kaffir war.—there was an invasion of the kaffirs, or caffres, in the vicinity of grahamstown, cape of good hope, in october, 1831. the invaders fell upon the settlers, murdered them, burnt their houses, destroyed their crops, and carried off their cattle; this irruption was eventually suppressed by the colonial authorities. other, but slighter annoyances to the colonists took place occasionally, up to december, 1850, when sir harry smith, the then governor, proclaimed martial law, and ordered the colonists to rise en masse for the defence of the frontier; the kaffirs had previously defeated the british troops, and had committed many murderous forays on the villages. then followed several disastrous operations in the water kloof, and colonel fordyce and several officers and men of the 74th regiment were killed, november 6th, 1847. captain oldham, and others, had just before this fallen into an ambuscade and been killed. the wreck of the birkenhead with re-enforcements from england, took place february 26th, 1852. general cathcart, at last, on the 20th december, 1852, attacked them with 2000 british troops at berea, where they numbered 6000 cavalry. in this action captain tanner and 38 men were killed, and two other officers and 15 men wounded. the kaffirs suffered severely, and at last were obliged to sue for peace.
kalitsch, battle of.—fought, february 13th, 1813, between the saxons, under the french general regnier, and the russians under winzingerode. an obstinate engagement in which the french were defeated, with the loss of 2000 killed and some thousands taken prisoners.
kalunga, fort.—in the east indies.—unsuccessfully attacked by the east india company’s forces, and general gillespie killed, october 31st, 1814. again unsuccessfully attacked, november 25th, following, and evacuated by the nepaulese on the 30th november, 1814.
kars, the battle of the heights of.—“on the 29th september, 1855, about 3.30 a.m., the russians were seen advancing up the shorak valley in dense masses, but in what order could not then, on account of the darkness, be ascertained. our troops were in a moment under arms, and at their posts. general kmety, with one battalion of infantry and seven companies of chasseurs, was stationed in sheshanegee[174] tabia; major teesdale, with one battalion of infantry, in yuksek tabia; and hussein pacha, with the arabistan corps, in tahmasb tabia, where he was soon joined by kerim pacha, the second in command of the army. bashi-bazouks were also dispersed throughout the different works, and the laz held a small work called yarem ai tabia, in front of yuksek tabia. general kmety was the first to open fire with round-shot on the advancing battalions of the enemy; he was immediately answered by two guns placed in position on a height forming the north-west boundary of the shorak valley. in a few minutes the whole visible force of the russians charged up the hill with loud cries; they were received with a terrific fire of grape and musketry, which mowed down whole ranks at every volley. general kmety’s position was attacked by eight battalions of the enemy; they advanced very gallantly to within five paces of the work, when so heavy a fire was opened on the head of the column that the whole corps wavered, halted, then turned, and fled down the hill in the greatest confusion, leaving 850 dead. they did not renew the attack there.
tahmasb tabia bore the brunt of the battle; about 16 battalions, with many guns, were brought up against it, but its garrison was undaunted, and for a long time the russians could not even get possession of the breast-work forming the left wing of that battery; but, at length, an overwhelming force obliged the turks to retire within the redoubt. a scene of carnage now ensued perfectly terrible to behold. as the russians came over the brow of the hill within the breastwork, to take the battery in rear, tchim and tek tabias and fort lake opened on them with 24-pound shot, which tore through their ranks, but they did not seem to heed this. they charged tahmasb tabia, which was one sheet of fire, over and over again, and so resolute were their assaults that many of the russian officers were killed in the battery, but they could not succeed in carrying it.
