Bulgakov, Sergey Alekseevich

The year of his birth is unknown. In 1756, Sergei Bulgakov was already listed in military service. However, it is not known in which regiments and places Bulgakov spent most of his service. On April 14, 1789, he was promoted to major general and appointed head of one of the detachments formed to cover the Main Cherkasy Road from a surprise attack by the Turks, who, having made a landing on the eastern shore of the Black Sea in 1789 , occupied Anapa and Sudzhuk-Kale .

In 1790 , when the Turks, under the command of Batal Pasha , who raised against the Russian Kabardinians , moved to the Kuban , Bulgakov stood between the Kuban and Kumoy rivers and was appointed commander of one of the three detachments directed against Batal Pasha - which, however, was defeated General German earlier arrival of Bulgakov.

With the arrival of Count I.V. Gudovich to the Caucasus in late January 1791, a significant detachment was formed to capture Anapa. During the assault on Anapa on June 22, one of the convoys was commanded by Bulgakov and at the head of it broke into Anapa, for which he was awarded the Order of St. February 19, 1792 . George 3rd degree (No. 91)

In respect for the diligent service, courageous deeds and excellent courage shown during the assault by the corps under the command of General Gudovich of the city of Anapa with the extermination of the enemy who was there.

After that, the famous adventurer Sheikh-Mansur surrendered to Bulgakov, and then Bulgakov took possession of the fortress of Sudzhuk-Kale and destroyed all its fortifications.

Upon returning from this campaign, he was appointed commander of the right flank of the Caucasian line in 1792 and, together with Ivan Gudovich, contributed a lot to the construction of new villages and the resettlement of Don Cossacks to these places ^[1] .

In 1793, attacks by the townsfolk of Greater and Lesser Kabarda began on the border line, forcing Bulgakov to constantly be on campaigns to pursue the highlanders. In 1794, he intercepted the firman of the Turkish Sultan, who called on mountain tribes to revolt against Russia.

In 1796 , when a special detachment was formed under the command of Count V.A. Zubov to march on Derbent , Bulgakov was appointed commander of one of the eight divisions of the detachment. On April 15, 1796, Bulgakov was already in Tarki , then along an extremely uncomfortable road he hurriedly moved to Derbent; overcoming incredible difficulties, he crossed the mountain range at Darbach and overlaid Derbent. Sheikh Ali, after stubborn defense, surrendered on May 10. Empress Catherine II , generously rewarding all the participants of this campaign, granted Bulgakov the Order of St. Anne . Then Bulgakov moved to Baku , conquering the mountaineers living on the way, occupied this city, as well as Cuba . After that, according to the instructions of Zubov, Bulgakov made an expedition against Khan Kazi-Kumukh , occupied the village of Akhty and began to procure food for his detachment.

For all these actions, Bulgakov was promoted to lieutenant general on June 26, 1796, and he was entrusted with command of the 19th Infantry Division. Soon it was entrusted to him, until the final demarcation of lands between the Cossacks living along the Terek and the Kara-Nogais roaming along the river. Kume, put the line so that everyone knows their plot, and thereby stop their endless quarrels and complaints.

Meanwhile, Catherine II died, and Emperor Paul I sent each regiment commander a special High Command to immediately return to the empire, and then Zubov was dismissed from all posts. He surrendered the command of the troops to Bulgakov, as a senior officer, and went to Astrakhan . In 1801, Bulgakov, with the production of general-from-infantry, was dismissed from service and was retired until 1806, when, at the request of the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the troops in the Caucasus, Count Ivan Gudovich , he was again recruited and appointed commander troops on the Caucasian line.

Upon arrival in Georgievsk , Bulgakov was ordered to take under his command the Glazenap detachment operating in Dagestan . At that time, the Circassians, and especially the Kabardians, constantly raided the Russian villages and Cossack villages. To combat predators, Bulgakov often undertook expeditions to the lands of the Circassians and ravaged their villages.

Soon, by order of Gudovich, he moved to Baku to punish the Baku people for the treasonous murder of Prince Tsitsianov . Approaching Baku, Bulgakov invited the residents to surrender, relying on the mercy of the Sovereign Emperor; otherwise he threatened to ruin the city to the ground. Baku People met Bulgakov a few miles from the city gate and brought him the keys to the city. On October 3, 1806, Bulgakov occupied Baku, solemnly transferred the body of Tsitsianov, buried near the city wall, into the Armenian church of the city, and drove his killer through the ranks and exiled to Siberia .

After a short stay in the Khan’s palace, Bulgakov, leaving the garrison in Baku, moved to conquer the Cuban Khanate and the Kazikumykh plane . With the approach of Bulgakov to Cuba, Sheikh Ali Khan fled to the mountains, where he began to worry mountain tribes, and the inhabitants of Cuba obeyed and took the oath of allegiance to Russia in November 1806.

During the reverse movement, Bulgakov’s detachment suffered a lot from the cold, bad weather and the onset of frost, and this circumstance deprived him of the opportunity to immediately speak out against the highlanders, as Gudovich had prescribed him. Only in the spring of 1807 did Bulgakov move to the Khankal gorge, strongly fortified by the highlanders, stormed it and, although it suffered huge losses, it took possession of the gorge and opened the way to the very heart of Chechnya , where the highlanders fought hard until the Caucasus was finally conquered.

