General of Infantry Gerasim Alekseevich Kolpakovsky
When recounting the lives of Russian military orientalists, it should not be forgotten that most of them are famous not only as scholars but also as unparalleled commanders, as is the case with General Skobelev. Among similar officers who fought for the glory of Russian arms in Turkestan, one cannot fail to mention the name of General of Infantry Gerasim Alekseevich Kolpakovsky.
In addition to the fact that this knight of the Orders of St. George of the 3rd and 4th degrees is associated with the conquest of Kokand, Gerasim Alekseevich entered history as the first researcher of the archaeological mysteries of Issyk-Kul. But more on that later.
Let us begin with the biography of this man. According to some sources, Gerasim Alekseevich was born in 1819 into a noble family in the Kharkov province. He entered military service on January 6, 1835, as a private in the Modlin Infantry Regiment in Sevastopol. Soon he was promoted to non-commissioned officer, and in 1840, as part of General N.N. Raevsky's detachment, he participated in a landing operation against the mountain peoples along the Black Sea coastline. Upon returning to Sevastopol for his service distinctions, he was promoted to ensign on April 1, 1841.
The following year, he was appointed regimental adjutant, and from January 1, 1844, he served as regimental quartermaster. In early 1844, he was sent with the regiment to the Caucasus and placed under the command of Major General V.I. Gurko, and in October, he was promoted to second lieutenant. The following year, he distinguished himself in actions against the mountain peoples near the Vozdvizhensky fortification, and in early 1846, he was awarded the Order of St. Anna of the 4th degree with the inscription "For Bravery." Soon the Modlin Regiment was returned to Russia, and Kolpakovsky received the rank of lieutenant and the position of regimental treasurer. In 1848, as part of the troops of the 5th Infantry Corps, he participated in the campaign in Moldavia and Wallachia. During the Hungarian campaign, he was in the detachment of General A.N. Liderz and participated in several battles (near the locality of St. George under Hermannstadt, etc.). That same year, he was promoted to staff captain and awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of the 4th degree with swords and a bow. In 1851, he was appointed adjutant of the 1st Brigade of the 15th Infantry Division.
Then, on January 17, 1852, Gerasim Alekseevich found himself in Western Siberia - he was appointed adjutant to the commander of the Separate Siberian Corps and the Governor-General of Western Siberia, G.X. Gasfort. In 1854, he took the position of senior adjutant of the staff of the Separate Siberian Corps and was promoted to captain. On January 23, 1855, for his service distinctions, he was promoted to major and appointed to act as the Berizovsky District Chief. In 1858, due to his appointment as chief of the Alatav District and the Kyrgyz of the Great Horde, he moved to the fortress of Verny; in 1860, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and participated in Colonel A.E. Zimmermann's Zatchuysky expedition, during which he stormed the Kokand fortresses of Tokmak and Pishpek. On the Kara-Kastek River on October 21, 1860, forty-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Gerasim Kolpakovsky, commanding a separate detachment of about one thousand men formed from Cossacks and light Kazakh cavalry, engaged in battle with the invading sixteen-thousand-strong Kokand army in the Zailiysky region. In a three-day battle at the Kastek fortification (near Uzun-Agach), he inflicted a crushing defeat on the enemy and even organized the pursuit of the retreating Kokand forces. For this feat, he was promoted to colonel and awarded the Order of St. George of the 4th degree.
In 1862, he again commanded a detachment conducting reconnaissance across the Chu River, reoccupied Tokmak, and after a ten-day siege, captured and destroyed the fortress of Pishpek. For his distinctions in these operations, he was promoted to major general. In 1864, Kolpakovsky was entrusted with command of the troops in the Semipalatinsk region, and with the establishment of the Semirechye region in 1867, he was appointed its military governor, acting ataman of the Semirechye Cossacks, and commander of the troops stationed in the region. On March 28, 1871, Kolpakovsky was promoted to lieutenant general; for his successful organization and leadership of military operations in the Kulzhin campaign, Gerasim Alekseevich was awarded the Order of St. George of the 3rd degree.
During the absence of the Turkestan Governor-General Kaufman, he repeatedly performed his duties, and during the Khivan expedition, he managed the logistical support of the Turkestan detachment and served as the head of the military-national administration. In the Kokand War of 1875-1876, he commanded the expeditionary detachment that occupied the khanate and announced the annexation of its territory to the empire under the name of the Fergana region. In 1882, after the establishment of the Steppe Governor-Generalship, he was appointed the first steppe governor-general and commander of the troops of the Omsk military district. In 1883, he was enrolled in the Semirechye Cossack army. On August 30, 1885, he was promoted to full general - one of the very few full generals in Russian history who did not have a special military education and rose to such ranks starting from private.
In addition to his military feats, Kolpakovsky is famous as an active member of the Russian Imperial Society of Naturalists, Anthropology, and Ethnography. It was to this organization that the scholar transferred a rich collection of military trophies he personally gathered during his years of service in Semirechye. For his contribution to the development of Russian military science, the researcher was awarded a gold medal by the society. During his campaign to the city of Kulja, Gerasim Alekseevich collected an extensive collection of artifacts. It represents a collection of numerous items of material culture from various local peoples - Kyrgyz, Uighurs, Dungans, Sibo, Salons, and others.
The acquaintance of M.D. Skobelev with Queen Alaya