In previous articles of the series "Circassian Exodus," I wrote about the course of military actions in Transcaucasia in 1863-1864, about the Circassian expulsion, and about the peculiarities of barter trade at the posts of the Black Sea border line.
In this article, we will conclude the series by considering the issue of Caucasian prisoners of war during the same period. For the analysis of causes related to the administrative and criminal exile of the highlanders of the North Caucasus, we will refer to case №166 "List of exiled and prisoners of war highlanders from 1860-64" from fund 5 description 1 "Office of the Chief of the Main Administration of the Civilian Part in the Caucasus. 1859-1883" of the National Historical Archive of Georgia, which presents a list of 658 surnames of exiles, with a description of their cases.
There is a certain distinction in the measures applied to Caucasian prisoners of war, which allows for the identification of certain groups of exiles.
Firstly, there are the political exiles of the Zakatala district, participants in the Zakatala uprising of the autumn of 1863. The uprising was prompted by the confiscation of some lands from the local Avars and the imposition of increased taxes on the remaining plots. The sentences of the uprising participants, following court proceedings, were implemented in the second half of 1864 and the first half of 1865, grouping them at the end of the table in a uniform entry format. An exception is made for the leaders of the uprising, whose records are more detailed and comprehensive.
Administrative exile of prisoners faced logistical challenges due to the fact that transportation was conducted via river routes from the largest regional transit point in the city of Novocherkassk, in the Don Cossack Territory. From there, exiles were sent in various directions, the most challenging of which was to Siberia, with the city of Tomsk serving as the transit point. The lack of proper navigation, its seasonality, and duration led to high illness rates among the exiles and to the accumulation of prisoners in Novocherkassk. Additionally, the inability of prisoners to provide themselves with warm clothing led to high mortality rates. Therefore, the rules for transportation included provisions for checking the social status of the exile and their ability to self-sustain. Otherwise, arrangements were made for state-funded accommodation, which, however, was not always sufficient.
For a complete picture, let's quote the report of the Commanding General of the Kuban region, Adjutant General Evdokimov, on the military actions in the Kuban region for 1863-1864 (Source: State Historical Archive of the Republic of Georgia, fund 416, inventory 3, case №1190), mentioned in previous articles, in the part describing the provision for the imprisoned "highlanders": "Information on the amount of money issued from the Stavropol District Quartermaster's Office for the sustenance of imprisoned highlanders during the year 1864 and on the arrangement of their conditions.
Based on the rules approved by the late General Field Marshal Prince Vorontsov on July 6, 1847, the imprisoned highlanders, regardless of sex and age, were to remain for 3 months at our nearest posts for the exchange of Russian prisoners held in the mountains, and if at the end of this period the prisoners were not exchanged, they were sent in stages to Novocherkassk for further distribution. During these 3 months, they were maintained at the expense of the treasury, receiving daily rations at 7 kopecks per day (minors at 5 kopecks) and clothing as needed.
This order could be conveniently executed without significant expenses for the treasury when the number of prisoners was small and the exchange could be carried out successfully. However, this year, when our detachments and the troops of the advanced borders captured a significant number of highland families in almost every search, who either decided not to surrender in time or were unable to do so, but did not resist when encountering our troops, the order established by General Field Marshal Prince Vorontsov was no longer appropriate for the current situation. Firstly, because the captured highland families could not be exchanged for our prisoners; secondly, the treasury incurred considerable expenses for maintaining the prisoners and for constructing necessary clothing and footwear for them; and thirdly, sending them to Novocherkassk no longer served any purpose, as there was no need to remove the prisoners from this region. It was much more convenient and simpler to directly settle them among the tribes loyal to us or to place them in separate villages on lands designated for the indigenous population, if any such opportunity presented itself. Unfortunately, resettling them in the villages of subdued natives or in separate settlements was not always possible, as they were in a state of utter destitution, lacking any means to somehow establish their households in a new location and sustain themselves without assistance from the state treasury or private individuals.
In light of the extreme situation and considering the large number of captives in our hands, His Imperial Highness, the Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian Army, on January 13, 1864, No. 20, allowed for the mountain families, if they have no means of subsistence and if none of the subdued villages wish to accept them into their community with the obligation to care for their settlement, to be given to native landowners and affluent individuals, as well as private persons, for temporary service. This is while keeping in full force the provisions of General Field Marshal Prince Vorontsov regarding women and children taken not as part of families, but separately. According to these provisions, they can be given for upbringing to married military and civilian ranks; and also, to marry under conditions determined by the same decree.
As a result, it was instructed to the punitive Ataman of the Kuban Cossack Army and the acting chief of the Abadzekh district, under whose jurisdiction all the captive mountain families were placed, to sort all the prisoners already in their care, and those who will be delivered in the future, into 4 categories:
1. Families having means to establish a separate household and thus can be conveniently resettled immediately in one of the subdued villages.
2. Families not having sufficient means to live independently but for whom the communities of subdued villages have agreed to accept and take responsibility for their settlement.
3. Families of the elderly and minors who are willing to be taken for care of the elderly and education of children by charitable natives or Russian officials and Cossacks.
