The military leader of the Don Cossack Army, Lieutenant General Yakov Petrovich Baklanov (1808–1873), was one of the famous heroes of the Caucasian War of 1817–1864. There were legends about Baklanov’s immense courage and daring. He personally led Cossack regiments and hundreds into attacks, participated in ambushes and skirmishes, attacks, and the construction of fortifications, bridges and roads. Possessing enormous physical strength, he invariably emerged victorious in hand-to-hand combat. Having received command of a Don regiment that was in desperately poor condition, he soon made it exemplary, and from the timid linear defense of his predecessors he moved on to the most decisive offensive actions “behind the line.” Baklanov soon becomes a threat to the “unpeaceful” mountaineers, who considered Baklya akin to the devil himself and called him Dajjal. The book by Cossack historian A.V. Venkov introduces the reader to the life of this legendary hero.