13. Rostopchin to Major General Ivashkin, 16 June 1812, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechesvennaya voina, I, 97.
14. Rostopchin to Major General Ivashkin, 22 June 1812, in Ibid., 99.
15. M. Evreinov, ‘Pamyat’ 1812 g,’ in Russkii arkhiv 1 (1874), 95; Bulgakov, Vospominaniya, 98–135.
16. A. Popov, ‘Moskva v 1812 g.,’ in Russkii arkhiv 7 (1875), 313.
17. Vigel, IV, 35.
18. See Afishy 1812 goda ili druzheskie poslaniya ot glavnokomanduushego v Moskve k zhitelyam eye,
19. Bestuzhev-Riumin (1859), 77.
20. Dmitriev (1854), 166–167.
21. Vigel, IV, 34.
22. No. 1 Broadsheet, in Afishy 1812 goda
23. Komarovskii, 775.
24. Runich, 598. Another eyewitness, however, writes that the crowds waited for the emperor until late at night and, with the emperor not coming, returned back home. Ryazanov, 25.
25. Rostopchin (1889), 673–674.
26. Ryazanov, 26.
27. Komarovskii, 775.
28. Bestuzhev-Riumin (1859), 74.
29. Komarovskii, 776. Rostopchin was bemused by this ethos, noting, ‘It was, in its own way, a unique spectacle for the Russian expressed his feelings freely, and forgetting that he was a slave, he rose in anger at being threatened with chains that a foreigner was preparing.’ Rostopchin (1889), 674.
30. Rostopchin (1889), 683.
31. Rostopchin to Balashov, 4 August 1812, in Dubrovin, Otechestvennaia voina v pis’makh sovremennikov, 59.
32. Fedor Rostopchin, Okh, frantsuzy! (Moscow, 1992), electronic version
33. Sverbeyev, 65.
34. Bestuzhev-Riumin (1859), 74–75.
35. Rostopchin (1889), 655.
36. Sverbeyev, I, 62–63.
37. Marakuev, 112. Although this rumour was untrue, there was a grain of truth in it. In early July Rostopchin was given the authority to raise militia forces in Moscow and he used forcible recruitment to satisfy the quotas. Men captured for crimes, drunkenness and debauchery were forced to enlist in the army. The governor also requested (and received) authority to impress for any petty crimes ‘men lacking any craft skills, residence or property as well as retired officers and lower classes of officials who remain indolent’. Alexander Balashev to Fedor Rostopchin, 10 July 1812, in Dubrovin, Otechestvennaia voina v pis’makh sovremennikov, 32.
38. For details see Runich, 599–600; Rostopchin to Balachev, 22 August 1812, in Dubrovin, Otechestvennaia voina v pis’makh sovremennikov, 90–91. ‘Zapiska o Martinistakh predstavlennaya v 1811 godu grafom Rostopchinym velikoi knyagine Ekaterine Pavlovne’, Russkii arkhiv 13/3 (1875), 75–81. Rostopchin occasionally sent rumour-mongers to lunatic asylums, where they were treated to ‘daily cold showers and, on Saturdays, they were made to swallow medications’. Rostopchin (1889), 689.
39. Kolchugin, 46.
40. S. Melgunov, ‘Rostopchin – Moskovskii glavnokomanduyushii,’ in Otechestvennaya voina i Russkoe obschestvo (Moscow, 1911), IV, 36.
41. Bulgakov, Vospominaniya, 103. Rostopchin’s wife, who had converted to Catholicism, tried her best to save Napoleon, a fellow Catholic, from this unsavoury fate. But her argument that Napoleon was a crowned head blessed by the Pope himself had no impact on Rostopchin, who continued to use the bust for the above-mentioned purpose.
42. Bulgakov, Vospominaniya, 102–103.
43. Anna Khomutova, ‘Vospominaniya A.G. Khomutovoi o Moskve v 1812 godu,’ in Russkii arkhiv 3 (1891), 315.
44. Bogdanovich estimates at least 3,000 Frenchmen living in Moscow in 1812. Bogdanovich, II, 258.
45. K. Batyshkov, ‘Progulka po Moskve,’ in I. Semenko, ed. Batyshkov K.N. Opyty v stikhak i proze (Moscow, 1977), 382–383.
46. Catherine Wilmot to Anna Chetwood, 24 September 1806, in The Russian Journals of Martha and Catherine Wilmot, edited by Harford M. Hyde (London, 1934), 194.
47. Caroline Pavlova, Vospominaniya, in Russkii arkhiv 10 (1875), 224.
48. Rostopchin to Emperor Alexander, 29 December 1806, in Russkii arkhiv 8 (1892), 420.
49. Rostopchin to Emperor Alexander, 4 August 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 8 (1892), 435.
50. For details see V. Bezotosnyi, Razvedka i plany storon v 1812 godu (Moscow, 2005).
51. ‘Ob inostrantsakh vyslannykh iz Moskvy v raznye goroda v 1812 gody’, in Shukin, I, 156.
