Under the Red Crescent: Adventures of an English Surgeon with the Turkish Army at Plevna and Erzeroum 1877-1878 — John Shaqi
Under the Red Crescent: Adventures of an English Surgeon with the Turkish Army at Plevna and Erzeroum 1877-1878Ryan, Charles S. (Charles Snodgrass)
History
Under the Red Crescent: Adventures of an English Surgeon with the Turkish Army at Plevna and Erzeroum 1877-1878
Ryan, Charles S. (Charles Snodgrass)
Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878 -- Personal narratives
At Nish I first met a young soldier whose remarkable personality and
singularly adventurous life could not fail to attract attention, and
with whom I formed a close personal friendship, which was only ended by
his death barely a year ago. Prince Czetwertinski, whom I first saw
mounted on a magnificent black charger in the main street of Nish,
belonged to one of the oldest families in Russian Poland, and was
himself the head of the family. His mother had been living at Lemberg
in Galicia, and the young prince had been educated in France, and
afterwards at a military school in Prague, with the object of entering
the Austrian army. At the last moment, however, the Russian Government
intervened, deeming it unwise to allow a Polish prince, who, though a
Russian subject, was as hostile at heart to Russia as were all his
countrymen, to accept an Austrian commission. The official world of St.
Petersburg set its face against Czetwertinski, and refused to furnish
him with the necessary papers; so that when the Servian war broke out he
gladly seized the chance of taking service against the Russians, the
traditional foes of his Polish house, proud still, although its glories
had been sadly tarnished.
Young Czetwertinski was well received at the court of the Emperor of
Austria, and was admitted to the intimacy of Prince Metternich; but
there were grave difficulties in the way of the military career upon
which he had set his heart. At last, however, through the kind offices
of General Klapka, the well known Hungarian general, who was on friendly
terms with the Turkish Government, the young prince secured an entrance
to military life, and was appointed, not to a commission, but to the
grade of private in a Turkish cavalry regiment, in which capacity he had
at first to perform the most menial offices. When Alexinatz was taken
in October, 1876, it was Czetwertinski who brought the news to Nish; and
for his conduct in the engagement he received a captaincy, and also the
decoration of the fifth order of the Medjidie. He was a magnificent
rider, and his victory over a vicious black stallion that no one in the
regiment could sit was a good passport to the affections of the Turks,
who dearly love fine horsemanship. I met him afterwards at Widdin, and
got to know him intimately. At that time he was captain of a guard of
eighty troopers attached to the person of Osman Pasha; and the colonel
of his regiment, a man named Mustapha Bey, was himself a Pole, who had
fled to Turkey as a boy, entered the Turkish service, and become a
Mohammedan. Czetwertinski fell ill at Plevna of dysentery, and passed
through my hands, afterwards coming to live with me in the Bulgarian
house where I was quartered, and bringing his servant Faizi with him. As
the young cavalry officer was attached to the person of Osman Pasha, I
was kept _au courant_ with all that was going on; and it was through him
that I was enabled chiefly to know and admire the courage, the honour,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account