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Journalist MacGahan's coverage of Bulgaria
About the book "American Witness" - a publication of Januarius MacGahan's coverage of the crushing of the April Uprising of the Bulgarians by the Ottoman Empire in 1876.

St. Nedelya church in Batak The name of the small southern town of Batak will forever be associated with the April Uprising of 1876, one of the most heroic events in Bulgarian history, and a peak in the liberation struggle of the Bulgarians against the five centuries of Ottoman domination.

The residents of Batak first fought the Turkish mercenaries on April 30, 1876. 5 000 people of the 6-7 000 population of Batak had been slaughtered in the massacre. The small church of Sveta Nedelya, built in the centre of the town has become a relic for every Bulgarian. What happened here 130 years ago has made the church into one of the symbols of April Uprising. Says Ekaterina Peychinova, Director of the Museum of History in Batak:

"The Sveta Nedelya church was built in 1813, many years before the Christian population was granted greater freedoms to erect new Christian temples. Legend has it that Batak residents had finally got permission to build a small church. The Ottoman administration placed the condition that they do it in 3 months, because he was certain they would fail. However, the residents of Batak put all their efforts to this task and managed to finish the church in 75 days. And yet, the historical importance of this monument stems from the events that unfolded here during the April Uprising of 1876."

The Church of Sveta Nedelya turned out to be the last stronghold of the rebels. Probably because it was built entirely of stone, and had strong oak gates, and a high stone fence, or because no one would have dreamt that the Turks would dare destroy the temple. Nearly 2 000 people, women, children and elderly people gathered inside the church. Says Ekaterina Peychinova:

"For three days and three nights the people inside the church held together, and the shooting outside did not stop for a minute. The attackers through beehives and set fire to straw, but the rebels would not give in. Then they began to suffocate and most of the people died of asphyxia. Thirst was the biggest problem for everyone, because there was no water near the church. The mothers used the oil from the icons to moisten the lips of their babies, and when there was no more oil, they used the blood of the dead. An elderly man said they should start digging the earth in search of underground water, but the spring of 1876 had turned a dry one and their attempts failed. At the end of the third day they caved in and opened the gates of the church. But then they had only two options: either become Muslims or die. Every single one of them chose death."

The Ottoman troops had made an attempt to burn the church down, but failed completely because the church had been built entirely out of stone. Only the wooden iconostasis perished in the fire. The Turkish authorities even tried to erase every trace of violence because of the news of the international inquiry committee that was due to carry out an investigation at the idea of the Russian government. They tried to bury the corpses in one mass grave, and even painted the church on the inside, but the blood came out, and the Turks started caving out the walls. These have remained as evidence of the events of the spring of 1876.

Photos: courtesy of the Museum of History in Batak
After the Liberation in 1878, the church was no longer used for religious purposes. The residents of Batak decided to keep it as a monument to the victims of the April Uprising of 1876. In 1955 the church in Batak was declared a state museum and soon became one of the most frequently visited historical landmarks in Bulgaria. The local people like to say that the small church that fails to impress with its architecture, and that 'one has to bow to enter' becomes 'the great church of Bulgaria that one exits with one's head high up."

During his short life of only 34 years, US journalist MacGahan turned into one of the most prominent military correspondents of the 19th century. He covered Russia's penetration into Central Asia, the search for Franklin's lost expedition in Antarctica, the French Prussian and the Russo-Turkish wars. As it is known, the Russo-Turkish war partly a result of the Turkish atrocities in the crushing of the April Uprising in Bulgaria. MacGahan's dispatches spread the truth about the inhuman cruelty of the Turks all over the world. Archibald Forbes, the great English writer and correspondent, who rode by his side, in an article on MacGahan pays this tribute to his great services:

"MacGahan's work in the exposures of the Turkish atrocities in Bulgaria, which he carried out so thoroughly and effectively in 1876, produced very remarkable results. Regarded simply on its literary merits, there is nothing I know of to excel it in vividness, in pathos, in a burning earnestness, in a glow of conviction that fires from the heart to the heart. His letters stirred Mr. Gladstone into a convulsive paroxysm of burning revolt against the barbarities they described. They moved England to its very depths, and men travelling in railway carriages were to be noticed with flushed faces and moistened eyes as they read them. Lord Beaconsfield tried to whistle down the wind the awful significance of the disclosures made in those wonderful letters. The master of jeers jibed at as 'coffee-house babble,' the revelations that were making the nations to throb with indignant passion."

Januarius MacGahan's notes caused an outcry and were published in all big newspapers in the United Kingdom, France and the US, and later on in Russia as well.

After the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78, which resulted in Bulgaria's liberation, this country's big statesman Stefan Stambolov translated them into Bulgarian and published them in 1880.

In 1997, Bulgarian historian Teodor Dimitrov, who lives in Geneva, published the second edition of the notes, adding biographical data about MacGahan. So "American Witness" is the notes' third edition in this country. Macgahan's dispatches for British "Daily News" won the Bulgarians the support of personalities like Oscar Wilde and Charles Darwin, Victor Hugo and Dostoyevski. Said Luko Zahariev from "Strelets" publishing house:

"Obviously MacGahan was an exceptionally brave man to oppose two big empires simultaneously, the Ottoman and the British. The first defended the murderers and the second did not want to have the status quo in the Balkans changed. This is how MacGahan happened to challenge directly Britain's Prime Minister at that time, Disraeli. Here is what he wrote about him: "In Mr. Disraeli's view, the big crime is not in the murdering of thousands and thousands of innocent people, but in the fact that the newspapers wrote that 30,000 were killed, when the real number was "only" 25,000. The insulting mistake consisted not in the fact that thousands of young children have been slaughtered, but in writing that their number was 1,000 when actually they were 999!" MacGahan indeed used devastating irony to defend justice and truth. In my opinion, he is one of the great spirits of the 19th century, Luko Zahariev contends. It is not incidentally then, that in 1976, when commemorating the 100th anniversary of the April Uprising, the citizens of Batak placed his statue in the centre of their town," Luko Zahariev said in conclusion.

During the Russo-Turkish war, MacGahan visited Bulgaria again and everywhere he was hailed as a liberator and deliverer; the grateful people ran after him as he rode through the streets of the towns and villages of this country, kissing his boots, saddle, bridle, and even the little pet horse that he rode. Archibald Forbes, MacGahan's companion in his travels says the grateful and affectionate demonstrations of the people of Bulgaria towards MacGahan, surpassed anything of the kind he ever saw or imagined.

Shortly after the Russo-Turkish war, MacGahan died of typhus in Istanbul. Later his body was taken to the cemetery of Maplewood in New Lexington, Ohio. The inscription on his tombstone reads: "MacGahan, Liberator of Bulgaria".