Zakhary Alekseevich Chepega was a native of the Chernigov province, the village of Borki. Nickname Chepega he probably received it in Zaporozhye; his real name was Kulish. If we take into account that his venerable parents, as is now known, after their death, were buried at the local church, then we must assume that they were something more important ordinary people, not given the honor of such a funeral; most likely they were landowners there. Subsequently, Zakhary Alekseevich, already a kosh ataman, presented evidence of his nobility to the Ekaterinoslav provincial deputy assembly, according to which that assembly recognized him hereditary nobleman and included it in the genealogical book, on the basis of the Highest Charter given by Empress Catherine II to the Russian nobility, April 21, 1785 g., on the 3rd part.
Where young Zakhary Kulish was brought up and what he studied is unknown. They say that he was completely illiterate, which he himself declared, but this is difficult to believe; it is more likely that he was "not written" that is, he did not know how to write well in cursive, like many of his peers, who put signs instead of letters: a donut, half a rim, a pillar with a crossbar, etc. so that it would look like a surname signature. This is also confirmed by the fact that the signature "Zachary Chepega" I had to meet in the affairs of the Kuban military archive; usually his personal secretary Migrin signed for him on official papers, and although the latter also stated that the Koshevoy Ataman Chepega was illiterate, this still cannot be given credibility also because in Zaporozhye, according to Skalkovsky, the Koshevoy Atamans did not show their literacy, - although they really were written, and Zakhary Alekseevich was a true Cossack and could imitate his predecessors.
We find Zakhary Alekseevich serving in the Zaporozhye army in 1750 year, when he was already 24 years old. In the military kosh he was registered in the Kislyakovsky kuren, in which he was listed until the day of his death.
The service of Zakhary Chepega took place on various business trips, in campaigns and military operations against enemies during the first Turkish war of Catherine II, where, as evidenced in the certificate issued to him in the former kosh July 5, 1775 G., "stood courageously". IN Lately During his service in Zaporozhye, Chepega, having passed through a number of military ranks, held the noble position of colonel of the Protovchansky palanka (district). This position was the highest and most honorable in the ranks of regimental sergeant major in Zaporozhye. He ruled an entire district of military territory populated by Cossacks and people subject to the army. Such colonels inevitably had to have good preparation for administrative activities, and if we say that without knowledge of literacy they could hardly justify their complex duties, then, it seems, we will not be mistaken.
When it was destroyed in 1775 year of the Zaporozhye Sich and the army of the Zaporozhye Cossacks was abolished, then Chepega, leaving his post as a regimental colonel, kept with him his regimental banner, which he sacredly kept throughout his service and, only after moving to 1792 year in Kuban, when the first Yeisk palanka was formed in the Black Sea, which included the Kislyakovsky kuren, in which Chepega was also listed, he handed over the said banner, modest in appearance, but important in meaning, which is currently kept in the military headquarters, including military regalia.
Zakhary Alekseevich was not affected by the punishment that befell the Zaporozhye foreman of the military kosh. He remained among the trustworthy foreman and was awarded the rank of army captain. Whether he held what position there is no information available, but when the war with the Turks began in 1787 and Prince Potemkin published his letter August 20 about the conscription of the Cossacks living in the Ekaterinoslav governorship, Chepega, having gathered part of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, was among the first to come to the said prince in Elisavetgrad offering his services to protect the fatherland from advancing enemies.
The illustrious prince, who was then concerned about the restoration of the Zaporozhye army, remained very pleased with the proposal of Zakhary Alekseevich and October 12 gave him the following certificate:- “I announce to each and every one who should know that on the occasion of the break caused by the Turks with the All-Russian Empire and the outbreak of hostilities, Mr. Captain Zakhary Chepega, was filled with commendable zeal and zeal for the service of Her Imperial Majesty and took advantage of the opportunity to speak out against the enemies of Christianity of his courageous exploits, expressed a desire to gather volunteers and join the army with them... "; A 20th That same month, he was approved as a military colonel, promoted to the rank of second-major in the army, and, as a sign of power, gave him a first title through Lieutenant General Bibikov.
Taking advantage of such attention from Prince Potemkin, Chepega sent with the aforesaid letter the Kuren chieftain Andrei Bely to recruit Zaporizhian Cossacks for service and with them joined other eminent elders Sidor Bely and Anton Golovaty, who formed a volunteer team in Berislav, which formed an army of loyal Cossacks, under the command of the first of those foremen, elected by the military comradeship as Koshevoy Ataman.
When in a naval battle the Koshevoy Ataman Sidor Beloy 17 June 1788 year was killed by the Turks, the military partnership of the Zaporozhye Cossacks gathered a council and, after much wrangling between the two parties of Holovaty and Chepega, chose the latter as Koshevoy ataman in place of the late Sidor Ignatievich, in which rank Zakhary Alekseevich was confirmed by Prince Potemkin 3 July that year and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the army.
This year the army of loyal Cossacks received the name Chernomorsky.
While still retaining personal command of the Black Sea Cossacks, Koshevoy Ataman Chepega entrusted command of the foot command to military judge Anton Golovaty, who was with the rank of prime major in the army, and a colonel in the army, who was in charge of the flotilla of the Black Sea troops, on which the foot Cossacks served . As a sign of power, Golovaty received from the Koshevoy a colonel’s pernach and a proper (small banner).
