Husein Gradaščević

Husein-kapetan Gradaščević was born in 1802 at the Gradačac Castle into an illustrious kapetan dynasty. Assuming command of the captaincy of Gradačac at age eighteen, he was celebrated for his generous civic building projects, tolerance toward Christian subjects, and personal charisma.

In 1831, when Sultan Mahmud II began centralizing Ottoman administration and ceding Bosnian borderlands, Gradaščević was elected head of the Bosnian uprising at the congress of Tuzla. Declaring Bosnian autonomy, he routed the Ottoman Grand Vizier's army at the Battle of Kosovo in July 1831. Betrayed by rival Herzegovinian pashas at the Battle of Stup in 1832, he was forced into exile and died in Istanbul in 1834 at age 32.