"In 1878 Tekme Sardar, a Turcoman chief, submitted to the Russians, and was received into their camp at Krasnovodsk. He remained there several months, and then, for some real or fancied injury, fled from the camp, and collected his followers with the determination to make war on the invaders. At a place called Geok Tepé he formed a junction with other chiefs, and established a camp.
"Tekme Sardar had made good use of his eyes during his stay among us. He showed his people how to build forts. About forty thousand Turcomans, with their families, collected at Geok Tepé, and threw up an immense earthwork exactly like the defences built by the Russians. General Lomakin advanced against this earthwork in 1879, and after a series of skirmishes outside the walls he attacked the Turcomans in their stronghold, and was severely repulsed. He retired to the shores of the Caspian, and thus ended the campaign for that year.
CHARGE OF RUSSIAN CAVALRY AGAINST TURCOMANS.
"General Skobeleff was then appointed to the command of the Turcoman district, and the Government told him he could have anything he wanted in men or munitions of war.
"The Government had a hundred miles of railway material somewhere on its south-western frontier, which was intended for use in case of the failure of the Berlin Congress. Skobeleff asked for this material, and it was at once transferred to the Caspian. He changed the base of operations from Krasnovodsk to Mikhailovsk, and at once began the construction of the line. The whole movement was made so quietly that hardly anything was known of the work until the track had been laid about half-way to Kizil Arvat, one hundred and forty-four miles from Mikhailovsk.
"Skobeleff could not wait for the completion of the railway. While the road was being constructed he pushed forward to Bami, a strong point in the Akhal oasis, where he built a fort, and gradually collected the materials for the siege of Geok Tepé. When everything was in readiness he advanced and began the siege, which lasted fully a month.
"Perhaps the following figures will interest you: The Russians were between eight and ten thousand strong, of all arms, infantry, cavalry, and artillery. The artillery comprised sixty-nine guns, while the Turcomans had no cannon to oppose them with. When the siege began, Skobeleff found that his cannon made little impression upon the clay walls of the fort, so he ordered his artillery to fire over the walls and into the enclosed space, in order to demoralize the people within as much as possible. In fighting against Asiatics, artillery always has a prominent part. Its moral effect in frightening them is certainly ten times as great as its destructive power.