The Black Sea Cossack flotilla was stationed near Ochakov at that time. 3 July Golovaty, calling the Cossacks from the boats to the shore, announced to them that the commander-in-chief Zakhary Chepega had been appointed as Koshevoy Ataman and that the latter had appointed him commander of the entire Black Sea Cossack infantry and flotilla. The next day the ataman himself arrived among the Cossacks. Having heard from them various statements of claims and displeasures related mostly to the army leadership, Chepega, having found out to the dissatisfied comradeship the still fragile position of his army, formed with great effort, advised, in order to maintain glory and order in it, to endure all sorts of hardships and deprivations, in anticipation of a better situation in the future ; and especially to obey and obey your superiors and not be self-willed. The reasonable advice of the Koshevoy had an effect on the Cossacks better than any threats. They calmly returned to their ships; - bearing in mind also the fact that the speech of the stern Koshevoy did not allow for objections, and by his character he was not far from the word and kiya.
I will not follow the hard service that befell Zakhary Alekseevich at the beginning of his atamanship. The military camp, not having time to organize itself in one place, was transferred to another place, and then only temporarily, under the influence of military circumstances. At the beginning of the formation of the army, the Koshevo affairs required his personal presence, and this could not be achieved during business trips at the request of his superiors and during military operations, and in the absence of the Koshevoy Ataman and the military judge, the military clerk Podlesetsky was actually in charge, who in the end also turned out to be unreliable, who had to replaced by Sergeant Major Kotlyarevsky. The army itself was quite small, divided into two parts, cavalry and infantry, and was not organized either in combat or in material units, and there was no military discipline among the Cossacks. It took a lot of art and energy of the Kosh chieftain so that the Cossacks, despite all the shortcomings and hardships, did not run away and thereby cease the existence of the barely emerging Black Sea Army.
The higher authorities of the Cossacks did not spare them and demanded from them, in addition to the war with the enemy, such difficult work that only thanks to the persistence of the Kosh chieftain and the devotion of the Cossacks to him, they were carried out. Take, for example, the work teams assigned in winter to unload rigging from frozen ships in the Bug Estuary or to remove cannons and artillery supplies from a sunken ship from the bottom of the same estuary. In the winter, with severe winds and severe frost, the Cossacks worked in the water with scanty food and a lack of warm clothing, which is why in a short time up to 50 people, in addition to the sick and crippled, with frostbitten feet, were brought to the kosh, and all died from exhaustion and cold and hunger for March 1789 year there were up to 500 people.
Such an exorbitant loss for the small Black Sea army was sensitive, and Chepega looked with bated breath at this death of the Cossacks from the inattention of the higher authorities to the Black Sea people, but it was impossible to complain, and asking for exemption from military work was useless; he only bothered to ensure that the Cossacks were fed and clothed while working.
The entry of the Cossacks from their places of residence into the army of the Black Sea Cossacks was not successful because it was associated with great difficulty. Many Cossacks were in serfdom, and the landowners did not let them out of their estates. The question raised earlier by foreman Sidor Bely about the liberation of the Cossacks from serfdom was not resolved, since Prince Potemkin found it premature until the Black Sea army formed from them was fully organized, which did not yet have a certain land for settlement. The published order of his lordship of the Ekaterinoslav governorship to call up the Cossacks, no matter what their condition, for public service, was not always carried out by both the landowners and the local authorities, who stood on the side of the latter.
From all sides, news reached the Kosh Ataman that the landowners were keeping the Cossacks as peasants, and those Cossacks who, at Potemkin’s call, went to serve, were taking away their estates, and some bars and their managers, taking revenge on the family of the deceased, forced their wives and children to work for the whole a day without rest, and at night they are locked in an empty hut, or thrown into a hole and hammered into stocks so that they do not leave the corvee; there were such monsters that they forced them to work during the day, and at night they also flogged them with rods, and they starved the less obedient and flogged them three times a day with batazhi, and not only adults, but also minors.
The hearts of the unfortunate Cossacks, who were already serving in the Black Sea army, were bleeding; when rumors reached them about the suffering of their families from the ruthless lords, but no disasters could shake their determination to serve faithfully the Tsar and the Fatherland in their young Cossack army; They endured their depressing grief with remarkable humility and listened to the fatherly instructions of their father-koshevoy, whom they both feared and loved.
Zakhary Alekseich, having collected the above information about the plight of the Zaporozhye Cossacks who were enlisting in the Black Sea Army, turned to October 1788 to Prince Potemkin of Tauride with the following petition: - “The silent branch of the army of the faithful Cossacks in the service of this Kosha, who summoned a cry for the enslavement of the Messrs. the landowners of their wives, as if in an eternally repeating time, and the benefit of the property acquired by them, taken away by them, has already been converted into eternal property and has led some to be sold. Such an act tolerant of oppression for this tribe requires the rise to the feat of your lordship’s diligent touch, and for the life liberation of resettlement to the said land for their benefit, and for the eternally supplied allowance of this assembly, according to the Imperial legalization, give, which from the outpouring of will on you and the internally inhabited bounties of the touching awaiting resolution".
Such a flowery request from Chepega touched upon, long ago raised by Sidor Ignatievich Bely, the issue of freeing the Cossacks from serfdom and assigning them land for settlement. This question, as we know, was already predetermined by the Empress in a positive sense, but Prince Potemkin, despite the blatant disasters of the Black Sea people, did not find it possible to fully fulfill the desire of the Cossacks and the will of the monarch. The reasons for this were sound. If we freed all the Cossacks with their families who were enslaved by them from the landowners and removed them from the master's estates, then it was necessary to immediately give them land for settlement in the south of Russia, even if it was already intended for the Kerch Kut and Taman, but first of all there was a lot of that land not enough to settle all the inhabitants of the former Zaporozhye, even just the Cossack class; secondly, the lands were far from the theater of military operations, where the Cossacks gathered on the occasion of the war with the Turks, and although most of them had not yet arrived at the theater of military operations, but with their liberation from the peasantry, they had to go not to resettle with their families to the shores Kerch Strait, and with weapons in hands on the banks of the Bug, where the Russian army was then operating, moving towards the Dniester. The Black Sea Cossacks at this time had neither the time nor the opportunity to resettle to a distant land and could not even take advantage of the richest fishing spots on the Sea of Azov, given to them by Prince Potemkin, much later, until the end of the war.
