Trip from Almaty to village of Uzun-Agach in Almaty region

"This is one of the most brilliant deeds of our weapons during the first movement into Central Asia. It took place on October 21, 1860. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Kolpakovsky there were three companies of infantry, four hundred Cossacks, two foot battery guns, four horse and two rocket launchers. The battle took place on the banks of the Kara-Kastek River. Having met with the army of Kanagatshah (Khudoyar Khan), Kolpakovsky, realizing that in a war with Asians it is not so much the number of troops that is needed, as the courage and surprise of the attack, advanced artillery under the command of the brave staff captain Vasily Obukh (who died during the capture of Tashkent in October 1864) to cannon shot. Under the cover of riflemen and Cossacks, he ordered to open fire on numerous crowds of Kokand people"

Report of General Gasfort to the governor of the region from November 10, 1860.

Information about the Battle of Uzungach from the Kazakh encyclopedia (history section).

"The Battle of Uzungach, 1860, took place in the vicinity of the modern village of Uzungach. The Uzung-Agach battle was preceded by the following events: in 1857, in the Chu River valley, a joint popular uprising of Kazakhs and Kyrgyz against the oppression and violence of the Kokand feudal lords took place.
Spontaneous uprisings in March 1858 grew into an uprising that engulfed the regions of Southern Kazakhstan in May. Russian troops, preventing the invasion of enemy troops and to deal with it, began to advance through the Chui Valley to the Kokand fortresses of Aulie-Ata (now the city of Dzhambul), Chimkent, and Tashkent.
In 1860, a detachment under the command of Colonel Zimmerman entered the Chui Valley to help the besieged Kastek and Ili fortifications. Having attacked the enemy camp on the Dzhiresh-Aygyr River, the detachment pushed them back and forced them to retreat to the left bank of the Chu River.
In 1860, with the support of the Kazakh sarbazes, Tokmak was taken, and on September 4, after a 5-day siege, the stronghold of the Kokand feudal lords in Semirechye, Pishpek, was taken. (now the city of Frunze). Concerned about the danger and loss of dominance in Semirechye, the Kokand Khan Khudoyar increased the number of garrisons of the fortresses of Aulie-Aty, Merke, Pishpek, Toyunshr and others, and in the autumn of 1860 he set out against the fortifications of Vernoye and Kastekskoye with two detachments (up to 20,000 men), having superiority over the Russian troops by more than 10 times.
The situation was complicated by the internecine strife of the Kazakh feudal lords. Many of them, attracted by the benefits of cooperation with the tsarist administration, took its side, while others, such as Sultan Sadyk (the son of Kenesary Kasymov), went over to the Kokand Khan.
The fortification of Vernoye and other settlements of Semirechye found themselves facing a serious threat. A detachment under the command of the head of the Alatau district, Lieutenant Colonel G. A. Kolpakovsky, opposed the invaders. The detachment, with the support of Kazakh sarbazes, after a 3-day (October 19, 20 and 21) battle in the Uzun-Agach area, won a decisive victory over the Kokandans, losing only two people killed and 32 wounded. The Kokandans lost 400 killed and 600 wounded.
In this battle, Kazakh horsemen distinguished themselves by attacking the enemy at the Saurukov Kurgan, named after the national hero Sauruka. With the capture of a number of Kokand fortresses and fortifications by Russian troops in 1862-1864, the rule of Kokand in Central Asia came to an end.
The defeat of the Kokand troops near Uzungach, the capture of Pishpek (now the city of Frunze) was the final stage in the annexation of Semirechye to Russia."

In our district center, the village of Uzyn-Agach, on a hill towering above the village, there has always been a tall white obelisk. It is visible from all around, even from Fabrichny. Since childhood, this monument excited our imagination, aroused a desire to learn the details about it.
But neither the old-timers nor the history teacher could really explain anything to us. They only said that this was a monument to General Kolpakovsky, the conqueror of this region, and it was erected in honor of some battle. Once upon a time, a cast-iron double-headed eagle, a symbol of autocracy, was located on its top, which in the thirties was "pulled from there by a tractor."
That's all we knew then. Let's try to clarify the details. 1859. The fortification was already founded True, but to the west of it the Kazakhs and Kyrgyz are still groaning under the yoke of the Kokand The main strongholds of the Kokand people in this region were the fortresses of Pishpek and Tokmak.
Further to the west, in the Chui Valley, Aulietas, Chimkent regions, in Karatau and Turkestan, the Kazakhs of the Great Horde roamed, formally accepting Russian citizenship, but were under the rule of the Kokand Khan. Between the fortified forts of Perovsky (Kyzyl-Orda) and Verny there remained an open space of more than 900 miles.
