The Illustrious Dead

by Stephan Talty

  TODAY, RICKETTSIA STILL roams the poorest sectors of the Third World, claiming victims especially in the cold mountainous regions of South America and Africa, where infected lice burrow into the clothing of villagers too poor to afford decent medical care. It is now rare in the industrialized world, but in a startling development a new vector has been discovered for the pathogen: Glaucomys volans, the flying squirrel, common in the continental United States. Nesting in attics, these rodents are the only known vertebrate reservoir for Rickettsia other than humans, and they have caused small outbreaks of epidemic typhus across the country. The furry, nocturnal animal that can be seen gliding from tree to tree, especially in gloaming of Southern moonlight, has been for thousands of years humankind’s brother under the skin.

  Typhus will never roam the planet as it once did. A plague of flying squirrels might be the plot of a B horror flick, but rickettsial hordes of them are unlikely to invade the real world. The only threat that typhus realistically still poses is as a weaponized biological agent. Defectors have reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has experimented with Rickettsia, along with anthrax, cholera, and the bubonic plague, research conducted at the appropriately sinister-sounding Germ Research Institute of the General Logistics Bureau of the Armed Forces Ministry. Various intelligence services report that the North Koreans have even conducted live experiments with biological agents on islands off the country’s coast. One defector claimed that she was present at an experiment in which 50 inmates of the regime’s concentration camps were exposed to biological agents and died horrifying deaths.

  If the stories of North Korean stockpiles are true, it’s a fitting end for Rickettsia, stored in the vaults of a tiny, grotesque dictator, a cut-rate Napoleon. The microbe has always encountered men with lurid ambitions. Emperors, kings, and generals found that their armies could conquer everything except this one last natural barrier to the thing they wanted most.

  But things have reversed themselves. Rickettsia’s nemesis, science, which conquered the microbe after five hundred years of pursuit, has now saved it. The pathogen has been processed into powders and aerosols, uniting the ancient and the new, and giving Rickettsia its only hope for a return to the wider world. It waits for what it has always waited for. War. Disaster.

  The organism that helped stop Napoleon on the road to the fabled capital of Russia now exists in the most neglected areas of the world, places so poor as to be hardly worth conquering. But it also sits, close to extinction, locked in dark, infrequently visited rooms, filling at the end of its life the opposite role that it played in 1812: not as a barrier to power but as a dazzling weapon, one dark day, to seize it. Its wager on the incurably violent human race hasn’t quite played out.

  Glossary

  boyar: A member of the Russian nobility.

  carabinier: A cavalryman.

  chasseur: A rapid-reaction infantryman.

  cuirassier: A cavalry soldier wearing a cuirass, or breastplate armor.

  droshky: An open, four-wheeled carriage.

  flèche: An earthwork with angled walls in the front and an open back where troops could assemble.

  flying ambulance: A small, enclosed ambulance pulled by horses and designed to advance onto the battlefield for evacuating the wounded.

  jaeger: A sharpshooter or skirmisher often deployed in front of the main line of troops.

  lazaret: A hospital, especially one specializing in infectious cases.

  pontoneer: A member of the bridge-building corps of troops.

  redan: A V-shaped defensive earthwork.

  sapper: An explosives expert.

  MAJOR PLACE-NAMES

  Berezina: A western tributary of the Dnieper River, now part of modern-day Belarus.

  Dnieper: A major Russian river that flows from a point 160 miles west of Moscow south to Odessa on the Black Sea.

  Niemen: A river that previously formed the border between Poland and Russian Lithuania and now bisects the southwestern corner of Lithuania.

  Saxony: A duchy and kingdom in the southeast region of modern-day Germany.

  Smolensk: A major city in western Russia, located on the Dnieper River.

  Vilia: An east-west tributary of the Niemen.

  Vilna: Modern-day Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.

  Vitebsk: A city now located in Belarus, near the northeastern border with Russia.

  Westphalia: An early-nineteenth-century kingdom located between the Rhine and the Weser rivers in the north-central part of modern-day Germany.

  Württemberg: An early-nineteenth-century kingdom located in the southwestern part of modern-day Germany whose traditional capital was Stuttgart.

  Notes

  Introduction: Old Bones

  3 “‘wouldn’t stop coming out of the ground’”: “Reading the Bones” by Eve Conant, Newsweek, September 9, 2002, p. 1. 3 “There had been whispers”: Ibid., p. 1.