Bulgakov managed to conquer only two independent societies of Chechnya, Gekhi and Atagi , but he devastated a lot of villages and did terrible harm to the Chechens. Gudovich was dissatisfied with Bulgakov, in particular because “having delayed two months by speaking on an expedition, he gave these Chechens the opportunity to prepare for his meeting, to make clearing, trenches and generally impede movement."

Pacifying the highlanders, Bulgakov also had to fight the plague that penetrated Russian borders from Persia and Asian Turkey through the lands of the rebellious highlanders. In 1808, Bulgakov was commanded by the Highest to act in relation to the plague "collectively and mutually" with the civil authorities of the region. He made an extensive cordon line from the shores of the Caspian Sea to the river. Labs, which separated the Caucasian province from the lands of the Black Sea army . Some quarantines along this line were subordinate to the civil authorities, others to the military. This procedure for managing the cordon line caused Bulgakov’s constant wrangling with the civilian department, which later became extremely complicated. The use of the cordon was significantly reduced from the incessant raids of the mountaineers, to the extent that their parties appeared near Mozdok and Stavropol .

In May-July 1809, General Bulgakov was in a camp near the Konstantinogorsk fortress for operational actions in the center of the Line and to calm visitors of Mineralnye Vody ^[2] .

To somewhat secure the Russian settlements from the Zakuban highlanders, Bulgakov put forward two strong detachments ahead of the line, but even after that the raids continued; by the way, the rich village of Kamennobrodskoye , in the Stavropol district, was destroyed. This prompted Bulgakov in early 1810 to undertake a campaign for the Kuban. General A.P. Tormasov, who ruled the Caucasus at that time, did not give his consent to this campaign, considering it best to act on convicts. But Bulgakov received the highest permission from the omnipotent Arakcheev then for the planned enterprise and moved for the Kuban. He stormed all the rubble and fortified places, burned and destroyed more than two hundred villages, penetrated places that were considered inaccessible by the highlanders, but despite all this the results of the campaign were insignificant.

Upon the removal of the Russian troops, the Highlanders again embarked on the raids and attacked the villages of Priblizhnaya and Prokhladnaya. Kabardinians also participated in these raids, among which the uprising did not become universal only because Bulgakov quickly moved troops to Kabarda, occupied the entire Kabardian plain, and on September 9, 1810 brought the Kabardins solemnly sworn. However, a significant number of Kabardinians gathered over the river. Malkoy, on the plain against Prokhladnaya. Bulgakov went to them with persuasion; they were boldly opposed by their chief foreman, Prince Izmail-bek Atazhukov; then Bulgakov ordered the arrest of him along with others.

The unrest in Kabarda subsided, but many complaints were sent to Petersburg against Bulgakov, written by the same Atazhukov, who had personal reasons for displeasure against Bulgakov. At the same time, Bulgakov’s disagreement with the local civilian authorities reached extreme limits. Tormasov could not stop these wrangles and in 1810 presented the case, through the Minister of Internal Affairs Kozododlev , to the highest discretion.

On September 7, 1810, the Highest Rescript took place in the name of General Verderevsky , who was commanded, as governor-general, to inspire the Astrakhan and Caucasian provinces, investigate quarantine abuse and enter into a closer examination of disagreements between Bulgakov and the Caucasian civil governor Malinsky .

Meanwhile, Bulgakov was engaged in the resettlement of 2,000 Kabardian families from auls to the borders of Russia, on empty lands along the river. Qume. This resettlement was accompanied by decisive measures, since the Kabardinians, although they were in a rather miserable position in their country, did not want to leave for new places; often had to resort to military force.

In 1810, Bulgakov made an expedition to the milestone of the river. Chereka to keep Abazinians in obedience. Bulgakov also intended to resettle them from the mountains beyond the cordon line. In general, he was very concerned about the space entrusted to him by the land, populated by a warlike, treacherous and predatory people who did not want to obey; it was possible to restrain him in obedience only by military force, which Bulgakov had very little at his disposal.

In addition, the communications were in the most pristine state. At that time, on the tract from Georgievsk to Hot Waters there were neither villages, nor post stations, nor a built road. By order of Bulgakov, in 1811, stations were built from Cossack horses at the posts of Lysogorsky, Konstantinogradsky and Kislovodsky . If possible, he cared about maintaining navigation along the rivers and forbade the construction of dams on them, especially on the Terek . This concern of Bulgakov was also one of the reasons for his bickering with the civilian department.

Meanwhile, Major General Verderevsky , executing the assignment entrusted to him, demanded various explanations from Bulgakov, and Bulgakov, who was in his duties in constant traveling and moving, could not, and did not want to give explanations.

In 1811, upon the arrival of the new chief chief of General Rtishchev , Bulgakov was forced to relinquish his position as Lieutenant General Musin-Pushkin and then left for Russia, where in 1824 he died from an apoplexy blow, leaving behind him the memory of a straightforward and brave warrior.

A. S. Bulgakov's daughter, Lyubov Sergeevna (1791–3.7.1848), was married to retired lieutenant colonel Nikolai Mikhailovich Voznesensky (1773–1839) ^[3] .

• Bulgakov, Sergey Alekseevich // Military Encyclopedia : [in 18 vol.] / Ed. V.F. Novitsky [et al.]. - SPb. ; [ M. ]: Type. t-va I. D. Sytin , 1911-1915.
• Bulgakov, Sergey Alekseevich // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.
• Potto V. A. “The Caucasian War.” T. 1. - Stavropol, 1994