Second edition, revised and significantly multiplied. This work of the Russian historian Apollon Alexandrovich Skalkovsky (1808-1897) is one of the first studies on the history of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks. The basis for its writing was the numerous documents found by the author in the archives of the southern provinces of the Russian Empire and made it possible to make a lot of new discoveries on the history of the Zaporizhzhya Sich. Until the time of Skalkovsky's research, it was even unknown about the existence of written acts among the Cossacks. Some considered them Haidamaks, runaway Little Russian Cossacks, others - descendants of the Khazars, Circassians, Tatars, brave people in battle, but cruel barbarians, almost wild, incorrect in word and illiterate ignoramuses.