The Officers’, or Don, Military Assembly was a club of the Cossack military elite and an independent civic organization. The officers’ society appeared in the Don capital in the third quarter of the 19th century, but for a long time it had no premises of its own. In the early 1890s, the Host Administration purchased for it a three-story revenue house in a classical architectural style, built in the mid-19th century. In 1892, architect Vasily Ivanovich Zuev rebuilt it to serve as the officers’ assembly. The reconstruction cost the Host treasury 200,000 rubles. On December 23, 1900, the grand opening took place. In addition to ceremonial rooms, the building housed a library, dining room, buffet, rest areas, and fencing and gymnastics halls.
The administrative structure of the Don Host was defined by the decree of Alexander I of September 29, 1802. The Host Chancellery stood at the head of the Host administration. The chairman of its board was the Host Ataman.
The chancellery was divided into three “expeditions” (departments): military, civil, and economic.
The military expedition was headed by the ataman himself; the other expeditions were headed respectively by one of the permanent members and one of the assessors.
A prosecutor appointed by the emperor supervised the exact execution of laws in civil and economic matters.
The entire territory of the Don Host was divided into 7 districts, called detective jurisdictions. These were the Cherkassk, First Don, Second Don, Ust-Medveditsa, Khoper, Donets, and Mius detective jurisdictions, headed by detective chiefs. Elective authority remained in the stanitsas, where the Cossacks themselves elected atamans.
The military expedition kept records of minors, active-service Cossacks, and retired Cossacks; drew up detachments in accordance with the requirements of the central authorities; carried out the scheduled call-ups of Cossacks for service under those assignments; and monitored Cossacks’ and stanitsas’ compliance with the order of rotation.
The stanitsa, for its part, monitored the rotation of Cossacks going out for service and was responsible for timely departure and for equipping the Cossacks.
By the Supreme decree of July 28, 1802, the term of military service was set: for officers up to 15 years, for rank-and-file Cossacks up to 25–30 years (25 in field service and 5 in internal service). That same year, 1802, the “Regulations on the Administration of the Don, Ural, and Black Sea Hosts” established a service term of 30 years, including 25 years of field service and 5 years of internal service (within the Host).
A Cossack regiment raised on the Don would be sent to the border or to some internal province. In peacetime, on the western border a regiment served for 3 years; in the Caucasus and in internal provinces, for 2 years, after which it was replaced by another. The relieved regiment returned to the Don and was disbanded, and the Cossacks were dismissed to their homes. They remained listed as being “with the Host” and waited for a new mobilization according to the rotation lists. Thus, a Cossack went out on field service several times, with breaks of 2–3 years. It happened that a father was “still serving” while a son had “already served,” and they were called up into the same regiment. When forming regiments, the stanitsas tried to ensure that the number of minors sent to a regiment did not exceed one quarter of the regiment’s total number of Cossacks.
In wartime, a regiment remained on duty without replacement for as long as necessary. Sometimes this period dragged on to 5–6 years.
A Cossack whose turn it was to go into service could hire another in his place (a father could send his son in his stead, or a father could go instead of his son; brothers could also replace one another).
All Don Cossacks were divided into 4 categories:
1) minors up to 19 years of age;
2) underage youths—those who had reached 19, were entered into the lists, stayed at home for 2 years, and upon reaching 21 were transferred into the active-service category;
3) active-service men up to 60 years of age;
4) retired, i.e., those discharged from service, disabled persons, and the sick.
Under the 1798 regulations on the census of minors, the children of rank-and-file Cossacks and NCOs, upon reaching 17, began to be introduced to military training and participation in stanitsa obligations. At 19 they were enrolled as minor Cossacks, sworn in, entered into the lists, and left at home for 2 years until departure for service, i.e., until inclusion in the active-service category. During this time they had to prepare at their own expense a Cossack-style uniform, appropriate weapons, and a service horse. The cost of equipment was about 35 rubles; the cost of two horses—depending on the region—ranged from 30 to 80 rubles. The poor could be equipped at the stanitsa’s common expense. For the period of service, the Cossack received from the treasury pay, fodder for the service horse, and 75 rubles for a packhorse. However, payments began only outside the Host’s territory. While a regiment or detachment was stationed within the territory of the Don Host, the Cossacks lived at their own expense.
Such a system of self-equipping for service was burdensome for the Cossacks, but familiar. There was hope that the costs of service would be compensated by war booty. And often they were.
By the Supreme decree to the Governing Senate of September 29, 1802, it was established that the Don Host was to maintain a thousand-man Ataman Regiment, the Leib Guard Cossack Regiment, and 60 fully manned line regiments. The strength of a Cossack regiment in August 1803 was set at 578 men.
The establishment of a line Don Cossack regiment included: a commander, 5 yesauls, 5 sotniks, 5 khorunzhys, a quartermaster, a clerk, 5 senior and 5 junior NCOs, 550 Cossacks, 561 service horses and 561 packhorses. Under the table of organization, the Leib Guard Cossack Regiment was to have 593 Cossacks and 78 officers and NCOs.
By 1812, changes had occurred in the military organization of the Don Host. The establishment of a Cossack regiment, except for the Ataman Regiment, included: 1 general, 16 officers, 10 line NCOs (5 of them senior, replacing the vakhmistrs), 1 non-line NCO (also the clerk and regimental adjutant), 25 drabants (orderlies), and 550 Cossacks. The regiment was divided into 5 сотни (sotnias), which, like the regiment, were named after their commanders. The regiment had 561 service horses and the same number of packhorses instead of a baggage train. Thus, returning from Europe in 1814, the commander of one of the columns reported on the Cossack regiments entrusted to him: “There are no baggage trains in the regiments, apart from the draft horses.” The regiment’s establishment did not provide for a doctor, feldsher, priest, bugler, or a head of the supply section (this was handled by the quartermaster), nor a regimental chancellery (record-keeping was assigned to the clerk).
A soldier drafted by conscription into the regular Russian troops, in total, spent longer in field service than a Cossack. But recruits were selected by lot, randomly, and none of the Russian boys prepared for service in advance. And there was no one to prepare them. There were no hereditary warriors among peasants at that time. The Cossacks, however, knew their lot in advance and prepared for service from childhood, absorbing experience from fathers and grandfathers.