| Alexander Leslie of Auchintoul | |
| Birth Date: | 1590 |
| Death Date: | 1663 |
| Birth Place: | Aberdeenshire, Scotland |
| Death Place: | Smolensk, Russia |
| Rank: | Colonel (Swedish Army) General (Russia) |
| Battles: | Smolensk War English Civil War Siege of Smolensk (1654) Russo-Polish War (1654–1667) Russo-Swedish War (1656–1658) Siege of Riga (1656) |
| Relations: | Clan Leslie Leslie baronets Leslie of Smolensk |
Alexander Leslie of Auchintoul (1590–1663) was a Scottish soldier in Swedish and Russian service, Russia's first General and reformer of the Muscovite army in cooperation with Boyar Boris Morozov. He was the son of William Leslie, third laird of Crichie, a branch of the Balquhain Leslies.[1] In 1618 he was an officer in Polish employ, captured by the Russians, but released. He was the owner of manor and voivode of Smolensk.[2]
In 1629 he was a colonel in Sweden, sent by King Gustav II Adolf on a mission to Moscow and entered the Tsar's service.[3] During the audience by king Michael I of Russia as a member of Swedish mission in Russia he gave a petition for military service in Russia in January 1630. Since March 1630 Colonel Leslie in Russian service. Leslie returned to Sweden in April 1631 to inform Gustav Adolf that war between Russia and Poland was imminent. In 1631 he recruited thousands of soldiers in western countries including Scotland and supervised the first regiments of "foreign order" ("Полки нового строя" or "Полки иноземного строя", Polki novovo (inozemnovo) stroya), that was the Russian term that was used to describe military units organised and armed along western lines. After the capitulation of Mikhail Shein in the Siege of Smolensk (1632-33) to the Commonwealth army his regiment was the only one to leave the battlefield with flags and arms.[4] During that siege he accused a Englishman, Colonel Sanderson, of treason, and killed him in a fight.[5] He subsequently advanced to the rank of a Russian General.[6] Leslie returned to Scotland after the unhappy outcome of the Smolensk War. Charles I of England wrote to Russian Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich on behalf of Leslie in March 1637 saying that he was returning to Britain on private business. He writes:
Auchintoul fought with James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose in the Civil War. He was captured at Philiphaugh[7] and, by the direct intervention of Lieutenant General David Leslie, whom he had served with in Russia,[8] was dealt with leniently compared to other prisoners (most of whom were executed after the battle). Auchintoul was spared (along with Lord Gray), but was banished from Scotland for life.
So sentenced, Auchintoul returned to Russia at some point after that, with a recommendation from King Charles I and finally settled in Muscovy in 1647. He converted to Orthodoxy in September 1652, his Godfather was Prince Ilya Miloslavsky, after that act he received 23 000 silver rubles. Auchintoul was commander of the Russian forces during the Siege of Smolensk (1654), one of the first great events of the Russo-Polish War (1654–67). After the victory he was nominated governor of Smolensk by the tsar.