But scream The Black Sea residents, about whom Chepega wrote, did not remain a voice crying in the desert. The Most Serene Prince strictly confirmed to the local authorities about the unhindered release of the Zaporozhye Cossacks to serve in the Black Sea army and about the freedom of their families. Such a command from the head of the region and the manager of the fate of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, authorized by the Highest Authority, eased their situation, and the Cossacks’ profits quickly increased, so that in the second half 1789 year in the Black Sea Army there were up to 5,000 of them in the infantry and up to 2,000 in the cavalry.
Throughout the war, the Koshevoy ataman Chepega was in particular favor with the commander-in-chief of the army, Prince Potemkin Tauride.
Without listing all the military distinctions Chepega rendered during the war with the Turks, I cannot miss some of his actions against the enemies. During the siege of Ochakov, Lieutenant General Potemkin asked Zakhary Alekseevich to get a tongue from the Gadzhibey fortress in order to find out the number and location of the Turkish troops there. But how could this be done in order to quietly penetrate the enemy fortress and capture at least one Turk, if not in the fortress itself, then at least near it? Zakhary Aleksevich, not trusting anyone else, took upon himself this very important assignment . On a dark night he made his way to Hajibey and from there the next day he brought two captured Turks. How he managed to take them, God knows. Tradition says that Chepega was Choreternik, that for this reason he captured the Turks and led them behind him, tied with a string to his belt, like obedient sheep.Taking two people prisoner in a battle, or in an open place, is not an important matter, but capturing them under fortress cannons at night is not an unimportant feat, if we add to this the important consequences arising from the testimony of the prisoners brought in. Probably for this and other excellent feats of the Koshe chieftain in military operations, he was awarded the army as a lieutenant colonel.
Under the end of the year The commander-in-chief, wanting to deprive the Ochakov garrison of the supply of food from Gadzhebey, ordered the chieftain to send 100 Cossacks with Captain Bulatov to this fortress to set fire to Turkish food stores. This order was completely unenforceable. What could a hundred Cossacks do under the gunfire of the Turkish garrison? Cossacks in such numbers could not pass unnoticed, and it was unthinkable to force their way to Turkish food supplies. Then Zakhary Alekseevich decided to personally carry out Prince Potemkin’s instructions - it was not for nothing that he was considered a sorcerer. Bravery had nothing to do with it; courage and military art remained. 29th of October Chepega took with him several of the bravest Cossacks and, making his way to Gadzhibey at night, set fire to the coastal workshop; and after that November 7 burned a food barn in the Hajibey fortress itself. How he managed to do this, only God knows, but Prince Potemkin brought this remarkable feat to the attention of the Empress herself, who awarded the fearless ataman the Order of St. George 4th grade.
It is impossible not to mention another remarkable feat of Chepega, performed by him in 1789 year. After the capture of Ochakov, the Russian army moved to Turkish soil between the Bug and Dngetr. Prince Potemkin's intention was to capture the strong Turkish fortress of Bendery on the Dniester. For this purpose, he instructed the Koshe chieftain Chepega to conduct reconnaissance of the surroundings of this fortress. Military Colonel Neyakiy, sent for this purpose, with a team of Black Sea Cossacks, returned and reported that no enemies were seen anywhere. Then an order was made to open Bender itself, for which a detachment was appointed from the Cossack units of the Don, Black Sea and Bug. But then misunderstandings arose in the command of this detachment: General Kutuzov put the Don marching ataman Colonel Isaev at the head, and the Koshevoy ataman of the Black Sea people considered such subordination to his junior in rank humiliating. Isaev was the chieftain of marching regiments, and Chepega was the chieftain of an entire army. In view of this, he did not go to join with Isaev, but spoke June 16 separately with the Black Sea Cossacks, and therefore reached Bender before Isaev. This incident cost the Black Sea people dearly. As soon as they approached the Dniester, the Turks came out against them from Bendery, crossed the river and entered into battle with them. It was impossible to retreat, and it was shameful. Chepega, having no more than 1000 Cossacks. boldly went into battle with an enemy three times his strength.
For five hours a fierce battle raged between the Turks and the Black Sea people. On the Turkish side there was superiority in numbers, and among the Black Sea people strength was replaced by courage and bravery, and only when Ataman Chepega, who was fighting in front of the Cossacks, received a serious wound from a bullet through the shoulder, then only, seeing their leader bloody and exhausted from blood loss, did the Black Sea people begin to retreat , but at that time the Don and Bug people arrived to them, and the Turks were defeated.
In this battle, Chepega and his Black Sea men recaptured two Ochakov banners from the Turks and captured 12 people.
On this momentous occasion military history day, the Koshevoy Ataman of the Black Sea Army commanded the second assault column of General Arsenyev, from the Danube. Having landed on the shore, he took Turkish batteries and struck down enemies without mercy, distinguished by courage, management and personal bravery, for which he was awarded the order St. George 3rd class and received, along with others, the golden Ishmael cross.
