Yermolay Yermolayevich Gamper (russian: Ермолай Ермолаевич Гампер; german: Hermann Christoph Gamper; 1750 – 13 December 1814) was a Russian major general who fought in the

Russo-Turkish Wars The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histor ...

and

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

Life

Born into a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

ennobled family from

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. ...

, he entered the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

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 Temr ...

, 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 and the Second Polish War, was an uprising against the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia led by Tadeusz Kościuszko in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Pr ...

, 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. The Poles were led by Tadeusz Kościuszko. Kościuszko with 6,200 men, who planned to prevent the linking of three larger Russian corps, commanded b ...

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

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

), 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 The Order of Saint George (russian: Орден Святого Георгия, Orden Svyatogo Georgiya) is the highest military decoration of the Russian Federation. Originally established on 26 November 1769 Julian (7 December 1769 Gregorian) a ...

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 (russian: орден Святого Владимира) was an Imperial Russian order established on by Empress Catherine the Great, Catherine II in memory of the deeds of Vladimir I, Prince of Kiev, ...

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 (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...

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

Order of St Anna The Imperial Order of Saint Anna (russian: Орден Святой Анны; 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 Hols ...

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

Shumla Shumen ( bg, Шумен, 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 t ...

, 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, the Army of Twenty nations, and the Patriotic War of 1812 was launched by Napoleon Bonaparte to force the Russian Empire back into the continental block ...

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

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

. 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 Baltic-German people People from the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia 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 Russian commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Military personnel killed in the Napoleonic Wars Russian nobility Ethnic German people from the Russian Empire