Jan Nepomucen Umiński

Jan Nepomucen Umiński of Cholewa (1778–1851) was a Polish military officer and a brigadier general of the Army of the Duchy of Warsaw. A veteran of the Kościuszko Uprising, Napoleonic Wars and the November Uprising, he died in exile in Wiesbaden.

Biography Napoleonic period Jan Nepomucen Umiński was born to a Polish gentry family in Czeluścin in Greater Poland on 22 January 1778. He joined the Army of the Republic of Poland early in his life and took part in the failed Kościuszko Uprising of 1794 as an adjutant to General Antoni Madaliński. A founder of a secret patriotic Scythemen Association, soon he joined Walerian Łukasiński's Patriotic Society. Under close observation by Prussian secret police, Umiński was considered an "incorrigible traitor of the state" and "zealous and criminal chauvinist due to his earlier involvements in Polish patriotic uprisings. However, his activities remained unknown to the Prussians for some time. Denounced to Prussian authorities by Łukasiński and Ignacy Prądzyński, he was finally arrested in 1826, together with Count Maciej Mielżyński. Umiński was charged with high treason and conspiracy, and sentenced to 6 years in a prison in Glogau. His village of Czeluścin was confiscated by Prussian authorities and sold to a new owner.

When the November Uprising broke out, Umiński's situation became more complicated. Already in mail contact with various factions throughout Europe, he was put under closer surveillance by the Prussian authorities. In front of his cell two guards were posted at all times, and an officer was stationed in his cell. However, as the discipline within the fortress was lacking, on 17 February 1831 Umiński organised in his cell a party for numerous officers stationed in the fortress.

On 21 February 1831 Umiński rejoined the Polish Army. Initially in the rank of an ordinary soldier, Umiński took part in the First Battle of Wawer and the bloody Battle of Olszynka Grochowska. Soon he was discovered by his former colleague, General Henryk Dembiński, who promoted him to a Colonel, then a Division General, and gave him command over the I Cavalry Corps. His Corps took part in the battles of Jędrzejów and the Battle of Ostrołęka, one of the bloodiest battles of the uprising, plagued by indecisiveness and bad command decisions on the side of the Polish Commander-in-Chief General Jan Zygmunt Skrzynecki. Critical of his superiors, Umiński nevertheless remained in the army until the very end of the uprising, taking part in the lengthy battle of Warsaw. Following the Polish defeat, he led the remaining Polish forces to Modlin and Płock, where on 23 September 1831 he was nominated to the post of the Polish Commander-in-Chief. Opposed by many generals, he held it for only a single day and ceded his duties to General Maciej Rybiński.

After the fall of uprising, Umiński went into exile in Paris. A close associate to Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, he was one of the founders of the Literary Society of Paris, one of the most important Polish cultural and scientific associations of the 19th century. He then moved to Wiesbaden in Germany, where he died on 15 June 1851. He is a patron of streets and schools in numerous towns, as well as the 5th Reconnaissance Battalion of the Polish Army.