Returning from the campaign, the Koshevoy ataman devoted all his time to strengthening the established procedures for the management of the Black Sea army and paid special attention to military fishing in the Danube, where Prince Potemkin gave the Black Sea people the pride left by the Turks. Chepega ordered them to be corrected and, under the guidance of an appointed experienced fisherman, shaparya(caretaker) managed to earn up to 9,000 rubles in income for military capital in 10 months.
The following spring, information was received that the Turks were gathering in significant forces across the Danube at Machin. Prince Repnin, who commanded the army in Potemkin’s absence, decided to transfer Russian weapons from the conquered land to the enemy side. For this purpose, two detachments of troops were assigned to the campaign, under the command of generals Kutuzov and Golitsyn, of which the first included Koshevoy Ataman Chepega with the Black Sea troops. Having crossed the Danube, Kutuzov defeated the Turks near Babadag and united with Golitsyn. Without continuing military operations beyond the Danube, the Russian troops returned to their side. But soon news was received that Turkish troops were again gathering at Babadag. Then, by order of Repnin, Kutuzov June 3 moved across the Danube, and the next day Chepega went there with the Black Sea Cossacks, of whom 55 people walked ahead as guides of the detachment. On the way, the guides noticed a dense crowd of enemies, and Chepega hurried with his Cossacks to the vanguard, where Colonel Ribas was walking with the rangers. The latter, out of duty, offered Chepega, as the senior in rank, command, but Zakhary Alekseevich politely rejected this offer, saying that they would command the vanguard troops together. Meanwhile, the enemy disappeared.
The next day, Brigadier Chepega himself made a reconnaissance and from a high mound noticed a large number of Turks in the direction of Machin, which he immediately reported to Kutuzov, from whom he received orders to attack the enemies. Having detached 500 Cossacks against the Turks on one side, under the command of military colonel Vysochin, Chepega moved with the rest of the Black Sea people on the other side against the advancing enemies, whom he defeated and put to flight. At this time, another party of Turks appeared, with whom Chepega also entered into a heated battle. The Turks began to retreat again. But Chepega, neither before nor after, did not pursue the fleeing enemies, since he received a warning from one enemy Cossack that the Turks were deliberately retreating so that, luring the Black Sea people into a trap to the ravine, where the Crimean Khan stood with the Tatars, Turkish, Zaporozhye and Nekrasov Cossacks until 8000 people, - hit the Black Sea people in the rear.
Seeing the failure with the Black Sea people, the Turks began to call the approaching Donets with a firefight, in order to at least lure them into the Khan’s ambush, but then Chepega assumed the rights of the vanguard commander and ordered how Don Cossacks, and other regular units under the command of Ribas should not chase the Turks; Prime Major Belukha ordered to occupy the mountain that hid the khan's troops and become a front against the enemy, and he himself, with all the Black Sea residents, went from the flank to attack the khan.
In vain, not expecting such an attack, the eminent Tatar tried to break through the ranks of the Black Sea men and the Ribasovsky rangers who arrived in time, in vain he made rapid attacks to throw back the attackers, nothing was successful and the brave Chepega, defeated the khan on his head and pursued the discordant crowds of enemies to the river. Thickball, covering the path with their corpses. In this case, Chepega lost 4 people killed and 35 wounded; the loss of the enemies was immeasurably greater.
Returning to the detachment, Brigadier Chepega received a new order from Kutuzov to pursue further and further retreating Turks. Fulfilling this order, Chepega, without giving himself and his squad rest, launched an attack on the Turks, but the latter, seeing the defeat of the khan, scattered and began to run away. Despite this, Chepega still managed to catch up with some enemies and in the battle with them he knocked off several poles from the banners, which the Turks, not having the strength to save, tore them to pieces; In addition, Chepega captured three cannons, a heavy baggage train and 6 prisoners.
Defeated by Brigadier Chepega at all points, the Turks abandoned Babadag, who the next day ravaged Chepega and Ribas, killed the resisting Turks, burned the surrounding villages and, to complete the victory, presented Kutuzov with up to 30,000 quarters of grain that was in the Babadag warehouses, 8 copper cannons and the Turkish camp.
This brilliant feat of the Kosh chieftain remained without reward. The reason for this can be assumed to be the same revenge of Kutuzov, which pursued Zakhary Alekseevich near Bendery.
Zakhary (Kharko or Khariton) Alekseevich Chepega(1725 - January 14, 1797, Ekaterinodar) - second (after Sidor Bely) Cossack ataman of the Black Sea Cossack army, major general of the Russian army, an active participant in the Russian-Turkish wars of the second half of the 18th century and the resettlement of the Black Sea Cossack army to Kuban.
Biography
The exact date and place of birth are unknown. There is a known version about his origin “from the noble family of Kulish.” It is believed that he arrived in Sich in 1750, when he signed up to serve as a Cossack in the Kislyakovsky kuren. In 1767, he headed the border guards at the Pereviz palanka. During the Russian-Turkish War of 1768-1774, he took part in campaigns, parties, and travels. He could neither read nor write until his death.
At the time of the liquidation of the Sich in 1775, he held the position of colonel of the Protovchanska palanka (Ukrainian: Protovchanska palanka). In 1777, in the convoy of Lieutenant General Prince Prozorovsky. On January 29 of the same year, he was awarded the rank of army captain.
Since 1787, the patronage of His Serene Highness Prince Potemkin has been traced. During Catherine the Great's trip to Taurida in the same year, Potemkin introduced the Cossack elders, including Chepega, to the empress. Former elders of the Zaporozhye Sich asked the empress to organize the former Cossacks into a special army, in Russian military service. The Empress gave such permission and the “Army of Loyal Cossacks” was formed, later renamed the “Black Sea Cossack Army”.
