Vasily Dmitrievich Ilovaisky (Ilovaisky XII)
Command Ratings
Vasily Dmitrievich Ilovaisky, commonly styled Ilovaisky 12th (Russian: Василий Дмитриевич Иловайский 12-й), was a Don Cossack officer of the Russian Imperial service who fought in the Napoleonic Wars and later reached the rank of генерал-лейтенант (lieutenant general). He was born on 30 January 1785 in the Don Host territory, at his father’s estate in the settlement of Zuyevka (Mius district). He was the son of Dmitry Ivanovich Ilovaisky, a senior Don Cossack leader who served as наказной атаман (appointed ataman) of the Don Cossack Host and held the rank of general of cavalry.
Ilovaisky was entered as a child on the rolls of the Ataman Cossack Regiment (Атаманский казачий полк) and, while still very young, received an officer-equivalent Cossack чин, being produced directly as an есаул in 1792. He subsequently received formal education at the 2nd Cadet Corps (2-й кадетский корпус), where he studied while retaining his Cossack чин, and he graduated in 1800.
In 1801 Ilovaisky entered active field service with the Ataman Cossack Regiment. In 1802 he transferred to the regiment of his elder brother, Pavel Dmitrievich Ilovaisky 2nd, and with that formation he took part in operations against the French during the War of the Fourth Coalition (1806–1807). His early combat service was therefore as a regimental officer within the Don Cossack contingents attached to the Russian field armies operating in Poland and East Prussia, in the period that culminated in the Major winter and spring battles of that war.
During the Patriotic War of 1812, Ilovaisky 12th served in the mounted screening and raiding roles typical of Don Cossack formations, operating against French communications and detachments, and in the mobile fighting that accompanied the Russian armies’ maneuvering and subsequent counteroffensive. Within the Don Cossack establishment, the numbering “12th” was used in practice to distinguish him from other senior officers of the Ilovaisky clan serving simultaneously, a family circumstance that produced multiple high-ranking officers with the same surname in 1812.
Ilovaisky’s name became formally attached in later regimental tradition to the “8th Don Cossack Regiment of General Ilovaisky 12th” (8-й Донской казачий генерала Иловайского 12-го полк), reflecting his later senior status and association with the regiment’s lineage and honors. The regiment’s inherited tradition traced back to a Don Cossack formation raised in 1812 that fought in the campaign against Napoleon, later receiving a St. George banner for distinction at Slonim on 8 October 1812, and subsequently serving in the foreign campaigns of 1813–1815; Ilovaisky 12th’s name was later used as an honorific regimental designation in this line.
After 1812, Ilovaisky continued his career in the Imperial service and remained closely connected with the Don Cossack forces in subsequent decades. He eventually attained general officer rank and was promoted to генерал-лейтенант (lieutenant general). He died on 3 November 1860 in Saint Petersburg.
Sources
XX 13-14 Lutzen, Bautzen, Dresden, Kulm, Leipzig, 2nd Bar-sur-Aube, Acris-sur-Aube, Fere-Champenoise