These were vast gates through which the Kokandans and the Kazakhs subject to them could at any time and with impunity penetrate into the Kazakh steppes, constantly robbing villages and driving away people and cattle. The natural means of protecting the Kazakh steppe from the invasion of robber gangs from the south was to connect the ends of the Syr Darya and Siberian guard lines, which allowed the entire southern border to be closed.
At that time, the position of the head of the Alatav district and the bailiff of the Great Horde was performed by Major Gerasim Alekseevich Kolpakovsky. In his youth, Gerasim Kolpakovsky "pulled the soldier's strap for six years and earned his first officer's rank in the deadly Caucasus."
He was an intelligent, fair and very active soldier. Kolpakovsky began to gradually prepare an offensive to the west, towards Tokmak and Pishpek. To this end, he moved a new picket ahead of Verny on Kaskelen, erecting a fortification on the site of the Kokand fortress of Tauchubek, destroyed by Ivan Karbyshev's detachment nine years ago (Here it should be clarified, in my opinion this is not the right place!).
Near the picket, the Kaskelen settlement (Lyubavino?) arose. The Kaskelen picket was covered by a small redoubt, where forty Siberian Cossacks were stationed. Their duty was to watch the road to Tokmak and Pishpek. In order to advance further west, it was necessary to set up the Uzung-Agach outpost with a redoubt at it, which was done.
The next fortified point was to be Kastek, located on the road leading to Issyk-Kul and the upper reaches of the Chu River. At the same time, it was necessary to find out what the Kokand forces were in Tokmak and Pishpek, how strong their position was, and on whose side the Kyrgyz population could come out.
This task was assigned to a detachment led by military topographer Staff Captain Mikhail Venyukov. His detachment consisted of six hundred and fifty men with a supply train of seventy carts and a camel caravan. In front were fifty Cossacks with two field guns.
Behind the advance detachment was an infantry company, and the second cavalry formation was moving. Between these rows were the "rocket men" with their machines, and behind them was the supply train, closed inside a human quadrangle. The last side of the square was made up of riflemen and two mountain guns.
It was necessary to move covertly, only at night, and during the day to hide in ravines and gorges. Having left Vernoye and passed the Kaskelen Gorge, the detachment began to move along the ravines. Here he was joined by the famous Kazakh batyrs, who had been friends with the Russians since 1849 and knew the first founders of this region (Abakumov, Karbyshev, Gutkovsky, Khomentovsky) well.
Among the Kazakh batyrs were: Suranshi-batyr (Suranshi Khakimbekov from the Shaprashty clan), Dikimbay (Dulat), Kozhagul Baiserkin, Shoyan Tolybaev, Sarybai Aidosov. G.A. Kolpakovsky noted that Suranshi-batyr trained his horsemen so well that they could be compared to professional soldiers.
Soon, the detachment reached the foot of Mount Suek-Tyube. To the north of this cold mountain, a place was chosen for the foundation of the Kastek or Burgun fortification. This point was eighty miles west of Verny. To the south of the construction site was the Kastek Pass and the river of the same name.
Leaving some of the people and the convoy in Kastek, Venyukov's detachment moved on to the Bish-mailak stream in order to reach the Karakunuz River, from where Tokmak was already visible. On May 26, 1859, the detachment crossed the ridge and, having traveled 47 miles along spurs, gorges and hollows, reached the Chu River.
The appearance of the Russian detachment in the Chu Valley frightened the Kokand people so much that they locked themselves tightly within the walls of Tokmak and Pishpek. The foundation of the Kastek fortification shocked the Kokand governor. The Kirghiz, who roamed in the vicinity of Tokmak and Pishpek, fully supported the Russians and even asked them to destroy the nearby Kokand fortresses.
But the Russians were strictly forbidden to undertake any offensive actions. Having surveyed the Chu River valley, the detachment returned to Kastek and then to Verny. Only 120 people remained in Kastek. During the campaign to Chu, Mikhail Venyukov described in detail the route from Verny to Pishpek, the road from Tokmak to Kastek, made several determinations of heights, and studied the life of the Kyrgyz.
The rulers of Kokand could not put up with the loss of their influence in Semirechye. In the spring of 1860, the ruler of the Kokand Khanate, Khudoyar Khan, moved his troops into Semirechye. Verny and other settlements were under threat. The Kokandans besieged the Kastek and Ili fortifications.