general kmety, after having repulsed the russians, went forward with four companies of chasseurs to yuksek tabia, which was sorely pressed. major teesdale pointed out a battalion of russian chasseurs which lay hidden behind yarem ai tabia (this work having been abandoned by the laz at the commencement of the battle), and begged that they might be dislodged. the general at once determined to carry the battery; so, forming up his men, he charged and drove the russians down the hill; leaving a company to defend the work, he returned to yuksek tabia, from whence perceiving a battalion of the enemy trying to turn the right wing[175] of tahmasb tabia, he reinforced his corps with three companies from major teesdale, and charged the russians; here, too, he was successful. in the meantime reinforcements were sent up from below; these formed behind the tents of the reserve, and watched their opportunity in attacking the russian columns, when driven back from an assault on the batteries. for seven hours this went on; reserve after reserve of the enemy was brought forward, but only to meet death. nothing could shake the firmness of our troops, till at length the russians, wearied and dispirited, at eleven a.m., turned and fled down the hills in a confused mass, not one single company keeping its ranks. the army was followed in its flight by the townspeople and bashi-bazouks, who brought down hundreds as they fled. while the infantry were engaged in this conflict, the cossacks tried to penetrate into the tents of the reserve, but they were soon driven back by the townspeople and infantry reserves with heavy loss.
one battalion of russian infantry attempted to march round the position, and take a small battery situated in a commanding position on the road leading to a village called tchakmak. it commenced its march in splendid order, but ere it went 600 yards it was broken and in great disorder, and so terrified, that fifty or sixty of our chasseurs drove the broken mass down the tchakmak valley like a flock of sheep. the cause of the terror was the terrible fire opened upon it by yuksek tabia, the guns of sheshanegee tabia and fort lake.
a column of eight battalions, with 16 guns and three regiments of cavalry, attacked the english lines at half-past five a.m. this line of fortification was at the time very weakly garrisoned; the breastwork was carried in a few minutes, the batteries teesdale, thompson, and zohrah, successively fell into the enemy’s hands, and the men who formed their garrisons retired into williams pacha tabia. the russians then brought up their artillery into position in front of zohrab tabia, and began firing upon fort lake and shelling the town, but fort lake (under the able superintendence of the gallant officer whose name it bears), arab tabia, and karadagh, opened so heavy a fire on them with 24 pounders, that they were compelled to withdraw their artillery altogether. the russian infantry then charged williams pacha tabia, but were repulsed by a flanking fire from fort lake and a severe fire of musketry from the defenders of the battery attacked. they retired into zohrab tabia, re-formed, and again assaulted; a body of their chasseurs was at the same time sent forward to within 500 yards of fort lake, to take a small open[176] work called churchill tabia, which was doing the enemy without the lines much harm. this was occupied by two companies of our chasseurs: they turned to receive the attack of the enemy; and, after retiring a short distance halted, and kept the russians at bay. while this was going on, captain thompson, who had charge of the batteries of karadagh and arab tabia, sent over the 5th regiment of infantry from arab tabia to retake the english tabias of teesdale and thompson, and from below two battalions of the 2nd regiment came up to recapture zohrab tabia. the forces commenced the attack together from each end of the line, and drove the russians out of the forts and breastworks at the point of the bayonet. once out of the lines, they did not attempt to retake them. unfortunately the enemy had time, while in possession of the batteries, to take away five guns, and to spike three, but they abandoned three of the captured guns at a short distance from the redoubts, so that we only lost two. as the enemy retreated our long guns again played on their columns, and they retired as speedily as possible.
some cavalry attempted to engage the battery above the village of tchakmak, but again the terrible guns of fort lake drove them off. by 10.30 a.m. the english tabias were silent.
such was the dreadful battle of “the heights of kars.” this is but a very lame account of the glorious fight. i have not the time to enter into greater details, but it will give an idea of what our men did and had to endure. the forces of the enemy exceeded 30,000, while ours, engaged, were below 8000. not one of our men had tasted anything since the previous afternoon; hungry and thirsty, they remained undaunted, and repulsed column after column of the russians; at last their heroism was rewarded with perhaps the most brilliant victory that has been gained during this war.
the field of battle was a sight too horrible ever to be forgotten by me; the dead lay in vast heaps in every direction around the forts—the ditches were full of mutilated bodies—the tents were torn to rags—arms, clothes, broken ammunition-boxes lay strewed about. upwards of 6000 russians fell, and more than 4000 muskets have been collected, and 150 prisoners taken. the total loss to the enemy in killed and wounded must have been very near, if not more than, 15,000. several generals were killed or wounded; amongst the former, reports say, general breumer, the second in command; and general baklanoff, who commanded the attack on canly tabia on the 7th of last august. thousands of carts have been sent to gumri (alexandropoli) with wounded.
