Alexander's father Ivan Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky was a known doctor of Ukrainian origin who studied at the University of Göttingen and briefly worked in 1789 at the Russian Ministry of Finance. Alexander studied German at Saint Peter's School joined the Saint Petersburg militia on 1 August 1812 and was chosen by Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, an adjutant, mainly for correspondence in French. He fought in the Battle of Borodino and in the Battle of Tarutino where he was critically wounded.