Insurgent Raid Across Polesia
In May-June 1863, the insurgent detachments led by Romuald Traugutt and Jan Wańkowicz launched a daring raid from Pinsk into the depths of Polesia. In the battle near Stolin, the insurgents inflicted significant losses on the Tsarist troops. However, reinforcements soon arrived to aid the punitive forces, and near the village of Kolodno, the insurgent detachments were surrounded and dispersed.
Battle Against the Punitive Expedition
Polesian peasants actively participated in the uprising to abolish serfdom. Traugutt’s detachment, reinforced by a hundred insurgents from the Brest district, successfully resisted Russian troops. The Tsarist government sent a punitive expedition consisting of four rifle companies, two hundred Cossacks, and artillery. However, the insurgents set up an ambush, inflicting heavy losses: 19 soldiers were killed, 17 wounded. Meanwhile, the insurgents lost only two men.
Attack on the Insurgent Camp
On June 29, 1863, Tsarist troops under the command of Lieutenant Petrovsky launched a sudden attack on an insurgent detachment that had stopped to rest. As a result of the attack, the insurgents lost supplies and horses. Later, on July 12, they were attacked again in a forest clearing near Kolodno. This battle marked the final stage of the military actions under Traugutt’s leadership. Before retreating to Volhynia, he divided his detachment into small groups and ordered them to head toward the Kobryn district.
Fate of the Uprising Leaders
In July 1863, Romuald Traugutt, with the help of writer Eliza Orzeszkowa, managed to emigrate to Poland but was soon arrested by the Tsarist gendarmes and executed on August 5, 1864. Jan Wańkowicz found refuge in Galicia. The owner of the Kolodno estate, who supported the insurgents, was exiled to Siberia. Elena Skirmunt was sent to Tambov for three years for her suspected involvement in the uprising, while her husband, Kazimir Skirmunt, was exiled to Kostroma for refusing to pledge loyalty to the Tsar. As a result, the Skirmunt family lost their right to own the Kolodno estate.
