THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE 1821 TO 1833 BY W.ALISON PHILLIPS 1897

EXPLOIT OF MARKO BOTZAEES 127
sos. The Seraskier himself crossed over into Euboea;
and, as Odysseus took no measures to prevent it,
he was
able to drive the Greeks out of the northern half of
the island.
The Ottoman plan of campaign
Hellas was, however, shattered.
in East
For the invasion of West Hellas, meanwhile,
Mustai Pasha had assembled at Ochrida an army consisting
entirely of Albanian tribesmen.
Of these five
thousand were Mussulman Ghegs, and three thousand
Roman Catholic Miridits, whose hatred of the Orthodox
Greeks had made them the close allies of the Mohammedans.
As usual, the Greeks, occupied with
their own quarrels, had neglected to guard the passes;
and the army of Mustai advanced as far as Karpenisi
without encountering any serious opposition.
Here,
however, it met with a disaster which constituted for
the Greeks one of the most brilliant
war.
On the night of the 21st of August,
exploits of the
Marko Botzares,
the Suliot hero, with three hundred and fifty of
his clansmen, surprised the camp of Djelaledclin Bey,
who commanded the Ottoman vanguard. Four thousand
Mussulman Ghegs and Catholic Miridits were in
the camp ;
but so complete was the surprise
that little
opposition was offered when, slaying and plundering,
the Suliots rushed among their panic-striken enemies.