Robert Cannon (Behram Pasha)
Robert Cannon | |
|---|---|
 Photograph of Cannon by Antoine Claudet in 1856 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 12 January 1811 Murroes, Angus, United Kingdom |
| Died | 5 April 1882 (aged 71) Folkestone, United Kingdom |
| Spouse(s) |
Isabella Langford
(m. 1846; died 1854)Emma Beevor Ronald
(m. 1858–1882) |
| Children | 6 |
| Parent |
|
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | |
| Branch/service | |
| Rank | Lieutenant general |
| Battles/wars | |
Robert Cannon (12 January 1811 – 5 April 1882), also known as Behram Pasha (Ottoman Turkish: بهرام پاشا; Modern Turkish: Behram Paşa),[1] was an accomplished British lieutenant general of Scottish descent. His military service started in India, taking him to Spain and then the Ottoman Empire. He is known for his actions in the Crimean War, especially in the Silistra Eyalet where he is said to have "inflicted upon the Russians the most profound humiliation which they had experienced during the whole war".[2]
Early life and career
[edit]Birth and service in India
[edit]Robert Cannon was born on 12 January 1811 to a Scottish family in Murroes, Angus, Scotland. He moved to India at an early age to enlist in the Madras Army. His first military engagement was during the Coorg War, where he fought as part of the distinguished 40th Madras Native Infantry which played an important role in crushing the rebellion started by the Rajah of Kodagu, Chikka Virarajendra.[2]
First Carlist War
[edit]Cannon returned to Britain shortly after the Coorg War. Knowing that Spain was currently going through a civil war known as the First Carlist War, he recruited 500 men in Devon and left for Spain in the summer of 1835. With his small force of men and as a major, he joined the British Auxiliary Legion headed by George de Lacy Evans, formed to aid Isabella II in her cause. Cannon participated in numerous battles during his time in the country. His first crucial engagement was in May 1836 during the Battle of Lugariz, where he commanded a regiment and successfully stormed the town, taking over Carlist lines. However, Cannon was severely wounded during the battle. Although he commanded regiments in the following weeks, he was honorably discharged to heal in Britain.[2]
No real conflict occurred during Cannon's temporary absence and he returned to Spain on 23 September 1836 to command the 9th regiment. Cannon's next major encounter was on 15 March 1837 when the British Auxiliary Legion conquered a fortification known as Oriamendi on a strategic hill near San Sebastián. General Evans tried many times to take over the fortress but failed. This prompted the general to plead for help from Cannon, who said he would take the city without firing a shot. He kept his word and in only 10 minutes managed to successfully take over the fortress by only using bayonets. However, this position was lost the next day in the Battle of Oriamendi.[3]
After these events, Cannon commanded the Irish regiment within the Auxiliary Legion in two important conflicts; the surrender of Hondarribia on 18 May, and the successful capturing of Andorra on 29 May. For his services during the war, he was awarded a 1st and 2nd class Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand, alongside a gold and silver medal. He was also made a knight of the Order of Charles III. Cannon returned to Britain but did not stay long, moving back to India where he was made one of the commissioners for the government of the territories of Mysore by the Governor-general of India. He held this title for a few years until he married, resigned from his post, and moved back to Britain where he became the lieutenant colonel of the Royal West Middlesex Militia on 6 May 1853. In the same year, the Crimean War broke out. It was requested by the Ottoman government through their ambassador to the United Kingdom, Konstantinos Mousouros, that Cannon became a commander in the Ottoman army. He accepted this offer and made his way to the Ottoman Empire.[4]
Military service in the Ottoman Empire
[edit]Arrival and Crimean War
[edit]Arriving in early 1854 with two other Brits who were previously in East Indian Company service, he was made a major-general in the Ottoman army in Asia. However, before making it to his appointed front, he met with Omar Pasha in Şumnu.[a] Omar Pasha wanted Cannon to remain in the European theater of war. After approval from the Sultan, Cannon was given the title of Pasha, the name Behram, and was made brigadier general in the Ottoman army of the Danube.[6] During the war, Cannon invited many military figures (especially fellow Scotsmen and Indian army officers) to serve in the Ottoman army, most notably General William Ferguson Beatson (1804–1872), founder of Beatson's Horse.[7]
