Włodzimierz Bonawentura Krzyżanowski (; 8 July 1824 – 31 January 1887) was a Polish American engineer, politician, and brigadier general in the Union Army. A Polish noble, he took part in the 1848 uprising against Prussia and left Poland after its suppression. During the American Civil War he enlisted in the United States' Union Army, recruited a company of Polish immigrants, and became colonel of the 58th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, listed in the official Army Register as the "Polish Legion". In the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Krzyżanowski helped repel an evening assault by the famed Louisiana Tigers on the Union defenses atop East Cemetery Hill. After the war he held several government posts, though it is disputed whether he was the first American administrator of Alaska Territory, as has been often stated. Early life Krzyżanowski was born in Rożnowo, Grand Duchy of Poznań, into an old Polish noble family that bore the Świnka coat of arms, and whose roots reached back to the 14th century and ownership of the village of Krzyżanowo near Kościan. Krzyżanowski's father and both uncles had fought for Polish independence under Napoleon's banners, and his brother fought in the November 1830 Uprising. Krzyżanowski was a first cousin to Frédéric Chopin, whose mother Justyna Krzyżanowska's brother was Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski's father. After the death of Krzyżanowski's father, the family fell into debt and had to leave their estate. The mother sent Włodzimierz to relatives in Poznań, while the rest of the family moved to Warsaw. Young Krzyżanowski attended St. Mary Magdalen Gymnasium in Poznań, a principal center of the Polish nationalist underground in Prussian Poland. Krzyżanowski took part in the 1848 uprising against Prussia and, after its suppression, fled Poland to avoid arrest. He went to the Free City of Hamburg, from which he sailed to New York. In the United States he learned the English language and continued his education. After completing his education, Krzyżanowski worked as a civil engineer and surveyor in Virginia and was instrumental in pushing America's railroads west. There he made the acquaintance of General Burnett and married his daughter Caroline, with whom he moved to Washington, D.C., to set up his own company, which brought him substantial wealth. He also became active in Republican Party politics. In 1860 he supported Abraham Lincoln's candidacy for president of the United States. Civil War In Washington, D.C., in early 1861, Krzyżanowski enlisted