Korsun regiment

Korsun regiment (Корсунський полк; Korsunskyi polk). An administrative military-territorial unit of the Hetman state (see Regimental system) in 1648–1712. It was one of the six core regiments of registered Cossacks which existed before the uprising led by Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the Cossack-Polish War. In 1649 the regiment numbered 3,472 Cossacks in 19 companies: 11 in Korsun (1,044 men), three in Mliiv, three in Lysianka, and one each in Olshanyi and Sytnyky. By absorbing the Lysianka regiment, it was the strongest regiment at this time. In 1654 the Korsun regiment had 18 companies and a male population of 6,132 including 5,105 Cossacks. After the Treaty of Bila Tserkva in 1651 some Cossacks from the Korsun regiment rebelled agains Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, but their uprising was quickly suppressed. The regiment played an active role during the period of the Ruin when it supported attempts to unite Right-Bank Ukraine with Left-Bank Ukraine. In 1678 it recognized Hetman Yurii Khmelnytsky under Turkish sovereignty. The regimental territory fell to Poland in 1684. In 1704, Hetman Ivan Mazepa reclaimed the regiment until 1712 when it was abolished and its population transferred to Left-Bank Ukraine. The Korsun regiment Cossacks took part in many crucial battles, including the Battle of Zboriv (1649), Battle of Berestechko (1651), Battle of Batih (1652), and Battle of Zhvanets (1653). The most notable colonel of the Korsun regiment was Stanyslav Morozenko, whose death at Zbarazh in 1649 served as the subject of the Cossack duma. Other notable colonels who later became general judges in the Hetman state government were I. Krekhovetsky, I. Ukezko, and A. Kandyba.

[This article was written in 2005.]