A member of a noble family, he was educated at the Nicholas Staff College, entered the army in 1847, and distinguished himself in the Crimean War and in the Caucasus. After serving as divisional Chief of Staff in Poland, he went to Orenburg in 1858 as assistant to the commander of the line of the Syr-Darya, and the following year commanded an expedition to support the Kazakh tribes on the borders of the Aral Sea against the Khanate of Khiva. He did duty on the staff of the Army of the Caucasus for a time, and returned to Orenburg as Chief of Staff.