A tribute to Markos Bozzaris

[Ptolemy]

Decree of the Greek government to honour the memory of Mark Bozzaris,
Provisional Government of Greece,
The President of the Executive Body decrees

BLESSED shade of the immortal General Mark Bozzaris !
Mayest thou hover over all the Hellenic assemblies, beholding the joy painted in our looks, and hearing the benedictions poured on thy illustrious name, which acts upon os like a talisman ; may thy memory be eternal!
Beloved Greeks ! Lo ! another Leonidas figures in your history!
The first of the name with 300 companions faced the universe, and, resolving to die in obedience to the laws of Sparta, fell in the night upon myriads of foes.
Our modern one, in concert with General Karaiskaki, and 800 brave soldiers, having patriotism for their law, and being determined to conquer, charged sword in hand, and vanquished 10,000 men.
Eight hundred Turks, and among others Pliassa Pasha, lay dead, and Jeladin Bey was wounded ; few of our heroes fell a sacrifice for their faith and country.
In this glorious battle died the immortal General Bozzaris, and went to the regions of eternity to darken by the rays of his exploits the lustre of former heroes. The good Souliotes have elected for their chief his brother Constantine, and were preparing again to attack the foe.
Such are the news the government has just received from Western Greece. Beloved Hellenes !
behold how Heaven assists us against the enemy of Christianity ! how a handful of patriots destroyed his innumerable army, how the cross and patriotism triumph ! God demands from you patriotism alone, and will never abandon you fighting for his cause.
Shake off then lethargy, arm yourselves, and hasten to the field of Mars to gather crowns of laurel as the reward of your valour.
To arms, Greeks ! To battle, Christians! Imitate Bozzaris and his companions !
Let us fight, and we are sure to return victorious.

(signed) The president Petros Mavromikhalis,

Dated Salamis, August 19. 1823

"History of the Greek Revolution: and of the wars and campaigns arising from the struggles of the Greek Patriots in amancipating their country from the turkish yoke" By Thomas Gordon, page 42

38. MARCO BOZZARIS, THE EPAMINONDAS OF MODERN
GREECE. by the American poet Fitz-Greene Hatteck.
-
His last words were— “ To die for liberty la a pleasure and not a pain."
At midnight, in his guarded tent,
The Turk was dreaming of the hour, When Greece, her knee in suppliance bent,
Should tremble at his power. In dreams through camp and court, he bore The trophies of a conqueror;
In dreams his song of triumph heard; Then wore his monarch's signet ring, Then pressed that monarch's throne—a king; As wild his thoughts, and gray of wing,
As Eden's garden bird.
An hour passed on—the Turk awoke; That bright dream was his last
He woke—to hear his sentry's shriek, "To arms! they come! the Greek! the Greek!" He woke—to die midst flame and smoke, And shoot, and groan, and sabre stroke,
And death-shots falling thick and fast As lightnings from the mountain cloud; And heard, with voice as trumpet loud,
Bozzaris cheer his bend:— " Strike—till the last armed foe expires, Strike—for your altars and your fires. Strike—for the green graves of your sires,
God—and your native land !"
They fought—like brave men, long and well,
They piled that ground with Moslem slain ; They conquered—but Bozzaris fell,
Bleeding at every vein. His few surviving comrades saw His smile when rang their proud hurrah,
And the red field was won; Then saw in death his eyelids close Calmly, as to a night's repose,
Like flowers at set of sun.
Come to the bridal chamber, death!
Come to the mother when she feels For the first time her firstborn's breath;—
Come when the blessed seals Which close the pestilence are broke, And crowded cities wail its stroke; Come in consumption's ghastly form, The earthquake shock, the ocean storm ;— Come when the heart beats high and warm,
With banquet-song, and dance, and wine, And thou art terrible: the tear, The groan, the knell, the pall, the bier, And all we know, or dream, or fear
Of agony, are thine.
But to the hero, when his sword
Has won the battle for the free, Thy voice sounds like a prophet's word, And in its hollow tones are heard
The thanks of millions yet to be. Bozzaris! with the storied brave Greece nurtured in her glory’s time
Rest thee-there is no prouder grave,
Even in her own proud clime.
We tell thy doom without a sigh;
For thou art freedom’s now, and fame’s
One of the few, the immortal names,
That were not born to die.

The United States Speaker... By John Epy Lovell, page 316 published in 1844

The name of Marco Bozzaris though never mentioned but with profound gratitude by the Greeks, in not so much in the mouths of the people, as a stranger would expect. This is to be accounted for by the fact that, cut off in the midst of his course, his influence upon the issue of the Revolution was unimportant, save in a moral point of view, as he afforded a glorious example to HIS countrymen.

"Modern Greece: a narrative of a residence and travels in that country.." By Henry Martyn Baird, page 369, published 1856

That the Greek marine is hampered and persecuted by some admirals, who pay no attention to the neutrality which their courts proclaimed at Laybach and Verona; That Christians, armed in favour of the Koran against the disciples of the gospel, instruct and lead on the barbarous hordes which devastate the land of Cymon, Leonidas and Bozzaris; That the free government of Great Britan is the only one that has observed a strict neutrality, but that its neutrality no longer suffices to guard the Greeks from unjust and increasing persecution.

"History of the Greek Revolution: and of the wars and campaigns arising from the struggles of the Greek Patriots in amancipating their country from the turkish yoke" By Thomas Gordon, page 283

Marco Bozzaris was a leader of the Greeks in the late revolutionary war: he was killed in the assault of a Turkish camp.

The book of recitations, page 90 by charles william smith

Marco Bozzaris was a hero of the Greek war for independence.; he gained fame for the defense of Missolonghi against the Turks and was killed in action in 1823.

American literary autographs from Washington Irving to Henry James By Herbert Cahoon, Thomas V. Lange, Charles Ryskamp, Pierpont Morgan Library, page 13