Siege of Silistria
[edit]A few months into his service, Cannon was sent to greet the generals sent by the Allied forces to aid the Ottomans and to organise a meeting in Varna between foreign and Ottoman generals to plan courses of action throughout the war. In mid-1854, 5,000 soldiers were attached to Cannon's command and were sent to relieve the garrison of Silistria during the siege after Sadık Pasha's failed attempt to do so.[8] However, this was no match for the Russian forces who surrounded the walls of the city. Acknowledging this, Cannon made a risky move. He wrote a letter in English to the governor of Silistria Eyalet, falsely stating that he had 25,000 men and that he would meet his 10,000 soldiers soon. He then gave the letters to two bashi-bazouks to deliberately get captured by the Russian army. On reading that a 35,000-strong relief force would soon come, the Russians concentrated their forces at the point that it was mentioned soldiers would arrive.[6]
Illustration by unknown artist
Taking advantage of the blunder of the Russians, Cannon left a few hundred soldiers in his camp and took a long but unproblematic detour into the western parts of the fortress at Silistria. There he found the garrison on the verge of surrendering. He had also met six other British officers in the defense of the siege, most notably Captain James Butler and Lieutenant Charles Nasmyth.[b] Cannon's arrival had bolstered the garrison with morale. Cannon's force was composed of 4 battalions of infantry, 1 battalion of chasseurs, 400 Arab cavalry, and 6 mountain guns transported with mules.[10] Protracting the defense of the siege even more, Prince Mikhail Dmitrievich Gorchakov gave up and raised the siege. Cannon was commemorated after the siege by Omar Pasha as the deliverer and saver of Silistria.[6]
Battles of Ruse, Giurgevo, and Slobozia
[edit]Cannon was tasked on 6 July 1854 by Hussein Pasha to reconnaissance the area between Rusçuk and Yergöğü for Russian activities. In short succession, seven young Brits joined the frontlines at this region; Lieutenant Burke and Captain Bent (officers of the Royal Engineers), Hinde, Arnold, Ballard (who served in India), Lieutenant Meynell (previously lieutenant of the 75th Regiment) and Colonel Ogilvy, who served as aide-de-camp to Cannon.[11] Cannon crossed the Danube with a battalion of Turkish infantry composed of 300 men and set camp without resistance. However, they were suddenly attacked by Russian forces on 7 July, but Cannon was able to repel these forces until reinforcement by Ali Pasha arrived.[12]
Aside from Ali Pasha's aid, the other British lieutenants had mustered a force made up of two Turkish infantry battalions to cross the Danube and relieve Cannon's forces. Lieutenants Arnold, Meynell, and Burke were killed at the Battle of Giurgevo where there were 40,000 troops under the command of Omar Pasha and Cannon. In the meantime, the Russians launched four separate attacks from Rusçuk (Ruse) and Yergöğü (Giurgevo), all of which were suppressed by the numerically inferior Turks both on boats in the Danube river and on land. After these attacks where the Russians incurred heavy casualties, they were left with 16,000 men and 16 guns. Hearing of this, Prince Mikhail Dmitrievich Gorchakov marched towards the Turks with 60,000 men, while the Ottomans had 5,000 men. In a coincidental timing, two gunboats commandeered by James Whitley Deans Dundas arrived on the Danube between the Russian and Turkish forces to deter a Russian offensive after a 200-mile journey. With only 30 seamen and 30 sappers on board, they started to fire towards the Russian lines. By this time, a reinforcement of up to 100,000 Turkish soldiers were marching towards Gorchakov's army. This prompted him to hastily withdraw to Bucharest.[13]
Now a lieutenant general, Cannon marched to Slobozia with 40,000 men and destroyed the Russian garrison in the city. Soon afterward, he freed Bucharest from Russian occupation. These successive defeats were so humiliating that the Russians retreated completely from the Danube and Romanian principalities (then under Ottoman suzerainty).[14] British historian Peter Gibbs writes "Turkey had beaten off the menace of Russian invasion without any help from the allies—other than an unofficial contribution by ten British officers and a couple of gunboats—and the threat of Russian domination of the Bosporus, which had brought Britain and France into the war, had been effectively removed".[15] Thus, the focus of the Ottomans shifted back to Crimea and the Caucasus.