With the beginning of the new Russian- Turkish war the newly created Cossack troops (at the moments of their greatest deployment there were up to 10,000 people) took an active part in it.
I declare through this to each and everyone... that Mr. Captain Zakhary Chepega, being filled with commendable zeal and zeal for the service of Her Imperial Majesty... expressed a desire to gather volunteers and with them be employed with the army entrusted to my superiors. That’s why I allow him to recruit hunters from free people...
Chepega's salary was 300 rubles a year, which was equal to the salary of the first chieftain, Sidor Bely. By May 1788, the number of Chepega’s equestrian team of volunteers was approaching 300 people. They were engaged in travel and border protection. On June 17 of the same year, in the naval battle of Ochakov, the first military chieftain of the loyal Cossacks, Sidor Bely, was wounded and died on June 19. Chepega became his successor. Although the Cossacks themselves elected I. Sukhina as ataman, after a few days the “people’s protege” was removed in favor of Chepega. Chepega himself wrote to A. Golovaty on July 5 of this year:
His Serene Highness... Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin-Tavrichesky assigned me to the army of loyal Cossacks as Troop Ataman...
Potemkin wrote about this same empress:
I take the place of this venerable old man [S. Bely] entrusted the reign of Kosh Second-Major Chepega...
The Black Sea Cossacks under the command of Chepega especially distinguished themselves during the capture of Ochakov, the fortified island of Berezan, Gadzhibey, Akkerman, and Bender. In 1790, the Cossacks showed incomparable courage during the assault on Izmail.
During this Turkish campaign, Chepega was once seriously wounded in the right shoulder and for this he was awarded the rank of army brigadier, the Order of St. George and St. Vladimir, Catherine II granted the ataman “a saber strewn with expensive stones.”
After the victorious end of the Turkish war, the Russian government decided to resettle the Black Sea Cossacks to Kuban to guard the Russian border that had descended to the south. Chepega took an active part in organizing the resettlement, the founding of Yekaterinodar and Kuran villages.
Chepega also took part in the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1794. For the assault on the outskirts of Warsaw - Prague, which essentially decided the success of the entire company, he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir 2nd class.
Zakhary Chepega was a large landowner. He had a dacha near the Gromokleya tract; in the Kherson region he owned the village of Lyubarka with serfs, whom he promised to set free, but never did; in the Kuban, Chepega owned “Circassian kuts and forests” near Ekaterinodar, a huge farm on the Kirpileh River (there were 14 Cossack workers on it), a large garden and vineyard on Taman, a mill on the Beisuga River and a large house in Ekaterinodar.
The history of my small homeland, Kuban, is very rich in events and wonderful people who created it. The subject “Kuban Studies” helps me get acquainted with this history, the workers of our regional historical and local history museum of the village of Leningradskaya, the regional newspaper “Kuban News”, the regional newspaper “Steppe Dawns”, where every time I draw something new from the past and present of our region and area. We will soon celebrate the 70th anniversary of education Krasnodar region and the 215th anniversary of the development of the Kuban lands by the Cossacks. Historian A.V. Kartashev wrote that a “mobile mixture of peoples” wandered and was scattered along the northern shores of the Black Sea, and only the Cossacks-Cossacks began to thoroughly settle this fertile land.
Listen, descendant, to that glory and keep your heart with Kuban, which is and will remain our land. We must love her, defend her from enemies and die for her, just as the day dies without the sun, because darkness comes, whose name is evening, and when evening dies, night comes...
Love for my Kuban, for its past, for its wonderful people who stood at the origins of the formation of our Krasnodar region, the city of Ekaterinodar (Krasnodar), like a magnet, attracted my heart to itself.
Residents of Kuban and the Cossacks this year celebrate the 280th anniversary of their famous countryman, whose name is forever included in glorious history Kuban Cossacks Zakhary Alekseevich Chepegi.
Who is Zakhary Alekseevich Chepega (in some sources Chepiga)? He was born in 1726 in the Chernigov province in the village of Borki, came from the famous ancient family of Kulish and his real name received in 1750, when he came to the Zaporozhye Sich as an ordinary Cossack. He was accepted.
The young Cossack was assigned to the Kislyakovsky kuren. History has preserved for us a description of his appearance. He was short, broad-shouldered, stocky, what is called “knocked down,” with a huge black forelock and a thick, smoky mustache. His entire life before the liquidation of the Zaporozhye Sich was almost completely covered in obscurity for researchers even from the old days, when the archives were more complete than now. Very scanty information has been preserved about Chepega’s young years in the family of Y.G. Kukharenko, who was a distant relative of him. Chepega was called Khariton among the Cossacks or, more simply, Kharko.
Young Chepega’s service was successful, and although he had almost no literacy, thanks to his natural intelligence and personal courage, in 1767 he received the position of chief of the border guard at the Perevessky palanka (region), the land of the current Dnepropetrovsk region of Ukraine. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Chepega was a kind man, although he was a lord by position. His broad-shouldered and short figure with a face hardened by the steppe winds was always stern. Both in the Sich, and many years later, even with the rank of general, Chepega remained simple and accessible, so for the entire Cossacks he was simply “Kharko.” If military judge Anton Golovaty was in in every sense Pan, whom everyone feared, Chepega was respected, and the fact that the Cossacks called him familiarly was in fact an expression of closeness and emotional relationship.
