Page:Historyofpersiaf00watsrich.djvu/249

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ABBASSABAD TAKEN BY PASKIEWITCH.
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horse carrying two men. The Persian guns opened on this body so soon as it had formed on the right bank of the Araxes. The Russians thereupon, finding the ford impassable, threw ropes from one bank to the other higher up the stream, in order to prevent their men from being swept away by the current, and by these means they transported three thousand infantry to the right bank. Hassan Khan was unable to interrupt this movement, and as his men and their horses were exhausted with fatigue, he sent a message to Abbass Meerza requesting that the Asef-ed-Dowleh might be ordered to attack with his cavalry the half-formed battalions of the enemy. This suggestion was not complied with, but on the other hand the Russians turned their guns upon the Persian horse, as they stood crowded together in a ravine, and drove them in confusion from the field. The troops under the immediate command of the crown-prince were withdrawn in good order, and those of Hassan Khan held their ground, whilst the Russians recrossed to the left bank of the Araxes. But the flight of the troops of the Asef-ed-Dowleh afforded to the base chief of the tribe of Kangerloo the opportunity which he waited for, of delivering up Abbassabad to the foe. The garrison for the most part made terms with General Paskiewitch, with the exception of a regiment of Bakhtiari that crossed to the right of the stream before the fall of the fort. But no sufficient attempt was made to follow up this success, and the Russian commander-in-chief, after having left a suitable force in Abbassabad, retired by Nakhtchivan to the frontier with the intention of allowing to his troops some time for repose. It may have been necessary for General Paskiewitch to spare his