Włodzimierz Bonawentura Krzyżanowski ([vwɔˈd͡ʑimjɛʂ kʂɨʐaˈnɔfski]; in some sources, misspelled Wladimir Krzyzanowski; 8 July 1824 – 31 January 1887) was a Polish-American engineer, politician, and brigadier general in the Union Army.

In the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, Krzyżanowski helped repel an evening assault by the famed Louisiana Tigers on the Union defenses atop East Cemetery Hill.

Krzyżanowski was born in Rożnowo, Grand Duchy of Poznań, into an old Polish noble family that bore the Świnka coat of arms, and whose roots reached back to the 14th century and ownership of the village of Krzyżanowo near Kościan.

Young Krzyżanowski attended St. Mary Magdalen Gymnasium in Poznań, a principal center of the Polish nationalist underground in Prussian Poland.

[1] After completing his education, Krzyżanowski worked as a civil engineer and surveyor in Virginia and was instrumental in pushing America's railroads west.

There he made the acquaintance of General Burnett and married his daughter Caroline, with whom he moved to Washington, D.C., to set up his own company, which brought him substantial wealth.

[1] In Washington, D.C., in early 1861, Krzyżanowski enlisted as a private two days after President Abraham Lincoln called for volunteers.

[2][3] Krzyżanowski participated in the battles of Cross Keys in the Shenandoah Valley, and Second Bull Run (Second Manassas), where he was injured when his horse fell,[3] Chancellorsville, where his brigade and the corps they were part of were routed by a Confederate flank attack, and Gettysburg in the Eastern Theater.

[7] It is said that the supposed posting was a reward for his services as personal representative of Secretary William H. Seward during the negotiations for the purchase of Alaska.

[10] Krzyżanowski's legacy was honored by the American Polish Civil War Centennial Committee during the 1960s, which lobbied politicians for a greater appreciation of his remembrance.