same time, while the Cossack colonies which had been planted in line along the northern banks of the Kuban and the Terek were reinforced from the hordes of their brethren on the Black Sea and the Don, the long spears ofthese united horsemen were strengthened by the bayonets of a few thousand infantry—the vanguard of hundreds of thousands who were to come after them.
But the Circassians heard with incredulous ears the big words of the lieutenants of the czar. They knew not, besides, why he should pretend to rule over them. The Turks had indeed enjoyed the privilege of establishing fortified places of trade on their coasts, and as most of the tribes had been converted from paganism by Mahometan missionaries, they looked upon the sultan as their spiritual head and Allah's vicegerent, but they did not consider their free mountains as in any sense his domain, nor liable by any treaty stipulations to be transferred to another superior, much less to the unbelieving Padischah of the "flax-haired Christian dogs," and their old enemies, the Muscovites. Accordingly, like true and independent men and the sons of sires who without let or hinderance had pastured their flocks in these mountains since the days of the patriarchs, they refused to give up the ancient freedom of their homes, built on the rocks, at the bidding of the minions of the autocrat of the North.
The Cossacks who came galloping across the steppes on small, shaggy horses, and armed with unwieldly lances, the mountaineers looked upon with contempt. They sabred them and rode them down. As for the Russian infantry, they were terror-struck at the sound of the yell with which these centaurs of the mountains dashed into the thickest of their ranks, shooting them down with pistols, striking back their bayonets with their sabres, leaping from their saddles to poniard them, and the next instant gone on a gallop with the wind. The soldier who had been at the retreat from Moscow, and at the crossing of the Borodino, and who was a good and true grenadier, sturdy, brave, obedient to the word of command, felt all his forces desert him before the onset of such reckless riders and accomplished swordsmen. Once across the Kuban or the Terek, he never felt sure of his life, for there was always a Circassian lying in wait for him. When the column was wending its way through the narrow valley wherein nature held her supreme and silent reign, save that the tiny brook ran with gurgling sounds over its rocks and pebbles, or the nightingale made the thicketsvocal with its song, or the bees flitting from flower to flower diffused through the air a pleasing murmur, wherein the oak spread its peaceful branches against the sky, the beech leaning over the path shed a grateful shade, and the vine hanging in festoons from elm to maple invited the weary soldier to refresh his lips with their purple clusters, there lay hid in this sweet solitude a hundred men and more armed for battle; and when the invaders no more suspected danger from the peaceful hill-sides than the bird from the snare of the fowler,
Then instead of the singing of the brook, the carol of the nightingale, and the humming of the sweet-mouthed bees, were heard the rifle's sharp crack and the rattling of the musketry; the brook ran red with the blood of the slain; and the Russians, like the Roman legions cut off in the woods of the Germans, were left with none to bury them.
Nor even within the walls of the forts was the Russian soldier entirely safe from his wily adversary. For when silently beneath the moon the sentry is pacing the narrow rounds of the krepost, suspecting no enemy within a dozen leagues, but thinking rather of the hut on Polish plains or shores of Finnish lake fondly called a home, some Adighé or Lesghian who, unable to rest until he has slaked his thirst for vengeance in the blood of an infidel, has stolen down from the mountains and lain hid a day in the reeds of the river bank, creeps at nightfall like a wild beast out of his lair, glides unseen by the guard-post of the Cossack as the latter is taking perhaps a final pull at his bottle of schnapps, and crawling up within sight of the very beard of the sentinel, picks him off.
Accordingly the army of the emperor, instead of making an easy conquest of the Caucasus, was obliged to remain for the most part shut up in the chain of their miserable forts and kreposts. Here, when these fortified places were not boldly assaulted and carried by storm, as often happened, the troops fell a gradual prey to fevers and dysenteries, or tothe want of those supplies which the peculation of the officers in charge of them continually either withheld or adulterated. The forts, situated on the coast of the Black Sea, could be relieved only during that half of the year which was suited for navigation; while those on the Kuban and the Terek were dependent on the precarious supplies conveyed overland at such times as the roads were passable. To keep up the spirits of the imprisoned garrisons the men were made to sing by word of command; and the dance was introduced as a military exercise. The Caucasus in fact became a southern Siberia, where the average life of the soldier was but three years.
Taught at length by repeated and disastrous failures that this method of attacking the Circassians was a fatal error, the czar next adopted the plan of sending into the mountains heavy masses of infantry supported by powerful trains of field artillery. These with great labor penetrated a certain distance into the interior for the purpose of opening roads from one important fortress to another, and guarding them with chains of mud forts or kreposts. They made reconnoissances in variousdirections, succeeded in isolating and subduing some of the districts lying on the Kuban and Laba rivers, and completed the subjugation of the more open country of the Kabardan tribes, who were obliged to accept terms of neutrality.
