Draft:Defense of Alexandrovsky Fort (1870)

Defense of Alexandrovsky Fort or Siege of Alexandrovsky Fort is the battle that took place between Russian soldiers and the rebels of Aday on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea (now Kazakhstan) in 1870.

A small Russian garrison under the leadership of Major Yegor Zelenin defended itself for 3 days against a large number of rebels of the local Kazakh Aday tribe. A significant advantage to the fort's garrison was the presence of artillery, although its ammunition, like other small arms, was extremely limited. The garrison also experienced extreme shortages of food and drinking water. The timely arrival of units of the Caucasian Military District on the peninsula may have saved the garrison from death..

History of Alexandrovsky Fort
In 1834, near Kaydak Bay in the Kiziltash tract, the Novoaleksandrovskoe fortification was founded in order to prevent sea robbery, counteract the Kazakhs of the Adaev family and at the same time serve as a transshipment point for trade with Khiva. However, due to its inconvenient strategic location, in 1846 it was moved to the Mangyshlak Peninsula to Cape Tyub-Karagan and named the Novopetrovsky fortification. Subsequently it was renamed Fort Aleksandrovsky. Together with the adjacent territories, it was under the jurisdiction of the Orenburg province, and since 1868 - the Orenburg Governor-General of the Ural Region. On February 2, 1870, the Mangyshlak police station (county) with the Alexander Fort was transferred to the jurisdiction of the Caucasian governorship and, in fact, was under the direct department of the head of the Dagestan region. .

The fort was located on a small hill and was surrounded by a stone wall 4 meters high and 2 meters wide.There were 14 guns on the bastions and walls, including 8 old-style copper 6-pounders cast in 1809.

Prerequisites
In 1870, an uprising of the local Kazakh Adai tribe broke out on the Mangyshlak Peninsula, who opposed the introduction of new administrative reforms among them. On March 15, the Mangyshlak bailiff, Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Rukin, with a detachment of fifty Cossacks and several honorary biys , set out into the steppe in order to “punish the rebels” and introduce a new position among them. However, on the way, his detachment was surrounded by a large number of rebels. On March 23, Rukin sent one of the nukers of the top-range manager of the mediocre cornet bey, Muhammad Mayaev, to the fort for help, and he himself entered into negotiations with the rebels. Their leader, Sardar Isa Tlenbaev, invited the detachment to lay down their arms, after which he would not interfere with their movement to the fort. Rukin also ordered his Cossacks to do this. However, after the latter laid down their arms, the Adaevites attacked them and killed some of them, and took them prisoner in others. Seeing this, Lieutenant Colonel Rukin shot himself.

Negotiations (April 5th)
On April 5, Biy Isa Tlenbaev sent a group of parliamentarians led by his relative to the Alexander Fort with a letter in which he, denying his involvement in organizing the uprising, wrote that since Rukin “did not get along with the people ,” they captured him and his former he captured the Cossacks. Tlenbaev suggested that Zelenin expel all the Adaevites who were in it from the fort, after which he would release Rukin and two officers from captivity. At the same time, Tlenbaev proposed that Zelenin himself appear at the place appointed by him for the exchange.

Major Zelenin, who already knew about Rukin’s death, detained the envoy and sent the biy to say that it was not appropriate for him (Zelenin) as a superior to appear to a subordinate. He also ordered to tell Tlenbaev that if he personally brings Rukin to the fort, he will be awarded the highest award. At the same time, the letter to Tlenbaev was sent with the poorest Kazakhs and on the “worst horse ,” which greatly offended the biy.

Assault (April 6th)
On April 6, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, dense and disorderly masses of foot and horse rebels began to attack the fort from the eastern side. As the attackers approached firing range, massive fire was opened from all guns and rifles from the fort. Despite the limited amount of ammunition in the fort and the unknown of how long the siege would last, Major Zelenin ordered increased fire that day. By this he wanted to convince the rebels that the Russian garrison, despite its small numbers, had a significant advantage over them in firepower. After the first salvos, the rebels hastily retreated. The Adayevsky riflemen, hiding behind mountain ridges and stones, began to fire back at the fort.

