Biographical Note
Adam G. De Gurowski was born the son of a Polish count in Kalisz, Poland, on September 10, 1805. After having his estates confiscated because of his objection to Russian influence in the area, he was later pardoned by Czar Nicholas I and invited to St. Petersburg. A graduate of the University of Heidelberg in Germany, Gurowski went on to teach political economics at the University of Bern in Switzerland. In 1849, he arrived in New York and later lectured at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and joined the editorial staff of the New York Tribune. Ever interested in politics, Gurowski made his way to Washington, D.C., where he supported the Union war effort and translated newspaper articles for the secretary of state. His diary was printed in 1862. Gurowski died in Washington, D.C., on May 1, 1866, and is buried in the Congressional Cemetery.