At the same time the invaders adopted the additional plan of blockading the mountains both by sea and land. Besides the line of fortresses commenced by Peter the Great on the Terek, extended by Catherine westward, and now completed from sea to sea, similar establishments were created on all the points of the Black Sea coast which could conveniently be approached by water. Under pretence of carrying out a rigid system of quarantine regulations and tariff laws, the object was to cut off the Circassians from all foreign intercourse, and especially from trade with the Turks, who were in the habit of supplying them with arms, gunpowder, salt, and various necessary articles of manufacture. At the same time, the Russians endeavored by making certain marts of their own free to the mountaineers, to induce them gradually to exchange the habits of war for those of tradeand friendly intercourse with their adversaries. Emissaries were sent among the tribes to attempt to win them over to this change of policy; rank in the army was offered to the chiefs; or they were tempted by pensions; and even by the introduction of foreign brandy as well as foreign gold, efforts were made to spread the fatal net of Russian influence along all the footpaths of freedom in the mountains.
The Circassians liked the taste of the foreign liquor, and their eyes were not insensible to the charms of coined gold, of which they had before seen but little. The epaulettes also and stars and ribands were such baubles as were well adapted to captivate the fancy of semi-civilized chieftains; and the Russian fabrics were a temptation to all, especially to the women; but to the honor of the Circassians, the tribes with few exceptions disdained to sell their birthright of independence for a mere mess of pottage. Relations of trade and amity could be established only with the tribes whose position on the frontier compelled them to be neutral. The chiefs in the interior, though often jealous of each other, heldthemselves too high to be bought by the common enemy for a price; and the intrigue of the czar was on the whole as unsuccessful as his arms.
The Circassians at first made little or no change in their mode of warfare to meet the new tactics of the invader. Still despising the men who dwelt in plains notwithstanding their cannon "made the earth to tremble and the fruit drop from the trees," they continued from time to time to storm the kreposts sabre in hand. They leaped out of their places of ambush upon the columns which attempted to penetrate into their fastnesses; and attacking the more numerous enemy in dense masses as formerly practised by the Turkish spahis, setting all modern tactics at defiance, and bent on bearing down every thing before them by the mad fury of their onset, they rushed upon the Russian squares and guns as if they had been the mere branches of trees used in their own mock-fights.
For the most part they were victorious; but every victory cost them much precious blood, a fresh supply of which could not so easily be obtained as was the case with theviler sort which flowed in the veins of the imperial serfs and peasants. They were therefore obliged in the end to become less prodigal of it, and to adopt a system of guerilla warfare better adapted to the comparative fewness of their warriors and the extraordinary strength of their natural means of defence. To cut off convoys, to surprise outposts, to hover about the march of the enemy's columns, to lie in wait for them in the passes of the mountains, to pick off their officers from behind rocks and bushes, to attack in numbers only in cases of great moment and when the nature of the ground rendered a successful dash practicable before the straggling column could form square, and to undertake the storming of fortified places, and the plundering of hostile districts only when these were left comparatively defenceless, was finally the method of warfare which experience had forced upon the tribes at the period when Schamyl appeared on the scene as their leader.
Schamylwas thirty-seven years of age when he was raised to the rank of a murschid and leader of the tribes. At that period in his prime, he had outgrown the early delicacy of his constitution, and was a warrior as distinguished in personal appearance as in character and intellectual culture. He was of middle stature; had fair hair, since turned to white; grey eyes overshadowed by thick, well-drawn brows; a mouth, like his hands and feet, small; a regular, so-called Grecian nose; and a complexion remarkable among his countrymen for its fairness and delicacy of skin. He had the light, elastic Circassian tread, with little movement of his armswalking, an erect carriage, and a naturally noble air and bearing. Perfectly master of himself and of his countenance, sternly self-collected even in moments of the greatest danger; holding in perpetual balance the ardor of the warrior and the calm of the prophet, he impressed with awe all who came into his presence. As he regarded himself as an instrument in the hands of a higher power, and held according to the doctrine of the Sufis that all his thoughts and decisions were the immediate inspiration of Allah, so he condemned to death the traitor and conferred the shaska of honor on a murid with equal calmness, manifesting neither anger nor satisfaction, almost as impassive and impersonal as fate itself. But while his ordinary manner was thus calmly commanding, his eloquence was as fiery as it was persuasive. "Flames sparkle from his eyes," said Bersek Bey, "and flowers are scattered from his lips."
Schamyl is said to have put on a white mantle, indicative of his priestly character as the second prophet of Allah; but his ordinary dress and arms were the same as those in use, with trifling variations, among all Circassians.They wear a surtout resembling a military Polonaise, without a collar, closely fitting the body, descending to the knees, and secured around the waist by a leathern girdle, which is ornamented according to the wealth or fancy of the wearer. On either breast of this garment are attached cartridge-pockets made of morocco leather of different colors, usually containing twenty-four rounds of ball cartridge, and at the same time decking the chest and protecting it. Beneath is a tunic, often richly embroidered, and of a gay color. The trousers are loose, excepting that from the ankle to the knee the folds are confined to the leg by straps. The calpac or cap has a crown similar in color to the cartridge-pockets, with a band of long, black goat's hair or white sheep's wool, which hanging down about the brows imparts a wild fierceness of expression to the dark, flashing eyes, and boldly cut features. Sometimes a chieftain will also wind around his cap a shawl in the form of a turban, his head being shaven after the manner of the Turks, though the tuft on the crown is generally much larger. The shoes are made of a single piece of leather, and neatlyshow the form of the foot. Under the other garments is worn a shirt of either silk or calico, besides that of mail sometimes put on in war; and over all is thrown in cold weather an ample cloak called abourka, woven of sheep's wool or goat's hair, and impervious to rain.
