"Russian Imperial Army, Archive of the Caucasian Front in Tbilisi, Fund 416, inventory 3, file 142, pp. 5-5a"Report of the commander of the troops of the Kuban region to the Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian Army on the resettlement of the highlanders to Turkey ...
Review in the absence of the Commander of the Kuban Region Troops, Lieutenant General Olshevsky, to the Chief of the General Staff of the Caucasian Army, Lieutenant General Kartsev, dated January 9, 1865, No. 20.
“The natives who arrived at the fortification of Konstantinovskoye, with the aim of deporting to Turkey, due to various unfavorable circumstances, were victims of illness and significant mortality. According to available information, up to 110 thousand natives were deported to Turkey from the Konstantinovsky fortification; These migrants, arriving at the named point, sometimes remained for a long time in the camps on the north-eastern side of Konstantinovskaya Bay, where, according to their custom, they buried the dead.
Wanting to know how great the mortality among the settlers was and whether the corpses of the dead were buried deep in the ground, I collected information on this subject, to prevent an infection that could occur in the spring from shallow burial of corpses. According to the verification of the General Staff by Captain Shulgin, who was sent to Novorossiysk to collect information on the resettlement of natives to Turkey, it turned out that on the northeastern side of the Konstantinovskaya Bay, where the mountain camps were located, cemeteries were scattered over almost five versts in which up to 1480 corpses were buried.
Information regarding the depth of burial of corpses is contradictory. According to the recall of the Assistant to General Babich in sending the natives to Turkey, Lieutenant Colonel Zakrzhevsky and the military head of the Konstantinovsky fortification, Lieutenant Colonel Rutetsky, the highlanders buried the dead, according to their rite, digging holes deep: for men to the chest, for women above the breasts, for children above the knee; according to the report of the Chief of Staff of the Kuban Cossack army, Colonel Pilenko, based on the presentation of the Commander of the Adagum cavalry regiment, the highlanders buried the dead in a much shallower depth, contrary to what was said.
As a result, I take into account the possibility of the consequences of the spread of miasma from corpses not deeply buried in the ground, I proposed to the Nakazny Ataman of the Kuban Cossack army to appoint a Commission of doctors, customs officials and other persons specially familiar with this case, making it the duty to verify the validity of the testimony of lieutenant colonels : Rutetsky and Zakrzhevsky and draw up a detailed consideration of what it would be useful to take measures to avert an infection that could develop in the spring.
In anticipation of the decision of the Commission, as a result of the presentation of Lieutenant Colonel Pilenko, I appointed from among those in the garrison of the Konstantinovsky fortification, two companies of the 73rd Crimean Infantry Regiment and the 10th Foot Battalion to work to increase the embankments over the graves of the natives, because in my opinion, in any case , the best way to prevent infection, which can develop from shallow burial of corpses, will be to increase the mounds over the graves, without touching the corpses themselves ... "
