IOR/L/PS/9/71/47

Copy of dispatch No. 66 from the East India Company Envoy to Persia [Iran], Lieutenant-Colonel John Macdonald Kinneir, in camp at Sooraab [Sirab?], to the Chief Secretary to the Government of India, George Swinton, of 22 September 1827. The letter concerns the recent Persian victory over Russia in a battle near Eutchkilisea [an Armenian religious site, possibly at present-day Vagharshapat] during the ongoing war between Russia and Persia [Russo-Persian War, 1826-1828], reporting the capture of Russian prisoners, including a number of officers. Letters concerning the battle were also originally enclosed (now catalogued as IOR/L/PS/9/71/48-49). Macdonald Kinneir gives an account of the fighting, as related by Russian officers, during which the Persian forces were led by Prince Abbas Meerza [Crown Prince of Persia, ʿAbbās Mīrzā Qājār] and the Sirdar of Erivan [Sardar of Iravan or Yerevan, Ḥusayn Qulī Khān Qājār], including the events of the battle, the performance of Abbas Meerza’s troops, and the casualties sustained by the Russians. Macdonald Kinneir also comments on the Persian practice of decapitating prisoners, which Abbas Meerza is attempting to put a stop to, and also gives details about the composition of the Persian artillery which took part in the battle.

This document was originally enclosed in Macdonald Kinneir’s letter to the Secret Committee of the East India Company of 22 September 1827 (IOR/L/PS/9/71/50).