Battle of the Lerna Mills

The Battle of the Lerna Mills was fought on June 24, 1825 in Lerna, Greece between the Egyptian forces of Ibrahim Pasha and Greek forces led by Captain Yannis Makriyannis, Demetrios Ypsilantis, Andreas Metaxas and Konstantinos Mavromichalis.[6] It was the first Greek success against Ibrahim and saved the city of Nafplion, seat of the government, from capture.

Before the conflict

After the Greek army (led by Theodoros Kolokotronis) fled to Karitena, Ibrahim's forces captured Tripolitsa, which was completely abandoned. Immediately afterwards, Ibrahim sent 5,000 soldiers to the plains of Argos in order to seize Nafplion. When Ibrahim's forces reached the Mills of Lerna on June 24, Captain Makrygiannis and Minister of War Metaxas organized a resistance force containing 350 Greek soldiers.[7] General Demetrios Ypsilantis, Konstantinos Mavromichalis, Panagiotis Rodios and several philhellenes (such as François Graillard and Heinrich Treiber) volunteered in the defense of the garrison.[8]

The position was weak and they were very few compared to Ibrahim's army. Thus many were eager to leave using their horses or by fish boats but Makriyannis made sure all horses and fish boats were gone in secret. This made everybody more resolute in defending the position and they started digging trenches. Admiral De Rigny watched from aboard the helplessness of the Greeks and advised Makriyannis against defending the position but Makriyannis ignored him by saying:

"They are many indeed but we few have decided to die and have God on our side... And when the few decide to die, most times win... And if we die today we will die for our country and our religion and this death is a good one". "Tres bien" replied De Rigny.[9]
Battle

The battle began at June 24th 1825. Protecting Lerna was vital since the mills contained large quantities of grain that supplied food to Nafplion. The mills of Lerna were surrounded by a stone wall that was flanked by a deep pond and a marsh. Moreover, the garrison was supported by two gunboats that were anchored a short distance (or "musket-shot distance") from the shore. Unfortunately, the Greeks did not repair a small break in the stone wall. As a result, a small contingent of Arabs exploited this weakness in the defensive structure and attempted to create an entrance by increasing the size of the break. When the Arabs forced themselves through the break, they were prevented from regrouping once they entered the courtyard. Thirteen Arabs were killed by a charge of Greeks and philhellenes led by Makrygiannis. Ultimately, the remaining Arabs in the overall contingent were forced to flee. The Greeks, afterwards, attempted to fill in the gap in the stone wall. Same time, 50 warriors under the command of Mitros Liakopoulos arrived at the battle to help the defenders.[10] Despite the constant reinforcements he received, Ibrahim was aware of the fact that the Greeks were prepared to staunchly defend the Lerna Mills and he eventually retreated to the plains of Argos. From there, Ibrahim took his army to Tripolitsa on June 29, 1825.[6] The Egyptian casualties, according to Sp. Trikoupis, reached 50 dead men.

As long as the Egyptian forces were repelled successfully, some French naval officers came ashore and congratulate Makriyannis. He was indeed that day the heart of the defenders in Myloi and he was eager to help wherever there was need. Thus he was shot in the right hand from musket fire but kept it secret until the end of the battle. He claims he was recognized by some of Ibrahim's shooters that remembered him from Neokastro.[11] He was taken to the French frigate of Admiral De Rigny to be treated afterwards.[12]
See also

List of battles

References

Finlay George, History of the Greek Revolution, volume II, page 78-79
Paparigopoulos, K, History of the Greek Nation (Greek edition), vol. 6, p.165
According to Makriyannis
According to Makriyannis
According to Spyridon Trikoupis
Finlay, pp. 78–79.
Paparigopoulos, K, History of the Greek Nation (Greek edition), vol. 6, p. 62
Finlay, p. 78-79
According to Makriyannis' Memoirs
According to Makriyannis
According to Makriyannis

According to Makriyannis

Sources

Finlay, George. History of the Greek Revolution. Blackwood and Sons, 1861 (Harvard University).
Phillips, Walter Alison. The War of Greek Independence, 1821 to 1833. Smith, Elder and Company, 1897 (University of Michigan).
Makriyannis, Memoirs, IX Archived 2 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
Paparigopoulos, K, History of the Greek Nation (Greek edition), vol. 6, p. 164-165

Further reading

General Makriyannis, Ἀπομνημονεύματα (Memoirs), Athens: 1907 (preface by Yannis Vlahogiannis; in Greek).

