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General Leonty Leontyevich, the first Count von Bennigsen, was created a Count of the Russian Empire by Emperor Alexander I in an Imperial Ukase dated 19 Oct. 1813, for his services to the Russian Empire during the Napoleonic Wars.
A member of the Hanoverian army until 1764, Bennigsen joined the Russian Army in 1773 as a field officer, fighting against the Turks both in 1774 and in 1778. He was promoted to colonel in 1787 and he participated in the Russian suppression of the Polish uprising in 1793, as well as in the Russian invasion of Persia in 1796.
Opposed to the policies of the Emperor Paul I (reigned 1796-1801), Bennigsen may have been active in the conspiracy that led to Paul's assassination (March 23 1801). He subsequently was appointed Governor-General of Lithuania (in 1801), Military Governor of Vilna and Grodno, and General of the Cavalry of all the Imperial Armies (in 1802) by the new Emperor Alexander I (reigned 1801-25). (He was already a Chevalier of all of the Imperial Orders, including St. Alexander Nevski, St. Anne First Class, St. George Third Class, Grand Croix Second Class, St. Vladimir; and of the Prussian Orders: l'Oigle Noir and l'Oigle Rouge.) After Russia joined the third coalition against Napoleon (in 1805), Bennigsen was made Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Russian Army in Poland and successfully defended Pultusk (near Warsaw) from a French attack (December 26 1806). In his newly-appointed position as Commander-in-Chief of the entire Imperial Russian Army, he inflicted severe losses upon Napoleon at Eylau (February 8 1807). However, on June 14 1807, he was defeated at the Battle of Friedland; Russia made peace with France (Treaty of Tilsit; July 1807) and Bennigsen retired for the first time.
When the war with France resumed (in 1812), he came out of retirement, and again played a leading role as Chief of Staff for the supreme Russian commmander, General Mikhail Kutuzov (from August-September 1812), commanding the Russian centre at the Battle of Borodino (September 7 1812) and he also defeated the French Marshal Joachim Murat at Tarutino (October 18 1812). A dispute with General Kutuzov forced him into retirement again, but after Kutuzov died (in 1813) and Russia pursued the French into Prussia and the Duchy of Warsaw, Bennigsen was again recalled to duty. On the final day of the Battle of Leipzig (October 16-19 1813), he led one of the columns that made the most decisive attack, and that evening he was made a Count by the Emperor. Afterwards, he fought the forces of the French Marshal Louis Davout in northern Germany. In 1818 Bennigsen retired for the last time, at the age of 73, settling on his estate of Banteln near Hildesheim, Hannover.
He was married four times: firstly to Mlle von Stomberg,
secondly to Mlle Meyer, thirdly to Mlle von Miller and fourthly
in 1808 to Katarzyna (Ekaterina Faddeevna) Helena Butowd-Andrzejkowicz
(Arms Gryf). By his second wife he had a son Adam and by his
fourth wife a son Alexander. He also had three daughters:
Henriette, Alexandrine and Nathalie.
(Portrait by E. Geishman after G. Dawe, 1821.)
By: Baron Michael von Bennigsen (Sources: T.F. Boettger; P. Dolgorukov, Rossiiskaia Rodoslovnaia Kniga, vol. II, p. 231; S. Górzynski, Herby Szlachty Polskiej, p. 60 [Butowd-Andrzejkowicz]; Micropĉdia Britannica vol. II, p.106).
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