[177]
our list of casualties is but small, about 1000 in killed and wounded. dr. sandwith, the inspector of hospitals, had made his arrangements, and, thanks to his abilities, the hospitals are in good order.
for this great victory, turkey has to thank general williams; during the past four months his exertions to get things into order have been astonishing; night and day he has laboured. he has had many and great obstacles to overcome, but nothing could break his energy. on the memorable 29th he directed the movements of the troops; the reinforcements always reached their appointed position in time. the great results of the day prove how well his operations were conceived.
the loss inflicted on the enemy fully shows how well the positions of the redoubts were chosen by colonel lake. all the batteries flanked each other, and the russians were unable to bring up guns to command any of our positions. the troops kiss the batteries, and say that the miralai bey (colonel) was “chok akill” (very wise) when he made them work.
captain thompson aided greatly in recapturing the english lines. he directed, by order, the guns of arab tabia and karadagh, and sent the troops over to attack the russians.
major teesdale was in the hottest fire, and acted with great coolness and bravery. he is the admiration of the turks. he showed them how english officers behave in battle.
all the turkish officers did their duty nobly. kerim pacha was slightly wounded, and had two horses killed under him; hussein pacha was hit; two colonels, and many other officers, were killed.”
another account thus graphically describes the fall of kars:—
“omer pacha, gradually overcoming the difficulties of that deficiency in transports found himself at the head of about 15,000 troops in abasia, a good many of these being his own trustworthy veterans. he had gradually edged them down towards redoubt kaleh, which he fixed on as his basis of operations. on the 30th shemserai was secured, and, having driven in the russian outposts from sogdidi and endeavoured to open relations with schamyl, while conciliating the princess dalian and the christian population in his own neighbourhood, he moved inland in a south-eastern direction. but, owing to the difficulties of the country, which is an entanglement of woods interspersed with very rich but neglected farm lands, and owing still more to the precariousness and uncertainty of any supplies from the inhabitants, his progress was extremely slow. he did all that lay in his power, purchasing[178] provisions in every direction, and organizing, as his principal resource, a regular commissariat at redoubt kaleh. the river phasis, which flows from the caucasus to the euxine, is navigable for nearly a hundred miles from the sea; and he had hoped to have availed himself of this channel for important man?uvres. his plan was this:—the first strong russian post was at kutais, where the great high road—by gori, into georgia, and down to tiflis—would take his advancing columns over the celebrated soorem pass. once master of kutais, and with his communications well secured upon the black sea along his rear line, he hoped either to be able to defeat all the local russian garrisons and posts between soorem and the capital of the fertile province lying beyond and below it, or else to recall by the terror of his progress the army of general mouravieff, then menacing armenia, and beleaguering kars. in either case a great blow would be struck, and the hard-pressed troops of general williams relieved. then, should it even prove too late to advance permanently that year beyond mingrelia, he could at least strengthen himself in kutais, make it his new centre for future operations, and call up, meantime, additional forces for the campaign of spring. general mouravieff would then be pressed from the side of armenia, where he was now acting offensively, and from the side of imeretia, on which he would be thrown also upon the defensive. but it was already too late; and the russian chief knew it. well informed of the true state of the kars garrison, he never disquieted himself, or in the slightest altered his plans, in consequence of omer pacha’s diversion. should the muchir even beat the militia which now guarded the northern gorges of georgia, he felt sure that it would all come to the same result. the season, the floods, scarcity, would compel the victor to retreat; much more would such become his necessity if, in the interim, he, general mouravieff, should succeed in reducing kars, and, while thus liberating his own army for an encounter with the ottoman, should rob the latter of the chief motive which prompted this venturous advance by depriving it of its character as a diversion. indeed, in such a contingency, the further omer might have penetrated, the worse, perhaps, would be his situation; since general mouravieff, by not returning directly towards tiflis (which would be rather better able than kars had been to stand a siege in its turn and to hold any assailant in play), but by moving diagonally, north-east by north, along the excellent russian line from alexandropol to akhazik, would himself take omer pacha in flank and rear, shatter his line of communication, overwhelm his detached supports, and cut him off from the sea.
