Missolonghi Defenders Attempt Breakout

Had it not been for the information given by the traitor, the greater part of the defenders of Missolonghi would have escaped.

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

Many of the relations of these helpless individuals voluntarily remained to share their fate. The noncombatants, who were to join the sortie, were drawn up in several bodies, according to the quarters in which they resided or the chiefs under whose escort they were to march. The Missolonghiots formed themselves into a separate band. They were less attenuated by fatigue than the rest; but being collected from every quarter of the town, their band was less orderly than the emigrants from the country, who had been disciplined by privation and accustomed to live and act together. Most of the women who took part in the sortie dressed themselves in the fustanella and carried arms, like the Albanians and armatoli; most of the children had also loaded pistols in their belts, which many had already learned to use.

At nine o’clock the bridges were placed in the ditch without noise, and a thousand soldiers crossed and ranged themselves along the covered way. Unfortunately, a deserter had informed Ibrahim of the projected sortie, and both he and Reshid, though they gave little credit to the information that the whole population would attempt to escape, adopted every precaution to repulse a sortie of the garrison. When the noncombatants began to cross the bridges, the noise revealed to the Turks the positions in which the crowds were assembled, and on these points, they opened a terrific fire. Crowds rushed forward to escape the shot. The shrieks of the wounded and the splash of those who were forced from the bridges were unnoticed; and in spite of the enemy’s fire the greater part of the inhabitants crossed the ditch in tolerable order. The Missolonghiots still lingered behind, retarded by their interests and their feelings. It was no easy sacrifice to quit their homes and their relations. For a considerable time, the garrison waited patiently for them under a heavy fire. At last, the first body of the Missolonghiots crossed the ditch, and then the troops sprang forward with a loud shout and rushed sword in hand on the Turks.

Never was a charge made more valiantly. The eastern division of the garrison, under Noti Bozzaris, struggled forward to gain the road to Bochori ; the central division, under Cizzos Djavellas, pushed straight through the enemy’s lines toward the hills; and the western division, under Macry, strove to gain the road to the Clisura. All three intended when clear of the Turks to effect a junction on the slopes of Zygos, where the road ascends to the monastery of St. Simeon.

Almost at the moment when the garrison rushed on the Turks, that portion of the Missolonghiots which was then on the bridges raised a cry of “Back, back!” Great part of the Missolonghiots stopped, fell back, and returned into the town with the military escort which ought to have formed the rear guard of the sortie. The origin of this ill-timed cry, which weakened the force of the sortie and added to the victims in the place, has excited much unnecessary speculation. It evidently rose among those who were in danger of being forced into the ditch. Their cry was repeated so loudly that it created a panic.

The three leading divisions bore down all opposition. Neither the yataghan of Reshid’s Albanians nor the bayonet of Ibrahim’s Arabs could arrest their impetuous attack; and they forced their way through the labyrinth of trenches, dikes, and ditches with comparatively little loss. Only some women and children, who could not keep up with the column as it rushed forward over the broken ground, were left behind. Had it not been for the information given by the traitor, the greater part of the defenders of Missolonghi would have escaped. In consequence of that information Ibrahim and Reshid had taken the precaution to send bodies of cavalry to watch the roads leading to Bochori, St. Simeon, and Clisura. The horsemen fell in with the Greek columns when they were about a mile beyond the Turkish lines and were beginning to feel secure.

The division of Macry was completely broken by the first charge of the cavalry. The others were thrown into confusion. All suffered severely, yet small bands of the garrison still kept together, and, by keeping up a continuous fire, enabled numbers of women and children to rally under their protection. At last, the scattered remnants of the three divisions began to recover some order on reaching the slopes of Zygos, where the irregularities of the ground forced the cavalry to slacken the pursuit.

The fugitives prepared to enjoy a short rest and endeavored to assemble the stragglers who had eluded the swords of the horse men. They were confident that the fire they had kept up against the cavalry would draw down the fifteen hundred men of Caraiscaci’s corps to their assistance. While they were thus engaged in giving and expecting succor, a body of Albanians placed in ambuscade by Reshid to watch the road to the monastery of St. Simeon crept to their vicinity unperceived and poured a deadly volley into their ranks. Instead of friends to assist them, they had to encounter one thousand mountaineers, well posted, to bar their progress. The Greeks, surprised by these unseen enemies, could do nothing but get out of the range of the rifles of the Albanians. The Albanians followed and tracked them in order to secure their heads, for which the pachas had promised a high price. The loss of the Greeks was greater at the foot of the hills, where their own troops ought to have insured their safety, than it had been in forcing the enemy’s lines and in resisting the charges of the cavalry. Most of the women and children who had dragged themselves thus far were so exhausted that they were taken prisoners.

• [* He was not present at this second siege.]

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