For the first time, the scientific biography of the ataman of the Orenburg Cossack army, Lieutenant General Alexander Ilyich Dutov, is presented to the attention of readers. It is given against a wide background of the military-political history of Russia during the period of revolutionary upheavals with the introduction into scientific circulation of a large layer of archival materials that were not previously known to historians. A.I. Dutov is shown as a strong regional leader and politician of an all-Russian scale, who, in fairness, should take his place among such white leaders as Denikin, Wrangel, Kolchak, Semenov, Yudenich. The book is designed for a wide range of readers interested in Russian history, as well as state and socio-political figures, scientists involved in the formation of new spiritual values ​ ​ of a resurgent Russia.