[179]
for these reasons, general mouravieff tranquilly and steadily persisted in the blockade of kars; and never for a moment showed any inclination to turn aside to face the turkish invader. a month and seven days had now elapsed since the assault on kars was repulsed so gloriously, when omer pacha at length brought his labouring columns through the miry woodlands as far as the ingour. there he saw, for the first time, a regular stand prepared by the enemy, about 12,000 strong, intrenched on the opposite bank, and commanding the passage by batteries. they were chiefly the russian militia of georgia and were under the command of general bragation-makrausky. the turks had some 20,000 men. the stream was barely fordable in half-a-dozen places, by which the enemy’s intrenchments could be turned. the turks passed it, up to their armpits in water, holding their muskets aloft; our countrymen—colonel ballard, captain dymsck, and others—showing a splendid example worthy of english officers. the engagement lasted five hours, when the russians fled, leaving behind them 60 prisoners, five gun-carriages and ammunition carts, and 400 killed. they appear to have carried off their wounded. omer pacha had 220 wounded and 68 killed. pressing on the track of the fugitives he came up with them before the end of november, within sight of kutais, and obtained another advantage. but the floods had come; the phasis had assumed the dimensions of a torrent; great forest trees were swept down the stream as if they were reeds—now engulfed out of sight in the eddies, now reappearing on the surface for a moment as they were borne away; the roads were impassable to artillery, and almost to infantry; the whole country was transformed into an alternation of morass and lagoon; a day’s march was the work of a week; the troops were broken up and islanded, as it were, into helpless detachments; the commissariat could not act; the supplies arrived with greater irregularity, incertitude, and insufficiency from day to day; the whole army was suffering incredible hardships and privations; it was threatened with annihilation unless a retrograde movement were promptly made; and, finally, came the news kars had succumbed at last. the conquerors, therefore, retired, unpursued, and gradually straggled back to redoubt kaleh, where omer pacha soon succeeded in restoring their tone and refreshing their energies.
so ended the war of 1855 with russia; for this was really its last incident, general mouravieff having already dismantled the fortifications of kars, and withdrawn the bulk of his forces to gumri. it was on the[180] 28th of november that general williams at last surrendered to him the stubborn armenian fortress. the heroic garrison had long been macerated by the failure of rations and by disease. even their ammunition was expended. in another assault on the day of their surrender they would have had no means of firing half-a-dozen rounds from their guns, and they were completely past the power of personal resistance as a body, being unable to wield their weapons, and hardly able to stand erect. they had borne literally the fiercest extremities of famine. they were now a corps of spectres, with scarcely the strength to speak. yet these men had furnished indiscriminately the sentinels who had mounted guard over the little pile of half-rotten farina which was to be doled out in a biscuit a day for each; and the trusty sentries never touched the food which was the sole remaining common stock. under such circumstances it was that general williams rode out with a flag of truce, and told prince mouravieff that he would surrender kars provided all the courtesies and honours of war were conceded to the garrison. general kmety and some few attendants had tried a different expedient—they stole out and cut their way through the leaguer on the only serviceable horses left.
mouravieff listened with attention to general williams, who threatened, if his various stipulations were not granted, to burst every gun and destroy every military trophy still extant in kars. the russian chief replied with chivalrous warmth and visible emotion as he looked at the emaciated hero, that all was granted, and that he was proud as an enemy to testify that general williams and those under him had immortalised themselves. nothing, in short, could surpass the nobility of sentiment displayed (both then and in the subsequent treatment of the prisoners) by prince mouravieff and the russian army.”
kertch.—an expedition undertaken against this place during the late russian war was completely successful. “notwithstanding the recall of the expedition to kertch in the early part of the month, the allied generals were resolved to carry out the project of a descent upon that part of the coast; and, on the 22nd of may, another expedition departed: the english force under sir george brown, and the french under general d’autemarre. the two admirals, sir edmund lyons and bruat, accompanied the land forces. the troops engaged numbered 15,000, with five batteries of artillery. it was apprehended that a serious resistance would probably be made at kertch, and that the fleets[181] would have difficulty in forcing the straits into the sea of azov, if they were exposed to the fire of the powerful batteries of kertch and yenikale. in order, then, that the town might be attacked from the land side, sir george brown landed his force at kamiesch bournu, a few miles to the south of kertch, and advanced overland. the enemy, however, had no intention of risking a contest, and evacuated the town, destroying the magazines, and blowing up the fortifications. when the troops entered kertch, they found it deserted by nearly all the inhabitants; and the ships in the straits hurredly endeavouring to escape into the sea of azov. in this attempt they were frustrated by the activity of the allied fleets; and the admirals, finding the depth of water more than they had anticipated, started in full pursuit, capturing and burning every vessel they could approach. yenikale was, like kertch, deserted by its garrison; and in a few hours the allies were in undisturbed and bloodless possession of the two towns commanding the outlet of the sea of azov, and the fleets were in full chase of the russian navy in those waters.”
