This paper examines 19th Century Circassian emigration from the Caucasus and resettlement in the Ottoman provinces from two opposing perspectives: Russian and Ottoman, as represented in their respective archives. These opposing archives present significantly different portrayals of the same event complicating the interpretation of the causes, process and contexts of the Circassian displacement from the Caucasus. Methodological and interpretive questions are raised by comparing how these two imperial powers and their functionaries recount the sending and receiving ends of the migration and by comparing both to oral history accounts by the descendents of these very migrants.