Both Naval and Land Warfare at Missolonghi

A series of naval engagements then took place, in which the Turks baffled all the attempts of the Greeks to cut off their straggling ships and capture their transports.

Continuing Siege of Missolonghi,
our selection from History of Greece from the Conquest by the Romans to the Present Times by George Finlay published in 1864. The selection is presented in six easy 5-minute installments. For works benefiting from the latest research see the “More information” section at the bottom of these pages.

Previously in Siege of Missolonghi.

Time: 1825
Place: West coast of Greece

So strange a revival of the siege operations of the ancients excited the ridicule of the Greeks. They called the mound “the dike of union,” in allusion to the mound which Alexander the Great constructed at the siege of Tyre. It was begun at about a hundred sixty yards from the salient angle of the bastion Franklin and made an obtuse angle as it approached the place. Its base was from five to eight yards broad, and it was so high as to overlook the ramparts of the besieged.

By indefatigable perseverance, and after much severe fighting in the trenches, the Turks carried the mound to the ditch, filled up the ditch, and stormed the bastion Franklin. Even then they could not effect an entry into the place, for the Greeks cut off this bastion from all communication with the rest of their de fences, and soon erected batteries that completely commanded it. They then became the assailants and after a desperate struggle drove the Turks from their recent conquest.

On August 31st all the ground they had lost was regained, and preparations were begun for a great effort against the mound. Several sorties were made in order to obtain exact knowledge of the enemy’s trenches. At last, on September 21st, a great sortie was made by the whole garrison. The Turkish camp was attacked in several places with such fury that Reshid was unable to conjecture against what point the principal force was directed. He was in danger of seeing his batteries stormed and his guns spiked. After a bloody struggle the Greeks carried the works that protected the head of the mound and maintained possession of their conquest until they had levelled that part of it which overlooked their defenses. While every spade in Missolonghi was employed in levelling the mound, bodies of troops cleared the trenches and prevented the enemy from interrupting the work. As the Greeks had foreseen, rain soon rendered it impossible for Reshid to repair the damage his works had sustained.

The garrison of Missolonghi received considerable reinforcements after the Captain-Pacha’s departure. At the end of September it still amounted to four thousand five hundred men and was much more efficient than at the beginning of the siege. Hitherto the fire of the Turkish artillery had been so desultory and ill-directed that not more than one hundred persons had been killed or wounded in the place. This trifling loss during a six-months’ siege induced the Greeks to form a very erroneous idea of the efficiency of siege-artillery; while the facility with which provisions and ammunition had been introduced inspired them with a blind confidence in their naval superiority. The only severe loss they had suffered had been in their sorties, and in these they had hitherto been almost invariably the victors.

The Ottoman fleet, which returned to Patras on November 18th, saved Reshid’s army from starvation, and furnished it with some reinforcements and ample supplies of ammunition. The Greek fleet ought to have engaged the Ottoman before it entered the waters of Patras, but it did not reach the gulf until the Captain-Pacha had terminated the delicate operation of landing stores at Crioneri. A series of naval engagements then took place, in which the Turks baffled all the attempts of the Greeks to cut off their straggling ships and capture their transports. Both parties claimed the victory — the Captain-Pacha because he kept open the communications between Patras and Crioneri, and Miaulis because he succeeded in throwing supplies into Missolonghi and in keeping open its communications with the Ionian Islands. But the real victory remained with the Turks, whose fleet kept its station at Patras, while the Greeks retired from the waters of Missolonghi on December 4, 1825 and returned to Hydra.

Shortly before the departure of the Greek fleet, a new and more formidable enemy appeared before Missolonghi. The campaign in the Peloponnesus had proved that neither the courage of the armatoli nor the stratagems of the clephts were a match for the discipline and tactics of the Egyptians; and Ibrahim advanced to attack the brave garrison of Missolonghi, confident of success. He encountered no opposition in his march from Navarin to Patras. The pass of Clidi was left unguarded, and he captured large magazines of grain at Agulinitza, Pyrgos, and Gastuni, which ought either to have been previously transported to Missolonghi or now destroyed. These supplies proved of great use to Ibrahim’s army during the siege.

The month of December was employed by Ibrahim in forming magazines at Crioneri, and bringing up ammunition to his camp before Missolonghi. Heavy rains rendered it impossible to work at the trenches. The whole plain, from the walls of the town to the bank of the Fidari, was either under water or formed a wide expanse of mud and marsh. The Egyptian soldiers labored indefatigably, and the order which prevailed in their camp astonished Reshid, who was said to have felt some irritation when he found that Ibrahim never asked him for any assistance or advice, but carried on his own operations with unceasing activity and perfect independence. A horrid act of cruelty perpetrated by Reshid was ascribed to an explosion of his suppressed rage. A priest, two women, and three boys, who were accused of having conveyed some intelligence to their relatives in the besieged town, were impaled by his order before the walls.

The Greeks now perceived that the progress of the besiegers, — although not very rapid, would soon render the place untenable. The supplies of provisions received in January, added to what was then in the public magazines, ought to have furnished abundant rations to the whole population until the end of April; but these stores were wasted by the soldiery. Ibrahim and Reshid contrived to be well informed of everything that was said or done within the walls of Missolonghi, and they learned with pleasure that watchfulness and patience would soon force the Greeks to surrender the place or die of hunger.

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