Section Six: The Siege Ends Through False Promises [May 1849]
By now the Prince and his captains were desperate. They could not fathom how this group of young students and aged teachers of religious studies and some old merchants could withstand the imperial forces. The siege had gone on for over four months and even the Sháh had grown impatient and was demanding an immediate resolution. The Prince knew something had to be changed. He got all his captains together and they deliberated for three days. They knew that the Bábís were exhausted with hunger and conditions in the fort were extremely bad. But they also now knew that the Bábís were unafraid to die in battle. One of the captains, in later years, described it like this:
But in truth I know not what had been shown to these people, or what they had seen, that they came forth to battle with such alacrity and joy, and engaged so eagerly and gladly in the strife, without displaying in their countenance any trace of fear or apprehension. … And the astonishing thing was that all these men were scholars and men of learning, sedentary recluses of the college and the cloister, delicately nurtured and of weakly frame, inured indeed to austerities, but strangers to the roar of cannon, the rattle of musketry, and the field of battle. During the last three months of the siege, moreover, they were absolutely without bread and water, and were reduced to the extreme of weakness through lack of even such pittance of food as is sufficient to sustain life. Notwithstanding this, it seemed as if in time of battle a new spirit were breathed into their frames, insomuch that the imagination of man cannot conceive the vehemence of their courage and valour. They used to expose their bodies to the bullets and cannon-balls not only fearlessly and courageously, but eagerly and joyously, seeming to regard the battle-field as a banquet, and to be bent on casting away their lives.69_ACT9
As the Prince and his captains discussed what to do, a messenger from the Sháh arrived demanding an immediate resolution of the situation. The decision was made to suspend all manner of attacks on the fort, as it was proving futile anyways, and instead to lure the Bábí’s out by making false promises.
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