In the spring of 1819, the supreme commander of the Russian forces in Kafkaz, General Yermolov, had gone to St. Petersburg to receive his commission because it was rumoured that the Gabardine and Chechen clans were planning to attack the Russians.
The rebel leader was a Gabardine Khan called Garajan. Omalat Bey, together with Sorkhai and his followers, had come and joined Garajan. The Daghestani partisan fighters had gradually descended toward the Terek River and assembled in a wooded area. They stopped there a while to rest their horses, and bid the inhabitants not to leave their village.
Garajan, Sorkhai, Omalat, and other leaders determined among themselves their plan of action. The time to attack had arrived.
A fire was lit on top of a hill to signal the start of the attack. Each of the leaders inspected his men and gave final instructions for the descent to the Terek River.
According to their instructions, the men set off so stealthily that even the birds in the trees were not aware of their presence.
Their first commission was to capture a Russian post on the opposite bank of the Terek. Garajan and Omalat took this task upon themselves. They mounted their horses, entered the river, swam quietly across, and climbed up the bank close to the Cossack post.
One of the guards noticed a movement and turned his gun in that direction. Garajan, crouching in the bushes, took his hat off and threw it in the air. The guard thinking it was a crow began to abuse it: “You tiresome bird! Can’t you leave us in peace even during the night?”
As soon as the guard had turned his back, Garajan leapt upon him like a leopard and slew him with his sword. At the same moment, Omalat killed the other sentry. The post was now undefended. At a signal from Garajan, the remaining partisans crossed the river and prepared to attack.
A tumultuous battle began. Gunfire could be heard on all sides. The clash of swords, the stomping of hooves, and the din of the multitude filled the air. The Russians, taken by surprise, were in total disorder. Astounded and confused by the pandemonium, they could not tell friend from foe. Slashing blindly in the dark, the Cossacks killed many of their own men. With lightning strikes the Daghestanis were leaping from post to post, from garrison to garrison. Killing everyone in their path, they surged forward. Garajan and Omalat, like angry tigers, were striking on all sides.
Sorkhai, galloping from one village to another, gave the necessary orders to his tribesmen.
This merciless battle lasted for about three hours. During this time the Russians regrouped and a rather orderly company of soldiers formed a front by the river. But by now the villagers too were attacking the Russians on all sides─wielding scythes, clubs, and daggers. The Russians defended themselves with sabres. This conflict resembled more a hand-to-hand wrestling match than a battle. The combatants were collaring each other and dragging their opponents to the ground. Dead and wounded lay on every side. The Russians again tried to regroup and mount their horses, but the locals attacked─first killing horses, then their riders. They fought to the death, killing as many Cossacks as they could.
The chief of the Russian forces, Alba Gustaroff, mounted his horse and inspected the battleground. On all sides were the wounded and dead. Near each Daghestani corpse lay two or three dead Cossacks.
The sight of the carnage made Alba quite dizzy.
“Oh, rabid dogs! Oh, wild animals! What havoc you have wreaked! How am I going to account for so many wounded and dead to the supreme commander?” he cried out. Returning to his command post and with complete honesty, he made a list of all the wounded and dead and sent it to General Yermolov, the commander of the Russian forces in Kafkaz, who had just returned from St. Petersburg.
Tragically, the body of Garajan was among the dead.
Sorkhai had been wounded. A number of his companions lifted him into the river and, swimming around him, gently bore him to the opposite shore.
No one knew the fate of Omalat.