kiel, treaty of.—between great britain, sweden and denmark, signed january 14th, 1814.
kilcullen, battle of.—fought may 23rd, 1798, between a vast body of insurgent irish and the british forces, commanded by general dundas. the latter were defeated. general dundas, however, subsequently beat the rebels near kilcullen bridge, when 3000 were slain, and hundreds wounded and taken prisoners.
kildare.—the great rebellion commenced here in may 23rd, 1798. on that night lieutenant gifford, of dublin, and a number of gentlemen were murdered. quelled in the following year.
killala.—a french force landed here, august 22nd, 1798. they were joined by the irish insurgents, and the actions of castlebar, colooney and ballyhannack followed. at the battle of killala the insurgents were defeated with great slaughter, by the royalist forces, september 23rd, 1798.
killiecrankie, battle of.—fought july 17th, 1689, between the forces of william iii and the adherents of james ii. “general mackay, the officer sent against claverhouse, had about 3000 foot and some companies of horse under his command. but they were mostly all raw recruits, and entire strangers to the highland way of[182] fighting. at the head of the wild and gloomy pass of killiecrankie, mackay found himself in front of the rebels. he drew up his men, three deep, along the side of the narrow valley into which the pass opens. the highlanders occupied the hill on the north side of the valley. at this time, the bayonet screwed into the muzzle of the musket, so that troops could not fire with bayonets fixed. the highlanders, in dense masses broke down from the hill. firing their guns once, they dropped them, and then with target on the left arm, and flashing broadsword they rushed, wildly yelling, on the enemy. mackay’s troops fired a volley, which did little harm to the loose array of their leaping, bounding foes, and before they could screw in their bayonets, the highlanders were among them. an empty musket without a bayonet could do little against the sweeping broadsword. a panic seized mackay’s raw levies, and they broke and fled, pursued and cut down by the savage highlanders.
claverhouse never knew that he had won a victory. he fell at the beginning of the action, pierced by a musket ball which entered beneath his arm. when one in a pack of hungry wolves is killed, the rest turn upon him and eat him up. claverhouse’s own men, true to their savage instinct of plunder, stripped his body, and left it naked upon the field, where it was with difficulty distinguished from the other bodies of the fallen!”
kolin, or kollin, battle of.—in this engagement the famous austrian general daun, gained a celebrated victory over frederick the great of prussia, june 18th, 1757. next year he obliged the prussians to raise the siege of olmutz and to retreat to moravia.
koniah, battle of.—fought on the plains of koniah, formerly jornium, between the army of the sultan of turkey and the pacha of egypt, in which, after a most bloody action which continued all the day, the turkish army was defeated, and the grand vizier himself wounded and taken prisoner, december 31st, 1833.
kowno, battle of.—fought between the french and russian armies, in which the french were defeated with great slaughter, and the loss of upwards of 6000 prisoners, 21 pieces of cannon; many thousands on both sides were slain. fought, december 14th, 1812.
krasnoi, battle of.—fought between the french under davoust, and the russian army commanded by kutusoff. in this[183] bloody battle davoust was entirely overthrown, and his army dispersed, thousands upon thousands being left dead on the field, november 16th, 1812.
kunnersdorf, battle of.—one of the most bloody battles on record, and fought between the prussian and russian armies. the king of prussia, after a great slaughter of the enemy for upwards of six hours, had gained many advantages and had nearly accomplished victory; but too eager in pursuing the retreating enemy, the latter rallied, and in the end the prussians were defeated with the loss of 20,000 men and 200 pieces of cannon, august 12th, 1759.
