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diff --git a/7973-0.txt b/7973-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c50a4d3 --- /dev/null +++ b/7973-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6777 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Napoleon's Campaign in Russia Anno 1812, by Achilles Rose + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: Napoleon's Campaign in Russia Anno 1812 + +Author: Achilles Rose + +Release Date: June 8, 2003 [EBook #7973] +[Most recently updated: October 19, 2020] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NAPOLEON'S CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA ANNO 1812 *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, John P. Hadley, Charles Franks and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +Napoleon’s Campaign in Russia Anno 1812 + +MEDICO-HISTORICAL + +by Dr. A. Rose + + +Contents + + PREFACE + CROSSING THE NIEMEN + ON TO MOSCOW + THE GRAND ARMY IN MOSCOW + ROSTOPCHINE + RETREAT FROM MOSCOW + WIASMA + VOP + SMOLENSK + BERESINA + TWO EPISODES + WILNA + FROM WILNA TO KOWNO + PRISONERS OF WAR + TREATMENT OF TYPHUS + AFTER THE SECOND CROSSING OF THE NIEMEN + LITERATURE + INDEX + + + + +PREFACE + + +There is no campaign in the history of the world which has left such a +deep impression upon the heart of the people than that of Napoleon in +Russia, Anno 1812. + +Of the soldiers of other wars who had not come home it was reported +where they had ended on the field of honor. Of the great majority of +the 600 thousand who had crossed the Niemen in the month of June Anno +1812, there was recorded in the list of their regiments, in the +archives “_Disappeared during the Retreat_” and nothing else. + +When the few who had come home, those hollow eyed specters with their +frozen hands, were asked about these comrades who had disappeared +during the retreat, they could give no information, but they would +speak of endless, of never-heard-of sufferings in the icy deserts of +the north, of the cruelty of the Cossacks, of the atrocious acts of the +Moushiks and the peasants of Lithuania, and, worst of all, of the +infernal acts of the people of Wilna. And it would break the heart of +those who listened to them. + +There is a medical history of the hundreds of thousands who have +perished Anno 1812 in Russia from cold, hunger, fatigue or misery. + +Such medical history cannot be intelligible without some details of the +history of events causing and surrounding the deaths from cold and +hunger and fatigue. And such a history I have attempted to write. + +Casting a glance on the map on which the battle fields on the march to +and from Moscow are marked, we notice that it was not a deep thrust +which the attack of the French army had made into the colossus of +Russia. From the Niemen to Mohilew, Ostrowno, Polotsk, Krasnoi, the +first time, Smolensk, Walutina, Borodino, Conflagration of Moscow, and +on the retreat the battles of Winkonow, Jaroslawetz, Wiasma, Vop, +Krasnoi, the second time, Beresina, Wilna, Kowno; this is not a great +distance, says Paul Holzhausen in his book “Die Deutschen in Russland +1812” but a great piece of history. + +Holzhausen, whose book has furnished the most valuable material of +which I could avail myself besides the dissertation of von Scherer, the +book of Beaupré and the report of Krantz, and numerous monographs, has +brought to light valuable papers of soldiers who had returned and had +left their remembrances of life of the soldiers during the Russian +campaign to their descendants and relatives who had kept these papers a +sacred inheritance during one hundred years. + +The picture in the foreground of all histories of the Russian campaign +is the shadow of the great warrior who led the troops, in whose +invincibility all men who followed him Anno 1812 believed and by whom +they stood in their soldier’s honor, with a constancy without equal, a +steadfastness which merits our admiration. + +Three fourths of the whole army belonged to nations whose real +interests were in direct opposition to the war against Russia. +Notwithstanding that many were aware of this fact, they fought as brave +in battle as if their own highest interests were at stake. All wanted +to uphold their own honor as men and the honor of their nations. And no +matter how the individual soldier was thinking of Napoleon, whether he +loved or hated him, there was not a single one in the whole army who +did not have implicit confidence in his talent. Wherever the Emperor +showed himself the soldiers believed in victory, where he appeared +thousands of men shouted from the depth of their heart and with all the +power of their voices Vive l’Empereur! + +A wild martial spirit reigned in all lands, the bloody sword did not +ask why and against whom it was drawn. To win glory for the own army, +the own colors and standards was the parole of the day. All the masses +of different nations felt as belonging to one great whole and were +determined to act as such. + +And all this has to be considered in a medical history of the campaign +Anno 1812. + +Throughout Germany, Napoleon is the favorite hero. In the homes of the +common people, in the huts of the peasants, there are pictures +ornamenting the walls, engravings which have turned yellow from age, +the frames of which are worm eaten. These pictures represent a variety +of subjects, but rarely are there pictures missing of scenes of the +life of Napoleon. Generally they are divided into fields, and in the +larger middle field you see the hero of small stature, on a white +horse, from his fallow face the cold calculating eyes looking into a +throng of bayonets, lances, bearskin caps, helmets, and proud eagles. +The graceful mouth, in contrast to the strong projecting chin, modifies +somewhat the severity of this face, a face of marble of which it has +been said that it gave the impression of a field of death, and the man +with this face is accustomed to conquer, to reign, to destroy. He is +the inexorable God of war himself, not in glittering armour, but in a +plain uniform ornamented with one single order for personal bravery. +The tuft of hair on his high and broad forehead is like a sign of +everlasting scorn. A gloomy, dreadfully attractive figure. In some of +the pictures we see him in his plain gray overcoat and well-known hat, +surrounded by marshals in splendid dress parade, forming a contrast to +the simplicity of their master, on some elevation from which he looks +into burning cities; again we see him unmoved by dreadful surroundings, +riding through battle scenes of horror. + +Over my desk hangs such an old steel engraving, given to me by an old +German lady who told me that her father had thought a great deal of it. +On Saturdays he would wash the glass over the other pictures with +water, but for washing the Napoleon picture he would use alcohol. + +Before this man kings have trembled, innumerable thousands have +cheerfully given their blood, their lives; this man has been adored +like a God and cursed like a devil. He has been the fate of the world +until his hour struck. Many say providence had selected him to +castigate the universe and its enslaved peoples. A great German +historian, Gervinus, has said: “He was the greatest benefactor of +Germany who removed the gloriole from the heads crowned by the grace of +God.” He accomplished great things because he had great power, he +committed great faults because he was so powerful. Without his +unrestricted power he could not have accomplished one nor committed the +other. + +History is logic. Whenever great wrongs prevail, some mighty men appear +and arouse the people, and these extraordinary men are like the storm +in winter which shatters and breaks what is rotten, preparing for +spring. + +The German school boy, when he learns of the greatest warriors and +conquerors, of Alexander the Great, of Julius Caesar, is most +fascinated when he hears the history of the greatest of all the +warriors of the world, the history of Napoleon, and he is spellbound +reading the awfully beautiful histories concerning his unheard of +deeds, his rise without example, and his sudden downfall. + +And he, the great man, the soldier-emperor, he rides on his white horse +in the boy’s dreams, just as depicted on the engravings upon which the +boys look with a kind of holy awe. + +The son of a Corsican lawyer, becoming in early manhood the master of +the world, what could inflame youthful fiction more than this wonderful +career? + +All great conquerors come to a barrier. Alexander, when he planned to +subdue India, found the barrier at the Indus. Caesar found it at the +Thames and at the Rhine. Our hero’s fate was to be fulfilled at Moscow. +His insatiable thirst to rule had led him into Russia. He stood at the +height of his power and glory. Holland, Italy, a part of Germany, were +French, and Germany especially groaned under the heel of severe +xenocraty. The old German Empire had broken down, nothing of it was +left but a ridiculous name, “_Römisches Reich deutscher Nation_.” The +crowned heads of Germany held their thrones merely by the grace of +Napoleon. Only Spain, united with England, dared him yet. Since +Napoleon could not attack the English directly, on account of their +power at sea, he tried to hit them where they were most sensitive, at +their pocket. He instituted the continental blocus. Russia with the +other lands of Continental Europe had to close her ports and markets +against England, but Russia soon became tired of this pressure and +preferred a new war with Napoleon to French domination. + +In giving this sketch of the popularity of Napoleon’s memory in +Germany, I have availed myself of a German calendar for the year 1913, +called Der Lahrer hinkende Bote. + +Except the English translation of Beaupré’s book I have taken from +French and German writings only. + +I desire to thank Mr. S. Simonis, of New York, who has revised the +entire manuscript and read the proofs; next to him I am under +obligations to Reichs Archiv Rat Dr. Striedinger, of Munich, and Mr. +Franz Herrmann, of New York, who have loaned me most valuable books and +pointed out important literature, and finally to Miss F. de Cerkez, who +has aided me in the translation of some of the chapters. + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +Transportation of Cannon under Difficulties +Attack of Cossacks +“And Never Saw Daylight Again,” +Beresina +Gate of Wilna +In the Streets of Wilna +Retreat Across the Niemen +“No Fear, We Shall Soon Follow You” +In Prison + + + + +CROSSING THE NIEMEN + + +On May 10th., 1812, the Moniteur published the following note: “The +emperor has left to-day to inspect the Grand Army united at the +Vistula.” In France, in all parts of the Empire, the lassitude was +extreme and the misery increasing, there was no commerce, with dearth +pronounced in twenty provinces, sedition of the hungry had broken out +in Normandy, the gendarmes pursuing the “refractories” everywhere, and +blood was shed in all thirty departments. + +There was the complaint of exhausted population, and loudest was the +complaint of mothers whose sons had been killed in the war. + +Napoleon was aware of these evils and understood well their gravity, +but he counted on his usual remedy, new victories; saying to himself +that a great blow dealt in the north, throwing Russia and indirectly +England at his feet, would again be the salvation of the situation. + +Caulaincourt, his ambassador to the Tzar, had told him in several +conversations, one of which had lasted seven hours, that he would find +more terrible disaster in Russia than in Spain, that his army would be +destroyed in the vastness of the country by the iron climate, that the +Tzar would retire to the farthest Asiatic provinces rather than accept +a dishonorable peace, that the Russians would retreat but never cede. + +Napoleon listened attentively to these prophetic words, showing +surprise and emotion; then he fell into a profound reflection, but at +the end of his revery, having enumerated once more his armies, all his +people, he said: “Bah! a good battle will bring to reason the good +determination of your friend Alexander.” + +And in his entourage there were many who shared his optimism. The +brilliant youth of that new aristocracy which had begun to fill his +staff was anxious to equal the old soldiers of the revolution, the +plebeian heroes. + +They prepared for war in a luxurious way and ordered sumptuous outfits +and equipages which later on encumbered the roads of Germany, just as +the carriages of the Prussian army had done in 1806. + +These French officers spoke of the Russian campaign as a six months’ +hunting party. + +Napoleon had calculated not to occupy the country between the Vistula +and the Niemen before the end of May, when the late spring of those +regions would have covered the fields with green, so that the 100 +thousand horses marching with the army could find feed. + +He traversed Germany between a double lane of kings, and princes bowed +in an attitude of adoration. + +He found them at Mainz, at Wuerzburg, at Bamberg, and his advance might +be compared to the royal progress of an Asiatic potentate. + +Whole populations were turned out to salute him, and during the night +the route over which the imperial carriages passed was illuminated by +lighted piles of wood—an extensive line of fire in his honor. + +At Dresden he had the attendance of an emperor (that of Austria) and of +kings and reigning princes, who were present at his levees, together +with their prime ministers (the better to catch, to report, the words +he said, however insignificant) while high German dignitaries waited on +him at the table. + +The Emperor and the Empress of Austria had come at their own desire to +salute their daughter and their son-in-law and to present their good +wishes for the success of the great expedition. + +Twelve days in succession he had at dinner the Emperor and Empress of +Austria, the King and Queen of Saxony, the Saxon princes, the Prince +Primate of the Confederation of the Rhine—even the King of Prussia was +present; he offered his son for adjutant, which offer, however, +Napoleon was tactful enough not to accept. + +All the kings and reigning princes from the other States of Germany +presented their best wishes and pledged faithfulness to Napoleon in his +war against Russia. + +Around the French emperor and empress at Dresden there was a court the +like of which Europe had never seen and never will see again. + +A Te Deum was sung to thank heaven for his arrival; there was a +magnificent display of fireworks, but the climax of all was a great +concert with an apotheosis showing, as the principal figure, the sun +with the inscription: “Less great and less beautiful than He.” “It +appears that these people take me for very stupid,” said Napoleon to +this, shrugging his shoulders. + +In speaking to one of his intimates he called the King of Prussia a +sergeant instructor, _une bête_, but openly he treated him with great +courtesy. + +He made rich presents: gold and enameled boxes, jewelry and portraits +of himself enriched with costly stones. During the happy days of +Dresden he enjoyed for once an intimate family life. + +On one occasion he held a long conversation with his father-in-law, +during which he developed his plans of the Russian campaign, with +minute and endless military details of which the emperor of Austria, +being no strategist at all, understood nothing and said afterward: “My +son-in-law is alright here,” pointing to the heart, “but here”—pointing +to the forehead—he made a significant gesture. + +This criticism of Napoleon by the Emperor of Austria became popular and +has been accepted by many writers. All reproaches about Cesarian +insanity which were cast at the great man and his whole life date from +that time. Some have said that he wanted to conquer England and Russia +because these two he considered the arch enemies of Europe, that he +foresaw the threatening growth of these two countries as dangerous, and +if he did not take advantage of the good opportunity the future of +Europe would be at the mercy of Russia and England. + +The conquest of Russia was the keynote of his universal policy. + +The much calumniated blocus, say other writers, would finally have been +the greatest blessing for continental Europe; its aim had already been +attained in so far as many London houses failed, and famine reigned on +the British islands in consequence of the high cost of living. + +And these writers say Napoleon had by no means become insane, but, on +the contrary, frightfully clear. Another explanation given was that he +worried about his dynasty, his child, entertaining fear that his empire +might fall to pieces after his death, like the empire of Charles the +Great. + +Although he was enjoying good health, he had been warned by his +physician, _Corvisart_, of cancer of the stomach, from which Napoleon’s +father had died. Some suspicious black specks had been observed in the +vomit. Therefore no time was to be lost, all had to be done in haste. + +The rupture originated with Russia, for at the end of the year 1810 the +Tzar annulled the blocus and even excluded French goods or placed an +inordinate duty on them—this was, in fact, a declaration of war. Russia +wanted war while the Spanish campaign was taxing France’s military +forces. + +The only reliable report of Napoleon’s communications at St. Helena has +been given by General de Gourgaudin the diary which he kept while with +the Emperor from 1815 to 1818, and which has been published in the year +1898. Here is what Napoleon said on this subject: + +On June 13th., 1816, he remarked in conversation with _Gourgaud_, “I +did not want the war with Russia, but _Kurakin_ presented me a +threatening note on account of _Davout’s_ troops at Hamburg. _Bassano_ +and _Champagny_ were mediocre ministers, they did not comprehend the +intention which had dictated that note. I myself could not argue with +_Kurakin_. They persuaded me that it meant declaration of war. Russia +had taken off several divisions from Moldavia and would take the +initiative with an attack on Warsaw. _Kurakin_ threatened and asked for +his passports. I myself believed finally they wanted war. I mobilized! +I sent _Lauriston_ to Alexander, but he was not even received. From +Dresden I sent _Narbonne_, everything convinced me that Russia wanted +war. I crossed the Niemen near Wilna. + +“Alexander sent a General to me to assure me that he did not wish war; +I treated this ambassador very well, he dined with me, but I believed +his mission was a trick to prevent the cutting off of _Bagratian_. I +therefore continued the march. + +“I did not wish to declare war against Russia, but I had the impression +that Russia wanted to break with me. I knew very well the difficulties +of such a campaign.” + +_Gourgaud_ wrote in his diary a conversation which he had with +Montholon on July 9th., 1817. “What was the real motive of the Russian +campaign? I know nothing about it, and perhaps the Emperor himself did +not know it. Did he intend to go to India after having dethroned the +Moscowitic dynasty? The preparations, the