General Pavel Grabbe besieged Imam Shamil in the rock-fortress of Akhulgo.

At a narrow point in canyon the two hills were connected by a bridge 40 meters above the Ashitla River.

South of New Akhulgo and outside the rectangle is the conical Surkhay’s Tower[3] which is taller than the other two and dominates the whole area.

The 1837 expedition: In 1837 General Fese destroyed the village of Ashitla and then killed a number of fugitives who had fortified themselves at Old Akhulgo by blasting then with cannon from Surkhay’s Tower.

Probably to avoid the Avar Koysu canyon the eastern force would go south, then west to Kunzakh, then north to Akhulgo.

The march began from Vnezapnaya on 21 May {all dates old style, so add 12 days for the Western calendar}.

They then faced the fortified village of Argouani (modern Argvani does not quite fit Baddeley’s description).

They now had the problem of crossing the Andi Koysu and contacting the supply column that was waiting on the Betli plateau south of Akhulgo.

They captured one of the destroyed bridges, rebuilt it with roof beams from the nearby village, crossed with some of their men and made contact with the supply column.

Shamil was now shut in with about 4000 people, of whom something over 1000 were fighting men (Baddeley does not explain why the women and children were not evacuated).

Heavier guns were brought up and on 04 jul bombardment began which soon reduced the top to a mass of ruins.

600 men were now confined to a small space with cliffs on three sides and a narrow path back.

A covered gallery was built with great difficulty toward New Akhulgo to bring up men secretly and safely.

He raised a white flag and sent his 12-year-old son as hostage[7] The next day General Pullo was admitted to the rock for discussions, but it became clear that Shamil did not intend to surrender.

They found large numbers of fugitives scaling the opposite cliff or still climbing down to reach the bridge to Old Akhulgo.

Tarasevich’s column entered the gorge, climbed up and captured the bridge and reached the top of Old Akhulgo before the garrison could stop them.

The 80-day siege cost the Russians 512 killed, 1722 wounded and 694 contused, plus uncounted losses from disease.

Shamil’s second wife Djavarat was killed during the siege[9] and his sister Fatima threw herself off a cliff.

On the night of 21/22aug, before New Akhulgo was abandoned, Shamil with his pregnant first wife Fatimat, their young son Khazi Mahommed and a few followers lowered themselves to a cave above the river.

[10] The next night they descended to the river, built a raft, loaded it with dummies and set it adrift.