The Defeat of Pulat-Khan at Uch-Kurgan

Uch-Kurgan Defeat of Pulat Khan

Nasr-Eddin Khan, who was eagerly following the events in the khanate and seeking a suitable moment, attempted once again to regain the khan's throne with the help of the Tsarist regime after the defeat of the rebels in Assaka. On January 22, he left the city of Khojent and stopped at the village of Kainar (according to some sources, the village of Naimancha—K.U.) located 9 versts from Kokand. Here, Nasr-Eddin was preparing to seize power in the Kokand Khanate. Fearing to enter the city of Kokand, he sent his heralds there accompanied by 100 horsemen, who, according to local custom, proclaimed in the market the onset of the rule of Nasr-Eddin Khan. However, "the people got into a fight with his horsemen and killed 11 of them, while the others barely escaped." According to some reports, with the help of the feudal elite of the capital city and representatives of the Tsarist regime, Nasr-Eddin managed to temporarily occupy the throne of the Kokand Khanate on January 30. But the Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Kipchak, and Tajik working masses could not accept this. "The entire population of Andijan," reads an archival document, "the Kipchaks and Kyrgyz say: when the Russians (the Tsarist punitive detachment—K.U.) leave their borders, Nasr-Eddin will hold power for no more than a month. He will be driven out or killed." Indeed, soon the working people of these fraternal nations, united by common class interests and shared historical fate, rose up against the khan's power, defeating Nasr-Eddin and the feudal lords surrounding him. In this battle, Nasr-Eddin Khan lost 200 men killed and many wounded, and he barely escaped with his life. An eyewitness to this battle, the head of the Khojent district, wrote in his report: "The Kyrgyz and Kipchaks attacked him (Nasr-Eddin Khan—K.U.) at Kainar. After giving them battle, the khan fled, barely avoiding capture. He was defeated head over heels." The rebels pursued him to the village of Besh-Aryk, located near Khojent. Nasr-Eddin once again found refuge with his protector and patron—the Tsarist colonial administration. Now he had already stopped dreaming of the khan's throne in Kokand.

It is curious to note that on January 15, Pulat Khan sent a delegation of 14 people headed by Akhun-Damulla-Mir-Badal-Maulian to the head of the Khojent district, Baron Nolde. They requested permission to pass the delegation to the city of Tashkent for negotiations with the acting Turkestan Governor-General Kolpakovsky about concluding peace. However, the head of the Turkestan colonial authority, Kaufman, who was in St. Petersburg at the time, sent a telegram on January 21 instructing to detain this delegation in Tashkent until his arrival, which was carried out. While trying to negotiate with the administration of the Turkestan Governor-Generalship for peace, Pulat Khan did not lay down his arms and did not bow his head before the punishing forces. He continued to lead the actions of the rebels.

After receiving information about the betrayal of Aftobachi in Margilan, Pulat Khan killed three of his brothers and several other individuals. On January 26, he, along with the remaining rebels, moved to the village of Un-Kurgan, where he intended to repel the Tsarist troops. On January 27, 5,000 mounted rebels and 100 soldiers with 5 cannons settled down for the night in the mentioned kishlak. Pulat Khan and his close associates and soldiers occupied the fortified urda (center—palace—K.U.) of Uch-Kurgan, which consisted of two parts. In the first part were Pulat Khan and his entourage, while in the second were the soldiers with the cannons. Deep in the night from January 27 to 28, part of the punitive detachment, consisting of 450 soldiers and 6 rocket launchers, led by adjutant Baron Meller Zakomelsky, suddenly attacked the sleeping rebels and caught them off guard. As noted by the commander of the punitive detachment, the rebels, despite the surprise of the attack and the dark night, put up desperate resistance. The rebels, "recovering from the suddenness of the attack, rushed partly to defend the Urda, partly to the opposite bank of the river, from where they opened strong fire on the assault column." Although the rebels put up stubborn resistance, they could not withstand the well-armed and trained punishing forces. They suffered a complete defeat, and most of them perished in this bloody battle. As everywhere, the actions of the Tsarist punishing forces in Uch-Kurgan were bloody in nature. General Skobelev did not hide this. In his report dated March 12, 1876, it is stated that "dense crowds of mounted and foot enemies (rebels—K.U.) began to collide with the assault column. Salvos fired from a distance of several steps knocked the enemy down, leaving a pile of bodies in their place; individual people tried to break through the column but died on bayonets. Attempting to present their brutal actions as heroism, this Tsarist warrior further writes: "All those who did not manage to escape were slaughtered... The defenders of it (the urda—K.U.) after a desperate struggle were slaughtered... The enemy attempted to break through to the pack road of Karategin. He was attacked and cut down in large numbers." Many corpses of the rebels remained on the battlefield.

In Uch-Kurgan, as trophies, the punishing forces seized: 5 bronze cannons, 100 falconets, the banners of Pulat Khan and his associate Abdul-Mumin, a lot of various weapons, gunpowder and shells, 20 drums, 4 trumpets, property and provisions of the rebels, loaded on 189 camels. The punitive detachment lost 4 soldiers killed and two horsemen, and 5 lower ranks were wounded.

Pulat Khan managed to escape with a group of rebels from Uch-Kurgan to the Isfarin Gorge. Two days later, on January 30, he and his loyal ordinary rebels reached the high-altitude area of Alai and stopped in the area of Daraut-Kurgan. Here, the remnants of the defeated rebels gathered around him. However, weakened and bloodless, they did not manage to prepare for a defense against the punishing forces. They were attacked by a thousand armed horsemen led by the ruler of Karategin, Raim-Shah, who was trying to curry favor with the Tsarist authority, and he defeated them. Pulat Khan fled with several dozen rebels to Isfara, (there—to the Alai mountains, where he hid in a cave in the Chavay Gorge.

Some dissatisfied representatives of the feudal nobility reported this to the relevant authorities. Incidentally, after the defeat at Uch-Kurgan, the remaining companions of the uprising switched to the side of the Tsarist punitive detachment, trying in every way to assist it and help in capturing Pulat Khan. In this regard, the report of Major General Skobeleva dated March 12, 1876, deserves attention, in which it is stated that at the end of January, i.e., after the surrender of Abdurakhman Aftobachi, "against us (the Tsarist authority—K.U.) in the khanate remained only the bandit party (the rebels—K.U.) of Pulat Khan, but it numbered (only commoners) from the tribe of Kara-Kyrgyz: many pansats (representatives of the feudal nobility—K.U.) of this tribe were with us and expressed their readiness to assist in his (Pulat Khan's—K.U.) pacification."

January clashes of 1876 between the rebels and the punitive detachment