This convenient and picturesque costume is also set off by much silver lace, embroidery, and all the elegant artifice of needle-work, but still more by the various arms without which no Circassian appears in public. A rifle is slung across the shoulders by a belt, this weapon having taken the place of the bow and arrows which are now seldom seen except as an ornament and mark of distinction. The sabre, called a shaska, is suspended by a silken cord in the Turkish fashion. In the girdle are stuck a pair of pistols, and a short, double-edged cama, resembling the sword of the ancient Romans. This latter arm in close conflicts with the Russian infantry is particularly dreaded from the dexterity with which it is wielded, a single stroke generally sufficing to sever a limb, while recovery from its stab is almost hopeless.Attached to the girdle also are a powder-flask, a small metallic box containing fat to anoint the rifle-balls, a purse of skin for carrying flints, tinder, and steel, and not unfrequently a hatchet, or knife in a sheath. The sabre is silver-hilted, without a guard; and its scabbard, richly embroidered, is composed of several pieces of morocco of different colors. The pistols also are mounted with silver; the poniard has often precious stones in its handle, and its sheath is inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Sometimes a javelin in addition to other arms is carried, which is hurled to a considerable distance with an aim that rarely errs. Having a groove at the but-end, it is used also as a rest for the rifle, besides serving as a pole in leaping among the rocks.
Coats of mail with casques of steel, cuirasses, cuisses, brassards, and gauntlets, formerly much used and worth from ten up to three hundred oxen, are now little esteemed; though chain armor, resembling that of the ancient Persians, is still worn occasionally by the chiefs of tribes. This is generally of considerable antiquity, exquisitely wrought, of perfect temper, light, elastic, and fitting thebody closely. There are also still in use a good many swords, now diminished by use a third or more in width, which have come down from the Genevese, Venetians, Milanese, and Spaniards of the middle ages. Of these the Toledan blade is the most common; and travellers curious in antique arms have noted one possessing the genuine silvery lustre, and engraved with the picture of a Spanish cavalier, together with the motto,Ad majorem gloriam Dei; another which was dedicated to God, and marked,Anno domini1664; another showing on one side an imperial crown, encircled by a wreath of laurel, and on the other a globe surmounted by a cross, with the inscription underneath in old English characters,Viva Espagna; and others, finally, inlaid with gold, and having the head of the Saviour, or some saint engraved over such inscriptions as,Par my Dey y par my Rey, or,Ne me tire pas sans raison et ne me remets pas sans honneur. Nor is the modern Circassian sabre one of metal inferior to that of the ancient workmanship; but a blade as flexible as that of Damascus, long and heavy, yet bending like a reed, and when inlaid and ornamented with goldvalued as high as three hundred roubles, or even more.
The wealth of a Circassian consists very much in his arms and horses. It may even happen that a chieftain may wear a coat which is out at the elbows, and especially when going to battle,—for though he may fall himself he always thinks it a pity to waste a new doublet and hose upon "the dog of a Muscovite,"—and yet be the possessor of a balteus for his bow as richly jewelled as was Diana's, and a corytos in the superb style of the ancient Persians, as found represented on Persepolitan bas-reliefs. The trappings of his horse also may be made costly with Russian leather and chased silver ornaments. Nor in the case of a leader less illustrious than Schamyl even, would it be a thing impossible for his saddle to be covered with blue velvet, adorned with black enamelled silver plates, stirrups of massive silver, and bridle no less brilliantly ornamented, the work of the cunning artificers of Armenia.
In all these costly trappings of war does the Circassian leader take great delight, nor did Schamyl himself disdain them; and whenfully arrayed in them, as on all festal occasions at least he is sure to be, with brawny shoulders and thin flank, a peculiarly airy, winged gait, a naturally unconstrained and noble air, a countenance displaying the highest type of manly beauty, and eyes passionate even to an intensity bordering upon fierceness, Murat was not a gayer horseman, Bayard not a better knight, nor is the Apollo Belvidere more like a god.
Atthe time of Hamsad Bey's death Mahomet-Mollah being no longer living to select and consecrate a new leader of the tribes, that Schamyl attained to the honors of the succession was very much owing to the exertions of his venerable teacher Dschelal Eddin. For the latter was then the most eminent murschid left in the eastern Caucasus, where his sayings passed current among a large number of the tribes as oracles. Schamyl's principal rival was Taschaw-Hadji, an influential chieftain who resisted the supremacy of the new Imam, as he was called, until the year 1837, when he formally gave in his adhesion. This opposition, however, while it lasted,considerably hindered the growth of Schamyl's influence among the tribes, and restrained the freedom of his action against the Russians. The emissaries of the latter meanwhile did all they could to fan the discord, so that several chiefs with their clans were either won over to the side of the common enemy, or were at least rendered unwilling to cooperate with the Imam in his efforts to extend the new faith and prosecute the war.