One certificate given to Chepege stated that he “stood courageously,” while another stated that he “proved himself brave and was repeatedly sent to deliver enemy language.” Chepega rose to the rank of colonel when, by order of Empress Catherine II, the Zaporozhye Sich was ruined. Five thousand Cossacks went to Turkey, the Koshevoy ataman Pyotr Kalnishevsky was exiled to the Solovetsky Monastery, ordinary Cossacks had to take up the plow.
After 13 years in 1787, at the request of His Serene Highness Prince G.A. Potemkin, who realized what fighting power Russia had lost in the person of the Cossacks, the remnants of the Cossacks were reassembled and formed an “army of loyal Cossacks.” At the convened military Rada, Sidor Bely was elected Kosh Ataman by a majority of votes. Next I find out that the Kuban historian I.D. Popka writes about him this way: “A gray-haired old man, but full of fire, a rider from the ancient Sich times, who had the habit of riding out into a firefight without a hat and with his powerful tanned chest exposed.” On June 17, 1788, Bely was wounded near Ochakov. A.V. Suvorov, who visited the wounded ataman the next day, wrote to Prince Potemkin: “I hope Sidor Ignatievich will be alive,” but the wound turned out to be fatal and on the third day, June 19, the ataman died. Suvorov reported this to Potemkin and wrote down the line below: “For joy - sadness: I paid my last debt to Sidor Ignatievich...”
And again I am in search: I read, search, ask... and then I find out that after the death of S. Bely, the favorite of the Cossacks, Kharko Chepega, was elected ataman. I was very interested in the order of the elections. In the old days, it was simple - by voting, at a gathering, after which the old men standing nearby with the white settlers, who themselves had once been powerful elders, picked up the dirt trampled by their boots from under their feet and placed it on the naked head of the elected chieftain. Dirt flowed down the face and mustache of the “clear noble”, so that the whole world would know that everything around is dust and decay, except for the liberties of the Zaporozhian army, which was not defeated by anyone and was not obedient to anyone!.. After the approval of this position, G.A. Potemkin gave Chepega an expensive saber, with which the new ataman subsequently came to Kuban.
How did events develop further? And again I'm searching. The year 1788 arrived. Potemkin, wanting to cut off the supply of food from the Khadzhibey fortress from the Ochakovo garrison (in other sources - Hadzhibey), sends a hundred Cossacks under the command of Captain Bulatov to set fire to Turkish stores (warehouses). But the Cossack hundred turned out to be powerless to carry out the order. Then on October 29, Chepega volunteered. With several brave Cossacks, under the cover of the black southern night, he made his way to Khadzhibey, and the coastal workshop began to burn. And on November 7, in the fortress itself, Chepega set fire to a barn with food. “God alone knows how he managed to do this...” notes Kuban historian I.D. Ass. For this feat he was awarded the officer's Order of St. George, IV degree. I follow the events and find out that in the field of Ataman Z.A. Chepega showed himself to be a man of great intelligence and a kind heart. Courageous and indestructible in battle, he remained calm even when seriously wounded near Bendery (a musket bullet hit him right through the right shoulder, from which he suffered greatly). A through bullet wound put him to bed for a long time. And having recovered, he again mounted a war horse and again distinguished himself in battles...
But the island of Berezan... (Berezan is a rocky island measuring 800 by 400 m opposite the mouth of the Berezan River near the Dnieper-Bug estuary, on which at the end of the 18th century there was a strong fortress Ottoman Empire. In honor of the capture of the island, one of the new kurens founded in the Kuban was named Berezansky). I find out that Prince Potemkin is trying to take it. Berezan stands menacingly on the way to Ochakov. Potemkin fails. He is in despair, hiding from people, lying on the carpets in his camping tent, biting his nails, “cowardly” and suddenly remembers the dashing Cossacks.
I leaf through the pages of newspapers and textbooks. I am looking for answers in them to the questions I have about the life of the Koshe chieftain. And now I find... I read with interest... Izmail... An impregnable fortress... (Izmail is a former Turkish fortress on the Kiliya branch of the Danube. During the Russian-Turkish War of 1787 - 1791, it was the citadel of Turkish military power on the Danube.) On December 11, 1790, Suvorov ordered its assault. The great commander instructed Chepega to lead the Second Assault Column to the powerful Turkish fortress. And in this formidable battle the chieftain showed miracles of courage. For his courage, he was awarded the Order of St. George, 3rd class, and the golden Ishmael Cross. The Zaporozhye Cossacks earned paternal thanks from Suvorov, which was a great honor for them.
State and public figures of Kuban
Famous, famous state and public figures of Kuban (Krasnodar Territory)
Zakhary Chepiga
Chepiga Zakhary Alekseevich, ataman of the Black Sea Cossack army, major general of the Russian army, active participant in the Russian-Turkish wars, founder of Ekaterinodar.
Born in 1726, died January 14, 1797. Metric data on the exact place of birth, birthday, first and last name of the ataman, his social status not preserved. It is possible that Chepiga received his new name in the Sich.
Chepiga arrived in Sich in 1750 at the age of 24 and was enrolled as an ordinary Cossack in the Kislyakovsky kuren.
He fought desperately and intelligently in the ranks of the Cossacks, and at the time of the liquidation of the Sich in 1755, he already held the position of colonel of the Protovchansky crossing.
The Zaporozhye Sich was liquidated by the Russian government for unauthorized actions and disobedience to the decrees of Empress Catherine II.
Some of the Zaporozhye Cossacks went to Turkey. Other Cossacks began to faithfully serve Russia and received the name “Army of Loyal Cossacks.”
