Alexander Tormasov Count Alexander Petrovich Tormasov ( ) ( 11 August 1752 – 13 November 1819 ) was a Russia n cavalry general prominent during the Napoleonic Wars . Early life . Alexander Tormasov descended from an old noble family . At the age of ten he entered service as a Page of Honour , then , aged 20 in 1772 he began military service as a lieutenant of the Vyatka infantry regiment . Within a few weeks he joined the staff of Yakov Bruce as aide - de - camp . Three years later Tormasov formed and headed the Finland Chasseur regiment with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel . In 1782 Prince Potemkin charged to him an operation in the Crimea . Following that Tormasov commanded the Dolmatsky Hussars , on the base of which he formed and led the Aleksandrian light cavalry regiment with the rank of Colonel . Time as general . In 1788 - 1791 he took part in the Russo - Turkish War , serving at the Siege of Ochakov and the Danube river raids , and was promoted to Major General on 21 March 1791 . He commanded the left flank cavalry at the storm of Machin , for which he received the Order of St . George 3rd Class . In 1792 and 1794 he successfully acted against the Polish - Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Polish - Russian War of 1792 and Kościuszko Uprising , commanding a column under Suvorov in the assault on Prague . Like many other generals of this time , he was dismissed by Emperor Paul I on 11 July 1799 and was imprisoned in the Dünamünde fortress for several months . On 16 November 1800 he was restored in the Army . On 15 September 1801 , on the day of the coronation of the new Emperor Alexander I he was promoted to Full General of cavalry . Later he took up an administrative post until 1803 . Time as governor and commander . From 1803 he served as governor of Kiev , Minsk and from 1807 Riga . From 1809 to 1811 , he served as a Viceroy of Georgia and as the commander - in - chief in the Caucasus . After the French invasion of Russia began , on 25 March 1812 Alexander Tormasov became the Chief Commander of the 40 , 000 man Third ( Reserve ) Army of the West . Advancing North against Jean Reynier in mid July , he overwhelmed Klengel ’ s Saxon brigade at Kobryn 27th , marking the first Russian victory in the campaign . Tormassov received the Order of St . George 2nd Class for this . Defeated in turn by Reynier and Schwarzenberg at Gorodetschna ( Podobna , Prujany ) 12 August , he then withdrew to Ratno to join with the corps of Pavel Chichagov , meeting him on the river Styr 18 September . The combined command then acted under the orders of Mikhail Kutuzov , and fought at Brest - Litovsk 9 October . Ordered to envelope the Grande Armée at Liady , he was however recalled to the main army by Kutusov after being repulsed at the 2nd Battle of Krasnoe 15 November . Appointed by Kutusov with internal management of all troops in December , he was then made overall commander of the Russian main Army after Kutusov ’ s death . In 1813 he commanded the Russian army at the Battle of Lützen , but then resigned due to failing health . Late life and career . After leaving military service he became a member of the State Council . On 30 August 1814 he succeeded Count Fyodor Rostopchin as General Governor of the Moscow Governorate . Two years later he received a comital title for his efforts in rebuilding the city . After his death in Moscow on November 13 , 1819 , he was buried in the Donskoy Monastery . Tormasov ' s only son died in 1839 and thus this family became extinct .