Of this Russian party in the highlands Avaria still remained the head-quarters; and during the first four years of Schamyl's imamship his aims were chiefly directed towards the subjugation of this district. Hadji-Murad, who after the assassination of the Avarian princes had continued at the head of affairs in Chunsach, early foresaw that this would be his policy. Accordingly he lost no time in sending to the Russian commander-in-chief a request that he would despatch an armed force to take possession in the name of the emperor of the khanate, then vacant by the death of the youngest son of Pachu Biké, who had been assassinated, as was said, by order of Schamyl.
Thereupon General Lasskoi being placed in command of a considerable body of troops, was ordered to march on Chunsach, and to sweep the country on his way of all opposition. Advancing accordingly in the autumn of 1834 against Himri, he captured the place after a slight resistance, its population having been greatly reduced since the defeat experienced there under Khasi-Mollah. But as the victor was about to proceed further on his march, Schamyl arrived with his murids, took the aoul by storm, and inflicted a severe loss upon the enemy, though greatly his superior in numbers. When, however, this news reached the fortress of Temir-Chan-Schura, Kluke von Klugenau, one of the bravest generals in the Caucasus, instantly setting out for Avaria, collected on his way the scattered troops of General Lasskoi, destroyed the aouls which refused to receive him, and made his entrance in triumph into Chunsach. There he set up as khan under the protection of Russia, Achmed-Mahomet-Mirza, and after having taken possession of the principal passes leading into Daghestan, returned without molestation to Temir-Chan-Schura.
Schamyl persevered, nevertheless, in his attempts to conquer the Avarians. In the year 1835, he captured the strong aoul of Gotsatl, and penetrated as far into the country as Chunsach, whence however he was obliged speedily to retire on the coming up of General Reout with a very much larger force. In the year following, his efforts were again thwarted by the determined resistance of Hadji-Murad, as well as by a want of unanimity among his own followers growing out of the continued rivalry between himself and Taschaw-Hadji.
But the year 1837 was destined to bring along in its course two important events which should settle forever the question of Schamyl's right to the imamship, and show the great superiority of his genius over that of all his rivals. The first of them was the complete overthrow he brought upon Count Iwelitsch, who had been sent to cut him off at the aoul Aschiltach; and the second was his heroic defence at Tiletli, a strongly fortified aoul in the district of Gumbet.
The latter achievement was especially memorable. Opposed to him was GeneralFesi at the head of eight battalions of regular troops, and about twelve thousand militia drawn from that portion of Daghestan subject to Russia. These forces were also flushed with victory, for General Fesi after having marched from Derbend to Chunsach had erected a citadel there, had driven Ali Bey, one of Schamyl's murids, out of the fort of Akhulgo, and had then come to the rescue of lieutenant Butschkieff; who with a considerable detachment was hard pressed by Schamyl himself in the neighborhood of Tiletli.
After the union of these two forces the murids were but a handful in comparison. But their leader determined to make a stand, and to hold Tiletli, of which he had got possession, to the last. The Russians having the advantage not only of superior numbers but also of artillery, of which the Circassians were at that time entirely destitute, attempted immediately to carry the place by storm. In this they failed; but finally after very severe losses they succeeded in getting possession of one half of the aoul. Yet with such valor and intelligence was the other portion defended, that General Fesi was content to give overfighting, and fortify himself where he was. Schamyl did the same; and with a courage which excited the admiration of his followers, established his head-quarters in the face of the enemy, only a screen of a few houses intervening.
In this situation General Fesi could not remain long for want of provisions. But to retreat in the face of an enemy victorious because not subdued would be attended with disgrace if not with danger. Accordingly the Russian commander, disquieted besides by rumors of revolt in different parts of Daghestan, resolved to come to terms with his adversary, and retire under cover of them.
To accomplish this purpose, and yet do it in such a way as to give the color of a great triumph to what was in reality a most humiliating check, was a problem not after all of very difficult solution. All that was necessary was to require of Schamyl to take an oath of fealty to the emperor on the condition of being left in possession of not only Tiletli, but all the Lesghian highlands. And this Schamyl would be ready enough to do provided he might have the privilege of makingthe engagement in the presence of neither murids nor Russians. For an oath taken under such circumstances would be no oath at all, inasmuch as Schamyl holding to the Mahometan as well as Romanist doctrine that no faith is to be kept with infidels, and considering the Muscovites to be not only such but even half devils, andferoe naturoe, would feel himself in conscience under no obligations whatever to abide by what he had sworn to.
