The article examines the history of the formation, combat path, and recruitment characteristics of the 1st Ossetian Rifle Battalion, one of the largest national units established within the Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR) during the Russian Civil War. Drawing on a wide range of archival sources, primarily the battalion’s orders, the author reconstructs in detail the process of its creation in February 1919 in the village of Khumalag, its renaming from the 6th Ossetian Rifle Battalion, and its subsequent incorporation into the Composite Mountain Cavalry Division and the 7th Infantry Division of the Volunteer Army. Special attention is paid to analyzing the dynamics of the battalion’s numerical strength and social composition, its sources of replenishment (mobilized Ossetians, volunteers, captured Red Army soldiers, officers of the Russian Army), and the problem of mass desertion, which reached a scale comparable to the total number of personnel. The article publishes for the first time information about the command’s relations with the Ruler of Ossetia, General Ya. V. Khabayev, as well as the sentiments among the riflemen. The battalion’s participation in combat operations in the Donbas and Malorossia, its retreat as part of General N. E. Bredov’s force, internment in Poland, and subsequent evacuation to Crimea are covered in detail. Based on archival data, the fate of the battalion’s personnel after its disbandment in the autumn of 1920 is traced. The research contributes to the study of the poorly developed topic of the participation of the North Caucasian mountain peoples in the Civil War on the White side.