To protect them, a detachment of Lieutenant Colonel Zimmerman set out from Verny, gradually pushing back the Kokandans, and on August 28, 1860, took Pishpek, and then Tokmak. Having blown up the fortifications, Zimmerman's detachment returned to Verny. Having gathered an even more impressive army (about 40,000 people)Khaganateshah. Khudoyar Khan again moved to Kastek.
The Kokand army consisted of Kokand troops (infantry and cavalry) - about 20,000, the rest were Kazakhs and Kyrgyz. Having learned about the Kokand campaign, Lieutenant Colonel G. Kolpakovsky moved his detachment from Verny to the border fortress of Kastek and began to wait.
The Kokand army included the sons of the famous Kazakh Khan Kenesary Kasymov - the sultans Taichik, Sadyk and Akhmet with their sarbazes. Here is how their participant Sultan Akhmet Kasymov describes further events. Khudoyar Khan, having passed the Kastek Pass and the Yrgaity-Kayindy area with his numerous army, sent a detachment consisting of Kazakhs and Kyrgyz under the leadership of the sultans to Uzun-Agach with the order to take it and not let anyone near Kastek.
In Uzung-Agach there was a company of infantry, a hundred Cossacks and two cannons. The skirmishes continued for three days. On the night of the fourth day, the Russians retreated from Kastek and approached Uzung-Agach. At dawn, Kolpakovsky's detachment appeared near Uzung-Agach.
They opened fire from rifles and cannons and forced the sultans to retreat. After that, several more skirmishes took place between Uzung-Agach and Kastek. Finally, in the area called the Sauryk Batyr mound, Khudoyar Khan appeared at the head of his army.
Kolpakovsky's detachment stopped, the Kokandians, firing from rifles, attacked until midday. When the sarbazes approached the Russians, Kolpakovsky ordered seven (?) cannons to be loaded with grapeshot and fired a volley. After the volley, the Kokand sarbazes fell like rams, stricken with the disease topalang (a fast-acting contagious disease in which rams fall and die after several jumps).
700 sarbazes were killed, in addition, many mounted horsemen fell. The defeated Khudoyar Khan retreated and settled below Kastek, on the bank of the Zhiren-Aygyr River. At dawn the next day, he sent all the Kazakh and Kyrgyz troops under the command of the sultans Taichik, Sadyk and Akhmet against Verny.
Having passed Uzung-Agach, in the area called Kargaly, they left the "heavy" people, and themselves with selected horsemen from the Kazakhs and Kirghiz, numbering 500 people, having walked day and night, lay in ambush near Verny. The next day, early in the morning, they attacked the outskirts of the town and captured four Russian men and the daughter of a peasant.
By midday they had joined up with the people left in the Kargaly tract and returned to Kastek. It turned out that Khudoyar Khan had betrayed them, his army had retreated that same day and that he had sent them to Verny with a trick, with the expectation that the Russian army would not pursue the retreating troops.
The sultans caught up with him at the Yrgayty-Kaindy River. Arriving in Tokmak, Khudoyar Khan began to restore the fortress, and the sultans returned to Turkestan. Upon returning from the raid on Verny, the sultan brothers differed in their assessment of the events that had taken place: foreseeing the fall of the Kokand Khanate (800 Russians defeated 30,000 Kokandans!), the sultans Taychik and Akhmet went over to the Russian side, and Sultan Sadyk decided to continue the fight to the end.
Among the trophies on the battlefield were the symbols of power - an axe, banners with a bunchuk, red and white; a military orchestra - drums, kettledrums, trumpets; armor - chain mail, helmets and shields, pikes, sabers and sabers. The Kokandans and Dulatovtsy lost up to 1,500 sarbazes wounded and killed.
The losses of the Russian detachment were more modest and consisted of two killed Cossacks, 26 wounded and 6 shell-shocked soldiers and officers. In the list of heroes, among the shell-shocked was Gerasim Kolpakovsky. The heroes of the battle were awarded orders, ranks, personalized weapons, and the highest favor.
The exploits of the commander of the Uzun-Agach detachment, Lieutenant Sobolev, the Kastek military leader Ekeblad, the centurion Obukh and his mounted artillery division, and the esaul Butakov were especially noted. The latter was the first to bring news that the enemy had cleared the Kara-Kastek battlefield.
According to his report, at dawn on October 22, the commander Kanaat-Sha, saddened by the death of his beloved bacha, hastily left with the remnants of the army behind the Kastek Pass. The esaul Butakov himself died after the end of the three-day Semirechye war. Kolpakovsky received the rank of colonel and the military award of St. George, 4th degree.