So it was arranged. Schamyl took the oath of fealty to the emperor in the presence of Achmed-Mahomet-Mirza, the new khan of Avaria, and gave hostages. By both parties the ceremony was regarded as a farce; but in virtue of it General Fesi retired from the enemy's country in safety, and sent his despatches to the commander-in-chief, summing up the results of the campaign of 1837, as follows:—
"A fortress built in Chunsach; all Avaria pacified; a number of previously unconquered mountain tribes subjected; many aouls and fortified places destroyed; Tiletli taken by storm; and Schamyl so hard pressed as to be obliged to swear fealty to the emperor forever and ever."
Accordingly in Tiflis and St. Petersburg it was for a time believed that Schamyl had submitted, and that the Lesghian highlands and all Daghestan were to be incorporated into the empire. At the same time the very clever General Fesi, covered with imperial praises, stars, and garters, was regarded by all as the hero of the war of the Caucasus.
Inconsequence of these successes the fame of Schamyl went abroad through all the Lesghian country, as the greatest chieftain since the days of Khasi-Mollah. Taschaw-Hadji, unable any longer to set himself in opposition to the general will, publicly acknowledged the supremacy of his rival, and became thenceforth one of his most devoted supporters. Many tribes also who before had favored the Russians, or at least had not taken sides with the murids, now rallied around the new leader whose deeds were everywhere made the theme of declamation by the ulema and of song by the bards. "Schamyl is Imam and the second prophet of Allah," was the universal cry;and multitudes came in from all sides but to see the face of one who by word of mouth, and without drawing a sword, had driven the army of invasion out of the highlands.
Taking advantage of this rising tide of favor, Schamyl issued various proclamations to his army and the tribes, one of which was as follows:—
"In the name of Allah, the almighty, the merciful!
"Praised be his name who hath led us in a path of light, and hath made us strong in his holy faith! Praised be he who hath laid the foundations of his power in the mountains, and hath set us to guard and to keep it; who hath strengthened our arm for the overthrow of the enemy, and hath made our tongue eloquent in declaring his doctrines unto all believers; who in the drops of rain sendeth us his blessing, whose love shines down upon us out of the stars, and whose mercy is infinite unto all who believe in his name!
"Ye warriors of Daghestan! When the leader of the Russians sent forth his call to you in the month of Schewal to seduce you from your faith in the truth of my mission,there arose doubt and murmuring among you; and many of you became unfaithful and forsook me. Then I was angry and said in my heart—The unsteadfast! they have verified the words of the Prophet when he saith,
"'God showeth you his wonders that ye may be wise; but your heart is harder than stone, yea, harder than stone; for among the rocks are the sources of the brooks; out of the rock when cloven asunder flow the waters; and smitten with the fear of the Almighty the great stones fall down from the tops of the mountains. But of a truth unto God are known all your doings!'
"But with the few, they who remained faithful, I went forth against the unbelievers, slew their leader, and drove them away in flight. When then ye saw that God was with me, ye returned repenting, and desired to be admitted once more into the ranks of the warriors, and I received you. I led you from victory to victory, and promised you God's forgiveness for your fault if ye continued in the faith as it is written in the book of the Prophet when he saith,
"'They who return and fight for their faithin God, they shall be partakers of his mercy, for he is merciful and slow to anger.'
"Ye have seen how small was the number of our warriors in comparison with the hosts of the enemy, and yet they gave way to us, for strength is with the believers. The Russians have taken Akhulgo and have razed its walls. Allah permitted this to chastise you for your unbelief; for he knows all your projects and all your thoughts. But I mocked at the power of your enemies, and drove them from Aschiltach, and smote them at Tiletli, and turned their deeds to shame. When afterwards the Pacha (General Fesi) with his great army drew near Tiletli to revenge the slain, and when in spite of our brave resistance, he succeeded in taking possession of one half the aoul, so that day after day we looked for the last decisive struggle, then suddenly Allah lamed his arm and darkened his sight so that he could not use his advantages, but hastened away whence he came. No one drove our enemies save their evil consciences, for their unbelief made them afraid, and they fled to escape from the sight of the true believers.
"So doth God punish those who walk not in his ways! But unto us hath he said through his Prophet,
"'Whosoever wages the holy war for my sake, him will I lead in my ways.'
"Verily God is with those who do his will! Ye have seen that though great be the numbers of the unbelieving, they must ever fail. When they sent to Hamsad Bey, and summoned him to surrender, they said, 'Lay down your arms; all opposition is vain; the armies which we send against you are like as the sands on the sea-shore innumerable!' But I answered them in his name and said, 'Our hosts are like the waves of the sea which wash away the sands and devour them!'
"Ye have seen that my words came to pass. But the looks of the Russians are falsehood, and their words are lies. We must destroy the works of their hands, and slay them wherever we find them, in the house or in the field, by force or by cunning, so that their swarms shall vanish from the face of the earth. For they multiply like lice, and are as poisonous as the snakes that crawl in the steppe of Muhan. Ye have seen that the anger of Godfollows them. But unto us hath the Almighty said by his Prophet,
"'Whosoever goeth forth to fight for his faith and persevereth unto the end, him will God reward and bestow upon him his mercy.'
"And further hath God spoken unto us by his Prophet, saying,
"' Say not of those who fall striving for the faith, They are dead, but say rather, They live; for this understand ye not.'
