How a Russian colonel became the only foreign general in the United States and a war hero

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

For several centuries of the existence of the United States of America, thousands of Russians went there. Many volunteers from Russia fought for American ideas in the ranks of the US Army. But the colonel of the Russian General Staff stands apart among the names. Only once did a Russian military man manage to rise to the rank of general in the United States, having received personal gratitude from the president himself for his activities. In the United States, the general is known as John Basil Turchin, but he was born in Russia under the name Ivan Vasilievich Turchaninov.

Russian military in the ranks of the Americans in the Civil War and the search for Colonel Turchaninov

John Basil Turchin is not the only Russian in the American army. If we take the years of the Civil War in the United States, then there are many such cases. Sergeant Alexander Smirnov fought in the ranks of the Illinois regiment, Russian prince Eristov fought on the side of the northerners, and Colonel de Arno from Russia was in the army of Fremont.

Against this background, Ivan Vasilievich Turchaninov stands out in that the American version of his name is known to almost every resident of the states. Ros Ivan Vasilyevich in the family of the Novocherkassk military. His grandfather received the title of nobility for his military exploits, and his uncle is known as an ally of Kutuzov. After graduating from the capital's cadet corps, a military gymnasium, an artillery school and the Academy of the General Staff, Turchaninov was promoted to colonel. At that time, he had solid military experience and sufficient merit. And everything would be fine, but Turchaninov was clearly not happy with any prospects in his native land.

Judging by his correspondence with Alexander Herzen, a Russian political émigré-free-thinker who lived in London, the military did not approve of Russian realities. Serfdom, the suppression of uprisings in Poland and Hungary, and the Nikolaev reactions weighed upon him. In essence, a democrat Turchaninov dreamed of living in a state where the citizen himself determines his own destiny. The moral choice of Ivan Vasilyevich fell on the United States - at that time the only free and influential country in the West.

Departure to America and new roles

In the spring of 1856, Turchaninov and his wife emigrated to the United States. The young family could not have the slightest material motives. At that time, Ivan Vasilyevich sat in Poland in the chair of the chief of staff of the corps, enjoyed unrestricted favor with the imperial position and stood in the way of brilliant service prospects. Historians suggest that young people were simply driven by adventurism at its best. Perhaps the Turchaninov couple just decided to see the world and test themselves in a new quality in a new world.

Colonel Turchaninov did not officially indicate his intentions to leave the service. He went on vacation in Europe, ostensibly for the purpose of medical treatment, without returning in due time. In 1857, Turchaninov was expelled from service in the Russian army. According to the charter, a deserter would automatically fall under a military court if caught. The way back was ordered.

The Turchaninovs' American life began in New York, where they acquired a farm and tried to succeed in agriculture. A year later, the country was covered by an economic crisis, and Russian farmers went bankrupt. During this period, Turchaninov changes his difficult-to-pronounce surname and becomes John Basil Turchin. Both spouses are educated in the United States, finding work and settling down in the state of Illinois. In 1859, Turchin moved to the young growing Chicago, where he was offered a worthy place on the central railroad. Here he meets Vice President of the Illinois Railroad Company McClellan and future president - lawyer Abraham Lincoln. This connection later played a major role in the formation of the Russian emigrant as an American military man.

American military career and high-profile trial

With the first shots of the Civil War, Turchin was offered to lead the Illinois regiment, to which he goes without hesitation. Brought up in Russian military discipline, Turchin keeps the regiment entrusted to him in austerity and order, which at that time was a rare phenomenon in conditions of civil clashes. But the commander was not afraid, he was loved and respected for justice and non-standard solutions. The colonel was accompanied everywhere as a field nurse by his wife, who was equally respected among the soldiers.

In May 1862, Turchin's regiment takes Athens in Alabama by storm, and the colonel gives free rein to his subordinates, who rob the city for several hours. There is a version that in this way Turchin avenged the locals for the murders and tortures of his soldiers. At the trial that followed, he was accused of extreme cruelty and looting. To this day, some American historians portray the colonel as a "wild Cossack", while forgetting about the high-profile military raids of their own northerners, using the "scorched earth" tactics.

Lincoln's help, a new take-off and an abandoned war hero

Desperate because of the legal proceedings that threatened Turchin, Nadine's wife went to President Lincoln, an old friend of her husband's. Lincoln did not go against justice, he simply promoted the colonel to general, thereby annulling judicial legitimacy. The junior in rank had no right to judge him. The trial was interrupted, and Turchin was covered with a new glory. He took command of a brigade of 5 infantry regiments and 2 artillery batteries, successfully participating in many battles. Subordinates idolized the commander, and he, having enlisted their loyalty, performed more and more military feats.

In 1864, due to illness, General Turchin was forced to leave military service. Many of his subordinates soon after the end of the Civil War became influential government officials, congressmen, and senators. And his new homeland awarded the commander only a pension of $ 50, actual poverty and oblivion during his lifetime. Even after changing continents and becoming a war hero in the United States, Turchaninov essentially did not fit into the model of "American success."

And some famous people emigrated … to Mexico, no matter how strange it may seem.