tents which he took along, +seem to suggest this assumption.” + +Montholon answered: “According to the instructions which I, as +ambassador, received I believe that His Majesty wanted to become +Emperor of Germany, that he aimed to be crowned as ‘_Emperor of the +West_’. The Rhenish Confederation was made to understand this idea. In +Erfurt it was already a foregone conclusion, but Alexander demanded +Constantinople, and this Napoleon would not concede.” + +At another conversation Napoleon admitted “I have been too hasty. I +should have remained a whole year at the Niemen and in Prussia, in +order to give my troops the much needed rest, to reorganize the army +and also to eat up Prussia.” + +All these details, Napoleon’s admission included, show that nobody knew +and nobody knows why this gigantic expedition was undertaken. Certain +is, however, that England had a hand in the break between Napoleon and +Alexander. + +When Napoleon called on the generals to lead them into this expedition +they all had become settled to some extent, some in Paris, others on +their possessions or as governors and commanders all over Europe, which +at that time meant France; in consequence there existed a certain +displeasure among these officers, especially among the older ones and +those of high rank. + +The high positions which he had created for them and the rich incomes +which they enjoyed had developed their and their wives’ taste for a +luxurious and brilliant mode of living. Besides, most of them, as well +as their master, had attained the age between forty and fifty, their +ambition gradually had relented, they had enough; and the family with +which they had been together for very brief periods only between two +campaigns, clung to them now and held them tightly. + +Notwithstanding these conditions, they all came when the Emperor +called; after they had shaken off wife and children and had mounted in +the saddle, while the old veterans and the young impatient soldiers +were jubilant around them, they regained their good humor and went on +to new victories, the brave men they always had been. + +Especially at first when, at the head of their magnificent regiments, +they marched eastward through the conquered lands, from city to city, +from castle to castle, like masters of the world, when in Dresden they +met their comrades in war and their friends, and when they saw how all +the crowned heads of Europe bowed before their Emperor, then the Grand +Army was in its glory. + +As we know from history the Grand Army had contingents from twenty +nationalities: Frenchmen, Germans, Italians, Austrians, Swiss, +Spaniards, Portuguese, Poles, Illyrians, etc., and numbered over half a +million men, with 100 thousand horses, 1,000 cannon. + +According to Bleibtreu (Die grosse Armee, Stuttgart, 1908), and +Kielland (Rings um Napoleon, Leipzig, 1907) the Grand Army was made up +as follows: + +_First Corps_—Davout, six divisions of the best troops under the +command of Morand, Friant, Gudin. In this corps were, besides French, +Badensian, Dutch, and Polish regiments. Davout commanded also 17 +thousand Prussian soldiers under General Grawert. Among the generals +were Compans and Pajol, the engineer Haxo, and the handsome General +Friederich 67,000 + +_Second Corps_—Oudinot with the divisions of Generals Merle, Legrand, +Maison, Lannes’ and Massena’s veterans 40,000 + +_Third Corps_—Ney with two divisions of veterans of Lannes; to this +corps belonged the Wuerttembergians who had served under Ney before +49,000 + +_Fourth Corps_—Prince Eugene with Junot as second commander, and the +Generals Grouchy, Broussier, the two brothers Delzon. In this corps +were the best soldiers of the Italian army 45,000 + +_Fifth Corps_—Prince Poniatowski. Soldiers of all arms, mostly Poles +26,000 Sixth Corps—General St Cyr. Mostly foreigners who had served in +the French army since 1809 25,000 + +_The Sixth Corps_—General St Cyr. Mostly foreigners who had served in +the French army since 1809 25,000 + +_The Seventh Corps_—General Reynier. Mostly Saxons and Poles 17,000 + +_The Eighth Corps_—King Jerome. Westphalians and Hessians 18,000 + +Besides, there were four corps of reserve cavalry distributed among the +corps of Davout, Oudinot, and Ney; the rest, excellent horsemen, +marched with the Imperial Guard 15,000 + +_The Imperial Guards_ were commanded by the Marshals Mortier and +Lefebvre and were divided into two corps, the old guard and the young +guard 47,000 + +There was the engineer park, composed of sappers, miners, pontooneers +and military mechanicians of all descriptions, the artillery park, and +train of wagons with attendants and horses. To these two trains alone +belonged 18 thousand horses. + +In the active army which marched toward Russia there were 423 thousand +well drilled soldiers; namely, 300 thousand infantry, 70 thousand +cavalry and 30 thousand artillery with 1 thousand cannon, 6 pontoon +trains, ambulances, and also provisions for one month. + +As reserve, the ninth corps—Marshal Victor—and the tenth +corps—Augereau—were stationed near Magdeburg, ready to complete the +army gradually. + +The whole army which marched to Russia consisted of 620 thousand men. + +The question of subsistence for this immense body occupied Napoleon +chiefly. He felt the extraordinary difficulty and great danger, he knew +that at the moment of coming in contact with the enemy all the corps +would be out of supplies in twenty or twenty-five days if there were no +great reserves of bread, biscuit, rice, etc., closely following the +army. + +His system was that of requisition. To secure the needed supplies the +commanders of the corps were ordered to seize in the country all the +grain which could be found and at once to convert it into flour, with +methodic activity. + +Napoleon himself superintended and hastened the work. At twenty +different places along the Vistula he had the grinding done +unceasingly, distributing the flour thus obtained among the corps and +expediting its transport by every possible means. He even invented new +measures for this purpose, among which the well-known formation of +battalions of cattle, an immense rolling stock destined to follow the +columns to serve twofold: for transportation of provisions, and finally +as food. + +With the beginning of June these supreme preparations had been made or +seemed to have been made. In the lands through which the troops were to +march before they reached the Niemen, the spring had done its work; +there was abundance of forage. + +Napoleon had impatiently awaited this time during ten months of secret +activity. + +It was the hope of Russia and the fear of those Frenchmen who +understood the Russian climate that the campaign would drag into the +winter. + +Russians already told of the village blacksmith who laughed when he was +shown a French horseshoe which had been found on the road, and said: +“Not one of these horses will leave Russia if the army remains till +frost sets in!” The French horseshoes had neither pins nor barbed +hooks, and it would be impossible for horses thus shod to draw cannons +and heavy wagons up and down hill over frozen and slippery roads. + +The annihilation of the Grand Army is not to be attributed to the cold +and the fearful conditions on the retreat from Moscow alone, the army +was in reality annihilated before it reached Russia, as we shall see by +the following description which I have taken from a Latin dissertation +(translated also into German) of the surgeon of a Wuerttembergian +regiment, Ch. Io. von Scherer, who had served through the whole +campaign and in the year 1820 had submitted this dissertation, +“Historia Morborum, qui in Expeditione Contra Russiam Anno 1812 Facta +Legiones Wuerttembergicas invaserunt, praesertim eorum qui frigore orti +sunt,” to the Medical Faculty, presided over by F. G. Gmelin, to obtain +the degree of doctor of medicine. + +The diseases which befell the soldiers in Russia extended over the +whole army. Von Scherer, however, gives his own observations only, +which he had made while serving in the Wuerttembergian corps of +fourteen to fifteen thousand men. + +The expedition into Russia in the year 1812 was divided into ten +divisions, each of these numbering fifty to sixty thousand men, all +healthy, robust, most of them hardened in war. The Wuerttembergians +were commanded by General Count von Scheeler and the French General +Marchand; the highest commander was Marshal Ney. + +In the beginning of May, 1812, the great army of Napoleon arrived at +the frontier of Poland, whence it proceeded by forced and most tiresome +marches to the river Niemen, which forms the boundary between Lithuania +and Poland, arriving at the borders of the river in the middle of June. + +An immense body of soldiers (500,000) met near the city of Kowno, +crossed the Niemen on pontoons, and formed, under the eyes of the +Emperor, in endless battle line on the other side. + +The forced march continued day and night over the sandy soil of Poland. +The tropical heat during the day and the low temperature at night, the +frequent rainstorms from the north, the camping on bare and often wet +ground, the ever increasing want of pure water and fresh provisions, +the immense masses of dust, which, cloudlike, hung over the marching +columns—all these difficulties put together had sapped the strength of +the soldiers already at the beginning of the campaign. Many were taken +sick before they reached the Niemen. + +The march through Lithuania was hastened as much as the march through +Poland. Provisions became scarcer all the time, meat from cattle that +had suffered from starvation and exhaustion was for a long time the +soldiers’ only food. The great heat, and the inhalation of sand and +dust, dried the tissues of the body, and the thirsty soldiers longed in +vain for a drink of water. Often there was no other opportunity to +quench the thirst than the water afforded by the swamps. The officers +were powerless to prevent the soldiers from kneeling down at stagnant +pools and drinking the foul water without stint. + +Thus the army, tired to the utmost from overexertion and privation, and +disposed to sickness, entered the land of the enemy. The forced marches +were continued during the day, through sand and dust, until stormy +weather set in with rain, followed by cold winds. + +With the appearance of bad weather, dysentery, which had already been +observed at the time of the crossing of the Niemen, showed itself with +greater severity. The route the army had taken from camp to camp was +marked by offensive evacuations. The number of the sick became so great +that they could not all be attended to, and medical treatment became +illusory when the supply of medicaments was exhausted. + +The greater part of the army fought in vain, however courageously, +against the extending evil. As everything was wanting of which the sick +were in need, there was no barrier against the spread of the disease, +while at the same time the privations and hardships which had caused it +continued and reached their climax. + +Some of these soldiers would march, equipped with knapsack and arms, +apparently in good spirits, but suddenly would succumb and die. Others, +especially those of strong constitution, would become melancholy and +commit suicide. The number of deaths increased from day to day. + +Marvelous was the effect of emotion on the disease. Surgeon-General von +Kohlreuter, during and after the battle of Smolensk, witnessed this +influence. Of four thousand Wuerttembergians who took part in that +battle, there were few quite free from dysentery. + +Tired and depressed, the army dragged along; but as soon as the +soldiers heard the cannon in the distance, telling them the battle was +beginning, they emerged at once from their lethargy; the expression of +their faces, which had been one of sadness, changed to one of joy and +hilarity. Joyfully and with great bravery they went into action. During +the four days that the battle lasted, and for some days afterward, +dysentery disappeared as if banished by magic. When the battle was over +and the privations were the same again as they had been, the disease +returned with the same severity as before—nay, even worse, and the +soldiers fell into complete lethargy. + +The necropsy of those who had died from dysentery revealed derangement +of the digestive organs; the stomach, the large intestine, mostly the +rectum, were inflamed; the intima of stomach and duodenum, sometime the +whole intestine, were atonic. In some cases there were small ulcers, +with jagged margins, in the stomach, especially in its fundus, and in +the rectum; in other cases dysentery had proceeded to such an extent +that pretty large ulcers had developed, extending from the stomach into +the small and from there into the large intestine, into the rectum. +These ulcers were of sizes varying from that of a lentil to the size of +a walnut. Where the disease had been progressive the intima, the mucosa +and submucosa—very seldom, however, the serosa—were perforated by +ulcers; in many cases there were gangraenous patches in the fundus of +the stomach and along the intestinal tract. The gastric juice smelled +highly acid, frequently the liver was discolored and contained a bluish +liquid, its lower part in most cases hardened and bluish; the gall +bladder, as a rule, was empty or contained only a small amount of bile; +the mesenteric glands were mostly inflamed, sometimes purulent; the +mesenteric and visceral vessels appeared often as if studded with +blood. Such patients had suffered sometimes from gastralgy, had had a +great craving for food, especially vegetables, but were during that +time entirely free from fever. + +Remarkably sudden disaster followed the immoderate use of alcohol. Some +Wuerttembergian soldiers, who during the first days of July had been +sent on requisition, had discovered large quantities of brandy in a +nobleman’s mansion, and had indulged in its immoderate use and died, +like all dysentery patients who took too much alcohol. + +The number of Wuerttembergians afflicted with dysentery, while on the +march from the Niemen to the Dwina, amounted to three thousand, at +least this many were left behind in the hospitals of Malaty, Wilna, +Disna, Strizzowan and Witepsk. The number of deaths in the hospitals +increased as the disease proceeded, from day to day, and the number of +those who died on the march was not small. Exact hospital statistics +cannot be given except of Strizzowan, which was the only hospital from +which lists had been preserved; and here von Scherer did duty during +six weeks. Out of 902 patients 301 died during the first three weeks; +during the other three weeks when the patients had better care only 36 +died. + +In the hospitals established on the march, in haste, in poor villages, +medicaments were either wanting entirely or could be had only in +insufficient quantity. All medical plants which grew on the soil in +that climate were utilized by the surgeons, as, for instance in the +hospital of Witepsk, huckleberries and the root of tormentilla. +Establishing the hospital in Strizzowan von Scherer placed some of his +patients in the castle, others in a barn and the rest in stables. Not +without great difficulties and under dangers he procured provisions +from the neighborhood. As medicaments he used, and sometimes with +really good results, the following plants which were found in abundance +in the vicinity: 1. Cochlearia armoracia; 2. Acorus calamus; 3. Allium +sativum; 4. Raphanus sativus; 5. Menyanthes trifoliata; 6. Salvia +officinalis. + +In the course of the following three weeks General Count von Scheeler +handed him several thousand florins to be used for the alleviation of +the sufferings of the soldiers under his care, and von Scherer procured +from great distances, namely, from the Polish cities Mohilew, Minsk and +Wilna, suitable medicines and provisions. The proper diet which could +now be secured, together with best medicines, had an excellent effect. +This is seen at a glance when perusing the statistics of the first +three and the last three weeks. In some cases in which the patients had +been on the way to recovery, insignificant causes would bring relapse. +Potatoes grew in abundance in the vicinity of the hospital, and +patients would clandestinely help themselves and eat them in excessive +quantities, with fatal result. + +In some the intestinal tract remained very weak for a long time. +Emaciation of the convalescents improved only very slowly. Remarkable +was a certain mental depression or indolence which remained in many +patients. Even in officers who von Scherer had known as energetic and +good-humored men there was seen for a long time a morose condition and +very noticeable dulness. Whatever they undertook was done slowly and +imperfectly. Sometimes, even with a kind of wickedness, they showed an +inclination to steal or do something forbidden. Sometimes it was +difficult to induce them to take exercise. Von Scherer, in order to +cheer up the convalescents, ordered daily walks under guard, and this +was the more necessary as oedemata developed on the extremities in +those who remained motionless on their couches. + +How injurious the immoderate use of alcoholic beverages proved to be +was demonstrated in three cases of convalescents, who were still +somewhat weak. They had secretly procured some bottles of brandy from +the cellar of the hospital, and with the idea of having a good time had +drunk all of it in one sitting. Very soon they had dangerous symptoms: +abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting followed by lachrymation from the +protruding and inflamed eyes. They fell down senseless, had liquid and +highly offensive evacuations and died, in spite of all medical aid, in +six hours. On the abdomen, the neck, the chest and especially on the +feet of the corpses of these men there were gangraenous spots of +different sizes, a plain proof that the acute inflammation, gangraene +and putrefaction had been caused by the excessive irritation of the +extremely weak body. Circumstances forbade necropsy in these cases. + +Among different publications on the medical history of Napoleon’s +campaign in 1812, which I happened to find, was a dissertation of Marin +Bunoust, “Considerations générales sur la congelation pendant l’ivresse +observée en Russie en 1812.” Paris, 1817 (published, therefore, three +years before publication of von Scherer’s dissertation), in which the +author wishes to show that the physiological effect of drunkenness on +the organism is identical with that of extreme cold. + +Von Scherer, after the hospital of Strizzowan had been evacuated, again +joined his regiment. The French army in forced marches pursued the +enemy on the road to Moscow over Ostrowno, Witepsk and Smolensk. +Dysentery did not abate. In the hospitals of Smolensk, Wiasma and +Ghiat, von Scherer found, besides the wounded from the battles of +Krasnoe, Smolensk and Borodino, a great number of dysentery patients; +many died on the march. The whole presented a pitiful sight, and the +soldiers’ contempt of life excited horror. + +We shall return to von Scherer’s dissertation