"Therefore lay to heart that which I have declared unto you, and be strong, and hold fast together like the tops of the mountains above your heads, and forget not the words of the Prophet when he saith,
"'Slay the enemies of God; drive them out of the places whence they have driven you; for temptation is worse than death.' Amen."
TheRussians took a year to recover from the disastrous effects of General Fesi's feat of arms at Tiletli, attempting nothing in 1838, beyond several small and unsuccessful expeditions into the highlands, and contenting themselves with making preparations for the great campaign of the season following. On the other hand, so general was the enthusiasm among the tribes in favor of Schamyl and the war of independence, that he succeeded in collecting under his banners the greatest military force which had been seen in those regions since the days when Nadir-Shah overran Daghestan. The mountains were filled with his murids, who went from aoul to aoul preachingthe new doctrine of the second prophet of Allah, and summoning all the warriors to rally around the chieftain commissioned by heaven to deliver the land from the threatened bondage to Russia. These missionaries in arms having friends and relatives in all the tribes, obtained everywhere a hearing and a foothold. The aouls which refused to join their party were threatened with destruction; and if they persisted in their refusal, their flocks and herds were driven off, their lands and vineyards laid waste, and their habitations razed to the ground. From others whose fidelity was to be suspected, hostages were taken. Schamyl would allow of no neutrality; whoever was not for him was against him. Accordingly by the end of the year 1838 he had rebuilt the forts which had been destroyed by the enemy the season previous, and had so far extended his rule that all of the Lesghian highlands lying north of Avaria, including Andi, Gumbet, Salatan, and Koissubui, together with a considerable portion of Tchetchenia, and all the more mountainous districts of Daghestan, were subject to him.
His head-quarters he established in the aoulAkhulgo, a Tartar name signifying a gathering place in time of trouble, and now famous in Circassian annals for the siege sustained there in the campaign following. It is situated in the district of Koissubui, on the right bank of the Andian branch of the Koissu near its junction with the main stream, only a short distance northwest of Himri, and about sixty wersts by the most direct route from the Russian line. Like an eagle's nest it is perched on the top of an isolated, conical peak of rock, rising on one side perpendicularly six hundred feet above the Koissu, and of such fantastic formation as to lead to the saying that it was by divine permission the work of the devil. The river nearly surrounds it. On the top is the aoul, which is divided into old and new Akhulgo, being together a circumference of something less than a couple of wersts. A narrow path admitting only two persons to walk abreast, winds up the rock, which has three terraces formed by nature, and favorably situated for defence. Around in the near distance rise other less elevated rocks and cliffs, some of them tufted with oaks and beeches, others naked and time-stained, andall together forming a scene of such stern wildness as was well fitted for a hiding-place of liberty, or for its immolation.
The experience of the war having already proved that the high towers of stone such as had been built in the highlands up to the time of the death of Khasi-Mollah, were worse than useless as a means of defence against the Russian artillery, inasmuch as their defenders were exposed to be buried under their ruins, Schamyl instructed, it is said, by Polish deserters, now changed entirely the system of his fortifications. To prevent his defences at Akhulgo from being toppled down by the enemy's cannon, he made them to consist mainly of trenches, earthen parapets, and covered ways, while the saklis, which are a kind of hut built of loose stones, partly underground, were also converted into regular casements. These various fortifications, arranged with much skill, commanded all the approaches to the fortress, and everywhere exposed an attacking enemy to a great number of cross-fires. The rifle would indeed have to serve instead of cannon; but in the hands of the Circassian, though not dischargedvery rapidly inasmuch as it is cleaned after every shot, it was a weapon the Russians had good cause to dread.
Made strong therefore both by nature and by art, Akhulgo was the rock on which Schamyl resolved to plant his standard in the struggle for life and death known to be at hand. Herein he collected a large supply of provisions and munitions of war; hither he brought, as to a place of safety, many of the families of his murids; and here he kept in custody the hostages which had been taken from the tribes of Koissubui, Gumbet, and Andi. The garrison was composed of the flower of his warriors; while some fifteen thousand men besides, partly mounted and partly on foot, stood ready for the fight, every one having taken a solemn oath to drive back the Russians or perish in the attempt.
But while Akhulgo was the place where Schamyl had resolved to make a final stand for the liberty of the mountains, there were other points also where he proposed to stop, if possible, the march of the invaders. It was in the plan of the campaign which he had drawn up that when the Russiansadvanced from their forts in lower Daghestan they should be attacked in the rear by the Tchetchenians who had espoused his side in the contest, and whose position on the Koissu was favorable to the execution of such a manoevre. But in case the enemy should succeed in penetrating into the mountains, the aoul of Buturnay was fixed upon as the point where the first resistance should be made; while a detachment of friendly Tcherkejians, or Salatanians, about three thousand strong, were to attack the enemy in the rear. In case, however, of a defeat at Buturnay, his troops would fall back upon a still stronger position at Arguani, and which during the year had been fortified in every way possible. After that, also, there would remain the natural barrier of the swiftly flowing Koissu; and finally Akhulgo itself, beyond which no further retreat was thought of, as there he and all his murids would either conquer or die.
