Grebni Cossacks

Grebni Cossacks

 

descendants of the escaped peasants who settled in the first half of the 16th century on the Sunzha River and of the cossacks who in 1582 moved from the Don to the natural boundary of Grebni (on the Aktash River). Part of the Terek Cossacks.

The Russian government equipped the Grebni Cossacks with weapons and ammunition and used them to fight the Caucasian tribes and the Crimean and the Kuban’ Tatars. In 1712 they were resettled to the left bank of the Terek River (the stanitsy[large cossack villages] of Chervlenaia, Shche-drinskaia, Novogladkovskaia, Starogladkovskaia, and Kur-diukovskaia). an event marking the beginning of the fortified line of the Caucasus. The permanent service of the Grebni Cossacks dates from this time. They raised 500–1,500 men, built the fortresses of Kizliar (1735) and Mozdok (1763), and took part in Russia’s wars against Iran, Turkey, and the Caucasian tribes. The Grebni Cossacks were governed by a Cossack assembly that chose an ataman and other officials; after 1819 these officials were appointed by the government. In 1832 they joined the border forces of the Caucasus. In 1845 the Grebni Host were renamed the Grebni Regiment (after 1870 it became the Kizliar-Grebni Regiment): in 1860 it became part of the Terek Cossack Host. In 1854 the Grebni Cossacks numbered 12,000 men.