when describing the +retreat from Moscow. + +While the dissertation of von Scherer treats on the fate of the +Wuerttembergian corps of Napoleon’s grand army, a memoir of First +Lieutenant von Borcke who served as adjutant of General von Ochs in the +Westphalian corps relates the fate of the Westphalians in the grand +army of 1812. + +The Westphalians, 23,747 men strong, left Cassel in the month of March, +1812, to unite with the French army. One of the regiments was sent +later and joined the corps while the army was on the retreat from +Moscow at Moshaisk. This regiment, like another, which followed still +later and joined the army on the retreat at Wilna, was annihilated. Of +the 23,747 men a few hundred finally returned. On March 24th., the +Westphalians crossed the Elbe, von Borcke (it is a common error in +American literature to spell the predicate of nobility _von_ with a +capital V when at the beginning of a period, while neither von nor the +corresponding French de as predicate of nobility should ever be spelled +with a capital) at that time suffered from intermittent fever, but was +cured by the use of calisaya bark. I mention this to call attention to +the fact that quinine was not known in the year 1812. When the corps +marched into Poland the abundance of provisions which the soldiers had +enjoyed, came to an end. + +There were no magazines from which rations could have been distributed, +and the poor Polish peasants, upon whom requisitions should have been +made, had nothing for the soldiers. Disorder among the troops who thus +far distinguished themselves by strictest discipline, made its +appearance. How the army was harassed by the plague of dysentery, how +the soldiers were marching during great heat, insufficiently supplied +in every way, and how they suffered from manifold hardships, has been +described in von Scherer’s dissertation. The Westphalian corps was in +as precarious a condition as the Wuerttembergian, as in fact the whole +army and the Westphalian battalions were already reduced to one-half +their former number. Many soldiers had remained behind on account of +sickness or exhaustion, and officers were sent back to bring them to +the ranks again. + +The whole army would have dissolved if the march had not been +interrupted. Napoleon ordered a stay. An order from him called for a +rally of the troops, for the completion of war material, ammunition, +and horses and provisions; but where to take all these things from? The +war had not yet begun, and the troops were already in danger of +starvation. Only with sadness and fear could the soldiers, under these +circumstances, look into the future. + +In what way, says Ebstein, can this great want, this insufficient +supply of provisions, which made itself felt even at the beginning of +the campaign, be explained? It has been shown how Napoleon exerted +himself to meet the extraordinary difficulty of supplying the grand +army of half a million of men and 100,000 horses with provisions, how +well he was aware of the great danger in this regard, how he +superintended and hastened the work of providing for men and horses by +every possible means, that he understood all the circumstances +surrounding the march of the grand army through a vast country +populated by few, and these mostly serfs who had barely sufficient food +for themselves and no means to replenish their stock in case it should +have been exhausted by Napoleon’s system of requisition, not to speak +of the marauding to which the French soldiers were soon forced to +resort. Ebstein says that the cause of the sad, the wretched condition +concerning supplies was due to the fact that incompetent officers had +been appointed as commissaries of the army; they held high military +rank, were independent and could not be easily reached for their +faults. It happened that soldiers were starving near well filled +magazines, such magazines at Kowno, Wilna, Minsk, Orcha being not only +well, but over, filled, while the passing troops were in dire need. We +shall later on come to frightful details of this kind. + +The miserable maintenance had from the beginning a demoralizing effect +on the men, manifested by desertion, insubordination, marauding, +vandalism. General Sir Robert Wilson, British commissioner with the +headquarters of the Russian army, quoted by Ebstein, says: “The French +army, from its very entrance into the Russian territory (and this +cannot be repeated too often to lend the proper weight to the +consequences resulting therefrom), notwithstanding order on order and +some exemplary punishments, had been incorrigibly guilty of every +excess. It had not only seized with violence all that its wants +demanded, but destroyed in mere wantonness what did not tempt its +cupidity. No vandal ferocity was ever more destructive. Those crimes, +however, were not committed with impunity. Want, sickness, and an +enraged peasantry, inflicted terrible reprisals, and caused daily a +fearful reduction of numbers.” + +But this description of the Englishman will apply to every army in +which there are such difficulties in obtaining the necessary supplies +as they existed here on the forced marches. + +Further, he does not speak of the severe punishments meted out to the +culprits. By order of Napoleon entire squads of marauders were shot. +Von Roos, chief physician of a Wuerttembergian regiment, has seen that +before their execution they had to dig their own graves. + +In Wilna already Davout ordered the execution of 70, and in Minsk of 13 +marauders. + +A Westphalian officer, von Lossberg, commander of a battalion, wrote in +his letters to his wife—which are of great value to the history of the +campaign—from Toloschin on July 25: “On our march we met a detachment +of Davout’s corps; they shot before our eyes a commissary of the army +who had been condemned to death for fraud. He had sold for 200 dollars +provisions which had been intended for the soldiers.” + +Napoleon had stayed several days at Thorn, inspecting the departing +troops, visiting the magazines, bestowing a last glance upon +everything. Before the guards left their cantonments he wanted to see +the different corps and hold a great review. He loved to see again the +manly figures of the soldiers, their chests of iron, these braves who +stood before him, immovable in parade, irresistible in fight. Their +bearing and their expression gave him pleasure. Notwithstanding the +fatigues and the privations of the march, enthusiasm shone on all the +faces, in the brightening of all the eyes. He wanted to give with his +own mouth the order “forward march” to the regiments of the guard, and +he saw the endless defile of these proud uniforms, heard the +uninterrupted beating of the drums, the sound of the trumpets, the +acclamation “Vive l’Empereur” of the beautiful troops, the departure of +the officers, every one of whom had orders to set in motion or to halt +human masses. All this great movement around him, by his will, at his +word, animated and excited him. Now, the lot having irrevocably been +cast, he surrenders himself completely to his instincts as warrior, he +feels himself only soldier, the greatest and most ardent who has +existed, he dreams of nothing but victories and conquests. At night, +after having given orders all day long, he slept only at intervals, +passing part of the night walking up and down. One night those on duty, +who slept near his room, were surprised hearing him sing with plain +voice a popular song of the soldiers of the republic. + +On June 6th., Napoleon left Thorn while all the army was marching. At +Danzig he saw Murat, whom he had called directly from Naples. He did +not wish him near except for the fight where he would be an ornament in +battle and set a magnificent example. Otherwise he considered his +presence useless and hurtful. He had taken special pains to keep him +away from Dresden, from the assembly of sovereigns, from contact with +dynasties of the _ancien régime_, especially of the house of Austria, +because of his being a king of recent origin. He feared the +indiscretion of the newly made kings when brought together with the +sovereigns by the grace of God. He did not wish that any intimacy +should develop between them. + +The meeting of the two brothers-in-law was at first cold and painful. +Each had a grievance against the other and did not restrain himself at +all to pronounce it. Murat complained, as he had done before, that he, +as King of Naples, was an instrument of domination and tyranny, and +added that he could find a way to extricate himself from such an +intolerable exigency. Napoleon reproached Murat of his more and more +marked inclination to disobey, of his digression in language and +conduct, and of his suspicious actions. He looked at him with a severe +mien, spoke harsh words, and treated him altogether with severity. But +then, suddenly changing his tone, he spoke to him in a language of +friendship, of wounded and misunderstood friendship, became emotional, +complained of ingratitude, and recalled the memory of their long +affection, their military comradery. The king who was easily moved, was +thinking of all the generosity he had enjoyed, and could not resist the +appeal, he became emotional in his turn, almost shed tears, forgot all +grief for a while, and was conquered. + +And in the evening before his intimates the emperor lauded himself for +having played excellent comedy to regain Murat, that he had by turns +and very successfully enacted anger and sentimentality with this +Italian _pantaleone_, but, added he, Murat has a good heart. + +Ahead of the emperor, between Danzig and Koenigsberg, traversing East +Prussia and some districts of Poland, marched the army—under what +difficulties has been described. At the same time, through the Baltic +and the Frische Haff, came the more ponderous war material, the +pontoons and the heaviest artillery, the siege guns. To complete the +supply of provisions before entering upon the campaign the troops +exhausted the land by making extensive requisitions. The emperor had +wished that all should go on regularly and that everything taken from +the inhabitants should be paid for, but this the soldiers did not +consider. They took and emptied the granaries, tore down the straw from +the roofs of the peasants’ houses, barns, and stables to make litter +for their horses, and treated the inhabitants not as friends, but as if +they were people of a conquered land. The cavalry which passed first +helped themselves for their horses to all the hay and all the grass, +the artillery and the train were obliged to take from the fields the +green barley and oats, and the army altogether ruined the population +where it passed. The men obliged to disperse during a part of the day +as foragers, got into the habit of disbanding and of looseness of +discipline, and the impossibility manifested itself to keep in order +and in ranks the multitude of different races, different in languages, +who with their many vehicles represented a regular migration. + +Everything became monotonous—the country, the absence of an enemy. They +found Prussia and especially Poland, ugly, dirty, miserable, all the +houses were full of dirt and vermin, domestic animals of all kinds were +the intimate syntrophoi of the peasants in their living rooms. The +soldiers bore badly the inconvenience of the lodging, the coolness of +the night following the burning heat of the day, the fogs in the +mornings. But they consoled themselves with illusions, painting the +future in rosy colors, hoping to find across the Niemen a better soil, +a different people, more favorable to the soldier, and longed for +Russia as for the promised land. + +The Grand Army had arrived at the Niemen. It was on June 24th., the sun +rose radiant and lightened with his fire a magnificent scene. To the +troops was read a short and energetic proclamation. Napoleon came out +of his tent, surrounded by his officers, and contemplated with his +field glass the sight of this prodigious force; hundreds of thousands +of soldiers united in one place! One could not find anything comparable +to the enthusiasm which the presence of Napoleon inspired on that day. +The right bank of the river was covered with these magnificent troops; +they descended from the heights and spread out in long files over the +three bridges, resembling three currents; the rays of the sun glittered +on the bayonets and helmets, and the cry _Vive l’Empereur_! was heard +incessantly. + +If I were to give a full description to do justice to the magnificent +spectacle I would have to quote from the journals of that epoch, and if +I were a painter I could not find a greater subject for my art. + + + + +ON TO MOSCOW + + +Arrived in Russia the French were soon disappointed; gloomy forests and +sterile soil met the eye, all was sad and silent. After the army had +passed the Niemen and entered into Poland the misery, instead of +diminishing, increased, the hour had struck for these unfortunates. The +enemy destroyed everything on retreating, the cattle were taken to +distant provinces; the French saw the destruction of the fields, the +villages were deserted, the peasants fled upon the appearance of the +French army, all inhabitants had left except the Jews. When the army +came to Lithuania everything seemed to be in league against the French. +It was a rainy season, the soldiers marched through vast and gloomy +forests, and all was melancholy. One could have imagined himself to be +in a desert if it had not been for the vehicles, the cursing of the +drivers, discontented on account of hunger and fatigue, the +imprecations of the soldiers on every occasion; bad humor, due to +privations, prevailed everywhere. It would seem as if the furies of +hell were marching at the heels of the army. The roads were in a +terrible condition, almost unpassable on account of the rain which had +been continuous since the crossing of the Niemen; the artillery wagons +especially gave great trouble in passing marshes, and, on account of +the extreme exhaustion of the horses, a great many of these vehicles +had to be abandoned. The horses receiving no nourishment but green +herbs could resist even less than the men and they fell by the hundred. + +The improper feeding of the animals caused gastric disturbances, +alternately diarrhoea and constipation, enormous tympanitis, +peritonitis. It is touching to read of the devotion of German +cavalrymen to their poor horses. They would introduce the whole arm +into the bowel to relieve the suffering creatures of the accumulated +fecal masses. + +As the army advanced over these roads the extreme want of provisions +was bitterly felt. The warriors already reduced to such an excess of +misery were exposed to rain without being able to dry themselves; to +nourish themselves they were forced to resort to the most horrible +marauding, and sometimes they had nothing to eat for twenty-four hours +or even longer. They ran through the land in all directions, +disregarding all dangers, sometimes many miles away from the route, to +find provisions. Wherever they came they went through the houses from +the foundation to the roof, and when they found animals they took them +away; no attention was paid to the feeling of the poor peasants and +nothing was considered as being too harsh for them; in most instances +the latter had run away for fear of maltreatment. Nothing is so +afflicting as to see the rapacity of pillaging soldiers, stealing and +destroying everything coming under their hands. They took to excess +vodka found in the magazines which the enemy had not destroyed, or in +the castles off the main route. In consequence of this abuse of alcohol +while in their feeble condition many perished. The enemy retreated +behind the Dwina and fortified himself in camp. It was thought that he +would give battle, and all enjoyed this prospect. + +On July 20, at a time when the conditions of the army were already +terrible, the heat became excessive. The rains ceased; there were no +rainy days, except an occasional storm, until September 17. The poor +infantrymen were to be pitied; they had to carry their arms, their +effects, their cartridges, harassed by continuous fatigue, overpowered +by hunger and a thousand sorrows, and were obliged to march 10, 12, 15, +and sometimes even 16 and 17 miles a day over dusty roads under a +burning sun, all the time tormented by a cruel thirst. But all this has +been fully described in an earlier chapter. + +On July 23 the Prince of Eckmuehl (Davout) had a very hot engagement +with the Russian army corps under Prince _Bagratian_ before Mohilew; on +July 25, a bloody battle was fought near Ostrowno. The houses and other +buildings of Ostrowno were filled with wounded, the battlefield covered +with corpses of men and horses, and the hot weather caused quick +putrefaction. Kerckhove visited the battlefield on June 28 and says: “I +have no words to describe the horror of seeing the unburied cadavers, +infesting the air, and among the dead many helpless wounded without a +drop of water, exposed to the hot sun, crying in rage and despair.” + +Napoleon made preparations to attack on July 28, but the enemy had +retreated. At Witepsk, hospitals were established for the wounded from +Ostrowno, among them 800 Russians. However, the designation “hospital” +is hardly applicable, for everything was wanting; the patients in +infected air, crowded, and surrounded by uncleanliness, without food or +medicines. These hospitals were in reality death-houses. The physicians +did what they could. On August 18, the French army entered Smolensk +which had been destroyed by projectiles and by fire; ruins filled with +the dead and dying; and in the midst of this desolation the +terror-stricken inhabitants running everywhere, looking for members of +their families—many of whom had been killed by bullets or by flames—or +sitting before their still smoking homes, tearing their hair, a picture +of distress truly heartrending. The soldiers who were the first to +enter Smolensk found flour, brandy and wine, but these things were +devoured in an instant. There were 10 thousand wounded in the so-called +hospitals, and among these unfortunates typhus and hospital gangraene +developed rapidly; the sick lying on the floor without even straw. + +Holzhausen gives the following description: + +After Smolensk had been evacuated by the Russians, most houses had been +burnt out; the retreating Russians had destroyed everything that could +be of any use. Corpses everywhere. Nobody had time to remove them, and +the cannons, the freight wagons, the horses, and the infantry passed +over them. On August 17th and 18th, was the battle of Polotsk in which +the Bavarians distinguished themselves. There were no medicines for the +wounded, not even drinking water, no bread, no salt. Of the many +unhealthy places in Russia this is the worst, it swarms with insects. +Nostalgia was prevailing. They had a so-called dying chamber in the +hospital for which the soldiers were longing, to rest there on straw, +never to rise again. + +Awaiting their last the pious Bavarians repeated aloud their rosary, +took refuge with the Jesuits, who had a convent