Decembrist Kakhovsky Pyotr Grigorievich: biography and interesting facts

One of the five executed on the crown of the Peter and Paul Fortress was the Russian nobleman P.G. Kakhovsky. But it so happened that in relation to many Decembrists, and even to those who shared his sad fate sentenced to death, he stands somehow completely separate. There is evidence that, before the execution, the four others embraced like a brother, and he stood aside. There are records that the same Ryleev talked about him during interrogations-there is no direct evidence as to who Miloradovich was fatally wounded in the bloody commotion on Senate Square , but several former "comrades" were shown to the retired lieutenant. Who is he?

Kakhovsky in the Russian service

Kakhovsky Pyotr Grigoryevich (1797-1826), born in the village of Preobrazhenskoye in the Smolensk Province, is a descendant of two rather ancient families. On the paternal line he belongs to Nechuy-Kakhov. Representatives of this family are from the Czech Republic and Poland, some of whom in the middle of the XVII century switched to the service of the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. They served the Romanovs with faith and truth, and there was no war in which representatives of this kind did not participate - they distinguished themselves under Narva, in the Seven Years War and the annexation of the Crimea, during the assault of Izmail and in the Swiss campaign of Suvorov. One of them, namely Alexander Kakhovsky, was adjutant to Generalissimo A.V. Suvorov. For showing courage, Mikhail Kakhovsky was awarded a weapon "For Bravery." Two Kakhovskys in the rank of generals took part in the wars with Napoleon.

Royal blood

Nymphodor Mikhailovna's mother belonged to the Smolensk branch of the Olenins. An interesting fact is the legend that the Olenines are like the royal family of O'Layins, who once ruled in Ireland. In the struggle for the crown, the son of the king threw his sister into a cage with wild animals, who pitied the beautiful woman, and on the back of the bear she moved to France. The legend is reflected in the coat of arms of the Olenins, in the center of which is depicted a princess on the back of a bear.

Not to the court

Thus, it can be argued that Kakhovsky Pyotr Grigorievich was related to "glorious Russian surnames" in his origin. And his blood is no less blue than the one that flowed in the veins of the Golitsyns, Trubetskoi, Volkonsky and Obolensky, whose representatives also took part in the December uprising. However, they treated Kakhovsky as an outsider and even shied away from him. The reason for this, obviously, was his extreme poverty, and a direct, ardent temper.

Disgraced in the rank and file

Education Kakhovsky Pyotr Grigorievich got quite decent - Noble boarding school at Moscow University was a closed educational institution for boys from noble families of Russian nobles. Yes, and the Life Guards The Jaeger Regiment, which was founded by the legendary P.I. Bagration and where Kakhovsky entered the cadet, was prestigious. But the young man behaved so frivolously that, according to the personal grand prince's order, Konstantin Pavlovich was demoted to the rank and file, because he showed laziness to the service, and behaved noisily and indecently in decent houses, and did not pay for the candy store.

Explanatory military

The gambler and rowdy in 1816 sent by the decision of the Governor-General Zhemchuzhnikov in the 7th Jaeger Regiment in the Caucasus. And here Kakhovsky Pyotr Grigoryevich quickly rose to the rank of lieutenant (1821). However, this year he was sent on sick leave for a three-month vacation to his native Smolensk province. At the same time, he retires due to illness.

Poor, therefore unloved

There is much evidence that Kakhovsky was a very lonely person and he had no friends, but he went to the Caucasus to study with Major-General Svechin, and he made friends with Ryleev very quickly and strongly. Obviously, natural openness and straightforwardness, erudition and erudition (he was very fond of the democracy of Ancient Greece and Rome) first attracted people, and then tired. And "great love", which survived the future Russian revolutionary, if in general the Decembrists apply such a term, also began an enthusiastic mutual attraction.

But the summer ended, and 18-year-old Sofya Saltykova, who wrote to her friend that she loved this man with a heart as pure as a crystal, with all her heart, in Petersburg and did not want to know him, and did not let him into his house. Later, she will become the wife of Baron Delvig.