52. Rostopchin to Major General P. Ivashkin, 31 August 1812, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechesvennaya voina, I, 299.
53. Rostopchin to Major General P. Ivashkin, 8 August 1812; Police Constable I. Mikhailov to Major General Ivashkin, 10 August 1812; Journal of Deliberations of Police Officials, 10 August 1812; Major General Ivashkin to Rostopchin, 22 August 1812, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechesvennaya voina, I, 226–229.
54. For details see ‘Ob inostrantsakh vyslannykh iz Moskvy v raznye goroda v 1812 gody’ in Shukin, I, 151–162.
55. Sbornik istoricheskikh materialov (1876), 92–100.
56. Rumyantsev to Alopeus, 26 April 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 9 (1875), 44; Emperor Alexander to Rostopchin, 24 May 1812, in Russkaya starina 1 (1902), 217–218.
57. Rostopchin to Emperor Alexander, 25 August 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 9 (1892), 520.
58. For details on Leppich’s work see a series of letters Rostopchin wrote to Emperor Alexander between May and early September 1812 in Russkii arkhiv 8 (1892), 419–446; 9 (1892), 519–536.
59. Rostopchin to Emperor Alexander, 16 July 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 8 (1892), 432.
60. Bestuzhev-Riumin (1859), 77.
61. Leppich continued his experiments at the famous Oranienbaum observatory. In November 1812 his first prototype balloon collapsed as it was wheeled out of the hanger. By September 1813 he finally built a flying machine that could ascend 12–13m above the ground – a far cry from his earlier promises of soaring squadrons in the skies above Russia. In October 1813 General Alexei Arakcheyev launched an investigation into Leppich’s experiments and branded him ‘a complete charlatan, who knows nothing whatever of even the elementary rules of mechanics or the principles of levers’. Deprived of funding and in disgrace, Leppich left Russia in February 1814. By that time the Russian government had spent a staggering 250,000 roubles on Leppich’s project. For details see A.A. Rodnykh, Tainaya podgotovka k unichtozheniyu armii Napoleona v dvenadtsatom godu pri pomoshi vozdukhoplavaniya (St Petersburg, 1912); A. Popov, ‘Leppich i ego shar,’ in Russkii arkhiv 9 (1875), 30–47; S. Iskul, Rokovye gody Rossii. 1812 god. Dokumentalnaya khronika (Moscow, 2008), 145–153.
62. Rostopchin (1889), 669.
63. Rostopchin to Voronenko, 6 August 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 1 (1909), 38; Russkii arkhiv (1866), 689–691; Rostopchin to Emperor Alexander, 6 August 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 8 (1892), 437.
64. For example see Moskovskie vedomosti Nos. 62–69 (15 August-9 September). The last issue (No. 70) came out on 12 September.
65. Glinka, Zapiski o 1812 gode
66. Marakuev, 115.
67. Rostopchin (1889), 706.
68. Bestuzhev-Riumin (1859), 77.
69. Rostopchin to Balashev, 30 August 1812, in Dubrovin, Otechestvennaia voina v pis’makh sovremennikov, 102.
70. Rostopchin to Balashev, 30 August 1812, in Dubrovin, Otechestvennaia voina v pis’makh sovremennikov, 102.
71. No. 7 Broadsheet, 29 August 1812, in Afishy 1812 goda
72. No. 8 Broadsheet, 30 August 1812, in Afishy 1812 goda
he distribution of arms at the arsenal. Tolycheva, 38–40.
73. Bestuzhev-Riumin (1859), 79.
74. Alexander Bulgakov to Constantine Bulgakov, 25 August 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 5 (1900), 32.
75. Nikolai Karamzin to I. Dmitriev, 1 September 1812 in Garin, 6.
76. M. Nevzorov to P. Golenischev-Kutuzov, 3 December 1812, in Gorshskov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 19.
77. Blagovo, 161.
78. Fusil, 228.
79. For example, Kutuzov asked Rostopchin to provide 1,000 axes, 1,000 iron spades and 250 drills, and instructed him to deliver muskets from the depots and arsenals in Moscow. He was particularly interested to learn if it would be possible to use the air balloon, which Leppich was secretly building near Moscow, in the impending battle. On 4 September Kutuzov instructed Rostopchin to ‘take all possible measures to ensure quick procurement of 1,000 carts at each station from Moscow to Mozhaisk’. The governor did his best to fulfill Kutuzov’s requests and on 6 September he reported that ‘The required horses, 1,000 per station, from Moscow to Mozhaisk will be ready, the work-sheet has already been prepared … I have already quite successfully carried out a monthly procurement of more than 1,000 horses for the army. Tomorrow I am signing a contract which I shall send you with horses and carts filled with biscuits. Tools for the workers, that is spades and drills, have been purchased according to your prescript and already dispatched today.’ Kutuzov to Rostopchin, 31 August-4 September 1812, in M.I. Kutuzov: Sbornik Dokumentov, IV, part 1, 99–100, 125–126, 133–134.
