Gortschakoff

Gortschakoff, PRINCE MICHAEL, cousin of the above, was born in 1795, and served against the French in 1812-14 and against the Turks in 1828-29. In the war of the Polish revolution of 1831 he greatly distinguished himself, and was made general of artillery. He was appointed military governor of Warsaw in 1846, and took part in the invasion of Hungary in 1849. On the outbreak of the Crimean war he twice commanded the Russian army despatched to the Danubian Principalities, on the second occasion leading the retreating Russian forces into Bessarabia after the raising of the siege of Silistria. In 1855 he was appointed commander-in-chief in the Crimea and southern Russia. He was defeated on the Tchernaya, but recovered his laurels by his gallant defence of Sebastopol, and by his skilful retreat to the North Fort after the blowing up of the fortress. Alexander II. appointed him governor of Poland in 1856, and he was engaged in carrying out the conciliatory policy of the czar when his death occurred on May 30, 1861.