American Philhellenes, Protestant Missionaries and the “Orphans” of the 1821 Hellenic War of Independence: The Case of Christodoulos Evangelides

Abstract

The declaration of the Greek War of Independence and emancipation from the long Turkish enslavement was heralded by enthusiasts, romantics, abolitionists and philhellenists in both Europe and the United States of America. Eventually, most of them assumed the role of philhellenes, and contributed to the success of the Greek cause either by their actual presence, or by their fund raising campaign, or by the personal influence they exercised on hesitant American governments. American Philhellenism took many forms, one of which was that of the protestant denominational committee support whose endowment, although open to interpretation, contributed significantly to both the civilians’ relief and to the development of the Greek educational system. The particular paper discusses the role the American Protestant missionaries played within this wider atmosphere of support and their Greek “orphans” project pertaining to several boys being taken by American missionaries back to their homeland to be given a new home, education and job opportunities either in the United States or in Greece. In my discussion of the American Protestant contribution to the Greek War of Independence in 1821, I have chosen to discuss Christodoulos Evangelides’ American experience as he is one of the very few “orphans” who left a diary behind shedding light to the conditions of the particular project.