Battle of Eupatoria and Siege of Sevastopol
[edit]In late 1854, Cannon was chosen by Omar Pasha to be sent to aid in the protracted Siege of Sevastopol. He landed in January 1855 in Gözleve, a few weeks before a battle occurred in the city. Cannon was the first general to land in the city with a Turkish division of soldiers. Present at the fortress were French military engineers under the command of Colonel d'Osmont. Cannon believed the defenses built by the French engineers were too close to the city and that if the Russians broke through the fortifications, they would fire on the city easily. He convinced the engineers to build redoubts mounted with as many guns as possible and to surround the walls of the city with a continuous earthen wall bordered by a ditch. This proved extremely useful during the subsequent battle where Cannon's suggested fortifications were put to test. The Russian commanders could not take control of the redoubt which caused heavy damage to the army. They were consequently forced to withdraw on the same day as the attack (16 February 1855). Cannon made it to Sevastopol in April 1855 and participated in the bombardment of the city.[16]
Caucasian Front
[edit]General Cannon was sent in the autumn of 1855 to the Caucasus where Omar Pasha was stationed to relieve the garrison of Kars during the city's siege. When he reached Suhumkale, Omar Pasha said to him that he was planning to launch an expedition from Mingrelia to Tiflis so that the Russians withdrew from Kars and marched north to Georgia. Cannon believed this plan would be a failure and suggested that they stick to the original plan' which was to march directly to Kars via Trabzon and Erzurum. Omar Pasha disagreed, going ahead with his plan. Although Omar Pasha was successful in his expedition, he was forced to end it due to the capitulation of Kars. British historian Edward Henry Nolan argues that if they had stuck to Cannon's proposition, Kars would have been saved as it was highly likely for Nikolay Muravyov-Karsky to retreat from Kars if Omar Pasha's 40,000 men came to the aid of the city.[16]
Later life
[edit]It is not exactly known what Cannon did after the Crimean War was won, but it is assumed that he remained in the service of the Ottoman Empire for a few more years (becoming a recipient of the 2nd class Order of the Medjidie in October 1858 and earning four other medals for his services) before returning to Britain.[16]
Death
[edit]Cannon died from bronchial pneumonia on 5 April 1882 in Folkestone, aged 71. He is said to have been "deeply beloved" by the British public.[17]
Notes
[edit]- ^ Omar Pasha was a former Austrian soldier of Serbian Orthodox descent. He was previously known as Mihajlo Latas (Serbian: Михајло Латас).[5]
- ^ Nasmyth arrived in Silistria on 28 March 1854, before it was besieged by the Russians. He and Butler of the Ceylon Rifle Regiment, offered their services to the garrison (both men had served with the East India Company Army). Nasmyth was also a news correspondent for the London Times. His letters in the Times, from April to June 1854, described the siege in detail until his wounding and death.[9]
Citations
[edit]- ^ Grant, James (1889). The Scottish Soldiers of Fortune: Mercenaries in Foreign Service from the 14th to 19th Centuries (PDF). London: Routledge. p. 115. ISBN 9781103178728.
- ^ a b c Nolan 1855, p. 588.
- ^ Nolan 1857, p. 589.
- ^ Nolan 1857, p. 590.
- ^ Čuvalo, Ante (2010). The A to Z of Bosnia and Herzegovina. G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series. Scarecrow Press. p. 138. ISBN 9780810876477.
- ^ a b c Nolan 1857, p. 591.
- ^ Stuart, Vivian (1972). Victors and Lords. New York City: Pinnacle Books. p. 35.
- ^ Badem, Candan (2010). The Ottoman Crimean War (1853-1856). Leiden: Brill. p. 185. ISBN 9789004190962. JSTOR 10.1163/j.ctt1w8h1kf.
- ^ Reid, James J. (2000). Crisis of the Ottoman Empire: Prelude to Collapse 1839-1878. Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte des östlichen Europa. Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 254–256. ISBN 9783515076876.
- ^ Köremezli, İbrahim (December 2013). Ottoman War on the Danube: State, Subject, and Soldier (1853-1856) (PhD thesis). Ankara: Bilkent University. p. 230.
- ^ Kinglake, Alexander W. (1863). The Invasion of the Crimea: Its Origin, and an Account of Its Progress Down to the Death of Lord Raglan. Vol. 3. Leipzig: Christian Bernhard Tauchnitz. pp. 59–63. ISBN 9783385539259.
- ^ Kinross, Lord (1977). The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire. New York City: William Morrow and Company. p. 496. ISBN 9780688030933.
- ^ Gibbs 1960, pp. 82–84.
- ^ Nolan 1857, p. 592.
- ^ Gibbs 1960, p. 84.
- ^ a b c Nolan 1857, p. 593.
- ^ "DEATHS". The Illustrated London News. Vol. 80, no. 2241. London. 15 April 1882.
References
[edit]- Gibbs, Peter (1960). Crimean Blunder: The Story of the War with Russia a Hundred Years Ago. New York City: Rinehart & Company. ISBN 9781787202702.
- Nolan, Edward Henry (1855). The History of the War Against Russia. London: George Virtue.
- Nolan, Edward Henry (1857). The Illustrated History of the War Against Russia. London: George Virtue.