  3 “a grave filled”: Ibid., p. 2.

  4 “Or perhaps these were the corpses”: Ibid. 4 “When archaeologists”: Ibid., p. 2.

  4 “As they excavated”: “Napoleon’s Lost Army: The Soldiers Who Fell,” by Paul Britten-Austin, www.bbc.co.uk/history.

  5 “None of the remains”: “Reading the Bones,” p. 2.

  5 “Napoleon’s troops breaking into”: “Digging Napoleon’s Dead,” by Jarret A. Lobell, Archaeology, Sept/Oct. 2002.

  Chapter One: Incarnate

  8 “when men ran through”: Herold, Age of Napoleon, p. 37.

  9 “‘He wanted to put’”: Quoted in Herold, Mistress to an Age, p. 214.

  10 “‘From that moment’”: Quoted in Duggan, p. 11.

  12 “‘The belief that they were invincible’”: Quoted in Zamoyski, p. 84.

  13 “‘The genie of liberty’”: Quoted in Conklin, p. 11.

  15 “Napoleon would say later”: Napoleon to Metternich, quoted in Troyat, p. 94.

  16 “‘He is a truly handsome,’”: Quoted in Horne, p. 2.

  16 “‘Love for the Tsar,’”: Quoted in Cronin, p. 305.

  17 “French manufacturers”: McLynn, p. 495.

  17 “even aristocratic families”: Horne, p. 233.

  17 “‘In Hamburg’”: Ibid., p. 296.

  18 “‘Sooner or later’”: Schom, p. 436.

  18 “‘The world is clearly’”: Ibid., p. 475.

  19 “‘I care nothing,’”: Quoted in McLynn, p. 499. 19 “‘torrents of blood’”: Quoted in Troyat, p. 139.

  Chapter Two: A Portable Metropolis

  21 “The army that the emperor”: The number of men encompassed in the invasion of Russia is the subject of perennial disputes. I have depended most heavily on the work of Adam Zamoyski in Moscow 1812 for estimates of troops.

  21 “semaphore signals”: McLynn, 344.

  21 “It formed”: The number of Napoleon’s troops and hangers-on who crossed the Niemen is estimated at 600,000. The figures for Tokyo and Istanbul are circa 1800; Tokyo’s population was 685,000 and Constantinople’s total was 570,000. Chandler, Tertius. Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth: An Historical Census. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, Ceredigion, 1987.

  22 “Each had to be able”: Horne, p. 98.

  22 For an extended discussion of Napoleon’s marshals, see Chandler, David A., Napoleon’s Marshals.

  25 For a discussion of unit sizes in Napoleon’s armies, see Muir.

  26 “‘which permitted the speed’”: McLynn, p. 505.

  27 “‘It was an impossible dream’”: Ibid., p. 506.

  27 For a discussion of the Russian officer class, see Cate, p. 115.

  27 “‘The headquarters of the Emperor’”: Clausewitz, p. 3.

  30 “‘malignant spotted fever’”: Villalba, quoted in Zinsser, p. 243.

  30 “Only 3,000”: Ibid.

  31 “The conflict drew together”: This account draws mainly from Arfaioli’s The Black Bands of Giovanni.

  31 “‘Therefore I cannot but see’”: Quoted in Brandi, p. 220.

  33 “
Nearly three hundred years”: Seward, p. 136.

  33 “The historian David Bell”: See Bell’s The First Total War for an explication of his ideas about the evolution in the culture of war.

  34 “‘a war to the death’”: Ibid., p. 3.

  Chapter Three: Drumbeat

  35 “His statistical expert”: McLynn, p. 496.

  35 “By the first months”: Ibid.

  35 “‘It would be a crime’”: Quoted in Zamoyski, p. 72.

  36 “‘I have come,’”: Caulaincourt, Memoirs, p. 129.

  36 “‘Whether he triumphs’”: Quoted in Zamoyski, p. 79.

  37 “‘We will die or conquer’”: Troyat, p. 46.

  38 “The army itself was a pageant”: For a discussion of uniforms, see Haythornwaite, Philip and Chappell, Mike, Uniforms of Napoleon’s Russian Campaign, London: Arms & Armour Press, 1996 and Haythorn waite and Fosten, Bryan, Napoleon’s Line Infantry, London: Osprey, 1983.

  39 “and the grenadiers”: Quoted in Nicolson, p. 24.

