Stavropol Kalmyks in the campaign of the irregular troops of the Orenburg inspection 1806-1807

The failures of the Russo-Prussian-French War of 1806-1807 forced the leadership to look for ways to strengthen their troops. One of the options was to call up the irregular cavalry of the Orenburg Inspectorate. The article, based on a previously unpublished case found in the Russian State Military Historical Archive, examines the organization of the Stavropol Kalmyks’ campaign to war in the winter-spring of 1806-1807. This topic is being discussed in Russian historiography for the first time. The analysis pays special attention to the fact that the military command considered irregular troops as a real military force, regardless of the degree of armament. The main attention is paid to the issues of organizing the winter march. The regiments were provided with the money necessary to pay salaries, purchase provisions and forage. The state spent money on unplanned expenses related to the purchase of horses. Prince A.V. Urakov was appointed commander. Civil authorities provided assistance in supplying provisions and forage, quartering troops, and admitting them to hospitals for treatment. Particular attention is paid to the caution with which the military leadership withdrew troops from the southeastern border. Some of the cavalry remained there for fear of possible internal unrest or a breakthrough of the border. It is concluded that the involvement of national cavalry, essentially archaic from the 17th century, did not bother Alexander I. In a situation where an army was needed for war, all types of weapons were used. It is also concluded that the Orenburg Inspectorate sent a total of 10 thousand Bashkirs and 7 cavalry regiments of Orenburg, Ural, Don Cossacks, Teptyar and Stavropol Kalmyk - 14 thousand cavalry. The author comes to the conclusion that the march of irregular cavalry from the southeastern border of the empire to the western borders in 1806-1807 was a rehearsal for the subsequent march of the region’s irregular troops in 1812–1813 into the war with Napoleon.