Lev Nikolaevich Engelhardt, born on February 10, 1766, in the village of Zaitsevo in the Smolensk province, died on November 4, 1836, in Moscow. He was a major general from the renowned Smolensk family of Engelhardt and participated in several military campaigns under A. V. Suvorov. Engelhardt was one of the first commanders of the Ufa Musketeer Regiment and owned the estate of Muranovo near Moscow with his wife. He was also the father-in-law of the poet Evgeny Baratynsky.

Lev Nikolaevich was born into the family of the Mogilev governor Nikolai Bogdanovich Engelhardt and Nadezhda Petrovna Buturlina. He was named Kharlampiy at baptism, but his grandmother, Natalia Fyodorovna Buturlina, renamed him after her son Lev, who died in the Seven Years' War. In his childhood, he lived with his grandmother in the village of Kirmany in the Arzamas district, where he received his early education. After her death, five-year-old Lev moved to Vitebsk, where his father was a voivode. There, he began to learn reading and writing from a deacon of the Uniate church, and later a retired lieutenant Peter Mikhailovich Braunschweig attempted to teach him writing and arithmetic, but unsuccessfully.

In 1777, Lev Nikolaevich was enrolled as a sergeant in the Vitebsk garrison and then became a cadet in the hussar Belarusian regiment. His education at the Ellert boarding school in Smolensk was harsh, but after a year he left it and was enrolled in the Preobrazhensky regiment. In 1783, Engelhardt began service in the regiment and soon became an adjutant to Prince Potemkin. In 1785, he was promoted to second major, and in 1786, he became a ensign in the Vologda infantry regiment. In the Russo-Turkish War, he distinguished himself in the battle near Machin.

In 1792, Engelhardt served in the Kozlov Musketeer Regiment and participated in the Polish campaign. For the capture of Warsaw, he was awarded a gold sword and a cross. In 1795, he commanded the Orenburg field battalion, which later became part of the Ufa regiment. In 1798, Engelhardt was promoted to colonel and awarded a sword with the Annensky cross. In 1799, he became a major general and chief of the Ufa Musketeer Regiment. In 1806, he headed the Kazan militia and was awarded the Order of Saint Anna 2nd class.

In the 1820s, the Engelhardt family lived in Moscow and spent summers in Muranovo. Shortly before his death, Lev Nikolaevich wrote "Memoirs," which were published in the magazine "Russian Herald" and released as a separate book. Lev Nikolaevich Engelhardt died on November 4, 1836, and was buried at the cemetery of the Moscow Simonov Monastery.