Ilia Garkusha

Dates of birth and death unknown. One of the leaders of the Byelorussian people’s struggle against the Polish feudal lords in 1648, which spread simultaneously with the war of liberation in the Ukraine. Garkusha is known for his victory over the Mirskii detachment at the crossing of the Berezina River near the village of Gorval’ and subsequently for the siege of the Bykhov fortress (December 1648).