GORTCHAKOFF, gOrrehtt-k6P. A Russian family tracing its ancestry to Vladimir the Great and Rurik. Prince PETER GORTCHAKOFF. Governor of Smolensk, defended that town for two years (1609.11) against Sigismund III. of Po land, until it was taken by storm.—Prince DM1 TRI GORTCHAKOFF (1756-1824) was a celebrated Russian poet, and wrotes odes, satires, and epis tles.—Prince ALEXANDER GORTCHAKOFF ( 1764 1825) served under his uncle Suvaroff in Turkey and Poland, displayed great courage at the cap ture of Praga, a suburb of Warsaw, and was made lieutenant-general in 1798. In the cam paign of 1799 he• commanded under Korsakoff at Zurich. He was subsequently made Military Governor of Viborg, repulsed Marshal Lannes at Ileilsberg, and commanded the right wing of the Russian army at the battle of Friedland (1807). Appointed Minister of War in 1812, he filled this post to the end of the French war, when he was made general of infantry, and member of the Imperial Council.—Prince A NDREI GORTCIIAKOFF ( 1768-1855) served in 1799 as major-general under Suvaroff in Italy, and commanded, in 1812, a division of grenadiers at Borodino, where he was wounded. In the campaign of 1813-14 he coin manded the First Corps of Russian infantry, and distinguished himself at Leipzig and Paris. He was made general of infantry in 1819, and in 1828 retired from active service.—Prince PETER GORTCHAKOFF (1790-1868) served in the cam paigns of 1813 and 1814 in Caucasia under Gen eral Yerinoloff. Ile took part in the Russo
Turkish War of 1828-29, and was one of the signers of the preliminaries to the Treaty of Adrianople. In 1843 he was appointed Governor General of Western Siberia, and occupied that important post until 1851, when he retired from active life. On the outbreak of the Crimean \Var, however, he offered his services, which were accepted; and at the battle of the Alma he com manded the left wing of the Russians. He also took part in the battle of Inkerman.—Prince MIKHAIL GORTCHAKOFF ( 1795-1861 ) , brother of Peter, began his military career as an officer of artillery, and distinguished himself in 1828 at the siege of Silistria and at Shumla. In 1831 lie gave proofs of extraordinary valor in the battle of Ostrolenka and at the taking of War saw. He was appointed general of artillery in 1843, and Military Governor of Warsaw in 1846. In 1853 he commanded the Russian forces in the Danubian Provinces, crossed the Danube at Brai la, March 23, 1854, occupied the frontier region of Bessarabia. and in 1855 directed the defense of Sebastopol. As a reward for his services in this unsuccessful but still brilliant defense, Prince Gortchakoff was appointed by the Emperor Alex ander il. Governor of the Kingdom of Poland, and was for several years a wise and conciliatory representative of his youthful Emperor at War saw. Ile died May 30, 1861.
Prince ALEXANDER MIIMAILOVITCII ORTCIIA