Konovnitsyn, Petr Petrovich

Born Sept. 28 (Oct. 9), 1764; died Aug. 28 (Sept. 9), 1822, in Petergof, present-day Petrodvorets. Russian general of the infantry (1817); adjutant general (1812); count (1819).

Konovnitsyn entered military service in 1785. He was staff duty general of the army in the field during the war between Russia and Sweden of 1808–09. In the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812 he commanded the 3rd Infantry Division; between August 16 and August 23, while commanding the rear guard, Konovnitsyn covered the retreat of the main forces and their deployment at Borodino. In the battle of Borodino, after the loss of the Semenov fleche and the wounding of P. I. Bagration, he temporarily commanded the Second Army, organized the defense, and retained the positions east of the Semenov ravine. On September 6 he was appointed staff duty general of the combined western armies. He was commander of the Grenadier Corps from January 1813 and in the retinue of Alexander I from 1814. From 1815 to 1819, Konovnitsyn was minister of war. From 1819 he was a member of the Council of State, chief of military schools, and chief director of the Corps of Pages and other cadet corps and of the Tsarskoe Selo Lycée.