Voivode Orcho

Ivan Marinov Parpulov, known as Orcho Voivode, was a Bulgarian hajduk and revolutionary who participated in the national liberation movement, including the April and Kresna–Razlog uprisings.

He was born in Panagyurishte in 1829. Parpulov studied in his hometown, where he discovered and read a copy of История славянобългарска (Slav-Bulgarian History). On learning of the Crimean War, he persuaded his friends to join the Russian army as volunteers. Orcho fought as a volunteer on the Russian side and received the Cross of St George for his contribution.

After the war, he travelled to Moldavia and Wallachia, where he established contact with the Internal Revolutionary Organisation. In 1875, he was appointed a member of the committee's secret police. During the April Uprising, he served as standard-bearer in Georgi Benkovski's Flying Detachment and also helped free the prisoners in Koprivshtitsa.

After the uprising's defeat, he was captured and sentenced to lifelong exile in Gevaş. Despite an unsuccessful escape attempt, Orcho Voivode was released under the amnesty of 1878 after the end of the Russo-Turkish War.

In 1879, he participated in the Kresna Uprising as voivode of a large detachment of volunteers from the Panagyurishte region. During the Unification in 1885, he also led the Panagyurishte detachment. He served as a volunteer in the Serbo-Bulgarian War as well.

A street in Sofia and the stadium in Panagyurishte bear the name Orcho Voivode, as does a monument unveiled in his hometown in May 2006.