at Polotsk, to receive +the consolation of their religion. + +Some thought Napoleon would rest here to establish the Polish kingdom. +But this reasonable idea, if he had ever entertained it, he discarded. +By giving his troops winter quarters, establishing magazines and +hospitals he would have succeeded in subduing Russia by reinforcing his +army; instead of all this he went on to Moscow without provisions, +without magazines. + +On August 30, the army reached Wiasma, a city of 8 thousand or 9 +thousand inhabitants which had been set on fire upon the approach of +the French. All the inhabitants had left. The soldiers fought the +flames and saved some houses into which they brought those of their +wounded and sick who could not drag themselves any farther. Cases of +typhus were numerous. From Wiasma the army marched to Ghiat, a city of +6 thousand or 7 thousand inhabitants; at this place Napoleon gave a two +days’ rest in order that the army could rally, clean their arms and +prepare for battle (the battle of Borodino on September 7. This battle +is known under three names: the Russians have called it after the +village of Borodino, of 200 inhabitants, near the battlefield and have +now erected a monument there, a collonade crowned with a cross; some +historians have called it the battle of Moshaisk, after a nearby town +of 4 thousand inhabitants, and Napoleon has named it the battle of the +Moskwa, after a river near the battlefield.) Napoleon had only 120 +thousand to 130 thousand under arms, about as many as the Russians. It +was 6:30 a.m., a beautiful sunrise. Napoleon called it the sun of +Austerlitz. The Russian generals made their soldiers say their prayers. +A French cannon gave the signal to attack, and at once the French +batteries opened the battle with a discharge of more than 100 cannon. +Writing this medical history of the Russian campaign I feel tempted to +give a description of this most frightful, most cruel of all battles in +the history of the world in which about 1,200 cannon without +interruption dealt destruction and death; fracas and tumult of arms of +all kinds, the harangue, the shouts of the commanders, the cries of +rage, the lamentations of the wounded, all blended into one terrible +din. Both armies charged with all the force that terror could develop. +French and Russian soldiers not only fought like furious lions rivaling +each other in ardor and courage, but they fought with wild joy, devoid +of all human feeling, like maniacs; they threw themselves on the enemy +where he was most numerous, in a manner which manifested the highest +degree of despair. The French had to gain the victory or succumb to +misery; victory or death was their only thought. The Russians felt +themselves humiliated by the approach of the French to their capital, +and unshaken as a rock they resisted, defending themselves with grim +determination. The battle, Napoleon promised, would be followed by +peace and good winter quarters, but he was not as good a prophet as he +was a good general. + +During the day the Westphalian corps was reduced to 1500 men. Napoleon +ordered these to do guard-duty on the battlefield, transport the +immense number of wounded to the hospitals, bury the dead and to remain +while the army marched and stayed at Moscow. What the Westphalians +could do for the wounded was very little, for everything was wanting. +The hospital system was incomplete, miserable. It is true, the surgeons +dressed, operated, amputated, during the battle and during the days +following, a great many wounded, but their number and their assistance +was inadequate for the enormous task; thousands remained without proper +attendance and died. + +About one thousand Wuerttembergians were wounded in the battle of +Borodino, and on many of these surgical operations had to be performed. +Strange to say, the greatest operations on enfeebled wounded were more +successful, a great many more were saved, than was generally the case +under more favorable circumstances. Thus Surgeon General von Kohlreuter +observed that in the Russian campaign amputation of an arm, for +instance, gave much better chances, more recoveries, than in the Saxon +and French campaigns, during which latter the soldiers were still +robust, well nourished and well, even in abundance, supplied with +everything. + +Means of transportation were lacking, for no wagons could be found in +the deserted villages, and for this reason many whose wounds had been +dressed had to be left to their fate—to die. Those but slightly wounded +and those even who could crawl in some manner followed the troops, or +went back at random to find their death in some miserable hut. Many +sought refuge in nearby villages, sometimes miles away from the +battle-field, there to fall into the hands of the Cossacks. + +The Westphalians remained on the battle-field surrounded by corpses and +dying men, and they were forced to change position from time to time on +account of the stench. The scenes of suffering and distress which the +battle-field presented everywhere surpassed all description; the groans +of the mutilated and dying followed the men on guard even at a +distance, and especially was this terrible during the night; it filled +the heart with horror, von Borcke said that soldiers, at the request of +some of the wounded in extreme agony, shot them dead and turned the +face away while shooting. And soon they considered this an act of pity. +The officers even induced them to look for those who could not be +saved, in order to relieve them from their suffering. When von Borcke +was riding on horseback over the battle-field on the 5th. day after the +battle he saw wounded soldiers lying alongside the cadaver of a horse, +gnawing at its flesh. During the night flames could be seen here and +there on this field of death; these were fires built by wounded +soldiers who had crawled together to protect themselves from the cold +of the night and to roast a piece of horseflesh. On September 12th. the +Westphalians moved to Moshaisk, which was deserted by all inhabitants, +plundered, and half in ashes. While the battle raged several thousand +wounded Russians had taken refuge there, who now, some alive and some +dead, filled all the houses of the town. Burnt bodies were lying in the +ruins of the houses which had been burnt, the entrance of these places +being almost blockaded by cadavers. The only church, which stood on the +public square in the middle of the town, contained several hundred +wounded and as many corpses of men dead for a number of days. One +glance into this infected church, a regular pest-house, made the blood +curdle. Surgeons went inside and had the dead piled up on the square +around the church; those still alive and suffering received the first +aid, order was established and gradually a hospital arranged. Soldiers, +Westphalians as well as Russian prisoners, were ordered to remove the +corpses from the houses and the streets, and then a recleansing of the +whole town was necessary before it could be occupied by the troops. +Although there was only one stone building—and a hundred wooden ones—it +gave quarters to the whole Westphalian corps. Two regiments, one of +Hussars, the other of the light Horse Guards, both together numbering +not more than 300 men, had taken possession of a monastery in the +neighborhood. Two regiments of cuirassiers had marched with the French +to Moscow. + +In the quarters of Moshaisk the Westphalians enjoyed a time of rest, +while the events in Moscow took place. The fate of those who had +remained in Moshaisk was not enviable, but what had been left of the +town offered at least shelter during the cold nights of the approaching +winter. This was a good deal after the fearful hardships, and it +contributed much toward the recuperation of the soldiers. Convalescents +arrived daily, also such as had remained in the rear; a number of the +slightly wounded were able for duty again, and in this manner the +number of men increased to 4,500. Life in Moshaisk was a constant +struggle for sustenance. There were no inhabitants, not even a single +dog or any other living animal which the inhabitants had left behind. +Some provisions found in houses or hidden somewhere benefitted only +those who had discovered them. The place upon the whole was a desert +for the hungry. Small detachments had to be sent out for supplies. At +first this system proved satisfactory, and with what had been brought +in from the vicinity regular rations could be distributed. But the +instinct of self-preservation had become so predominating that every +one thought only of himself. Officers would send men clandestinely for +their own sake, and when this was discovered it ended in a fight and +murder. Everyone was anxious to provide for himself individually, to be +prepared for the coming winter. Sutlers and speculators went to Moscow +to take advantage of the general pillage, to procure luxuries, like +coffee, sugar, tea, wine, delicacies of all description. +Notwithstanding the great conflagration at Moscow immense stores of all +these things had come into the hands of the French, and this had an +influence on Moshaisk, forty miles away from the metropolis, von Borke +was fortunate enough to secure a supply of coffee, tea, and sugar, +sufficient not only for himself, but also for some friends, and lasting +even for some weeks on the retreat. But the supply of meat, and +especially bread, was inadequate for the mass of soldiers. Ten days had +elapsed when the situation of those in Moshaisk became grave again, +namely, when communication with Moscow was cut off. Orderlies did not +arrive, no more convalescents came, news could not be had, details of +soldiers sent out for supplies were killed or taken prisoner by +Cossacks. The retreat of the French army, the last act of the great +drama, commenced. + +While the Westphalians guarded the battle-field the army marched to +Moscow, exhausted, starving, finding new sufferings every day. On the +road from Moshaisk to Moscow they encountered frightful conditions in +the villages which were filled with wounded Russians. These +unfortunates, abandoned to cruel privations, dying as much from +starvation as from their wounds, excited pity. The water even was +scarce, and when a source was discovered it was generally polluted, +soiled with all sorts of filth, infected by cadavers; but all this did +not prevent the soldiers from drinking it with great avidity, and they +fought among themselves to approach it. All these details have to be +known before studying typhus in the grand army. + + * * * * * + +The description of diseases given by the physicians who lived a century +ago is for us unsatisfactory; we cannot understand what they meant by +their vague designating of hepatitis, fibrous enteritis, diarrhoea and +dysentery, peripneumonia, remittent and intermittent gastric fever, +protracted nervous fever, typhus and synochus; there is no distinction +made in any of the writings of that period between abdominal and +exanthematic typhus. + +However, before long physicians will discard much from our present +medical onomatology that is ridiculous, absurd, incorrect, in short, +unscientific, as, for instance, the designation typhoid fever. + +Ebstein has pointed out all that is obscure to us in the reports of the +physicians of the Russian campaign; for instance, that we cannot +distinguish what is meant by the different forms of fever. According to +the views of those times fever was itself a disease _per se_; when +reaction was predominating it was called synocha, typhus when weakness +was the feature, and in case of a combination of synocha and typhus it +was called synochus, a form in which there was at first an inflammatory +and later on a typhoid stage, but which form could not be distinguished +exactly from typhus. From all the descriptions in the reports of the +Russian campaign it can be deduced that many of the cases enumerated +were of exanthematic typhus, notwithstanding that the symptomatology +given is very incomplete, not to speak of the pathological anatomy. The +only writer who has described necropsies is von Scherer. Some of the +physicians speak only of the sick and the diseases, as Bourgeois, who +says that on the march to Russia during the sultry weather the many +cadavers of horses putrefied rapidly, filling the air with miasms, and +that this caused much disease; further, in describing the retreat he +only says that the army was daily reduced in consequence of the +constant fighting, the privations and diseases, without enumerating +which diseases were prevailing; only in a note attached to his booklet +he mentions that the most frequent of the ravaging diseases of that +time and during the Russian campaign in general was typhus, and there +can be no doubt it was petechial or exanthematic typhus, for which the +English literature has the vague name typhus fever. + +Very interesting are the historical data given by Ebstein: “As is well +known, the fourth and most severe typhus period of the eighteenth +century began with the wars of the French revolution and ended only +during the second decade of the nineteenth century with the downfall of +the Napoleonic empire and the restoration of peace in Germany.” During +the Russian campaign the conditions for spreading the disease were +certainly the most favorable imaginable. + +Krantz, whom I shall quote later on, has described the ophthalmy +prevailing in York’s corps as being of a mild character. + +Quite different forms reigned among the soldiers on their retreat from +Moscow. + +The description of the death from frost given by von Scherer is similar +to that given by Bourgeois. The men staggered as if drunk, their faces +were red and swollen, it looked as if all their blood had risen into +their head. Powerless they dropped, as if paralyzed, the arms were +hanging down, the musket fell out of their hands. The moment they lost +their strength tears came to their eyes, repeatedly they arose, +apparently deprived of their senses, and stared shy and terror-stricken +at their surroundings. The physiognomy, the spasmodic contractions of +the muscles of the face, manifested the cruel agony which they +suffered. The eyes were very red, and drops of blood trickled from the +conjunctiva. Without exaggeration it could be said of these +unfortunates that they shed bloody tears. These severe forms of +ophthalmy caused by extreme cold would have ended in gangraene of the +affected parts if death had not relieved the misery of these +unfortunates. + +But Bourgeois describes another very severe form of ophthalmy among the +soldiers which caused total blindness. It appeared when the army on its +retreat was in the vicinity of Orscha, attacked many soldiers and +resembled the ophthalmy which was prevailing in Egypt; there it was +caused by the heated sand reflecting powerfully the rays of the sun; +here, by the glaring white snow likewise reflecting the rays of the +sun. Bourgeois considers as predisposing moments the smoke of the +camp-fires, the want of sleep, the marching during the night, and +describes the affection as follows: The conjunctiva became dark red, +swelled together with the eyelids; there was a greatly exaggerated +lachrymal secretion associated with severe pain; the eyes were +constantly wet, the photophobia reached such a degree that the men +became totally blind, suffered most excruciating pain and fell on the +road. + +Ebstein availed himself of the publications of J. L. R. de Kerckhove, +Réné Bourgeois, J. Lemazurier, and Joh. von Scherer, and the manuscript +of Harnier from which writings he collected all that refers to the +diseases of the grand army. It may not be out of place to quote the +interesting writings of de Kerckhove concerning the army physicians and +Napoleon and his soldiers: + +De Kerckhove left Mayence on March 6th., 1812, attached to the +headquarters of the 3rd. corps, commanded by Ney; at Thorn he joined +those braves with whom he entered Moscow on September 14th. and with +whom he left on October 19th. When he returned to Berlin in the +beginning of February, 1813, the 3rd. corps was discharged. He writes: +The army was not only the most beautiful, but there was none which +included so many brave warriors, more heroes. How many parents have +cried over the loss of their children tenderly raised by them, how many +sons, the only hope and support of their father and mother, have +perished, how many bonds of friendship have been severed, how many +couples have been separated forever, how many unfortunate ones drawn +into misery? An army extinguished by hunger and cold! + +Giving credit to the physicians and surgeons who took part in that +unfortunate expedition he says: With what noble zeal they tried to do +their duties. The horror of the privations, the severity of the climate +and fatigues and the want of eatables and medicines which characterized +the hospitals and ambulances in Russia, have not discouraged the +physicians so far as to become indifferent to the terrible fate +reserved for the sick. On the contrary, far from allowing themselves to +relax, they have doubled their activity to ameliorate sufferings. We +have seen physicians in the midst of the carnage and the terror of the +battles extend their care and bring consolation; we have seen them +sacrificing day and night in hospital service, succumbing to murderous +epidemics; in one word, despising all danger when it was a question of +relieving the sufferings of the warriors, immaterial whether Russian or +French. We can speak of many sick or wounded left in ambulances or +hospitals in want of food and medicines, many of such unfortunates +deprived of everything, dragging themselves under the ruins of cities +or villages, who found help from honest physicians. + + + + +THE GRAND ARMY IN MOSCOW + + +Three fifths of the houses and one half of the churches were destroyed. +The citizens had burned their capital. Before this catastrophe of 1812 +Moscow was an aristocratic city. According to old usage, the Russian +nobility spent the winter there, they came from their country seats +with hundreds of slaves and servants and many horses; their palaces in +the city were surrounded by parks and lakes, and many buildings were +erected on the grounds, as lodgings for the servants and slaves, +stables, magazines. The number of servants was great, many of them +serving for no other purpose than to increase the number, and this +calling was part of the luxury of the noblemen. The house of the +seigneur was sometimes of brick, rarely of stone, generally of wood, +all were covered with copper plates or with iron, painted red or green. +The magazines were mostly stone buildings, on account of the danger of +fire. At that time the Russian nobility had not yet accustomed itself +to consider St. Petersburg the capital, they were obstinate in the +determination to come every winter to hold court in the mother of +Russian cities. The conflagration of 1812 broke this tradition. The +nobility, not willing or not being able to rebuild their houses, rented +the ground to citizens, and industry, prodigiously developing since +then, has taken possession of Moscow. This is how