Rigelman, Aleksandr

Rigel’man, Aleksandr Ivanovich 

Born 1720; died Oct. 23 (Nov. 3), 1789, in the village of Andreevka, now in Chernigov Oblast. Russian military engineer and historian; major general (1771).

Rigel’man graduated from the Gentry Cadet Corps in St. Petersburg in 1738. He served in the Ukraine and was engaged in military cartography and the construction of fortresses. He saw service in the Russo-Turkish wars of 1735–39 and 1768–74 and retired in 1782. Rigel’man was the author of “History or Narratives of the Don Cossacks …” (Chteniia v obshchestve istorii drevnostei Rossiiskikh, 1846, numbers 3–4) and “Chronicle Narrative of Little Russia, Its People, and Cossacks in General” (ibid., 1847, nos. 5-9). Rigel’man’s works contain a wealth of factual data and are written from the point of view of dvorianstvo (nobility and gentry) patriotism; in particular, he expressed a negative attitude toward cossack and peasant uprisings.

REFERENCE

Dzyra, la. U. “Dzherel’na osnova pratsi O. Rigel’mana z istorii Ukraini.” In Istoriografichni doslidzhennia v UkrRSR, issue 2. Kiev, 1969.