20 Facts About Alexander Bielaski

Alexander Bielaski was an engineer and Union Army officer who was killed during the Battle of Belmont during the American Civil War.

Alexander Bielaski was a friend of Abraham Lincoln, who gave him a commission in the Union Army when the American Civil War broke out in 1861.

Alexander Bielaski was born either in the Minsk Governorate of the Russian Empire or elsewhere in the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, on August 1,1811.

Alexander Bielaski was trained as a topographical engineer in a Russian military academy at St Petersburg and entered the Imperial Russian Army as an engineer.

Alexander Bielaski joined the November Uprising, a revolt against the Russian Empire, in 1831.

Alexander Bielaski served in a Polish army under Henryk Dembinski, under whom he once commanded a 300-man rear guard; his unit was wrecked by a Russian attack and Bielaski only returned to Polish headquarters with a single man.

Alexander Bielaski was later shot in the mouth while fighting in the Battle of Grochow.

Alexander Bielaski entered the United States at Portland, Maine, and entered the railroad industry.

Alexander Bielaski spent eighteen months in Mexico, where he was employed as an engineer and declined an offer of Mexican citizenship made by Santa Anna.

Alexander Bielaski moved to Washington, DC for the position; by 1853, he had been promoted to a well-compensated position as a principal draftsman.

Alexander Bielaski was initially reluctant to accept the offer because of his family, but was convinced to join the army by Lincoln.

Alexander Bielaski felt that the Union cavalry should be armed with lances, as were French and Austrian armies as well as the Cossacks.

Alexander Bielaski accompanied Buford and the 27th Illinois Infantry during the movement.

Buford decided to make the movement against the Confederate rear; the historian Nathaniel Cheairs Hughes believes that Alexander Bielaski supported the decision.

Alexander Bielaski had helped make the decisions about which roads to take during the movement.

Confederate fire initially disrupted the Union line, but Alexander Bielaski rallied the men and took part in the charge.

Alexander Bielaski was first shot in the hand, and was then forced to dismount from his horse after the animal was wounded in the neck.

Alexander Bielaski was buried in a mass grave until his remains were disinterred in 1864 and transferred to the Mound City National Cemetery in Illinois.

Alexander Bielaski's grave is marked as "Unknown Soldier, killed at the Battle of Belmont".

Alexander Bielaski was the father of Oscar Alexander Bielaski, who was one of the first Polish-Americans to play professional baseball in the United States.