In February 1915, missionary Clarence Ussher, who was stationed in the American hospital in Van, relates in his memoir An American Physician in Turkey: A Narrative of Adventures in Peace and War, that the "strong and liberal-minded"[13] governor or vali of the province was replaced with Cevdet Bey,[lower-alpha 1] brother-in-law of the Turkish Commander-in-Chief, Enver Pasha. The new vali was unable to travel to Van until late March, when he arrived "accompanied by several thousand soldiers and Kurdish and Circassian irregulars".[14]