Yesaul
Yesaul, osaul or osavul, is a post and a rank in the Russian and Ukrainian Cossack units.
The first records of the rank imply that it was introduced by Stefan Batory, King of Poland in 1576.
Cossacks in Russia
There were different yesaul posts and ranks in Cossack Hosts in Imperial Russia:- Генеральный есаул - General Yesaul
- Походный есаул - Campaign Yesaul
- Войсковой есаул - Army Yesaul
- Полковой есаул - Regimental Yesaul
- Артиллерийский есаул - Artillery Yesaul
- Сотенный есаул - Company Yesaul
- Станичный есаул - Yesaul of a stanitsa
Cossack Hetmanate and Sloboda Ukraine
In Ukraine of the 17th and 18th centuries, an osaul was a military and administrative official performing the duties of aide-de-camp. The head of state, hetman, would appoint up to two osauls known as a General Osaul. There also was a Regimental Osaul as well as Company Osaul, with each regular cossack regiment and company except artillery having two of each. Beside them there were osauls under special assignments, one of them serving for General Obozny who performed duties of a chief executive and was the second in importance after the Hetman.General Osaul
A senior officer of a Hetmanate cossack army who was a member of the general officer staff.;Duties
- supervising army's condition
- leading large detachments
- managing muster rolls
- directing the army engineers
- commanding mercenary troops
- sometimes serving as an acting hetman
From 1798 to 1800 after the liquidation of the Zaporizhian Host, the rank of osaul was equated with the ranks of rittmeister in cavalry and captain in infantry.