Kemény János: Baja mezőváros szerepe az 1848–1849. évi szabadságharcban 2. - Forrásközlemények 11. (Kecskemét, 2008)

Summary

SUMMARY The military importance of Baja with its 15 000 inhabitants cannot be compared with Arad, Temesvár, Pétervárad, Eszék, Szeged, etc. as in Baja there were no castles, no important fortresses or there were no big battles near the town. On the contrary, as a revolutionary town it was one of BácsBodrog county's base of reserves and because of its good location it had an important role in other fields, too. The town was comparatively far from the South seat of war but in case of any troubles it was within easy reach and it was a shelter, as well. However, it was not only a meeting point for the refugees. 18th October 1848 Henrik Hentzi's adharant officers of Emperor retreated to Baja after Hentzi's removal from his position and earl Sándor Esterházy general and his officers did the same. What made Baja more interesting that it was located between the Hungarian and the Serbian military operational points and it was considered as a basic point of departure by both nations. Last but not least it was substantial in the Serbians' political efforts because they would have liked the borders of the country to reach the line of Maros-Szeged-SzabadkaBaja. In those days Baja was not only smaller than nowadays but its surrounding was totally different. In 1848-1849 Baja consisted of three independent settlements. One of them, Baja, a prairie town with a patent low and the other one, Istvánmegye belonged to Bács-Bodrog county. The third one, the one located 780 km far, Bajaszentistván belonged to Pest-Pilis-Solt county. The border could be found between Istvánmegye and Bajaszentistván. Baja was a district residence seat, too. The chief constable's office of Bács-Bodrog county's upper district could be found here. In 1849, during the reorganisation of Pest-Pilis-Solt county Bajaszentistván became a residence seat of district administrator. It meant that the general orders of chef constable's office and of the district administrator's office were sent from here. Therefore, researchers of Baja's history can have a look at two counties' life. We are also allowed to examine other South Transdanubian counties' life from here because in 1849 Sándor Csertán from Zala county, György Potmutz and Gáspár Noszlopy from Somogy county and also József Majtényi from Baranya county government commissioners had been working in Baja for a while. The institutions of the town had an important military and civil role such as the operation of the Salt Office which supplied the town and the surroundings with salt and it was also a governmental bank, as well. In those times there were only a couple of governmental banks in the country so the Minister of Finance had to pay for the government commissioner's, the National Guards' and the retired military officer's salary throw the Salt Office.