Dionizy, through his mother, was a cousin of the Polish composer Frédéric Chopin; the two shared a grandfather, Jakub Krzyżanowski. He played a role in the preparations for the uprising by, among other endeavors, using his personal fortune to purchase a large number of horses from the Russian army in 1862. In 1863 he joined the uprising and reported himself at an insurrectionists' concentration point at Łysa Góra. He originally was given the rank of colonel.