Mackey – Encyclopedia Of Freemasonry Vol. 1

THE HETAIRIA 151palities to quell the insurrection, Ipsilanti had to be preparedfor a speedy encounter . In fact, under the pretence of intendingresistance, he ordered intrenchments to be thrownup, and his troops to be exercised in the use of the bayonet,whilst he amused them again with the fable of Russianassistance .534. Advance of the Turks.-In the second week of Maythe Turks crossed the Danube . The Pasha of Braila undertookthe recovery of Galatz, which had been taken by Karavias.The first encounter took place before that town onthe 13th May, on which occasion the Hetairists, by theirbravery, redeemed many of the mistakes committed by theirleaders . About seven hundred of the insurgents held threeredoubts on the road to Braila ; they had two guns. Theirposition fad been so skilfully chosen by their chief, Athanasiusof Karpenisi, that it seemed possible to, defend it fora long time against a fivefold number of Turks . But themajority of the defenders consisted of rabble sailors takenfrom the ships in the harbour, and of the robbers and murdererswho, under the leadership of Karavias, had renderedthemselves infamous, and now felt little inclination to sacrificethemselves for a foreign cause . As soon as the Turksprepared for the attack, the bulk of them fled, leaving it toAthanasius and the few Greeks to engage in the fight . Theunequal conflict lasted till night ; the redoubts were bravelyheld by the small number of Greeks ; and when darknesscame, and the fighting was suspended, the Greeks practiseda trick to make their escape . They hung their cloaks outsidethe redoubts, and the Turks, taking the cloaks for men,fired at them ; at the same time the Greeks had loaded theirguns in such a way, as to go off one after another as soon asthe garrison should have left the redoubts, by which meansthe attention of the Turks would be diverted from thefugitives . The ruse succeeded ; the Greeks escaped, first toa small peninsula at the mouth of the Pruth, and thence toJassy . The greatest disorder prevailed in that town . PrinceKantakuzeno, to whom Ipsilanti had entrusted its defence,could maintain himself but a few days . In the middle ofJune, when tho Turkish troops advanced against him, heretreated to Bessarabia, advising Athanasius and the otherGreeks to do the same . But these pronounced him adespicable coward ; they, they said, were determined todefend the Greek, cause to the last, and to die honourablyor to conquer. With four hundred men and eight gunsthey resisted,, behind a weak barricade of trees, near Skuleni,