This article is taken from the book "Cold Steel Weapons of the Kuban Cossacks" and the superfluous text is slightly removed and additional photos are added for more convenient reading.

The object of the study is a cold blade (white) weapon used by the Cossacks of the Kuban army. This army, which is, according to the conclusion of the Military Rada of 1906, a product of administrative "fabrication", was formed in 1860.

We begin our research from the end of the XVIII century The fact is that on November 19, 1860, the Black Sea Cossack Army was renamed the Kuban Army by decree of Emperor Alexander II. The Kuban Army also received the first six brigades, a foot battalion and two cavalry batteries of the Caucasian Linear Cossack Army.

The history of the Black Sea Army begins on August 20, 1787, when His Serene Highness Prince G. A. Potemkin ordered the former Zaporozhye sergeants Sidor Bely and Anton Golovaty to begin recruiting volunteer teams of Cossacks "who served in the former Zaporozhye Sich. The prince's hopes for a massive influx of Zaporozhians were not justified and already on October 12 he allowed to enroll in the Cossacks all comers from free people. At the end of 1787 – the beginning of 1788, volunteer teams were called the "army of loyal Cossacks", and at the end of 1788 it was given a new name – "the army of loyal Cossacks of the Black Sea".
The Caucasian Linear Cossack Army was formed in 1832 from Cossack regiments of the Caucasian and Azov-Mozdok lines and several dozen peasant villages, the population of which was converted to Cossacks.By 1860, the army consisted of 10 brigades, 4 separate regiments, 2 foot battalions and horse batteries.

In 1860, events unfolded as follows. On February 8, a royal decree followed on the naming of the right wing of the Caucasian line as the Kuban region, and the left-Tersk.

The entire space from the Main Range to the north (Kuban and Terek oblasts and Stavropol provinces) was to be called the North Caucasus.

 

And on November 19, the above-mentioned decree of the emperor The upper chronological boundary of the study is not clearly fixed. The adoption of the last sample of bladed weapons for the Kuban army dates back to 1913, and therefore the beginning of the First World War can be this (albeit formal) milestone.

At the same time, a sharp drop in the tactical importance of the cavalry in this war and the almost guaranteed futility of checkers attacks without prior fire training on the prepared enemy forced the author to talk about the introduction of a peak into service with the Kuban Cossacks at the end of the war.

In this case, the chronological framework can be raised until 1918, by the time when the Kuban Army was created (although still on paper). We are not aware of any changes in the cold weapons of the Kuban Cossacks (except for the use of statutory Cossack draughts of the 1881 model) during the Civil War. If there are any, we would set an upper date for 1920, at the time of the defeat of the Kuban Army and its surrender in the Sochi area to the troops of the 11th Red Army.

Especially for restorers, collectors and just lovers of edged weapons, the description of its individual samples is given not in a brief catalog form, but in a detailed one, with an emphasis on the details of the technical and technological plan. Perhaps this will help with attribution. The same purposes are served by lengthy annotations under photographs of some copies of weapons, the descriptions of which are not included in the main text. The most interesting specimens indicate the curvature of the blade, the center of gravity and the descent of the butt from the ephesus to the tip.

In the photo below: The Military Banner of St. George, granted by Emperor Nicholas II in memory of the two-hundred-year existence of the army. 1896

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Then there will be a long entry that the Cossacks did not have a saber (it may seem tedious to scroll through below)

The archival materials that we have do not certify the fact of arming ordinary Cossacks of that period with Turkish sabers. Moreover, they do not confirm the presence of sabers in the arsenal of the Black Sea coasters at all.
Documents from the period of the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1791 testify to the release to the young army of loyal Black Sea Cossacks in a huge number of Russian weapons: guns, carbines, pikes, pistols. For example, in 1787-1788 the army was given 1696 pistols, 2621 guns, 1592 screwdrivers, 495 cartridges; in June 1789 – 2108 carbines… [2].
There is not a single document on the supply of sabers.

A prominent researcher of the history of the Chernomorets, P. P. Korolenko, noticed this fact and tried to explain it as follows: "… sabers were not required, probably because each Cossack had his own weapon…" Such an interpretation seems unconvincing. It is known that the former Zaporozhian Cossacks made up only part of the Black Sea army, and a smaller part. According to I.V. Bentkovskogo, there were only 30% of them. According to our calculations, made on the basis of the results of the First Census of the Black Sea Region in 1794, the number of Cossacks "who served from the former Zaporozhye" was 43%. It should be borne in mind that among the "Zaporozhians" there are many fugitives (which is easily confirmed by documents) who have created more or less convincing legends for themselves.