the city has lost its +floating population of noblemen and serfs, which amounted to 100 +thousand souls, and how the aristocratic city has become an industrial +one. It is a new city, but the fire of 1812, from the ashes of which it +has risen, has left impressions on the monuments. Step by step in the +Kremlin and in the city proper are found souvenirs of the patriotic +war. You enter the Kremlin which Napoleon tried to explode, and which +has been restored, you visit there the church of the Annunciation, and +you will be told that the French soldiers had stabled their horses on +the pavement of agate; you visit the church of the Assumption and you +will be shown the treasures which, on the approach of the French, had +been taken to places of safety; you raise your eye to the summit of the +tower of Ivan and you learn that the cross had been removed by the +invaders and found in the baggage of the Grand Army. The door of St. +Nicholas has an inscription recalling the miracle by which this door +was saved in 1812. The tower surmounting it was split by an explosion +from above downward, but the fissure ended at the very point where the +icon is found; the explosion of 500 pounds of powder did not break even +the glass which covers the image or the crystal of the lamp which burns +before it. Along the walls of the arsenal are the cannon taken from the +enemy, and in the arsenal are other trophies, including the camp-bed of +Napoleon. + +Russian accounts from eye-witnesses of the conflagration are few—in +fact, there exists none in writing. People who witnessed the +catastrophe could not write. What we possess are collections from +verbal accounts given by servants, serfs, who had told the events to +their masters. Nobody of distinction had remained in Moscow, none of +the nobility, the clergy, the merchants. The persons from whom the +following accounts are given were the nun Antonine, a former slave of +the Syraxine family, the little peddler Andreas Alexieef, a woman, +Alexandra Alexievna Nazarot, an old slave of the family Soimonof by the +name of Basilli Ermolaevitch, the wife of a pope, Maria Stepanova, the +wife of another pope, Helene Alexievna. A Russian lady has collected +what she had learned from these humble people, the eye-witnesses of the +catastrophe, and published it, pseudonym, in some Russian journal. All +these people had minutely narrated their experiences to her at great +length, not omitting any detail which concerned themselves or +circumstances which caused their surprise, and they all gave the dates, +the hours which they had tenaciously kept in their memory for sixty +years, for it was in the year 1872 when the Russian lady interrogated +them. Some had retained from those days of terror such vivid +impressions that a conflagration or the sight of a soldier’s casque +would cause them palpitation of the heart. There is much repetition in +their narrations, for all had seen the same: the invasion, the enemy, +the fire kindled by their own people, the misery, the dearth, the +pillage. There exist documents of the events in Moscow of 1812, the +souvenirs of Count de Toll, the apology of Rostopchine, which we shall +come to in another chapter, the recitals of Domerque, of Wolzogen, of +Ségur, but these reminiscences of people in Moscow are the only ones +from persons who actually suffered by the catastrophe, and they are in +their way as valuable as the writings of our two writers, von Scherer +and von Borcke. These plain people know nothing of the days of Erfurt, +nothing of the continental blocus, nothing of the withdrawal of +Alexander from the French Alliance; the bearers of the toulloupes +(sheepskin furs) in the streets of Moscow of the beginning of 1812 knew +nothing of the confederation of the Rhine; all they knew of Bonaparte +was that he had often beaten the Germans, and that on his account they +had to pay more for sugar and coffee. To them the great comet of 1811 +was the first announcement of coming great events. Let us see the +reflections which the comet inspired in the abbess of the Devitchi +convent and the nun Antonine, and this will give us an idea of the +mental condition of the latter, one of the narrators. “One evening,” +she relates, “we were at service in St. John’s church, when all of a +sudden I noticed on the horizon a gerbe of resplendent flames. I cried +out and dropped my lantern. Mother abbess came to me to learn what had +caused my fright, and when she also had seen the meteor she +contemplated a long time. I asked, Matouchka, what star is this? She +answered this is no star, this is a comet. I asked again what is a +comet? I never had heard that word. The mother then explained to me +that this was a sign from heaven which God had sent to foretell great +misfortune. Every evening this comet was seen, and we asked ourselves +what calamity this one might bring us. In the cells of the convent, in +the shops of the city, the news, traveling as the crow flies, was heard +that Bonaparte was leading against Russia an immense army, the like of +which the world had never seen. Only the veterans of the battles of +Austerlitz, Eylau, and Friedland could give some information, some +details of the character of the invader. The direction which Napoleon +took on his march left no doubt to any one that he would appear in +Moscow. In order to raise the courage which was sinking they had the +miraculous image of the Virgin conductrice brought from Smolensk, which +place was to be visited by the French. This icon was exposed in the +cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel, for veneration by the people. +The abbess of our convent, who was from Smolensk, had a special +devotion for this image, she went with all the nuns to salute the +Protatrix. At St. Michael the Archangel there was a great crowd so that +one hardly could stand, especially were there many women, all crying. +When we, the nuns, began to push, to get near the image, one after the +other in a line endlessly long, they looked upon us with impatience. +One woman said: ‘These soutanes should make room for us, it is not +their husbands, it is our husbands’, our sons’ heads, which will be +exposed to the guns.’” + +Rostopchine tried his best to keep the population at peace by his +original proclamations, which were pasted on all the walls and +distributed broadcast. After Borodino he urged the people to take up +arms, and he promised to be at the head of the men to fight a supreme +battle on the Three Mountains. Meanwhile he worked to save the +treasures of the church, the archives, the collections of precious +objects in the government palaces. From the arsenal he armed the +people. A tribune was erected from which the metropolitan addressed the +multitude and made them kneel down to receive his blessing. Rostopchine +stood behind the metropolitan and came forward after the priest had +finished his ellocution, saying that he had come to announce a great +favor of his majesty. As a proof that they should not be delivered +unarmed to the enemy, his majesty permitted them to pillage the +arsenal, and the people shouted: “Thanks, may God give to the Tzar many +years to live!” This was a very wise idea of Rostopchine to have the +arsenal emptied, a feat which he could not have accomplished in time in +any other way. The pillage lasted several days and went on in good +order. + + * * * * * + +The French had entered Moscow. The first word of Napoleon to Mortier, +whom he had named governor of Moscow, was “no pillage!” But this point +of honor had to be abandoned. The 100 thousand men who had entered were +troops of the élite, but they came starving at the end of their +adventurous expedition. During the first days they walked the streets +in search of a piece of bread and a little wine. But little had been +left in the cellars of the abandoned houses and in the basements of the +little shops, and with the conflagration there was almost nothing to be +found. The Grand Army was starving as much almost as on the march. Dogs +which had returned in considerable numbers to lament on the ruins of +the houses of their masters were looked upon as precious venison. The +uniforms were already in rags, and the Russian climate made itself +felt. These poor soldiers, poorly clad, dying from starvation, were +begging for a piece of bread, for linen or sheepskin, and, above all, +for shoes. There was no arrangement for the distribution of rations; +they had to take from wherever they could, or perish. + +Napoleon established himself in the Kremlin, the generals in the +mansions of the noblemen, the soldiers in the taverns or private houses +until the fire dislodged them. Napoleon, with a part of his staff, was +obliged to seek refuge in the park Petrovski, the commanders took +quarters wherever they could, the soldiers dispersed themselves among +the ruins. Supervision had become an impossibility. The men, left to +themselves, naturally lost all discipline under these circumstances of +deception and under so many provocations among a hostile population. +Notwithstanding all these conditions, they behaved well in general and +to a great extent showed self-control and humanity toward the +conquered. The example of pillage had been set by the Russians +themselves. Koutouzof had commanded the destruction of the mansions. +The slaves burned the palaces of their masters. + +All eye-witnesses speak of the extreme destitution of the soldiers in +regard to clothing after one month’s stay in Moscow. Already at this +time, even before the most terrible and final trials of the retreat +which awaited them, one had to consider them lost. When they first took +to woman’s clothes or shoes or hats it was considered an amusement, a +joke, but very soon a mantilla, a soutane, a veil became a precious +object and nobody laughed at it when frozen members were wrapped in +these garments. The greatest calamity was the want of shoes. Some +soldiers followed women simply for the purpose of taking their shoes +from them. A special chapter of horrors could be written on the +sufferings of the soldiers on the retreat over ice and snow fields on +account of the miserable supply of shoes. + +At first Napoleon reviewed the regiments near the ponds of the Kremlin, +and at the first reviews the troops marched proudly, briskly, with firm +step, but soon they began to fail with astonishing rapidity. They +answered the roll of the drums calling them together, clad in dirty +rags and with torn shoes, in fast diminishing numbers. During the last +weeks of their stay in Moscow many had reached the last stage of +misery, after having wandered through the streets looking for a little +bit of nourishment, dressed up as for a carnival, but without desire to +dance, as one remarked in grim humor. + +These were the men whose destination had brought them many hundreds of +miles from home to the semi-Asiatic capital of the Ivans, who had been +drinking in the glory and the joy of warriors, and who now died from +hunger and cold, with their laurels still intact. Thanks to the +authorized military requisitions and the excesses of the stragglers of +the Grand Army, a desert had been made of the city before Napoleon had +begun his retreat. No more cattle, no provisions, and the inhabitants +gone, camping with wife and children in the deepest parts of the +forests. Those who had remained or returned to the villages, organized +against marauders whom they received with pitchforks or rifles, and +these peasants gave no quarter. + +“The enemy appeared nearly every day in our village (Bogorodsic),” says +Maria Stepanova, the wife of a pope, “and as soon as they were +perceived all men took up arms; our cossacks charged them with their +long sabers or shot them with their pistols, and behind the cossacks +were running the peasants, some with axes, some with pitchforks. After +every excursion they brought ten or more prisoners which they drowned +in the Protka which runs near the village, or they fusilladed them on +the prairie. The unfortunates passed our windows, my mother and I did +not know where to hide ourselves in order not to hear their cries and +the report of the firearms. My poor husband, Ivan Demitovitch, became +quite pale, the fever took him, his teeth chattered, he was so +compassionate! One day the cossacks brought some prisoners and locked +them up in a cart-house built of stone. They are too few, they said, it +is not worth while to take any trouble about them now; with the next +lot which we shall take we will shoot or drown them together. This +cart-house had a window with bars. Peasants came to look at the +prisoners and gave them bread and boiled eggs; they did not want to see +them starving while awaiting death. One day when I brought them +eatables I saw at the window a young soldier—so young! His forehead was +pressed against the bars, tears in his eyes, and tears running down his +cheeks. I myself began to cry, and even to-day my heart aches when I +think of him. I passed lepecheks through the bars and went away without +looking behind me. At that time came an order from the government that +no more prisoners should be killed but sent to Kalouga. How we were +contented!” + +Many savageries have been committed by the low class of Russians who +had remained in Moscow. This is not surprising because these were of +the most depraved of the population, including especially many +criminals who had been set free to pillage and burn the city. “A little +while before the French entered,” tells the serf Soimonof, “the order +had been given to empty all the vodka (whiskey) from the distilleries +of the crown into the street; the liquor was running in rivulets, and +the rabble drank until they were senselessly drunk, they had even +licked the stones and the wooden pavement. Shouting and fighting +naturally followed.” + +The really good people of Moscow had given proofs of high moral +qualities, worthy of admiration, under the sad circumstances. Poor +moujiks who had learned of the defeat of the Russians at Borodino said +their place was no longer in a city which was to be desecrated by the +presence of the enemy, and, leaving their huts to be burned down, their +miserable belongings to be pillaged, they went on the highways at the +mercy of God, disposed to march as long as their eyes could see before +them. Others, running before the flames, carried their aged and sick on +their shoulders, showing but one sentiment in their complete ruin, +namely, absolute resignation to the will of God. + +Some readers may say that the foregoing chapter does not give the +medical history of the campaign. To these I wish to reply that it is +impossible to understand the medical history without knowing the +general conditions of the Grand Army, which were the cause of the death +of hundreds of thousands of soldiers from cold and starvation. + + + + +ROSTOPCHINE + + +The conflagration of Moscow in 1812 and the fall of the French empire +are two facts which cannot be separated, but to the name of Moscow is +attached another name, that of Rostopchine. Count Fedor Wassiljavitch +Rostopchine is connected with one of the greatest events in universal +history. He caused a crisis which decided the fate of Russia and +arrested the march of ascending France by giving the death blow to +Napoleon. The latter, in admitting that Rostopchine was the author of +his ruin, meant him when he said, “one man less, and I would have been +master of the world.” + +Until the year 1876 there existed a mystery around this man and his +deed, a mystery which was deepened by Rostopchine himself when he +published in 1823 a pamphlet entitled “The Truth about the +Conflagration of Moscow,” which did not give the truth but was a +mystification. + +Alexander Popof, a Russian Counselor of State, who made a special study +of the history of the Russian campaign of Napoleon, has explored the +archives of St. Petersburg, and his researches, the result of which he +published in Russian in the year 1876, have brought to light all +diplomacy had concealed about the events which led to the destruction +of the Russian capital. + +What document, one might ask, could be more precious than the memoirs +of Rostopchine, the governor of Moscow in 1812? What good fortune for +the historian! In 1872 Count Anatole de Ségur, grandson of Rostopchine, +the author of a biography of the latter, wrote, concerning these +memoirs, that they were seized, together with all the papers of his +grand-father, by order of the Emperor Nicholas, immediately after +Rostopchine’s death in the year 1826, and were locked up in the +archives of the Imperial Chancellor where they would remain, perhaps +forever. Fortunately, one of the daughters of Count Rostopchine had +taken a copy of some passages of this precious manuscript. These +passages were published in 1864 by a son of Rostopchine, Count Alexis +R., in a book entitled “Materiaux en grande partie inédits, pour la +biographie future du Comte Rostopchine,” which is of a rare +bibliographic value, for only twelve copies were printed. These same +fragments, three in number, were reproduced by Count Anatole de Ségur +in the biography of his ancestor, of which we have spoken. Aside from +these extracts nothing was known of Rostopchine’s memoirs until Popof +had made his researches. To verify the memoirs Popof quotes long +passages which he compares carefully with other documents of that +epoch. This book on the whole is a continuous commentary upon the +memoirs of Rostopchine. + +Rostopchine, having been made governor of Moscow in March, 1812, wrote +to the Tzar: “Your empire has two strongholds, its immensity and its +climate. It has these 16,000,000 men who profess the same creed, speak +the same language, and whose chin has never been touched by a razor. +The long beards are the power of Russia, and the blood of your soldiers +will be a seed of heroes. If unfortunate circumstances should force you +to retreat before the invader, the Russian emperor will always be +terrible in Moscow, formidable in Kazan, invincible at Tobolsk.” This +letter was dated June 11/23, 1812. + +At that time Rostopchine was 47 years of age, in perfect health and had +developed a most extraordinary activity, something which was not known +of his predecessors; the governors of Moscow before his time had been +old and decrepit. He understood the character of the Russian people and +made himself popular at once, and adored, because he made himself +accessible to everybody. He himself describes how he went to work: “I +announced that every day from 11 to noon everybody had access to me, +and those who had something important to communicate would be received +at any hour during the day. On the day of my taking charge I had +prayers said and candles lighted before such miraculous pictures as +enjoyed the highest popular veneration. I studied to show an +extraordinary politeness to all who had dealings with me; I courted the +old women, the babblers and the pious, especially the latter. I +resorted to all means to make myself agreeable; I had the coffins +raised which served as signs to the undertakers and the inscriptions +pasted on the church doors. It took me two days to pull the wool over +their eyes (_pour jeter la poudre aux yeux_) and to persuade the +greater part of the inhabitants that I was indefatigable and that I was +everywhere. I succeeded in giving this idea by appearing on the same +morning at different places, far apart from each other, leaving traces +everywhere of my justice and severity; thus on the first day I had +arrested an officer of the military hospital whose duty it was to +oversee the distribution of the soup, but who had not been present when +it was time for dinner. I rendered justice to a peasant who had bought +30 pounds of salt but received only 25; I gave the order to imprison an +employee who had not done his duty; I went everywhere, spoke to +everyone and learned many things which afterward were useful to me. +After having tired to death two pairs of horses I came home at 8 +o’clock, changed my civilian costume for the military uniform and made +myself ready to commence my official work.” Thus Rostopchine took the +Moscovitians by their foibles, played the rôle of Haroun-al-Raschid, +played comedy; he even employed agents to carry the news of the town to +him, to canvass war news and to excite enthusiasm in the cafés and in +all kinds of resorts of the common people. + +When the emperor notified him one day of his coming visit to the +capital and transmitted a proclamation in which he announced to his +people the danger of the country, Rostopchine developed great activity. +“I went to work,” he writes in his memoirs, “was on my feet day and +night, held meetings, saw many people, had printed along with the +imperial proclamation a bulletin worded after my own fashion, and the +next morning the people of Moscow on rising learned of the coming of +the sovereign. The nobility felt flattered on account of the confidence +which the emperor placed in them, and became inspired with a noble +zeal, the merchants were ready to give money, only the common people +apparently remained indifferent, because they did not believe it +possible that the enemy could enter Moscow.” The longbeards repeated +incessantly: + +“Napoleon cannot conquer us, he would have to exterminate us all.” + +But the streets became crowded with people, the stores were closed, +every one went first to the churches to pray for the Tzar, and from +there to the gate of Dragomilof to salute the imperial procession upon +its arrival. The enthusiasm ran so high that the idea was conceived to +unhitch the horses from his coach and carry him in his carriage. This, +as Rostopchine tells us, was the intention not only of the common +people but of many distinguished ones also, even of such as wore +decorations. The emperor, to avoid such exaggerated manifestations, was +obliged to arrange for his entry during the night. On the next morning +when the Tzar, according to the old custom, showed himself to his +people on the red stairs, the hurrahs, the shouts of the multitude +drowned the sounds of the bells of the forty times forty churches which +were ringing in the city. At every step, thousands of hands tried to +touch the limbs of the sovereign or the flap of his uniform which they +kissed and wet with their tears. + +“I learned during the night,” writes Rostopchine, “and it was confirmed +in the morning, that there were some persons who had united to ask the +emperor how many troops we had, how many the enemy, and what were the +means of defense. This would have been a bold and, under the present +circumstances, a dangerous undertaking, although I hardly feared that +these people would venture to do so, because they were of those who are +brave in private and poltroons in public. + +“At any rate, I had said repeatedly and before everybody that I hoped +to offer the emperor the spectacle of an assembly of a faithful and +respectful nobility, and that I should be in despair if some malevolent +person should permit himself to create disorder and forget the presence +of the sovereign. I promised that any one who would do this might be +sure of being taken in hand and sent on a long journey before he would +have finished his harangue. + +“To give more weight to my words I had stationed, not far from the +palace, two telegues (two-wheeled carts) hitched up with mail horses +and two police officers in road uniform promenading before them. If +some curious person should ask them for whom these telegues were ready, +they had orders to answer, ‘for those who will be sent to Siberia.’ + +“These answers and the news of the telegues soon spread among the +assembly; the bawlers understood and behaved.” + +The nobility of Riazen had sent a deputation to the emperor to offer +him 60 thousand men, armed and equipped. Balachef, the minister of +police, received this deputation scornfully and ordered them to leave +Moscow at once. + +There were other offers which were not surprising at that period when +the mass of the people consisted of serfs, but which appear strange to +us. “Many of my acquaintances,” writes Kamarovski, “said that they +would give their musicians, others the actors of their theaters, others +their hunters, as it was easier to make soldiers of them than of their +peasants.” + +The Russian noblemen in their love for liberty sacrificed their slaves. +Rostopchine, together with many aristocrats, was not entirely at ease. +It was something anomalous to call to arms for the sake of liberty a +nation of serfs who vividly felt the injustice of their situation; +besides, it had been heard that some moujiks said, “Bonaparte comes to +bring us liberty, we do not want any more seigneurs.” + +The Russian people in their generality, however, did not justify the +fears of the aristocrats. Their religious fanaticism, nourished by the +priests, their passionate devotion to the Tzar, made them forget their +own, just complaints. + +In Moscow business was at a standstill, the ordinary course of things +was likewise suspended, the population lived in the streets, forming a +nervous crowd, subject to excitement and terror. The question was to +keep them in respectfulness. + +Here Rostopchine’s inborn talent as tribune and publicist, as comedian +and tragedian, showed itself to perfection. He gave a free rein to his +imagination in his placards, in which he affected the proverbial +language of the moujik, made himself a peasant, more than a peasant, in +his eccentric style, to excite patriotism. He published pamphlets +against the French, and the coarser his language the more effect it had +on the masses. + +“At this time,” he writes, “I understood the necessity of acting on the +mind of the people to arouse them so that they should prepare +themselves for all the sacrifices, for the sake of the country. Every +day I disseminated stories and caricatures, which represented the +French as dwarfs in rags, poorly armed, not heavier than a gerbe which +one could lift with a pitchfork.” + +For curiosity’s sake, as an example of his style of fiction by which he +fascinated the Russian peasantry may serve the translation of one of +the stories: “Korniouchka Tchikhirine, an inhabitant of Moscow, a +veteran, having been drinking a little more than usual, hears that +Bonaparte is coming to Moscow, he becomes angry, scolds in coarse terms +all Frenchmen, comes out of the liquor store and under the eagle with +the two heads (the sign that the place is the crown’s) he shouts: What, +he will come to us! But you are welcome! For Christmas or carnival you +are invited. The girls await you with knots in their handkerchiefs, +your head will swell. You will do well to dress as the devil; we shall +say a prayer, and you will disappear when the cock crows. Do better, +remain at home, play hide and seek or blind man’s buff. Enough of such +farces! don’t you see that your soldiers are cripples, dandies? They +have no touloupes, no mittens, no onoutchi (wrappings around the legs +in place of stockings). How will they adapt themselves to Russian +habits? The cabbage will make them bloated, the gruel will make them +sick, and those who survive the winter will perish by the frost at +Epiphany. So it is, yes. At our house doors they will shiver, in the +vestibule they will stand with chattering teeth; in the room they will +suffocate, on the stove they will be roasted. But what is the use of +speaking? As often as the pitcher goes to the well, as often their head +will be broken. Charles of Sweden was another imprudent one like you, +of pure royal blood, he has gone to Poltava, he has not returned. Other +rabbits than you Frenchmen were the Poles, the Tartars, the Swedes; our +forefathers, however, have dealt with them so that one can yet see the +tomb-hills around Moscow, as numerous as mushrooms, and under these +mushrooms rest their bones. Ah! our holy mother Moscow, it is not a +city, it is an empire. You have left at home only the blind and the +lame, the old women and the little children. Your size is not big +enough to match the Germans; they will at the first blow throw you on +your back (this remark is wonderfully prophetic). And Russia, do you +know what that is, you cracked head? Six hundred thousand longbeards +have been enlisted, besides 300 thousand soldiers with bare chins, and +200 thousand veterans. All these are heroes; they believe in one God, +obey one Tzar, make the sign with one cross, these are all brethren. +And if it pleases our father and Tzar, Alexander Pavlovitch, he has to +say only one word: To arms, Christians! And you will see them rising. +And even if you should beat the vanguard? Take your ease! the others +will give you such a chase that the memory of it will remain in all +eternity. To come to us! well then! Not only the tower of Ivan the +Great, but also the hill of Prosternations will remain invisible to you +even in your dream. We shall rely on white Russia and we shall bury you +in Poland. As one makes his bed so one sleeps. On this account reflect, +do not proceed, do not start the dance. Turn about face, go home, and +from generation to generation remember what it is, the Russian nation. +Having said all, Tchikhirine went on, briskly singing, and the people +who saw him go said wherever he came, that is well spoken, it is the +truth!” + +Rostopchine knew very well how to make Tchikhirine speak when he had +been drinking more than usual, he knew how to make the saints speak, he +invented pious legends which were not guaranteed by the Holy Synod and +not found in the Lives of the Saints. + +“After the battle of Borodino,” said he in his memoirs, “I ceased to +have recourse to little means to distract the people and occupy their +attention. It required an extraordinary effort of the imagination to +invent something that would excite the people. The most ingenious +attempts do not always succeed, while the clumsy ones take a surprising +effect. Among those of the latter kind there was a story after my +fashion of which 5 thousand copies at one kopek a copy were sold in one +day.” + +The population of Moscow was in a peculiar moral condition. They were +most superstitious, believed the most improbable reports and saw signs +from heaven of the downfall of Napoleon. + +“In the city,” writes Rostopchine, “rumors were current of visions, of +voices which had been heard in the graveyards. Passages from the +Apocalypsis were quoted referring to Napoleon’s fall.” + +But Rostopchine himself, was he free from credulity? A German by the +name of Leppich constructed, secretly, in one of the gardens of Moscow, +a balloon by means of which the French army should be covered with +fire, and some historians say that Rostopchine was one of the most +enthusiastic admirers of Leppich. + +As it may be interesting to learn how he was ahead of his time in +regard to ideas about military balloons let us give the full statement +of Popof on this matter. + +In 1812 in Moscow it was exactly as in 1870 in Paris; everybody built +hopes on the military airship, and expected that by means of a Greek +fire from a balloon the whole army of the enemy would be annihilated. +Rostopchine, in a letter dated May 7/19, 1812, gave an account to +Emperor Alexander of the precautions he had taken that the wonderful +secret of the construction of the airship by Leppich should not be +revealed. He took the precaution not to employ any workmen from Moscow. +He had already given Leppich 120 thousand rubles to buy material. + +“To-morrow,” he writes, “under the pretext of dining with some one +living in his vicinity I shall go to Leppich and shall remain with him +for a long time; it will be a feast to me to become more closely +connected with a man whose invention will render military art +superfluous, free mankind of its internal destroyer, make of you the +arbiter of kings and empires and the benefactor of mankind.” + +In another letter to the emperor, dated June 11/23, 1812, he writes, “I +have seen Leppich; he is a very able man and an excellent mechanician. +He has removed all my doubts in regard to the contrivances which set +the wings of his machine in motion (indeed an infernal construction) +and which consequently might do still more harm to humanity than +Napoleon himself. I am in doubt about one point which I submit to the +judgment of your majesty: when the machine will be ready Leppich +proposes to embark on it to fly as far as Wilna. Can we trust him so +completely as not to think of treason on his part?” Three weeks later +he wrote to the emperor “I am fully convinced of success. I have taken +quite a liking to Leppich who is also very much attached to me; his +machine I love like my own child. Leppich suggests that I should make +an air voyage with him, but I cannot decide about this without the +authorization of your majesty.” + +On September 11th., four days before the evacuation, the fate of Moscow +was decided. On that day at 10 o’clock in the forenoon the following +conversation took place in the house of Rostopchine between him and +Glinka. + +“Your excellency,” said Glinka, “I have sent my family away.” + +“I have already done the same,” answered the count, and tears were in +his eyes. + +“Now,” added he, “Serge Nicholaevitch, let us speak like two true +friends of our country. In your opinion, what will happen if Moscow is +abandoned?” + +“Your excellency knows what I have dared to say on the 15/27 July in +the assembly of the nobility; but tell me in all frankness, count, how +shall Moscow be delivered, with blood, or without blood (s kroviou ili +bez krovi)?” + +“Bez krovi (without blood),” laconically answered the count. + +His word to prince Eugene had been: Burn the capital rather than +deliver it to the enemy; to Ermilof: I do not see why you take so much +pains to defend Moscow at any price; if the enemy occupies the city he +will find nothing that could serve him. + +The treasures which belong to the crown and all that is of some value +have already been removed; also, with few exceptions, the treasures of +the churches, the ornaments of gold and silver, the most important +archives of the state, all have been taken to a place of safety. Many +of the well-to-do have already taken away what is precious. There +remain in Moscow only 50 thousand persons in the most miserable +conditions who have no other asylum. + +This was what he said on September 13, and on the same day he wrote to +the emperor that all had been sent away. + +But this was not true; there still remained 10 thousand wounded—of whom +the majority would perish in case of a conflagration; there remained an +immense stock of provisions, flour and alcoholic liquor, which would +fall into the hands of the enemy; there was still the arsenal in the +Kremlin containing 150 cannon, 60 thousand rifles, 160 thousand +cartridges and a great deal of sulphur and saltpeter. + +During the night from the 14th. to the 15th. Rostopchine developed a +great activity, though he could save only some miraculous images left +in the churches, and destroy some magazines. + +The inhabitants suddenly aroused from their security went to the +barriers of the city and obstructed the streets with vehicles; to +remove what still remained in Moscow the means of transportation and +the time allowed for this purpose were insufficient. + +Those who remained had nothing to lose and were glad to take revenge on +the rich by burning and pillaging their mansions. + +On the 14th. the criminals in the prisons, with one-half of their heads +shaved, were set at liberty that they might participate in the burning +and pillaging. + +Before leaving Moscow Rostopchine uncovered his head and said to his +son, “Salute Moscow for the last time; in half an hour it will be on +fire.” + +Quite a literature has developed on the question: who has burned +Moscow? The documents which Popof has examined leave no doubt +concerning Rostopchine’s part in regard to its conflagration. But, +after all, it was caused by those who had a right to do it, those who, +beginning at Smolensk, burned their villages, their hamlets, even their +ripening or ripened harvest, after the Russian army had passed and the +enemy came in sight. Who? The Russian people of all classes, of all +conditions without exception, men even invested with public power, and +among them Rostopchine. + + + + +RETREAT FROM MOSCOW + + +During the night from October 18th. to October 19th., all soldiers were +busy loading vehicles with provisions and baggage. On October 19th., +the first day of the retreat, forever memorable on account of the +misfortune and heroism which characterized it, the grand army presented +a strange spectacle. The soldiers were in a fair condition, the horses +lean and exhausted. But, above all, the masses following the army were +extraordinary. After an immense train of artillery of 600 cannon, with +all its supplies, came a train of baggage the like of which had never +been seen since the centuries of migration when whole barbarous nations +went in search of new territories for settlement. + +The fear that they might run short of rations had caused every +regiment, every battalion, to carry on country wagons all they had been +able to procure of bread and flour; but these wagons carrying +provisions were not the heaviest loaded, not loaded as much as those +which were packed with booty from the conflagration of Moscow; in +addition, many soldiers overtaxing their strength and endurance had +filled their knapsacks with provisions and booty. Most officers had +secured light Russian country wagons to carry provisions and warm +clothing. The French, Italian, and German families, who lived in Moscow +and now feared the returning Russians when again entering their +capital, had asked to accompany the retreating army and formed a kind +of a colony among the soldiers; with these families were also +theatrical people and unfortunate women who had lived in Moscow on +prostitution. + +The almost endless number, the peculiarity of vehicles of all +description, drawn by miserable horses, loaded with sacks of flour, +clothing and furniture, with sick women and children, constituted a +great danger, for the question was, how could the army maneuvre with +such an impediment and, above all, defend itself against the Cossacks? + +Napoleon, surprised and almost alarmed, thought at first to establish +order, but, after some reflection, came to the conclusion