The Bug Cossack army was created on May 8, 1803 from the Bug Horse Cossack Regiment and 600 hundred Bulgarian settlers who lived on the lands of the Bug Cossack Regiment. Volunteers from other South Slavic peoples were assigned to the army. Since 1803, the center of the army has become the village of Sokoly (now the town of Voznesensk, Mykolaiv region).
The history of the Bug Cossacks began in 1769. The regiment, formed by the Turkish command in Turkey, during the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774 from representatives of Christian peoples (Nekrasov Cossacks, Serbs, Vlachs, Bulgarians and others), in 1769 near Khotin in in full force, led by ataman P. Skarzhinsky, went over to the side of Russia and took part in the war against Turkey. After the war, the regiment was settled along the Bug River and named the Bug Cossack Regiment. In 1775, near the settlements of the Bug Cossacks, the Cossack regiment of Major Kasperov, recruited by the Russian government from the southern Slavs, was settled along the Ingults River. In February 1785, from the Bug and Ingul Cossacks and serfs bought by the government from the Bug landowners, the 1,500th Bug Cossack Cavalry Regiment was formed. Subsequently, the regiment was divided into two: 1st and 2nd.
In 1787, the Bug Cossack regiments were consolidated into one and included in the Yekaterinoslav Cossack army. On June 5, 1796, the Bug Cossack regiment was separated from the Yekaterinoslav Cossack army. In 1797, the highest order was to disband the Bug Cossack regiment, and in 1800 the Cossacks that made it up were renamed peasants.
But the Bug Cossacks did not have the slightest desire to lose the Cossack title granted to them, which they were proud of and which they considered well-deserved military valor. Therefore, a petition was soon initiated before the Emperor Alexander for the return of his Cossack rank and the military service associated with it. By the highest order, the Novorossiysk governor was sent to the settlements of the former Bug Cossacks with the order to inspect the villages and interview the residents. The result of this trip was a report that about 13,000 people live in the villages of the former Cossacks, that the inhabitants are capable of military service and wish to return to the Cossack rank. On the basis of this report, the creation of the Bug Cossack army and the return of its Cossack rank to the inhabitants was highly indicated. It was determined that the Bug Cossacks annually put one five-hundredth cavalry regiment in service and have two regiments of the same composition on privilege, from where they could be summoned at the first request on May 8, 1803. The Bug Cossacks were assigned to the Bug Cossack army.
In the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791. The Bug Cossacks put up three regiments that participated in the assaults of Ochakov and Izmail, fought on the Kinburn Spit, distinguished themselves at Bendery, Ackerman, and Kiliya.
During the Patriotic War of 1812, three regiments of the Bug Cossacks operated as part of Matvey Platov's corps. In the detachment of Denis Davydov, the Bug Cossacks fought under the command of a Chechen captain. The Bug regiment took part in the overseas campaign of 1813-1814, including the capture of Paris.
In 1814 Little Russian Cossacks who lived on its lands were assigned to the army. On January 14, 1816, the 1st Bug Cossack Regiment was awarded the St. George standard "In reward for the excellent deeds rendered in the last war in the battles of Vyazma, Kraon, Laon and Arissa".
In 1817, at the end of the Patriotic War, in which the Bug Cossacks took part, according to the project of Count Arakcheev on the settlement of the army, it was decided to abolish the Bug army. For this purpose, the Bug Cossack regiments were renamed into the Bug Uhlan regiments and they were brought together with the Ukrainian regiments into the Uhlan division, which was settled on common grounds with other settled regiments, and the Cossacks were converted into a civil state, having abolished the military office. This, of course, caused great displeasure, including armed riots, which were brutally suppressed.
Many of the former Cossacks of the Bug Cossack army subsequently joined the Danube, Azov and Caucasian Cossack troops, where they merged with the local Cossack population. It is a pity that the army was abolished, it is bad that they did this to people who voluntarily went to fight for Russia.
