Stiliyan Kovachev was born on 26 February in Yanbolu (Yambol), then under Ottoman rule. He received his elementary education in Yanbolu and in İslimiye (Sliven). Since early age he entered the Yambol Revolutionary Committee where he assisted Dimitar Drazhev helping for the correspondence of the committee. When the April Uprising broke out the cheta of Drazhev joined the squad of Ilarion Dragostinov and Stoil Voyvoda. During battle to the north of Sliven, Georgi Drazhev was captured by the Turks and hanged on 29 June 1876, but Kovachev managed to escape the gallows.
