„Kossuth követői…” Honvédtisztek a száműzött kormányzó kíséretében
“Followers of Kossuth…” Military Officers in the Exiled Governor’s Retinue

Summary/Abstract: After the Hungarian Revolution had been crushed by superior numbers from two sides, a group of former officers fleeing to Turkey in the Summer and Autumn of 1849 took on a unique assignment. They volunteered to the retinue of former Governor Lajos Kossuth, who had also been forced into exile, and accompanied him as guards and other personnel from his time in Vidin until he got his freedom in September 1851. The leaders of the Ottoman Empire, supported by France and Britain, refused Kossuth’s extradition to the Habsburgs, but they were forced to keep their now world-famous guest from re-entering the political stage in Europe. Therefore Kossuth had become an “involuntary guest”, essentially a prisoner in the city of Kütahya in Western Anatolia. His hosts tried to mitigate the insulting nature of this situation by letting him keep certain formal aspects of his status as governor, most importantly by letting him have a retinue. This group formed as a volunteer squadron of officers in the Autumn of 1849 to undertake the tasks necessary to preserve the life and working circumstances of Kossuth, who was still considered a head of state. They were also responsible for the fact that while there were rumors of planned assassinations against the governor, no such attempt actually took place. Several interesting details of the service of these officers can be found in their journals and correspondence. Luckily we can also remember the faces of “Kossuth’s followers”, since their portraits made by American painter Walter Gould in June 1851 can be seen to this day.

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