In addition, so far no one has documented the total armament of the Zaporozhians with sabers (and will not confirm, since sources say the opposite). In any case, it is incredible that for twelve years after the destruction of the Sich, they managed to keep their weapons, being scattered throughout the country, and some already enslaved. This could only be done by a small group of Cossacks who were in Russian military service. And the "hunters" who joined the Black Sea army could not have sabers.
The sabre does not appear at all in the documents of the war period, at least somehow relating to the armament of the Cossacks. It is not mentioned among the Cossack weapons in the reports of Russian military commanders. Dozens of orders of the leaders of the Black Sea Army on the armament of the Cossacks also do not say anything about sabers.
In June 1789, second-major Savva Bely was instructed to revise the weapons available to the Cossacks: "guns, pistols, pikes, knives, cartridges …". All Cossacks in the flotilla (and this is almost all foot Cossacks) are ordered to carry a gun and a pike. From the report of Colonel Bely: "All my Cossacks cleaned up their guns and pikes, sharpened the knives."

In the order to Colonel M. Gulik of November 16, 1789, on bringing weapons into service, we again refer only to guns and pikes.
From the circular order of the Koshev ataman Zachary Chepega of March 19, 1791 to all the commanders of the army: "… to affirm that everyone should have guns and pikes, and whoever does not have, he will not escape strict punishment with cues."
We will not find mention of sabers either in the regular reports of the commanders of the Cossack units to the ataman and the military judge, nor in the reports of the army to the Main Duty of the Yekaterinoslav Army (they had a special column "weapons").

Nor is it in the records of weapons lost in battles and accidents. For example, in the report of the army of July 2, 1788 on losses in the battle with the Turks, guns, cartridges, pistols, pikes are mentioned. In the lists of things and weapons that disappeared along with the boat of Baturinsky Kuren carried away by the storm, sabers are not mentioned. Among the things burned in the Uman Kuren, there are again no sabers. It should be noted that these documents carefully list such "trifles" as screwdrivers, cartridges, adhesives, the number of charges …
Preparing for the march on Ishmael, the military judge Anton Golovaty ordered that the Cossacks "have in their hands their pike and rifle … that from attack, God save, they may be saved." On the assault of this fortress, the Black Sea Fleet (like other Cossacks) on the orders of A. V. Suvorov act with shortened peaks.

Completely untrained in hand-to-hand combat and assault actions, the Cossacks under the saber blow of the Turks and Tatars suffer heavy losses. Military historians explain unjustifiably large losses not only by the lack of proper training, but also by the "weakness of Cossack weapons" – shortened five-foot peaks.
The paradox of the situation lies in the fact that the great Suvorov ordered the Cossacks to have "short darts for the most capable action with them". His order was duplicated by the commander of the Black Sea Rowing Flotilla De-Ribas and the commander of the Cossack flotilla A. A. Golovaty. If we follow the logic of the above judgment (about the "weakness of Cossack weapons"), it turns out that the great Russian commander, having armed the Cossacks with short peaks, doomed them in advance to defeat and extermination.
But "it can't be because it can't ever be." The solution to Suvorov's order, as it seems to us, is as follows.

First, the Cossacks had no other weapons for hand-to-hand combat other than spades. The second explanation, already the Russo-Turkish War of 1735-1739, showed that the most effective weapon against the Turkish rapid sabre attack "Yurin" were precisely the peaks. H. Manstein wrote: "… went in a column against the enemy, and … in this case, they acted only with pikes, as the only weapon with which to defend themselves against Turkish sabers."
In 1786, M. I. Kutuzov armed his selected shooters with pikes for protection in close combat. In 1788, the commander-in-chief, Prince G. A. Potemkin, decided to equip the combined grenadier battalions – selected Russian infantry trained in hand-to-hand combat – with the same short pole weapons – "knives on the ratovishchi".

Some of these "military knives" were also received by the Black Sea Cossacks. Thus, A. V. Suvorov, taking into account the experience of hand-to-hand combat with the Turks, introduced short peaks precisely "for the most capable action" and certainly not for weakening his small assault columns.
In one of the military documents of the early XIX century. there is a direct indication that "in the foot army, sabers were not used before…". Recall that the foot Cossacks made up about 80-90% of the total number of troops. But, perhaps, the Cossack cavalry, which reached thousands of people in the best of times (we are talking about real fighters, not about a list composition), was completely armed with sabers? The documents do not confirm this. In the logs of incoming and outgoing papers, it is reported that only rifles and pistols are released to the mounted team.
The Cossacks of the cavalry team could not have their own sabers in significant numbers. This is due to the fact that most of the mounted Cossacks were mercenaries, that is, people who served for the Cossacks-masters.