Zakhary Chepiga was in the loyal army, he was awarded the rank of captain and served in 1777 in the convoy of Lieutenant General Prince Prozorovsky.
Zakhary Chepiga was patronized by Prince Potemkin. In 1782, he introduced the Cossack elders of the loyal army to Catherine the Great during her trip to Taurida. Among the Cossack elders was Zakhary Chepiga.
The Cossacks asked the empress to organize the former Cossacks into a special army. Catherine the Great gave such permission, and the Black Sea Cossack Army was organized.
On June 17, 1788, the first Ataman of the Black Sea Cossack Army, Sidor Bely, was mortally wounded in a naval battle near Ochakov. Zakhary Chepiga, who was at that time the chief of cavalry in the Cossack Army, was elected Ataman of the Black Sea Cossack Army.
Under the command of Ataman Zakhary Chepiga, the Black Sea Cossacks distinguished themselves during the capture of Ochakov. In 1790, the Cossacks showed incomparable courage and courage during the assault on Izmail.
Ataman Zakhary Chepiga showed personal courage and military talent. In this battle he was seriously wounded. Zachary Chepiga for this Turkish company was promoted to the rank of army brigadier and awarded the Order of St. George and St. Vladimir. Catherine the Great granted Zakhary Chepiga a “saber covered with precious stones.” For his heroism in military operations in Poland, Chepiga was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, second degree.
After the victory and the end of the Turkish War, the Russian government decided to resettle the Cossacks of the Black Sea Cossack Army to Kuban to guard the new southern borders of Russia.
Zakhary Chepiga took an active part in organizing the resettlement of the Cossacks to Kuban, in the founding of the Kuban capital - Yekaterinodar and Kuran villages.
Zakhary Chepiga did not know how to write or read; in his life on the march and constant battles there was no time left for mastering literacy, but he was a talented military commander and a good owner. In Kuban he had farmsteads and mastered gardening and viticulture.
The bronze figure of Zakhary Chepiga is part of the composition monument in the monument to Catherine II in Krasnodar.
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Slide captions:
Zakhary Chepega
At the beginning of July 1788, G. A. Potemkin issued a decree appointing a new ataman: “Based on courage and zeal for order and the desire of the army of loyal Cossacks, Khariton (that is, Zakhary) Chepega is appointed as ataman koshev. I announce this to the entire army, ordering it to be properly respected and obeyed.” As a sign of respect, the field marshal gave Chepega an expensive saber. Many documents have been preserved, mainly military orders and correspondence related to Zakhary Alekseevich, but on none of them we will find his autograph: the Koshevoy Ataman of the Black Sea Cossack Army was illiterate. A trusted officer signed the papers for him. If we add to this circumstance the fact that Chepega’s sister, Daria, was married to the serf peasant Kulish, who belonged to the landowner of the Poltava province, Major Levents, and her three sons, even when Chepega was an ataman, were listed “with the said landowner in the peasantry” (however, one of them, Evstafiy Kulish, fled during the Turkish war to the Cossacks, acquiring there “through various differences” the rank of lieutenant, then got married and, not wanting to move to Kuban, remained to live in the Kherson district), then the origins of Chepega’s pedigree are easily guessed.
In the Sich he had a reputation as an experienced and brave warrior, commanded cavalry, and participated in all the most important battles. When Izmail was captured, A.V. Suvorov instructed him to lead one of the assault columns to the fortress. For his military exploits, Chepega was awarded three orders and received the rank of brigadier. But not only his military path was marked by awards: enemy bullets overtook the Cossack more than once. However, here we are given the opportunity to give the floor to the hero of our story: Chepega’s letter to military judge Anton Golovaty, with whom he had sincere friendship, has been preserved in the archive. This letter was written on June 19, 1789, immediately after the heated battle with the Turks at Bendery, for which, by the way, the Black Sea people, who fought together with the Don and Bug Cossacks, received gratitude from M. I. Kutuzov. Talking about the losses of the enemy, captured Turkish banners and prisoners, Chepega further writes: “Three of ours were wounded and one person was killed, 6 horses were lost and three were wounded; Yes, and I got caught, the bullet pierced my right shoulder through and I’m unlikely to recover soon, it’s very difficult for me. Woe to the poor orphan... and we can’t get any money in time, but let’s just be like this, let’s endure, and pray to God, and rely on him, let him be a helper and intercessor, seeing our justice... then forgive, dear brother, friend and comrade, for I, having wished you successful success in all your undertakings, remain with true respect..."
Chepega had to serve as ataman for almost ten years, and the main event in his activity, from the point of view of both his contemporaries and descendants, is, of course, the founding of Ekaterinodar and the first Kuban villages. Chepega with his army and baggage traveled by land; at the end of October 1792, he arrived at the Eya River, where he spent the winter in the so-called Khan town at the Yeisk Spit. He reported to Golovaty that he was satisfied with the inspection of these places, the land was “capable” for arable farming and cattle breeding, the waters were healthy, and the fishing... “I have never seen such extremely abundant and profitable ones and nothing like this has ever been heard of...” Let us note that the riches of the new region were appreciated not only by the Cossacks, who had to plow and protect these lands, but also by their Kerch, St. Petersburg and other commanders, large and small. Notable in this regard is this order from Chepega to Colonel Savva Bely in Taman on January 29, 1793: “...His Excellency Mr. Major General Tauride Governor and Cavalier Semyon Semenovich Zhegulin needs fresh red fish and freshly salted caviar, and therefore I recommend your honor to make an effort as much as possible to get it and send it by courier both to His Excellency and to the provincial prosecutor serving under him, Captain Pyotr Afanasyevich Pashovkin, the secretary to the collegiate protocol officer Danil Andreevich Karev and to the entire provincial chancellery...”
