Valentine Bakers Heroic Stand at Tashkessen 1877
In memory of my grandfather, Orland Dale King (19382016)
Valentine Bakers Heroic Stand at Tashkessen 1877
A Tarnished British Soldiers Glorious Victory
Frank Jastrzembski
First published in Great Britain in 2017 by
Pen & Sword Military
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
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Barnsley
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Copyright Frank Jastrzembski, 2017
ISBN 978 1 47386 680 5
eISBN 978 1 47386 682 9
Mobi ISBN 978 1 47386 681 2
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Acknowledgements
I am first and foremost in eternal gratitude to Valentine Baker, who without his hardships and exile, this book would have never occurred. I am also indebted to the Ottoman, Russian, Romanian, and Bulgarian soldiers of the Russo-Turkish War whose names are forgotten to history, but will live on in immortality.
Without the individuals listed below, this book would have only been an afterthought, lost forever in the barren wasteland of ideas that never came to fruition.
First to my wife Asha, for never giving up on me, and for the countless hours of support when negativity threatened to get the best of me. Ever since thrusting herself into my life, she has helped me to mature and to eradicate a large portion of my self-doubt. She inspired me to further my studies by completing graduate school, and encouraged me to write. She will continue to inspire me to do great things. I will love you always.
To all of my family members and friends for their endless support. To my grandparents for the persistent support they provide for pursuing my dreams. Thanks to my father for passing down his appetite for history and for providing me with a plethora of history books beginning at a young age. To my mother for appreciating all of my work, regardless of how significant or insignificant it may be.
Dan Zawacki, for tweaking and fine tuning my countless drafts, and his excellent advice over the last couple of years. Thanks for giving me the confidence to write. Pen and Sword Books for giving me the opportunity to produce this book, and to my excellent commissioning editor Linne Matthews, who put faith in me to tell Bakers story. The excellent illustrations provided by Zsuzsi Hajdu.
The authors Bruce Catton, Byron Farwell, and Joseph Lehmann, all three who are no longer with us, but who have influenced me by their literary styles. The Victorian Military Society for keeping the memory of the soldiers of the Victorian era alive through their quarterly publication, Soldiers of the Queen .
To all those institutions and individuals in the United States, Great Britain, and Bulgaria for their assistance along the way contributing to the completion of this book, including, but not limited to: the Panorama Pleven, the National Park Museum Shipka-Buzludzha, the US Army War College Library and Archives, and the Combined Arms Research Library (CARL). To my friend, Yakup nien, for locating information related to Bakers role in Armenia during the 1880s, and to Alexander Schweig of the University of Arizona, for translating this material from Turkish into English.
I would also like to give a special thanks to all of the faculty members of my respective universities who over the years have shaped me as a scholar, listed in no specific order. My hope is that I created something that they deem worthy of the labour they put into my education:
John Carroll University: Dr George Vourlojianis, Dr James Krukones, Dr Anne Kugler, Dr David Robson, and Dr Maria Marsilli.
Cleveland State University: Dr Stephen Cory, Dr Thomas J. Humphrey, Dr Jos O. Sol, and Dr J. Mark Souther.
Book jacket illustrations
The Inglese Pasha, also known as Baker Pasha.
Illustration by Zsuzsanna Hajdu ( www.facebook.com/zsuzsihajduarts ).
All other illustrations on the jacket were reproduced from Edmund Ollier, Cassells Illustrated History of the Russo-Turkish War , 2 vols, Cassell, Petter & Galpin, London, 1879.
Introduction
It is all very well now to sing paeons over the grave where General Valentine Baker has been buried. He recks not of any war-trumpet that may be busy with his name or fame. The poet may sing of his sorrowful and tempestuous life, and the novelist may make of him a hero to adorn many a tale and romance; but he is past all heeding now he has crossed over the river to rest, it may be, with another soldier under the shades of the trees.
An excerpt by John N. Edwards from Poor Valentine Baker,
in the Kansas City Times , 6 January 1888.
H istory has not been sympathetic to Colonel Valentine Baker, remembering him for his checkered past, rather than his remarkable persona. The small number of scholars and military history enthusiasts that would recognize Bakers name would immediately attach it to one of the most notorious scandals of nineteenth-century Victorian Britain. His name next surfaces as a soldier-of-fortune serving in Egypt during the 1880s, where he had the unfortunate fate of leading an Egyptian column to a crushing defeat in the Sudan at the Battle of El Teb on 5 February 1884. The role he played during the Russo-Turkish War of 187778, situated between these two discreditable events, is rarely ever mentioned in much detail.
Finalizing his twelve-month prison sentence after the scandal that led to his dismissal from the army in 1875, Baker packed his luggage, loaded his wife and two daughters aboard a steamer, and left Britain for Constantinople. His old friend from the 10th Hussars, the Prince of Wales (Edward VII), offered him a chance for redemption. He furnished Baker with an appointment as a major general in the Ottoman Army to organize and train the Ottoman gendarmerie, which led to his subsequent service in the war that erupted in April 1877 between the Russians and Ottomans. Shrouded in ignominy is the exhilarating tale of Bakers pivotal role in this conflict. This book is the telling of the long-forgotten saga of Valentine Bakers role in this war, and his perpetual search for redemption in the wake of his dismissal.
