[1][2][3][4] In 1917 Ussher published a memoir regarding his experience in Van, titled An American Physician in Turkey: A Narrative of Adventures in Peace and War.

[8] In Montreal, Ussher received his early education; he continued his studies at the Reformed Episcopal Seminary in West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

[8] After spending some time in Wyoming for missionary work, he moved to Kansas City, where he continued his studies at the University Medical College.

Setting his work aside in Kansas City, Ussher was sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM)[9] to Harput, Ottoman Empire, where he was also to pursue his career as a practicing physician.

[5] Turkish sensitivities to the Armenian Question became evident to Ussher at the Ottoman border, where his dictionary was confiscated because it contained the words "liberty" and "revolution"—forbidden in Turkey at this time to Armenian and Turk alike;[10] the customs officers also demanded the removal of maps from Ussher's Bible because they contained the word "Armenia".

[5] Ussher distrusted the 1908 governor of Van, opining that he "used every means in his power to incite Armenians to revolt in order to have a pretext for massacring them".

[16][17] As a result of the wars, at least half a million Muslim Ottomans' from the former Balkan possessions of the Empire sought refuge in Turkey,[18] sparking a desire for revenge among many Turks.

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".

On 16 April, Cevdet had a community leader in the town of Shadakh arrested, but the townspeople, acting on a rumour of his impending murder, surrounded the police station demanding his release.

[22] Ussher states in his memoir that Cevdet then invited a small group of Armenian leaders to visit Shadakh on a peace mission, but had them assassinated en route.

[30][6][31][32][33][34][2]Ussher reports that on the following day, Monday 20 April, units under Cevdet's command attacked Armenian villages throughout the vilayet.

[37] While Cevdet Bey was able to quickly conquer most of the smaller Armenian population centres, the vilayet's largest city, Van, and several other localities, proved a different proposition.

[40] The attack on Van began with a small skirmish on 20 April, which quickly developed into "a general fusillade" and artillery barrage by the Turks.

[43] Ussher reports that both sides attempted to tunnel beneath the enemy's defences, but the Armenians alone were successful in these endeavours, by which means they destroyed several Turkish strongholds, including the police station, a military barracks, and the British Consulate.

[54] In reoccupying the outlying districts of Van, the defenders discovered "many ... with their throats cut, and wells filled with mutilated bodies"—those Armenians who had been unable to retreat to the defensive perimeter at the onset of the siege.

[62] Ussher himself remained ill for many weeks, during which time the Russian forces in Turkey suffered reverses and were ordered to retreat, abandoning Van once again to the advancing Turks.

[63] Thousands of Armenians fled the city rather than fall once more into Turkish hands, fleeing across the border to the relative safety of the Russian Caucasus.

Eighty out of a hundred of them were opposed to the massacres and deportations, and in some places presented petitions of protest, stating that the Armenians were useful and loyal citizens and that it would be an injury to the country to send them away.

[67]To the memory of my beloved wife and the other martyrs, American and Armenian, who have laid down their lives for the name of Christ in Turkey during the Great World War.