Apollon Vasilyevich Galafeyev (1793–1853) was a decorated Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n general.

Apollon Galafeyev was born into a noble family in Tambov

Tambov

Tambov is a city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tsna and Studenets Rivers southeast of Moscow...

 guberniya

Guberniya

A guberniya was a major administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire usually translated as government, governorate, or province. Such administrative division was preserved for sometime upon the collapse of the empire in 1917. A guberniya was ruled by a governor , a word borrowed from Latin ,...

. After having received his education at the 1st Cadet Corps, he graduated in the rank of podporuchik on December 26, 1811, and was assigned to the Tula

Tula, Russia

Tula is an industrial city and the administrative center of Tula Oblast, Russia. It is located south of Moscow, on the Upa River. Population: -History:...

 Infantry Regiment. In 1812, Apollon Galafeyev served in Count Peter Wittgenstein

Peter Wittgenstein

Ludwig Adolph Peter, Prince Wittgenstein was a Russian Field Marshal distinguished for his services in the Napoleonic wars.-Life:...

’s unit and took part in the Battle of Sivoshino, Battle of Svolnya, First

First battle of Polotsk

In the First battle of Polotsk, which took place on 17–18 August 1812, Russian troops under the command of Peter Wittgenstein fought French and Bavarian troops led by Nicolas Oudinot and stopped their advance to Saint Petersburg...

 and Second Battle of Polotsk

Second Battle of Polotsk

The Second Battle of Polotsk took place during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. In this encounter the Russians under General Peter Wittgenstein attacked and defeated a Franco-Bavarian force under Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr. In the aftermath of this success, the Russians took Polotsk and dismantled...

 (promoted to poruchik

Poruchik

Poruchik was a military rank in several Slavic countries, such as the Russian Empire and the Republic of Poland, equivalent to Lieutenant. "Poruchik" means "messenger", "officer for orders". This is a Slavic copy of the term "Lieutenant" .In Russia this rank was first introduced in Strelets New...

 and awarded the Order of St. Anna

Order of St. Anna

The Order of St. Anna ) is a Holstein and then Russian Imperial order of chivalry established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp on 14 February 1735, in honour of his wife Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great of Russia...

, 4th Class), Battle of Czasniki, and Battle of Smolyanka (promoted to staff captain). In 1813, Apollon Galafeyev participated in the siege of Pillau and the Free City of Danzig

Free City of Danzig (Napoleonic)

The Free City of Danzig, sometimes referred to as the Republic of Danzig, was a semi-independent state established by Napoleon on September 9, 1807, during the time of the Napoleonic Wars following the capture of the city in the siege of Danzig in May...

, the blockade of Wittenberg

Wittenberg

Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a city in Germany in the Bundesland Saxony-Anhalt, on the river Elbe. It has a population of about 50,000....

, Battle of Luckau

Battle of Luckau

The Battle of Luckau was fought at Luckau in Brandenburg on 6 June 1813 during the War of the Sixth Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Allied Russian and Prussian forces under General Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Bülow defeated part of a French-Allied corps under Marshal Nicolas Oudinot....

 (promoted to captain), Battle of Leipzig

Battle of Leipzig

The Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations, on 16–19 October 1813, was fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine...

, capturing of Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 and repelling of the enemy from Breda

Breda

Breda is a municipality and a city in the southern part of the Netherlands. The name Breda derived from brede Aa and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. As a fortified city, the city was of strategic military and political significance...

. In 1814, Apollon Galafeyev took part in the blockade of Jülich

Jülich

Jülich is a town in the district of Düren, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Jülich is well known as location of a world-famous research centre, the Forschungszentrum Jülich and as shortwave transmission site of Deutsche Welle...

, Battle of Craonne

Battle of Craonne

The Battle of Craonne was fought on March 7, 1814, and resulted in a French victory under Napoleon I against Russians and Prussians under General Blücher.Craonne is a village on the Chemin des Dames, in the département of Aisne....

, Battle of Laon

Battle of Laon

The Battle of Laon was the victory of Blücher's Prussian army over Napoleon's French army near Laon.-Prelude:An Allied coalition attempted to complete the destruction of Napoleon's French Empire in 1814. France had been defeated in Russia in 1812 and in Central Europe in 1813...

, and occupation of Paris.

On April 23, 1817, Apollon Galafeyev was promoted to the rank of major

Major

Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

 and then lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 (September 15, 1819). On December 8, 1820, he was transferred to the Velikolutsky Infantry Regiment. On December 12, 1823, Galafeyev was appointed commander of the 20th Jaeger

Jäger (military)

Jäger is a term that was adopted in the Enlightenment era in German-speaking states and others influenced by German military practice to describe a kind of light infantry, and it has continued in that use since then....

 Regiment. On January 28, 1828, he was promoted to the rank of colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 and then sent to the Russo-Turkish War. For his performance in several battles, Apollon Galafeyev was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir

Order of St. Vladimir

The Cross of Saint Vladimir was an Imperial Russian Order established in 1782 by Empress Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptizer of the Kievan Rus....

