Three men who afterwards obtained considerable prominence in the affairs of Central Asia, and one of whom gained a world-wide reputation as a soldier, were attached to this expedition. The last was Skobeleff, the hero of Plevna and the Russo-Turkish campaign of 1877-78. The others were Stolietoff and Grodekoff; Stolietoff was a general, while the other two were captains, and down to that time had had no opportunity for distinguishing themselves. Skobeleff was perhaps the man of least promise; as he was looked upon as a wild sort of fellow, with a great fondness for conviviality, which was constantly getting him into trouble, and he was so reckless that his elders predicted he would be killed in the first battle, or the first skirmish of any magnitude.
It was the Russian plan to make haste slowly in conquering the Turcoman country. Reconnoitring expeditions were sent out from the fort at Krasnovodsk, but no other point was immediately occupied.
The Yomut Turcomans in the Caspian region made no resistance; they are far less warlike than the Tekke Turcomans farther to the east, who afterwards became the defenders of Geok Tepe. A short time before his death, Skobeleff said to a friend: "We made a great mistake when we landed at Krasnovodsk; instead of going ahead we dawdled about reconnoitring the country. The result was we gradually taught the Turcomans how to fight, and at last they fought so well that it needed a series of great campaigns to crush them."
From 1869 to 1873 there were numerous skirmishes and reconnoitrings, during which the steppes were pretty well explored as far as Kizil-Arvat. General Stolietoff was in command until 1872, when he was succeeded by Colonel Markusoff, who pushed his explorations to the wells of Igdy, then bending to the southwest, he passed Kizil-Arvat on his return to Krasnovodsk. There appeared to be no obstacle to a Russian advance into the heart of
