Circumstances of the highest Russian Empire war decorations awarding to Trans-Baikal Cossack army subaltern Grigory Mihailovich Semenov has been researched. In the sequel, in time of the Civil war Semenov was one of the White movement leaders and the key enemy of Bolshevism in Siberia. So, Soviet historiography was suppressing information about Semenov's valour and courage in the First World War. Using all types of poorly known sources, the author logically reconstructs integral and objective feats of war picture and awarding procedures in detail.

Key words: sotnik, Semyonov, order of Saint George, Cossack, banner, feat of arms, decorating, Cossack chieftain, archives, holder of an order, document, order.