410 
THE WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND TURKEY. 
General Babitsch had arrived on the 24th with fresh troops, combined 
operations were begun against the town on the 28th, the result of which 
the garrison did not wait for, but embarked on the 81st August, taking 
with it 3000 emigrants. After the head-quarters of the insurrection 
had fallen into the hands of the Russians, from the beginning of 
September, the rebellion gradually died out in Abchasia. Besides the 
material damage and the emigration of the inhabitants—both of which 
the insurrection had caused in the district—Russian troops, to the 
strength of a whole division, were for four months withdrawn from the 
Army of Operations by it. 
The insurrection in the Terek and Daghestan districts, which extended 
over a far larger territory than Abchasia, could not be directly supported 
by the Turks, but the insurgent element in the country itself was much 
stronger than that on the coast of the Black Sea. It suffices to mention 
that single risings during the month of May in different places were 
promptly and powerfully suppressed, so that in both districts quiet 
appeared to be restored in June. When the reverses of the Army of 
Operations were known, rebellion broke out again, and in some places 
grew, till in August it had attained to some importance ; so that it 
required energetic efforts till the end of the month to repress it a 
little. Its progress and growth will be mentioned in the narrative of 
the Second Period of Operations. 
For the sake of continuity we have narrated the events in Abchasia 
and on the Caspian till the end of August— i.e., beyond the First Period 
of Operations ; this itself was closed by the retreat of all the Russian 
columns of operation to and over the border. Mukhtar Pasha was at 
the height of his success. He had first withdrawn in time before 
superior forces, and had not opposed their march, which was retarded 
by difficulties of supply and the bad state of the roads, till he was 
sufficiently strong, and then he used his numerical superiority to press 
his opponent back over the frontier, leaving him only the one unessential 
point, Ardahan, in his hands. With this, however, his activity was 
completely exhausted, for he neglected to take advantage of the bad 
state of the Russian army to assume the offensive energetically. The 
Caucasus army could then only, considering the state of affairs in 
the interior, remain on the defensive on the frontier and await 
reinforcements. 