80. Kutuzov to Rostopchin, c.1–2 September 1812, in Feldmarshal Kutuzov: Sbornik dokumentov i materialov (Moscow, 1947), 156–157; Nikolai Dubrovin, ‘Moskva i Graf Rastopchin v 1812 godu,’ in Voennyi sbornik 7 (1863), 148.
81. Rostopchin to Kutuzov, 31 August 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 2 (1875), 457.
82. Kutuzov to Rostopchin, 2 September 1812, in Borodino: dokumenty, pis’ma, vospominaniya, 54.
83. Kutuzov to Rostopchin, 2 September 1812, in M.I. Kutuzov: Sbornik Dokumentov, IV, part 1, 119–120.
84. Rostopchin to Kutuzov, 31 August 1812, in Russkaya starina, 1870, II, 305.
85. Kutuzov to Rostopchin, 3 September 1812, in Dubrovin, Otechestvennaia voina v pis’makh sovremennikov, 108.
86. Rostopchin to Peter Tolstoy, 5 September 1812, Zarya 8 (1871), 186.
87. Kutuzov to Rostopchin, 7 September 1812, in Borodino: dokumenty, pis’ma, vospominaniya, 93–95; M.I. Kutuzov: Sbornik Dokumentov, IV, part 1, 151.
88. Rostopchin (1889), 706.
89. ‘The battle that started yesterday in the morning and continued to the very night was the bloodiest. Casualties on both sides are heavy: the losses the enemies suffered judging by their stubborn attacks on our fortified position must be much greater than ours. Our troops fought with incredible bravery. Batteries kept changing hands, and it ended with a situation that the enemies, with their superior numbers, did not gain a single pace.’
90. Kutuzov to Rostopchin, 8 September 1812, in M.I. Kutuzov: Sbornik Dokumentov, IV, 155–156. The governor later wrote that he would have remained unaware of the Russian retreat if not for ‘the courier’s slip of the tongue when he accidentally mentioned that our troops were at Mozhaisk, that is, already ten verstas from the battlefield’. However, Kutuzov’s letter (No. 71) clearly informed him of the army redeployment to Mozhaisk. Rostopchin (1889), 706.
91. Kutuzov to Rostopchin, 8 September 1812, in M.I. Kutuzov: Sbornik Dokumentov, IV, 158–159.
92. Kutuzov to Rostopchin, 11 September 1812, in M.I. Kutuzov: Sbornik Dokumentov, IV, 183–184.
93. See Kutuzov to Rostopchin, 7–12 September 1812, in Borodino: dokumenty, pis’ma, vospominaniya, 95f, 124–126, 129. Two days after the battle Rostopchin replied that ‘tomorrow at dawn two regiments, consisting of 4,600 men ready for service, will start moving in accelerated march to Mozhaisk. In two days one more regiment of 2,300 men will come from Podolsk. From here the day after tomorrow a battery with a pontoon company and 100 men from militia fully trained in firing cannon. Arapetov’s three companies with cannon and shells have already begun marching. All the caissons belonging to the artillery division moving to Kolomna and found by my courier between Podolsk and Borovsk have been turned to Mozhaisk. Moreover, tomorrow 26,000 artillery rounds will be carried to the army in carts. Tomorrow I hope I shall send 500 horses with horse-collars.’
94. Rostopchin (1889), 707.
95. Sverbeyev, I, 438–439.
96. Russkii vestnik 2 (1842).
97. Kutuzov to Rostopchin, 1 September 1812, in M.I. Kutuzov: Sbornik Dokumentov, IV, 115. Just days later Rostopchin received another letter from Kutuzov that spoke of his determination to protect Moscow and asked for more reinforcements to ‘fight a decisive battle near Moscow’. Kutuzov to Rostopchin, 9 September 1812, in Feldmarshal Kutuzov: Sbornik dokumentov i materialov, 173–174.
