134. Rostopchin (1889), 721.
135. Rostopchin to Balashov, 11 August 1812, in Dubrovin, Otechestvennaia voina v pis’makh sovremennikov, 70.
136. Dmitriev (1869), 237–238; Vyazemskii, 209–213. Vereshchagin’s body, after being dragged through the market-place, was dropped in front of a small church, and was buried at the very spot on which it fell. For an insightful discussion of this case see ‘F.V. Rostopchin i ‘delo Vereshchagina,’’ in Zemtsov, 1812 god. Pozhar Moskvy, 26–40.
137. Snegirev, 540.
138. The main routes out of Moscow were: 1. Along the Nikolaemskaya Street towards the Rogozhskaya barrier in order to reach the Vladimirskaya road that led to Vladimir and Nizhnii Novgorod in the east. 2. Along the Taganskaya street towards the Pokrovaskaya and Spasskaya barriers that connected to the Bronitskaya/Ryazanskaya road that led to Ryazan in southeast. 3. Crossing the Moscow river to the Yakimanskaya district, then along the Bolshaya o Malaya Kaluzhskaya streets towards Kaluzhskaya barrier that was on the Old Kaluga Road leading to Kaluga in the southwest. 4. Along the Meschanskaya street towards Krestovskaya (Troitskaya) barrier that led to the north.
139. Kolchugin, 46.
140. Yermolov, 172.
141. Pis’ma 1812 goda M.A. Volkovoi k V.A. Lanskoi (Moscow, 1990)
142. Golitsyn, Ofitserskie zapiski, 18–19.
143. Bestuzhev-Riumin (1859), 81, 84.
144. Radozhitskii, 88–89.
145. Semen Klimych, 417.
146. Bestuzhev-Riumin (1859), 84.
147. Fedor Lubyanovskii, Vospominaniya (Moscow, 1872), 281.
148. Snegirev, 541.
149. Muravyev, 346.
150. Peter Zhdanov, Pamyatnik Frantsuzam, ili priklyucheniya Moskovskogo zhitelya P … Zh … (St Petersburg, 1813), 4.
151. Glinka, Iz zapisok o 1812 gode
152. ‘Rasskazy ochevidtsev o dvenadtsatom gode: Na Mokhovoi,’ Moskovskie vedomosti, March 1, 1872.
153. Mertvago, 316.
154. Sverbeyev, I, 72.
155. ‘Rasskaz meshchanina Petra Kondratieva,’ in Russkii vestnik 102 (1872), 275–276.
156. Bestuzhev-Riumin (1859), 79–80. Also see T. Tolycheva, Rasskaz starushki o dvenadtsatom gode (Moscow, 1878), 40–41.
157. Lebedev, 257.
158. Rostopchin to Vorontsov, 10 May 1813, in Russkii arkhiv 2 (1887), 181; Andrei Tartakovskii, ‘Naselenie Moskvy v period frantsuzskoi okupatsii,’ in Istoricheskie zapiski 93 (1973), 356–379; Bestuzhev-Riumin (1896), 376.
159. Ysarn, 2–3.
160. Radozhitskii, 89.
161. Ysarn, 2–3.
162. Evreinov, 104.
163. Vigel, IV, 54.
164. Sergei Glinka, ‘Iz zapisok o 1812 gode,’
165. Christiani, 47.
166. Radozhitskii, 89.
167. Semen Klimych, 418.
168. Rostopchin to Major General Ivashkin, 12 September 1812, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechesvennaya voina, I, 430.
169. Police Constable A. Danilov’s report, 27 December 1814, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechesvennaya voina, I, 430–431.
170. Karfachevskii, 165.
171. Bennigsen (1908), III, 94–95.
172. Police Constable Perkov’s report, 10 November 1814, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechesvennaya voina, I, 431.
173. Fusil, 5–6.
174. Ryazanov, 46.
175. Rostopchin to his wife, 15 September 1812, in Narichkine, 175–176.
176. Kozlovskii, 106.
177. Ivan Yakovlev to E. Golokhvastova, 13 November 1812, in Russkii arkhiv (1874), 1057.
178. Rastkovskii, 31.
179. Pokhorskaya, 47–48.
180. Alexander Bulgakov, ‘Zametka na pamyat,’ in Russkii arkhiv (1866), 701–702.
181. ‘Zapiski moskovskogo zhitelya …’ in 1812 god v vospominaniyakh sovremennikov (Moscow, 1995), 51.
182. Pokhorskaya, 48.
183. Nazarova, 79.
184. Nastasya Danilovna, 31.
185. Kruglova, 60.
186. ‘Rasskaz dvorovoi zhenshiny o dvenadtsatom gode,’ in Garin, 26.
