Apart from the Naval War and the Crimean theater, the most important theater of secondary operations against Russian was in Asia Minor. From Batuni on the Black Sea to Ararat on the Persian border there were 150 miles of Turkish frontier with Russia. The main town in the region of what was then called Turkish Armenia was centered around the ancient fortress of Kars, eighty miles south-east of Batumi and approximately the same distance south-west of Tiflis.
In the Summer of 1854, the Russian army moved into Turkish Armenia, and on July 29th, attacked a Turkish division in front of Kars at Bayezid. The Turks lost the battle and were driven back. The Turkish commander at Kars attacked the Russians in August with an army of 33,000 infantry, 8,500 cavalry and 52 guns and met with a Russian army of 20,000 foot, 5,000 cossacks, 18,000 irregulars and 60 guns. The Turkish were defeated, mainly to the conflicting advice being given to the Turkish commander by his foreign advisors and fell back on Kars again. The Russians again failed to follow up on their victory, and at this point Colonel Fenwick Williams was sent to Kars as Lord Raglan's liaison officer to Zarif Pasha, the Turkish commander. Williams knew Kars well having spent several years with the Turkish army previously. He was accompanied by Major Teasdale as aide-de-camp, and also Dr. Sandwith who had been appointed Inspector General of Hospitals in Asia Minor. Williams was to report on the organization and condition of the Turkish Army in Armenia, and furthermore to establish good relations with any French military mission which might be sent to the area.
Williams arrived in September 1854 and was met by General Guyon, an
Irishman who was serving in the Ottoman Army. Guyon told Williams of the
Turks appalling inefficiency and disastrously low state of morale in Kars.
Accordingly Williams took over himself. He struggled for months to improve
the towns defenses, requisitioned grain and supplies from the surrounding
area and settled down to withstand a Russian siege. The Siege dragged on
from June 1855 to November the same year. Williams failed to get relief
and reinforcements from the Crimea and eventually the half-starved garrison
at Kars was forced to capitulate on November 25th, despite the
Turks resolute defiance led and inspired by Colonel Williams.