Leonti Nikolai Pavlovich

Louis Ernst Freiherr von Nicolay (Russian: Леонтий Павлович Николаи; 7 January 1820 in Copenhagen, Denmark – 2 February 1891 in the Grande Chartreuse, France) was a Russian general during the Caucasian War. He converted to the Roman Catholicism taking a name Jean-Louis in the monastic life of the Carthusians. Life Louis von Nicolay was a grandson of Baron Ludwig Heinrich von Nicolay, the first owner of the famous Monrepos estate. He was born on January 7, 1820, in Copenhagen, and was the son of Baron Paul von Nicolay, Russian extreme envoy to the court of Denmark, and his mother was Alexandrina Simplicius de Broglie (the granddaughter of Victor François de Broglie). His brother, Alexander, was also a well-known figure in the Caucasus and left a memoir. Nicolay in 1833 entered in the Sea Cadet Corps (Russia) and at the end of the course which was in December 1837 he was a warrant officer in the Baltic Fleet, and as one of the most academically talented students and the body was left for improvement in the military marine sciences in the officer class at the Naval College, later transformed into the Nicholas Naval Academy. In 1841, with the rank of lieutenant, Nicolay was transferred to the Black Sea Fleet, which found a patron in the person of Admiral Mikhail Lazarev. In 1842, Nicolay was in international voyages in the Mediterranean Sea in the crew of the corvette "Andromache", and in 1844, leaving the naval service, joined the military land designation in Dragoon Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich regiment with the rank of lieutenant, but soon entered in the General Staff Academy (Imperial Russia), where he graduated from the course in 1846. Since 1847 began active service on Baron Nicolay in the Caucasus, which lasted for twenty years, with a short break. This break occurred in 1849 as a result of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, when Nicolay was appointed to consist in the main headquarters of Field Marshal Ivan Paskevich, and then to the rank of adjutant was from 1849 to 1850 in Vologda Governorate, where he was charged with monitoring the recruitments. In 1849, for bravery in battle with the Hungarians, Nicolay received a Gold Sword for Bravery. Returning to the Caucasus, Nicolay was appointed first in the winter expedition against the Highlanders, then transferred to the Kabardian Regiment, which has since been inextricably linked its activities.