187. Snegirev, 540.
188. Ivan Yakovlev to E. Golokhvastova, 13 November 1812, in Russkii arkhiv (1874), 1057.
189. Fusil, 5.
190. Alekseyev, 25.
191. Sub Lieutenant Vasilii Kalashnikov to State Councillor Grigorii Spiridov, 14 November 1812, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 28; Kicheyev, 12.
192. Semen Klimych, 418–419. He later had to convince the manager of Count Golovkin’s estate that it was French, not British, troops entering the city.
193. Mosolov, 336. Also see Fedor Golitsyn, ‘Zapiski …’ in Russkii arkhiv 5 (1874), 1331.
194. Kolchugin, 46.
195. Kicheyev, 3.
196. Nazarova, 77.
197. Ryazanov, 45.
198. A samovar is a heated metal container traditionally used to boil water for tea in Russia.
199. Pokhorskaya, 48–49.
Chapter 4: The Conqueror
1. Bréaut des Marlot, 21–22.
2. Itinéraire des Archives de Caulaincourt, in Caulaincourt, Mémoires, 7.
3. Theodor Rehtwisch, 1812–1815. Geschichte der Freiheitskriege (Berlin, 1908), I, 308.
4. Caulaincourt, Mémoires, 440.
5. Berthier to Murat, 13 September 1812, Chambray 1839, III, 404.
6. Berthier to Eugène, (9pm) 13 September 1812, in Mémoires et correspondence politique et militaire du Prince Eugène, VIII, 44.
7. Korbeletskii, 22–23.
8. Labaume, 181.
9. Un billet de Kaissarov, 14 September in Chuquet, Lettres de 1812, 31.
10. Akinfov, 206; Miloradovich, 59–60.
11. Denniée, 85–86.
12. Akinfov, 206; Miloradovich, 59–60.
13. Clausewitz, 136–137.
14. Bourgogne, 13.
15. Kicheyev, 7.
16. Combe, 96.
17. Dedem de Gelder, 248–249.
18. The precise time when Napoleon saw Moscow varies depending on source but most agree that it happened around 2pm.
19. Laugier, 71; Fantin des Odoards, 331–332.
20. Torquato Tasso, Gerusalemme Liberata (Florence, 1895), 102. English translation at ‘Jerusalem Delivered’
21. Walter, 43.
22. Bourgogne, 13.
23. Griois, II, 49.
24. Labaume, 183–184.
25. Fantin des Odoards, 331–332.
26. Soltyk, 259–260.
27. Bourgogne, 13.
28. Fantin des Odoards, 332.
29. Montesquiou-Fezensac, Souvenirs, 226–227.
30. Fain described this scene as taking place at the Dorogomilovskaya barrier. Fain, II, 53.
31. Damas, I, 118.
32. Montesquiou-Fezensac, 227.
33. Roos, 115; Seruzier, 215; Cerrini di Monte Varchi, 389.
34. Murat acknowledged entering Moscow at 2pm on 14 September. Murat to Eugène, [n.d.] in Mémoires et Correspondance de Prince Eugène, VIII, 47. Brandt’s memoirs also refer to 2pm.
35. Kukiel, 213; Soltyk, 265.
36. Montesquiou-Fezensac, Souvenirs, 226.
37. Muralt, 69.
38. Combe, 102; Dedem de Gelder, 249–250; Bausset, II, 87–88; Fain, II, 52; Denniée, 85–87; Ségur, II, 31. Caulaincourt certainly repeats hearsay when he writes, ‘The Russian officer in command could not speak highly enough of [Murat’s] courage … “Such is our admiration of you,” he said, “that our Cossacks have passed word round that no one is to fire a shot at so brave a Prince. However, one of these days,” he added, ‘you will meet with misfortune.”’ Armand de Caulaincourt, With Napoleon in Russia: The Memoirs of General de Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenza (New York, 1935), 111.
39. Bourgogne,
13. Most were preoccupied with more mundane tasks, including securing provisions. Thus, Dedem de Gelder was thrilled to seize ‘a herd of magnificent bulls’, even though he had to give twenty-two of them to the Cossacks, who demanded a fair shair of the spoils. Dedem de Gelder, 250.
40. Korbeletskii, 24–25.
41. Ysarn, 7; Domergues, II, 42. Zemtsov suggests it was M. Sokolnicki (Zemtsov, 23) but it might have been Roman Soltyk.
42. Ysarn, 7–8.
43. Domergues, II, 42.
44. Chambray, 117; Soltyk, 270; Domergues, II, 42–43; Bausset, II, 89.
45. Vsevolozhskii, 22.
46. Bookseller Riess later recounted his conversation: ‘Who are you ?’ asked Napoleon. ‘A French bookseller.’ ‘Ah! then you are one of my subjects.’ ‘Yes; but I have lived for a long time in Moscow.’ ‘Where is Rostopchin?’ ‘He has gone.’ ‘Where are the magistrates/municipal council?’ ‘Gone also.’ ‘Who is left in Moscow?’ ‘None of the Russians.’ ‘C’est impossible!’ Riess swore that what he said was true. Napoleon frowned and remained for some time buried in thought.