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Greek War of Independence (1821–1829)
Background
Ottoman Greece
People

Armatoloi Proestoi Klephts Dionysius the Philosopher Daskalogiannis Panagiotis Benakis Konstantinos Kolokotronis Lambros Katsonis Cosmas of Aetolia Ali Pasha Maniots Phanariots Souliotes Gregory V of Constantinople

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Kalamata Wallachian uprising Alamana Gravia Valtetsi Doliana Lalas Vasilika Dragashani Sculeni Vasilika Trench Peta Dervenakia Karpenisi Greek civil wars Sphacteria Maniaki Lerna Mills Mani Distomo Arachova Kamatero Phaleron Chios expedition Martino Koronisia Petra

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Related

Greek expedition to Syria (1825) Russo-Turkish War (1828-29)

Personalities
Greece

Chian Committee Odysseas Androutsos Anagnostaras Markos Botsaris Laskarina Bouboulina Constantin Denis Bourbaki Hatzimichalis Dalianis Kanellos Deligiannis Athanasios Diakos Germanos III of Old Patras Dimitrios Kallergis Athanasios Kanakaris Constantine Kanaris Ioannis Kapodistrias Stamatios Kapsas Panagiotis Karatzas Georgios Karaiskakis Nikolaos Kasomoulis Ioannis Kolettis Theodoros Kolokotronis Georgios Kountouriotis Antonios Kriezis Nikolaos Kriezotis Kyprianos of Cyprus Georgios Lassanis Lykourgos Logothetis Andreas Londos Yannis Makriyannis Manto Mavrogenous Alexandros Mavrokordatos Petrobey Mavromichalis Andreas Metaxas Andreas Miaoulis Theodoros Negris Nikitaras Antonis Oikonomou Ioannis Orlandos Papaflessas Dimitrios Papanikolis Emmanouel Pappas Christoforos Perraivos Nikolaos Petimezas Panagiotis Rodios Georgios Sachtouris Georgios Sisinis Iakovos Tombazis Anastasios Tsamados Meletis Vasileiou Demetrios Ypsilantis

Philhellenes

António Figueira d'Almeida Michail Komninos Afentoulief Joseph Balestra Lord Byron François-René de Chateaubriand Richard Church Giuseppe Chiappe Lord Cochrane Vincenzo Gallina Charles Fabvier Thomas Gordon Frank Abney Hastings Carl von Heideck Vasos Mavrovouniotis Johann Jakob Meyer
Ellinika Chronika Karl Normann Maxime Raybaud Giuseppe Rosaroll Santorre di Santa Rosa Friedrich Thiersch Auguste Hilarion Touret German Legion [el] Serbs Olivier Voutier

Moldavia and Wallachia
(Danubian Principalities)

Alexander Ypsilantis Sacred Band Nikolaos Ypsilantis Alexandros Kantakouzinos Georgios Kantakouzinos Athanasios Agrafiotis Giorgakis Olympios Yiannis Pharmakis Dimitrie Macedonski Tudor Vladimirescu Konstantinos Xenokratis Anastasios Manakis Stamatios Kleanthis

Ottoman Empire, Algeria, and Egypt

Sultan Mahmud II Hurshid Pasha Nasuhzade Ali Pasha Ismael Gibraltar Omer Vrioni Kara Mehmet Mahmud Dramali Pasha Koca Hüsrev Mehmed Pasha Reşid Mehmed Pasha Yussuf Pasha Ibrahim Pasha Soliman Pasha al-Faransawi

Britain, France and Russia

George Canning Stratford Canning Edward Codrington Henri de Rigny Lodewijk van Heiden Alexander I of Russia Nicholas I of Russia

Financial aid

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Morea expedition
Military

Nicolas Joseph Maison Antoine Simon Durrieu Antoine Virgile Schneider Auguste Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély Camille Alphonse Trézel

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Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent Léon-Jean-Joseph Dubois Pierre Peytier Stamatis Voulgaris Guillaume-Abel Blouet Gabriel Bibron Prosper Baccuet Eugène Emmanuel Amaury Duval Pierre-Narcisse Guérin Charles Lenormant Edgar Quinet

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Dimitrios Ainian Fotis Chrysanthopoulos Ioannis Filimon George Finlay Ambrosios Frantzis Konstantinos Metaxas Panoutsos Notaras Panagiotis Papatsonis Anastasios Polyzoidis Georgios Tertsetis Spyridon Trikoupis

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