 (4th class), Order of St. Anna

Order of St. Anna

The Order of St. Anna ) is a Holstein and then Russian Imperial order of chivalry established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp on 14 February 1735, in honour of his wife Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great of Russia...

 (2nd class), a gold sabre inscribed "For Bravery", and another Order of Saint Anna with diamond

Diamond

In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...

s. Besides this, Galafeyev took part in the siege of Shumla and Varna

Siege of Varna

Siege of Varna was a war episode during the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829.Varna was held by the Ottoman army...

. On October 23, 1829, he was also awarded the Order of St. George

Order of St. George

The Military Order of the Holy Great-Martyr and the Triumphant George The Military Order of the Holy Great-Martyr and the Triumphant George The Military Order of the Holy Great-Martyr and the Triumphant George (also known as Order of St. George the Triumphant, Russian: Военный орден Св...

 (4th class). In 1831, Apollon Galafeyev participated in the Russo-Polish War, mainly fighting against the units of Brigadier

Brigadier

Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....

 Józef Dwernicki and General Samuel Różycki

Samuel Rózycki

Samuel Różycki was an officer in the Duchy of Warsaw and Polish Legions of the Napoleonic period) and later, Congress Poland. He joined the insurgents during the November Uprising and was one of its generals. He emigrated after its failure....

. For his service in Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, he was awarded the Order of Saint Vladimir (3rd class), promoted to the rank of major general

Major General

Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

 (December 6), and assigned to the commander-in-chief

Commander-in-Chief

A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

 of the 1st Army. On August 19, 1833, Apollon Galafeyev was awarded the Order of Saint Stanislaus

Order of Saint Stanislaus

The Order of Saint Stanislaus , also spelled Stanislas, was an Order in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and The Kingdom of Poland between 1765 and 1831 and of Russian Empire from 1831 to 1917.-History of the Order of Saint Stanislaus:Stanisław August Poniatowski, King of Poland, established the...

 (1st class) and then Order of Saint Anna (1st class) a year later. On October 19, 1834, he was appointed chief-of-staff of a detached Siberia

Siberia

Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...

n Corps. On December 6, 1838, Galafeyev was appointed commander of the 20th Infantry Division.

Also, Apollon Galafeyev participated in the Caucasian War of 1817-1864

Caucasian War

The Caucasian War of 1817–1864, also known as the Russian conquest of the Caucasus was an invasion of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire which ended with the annexation of the areas of the North Caucasus to Russia...

. As infantry commander, he took part in Adjutant General

Adjutant general

An Adjutant General is a military chief administrative officer.-Imperial Russia:In Imperial Russia, the General-Adjutant was a Court officer, who was usually an army general. He served as a personal aide to the Tsar and hence was a member of the H. I. M. Retinue...

 Pavel Grabbe’s Dagestan

Dagestan

The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...

 campaign against Imam Shamil

Imam Shamil

Imam Shamil also spelled Shamyl, Schamil, Schamyl or Shameel was an Avar political and religious leader of the Muslim tribes of the Northern Caucasus...

 from April to September 1839. Galafeyev was awarded the imperial crown to his Order of Saint Anna (1st class) for defeating Tashev-hadji (Shamil’s associate) and Order of Saint Vladimir (2nd class) with a promotion to lieutenant general

Lieutenant General

Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....

 for capturing Shamil’s mountain stronghold of Akhoulgo

Siege of Akhoulgo

The siege of Akhoulgo took place in June–August 1839 during the Caucasian War, when the Imperial Russian army under the command of Generals Yevgeny Golovin and Pavel Grabbe surrounded Imam Shamil and his followers, numbering about 5,000 men, in their mountain stronghold of Akhoulgo, nestled in the...

. From March to December 1840, Apollon Galafeyev participated in a military campaign against the mountaineers, commanding the so-called Chechen unit. On July 11, the famous Battle of the Valerik River

Battle of the Valerik River

The Battle of the Valerik River on July 11, 1840 was a battle of the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. It was fought about southwest of the fortress of Groznaya between forces of the Imperial Russian Army and North Caucasian mountaineers led by the naib Ahberdila Muhammad...

 took place, in which Mikhail Lermontov

Mikhail Lermontov

Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest...

 took part (later he would describe this event in his poem called "The Valerik"). In October 1841, Galafeyev participated in military action in the Chechen unit under the command of Pavel Grabbe and was wounded in upper abdomen

Abdomen

In vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity...

 with a rifle bullet. On September 7, 1842, he was shell-shocked in his right shoulder by a cannonball.

On November 3, 1844, Apollon Galafeyev was appointed governor of Sevastopol

Sevastopol

Sevastopol is a city on rights of administrative division of Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 . Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa....

, but had to remain in the Caucasus due to his illness until 1846. On October 1, 1852, he was removed from his post and court-martial

Court-martial

A court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...

ed for administrative abuses. On December 15, 1853, Apollon Galafeyev was dismissed from military service. He died later that same year.