47. Korbeletskii, 27.
48. Ségur, II, 32; Dumas, III, 443.
49. Denniée, 88–89; Korbeletskii, 25–26.
50. Muralt, 69.
51. Roos, 116–117.
52. Becker, 510.
53. Becker, 511.
54. Most Allied and Russian eyewitnesses testify to Murat’s entry around 4pm. But some advance elements of Murat’s force may have entered the city as early as 2pm. See Murat to Eugène [15 September 1812] in Mémoires et correspondence politique et militaire du Prince Eugène, VIII, 47; Brandt, 226.
55. Its composition remains unclear. Murat’s cavalry was naturally present. Lagneau claims that only two regiments of the Old Guard were sent in to maintain order in the city but Dedem de Gelder’s memoirs indicate that his division was present as well. Guyot, 142; Lagneau, 135; Dedem de Gelder, 249.
56. Major General Ivashkin to Titular Councillor Domontovich, 11 January 1813, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 12; Tutolmin to Empress Maria Feodorovna, 17 December 1812, in Chteniya v Imperatorskom Moskovskom obshestve istorii i drevnosti 2 (1860), 164; Anonymous, 28.
57. Tutolmin to Empress Maria Feodorovna, 17 December 1812, in Chteniya v Imperatorskom Moskovskom obshestve istorii i drevnosti 2 (1860), 164. See also 1812 god v vospominaniyakh sovremennuikov, 28.
58. According to Bestuzhev-Riumin, the Allied forced entered through the Dorogomilovskaya, Presnenskaya, Tverskaya and Miusskaya barriers. He also notes that the Allied entrance was preceded by an eighteen gun salvo. But another eyewitness, F. Becker, who lived at the Nikitskie Gates, makes no mention of the gun salvo. Bestuzhev-Riumin (1859), 87; Becker, 510–511.
59. Kicheyev, 8–9.
60. Domergues, II, 39; Ysarn, 4–5. According to one eyewitness, ‘the square in front of the Spasskaya tower-gates was so full with people it was difficult to move’. Bestuzhev-Riumin (1859), 86. General Guyot recorded in his journal that some ‘six or seven hundred criminals’ attacked the Allied troops. Guyot, 142.
61. Vasilii Yermolaevich, 66.
62. Ryazanov, 50.
63. Vasilii Polyanskii’s recollections, in Tolycheva, 40. Anna Kruglova recalled that her father, a wealthy merchant, had visited the arsenal on the eve of the Allied entry into the city and brought back a musket without a cock, saying ‘though it is in disrepair, it might still be useful, maybe we will scare off the French’. Ibid, 59.
64. Ryazanov, 50.
65. Ryazanov, 51.
66. Muralt, 70. Philippe-Paul Ségur, who could not have witnessed the scenes in Moscow, offers a rather vivid image of ‘the gates of the citadel appearing to be closed [and] ferocious cries issuing from within it: men and women, of ferocious and disgusting appearance, appeared fully armed on the walls. In a state of filthy inebriety, they uttered the most horrible imprecations.’ Ségur, II, 36.
67. Coignet, 322.
68. Ryazanov, 51.
69. Depending on the source, the Allies fired between two and five shots before shattering the gates and dispersing the crowd.
70. Coignet, 322.
71. Roos, 118.
72. Seruzier, 216–217.
73. Dedem de Gelder, 249.
74. Bestuzhev-Riumin, 363–364. Bestuzhev-Riumin was an official at the Votchinskii Department and witnessed this scene from the windows of the Senate building.
75. ‘Otryvok iz chernovago pisma neizvestnogo litsa’, in Schukin, III, 262.
76. Karfachevskii, 165.
77. Perovskii, 261–262. Ségur mentions a similar (possibly the same?) incident: ‘We penetrated partly without opposition, partly by force, among these wretches. One of them rushed close to the king [Murat], and endeavoured to kill one of his officers. It was thought sufficient to disarm him, but he again fell upon his victim, rolled him on the ground, and attempted to suffocate him; and even after his arms were seized and held, he still strove to tear him with his teeth.’ Ségur, II, 36.
78. Bestuzhev-Riumin (1859), 88.
79. Bestuzhev-Riumin, 364; Histoire de la destruction de Moscou en 1812, 77–78.
80. Ysarn, 4–5.
81. Roos, 117.
82. Roos, 120–121.
83. Clausewitz, 137–138.
84. Sherbinin, 26–27.
85. Mikhailovskii-Danilevskii and Bogdanovich refer to two squadrons; Miloradovich himself claimed these were two regiments, but it seems improbable.