On the clothes and weapons of his mercenaries, each Cossack-master spent a minimum of money. We can easily learn about the armament of the mounted team from the reports of its commander, Colonel 3. A. Chepegi. For example, for 1789: "1500 guns, 1000 pistols, 1000 guns"

There are many more such documents. But there is a general list of the armament of all the Cossacks of the Black Sea army with an indication of the weapons of both their own and state. It even lists knives, but not a word about sabers.

For those who missed the above text, you can read more….

We noticed that in almost all documents where the sabre is somehow mentioned, it belongs to the Cossack elders.

Let's hazard a guess that the sabre during this period was primarily a rank sign of distinction, an indicator of the social status of its owner. This idea is also suggested by the fact that in Poland (and the "Polish influence" on the Cossacks was significant) the sabre served as a sign of belonging to the szlachta.
With all certainty, the status sign of the sabre is also indicated by the prominent historian of the Zaporozhye Cossacks A. A. Skalkovsky. Speaking of the Cossacks' weapons, he writes: "A gun, two pistols and a pike made up their armament; sabers – belonging to the nobility wore: colonel, centurions and horunzhiy. "
We do not have data to judge the prevalence of sabers among the sergeants of the Black Sea Army. Apparently, not all of them owned sabers (they are not indicated in the inventories of the property of many military officials). In any case, even such a famous Cossack military leader as the military colonel Savva Bely (the future commander of the rowing flotilla), in 1789 borrowed a saber from Colonel M. Gulik. In 1795, S. Bely died without returning the saber, which was the reason for the investigation of this case at a meeting of the Black Sea military government on June 2, 1795.
Given the subsequent history of edged weapons in the Black Sea Army, the cool attitude of the Cossacks to it, the level of technical proficiency in it, we are inclined to assume: the sabre among the Black Sea people was not so much a combat weapon as an attribute of a sergeant major and just a detail of an elegant suit.

What types of sabers existed in the Black Sea army in the late XVIII – early XIX century?

Let's answer this question based solely on written sources and without making any seemingly logical assumptions. For thirty years of work with archival documents, we have studied all the cases of the Black Sea Army, and all in a row, without paying attention to the title. Such a total review revealed only about fifty reports of petty sabers. These testimonies are of various kinds: swords in inventories of the property of the deceased; sabers confiscated to pay debts; "arrested", granted, stolen, bought…
All descriptions are extremely concise.
Most often, Turkish sabers are mentioned in the documents. Here are some typical descriptions: "shablya turkish"; "Turkish sabre, dressed under silver with puffs"; "Turkish sabre with silver undercut"; "sabre with a Turkish lanyard"; "a Turkish sabre, set in silver with gilded bugs." The two most detailed descriptions are as follows: "a Turkish sabre in silver all set and a sheath lined with stones with gilding"; "the sabre is Turkish, iron muser, and the sheath in silver is set and in the middle is green velvet."

Dictionaries and translators from the Ukrainian language did not help us to determine the word "musernoe". Understanding the irrelevance of our amateurish etymological exercises, we would venture to assume: we have a distorted word "Mier", that is, Egypt. Hence the name of the famous helmet "misyurka". We do not think that the compiler of the document indicates the Egyptian origin of the blade, rather it can be a territorially non-localized group of blades from the Arab East. But another explanation is possible: the term "muser" / "miser" in the vocabulary of the Chernomorets of that time could mean the word "bulat". This idea is prompted by the message about the Turkish dagger with the blade "white miseru". One can't help but think of "Bayyaz Istambuli" – the "white Istanbul" bulat. This is a rather rare Turkish variety of spotted (speckled) bulat with a pattern of many small shiny light and dark grains and a background dotted with large light spots and uneven strokes.
To the Turkish, obviously, should be attributed and the "sabre of the herd", which belonged to Ensign Sutyka. In 1796 he was thoroughly stolen, and all his movable property was confiscated and put up for sale. That's where the "sabre with a silver undercut and lanyard" appeared. Sutyka announced the purchase of this saber for 72 rubles. 50 kopecks., But it went on sale for 20 rubles. 50 kopecks.

The compiler of the document gave attribution of Sutyk's sabre to its most striking element – the bulat blade (taban – gray reticulated Persian bulat). Most likely, we are talking about the Turkish shemshir, forged from Persian bulat steel. And the silver gooseberry speaks in favor of Turkey, for Persia it is more characteristic of steel.
The opinion about the Turkish origin of Sutyka's sabre can indirectly be confirmed by the description of the sabre of Major D. Yevsyukov for 1804: "a Turkish sabre in a silver frame, stripes bulat called atabin and a silver lanyard".

Several Cossack sabers

Turkish "shemshir" sabre of the XIX century.

