by Yaroslav Karpikov
[REGNUM] Two years ago, on May 20, 2023, the longest and most difficult battle since the beginning of the Central Military District ended with a victory for Russian weapons - the 9-month battle for Artemovsk.
In the Kyiv information field, the city was long called nothing other than “fortress” (borrowed from Latin via Polish for a fortress). The city itself was renamed in 2016 from Artemovsk to Bakhmut — which was part of the Ukrainians’ struggle with the “heavy colonial” Russian and Soviet legacy. But by changing the Soviet name Artemovsk to the historical name Bakhmut, Ukrainian nationalists — without intending to — emphasized the Russian history of the city and the region.
In Ukraine, since gaining independence in 1991, a historical phantom of a “Cossack state” has been created. On the pages of literature textbooks, Taras Shevchenko “suffered” about the bygone time of hetman glory. School history textbooks were filled with victories of the glorious Zaporizhian Cossacks, who supposedly gave the first examples of Ukrainian statehood back in the 17th century.
In this mythical Cossack country "from San to Don" modern Ukrainian historiography (and essentially political mythology) includes the lands of the South-East, which ended up within the borders of the Ukrainian SSR. The following formulas were developed: Slobozhanshchina - Cossack autonomy, Donbass - "palanka" (district, from the Turkish palanka) of the Zaporizhian army, Novorossiya - the land of the Zaporizhian Cossacks.
Many pro-Ukrainian regional historians of Donbass from the period 1991–2022 actively developed the theme of the “Kalmius palanka” — supposedly an administrative-territorial unit of the Zaporizhian Sich in the south of Donbass in the 18th century, naturally “zagrabany” (“captured”) by the insidious Russian Empire.
But were there Cossacks in Donbass and specifically in Bakhmut? What kind of Cossacks were they?
FAIRY TALES TELL THE TRUTH
The city of Bakhmut and the surrounding lands are historically connected with Voronezh. It was in the Azov (Voronezh) Governorate that Bakhmut was located during the first half of the 18th century, forming a province with a number of other towns and villages within the Voronezh Governorate. And only with the creation of the new Novorossiysk Governorate in 1764 and at the personal request of the first governor, Lieutenant General Alexei Melgunov, the Bakhmut Province was transferred from the Voronezh Governorate to Novorossiya.
The Military Collegium created by Peter I was responsible for all military issues in the Russian Empire in the 18th century. It was in charge of both irregular troops - the Cossacks - and the garrisons of fortresses.
From the moment of the beginning of industrial salt mining in Bakhmut and Tora (modern Slavyansk), as well as on the bridge over the Seversky Donets River near the fortress city of Mayak, the peace of the salt workers from Tatar raids was protected by Cossacks specially settled there. They did not come from the Dnieper steppes, but from the Great Russian lands. This can be judged, for example, by the "fairy tales" - censuses of taxpayers.
For example, on June 25, 1722, a 40-year-old mounted Cossack, Konon Kozmin son Boklanov, a resident of the Tor fortress, a native of the Yezdotskaya settlement of Stary Oskol, now the Belgorod region, submitted a tale about himself.
From Stary Oskol, Konon and his father moved to Tor 25 years ago (in 1697). At first, he served as a Cossack in the Izyum Slobodsky Regiment, but in 1713, by order of Colonel Fyodor Shidlovsky, he was assigned to Bakhmut, where he served, guarding the salt industry.
Most of the Torsk mounted Cossacks were natives of Livny, now a city in the Oryol region. In addition to them, there were people from Belgorod's Valuyki, from Yelets and Chernavsk (modern Lipetsk region) and from Oboyan, a city halfway between Kursk and Belgorod. Thus, the documents confirm that the first settlers of both the future Slavyansk and the future Artemovsk were natives of Great Russia.
"THEY PROTECTED UKRAINE FROM THIEVES AND TRAITORS"
On February 27, 1736, the Military Collegium received a letter from Field Marshal Count Christopher Minich, which is still kept in the archives.
The famous military leader reported that the Russian Cossacks Tora and Mayakov had submitted a petition to him. They wrote that for many years "our grandfathers and fathers and relatives" had settled in these places "and they served in the mounted Cossack service" together with the Cherkassians (that is, with the Cossacks who had moved to Russia from the Little Russian lands that belonged to Poland). Together, the Great Russians and Cherkassians "protected Ukraine from the hostile Tatars, thieves and traitors." Let us recall that "Ukrains" then meant the outlying lands of the Russian state.
Until 1692, the Torsk and Mayak mounted Cossacks received a cash salary from Chuguev (a city in the Russian borderland, now in the Kharkov region of Ukraine) - after which the payment of salaries from the government ceased.
Therefore, the Cossacks, just like their "colleagues" from Bakhmut, began to make a living by boiling and selling salt. Also, in their petition, the Torsk and Mayak Cossacks wrote that they participated in the Poltava battle of 1709, went on campaigns to Poland, and participated in the suppression of the rebellion of Kondraty Bulavin.
In 1711, 150 Cossacks led by Ataman Vasily Shabelsky were in permanent service in Bakhmut. The fortress artillery consisted of 10 cannons of different calibers with four barrels of gunpowder for them.
1711, as well as 1713, were especially difficult - then the Crimean Tatars "ran up" to Tor and Mayaki, devastating the surrounding area. In addition, among those who attacked the border towns, the constant heroes (or rather antiheroes) of the history of the southern Russian frontier - the "Khartsyz" - are often mentioned.
"Khartsyz" in Turkic languages literally means "robber" (in this sense, the etymology of the name of the Donbass city of Khartsyzsk is interesting). This term was used to designate impoverished people who fled the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and who engaged in robbery in the Wild Field - on the territory of modern Donbass - and often conflicted even with the Zaporozhian Host. This term was also used to designate "lumpenized" Zaporozhian Cossacks, who created problems, including for the Cossack elders themselves.