86. Miloradovich, 60. Vasilii Perovskii, an eyewitness, however, speaks of General Panchulidzev negotiating with Sebastiani. Perovskii, 258–259.
87. Clausewitz, 138.
88. Ségur (1826), I, 245.
89. Pion des Loches, 295.
90. Muralt, 70.
91. Kool, 51.
92. Montesquiou-Fezensac, Journal de la Campagne de Russie, 52–53.
93. Montesquiou-Fezensac, Journal de la Campagne de Russie, 52.
94. Combe, 100.
95. The 4th Corps approached Moscow from the northwest and bivouacked near the village of Khoroshevo. The 1st RCC moved around the northern suburbs of Moscow, halting near the road to St Petersburg. The 5th Corps marched south of the Grande Armée and appeared near Moscow’s Kaluga barrier. The 1st and 3rd Corps deployed on both sides of the main road leading to Moscow. The Old Guard bivouacked at the Dorogomilovo suburb. For details see Pelleport, II, 31–32; Fain, 53–54; Bonnet, 660–661; Montesquiou-Fezensac, 52; Fantin des Odoards, 332; Thirion de Metz, 199–201; Bourgoing, 111–112.
96. Bourgogne, 14–15.
97. Bourgogne, 15–16.
98. Pion des Loches, 295.
99. Vionnet de Maringone, 24–25.
100. Fantin des Odoards, 332
101. Bourgogne, 15.
102. Brandt, 226–227.
103. Mortier sent Roguet’s division and the Vistula Legion, while keeping Delaborde’s division outside the city. Paul-Charles Amable de Bourgoing recalled that ‘Delaborde’s division advanced to the suburbs that spread widely around the city. We had to spend the night in the open air because it was forbidden, at first, to take lodgings inside houses: it was feared that our scattered soldiers might commit disorders and cause fire – that is the usual consequence.’ Bourgoing, 111.
104. Bourgogne, 16.
105. Vionnet de Maringone, 24–25.
106. Pion des Loches, 295–296.
107. Vionnet de Maringone, 24; Surrugues, 15.
108. Napoleon to Berthier, 15 September 1812, in Chambray, III, 405.
109. Chambray, I, 348–349; Mikhailovskii-Danilevskii, II, 287; Dubrovin, Otechestvennaia voina v pis’makh sovremennikov, 118–119.
110. Ségur, II, 33.
111. Ysarn refers to a ‘tavern’ – la maison d’un traiteur – near the Dorogomilovskii barrier. Ysarn, 8.
112. Constant, III, Chapter XXIV,
113. Kutuzov to Emperor Alexander, 10 September 1812, i
n M.I. Kutuzov: Sbornik Dokumentov, IV, Part 1, 175–176.
114. In his report of 16 September Kutuzov explained the difficult decision he had to make at the council of war at Fili. He noted that after ‘the so bloody but victorious battle’ his forces, particularly the Second Western Army, were in disarray and he could not have continued to make war without first receiving sufficient reinforcements. Otherwise, with both his flanks threatened by the enemy’s enveloping manoeuvres, another battle would have resulted not just in ‘the destruction of the remains of the army but in the bloodiest destruction and reduction to ashes of Moscow itself’. So to save the army, he decided, after ‘consulting our most prominent generals’, to abandon Moscow, from which, he hastened to note, ‘all the treasures, the arsenal, and practically all belongings, both state and private, had been removed, and in which not a single gentleman remained’. To drive home this positive point, Kutuzov underscored that ‘the enemy’s entry into Moscow does not mean the conquest of Russia’. As long as the army remained in the field, Russia could still hope to prevail in this struggle. Alexander was quite impressed with this deftly couched dispatch and had it printed, with slight revisions, in the official newspaper St Petersburgskie vedomosti on 29 September. Kutuzov to Emperor Alexander, 16 September 1812, RGVIA, f. VUA, d. 3572, l. 47–50.
115. On 24 September John Quincy Adams noted in his diary that the Russian government was still silent regarding the recent events in Moscow. ‘It was said there was a formal capitulation, but nothing has yet been officially published by the government respecting it.’ The following day he wrote that ‘the English are all preparing to leave the country; their fears are greater than I believe there is occasion for. My landlord, Strogovshikov, also came to me much alarmed and mortified at the present condition of his country – hinting, but afraid expressly to say, that Moscow is in the hands of the French, and still reposing confidence in the cunning of General Kutuzov. Nothing official has yet been published by the government concerning the occupation of Moscow, and the rumours are innumerable. Several persons, it is said, have been made to sweep the streets for having said that Moscow was taken; so that the people are afraid of talking.’ It was only on 29 September that ‘the occupation of Moscow by the French is at length officially announced by a report from Prince Kutuzov, and by a proclamation of the government. It is attenuated into a circumstance of trifling importance as to the ultimate issue of the war.’ Adams, II, 404–408.
The Burning of Moscow Page 46