Life for freedom

1823 and 1824 years. Kahovsky conducts in Europe - is treated in Dresden, a few months living in Paris, travels to Switzerland, Austria, Italy. And everywhere he could not fail to compare feudal Russia with democratic European conquests. Being a freedom-loving man, he was ready to die for the freedom of citizens and his homeland and stranger. Kakhovsky returned to St. Petersburg in 1824. He wants to follow in Greece to join the ranks of internationalists fighting for the freedom of this country.

Russian Brutus

But in the capital, he quickly converges with Ryleev, on the recommendation of which he joins the Northern Society and becomes an active member of the radical wing. Obviously, he was approached, having previously determined this lonely and brave person for the role of "Russian Brutus". And the Russian revolutionary Kakhovsky himself did not shun regicide - he considered the monarchy to be the evil of Russia. There were still volunteers for this role, for example AI. Yakubovich, but they rather flaunted than went to the murder of the Emperor with conviction.

Kill the king refused

The first idea about the need not only for the establishment of the republican system, but also for the destruction of the royal family, was expressed back in 1816 by M.S. Lunin. At first he wanted and even wrote a letter to M.I. Kutuzov with such an offer - to slay Napoleon, having gone to him as a negotiator.

The next potential victim was Alexander I, although for personal courage on the Borodino field, where they fought for "Tsar and Fatherland", the Decembrist Lunin was awarded a gold weapon "For Bravery."

And P.I. Pestel was a supporter of the murder of Nicholas I. But Kakhovsky was defined for this role, the Decembrist is brave to recklessness and completely alone, whereas the others had families. When Rileyev handed Kakhovsky a dagger on the eve of the uprising, Pyotr Grigoryevich struck the poet in the face. And later he refused the honor given to him to become a regicide. Obviously, he considered Rileyev a friend and at the last moment realized that he always needed from the very beginning only as a designated "scapegoat".

Doomed to death

Pyotr Grigoryevich was not afraid to be known as a murderer - he was mortally offended by the fact that he had never acquired true friends of like-minded people. Kakhovsky - Decembrist, who was charged with three injuries, of which two were fatal - General Miloradovich and Colonel Sturler passed away.

As an active participant in the anti-monarchist conspiracy, an active agitator who brought many new members to the Northern Society, Kakhovsky was already doomed, and even these two murders.

The tsar can be killed, but there is no good governor-general

Governor Miloradovich, one of the leaders of the Russian army, the hero of the war of 1812, was a favorite of Nicholas I. The fact that he did not deserve to die is indicated by the fact that the governor-general arrived on the Senate Square to persuade the insurgents to come to their senses. In his dying letter, Miloradovich asked Nicholas I to release all serfs belonging to him (1500 souls) to freedom. Which was done. Later, even Herzen sympathized with Miloradovich. And this strange Kakhovsky kills a favorite of the royal family, in any case, all showed him. Yes, and he behaved during the interrogations equally boldly, and wrote letters still, exposing the injustice of the autocracy, and before the judges did not purge, did not hand over anyone, begging for mercy. The verdict was - the death penalty by hanging. Initially through quartering, but the king "softened" the verdict.

The last gift

Perhaps fate in the last weeks of life has mercy on this man, having presented a platonic hobby. The windows of his cell were opposite the windows of the room of the daughter of the commandant of the fortress Podushkin. They fell in love with each other. Adelaide Podushkina sent him books he greedily read. To admire her at a distance, to listen to her singing is all he could enjoy in the last days.

It was really a gift of fate, and if it were not for him, Kakhovsky, who did not communicate with any of his former comrades, would have died completely alone, betrayed by absolutely everyone. Even the death penalty through hanging, which occurred on July 25, 1826, turned out to be a mockery for Kakhovsky - the rope he, Ryleyev and Bestuzhev-Ryumin had broken off, they were hung up for the second time. True, in some articles, instead of Kakhovsky, the name Muravev-Apostol is called.