4. Families without any means of subsistence and not fitting into the first three categories.
a. All families of the first category should be settled, without any delay, either in subdued villages or, in cases of a large number of families, in separate villages, at the nearest discretion of the punitive Ataman of the Kuban Cossack Army and the acting chief of the Abadzekh district.
b. Families of the second category should also be sent without delay to villages that wish to accept them into their community.
c. Families of the third category should be given to charitable individuals who have expressed a willingness to take them for care or education.
d. Families of the fourth category should be given to native landowners and private individuals based on (continuation of the line is lost).
e. For all families of the last three categories, until their distribution as outlined above, portioned money should be provided, at the rate of 7 kopecks per adult per day and 5 kopecks for children under 7 years of age."
Thus, continuing the theme of the first two articles of this series, we can see how the campaign to expel the indigenous Caucasian population by the Russian authorities in 1863-1864 was a meticulously planned operation. This ruthlessly rational program accounted for the distribution of war-torn people, who failed to board Turkish ships, into various families as servants, forced wives, and adopted children, who were eventually meant to lose their Caucasian identity and faith.
Let's take a look at the data concerning the exile of Western Circassian (Adyghe) prisoners, which was conducted until the spring of 1864 under special regulations. The only amendment to these regulations was that the exile of mountain prisoners to Siberia should only be conducted in cases where the court had strictly and confidently determined the indefinite, lifelong nature of the exile. This was done to save costs since a short term or review of the case with subsequent changes in the duration and place of sentencing led to the need to return the prisoner. Given the high costs of transportation to Siberia and the long duration of this transportation (up to a year), such decisions led to excessive state expenses and excessive deprivation for the exiles.
From January 13, 1864, by the decision of the Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian Army, Count Evdokimov, mountain prisoners in Western Caucasus were no longer exiled from the region. Mountain families, if they had no means of subsistence and if none of the 'submissive' auls wished to accept them into their community with the obligation to care for their well-being, were given to local landowners and wealthy people, private individuals, for service for a period. Women and children, taken as prisoners not as part of families but separately, based on the old decree of Vorontsov from 1847, could be given for upbringing to married military and civil officers, and also marry under the conditions defined by the same decree.
This decision was taken due to the large-scale military actions in Western Caucasus from the autumn of 1863 to the summer of 1864, when large groups of highlanders were captured, which were difficult to detain. Furthermore, due to the destruction of settlements and the relocation of most of the local population to the Ottoman Empire or to controlled settlements on the left bank of the Kuban, the need for prisoner exchange and their detention away from the region was eliminated, as their influence was no longer seen as a threat to the state. Thus, prisoners were gradually resettled in those auls of submissive highlanders who decided to remain under the sovereignty of the Russian Empire and settled in the controlled areas designated by the authorities along the left bank of the Kuban River.
Let's examine the chart that indicates the distribution of places of exile, their durations, and reasons, for a detailed analysis of the trends.
Chart of the distribution of Caucasian exiles and prisoners of war for the period from 1860 to 1865.
An analysis of the trends allows us to draw the following conclusions.
Firstly, the number of recorded crimes across regions is evenly distributed over time in the Terek and Dagestan regions, with only minor spikes in crime throughout the period. The Zakataly District is predominantly represented by cases of participants in the autumn 1863 uprising, with the bulk of the sentences pinpointed in July 1864. The Kuban region stands out with spikes at the beginning and middle of 1861, after which it follows the general trend until the end of 1863. The peak values of autumn 1863 to summer 1864 correspond to uniform cases of prisoners of war, which in the case of the Western Adyghes (Circassians) are mostly described briefly - name, tribe, date of capture, destination, and very rarely the place of capture or case details.
Secondly, the analysis of crime trends leading to sentencing is divided into two parts. The crimes most often leading to life imprisonment included murder, theft and robbery, rebellion, banditry, cattle theft, attacks, uprisings, and sentences by their own communities - serious offenses against life and/or property. Rebellion and uprising are represented by the cases of insurrection leaders.
Thirdly, the cartographic nature of the data shows that, besides Siberian provinces, the Volga region, Ural, and Karelia - Vyatka, Samara, Olonets were also chosen for life exiles, correlating well with some known studies on the daily life of exiled highlanders during the period in question in the provinces of the Russian Empire.
As for crimes with a defined term of punishment, the maximum sentence was limited to 15 years, with a median value of 4-5 years. Typically, the main types of crimes in such cases were rebellions, complicity in murders, thefts, and attacks. Rebellions stand out in this category, with an average sentence of over 7 years of exile.
Fourthly, the type of punishment imposed by the court in the cases examined implied resettlement in a remote region for permanent or temporary residence, with only about a third of cases involving additional police supervision. Thus, the nature of the exile itself implied freedom of movement and activity at the place of exile. Nonetheless, a quarter of the cases involved assignment to penal battalions, actively used for cases where the crime was severe but did not warrant life imprisonment. This measure was also applied to exiled prisoners of war in cases of their rebellion in transit camps or places of exile, as a punishment.
Unfortunately, as with the analysis of barter trade in the previous article, we only have a short sample over a short period. The topic of Caucasian prisoners of war is very broad, with many articles highlighting individual trends or personal stories. This subject requires extensive and in-depth study. Of particular importance in this study are the fates of individual people and ethnic groups, such as the Ubykhs, for example. They were subjected to the most severe approach, exclusively exiled far from the Caucasus, where they quickly and completely assimilated if they survived. The author is aware of stories of Ubykh descendants in the Vologda and Saratov regions and the Far East. Uncovering these stories would be at least a noble endeavor and at most useful for understanding the historical fates of the peoples of the Caucasus.
But more on this in future articles!