On May 10, 1793, Chepega set out with the Cossacks to the Kuban River to set up border cordons, and on June 9 he stopped a camp in the Karasun Kut, where “he found a place for a military city...” In the following months, he carried out persistent correspondence with the Tauride governor, seeking approving the city and sending a land surveyor, appointing builders, appointing a mayor... In the spring of 1794, with the direct participation of the ataman, a lottery was drawn for lands for future kuren settlements and on March 21 a statement was drawn up “where the kuren is assigned a place.” But already in June 1794, Chepega left the “newly built” military city, setting off on the orders of Catherine II with two regiments on the so-called Polish campaign. On the way to St. Petersburg, he is invited to the royal table, and the empress herself treats the old warrior with grapes and peaches. For participation in the Polish campaign Cossack chieftain promoted to general. This was his last military campaign. A year after returning to Kuban, on January 14, 1797, Zakhary Chepega died from old wounds and a “stabbed lung” in Yekaterinodar, in his hut built in an oak grove above Karasun. His funeral took place on January 16. The funeral chariot, drawn by six black horses, was accompanied by kuren atamans and foremen, foot and horse Cossacks, who fired rifles and a three-pound military cannon every time the church stopped and the priest read the Gospel. Twelve stops were made along the way from the house to the church, and twelve volleys echoed loudly over the city. In front of the coffin, according to custom, they carried a lid with two sabers placed crosswise on it - the hetman's and the royal, given to the ataman; two of his favorite riding horses were led on the sides, awards were carried on pillows made of thin green cloth, and in front of them - the Ataman's mace... Chepega was buried in the military fortress “in the middle of the place designated for the cathedral military church.”
The description of his funeral was compiled by the military clerk Timofey Kotlyarevsky for Anton Golovaty, who was at that time outside the region, on the Persian campaign, and a copy of this document remained in the military archive. Ninety years later, military archivist Varenik added an interesting note to the reverse side of the sheet, in which he reported (for future generations?) that on July 11, 1887, while digging a ditch for the foundation of a new church on the site of the wooden Resurrection Cathedral, consecrated in 1804 and dismantled in 1876, graves were opened, which, according to their attributes, were recognized as the burial places of Chepega, Kotlyarevsky, military archpriest Roman Porokhnya, Colonel Alexei Vysochin, as well as a certain woman, according to legend, Golovaty’s wife Ulyana... These ashes were transferred to new coffins (the coffin for Chepegi was donated by Varenik himself) and reburied under the refectory of the church under construction. During the ceremony, a military choir sang and the ataman Ya. D. Malama was present... What else do we know about Chepeg? Since the old chieftain “died single, and therefore childless,” historians were somehow not interested in his descendants. The branch of his family through his sister Daria Kulish was lost somewhere in Ukraine. It is noteworthy that the children of his nephew Eustathius, Ivan and Ulyana, “appropriated” the surname Chepega and then laid claim to the inheritance. Another nephew, Evtykhy, the son of Chepega’s brother Miron, rightfully bore the Ataman’s surname, since, having lost his father early, he was taken by Zakhary Chepega as a minor and was with him all the time. Before his death, the ataman, who did not see the need to make a spiritual will, called Eutychius from the farm, handed him the keys and “some papers” and talked for a long time about something in private... Lieutenant Colonel Eutychy Chepega also made his contribution to history: in 1804 he brought to Kuban from Mirgorod the famous sacristy and library of the Kiev-Mezhigorsky Monastery, which belonged to the Zaporozhye army. Eutychius died in 1806, and among the property described in his house were sabers that belonged to the late chieftain.
E. D. Felitsyn, who published a biographical note about Zakhary Chepega in 1888, claimed that one of them, a gold one, granted by the Empress, “is still kept in one old Cossack family.” History has not preserved Chepega’s portrait. According to P.P. Korolenko, who at the end of the last century wrote down many legends heard from old-timers, he was “short in stature, with broad shoulders, a large forelock and mustache” and generally represented “a type of stern Cossack.” They say that once a painter came to Chepega. “Your Excellency, I think I’ll take your part portrait away.” Chepega: “Are you a painter?” Otvich: “Painter.” “So paint is a god, but I was a general painter, you don’t need to paint me...”
A memorial sign was installed on the building of the Kuban Medical University to the founder of Ekaterinodar, Zakhary Chepege. Two hundred s extra years Back in this place stood the house of the Koshe Ataman of the Black Sea Cossack Army, to whom not a single monument or memorial sign has yet been erected in the city. Those who are at least a little familiar with the history of the Kuban Cossacks, when mentioning Chepeg, will remember that Catherine II fed him grapes, that she gave him a saber studded with diamonds, that he was illiterate - others signed letters for him. But few people know that it was Zakhary Chepega who found the place where the Cossacks laid the foundation for Ekaterinodar-Krasnodar. He also led the landing of the Black Sea Cossacks on the Taman Peninsula. And the first winter after receiving the highest charter for the development of these lands, he and his army spent almost in the steppe, with great human losses. No reliable images of the Koshevoy ataman have survived, but it is known for certain that Chepega fought heroically in Russian-Turkish war, was loved by the Cossacks and, for all his severity and severity during military campaigns, in fact, was kind soul a person and rarely refused help and protection to anyone.
The work was completed by a student of grade 8 “A” Bichurina Khristina