  39 “Franz Roeder was a captain”: For an account of Roeder’s service, see The Ordeal of Captain Roeder.

  40 “‘which may be partly caused’”: Roeder, p. 50.

  40 “‘creeping nervous fever’”: Ibid., p. 51.

  40 “‘I share the thoughts’”: Brett-James, p. 11.

  40 “10,000 wills”: Ibid., p. 13.

  41 “But the forty-six-year-old”: For the inexperience of the novice doctors, see Larrey’s letter of January 1812, quoted in Howard, p. 69.

  41 “‘Medicine is the science’”: Quoted in Fournier, p. 163.

  41 “‘I dress’”: Quoted in McLynn, p. 37.

  42 “‘I’m trying to rise’”: Quoted in Cronin, p. 314.

  42 “‘Walcheren has for its defense’”: Quoted in Howard, p. 64.

  43 “‘hunchbacks and cripples’”: Howard, p. 24.

  43 “The pathogen had aided”: Prinzing, p. 101.

  43 “‘a malignant, nervous and putrid’”: Howard, p. 201

  43 “‘[The dead] were thrown’”: Ibid., p. 164.

  44 “‘Like an enormous fire’”: For a description of typhus at Mantua, see the testimony of Napoleon’s surgeon J. Baptiste-Turiot, quoted in Schom, p. 62.

  44 “Spanish prisoners”: Prinzing, p. 103.

  44 “During the Wars”: Ibid., p. 96.

  Chapter Four: Crossing

  46 “In his diary”: Roeder, p. 62.

  47 “In the noise”: Accounts of soldiers falling out of the ranks and dying are found in Larrey’s memoirs and Kerckhove’s account, among others.

  47 “Some victims”: The description of the symptoms are collected from firsthand accounts of typhus victims in the medical literature. The description of “a very uncommon feeling” is from Dr. Smyth’s own experience of the disease in The Description of the Jail Distemper. Other symptoms come from Johnson’s description of his own illness in Practical Illustrations of Typhus and Other Fevers, as well as Bartlett, Smith, et al. All of the accounts are listed in the bibliography under Primary Sources.

  49 “‘Of the illness’”: The patient is John Reed, the journalist and Bolshevik activist. The writer is his wife, Louise Bryant, in a letter dated November 14, 1920, published in The Liberator, February 1921. Reed died of typhus on October 19, 1920, with Bryant by his side. He was buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.

  49 “The mistake was compounded”: Prinzing, p. 102.

  50 “To understand what”: This brief overview of nineteenth-century attitudes toward disease is informed by several sources, including Roy Porter’s The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, J. Rosser Matthews’s Quantification and the Quest for Medical Certainty, McNeill’s Plagues and Peoples, and several essays, including “Fevers and Science in Early Nineteenth Century Medicine,” by Leonard Wilson.

  52 “‘loaded with’”: Quoted in Howard, p. 201.

  53 “In 1811”: See North’s A Treatise on a Malignant Epidemic.

  53 “The doctor’s name”: For an account of Lind’s experiments, see Winslow, p. 295 and Roddis, pp. 57-64.

  55 “One of Lind’s”: Roddis, p. 64.

  55 “‘enjoy a better’”: Quoted in the article “Thumpers!” by Henrik Bering, Policy Review, June-July 2005.

  Chapter Five: Pursuit

  60 “‘He has come’”: Ségur, p. 27.

  60 “‘I have never’”: Larrey, p. 12.

  62 “The Belgian doctor”: All quotes from de Kerckhove are from his Histoire des maladies observées à la Grand Armée française, pendant les campagnes de Russe en 1812 et d’Allemagne en 1813, Janssens, 1836. Translated for the author by Rose-Marie Coulombel.

  62 “‘Nothing announced’”: de Kerckhove, p. 8.

  62 “‘60,000 [troops]’”: Larrey, Surgical Memoirs.

  62 “‘in the first weeks,’”: Clausewitz, p. 110.

  62 “‘was already stricken’”: Wilson, p. 29.

  63 “‘dragged themselves behind’”: de Kerckhove, p. 30.

  63 “Napoleon was losing 4,000 to 6,000 soldiers”: McLynn, p. 511.

  63 “Another 30,000”: Zamoyski, p. 163.

  63 “Pleurisy, jaundice”: de Kerckhove lists these and a few other diseases as being present on p. 20.