that the +accidents of the road would soon reduce the quantity of this baggage, +that it would be useless to be severe with the poor creatures, that, +after all, the wagons would serve to transport the wounded. He +consented therefore to let all go along the best they could, he only +gave orders that the column of these people with their baggage should +keep at a distance from the column of the soldiers in order that the +army would be able to maneuvre. + +On October 24th. was the battle of Jaroslawetz in which the Russians, +numbering 24 thousand, fought furiously against 10 thousand or 11 +thousand French, to cut off the latter from Kalouga, and the French, on +their part, fought with despair. + +The center of the battle was the burning city taken and retaken seven +times; many of the wounded perished in the flames, their cadavers +incinerated, and 10 thousand dead covered the battlefield. + +Many of the wounded, who could not be transported had to be left to +their fate at the theater of their glorious devotion, to the great +sorrow of everybody, and many who had been taken along on the march +during the first days after the battle had also to be abandoned for +want of means of transportation. The road was already covered with +wagons for which there were no horses. + +The cries of the wounded left on the road were heartrending, in vain +did they implore their comrades not to let them die on the way, +deprived of all aid, at the mercy of the Cossacks. + +The artillery was rapidly declining on account of the exhausted +condition of the horses. Notwithstanding all cursing and whipping, the +jaded animals were not able to drag the heavy pieces. Cavalry horses +were taken to overcome the difficulty and this caused a reduction of +the strength of the cavalry regiments without being of much service to +the artillery. The riders parted with their horses, they had tears in +their eyes looking for the last time on their animals, but they did not +utter a word. + +Cavalrymen, with admirable perseverance and superhuman efforts, dragged +the cannon as far as Krasnoe. All men had dismounted and aided the +exhausted animals only two of which were attached to each piece. + +Notwithstanding all the misery of a three-days-march to Moshaisk all +were hopeful. The distance from Moshaisk to Smolensk was covered in +seven or eight days; the weather, although cold during the night, was +good during the day, and the soldiers gladly anticipated to find, after +some more hardship, rest, abundance, and warm winter quarters in +Smolensk. + +[Illustration] + +On the march the army camped on the battlefield of Borodino when they +saw 50 thousand cadavers lying still unburied, broken wagons, +demolished cannons, helmets, cuirasses, guns spread all over—a horrid +sight! Wherever the victims had fallen in large numbers one could see +clouds of birds of prey rending the air with their sinister cries. The +reflections which this sight excited were profoundly painful. How many +victims, and what result! The army had marched from Wilna to Witebsk, +from Witebsk to Smolensk, hoping for a decisive battle, seeking this +battle at Wiasma, then at Ghjat, and had found it at last at Borodino, +a bloody, terrible battle. The army had marched to Moscow in order to +earn the fruit of all that sacrifice, and at this place nothing had +been found but an immense conflagration. The army returned without +magazines, reduced to a comparatively small number, with the prospect +of a severe winter in Poland, and with a far away prospect of +peace,—for peace could not be the price of a forced retreat,—and for +such a result the field of Borodino was covered with 50 thousand dead. +Here, as we have learned, were found the Westphalians, not more than 3 +thousand, the remainder of 10 thousand at Smolensk, of 23 thousand who +crossed the Niemen. + +Napoleon gave orders to take the wounded at Borodino into the baggage +wagons and forced every officer, every refugee from Moscow who had a +vehicle, to take the wounded as the most precious load. + +The rear guard under Davout left the fearful place on October 31st., +and camped over night half-way to the little town of Ghjat. The night +was bitter cold, and the soldiers began to suffer very much from the +low temperature. + +From this time on, every day made the retreat more difficult, for the +cold became more and more severe from day to day, and the enemy more +pressing. + +The Russian general, Kutusof, might now have marched ahead of +Napoleon’s army, which was retarded by so many impediments, and +annihilated it by a decisive battle, but he did not take this risk, +preferring a certain and safe tactic, by constantly harassing the +French, surprising one or the other of the rear columns by a sudden +attack. He had a strong force of cavalry and artillery, and, above all, +good horses, while the rearguard of the French, for want of horses, +consisted of infantry; there was, for instance, nothing left of General +Grouchy’s cavalry. The infantry of Marshal Davout, who commanded the +rearguard, had to do the service of all arms, often being compelled to +face the artillery of the enemy which had good horses, while their own +was dragged along by exhausted animals scarcely able to move. + +Davout’s men fought the Russians with the bayonet and took cannons from +them, but being without horses they were compelled to leave them on the +road, content rearguarding themselves to remain undisturbed for some +hours. + +Gradually the French had to part with their own cannons and ammunition; +sinister explosions told the soldiers of increasing distress. + +As it is in all great calamities of great masses: increasing misery +also increases egotism and heroism. Miserable drivers of wagons to whom +the wounded had been entrusted took advantage of the night and threw +the helpless wounded on the road where the rearguard found them dead or +dying. The guilty drivers, when discovered, were punished; but it was +difficult to detect them, with the general confusion of the retreat +making its first appearance. + +Wounded soldiers who had been abandoned could be seen at every step. +The tail of the army, composed of stragglers, of tired, discouraged or +sick soldiers, all marching without arms and without discipline, +continually increased in number, to the mortification of the rearguard +which had to deal with these men who would not subordinate their own +selves to the welfare of the whole. + +It is tempting to describe the terrible engagements, the almost +superhuman, admirable bravery of Napoleon’s soldiers, who often, after +having had the hardest task imaginable and constantly in danger of +being annihilated, were forced to pass the bitter cold nights without +eating, without rest, and although all details bear on the medical +history I am obliged to confine myself to a few sketches between the +description of purely medical matters. + + * * * * * + +I happened to find in the surgeon-general’s library a rare book: +Moricheau Beaupré, A Treatise on the Effects and Properties of Cold, +with a Sketch, Historical and Medical, of the Russian Campaign. +Translated by John Clendining, with appendix, xviii, 375 pp. 8vo., +Edinburgh, Maclachnan and Stewart, 1826. + +This most valuable book is not mentioned in any of the numerous +publications on the medical history of the Russian campaign of Napoleon +which I examined, and I shall now give an extract of what Beaupré +writes on the Effects of Cold in General: + +Distant expeditions, immaterial whether in cold or warm countries, with +extremes of temperature, are always disadvantageous and must cause +great sacrifice of life, not only on account of the untried influence +of extreme temperatures on individuals born in other climates, but also +on account of the fatigues inseparable from traversing long distances, +of an irregular life, of a multiplicity of events and circumstances +impossible to foresee, or which at least had not been foreseen, and +which operate very unfavorably, morally and physically, on military +persons. The expedition of the French army into Russia offers a sad +proof of this truth, but history has recorded similar experiences. The +army of Alexander the Great suffered frightfully from cold on two +occasions: first, when that ambitious conqueror involved himself amid +snows, in savage and barbarous regions of northern Asia before reaching +the Caucasus; the second time, when, after having crossed these +mountains, he passed the Tanais to subdue the Scythians, and the +soldiers were oppressed with thirst, hunger, fatigue, and despair, so +that a great number died on the road, or lost their feet from +congelation; the cold seizing them, it benumbed their hands, and they +fell at full length on the snow to rise no more. The best means they +knew, says Q. Curtius, to escape that mortal numbness, was not to stop, +but to force themselves to keep marching, or else to light great fires +at intervals. Charles XII, a great warrior alike rash and unreflecting, +in 1707 penetrated into Russia and persisted in his determination of +marching to Moscow despite the wise advice given him to retire into +Poland. The winter was so severe and the cold so intense that the +Swedes and Russians could scarcely hold their arms. He saw part of his +army perish before his eyes, of cold, hunger, and misery, amid the +desert and icy steppes of the Ukraine. If he had reached Moscow, it is +probable that the Russians would have set him at bay, and that his +army, forced to retire, would have experienced the same fate as the +French. + +In the retreat of Prague in 1742 the French army, commanded by Marshal +Belle-Isle, little accustomed to a winter campaign, was forced to +traverse impracticable defiles across mountains and ravines covered +with snow. In ten days 4 thousand men perished of cold and misery; food +and clothing were deficient, the soldiers died in anguish and despair, +and a great many of the officers and soldiers had their noses, feet and +hands frozen. The Russians regard the winter of 1812 as one of the most +rigorous of which they have any record; it was intensely felt through +all Russia, even in the most southerly parts. As a proof of this fact +the Tartars of the Crimea mentioned to Beaupré the behavior of the +great and little bustard, which annually at that season of the year +quit the plain for protection against the cold and migrate to the +southern part of that peninsula toward the coasts. But during that +winter they were benumbed by the cold and dropped on the snow, so that +a great many of them were caught. In the low hills, in the spring of +1813, the ground in some places was covered with the remains of those +birds entire. + +Of the effects of cold in general Beaupré says that soldiers who are +rarely provided with certain articles of dress suitable for winter, +whose caps do not entirely protect the lateral and superior parts of +the head, and who often suffer from cold in bivouacs, are very liable +to have ears and fingers seized on by asphyxia and mortification. +Troopers who remain several days without taking off their boots, and +whose usual posture on horseback contributes to benumb the extremities, +often have their toes and feet frozen without suspecting it. + +Cold produces fatal effects above as well as below the freezing point. +A continued moderate cold has the same consequences as a severe cold of +short duration. When very intense, as in the north, it sometimes acts +on the organism so briskly as to depress and destroy its powers with +astonishing rapidity. As the action of cold is most frequently slow and +death does not take place until after several hours’ exposure, the +contraction that diminishes the caliber of the vessels more and more +deeply, repels the blood toward the cavities of the head, chest, and +abdomen; it causes, in the circulation of the lungs, and in that of the +venous system of the head, an embarrassment that disturbs the function +of the brain and concurs to produce somnolence. The probability of this +explanation is strengthened by the flowing of the blood from the nose +to the ears, spontaneous haemoptysis, also by preternatural redness of +the viscera, engorgements of the cerebral vessel, and bloody effusion, +all of which conditions have been found after death. + +It is certain that in spite of every possible means of congestion or +effusion within the cranium, constant and forced motion is necessary +for the foot soldier to save him from surprise. The horseman must +dismount as quickly as possible and constrain himself to walk. +Commanders of divisions should not order halts in winter, and they +should take care that the men do not lag behind on the march. Necessary +above all are gaiety, courage, and perseverance of the mind; these +qualities are the surest means of escaping danger. He who has the +misfortune of being alone, inevitably perishes. + +In Siberia, the Russian soldiers, to protect themselves from the action +of the cold, cover their noses and ears with greased paper. Fatty +matters seem to have the power of protecting from cold, or at least of +greatly diminishing its action. The Laplander and the Samoiede anoint +their skin with rancid fish oil, and thus expose themselves in the +mountains to a temperature of -36 deg. Reaumur, or 50 deg. below zero +Fahrenheit. Xenophon, during the retreat of the 10 thousand, ordered +all his soldiers to grease those parts that were exposed to the air. If +this remedy could have been employed, says Beaupré, on the retreat from +Moscow, it is probable that it would have prevented more than one +accident. + +Most of those who escaped the danger of the cold ultimately fell sick. +In 1813 a number of soldiers, more or less seriously injured by cold, +filled the hospitals of Poland, Prussia, and other parts of Germany. +From the shores of the Niemen to the banks of the Rhine it was easy to +recognize those persons who constituted the remainder of an army +immolated by cold and misery the most appalling. Many, not yet arrived +at the limit of their sufferings, distributed themselves in the +hospitals on this side of the Rhine, and even as far as the south of +France, where they came to undergo various extirpations, incisions, and +amputations, necessitated by the physical disorder so often inseparable +from profound gangraene. + +Mutilation of hands and feet, loss of the nose, of an ear, weakness of +sight, deafness, complete or incomplete, neuralgy, rheumatism, palsies, +chronic diarrhoea, pectoral affections, recall still more strongly the +horrors of this campaign to those who bear such painful mementos. + + * * * * * + +But now let us return to the dissertation of von Scherer which gives +the most graphic and complete description of the effect of cold. + +After the battle of Borodino, on September 5th. and 7th., the army +marched to Moscow and arrived there on September 11th., exhausted to +the highest degree from hunger and misery. The number of +Wuerttembergians suffering from dysentery was very large. A hospital +was organized for them in a sugar refinery outside of Moscow. Many died +here, but the greater number was left to its fate during the retreat of +the army. + +The quarters at Moscow until October 19th. improved the condition of +the army very little. Devoured by hunger, in want of all necessities, +the army had arrived. The terrible fire of the immense city had greatly +reduced the hope for comfortable winter quarters. Although the eatables +which had been saved from the fire were distributed among the soldiers +who, during the weeks of their sojourn, had wine, tea, coffee, meat, +and bread, all wholesome and plentiful, yet dysentery continued and in +most patients had assumed a typhoid[1] character. Besides, real typhus +had now made its appearance in the army and, spreading rapidly through +infection, caused great loss of life and brought the misery to a +climax. The great number of the sick, crowded together in unfit +quarters; the stench of the innumerable unburied and putrefying +cadavers of men and animals in the streets of Moscow, among them the +corpses of several thousand Russians who had been taken prisoners and +then massacred, not to speak of the putrefying cadavers on the +battlefields and roads over which the army had marched, all this had +finally developed into a pest-like typhus. + + [1] The word typhoid means “resembling typhus,” and in Europe this + term is correctly employed to designate a somnolent or other general + condition in all kinds of feverish diseases which remind one of typhus + symptoms. What English and American physicians call typhus or typhus + fever is known to European physicians under the name of exanthematic + or petechial typhus, indicating a symptom by which it is distinguished + from abdominal typhus. + +After the retreat from Moscow had been decided upon, many thousands of +the sick were sent ahead on wagons under strong guards. These wagons +took the shortest road to Borodino, while the army took the road to +Kaluga. Several thousand typhus patients were left in Moscow, all of +whom died, with the exception of a few, according to later information. +Many of those who, although suffering from typhus, had retained +strength enough to have themselves transported on the wagons, recovered +on the way, later to become victims of the cold. + +Weakened in body and mind, the army left Moscow on October 18th. and +19th. The weather was clear, the nights were cold, when they proceeded +in forced marches on the road to Kaluga. Near Maloijorolawez the enemy +attempted to bar the way, and an obstinate engagement developed during +which the French cavalry suffered severely. + +It is true, the Russian battle line was broken, and the way was open, +but the French army had received its death-blow. + +The order which thus far had kept the army was shaken, and disorder of +all kinds commenced. + +The retreat now continued in the direction of Borodino, Ghjat, and +Wiasma, the same road which had been followed on the march toward +Moscow, a road which was laid waste and entirely deserted. + +The soldiers, in view of the helplessness which manifested itself, gave +up all hope and with dismay looked into a terrible future. + +Everywhere surrounded by the enemy who attacked vehemently, the +soldiers were forced to remain in their ranks on the highway; whoever +straggled was lost—either killed or made prisoner of war. + +On the immense tract of land extending from Moscow to Wilna during a +march of several days, not a single inhabitant, not a head of cattle, +was to be seen, only cities and villages burnt and in ruins. The misery +increased from day to day. What little of provisions had been taken +along from Moscow was lost, together with the wagons, on the flight +after the engagement of Maloijorolawez, and this happened, as we have +seen, before the army reached Borodino; the rations which the +individual soldier had with him were consumed during the first few +days, and thus a complete want made itself felt. The horses, receiving +no food, fell in great numbers from exhaustion and starvation; cannon +and innumerable wagons, for want of means to transport them, had to be +destroyed and left behind. + +From the last days