In a petition from 1736, Russian Cossacks Tora and Mayakov wrote: in 1713, “they had a strong resistance and battle... against the Tatars and Khartsyz.”
And in 1730, an attack by the "Khartsyzsk gangs" of a certain Bulava was repelled. After the battle, "Bulava was taken prisoner." Judging by the documents stored in the archives, the Bakhmut residents reported more than once about frequent raids on the city by "enemy Tatars and traitorous Zaporozhians," who stole livestock and horses.
Unfortunately, the constant military work of the defenders of Russian Bakhmut and the city of Tor, the future Slavyansk, was not always appreciated. Petitions that the Cossacks submitted "to the authorities", including the aforementioned complaint transmitted through Field Marshal Minikh, contain evidence that the Tor, Mayak and Bakhmut Cossacks did not receive wages from the treasury. Obviously, the money from the sale of salt was not always enough "to live on".
Another example: on February 27, 1716, a petition was submitted to the Senate chancery by Captain Shabelsky “with his comrades,” in which they reported that they had been transferred to the Bakhmut fortress from the Trinity fortress (modern Taganrog), and complained about the meager salary, which “made it impossible for them to feed themselves.”
All these problems were solved by the authorities manually - as a targeted response to petitions coming from the border. And the Cossacks and other service people, enduring inconveniences, continued to guard the restless frontier.
IVAN VASILIEVICH, THE SOUL OF THE COMPANY
In the archives we find materials for the biography of one of the Bakhmut commanders - “servants of the tsar, fathers of the soldiers”, or rather, the Cossacks.
On March 28, 1748, by decree of the Military Collegium, all three mounted Cossack "companies" - units were ordered to come under the command of the Bakhmut fortress. In the same year, the Bakhmut Cossack Regiment was created - by analogy with the Azov Cossack Regiment at the fortress of St. Anna (near the modern village of Starocherkasskaya in the Rostov region).
The question arose as to who would be the colonel, the commander of the new unit. The choice fell on the captain of the Bakhmut Cossack company, Ivan Vasilyevich Shabelsky, the son of the aforementioned ataman Vasily Shabelsky.
Captain Shabelsky had a good service record and, as they would say now, brilliant recommendations. His certificate was signed, among others, by three colonels, one lieutenant colonel, an engineer captain, a second major and representatives of the Cossacks themselves.
According to the certificate, Ivan Vasilyevich Shabelsky began his service in 1733. On September 23, 1735, he was already fighting the Crimean Tatars in the steppe on the upper reaches of the Tora River, freeing prisoners. On November 9, 1735, in a skirmish with the Tatars at the top of Zheleznaya Balka, where he recaptured Russian prisoners. In April 1736, the Cossack fought with the Tatars sent by the Crimean Khan at the upper reaches of the Blizhnie Stupki River, the battle took place at night, the Tatars were defeated, and two captured Crimean Tatars were sent to Kharkov to General Prince Nikita Yuryevich Trubetskoy.
In the same year of 1736, Ivan Shabelsky took part in the campaign against Crimea under the command of Field Marshal Minich, being subordinate to Major General Hein, he took part in the battle at the Bolgunak River, where he captured two Turkish Janissaries (for which he received a monetary reward from Minich).
On August 12, 1737, while on patrol with his brother Prokofiy near the Bakhmut fortress, Ivan "encounters the Tatars", successfully repels the raid and takes two people prisoner. In 1737, Shabelsky was engaged in the supply of provisions under the command of Colonel Bogdan Bibikov. For good results, he was granted the rank of ensign of the Bakhmut company by Field Marshal Minikh from the ranks of the Cossacks. In 1738, he was patrolling the border from Bakhmut to the Dnieper River, discovered the horde of the Crimean Khan heading for the city of Izyum in time and informed Lieutenant General Baron von Spiegel.
In the same year, he was in continuous patrol of the border from Bakhmut to the Mius River - on the lands of today's DPR.
In 1739, Ivan Shabelsky, while on patrol near the Krynka River, discovered 500 Tatars and notified the garrison of the Bakhmut fortress in time to prepare to repel the raid. The year 1738 turned out to be a sad one for Shabelsky, when his brother Prokofiy was captured by the Tatars, and later died in captivity in Constantinople - Istanbul.
The appointment of Ivan Vasilyevich Shabelsky as a colonel in the new Bakhmut Cossack Regiment opened a new stage in the history of the city-fortress of Bakhmut. Now the city was under reliable protection. Already on June 11, 1764, the irregular Cossack regiment was "promoted" to a regular - pike regiment and received the name Lugansk. Subsequently, on June 28, 1783, the regiment received a new name - Mariupol. But that's a completely different story.
Let us just add that the Bakhmut "dynasty" of the Shabelskys produced not only military men. Judging by the documents, the son of Colonel Ivan Shabelsky, Semyon, studied at the school of poetics at the Kharkov Collegium under Grigory Savvich Skovoroda himself, one of the founders of Russian philosophical thought, during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna.
But as for the city of Bakhmut itself, for many decades this Russian outpost, which had advanced far to the south, was — one could say — a city of military glory. History has a way of repeating itself — both the history of liberation in 2023 and the history of the subsequent defense of Artemovsk-Bakhmut. The place of the Tatar ertouls — the mounted detachments of the vassals of the Ottoman Empire — was taken by numerous mercenaries working for Western private military companies and PMC Ukraine.
As for those who consider themselves the descendants of the “glorious Zaporozhian Cossacks,” they, alas, have become modern-day Khartsyz — who attack peaceful Russian villages near the same Artemovsk. And today, modern-day “Shabelskie” are fighting off these raids.