It was a plan of campaign well devised, provided only the tribes appointed to attack the enemy in the flank and rear could be relied upon; but without their efficient coöperation the only chance of successful resistance would be on the rock of Akhulgo.
Inthe month of May, 1839, all things being ready, the Russian expedition commenced its march into the mountains. General Grabbe, an active and resolute officer in command of the left flank of the army of the Caucasus, had collected from the fortresses along the line where it crosses the Sulak, a force of nine battalions and seventeen pieces of artillery. They were his very best troops, including a part of the celebrated regiment "Count Paskievitsch," and with them he pressed forward with such rapidity towards Buturnay, and then attacked it with such impetuosity, that Schamyl was obliged at once to relinquish all hope of making a stand there. His allies,the Tcherkejians, taken by surprise at the suddenness of the enemy's advance, had not time to come to his assistance; the Salatanians were overawed by the extraordinary display of force made on their borders; and the Tchetchenians, alarmed by the bold face with which the Russian commander opened the campaign, and by his success at several minor points of conflict, took counsel of prudence, and failed to make the promised diversion on the line.
Schamyl, therefore, after a two hours' resistance fell back on Arguani. Here relying on a stronger position, and finding himself at the head of about ten thousand men, he awaited the coming up of the enemy. The contest which then took place lasted two days. Schamyl lost nearly fifteen hundred men in killed and wounded, and was beaten. It was the most bloody fight which had then occurred in the history of the war, and would have put an end at once to the campaign had not the Lesghians, every man of them, been determined to stand by their Imam and their liberty to the last. Instead, therefore, of scattering after a defeat so decisive, as mighthave been expected of mountaineers so little accustomed to regular warfare, they heroically threw themselves into Akhulgo.
The invaders having at length taken possession of both banks of the Koissu, and easily repulsed an attack of six thousand mountaineers led on by Achwerdu Mohamet, who had recently deserted from the Russian service, set themselves down on the twelfth of June before Akhulgo, closely investing it. General Grabbe hoped at first to induce the enemy to surrender by showering them with bombs, balls, and rockets; but while he succeeded in destroying many of the fortifications and stone houses, the subterranean defences remained undamaged. From these and the works on the terraces the besieged answered with their rifles, sparing indeed of their ammunition, but taking an unerring, deadly aim. Nowhere could the Russians show a head above their defences without imminent risk of losing it. Nor was their entire force scarcely adequate to man the posts; so that frequently the same troops who had worked all day in the trenches were obliged to stand guard during a portion of the night. Stillthey worked with hearty good-will, gradually carrying forward their batteries, cutting their way through the soft, porous rock, and sheltering themselves from the rifle-balls of the enemy by means of gabions and stone walls. During the early part of the siege the Russian camp was abundantly supplied with provisions; the Koissu gave them abundance of good water; the neighboring forests furnished wood for cooking the evening's soup; their fragrant boughs made easy beds at night; while numerous watch fires warmed the feet of the sleeping soldiers as they lay stretched beneath the stars. Even a certain degree of hilarity prevailed in the camp, so different from the prison of the krepost, where the daily drill, the appointed roll of the drum, and the enforced dance and song but poorly relieved the still, dull monotony. But the mirth was often ill-timed; for when refreshed by the evening's pottage and his cup ofwodka, the Cossack sat carolling a ditty or meditating on the charms of the fair one left behind on the Don, suddenly a ball from the rifle of some watchful mountaineer would send him tumbling headlong into the Koissu. Or whenthe grey-coated grenadiers in the intervals between the roar of the artillery and the tumult of the trumpets, feeling their hearts stirred by a sudden enthusiasm, would break out into chanting, the half devotional, half martial air would often prove a dirge for some poor comrade struck down with the chorus on his lips by the ball of an invisible enemy.
The enthusiasm on the other side was less gay, but more intense. Besides the crack of the rifle, the only sounds from the fortress which fell down on the air when it was still, were the muezzin's call to prayer, or the shout of triumph when some frenzy-driven murid, sallying from his hiding-place, leaped suddenly into the midst of an exposed party of the enemy, and at the price of his own life sent twice, thrice, four times as many unbelieving souls to hell. For in the progress of the siege many a warrior who was doomed by his oath to death, and was become impatient of the hour, grasping a shaska in his right hand, a pistol in his left, and holding a poniard clenched between his teeth, sprang down from the rocks upon some too adventurous squad of the enemy—as terrible an apparition as aghost, or a bomb-shell—discharging his pistol at the breast of one, cleaving with his shaska the head of another, and then rushing shaska in one hand and poniard in the other, upon the rest, until he fell pierced through with bayonets, but having first sweetened the bitterness of death with a terrible vengeance. Of such heroic self-sacrifice is the Circassian capable!