Towards evening, the rebels attempted to occupy a commanding height near the fort, which dominated the surrounding area, including the fort itself. After a significant party of rebels was noticed moving towards that hill from the 5th bastion of the fort, a group of 20 Cossacks with a constable (according to another version, 12 people) also rushed there, around the same secret paths. Having managed to climb the mountain before the rebels, the Cossacks stopped the rebels climbing it with volley rifle fire, who, having picked up the dead and wounded, retreated back.

The skirmish between the rebels and the defenders of the fort that day continued until 8 o'clock in the evening. That same night, a field gun was dragged to the commanding height occupied by the Cossacks near the fort.

Futher Siege( April 7th-8th)
On the day of April 7, the rebels did not launch attacks, but only having captured the fort in a tight ring, they continued the siege. They cruised along the coast on captured fishing boats..

On the night of April 8, the rebels attacked the Armenian quarter, where there was a bazaar and trading shops in residential buildings. Adaevites “out of anger” broke doors and broke glass, after which they stole the property of the Armenians. The latter asked Zelenin to open fire on the Adaevites, but he, for fear of burning the suburb, initially refused to do so. However, after the Armenians said that “it would be better if the cannonballs burn our houses, so that the property does not go to the Kyrgyz ,” Zelenin ordered to open fire with grapeshot. In total, that night the garrison fired up to 2 thousand rifle cartridges and more than 25 artillery charges from each of the 14 guns. In the morning, after the rebels had retreated to a safe distance, the Armenians went down to their houses and, returning to the fort, reported that “everything that was in the shops had been plundered completely” and that there also lay a large number of dead bodies of Adaevites mutilated by grapeshot fire.

Meanwhile, the position of the fort garrison became more and more critical. Ammunition and food were running out. The Cossacks, standing guard on the ramparts without shifts, reached the point of physical exhaustion. Plus, there were no wells in the fort, and both the garrison and the settlers sheltering in the fort experienced an extreme lack of fresh water. At the same time, the scouts informed Zelenin about the arrival of significant reinforcements to the rebels on April 8 (their total number had already reached 10 thousand people). The scouts also reported that the main assault was scheduled for the night of April 9-10.

On the night of April 9, the rebels, descending from the mountains, made a demonstration attack on the fort from the southern gate, but, met by grapeshot and rifle fire from its defenders, they bypassed the fort from the eastern side, where they were also driven back. However, during the clashes, the Cossacks were forced to leave the lower fortification and retreat to the fort. The Armenian quarter was completely burned out by the Adaevites that same night.

Arrival of troops of the Caucasian Military District. Lifting the siege
Upon receiving news of the uprising on the Mangyshlak Peninsula, units of the Caucasian Military District were soon sent there by steamship under the general command of the General Staff, Colonel Count P.I. Kutaisov, who at the same time assumed the position of manager of the Mangyshlak police station.

The first echelon from Port Petrovsk, consisting of two companies of the Caucasian linear battalion No. 14 and a platoon of the 4th battery of the 21st artillery brigade with two guns, arrived at Mangyshlak on April 9 and, in sight of the rebels who occupied the surrounding heights, landed near the devastated the village of Nikolaevskaya. The second echelon, consisting of two companies of the 21st Infantry Battalion and a team of hundreds of the Terek Cossack Army, arrived on April 12, and the third, from hundreds of the Dagestan Cavalry Irregular Regiment, arrived on April 16. The rebels, without taking any active actions, were forced to retreat to the steppe.

Consequences
After the final suppression of the uprising, its participants received various awards. However, as P.L. Yudin noted, “Only the defenders of the fort were almost forgotten, because no one wanted to take care of them ,” and Major Zelenin was forced to report this personally to the commander of the troops of the Dagestan region, Adjutant General Prince L.I. Melikov , after which the defenders of the Alexander Fort, in the words of P.L. Yudin, “were awarded royally”. The following year, Zelenin himself was awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel for military distinction.