THE WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND TURKEY. 
401 
of cattle. The wish to capture the rest of the herds became so strong 
that it had to be Satisfied by a reconnaissance in force against the east 
front on the 16th May. General Komaroff advanced with the 16th 
Grenadiers, a battalion of volunteers of the 14th Grenadiers, the 
Daghestan Cavalry Brigade, 2 sotnias Alexandropol Irregulars, 1 sotnia 
of Karapakas, and 2 batteries against Forts Karadagh and Hafiz Pasha; 
the 14th Grenadiers, 17th Dragoons, and 2 batteries remained in the 
camp at Zaim, while both the Volga Cossack Regiments had gone into 
bivouac on the 10th May at Khalif Oghlu on the Alexandropol road, 
to keep open communications with Prince Tchavtchavatze in Vezinkoi. 
The three irregular sotnias tried to capture the herds, which were in 
the pastures between the forts, but were driven back on the Daghestan 
Brigade by two cavalry regiments which debouched from Fort Hafiz, 
on which several fruitless attacks were made by the brigade. At 2 p.m. 
eight battalions with artillery debouched from between the forts, and 
began to press back the Daghestan Brigade. At this time the Russian 
troops which had been left in the camp came up, marching to the 
sound of firing. The 14th Grenadiers, with its volunteer battalion, and 
both batteries were placed opposite Fort Karadagh, while the 17th 
Dragoon Regiment moved to the left flank to support the Daghestan 
Brigade. The above-mentioned movement was hardly completed, when, 
as unexpectedly as the troops from the camp, both the Volga Cossack 
Regiments came up at a gallop from Khalif Oghlu, and at once charged 
the Turkish cavalry, which withdrew into the intervals between the 
battalions. At 5 p.m. the action was broken off. The loss of the 
Daghestan Brigade and the irregulars was 81 men; the commander of 
the brigade, Major-General Prince Tschelokaieff, was, in the last 
moments of the battle, mortally wounded. 
On the 24th and 25th of May the troops detached to Ardahan returned 
to the camp of Zaim along with the battalions given over by General 
Devel. 
On the 25th May the Turks made a sortie to the south, directed 
against the Cossack Division in camp at Magharadjikh, but it was 
easily repulsed by the latter. By degrees it was ascertained that the 
Turks had retreated to the Soghanli Dagh, were entrenching them¬ 
selves there, and were sending troops southwards across the Araxes 
against the weak Erivan Column. To stop this, Loris-Melikoff moved 
with the entire Grenadier Division to Hadji Khali, 15 kils. from Kars, 
on the 29th May, and thence pushed Prince Tchavtchavatze forward 
with part of the Dragoon Division and the 2nd Daghestan Cavalry to 
Ardost, on the Kars Tchai. On the night from the 30th to the 31st the 
latter surprised 4000 Turkish cavalry, who had bivouacked without 
taking measures for their safety at the point (8 kils. west of Ardost) 
where the two roads which lead over the Soghanli Dagh separate. 
These were completely dispersed, and the 4th Squadron of the 16th 
Dragoons took 2 guns, 4 ammunition wagons, and 2 standards. The 
Russian loss was only 37 men, while the Turks left 83 dead. Loris- 
Melikoff now pushed forward part of his cavalry on the southern road 
towards Mezingerd, while he moved to Ardost with the 2nd Grenadier 
Brigade and thence sent detachments across the Kars Tchai to the 
