In 1844, Sayyid ‘Ali Muhammad, the Bab, established the Babi faith in Iran. Having a messianic revolutionary message and claiming to be the twelfth hidden Imam of Shi‘ism, the Bab was arrested and imprisoned several times, and eventually executed in Tabriz, Azerbaijan, in 1850. In 1848, when the Bab was imprisoned, his followers decided to liberate him. Heading from Khorasan, they arrived at Barfurush, in the North of Iran, in September 1848. After some confrontations with the locals, the Babis took refuge in the Shrine of Shaykh Tabarsi, at the border of the Caspian forests. They fought with the government troops for about eight months before the governors convincing them to leave the fortress and killing almost all (Zarandi, 381-396). Employing an array of primary and secondary sources, this paper revisits the unrest at economic, demographic, and environmental levels. Barfurush was a trade center in the north via the Caspian Sea to the Caucasus and Russia (Issawi, 278). It was also a relatively diverse city, housing some European merchants, about 350 Jews, and some Muslim Sufis. The town was divided along Muslim sectarian lines of Haydari-Ni‘mati (later Shaykhi-Usuli) divisions. This paper argues that the tension and conflict in the region had already existed but reached its peak with the Tabarsi Unrest (Amanat, 186). The resistance took place in a shrine, an inappropriate location for fortification. However, the government troops had difficulties getting to the shrine because of the swamps, marshes, quicksand, reed fields, bramble, high mountains with snow, heavy rain, and floods (Rabino, 4). The Babis faced the same difficulties. Nevertheless, dense trees served well for camouflage and forest resources, vegetation, and animals would provide food, shelter, and clothing. They received supplies from the locals who supported the rebels. The Babis did not surrender until they were disconnected from the outside and run out of food and supplies. Temperate Caspian forests have been a convenient spot for militant encampments throughout modern history. The Tabarsi event, however, was one of the first national unrests in Iran’s Modern History. Employing theories such as Hobsbawm's “Primitive Rebels” and Scott’s “ungoverned periphery,” this paper argues the Babis could fight against the national troops for eight months because of the environmental condition of the region.