The lower ranks were given military order insignia: 4 per infantry company, 3 per hundred, and 2 per artillery platoon. Among the heroes were the Cossacks of the Bolshe-Almatinskaya stanitsa Pavel Nabokov, Ivan Sedelnikov, Aleksey Cheusov, Garifulla Zelimkhanov, Fyodor Ulyashev, Semyon Kryukov, brothers Ivan and Andrey Lebedinsky, the Cossacks of the Kaskelen stanitsa Nikolay Ugryumov and Ivan Shapovalov, the Cossacks of the Sofiyskaya stanitsa Zakhar Bedarev and Andrey Monastyrev.
All participants in the glorious deed in Alatau received special insignia on their papakha "For Distinction in 1860". The further fate of Sadyk is interesting. He fought with the Russians during their capture of Turkestan, Tashkent, Kokand, Bukhara, Samarkand, Khiva, then fled to Herat (Iran), then to Kashgar, where the power belonged to the Kokandis. after the defeat of the Muslim state in Kashgar and Aksu by the Chinese in 1877, the wounded Sultan Sadyk crossed into the Russian-controlled territory of Kyrgyzstan in the Osh district, where he was pardoned.
Now let's get acquainted with another version of the battle of - "This is one of the most brilliant deeds of our arms during the first movement into Central Asia. It took place on October 21, 1860. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Kolpakovsky there were three companies of infantry, four hundred Cossacks, two foot battery guns, four horse and two rocket launchers.
The battle took place on the banks of the Kara-Kastek River. Having met with the army of Kanagatshah (Khudoyar Khan), Kolpakovsky, realizing that in a war with Asians it is not so much the number of troops that is needed, as the courage and surprise of the attack, advanced artillery under the command of the brave Staff Captain Vasily Obukh (who died during the capture of Tashkent in October 1864) to cannon shot.
Under the cover of riflemen and Cossacks, he ordered to open fire on numerous gatherings of Kokand people. The successful action of our artillery and rifle fire, to which the Kokandians responded with falconet and Turk fire, forced the enemy, gradually moving from one elevation to another, to retreat behind the Kara-Kastek River.
During this retreat, Staff Captain Obukh, having quickly brought one gun and one rocket launcher up a steep hill, inflicted heavy losses on the enemy columns at close range. Following the retreating Kokandians, the detachment crossed to the left bank of the Kara-Kastek and followed up the valley of this river, where Kolpakovsky intended to give the troops a short rest.
Meanwhile, the crowds of Kokandians, of whom there were initially up to 5,000, gradually increased in strength and began to outflank our troops from both flanks and even appeared from the rear. Thus, our insignificant detachment was at this moment of the battle surrounded on all sides by countless crowds of the enemy.
But here too, the successful action of our artillery on the nearest enemy columns and the bold attacks of the Cossacks under the command of the brave Yesaul Butakov, supported by the infantry, again dispersed these crowds, and the Kokandians did not have time to pick up the bodies of the killed during the hasty retreat.
During these actions, two strong enemy columns appeared from our right flank, one of which, consisting of infantry dressed in red uniforms and Persian black caps with a red top, occupied the heights and opened fire from falconets and Turks.
When the detachment, under the cover of a dense chain of riflemen, moved to attack these heights, the rear chain, deployed to ensure the repulse of an attack from the rear, was attacked by enemy mounted crowds. But this attack was repelled in time by the successful action of the artillery and the Cossacks under the command of Lieutenant Vranchevsky.
The chain, having huddled together and fighting back with bayonets, continued to follow the detachment that had moved to attack the heights. Upon reaching them, the riflemen advancing at the head of the detachment, under heavy enemy fire, immediately drove out with bayonets the Kokand foot soldiers who had taken up positions on the ridge and captured many weapons abandoned by the fleeing soldiers, including several large-caliber Turks.
In the hand-to-hand combat that took place here, the officers who were in the chain, inspiring the lower ranks, shot the Kokand men point-blank with their revolvers. The artillery that arrived in time, having had a devastating effect on the enemy ranks, completed the defeat of this column.
A similar fate befell another enemy column of foot soldiers, who had advanced with extraordinary courage to attack our right flank with unfurled banners, drums beating, and trumpets sounding. In repelling this column, the artillery under the command of Lieutenant Kurkovsky acted boldly and successfully, after which the enemy began to retreat hastily at all points.
The enemy's losses in this matter amount to 1,500 people killed and wounded. In the battle, the enemy, beyond expectations, showed very stubborn resistance: his attacks were very persistent and he repeatedly, with fury, rushed into hand-to-hand combat."