98. Bogdanovich, II, 268.
99. Rostopchin to Balashov, 10 September 1812, in Borodino: dokumenty, pis’ma, vospominaniya, 85.
100. On 11 September alone Rostopchin received half a dozen letters from Kutuzov and other commanders that must have left him befuddled. One letter informed him that a French corps (Eugène’s 4th Corps) was outflanking the Russian army and approaching Moscow from the northwest. Remarkably, Kutuzov wondered if Rostopchin could not prepare a hot reception for the enemy by calling out the Moscow militia. One wonders why such a suggestion was made, considering Kutuzov’s own low opinion of the militia. In another letter Kutuzov assured Rostopchin that ‘we are approaching a general battle near Moscow’ and asked him to ‘provide as rapid aid as possible’. Further missives sounded even more frantic, requesting as many battery guns from the Moscow arsenal as possible, along with supplies of munitions, transports, axes, spades and mulled wine. Kutuzov to Rostopchin, Barclay de Tolly to Rostopchin, 11 September 1812, in M.I. Kutuzov: Sbornik Dokumentov, IV, Part 1, 183–188. For Rostopchin’s responses see Rostopchin (1889), 712–714.
101. Rostopchin to Balashov, 10 September 1812, in Borodino: dokumenty, pis’ma, vospominaniya, 85.
102. Glinka, Iz zapisok o 1812 gode,
103. No. 14 Broadsheet, 11 September 1812, in Afishy 1812 goda
104. Bestuzhev-Riumin (1859), 82.
105. Rostopchin (1889), 710–711.
106. No. 15 Broadsheet, 11 August 1812, in Afishy 1812 goda
107. Bestuzhev-Riumin (1859), 83.
108. Golitsyn, Ofitserskie zapiski, 19–20.
109. Glinka, ‘Iz zapisok o 1812 gode,’
110. Rostopchin (1889), 714.
111. No. 16 Broadsheet, 12 September 1812, in Afishy 1812 goda
112. Rostopchin (1894), 214–215.
113. Rostopchin to his wife, 13 September 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 8 (1901), 461.
114. Rostopchin (1889), 715; Narichkine, 161–162; Rostopchin to Peter Tolstoy, 13 September 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 3 (1885), 441; Rostopchin to his wife, 13 September 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 8 (1901), 461; Rostopchin to the Senate, 9 August 1814, in Russkii arkhiv 6 (1868), 884.
115. Pierre de Ségur, ‘Rostopchin en 1812,’ in La Revue de Paris 7 (1902), 104; Rostopchin (1889), 715.
116. A.B. Golitzyn, ‘Zapiski o voine 1812 goda,’ in Voennyi sbornik 12 (1910), 24.
117. Tartakovskii, 93.
1
18. ‘Razgovor s A.P. Yermolovym,’ in Russkii arkhiv (1863), 856–857; Grabbe, 470.
119. Württemberg, 98–100; J.M. von Helldorff, Aus dem Leben des kaiserlich-russischen Generals der Infanterie Prinzen Eugen von Württemberg (Berlin, 1862), II, 58–59.
120. Kutuzov to Rostopchin, 13 September 1812, in Borodino: dokumenty, pis’ma, vospominaniya, 143–144; Rostopchin (1889), 717; Rostopchin to his wife, 13 September 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 8 (1901), 461; Rostopchin to the Senate, 9 August 1814, in Russkii arkhiv 6 (1868), 884.
121. Russkii invalid, 3 December 1846, No. 279, 1077. ‘At 1 pm on [13] September [Kutuzov] assured me that the city would be defended,’ Rostopchin later complained to the Imperial Senate. ‘And yet, by midnight, he informed me that it would be abandoned.’ Rostopchin to the Senate, 9 August 1814, in Russkii arkhiv 6 (1868), 884.
122. Rostopchin (1889), 716–717.
123. Rostopchin to his wife, (11pm) 13 September 1812, in Narichkine, 164–165.
124. Rostopchin (1889), 719–720; ‘Zametki o 1812 gode,’ in Russkii arkhiv 8 (1901), 503.
125. Rostopchin to Alexander, 13 September 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 8 (1892), 530–531.
126. Rostopchin to his wife, 15 September 1812, in Narichkine, 175; Rostopchin to his wife, 25 September 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 8 (1901), 474.
127. Rostopchin to Mikhail Vorontsov, 30 October 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 6 (1908), 270–271.
128. Dubrovin, Moskva i graf Rostopchin, VIII, 437. For various orders and instructions on evacuating government institutions see Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., I, 405–429.
129. For details see S. Tsvetkov, Vyvoz iz Moskvy gosudarstvennykh sokrovisch v 1812 godu (Moscow, 1912).
130. Bestuzhev-Riumin (1859), 80.
131. P. Chudimov to V. Soimonov, 17 November 1812, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 16.
132. Napoleon to Alexander I, 20 September 1812, in Correspondance de Napoléon, XIV, No. 19213, 222.
133. For details see S. Shvedov, ‘Sud’ba zapasa ognestrelnogo oruzhiya Moskovskogo arsenal v 1812 g,’ in Sovetskie arkhivy (1985), No. 5; Idem, ‘O zapasakh voennogo imushestva v Moskve v 1812 g,’ in Sovetskie arkhivy (1987), No. 6.
The Burning of Moscow Page 45
