The rebel detachment of Hadzhi Dimitar and Stefan Karadzha
Category: Bulgarian National Revival; Struggle for national liberation
Original title: Четата на Хаджи Димитър и Стефан Караджа
Language: Bulgarian

   The rebel detachment (cheta) of Bulgarian revolutionaries Hadzhi Dimitar and Stefan Karadzha was established in Romania in 1868. Many of the members (129 people) had been participants in the unsuccessful Belgrade-based Second Bulgarian Legion. The detachment crossed the Danube River on 5 July. It was supposed to get to Balkan Mountains and establish there a revolutionary government which would then command a general uprising of all Bulgarians. This was not to happen, though, as the group was discovered by Turkish forces shortly after crossing the river. At first the detachment caused considerable damage to the Ottomans while only losing only few members. On 8 July there was a bloody fight in which Stefan Karadzha was wounded and captured, and the detachment was defeated. Stefan Karadzha was standing half-dead before the emergency Turkish court and sentenced to death by hanging, but died from his wounds before the execution. The remaining 58 members proceeded to the Balkan Mountains under the leadership of Hadzhi Dimitar, only to be crushed on 18 July. After being defeated in this last battle, leader Hadzhi Dimitar, heavily wounded, was carried on a stretcher by his surviving comrades away from Ottoman army. He and his comrades were supported by the local people with water and food, until his death somewhere around the middle of August 1868.