  63 “‘Under these circumstances’”: Vossler, p. 51.

  63 “Dysentery ruled”: The timing of the dominance of each disease is impossible to chart with absolute precision, but both de Kerckhove and Ebstein (pp. 42-4), quoting the doctor Lamazurier, support the late summer as the time when typhus became strongest. “In the second half of August,” Ebstein writes, “typhus became the dominant disease, but it didn’t yet reveal its terrible contagiousness.”

  63 “with 80,000 sick”: Zinsser, p. 162.

  63 “although recent outbreaks”: Jane Perlez, “A Stubborn Killer of Refugees: Dysentery,” New York Times, August 5, 1994.

  64 “At one hospital”: von Scherer’s findings are summarized in Rose, p. 15.

  64 “‘Typhus was present’”: de Kerckhove, p. 48.

  65 “One major”: This letter is contained in Paul Britten Austin’s monumental collection of eyewitness accounts of the invasion, which will be referenced throughout. P. 238.

  65 “‘Napoleon doesn’t give a damn’”: Austin, The March on Moscow, p. 238.

  66 “‘What misery’”: Roeder, p. 94.

  67 “‘This did not remain’”: Clausewitz, p. 110.

  Chapter Six: Smolensk

  70 “‘It was truly heartbreaking’”: Caulaincourt, p. 50.

  73 “‘Each night’”: Quoted in Dodge, p. 501.

  73 “3,400 men”: Riehn, p. 192.

  75 “‘terrifying’ increase”: de Kerckhove, p. 65.

  75 “between 200 and 500 rubles”: Parkinson, p. 3.

  76 “One Bavarian officer”: Labaume, p. 69. 76 “50,000 men”: Cate, p. 205.

  76 “800,000 silver rubles”: Ibid.

  77 “‘War’s a game’”: Austin, The March on Moscow, p. 159.

  77 “‘The campaign of 1812’”: Ségur, p. 19.

  78 “‘I shall send you’”: Cate, p. 170.

  78 “‘Well, what are we’”: Ségur, p. 22.

  Chapter Seven: The Sound of Flames

  80 “‘The number of sick’”: de Kerckhove, p. 41.

  80 “‘Never was there’”: Caulaincourt, p. 66.

  81 “‘This news filled’”: Quoted in Zamoyski, p. 207.

  84 “He was down to”: McLynn, p. 511.

  84 “‘One man after another’”: Walter, p. 44.

  85 “‘The thought of the coming day’”: Walter, p. 49.

  86 “‘shattered great heaps’”: Brett-James, p. 86.

  87 “triple-vented shell”: Austin, p. 194.

  87 “‘A second earlier’”: Brett-James, p. 86.

  87 “The regimental bands”: The lineup is for a line infantry band of 1802, which would have been largely unchanged for 1812. See Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians, by Eric Blom, George Grove, and Deni
s Stevens, 1955, p. 770.

  88 “One cannonball”: Ségur, p. 32.

  88 “‘Everything which doesn’t make haste’”: Austin, p. 196.

  89 “‘An eruption’”: Caulaincourt, p. 77.

  89 “‘You German’”: Quoted in Zamoyski, p. 219.

  89 “‘It is painful’”: Quoted in Cooper, p. 95.

  90 “‘The flames became’”: du Faur, p. 54.

  90 “‘The mirage of victory’”: Ségur, p. 33.

  90 “‘Never can you’”: Labaume, p. 54.

  90 “The fire had carbonized”: Nicolson, p. 56.

  91 “‘And yet’”: Roeder, p. 145.

  91 “Pisani approached the body”: See Pisani’s account of Smolensk in Con Napoleone nella Campagna di Russia, beginning on p. 124.

  91 “‘Here the wounded’”: Ebstein, p. 20.

  93 “‘You are unworthy’”: Brett-James, p. 83.

  93 “‘Amidst the stumps’”: Ségur, p. 35.

  94 “‘Even if’”: Quoted in Horne, p. 145.

  94 “‘imperative need’”: Brett-James, p. 98.

  95 “‘The terrible deprivations’”: Ebstein, p. 62.

  95 “‘Write to the generals’”: Cooper, p. 89.

  98 “‘Once more’”: Caulaincourt, p. 82.

  99 “‘Once again’”: Ibid., p. 83.

  99 “‘The two armies’”: Clausewitz, p. 131.