Peter Tekeli

Peter Tekeli (; ; ; 1720–1792) was a Russian general-in-chief of Serb origin. He achieved the highest rank among the Serbs who served in the Imperial Russian Army.

Tekeli was born in a noble family of military tradition, whose men were officers of the Austrian army in the Military Frontier. Prior to his emigration to Russia in 1748, he fought as a young officer in the War of the Austrian Succession. Characterized by both courage and military cunning, he made a splendid career in Russia. He participated in the Seven Years' War, the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 and the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792. Under his command, the Zaporozhian Cossacks were disbanded and subjugated to the Imperial authority in 1775, without spilling a single drop of blood, for which he received the Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky from Empress Catherine the Great. He retired in 1790, and died two years later in his mansion at Novomirgorod.

Family background and early career The Tekeli family emigrated to the Kingdom of Hungary from the village of Tekija in eastern Serbia (then part of the Ottoman Empire), long before the Great Serb Migrations. Peter Tekeli was a grandson of Jovan Tekelija and a son of Ranko Tekeli. Colonel Jovan Tekeli of Arad was at the beginning of the 18th century the commander-in-chief of Pomorišje section of the Military Frontier. As the commander of the Pomorišje Militia, he distinguished himself in the Battle of Senta in 1697, significantly contributing to the Austrian victory. After his military successes in suppression of the Rákóczi's War for Independence, he was granted a hereditary nobility title by Emperor Joseph I. He had a prominent role in the conquest of Timişoara in 1716. His good relations with the Habsburgs deteriorated later; he even visited Rákóczi in his exile in Rodosto. The Tekeli family was ever since regarded with mistrust by the Austrians, and Jovan’s son Ranko never rose above the rank of captain. Ranko married Alka, a daughter of Mojsej Rašković, commander-in-chief of the Danube section of Military Frontier. They had four sons, the third of whom was Peter.

Tekeli divided his forces into five detachments, and send them along roads which would lead them to fully surround the Sich, which was successfully deployed by dawn of June 4. The lack of any combat in past few years had the effect that the vigilance of Zaporozhians was low, and their guards were asleep upon Tekeli's arrival. Petro Kalnyshevsky, the Kosh otaman, found out that the Sich is surrounded and besieged only after the Russian envoy arrived to call him to meet with Tekeli. By evening Russian guards were placed in all internal and external positions, and next morning the Zaporozhians officially surrendered all their arms and lowered their battle banners.

Tekeli allowed joint visits and gave permissions to the former Cossacks to leave the besieged Sich for personal reasons. As the Host’s Starshynas were sent to Saint Petersburg, the Sich was slowly vacated. When Tekeli realized that some Cossacks ran off to the Danube where they formed the Danubian Sich, he reported that to the Empress, and received order to destroy the Sich. After ensuring it was vacated, the empty fortress was subjected to a prolonged artillery fire. For his role in quelling the Zaporozhian Cossacks without spilling a single drop of blood, Tekeli was awarded the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky.

According to tradition, because of the successful pacification of Sich, Catherine II offered Tekeli to choose any prize for himself. He succinctly replied: "Forgive Horvat" (until then, Jovan Horvat, countryman and friend of Tekeli, the founder of New Serbia, was convicted of numerous abuses, stripped of all ranks and exiled to Vologda). Peter Abramovich's intercession helped – Horvat was amnestied by Catherine II on December 3, 1775, his military rank, his estates were restored and he was allowed to live in them. From 1776, Horvat lived peacefully in his possessions, where he died.

Later life In 1787 Tekeli was made general-in-chief and placed in command of the Nizhny Novgorod Dragoon Regiment. At the beginning of the second Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792), he was in command of a Russian garrison stationed to defend the eastern shore of the Black Sea. After he defeated Turks and Tatars in the Caucasus, Empress Catherine the Great awarded him with the Cross of Saint Vladimir.

In 1788 Tekeli had a bad riding accident with a stallion which a Tatar chief gave him as a gift. He resigned from active duty in 1790. Two years later he died in his mansion at Novomirgorod, and was buried in the Novomirgorod's Church of Saint Nicholas. The church was razed in the 1930s by the Stalin regime, but his grave's tombstone with the epitaph has been preserved in the museum in Kropyvnytskyi.