Numerous experiments in order to determine the best type of edged weapons were conducted by Colonel Marais of the French service. "Being at the head of the Arab corps, Marei was noticed by the dexterity of his fencing. He tried all kinds of sabers and even his own invention.
According to Marais' theory, three parts should be distinguished in a sabre. In the first there is an action: according to experience, it is limited to the space of two decimeters (4.5 versh.), counting from the tip, the second part is the beginning of movement and force – this is the handle or ephesus, and the third intermediate – there is a rocker arm of the lever, from which nothing can be expected except the transfer of movement.
In the conditions required for felling, the custom of drawing paths on the plane of the blade is completely prohibited, and in the sharp part of the blade it is advised to give it a slightly larger width. Having dealt with the question of the curvature of the blade. Marai proves the good work of the yatagan and the Mamluk saber, the most perfect of the weapons designated for felling.
After the Turkish sabre, Marey prefers an English sabre for chopping…" (Note on White Arms (Colonel of the French Service Marais). 1841 g. // Military collection. – 1843. – № 1.)

The Turkish "kilych" sabre of the 20s. XIX in Dating is given by a silver ephesus bearing the features of the European Empire.

Turkish sabre of the second quarter of the XIX century.

The blade is made by a European master. We also do not refer to the iron cross with short shoulders and wooden cheeks of the handle to the Turkish production. We find it difficult to determine the place of their manufacture and installation. Most likely, this is a much later (than the blade) finish in order to give the strip the appearance of a saber.

Along with such confident statements about the Turkish origin of sabers, the expression "sabre of the Turkish caliber" is found. In the vocabulary of the Chernomorets, the word "kaliber" meant "sample", "form". In archival documents, there are constant references to "pistols of the new caliber", "guns of the Tula kaliber", "peaks of the old kaliber". That is, we are talking about sabers made like Turkish, in the style of Turkish. The production of such weapons was widespread in Europe.
Here is a description of one such sabre stored in the collection of KGIAMZ (KM-6248). The blade is narrow, slightly curved, single-bladed, double-edged at the end; in cross-section – rectangular shape with a wide bevel of the blade and a decomposed butt. The butt in the cross-section of a round shape, by the end gradually flattens and turns into a counter-butt (in the literature for the designation of a butt of a similar shape, the term "shampole butt" is encountered, but it does not seem very successful to us).
On the right side, on the border of the shank and the heel, the "dead head" stamp is made. An iconographically identical stamp is given in his work by A. Demmin, referring it to the Solingen stamps of the XVIII century. On the left side on the heel is embossed "KULL", on the shank – a ligature of three letters: A, W and B (merged spelling in the last two). According to A. I. Kulinsky, Kull Peter is a small Solingen company that worked in the middle of the XIX century.
Ephesus is of the Turkish type, with a tilted rounded head ("in the shape of a comma", "drop-shaped knob", "pistol grip"). The garda is simple, cross (cross with a cross), according to the Cossack terminology of those years – a podkryzhnik. The handle is made of sheet silver, decorated with embossed leaves of grapes, the background is cut with a stichel. The surface of the leaves is additionally engraved with a stichel. The upper whiskers of the crosshairs on the obverse side were framed by twisted wire.
On the obverse side of the handle, starting about the middle, six turquoise stones are fixed in brass castes. Cut type "cabaçon". The castes are framed by twisted wire.
Technique: the handle is made of two halves, embossed on the mold and welded on the ribs. Flowers are minted with two or three coins, on the borders they are cut with a stichel. The blade was fixed in the handle on some mastic. Its main, if not the only, component is rosin. When heated during restoration, the mass melted rapidly, emitting a characteristic rosin smell.
The sheath is made of two halves of wood, covered with three pieces of black leather. The skin is planted on glue and at the back in the center is additionally fastened with threads (the seam is rough, right over the edge).
The device of the sheath: the mouth, clips and tip are made of silver, decorated in the style of ephesus. At the mouth on the front side there are seven turquoise stones of different sizes vertically; cut — kabashon. At the bottom of the mouth are six round nests decorated with twisted wire. The same wire is decorated with the edge of the mouth on the convex side.
Five turquoise stones are fixed on the clip, forming a cross.
On the upper and lower edges there are seven round nests. The tip was decorated with ten turquoise stones, leaving only six. The top is decorated with seven nests of wire circles.
The mouth and clip are worn on the tree butt to the skin, and the tip is worn directly on the skin. The rings at the mouth and clip are threaded into loops in the shape of barrels. The hinges are soldered to the plates, and they are already soldered to the ribs of the parts.

Sabre of Turkish type (KM-6248). The blade of the Solingen master Samuel Kuhl of the late XVIII – early XIX century.

In our opinion, the ornament on the cross is sharply knocked out of the general floral decor of the ephesus and scabbard. In the center of the wing there is a heraldic rose, and the twists on the rods of the cross are more reminiscent of the wrapped snakes from the caduceus of Hermes. Probably this part is from another kit

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