Yermolay Yermolayevich Gamper (; ; 1750 – 13 December 1814) was a Russian major general who fought in the

Russo-Turkish Wars The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...

and

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

Life

Born into a

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

ennobled family from

Courland Courland is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. Courland's largest city is Liepāja, which is the third largest city in Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland as they were ...

, he entered the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

on 3 February 1766 as a soldier in the Kazan Cuirassier Regiment. On 7 April 1766 he was promoted to corporal and on 1 January 1768 to sergeant. In 1770 he fought in the Moldova campaign, fighting at Largo and Cahul. On 21 July, the day of the battle of Cahul, he was promoted to cornet in the Riga Carabinier Regiment. In 1771 he took part in the battles of Bucharest and Zhurzha, rising to lieutenant on 24 November that year. He took part in the 1773-74 operations along the Danube in Bulgaria under Silistria. On 22 September 1773 he was promoted to captain and in November the same year he transferred to the Smolensk Dragoon Regiment. In 1776, he fought on the Kuban steppes, including a fierce battle with Caucasian mountain brigands. On 30 January 1777 he took part in the occupation of

Temryuk Temryuk ( rus, Темрю́к, p=tʲɪmˈrʲʉk) is a town and the administrative center of Temryuksky District in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the Taman Peninsula on the right bank of the Kuban River not far from its entry into the T ...

, from 1779 to 1782 in the fighting in Poland and in 1783 the capture of the Taurian Peninsula. On 1 January 1786 he was promoted to second major. From 1792 until 1794 he took part in the Polish campaigns once again. During the

Kościuszko Uprising The Kościuszko Uprising, also known as the Polish Uprising of 1794, Second Polish War, Polish Campaign of 1794, and the Polish Revolution of 1794, was an uprising against the Russian and Prussian influence on the Polish–Lithuanian Common ...

, on 26 May 1794 his horse was killed under him. On 29 September that year he was promoted to major for his conduct at the

Battle of Maciejowice The Battle of Maciejowice was fought on 10 October 1794, between Poland and the Russian Empire during the Polish Uprising of 1794. The Poles were led by Tadeusz Kościuszko. Kościuszko with 6,200 men, who planned to prevent the linking of thr ...

and he also fought at the storming of Praga (a suburb of

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

), taking on a battery of 21 guns. On 22 September 1795, he was promoted to lieutenant and on the following 20 November was given the

Order of St George Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * ...

4th class for over twenty-five years' service as an officer. He was promoted to colonel on 30 May 1798 and put in command of the Smolensk Dragoon Regiment on 28 July the same year. On 22 February 1800 he was promoted to his final rank of major general, along with an appointment as commander of the 4th Cuirassier Regiment. He retired on 21 July 1800 but re-entered the army on 14 March 1801 and was put in command of the Smolensk Dragoon Regiment. On 24 January 1803 he was made the Chief of the Smolensk Dragoon Regiment. On 10 November 1806, he was given the

Order of St Vladimir The Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir () was an Imperial Russian order established on by Empress Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Saint Vladimir, the Grand Prince and the Baptizer of the Kievan Rus'. Grades The order had four ...

4th class for his thirty-five years of service. In 1807 he was in Moldavia with his regiment and on 3 March fought in battles with the Turks and the siege of the fortress of Izmail. In 1808 he commanded the reserve corps and the following year he took part in the siege and capture of Ishmael. In 1810 he was in

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...

and Bulgaria and during the siege of Silistria he was awarded the

Order of St Anna The Imperial Order of Saint Anna (; also "Order of Saint Anne" or "Order of Saint Ann") was a Holstein ducal and then Russian imperial order of chivalry. It was established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, on 14 February 1735, in hon ...

1st class. On 8 July he repelled the Turks at the village of Derek after they made a sortie from

Shumla Shumen (, also romanized as ''Shoumen'' or ''Šumen'', ) is the tenth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and economic capital of Shumen Province. Etymology The city was first mentioned as ''Šimeonis'' in 1153 by the Arab travel ...

, commanding the Smolensk and St Petersburg dragoon regiments - as a reward he was granted a golden sword with diamonds and inscribed "For bravery". On 16 August he was on the right side of the Yantra River and on 26 August he fought at Batyn. In 1811, he was in command of a detachment on the army's left flank in Wallachia and from 14 June of the army's whole left wing and a flotilla on the Danube. He was instrumental in the capture of Turtukayskogo on 8 October and four days later the taking of Silistra, for which he was awarded the Order of St Vladimir 2nd class, Grand Cross. During the

French invasion of Russia The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign (), the Second Polish War, and in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 (), was initiated by Napoleon with the aim of compelling the Russian Empire to comply with the Continenta ...

, Gamper was in 21st Brigade of the 7th Cavalry Division early in 1812. He raised Napoleon's siege of

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

. He died of disease on 13 December 1814. He is buried in the village cemetery at Derechin in the Grodno region of Belarus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamper, Yermolay 1750 births 1814 deaths Nobility from the Russian Empire Baltic-German people from the Russian Empire People from the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia Russian commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Russian military personnel killed in the Napoleonic Wars Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class Recipients of the Order of St. George