This is the official version of the battle. Both versions of the Battle of Uzungach are taken from the book "Sultans of Kenesar and Sadyk", written by Sultan Akhmet Kenesarin. Biographical essays of the sultans have been processed for printing and provided with notes by E. T. Smirnov.
The book was published by the Syr Darya Regional Committee in Tashkent in 1889. In 1992, this book was republished in Alma-Ata by the Zhalyn publishing house. And finally, the third version of the battle, set out in the textbook for the 9th grade of Russian schools "History of Kazakhstan", author Zh.K.Kasymbayev, Almaty, 1995.
Erected in 1859 in the border region of the Senior Zhuz and Northern Kyrgyzstan, the Kastek fortification became one of Russia's strongholds in this region. From here, the troops began their advance through the Chui Valley towards Shymkent and Tashkent.
In 1860, a detachment under the command of Colonel Zimmerman entered the Chui Valley. On August 26, Tokmak was taken, and on September 4, after a five-day siege, Pishpek, one of the main centers of power in Kokand. Despite the defeat, the Kokand khan sent two detachments with a total of 22,000 people towards Verny.
The Kazakh rulers were divided in two: those who leaned towards the side of the Sultan's son Kenesary Sadyk fought against the Russian troops, others supported the tsarist administration and were ready to confront the Kokond Khan. In October 1860, Russian troops led by the governor of the Alatau district Kolpakovsky fought with the Kokand troops. In a three-day battle (October 19 - 21, 1860) near Uzyn-Agash, the Kokand troops were defeated.
The Kokandis left over 400 people on the battlefield. The losses of the Russian side: two killed and 32 wounded. The defeat of the Kokandis near Uzungach was of decisive importance for stabilizing the situation in this area. From that time on, neither the Kokandis nor the hostile part of the Kyrgyz ever again thought about serious offensive actions in these places.
The Kazakh population, finally, after centuries of oppression and extermination by the Dzungars and Kokandis, were able to live peacefully, according to their customs and traditions. The advance to the west continued. In October 1862, Russian troops captured Pishpek for the second time.
An interesting fact is that the construction of the Verny-Pishpek telegraph line was completed in November 1862! In June 1864, Aulie-Ata (Dzhambul, Taraz) was captured, on September 22 - Chimkent, on July 17, 1865, Tashkent was liberated from the Kokandis. The wings of the two defensive lines - Siberian and Syr Darya - closed.
According to the February agreement of 1868, the Kazakh lands, previously dependent on Kokand, went to Russia and were subordinated to the Turkestan Governor-General. The unification of all Kazakh lands into one whole was complete. In honor of the Battle of Uzungach and in memory of the fallen Russian soldiers who laid down their lives for the liberation of the Kazakh people from the Kokand yoke, in 1885, a chapel was built in Verny, and in 1905, in the village of Uzyn-Agach, the first memorial structure in the Semirechye region was built - a 20-meter obelisk.
The obelisk is made of large blocks of hewn white granite and has the shape of a high pyramid. Currently, a rusty creaking weather vane in the shape of a flag is installed at the top of the pyramid. There is no memorial plaque on the obelisk. The monument is located at the highest point of the old Uzungach cemetery.
You can drive up to it from the south, if you turn off the Uzungach - Prudki highway immediately west of the bazaar. Years later, with the establishment of Soviet power in Semirechye, on June 8, 1921, a festival of the poor was held in the Uzung-Agach area, the program of which, in addition to the baiga and traditional dastarkhan, included the destruction of a historical monument.
Then, under the blows of the hero-hammerman Kamaletdinov and his comrades, cast-iron plaques and medallions with the names and portraits of the participants in the battle were knocked down and disappeared without a trace. The captured Kokand cannons, fastened with a chain, went to scrap metal.
And the valiant symbol of the battle, the eagle, tormenting the map of the possessions of the Kokand Khanate on the top of the obelisk. For many decades now, a half-ruined monument has stood on Saurukov Hill, senselessly desecrated by people, causing puzzled questions from those who care.
However, in the assessments of contemporaries, the Uzung-Agach battle is unworthy of mentioning even in unflattering criticism, they say, it is undoubtedly subject to oblivion among descendants. Moreover, at the foot of the ancient burial mound they have already managed to install an obelisk to the batyr Karasai, a new symbol of the past military glory of the republic
Geographic coordinates of Uzun-Agach battle site: N43°08'54 E76°00'45

Authority:
Georgy Parshin. "Essays on the history of the native land".

Photos by:
Alexander Petrov.