Twice was the moon renewed in the slow progress of this siege. At length, having previously got possession of one of the detached towers of the fortress, and having been reinforced by five battalions and nine pieces of artillery, the Russians, despairing of reducing the place by blockade, attacked it by storm. But they did not get above the first terrace; and from that they were beaten back with severe loss,—of the three battalions of the splendid regiment "Count Paskievitsch," which led the assault, only one returning. Nevertheless, General Grabbe was not to be disheartened. Another and still another assault was made; and after a loss of nearly two thousand men the second terrace was finally carried. Then Schamyl seeing that hisfortunes were becoming desperate sent a request to the Russian commander to treat respecting terms of peace. What his intentions were in so doing is not known; though it was the opinion of General Grabbe that he was not sincere; and when the latter demanded Schamyl's son as a hostage previously to the opening of negotiations, the matter was dropped. Probably the Imam was desirous of making an arrangement similar to that which under somewhat similar circumstances had been agreed upon with General Fesi; but he had now a different man to deal with.
The contest therefore was recommenced on the seventeenth of August with new fury. Then for four successive days Akhulgo was a scene of heroism equalled only by its horror. The Russian soldiers evinced that ferocious bravery of which the serf nature is capable when its blood is up, while the Circassians, driven to despair, sought to avenge beforehand the lives they so gallantly laid down. High on the battlements, as at intervals the smoke of the two hostile fires cleared away, could be seen female forms, shaska or rifle in the little hand, encouraging the warriors by their side,pressing on with them wherever the danger was most imminent, and displaying a heroism greater even than that of their own amazons of old, inasmuch as they fought for their lords as well as for liberty.
But fortune finally favored the besiegers. Their sappers having carried a covered way up to the foot of a portion of the fortress which had newly been constructed, and the Circassians becoming anxious to learn the cause of the strange noises constantly heard beneath their feet, a party of the latter imprudently went out to reconnoitre, when the chief of a battalion who lay in wait with his men on the second terrace, seizing upon the advantage offered, not only drove the exploring party back into the fortress, but also went in with them. The Circassians within, however, seeing that the Russians were mixed up with their own comrades refrained from firing. This gave the other battalions time to hasten to the support of the party which they saw had gained the summit, when a hand to hand conflict ensued in which both sides fought, the one with the bravery of despair, the other with that of victory. But superior numbersprevailed; and four times stormed the fortress fell. Of the mountaineers that lay dead on the top of the rock the Russians counted, according to some of their accounts, fifteen hundred, according to others, more likely to be true, seven hundred; of the wounded, from nine hundred to five hundred; while their own loss was set down as considerably less than one half these numbers. Several hundred prisoners also were taken, consisting of women and children; for of men there were none left. With the blood of these the Koissu was already red, and their bodies were thrown in afterwards.
But Schamyl, who had often been seen during the final conflict surrounded by his white turbaned murids, was nowhere to be found. The fortress, all the approaches to which were strictly guarded, was ransacked; every nook and corner explored; but the Imam was nowhere to be found. Alas! for General Grabbe, that but one man should escape from Akhulgo, and he Schamyl. His single head would have made up for the loss of the three thousand Russian heads laid low in the siege; but withoutit the victory was barren, all its spoils a mere rock in the mountains!
The manner of Schamyl's escape was kept secret by him, as before had been the case at Himri and at Chunsach; but among the reports respecting it which were circulated in the mountains, the following one was most generally credited.
On the fall of the fortress a number of its defenders took refuge in certain caves and holes in the rock, into which they let themselves down by means of ladders. In one of these was Schamyl with a few of his murids. Attacked by the enemy, this one held out longer than the others; but the rock being guarded on all sides, escape was thought impossible. The murids, however, having devised a plan for preserving the life of their chief by the loss of their own, constructed from materials previously collected in the cave, a raft of sufficient size to carry several persons, and letting it down at night into the river below, then followed themselves. The guard on the bank observing this manouvre, immediately gave chase to the raft, those on horseback plunginginto the stream, those on foot running along the bank, and all together pouring their fire into the little party of murids among whom was, as they supposed, Schamyl. But the attention of the enemy once turned away from the cave, the wily chieftain let himself down into the water, swam the river, and in another moment was safe under the protection of the rocks and the forest.
Certain it is that early in the month of September, Schamyl reappeared in the aoul Siassan, in the woods of Itchkeria. There, partly for the sake of ransoming the families of his nearest relatives and most devoted murids taken captive in Akhulgo, he sued for peace, and offered to give in pledge of sincerity two of his own sons as hostages. But General Grabbe insisting as a preliminary condition that Schamyl should take up his residence in an aoul friendly to the Russians, the negotiations were not proceeded with.
Thereupon, General Grabbe having razed Akhulgo, having laid a contribution in sheep and cattle on some districts, taken hostages from others, and received the bread and salt of submission from all the aouls throughwhich he passed, returned in triumph to Temir-Chan-Schura. Great thereupon was the rejoicing in all the fortresses of the Russian line—in all the Cis and Trans-Caucasian provinces—and in St. Petersburg itself where the emperor ordered a medal to be struck commemorative of this brilliant feat at arms, and copies of it to be distributed among the brave soldiers who had taken part in it.