of October until mid-December, at which time the +army arrived at Wilna, horse meat was the only food of the soldiers; +many could not obtain even this, and they died from starvation before +the intense cold weather set in. The meat which the soldiers ate was +either that of exhausted and sick horses which had not been able to +walk any further, or of such as had been lying dead on the road for +some time. With the greatest greed and a beastly rage the men threw +themselves on the dead animals; they fought without distinction of rank +and with a disregard of all military discipline—officers and privates +alike—for the possession of the best liked parts of the dead animal—the +brain, the heart, and the liver. The weakest had to be contented with +any part. Many devoured the meat raw, others pierced it with the +bayonet, roasted it at the camp fire and ate it without anything else, +often with great relish. + +Such was the sad condition when the setting in of extreme cold weather +brought the misery—the horrors—to a climax. + +During the last days of October, when the army had scarcely reached +Borodino, cold winds blew from the North. + +The first snowfall was on October 26th., and the snow made the march of +the enfeebled army difficult in the extreme. + +From that date on the cold increased daily, and the camping over night +was terrible; the extremities of those who had no chance to protect +themselves with clothes nor to come near the campfire became frozen. + +During the first days of November the thermometer had fallen to -12 +Reaumur (+4 Fahrenheit). + +Derangements of mind were the first pernicious effects of the low +temperature that were noticed. + +The first effect on the brain in the strong and healthy ones, as well +as in the others, was loss of memory. + +Von Scherer noticed that, with the beginning of the cold weather, many +could not remember the names of the best known, the everyday things, +not even the eagerly longed for eatables could they name, or name +correctly; many forgot their own names and were no longer able to +recognize their nearest comrades and friends. Others had become +completely feebleminded, their whole expression was that of stupidity. +And those of a stronger constitution, who had resisted the effects of +cold on body and mind, became deeply horrified on observing, in +addition to their own sufferings, how the mental faculties of the best +men, hitherto of strong will power, had become impaired, and how these +unfortunates sooner or later, yet gradually, with lucid intervals of a +few moments’ duration, invariably became completely insane. + +The intense cold enfeebled, first of all, the brain of those whose +health had already suffered, especially of those who had had dysentery, +but soon, while the cold increased daily, its pernicious effect was +noticed in all. + +The internal vessels, especially those of the brain and the lungs, in +many became congested to such a degree that all vital activity was +paralyzed. + +On necropsy, these vessels of the brain and lungs and the right heart +were found to be bloated and stretched; in one case the different +vessels of the brain were torn and quite an amount of blood was effused +between the meninges and the brain, in most cases more or less serum +had collected in the cavities. + +The corpses were white as snow, while the central organs in every case +were hyperaemic. + +At the beginning, while the cold was still tolerable, the effect of the +humors from the surface of the body to the central organs had caused +only a slight derangement of the functions of these organs, like +dyspnoea, mental weakness, in some more or less indifference, a +disregard of their surroundings; in short, all those symptoms of what +was called at that time “Russian simpleton.” + +Now all actions of the afflicted manifested mental paralysis and the +highest degree of apathy. + +This condition resembles that of extreme old age, when mind and body +return to the state of childhood. + +The bodies of those suffering from intense cold were shriveled and +wrinkled. Men formerly models of bodily and mental strength, hardened +in war, now staggered along, leaning on a stick, wailing and lamenting +childlike, begging for a piece of bread, and if something to eat was +given to them they burst out in really childish joy, not seldom +shedding tears. + +The faces of these unfortunates were deadly pale, the features +strangely distorted. Lads resembled men of 80 years of age and +presented a cretin-like appearance; the lips were bluish, the eyes +dull, without luster, and constantly lachrymal; the veins very small, +scarcely visible; the extremities cold; the pulse could not be felt, +neither at the radius nor at the temple bone, somnolency was general. + +Often it happened that the moment they sank to the ground the lower +extremities became paralyzed; soon after that, a few drops of blood +from the nose indicated the moribund condition. + +Severed were all bonds of brotherly love, extinguished all human +feeling toward those who, from exhaustion, had fallen on the road. + +Many men, among them his former best comrades and even relatives, would +fall upon such an unfortunate one to divest him of his clothing and +other belongings, to leave him naked on the snow, inevitably to die. + +The impulse of self-preservation overmastered everything in them. + +During the second half of November, and more so during the first days +of December, especially on the 8th., 9th., and 10th., when the army +arrived at Wilna, the cold had reached the lowest degree; during the +night from December 9th. to December 10th. the thermometer showed -32 R +(-40 F.). The cold air caused severe pain in the eyes, resembling that +of strong pressure. The eyes, weakened by the constant sight of snow, +suffered greatly under these circumstances. + +Many were blinded to such an extent that they could not see one step +forward, could recognize nothing and had to find their way, like the +blind in general, with the aid of a stick. Many of these fell during +the march and became stiffened at once. + +During this period von Scherer noticed that those who had been +suffering very much from cold would die quickly when they had fallen to +the frozen, ice-covered ground; the shaking due to the fall probably +causing injury to the spinal cord, resulting in sudden general +paralysis of the lower extremities, the bladder and the intestinal +tract being affected to the extent of an involuntary voiding of urine +and feces. + +Surgeon-major von Keller stated to von Scherer the following case: “I +was lying near Wilna, it was during the first days of December, during +one of the coldest nights, together with several German officers, on +the road close to a camp fire, when a military servant approached us +asking permission to bring his master, a French officer of the guards, +to our fire. + +“This permission was willingly granted, and two soldiers of the guard +brought a tall and strong man of about thirty years of age whom they +placed on the ground between themselves. + +“When the Frenchman learned of the presence of a surgeon he narrated +that something quite extraordinary had happened to him. + +“Notwithstanding the great general misery, he had thus far been +cheerful and well, but half an hour previous his feet had stiffened and +he had been unable to walk, and now he had no longer any sensation from +the toes up the legs. + +“I examined him and found that his feet were completely stiff, white +like marble, and ice cold. + +“The officer was well dressed and, notwithstanding his pitiful +condition, more cheerful than myself and my comrades. + +“Soon he felt a strong desire to urinate, but was unable to do so. + +“With great relish he ate a large piece of horse flesh which had been +roasted at the fire, but soon complained of great illness. + +“His cheerfulness changed suddenly to a sensation of great distress. +Ischuria persisted for several hours and caused him great pain; later +on during the night, he involuntarily voided feces and a large amount +of urine. He slept a great deal, the breathing was free, but at dawn he +fell into a helpless condition, and, at daybreak, before we had left +the fire, this strong man, who eight to ten hours before had been in +good health, died.” + +Most excellent and ingenious men in the prime of manhood all suffered +more or less from the cold; with the exception of a few cases, the +senses of all were, if not entirely deranged, at least weakened. The +longest and sometimes complete resistance to the cold was offered by +those who had always been of a cheerful disposition, especially those +who had not become discouraged by the great privations and hardships, +who ate horse flesh with relish and who in general had adapted +themselves to circumstances. + +One of the Wuerttembergian officers, a man of considerable military +knowledge and experience, was attacked, a few days before reaching +Wilna, with so pronounced a loss of sensation that he only vegetated, +moving along in the column like a machine. + +He had no bodily sickness, no fever, was fairly well in strength, had +never or rarely been in want, but his whole sensory system was +seriously affected by the cold. + +Von Scherer saw him, after he arrived at an inn in Wilna, somewhat +recovered by warmth and food, but acting childishly. + +While he ate the food placed before him he would make terrible +grimaces, crying or laughing for minutes at a time. + +His constitution badly shaken, but gradually improving, he returned +home, and it took a long time before he recovered completely. + +All traces of his sickness disappeared finally, and as active as ever +he attended his former duties. + +Another officer, with whom von Scherer traveled a few days between +Krasnoe and Orscha, had not until then suffered any real want. + +He rode in a well-closed carriage drawn by strong horses, had two +soldiers as servants, was well dressed and suffered, therefore, much +less than others. Especially was he well protected from the cold, yet +this had a severe effect on him. His mind became deranged, he did not +recognize von Scherer with whom he had been on intimate terms for +years, nor could he call either of his servants by name; he would +constantly run alongside the carriage, insisting that it belonged to +the French emperor and that he was entrusted to guard his majesty. + +Only when he had fallen asleep, or by force, was von Scherer able, with +the aid of the two servants, to place him in the carriage. + +His mental condition became worse every day; von Scherer had to leave +him. + +This officer reached Wilna, where he was made a prisoner and soon died +in captivity. + +Many more cases resembling these two were observed by von Scherer, and +other army surgeons reported instances of the like effect of cold. + +Surgeon General von Schmetter had remained with the Crown Prince of +Wuerttemberg in Wilna, while the army marched to Moscow. + +He reported many cases of unfortunates whom he had received in the +hospital in Wilna, who by cold and misery of all kinds had been reduced +to a pitiful state—men formerly of a vigorous constitution presented a +puerile appearance and had become demented. + +A cavalryman of the regiment Duke Louis, who, during February, 1813, +had been admitted into the hospital of Wilna, suffering from quiet +mania without being feverish, was constantly searching for something. + +Hands and feet had been frozen. He became ill with typhus and was more +or less delirious for two weeks. + +After the severity of the sickness had abated he again began to search +anxiously for something, and after the fever had left him he explained +that thirty thousand florins, which he had brought with him to the +hospital, had been taken away. + +It was learned that this cavalryman had been sent, together with other +comrades, with dispatches to Murat; that these men had defended Murat +with great bravery when he was in danger in the battle of Borodino. + +Murat, in recognition of their bravery, which had saved him, had given +them a wagon with gold, which they were to divide among themselves. + +The share of each of these cavalrymen amounted to over thirty thousand +florins, and the gold was transported on four horses, but these horses, +for want of food, had broken down under the load, and the gold had +fallen into the hands of the Cossacks. + +The patient became quite ecstatic when, during his convalescence, he +was told that he had brought no gold with him into the hospital; only +gradually could he be made to understand that he had been mistaken. + +[Illustration] + +He said, however, that he could not recollect having been robbed during +the retreat, although this fact had been testified to by two witnesses. + +Two years after he had left the hospital and quitted the military +service, when he was perfectly well and vigorous again, he recollected +that on a very cold day he had been taken prisoner by Cossacks, who had +left him, naked and unconscious, in the snow. + +He could not remember how and when he had come into the hospital. +Notwithstanding all these later recollections, he still imagined from +time to time that he had brought the gold with him into the hospital. + +Surgeon General von Schmetter reported further the case of a cavalryman +of the King’s regiment who, like many others, had returned from Russia +in an imbecile condition. + +He spoke alternately, or mixed up, Polish, Russian, and German; he had +to be fed like a child, could not remember his name or the name of his +native place, and died from exhaustion eight days after admittance into +the hospital. + +On necropsy of the quite wrinkled body, the cerebral vessels were found +full of blood, the ventricles full of serum. On the surface of the +brain between the latter and the meninges were found several larger and +smaller sacs filled with lymph, the spinal canal full of serum; in the +spinal cord plain traces of inflammation. In the lungs there was much +dark coagulated blood, and likewise in the vena cava; in the stomach +and intestines, many cicatrices; the mesenteric glands and pancreas +were much degenerated and filled with pus; the rectum showed many +cicatrices and several ulcers. + +In the hospital of Mergentheim eight necropsies were held on corpses of +soldiers who had returned mentally affected in consequence of exposure +to extreme cold. Similar conditions had presented themselves in all +these cases. + +Surgeon General von Kohlreuter attended an infantry officer who had +arrived at Inorawlow, in Poland, where the remainder of the +Wuerttembergian corps had rallied. He showed no special sickness, had +no fever, but fell into complete apathy. For a long time he had great +weakness of mind, but recovered completely in the end. + +Of another patient of this kind, an officer of the general staff, who +had been treated after that fatal retreat from Moscow, von Kohlreuter +reports that later on he recovered completely from the mental +derangement, but died on his return, near the borders of Saxony, from +exhaustion. + +An infantry officer became mentally deranged sometime after he had +returned to his home; it took a long time, but finally he recovered +without special medical aid. + +Recovery of such cases was accomplished by time, a mild climate, by +social intercourse, and good nourishment; many of them, on the way +through Germany and before they reached their own home, had completely +regained their mental faculties, and only in a small number of cases +did it take a long period of time and medication before recovery was +assured. + +The effect of intense cold on wounds was very severe: Violent +inflammation, enormous swelling, gangraene—the latter often due to the +impossibility of proper care. Larger wounds sometimes could not be +dressed on the retreat, and while the cold weather lasted gangraene and +death followed in quick succession. The effect of cold was noticed also +on wounds which had healed and cicatrized. + +Von Happrecht, an officer of the regiment Duke Louis, had been wounded +in the foot by a cannon ball in the battle of Borodino on September +7th., and Surgeon-General von Kohlreuter had amputated it. Fairly +strong and cheerful, this officer arrived safely at the Beresina. The +passage over this river was, as is well known, very dangerous, and von +Happrecht had to wait, exposed to cold, for some time before he could +cross. Soon after traversing on horseback he felt as if he had lost the +stump; he had no sensation in the leg the foot of which had been +amputated. Unfortunately, he approached a fire to warm himself and felt +a severe pain in the stump; extensive inflammation, with swelling, set +in; gangraene followed and, notwithstanding most skillful attendance, +he died soon after his arrival at Wilna. + +So far von Scherer. Beaupré, speaking of his own observations of the +effects of extreme cold, gives the following account: + +Soldiers unable to go further fell and resigned themselves to death, in +that frightful state of despair which is caused by the total loss of +moral and physical force, which was aggravated to the utmost by the +sight of their comrades stretched lifeless on the snow. During a +retreat so precipitate and fatal, in a country deprived of its +resources, amid disorder and confusion, the sad physician was forced to +remain an astonished spectator of evils he could not arrest, to which +he could apply no remedy. The state of matters remarkably affected the +moral powers. The consternation was general. Fear of not escaping the +danger was very naturally allied with the desperate idea of seeing +one’s country no more. None could flatter himself that his courage and +strength would suffice so that he would be able to withstand privations +and sufferings beyond human endurance. Italians, Portuguese, Spaniards, +those from the temperate and southern parts of France, obliged to brave +an austere climate unknown to them, directed their thoughts toward +their country and with good reasons regretted the beauty of the heaven, +the softness of the air of the regions of their birth. + +Nostalgia was common…. The army was but three days from Smolensk when +the heavens became dark, and snow began to fall in great flakes, in +such a quantity that the air was obscured. The cold was then felt with +extreme severity; the northern wind blew impetuously into the faces of +the soldiers and incommoded many who were no longer able to see. They +strayed, fell into the snow—above all, when night surprised them—and +thus miserably perished. + +Disbanded regiments were reduced to almost nothing by the loss of men +continually left behind either on the roads or in the bivouacs. + +Of the days of Smolensk he writes: In the streets one met with none but +sick and wounded men asking for hospitals, soldiers of every sort, of +every nation, going and coming, some of them trying to find a place +where provisions were sold or distributed; others taciturn, incapable +of any effort, absorbed by grief, half dead with cold, awaiting their +last hour. On all sides there were complaints and groans, dead and +dying soldiers, all of which presented a picture that was still further +darkened by the ruinous aspect of the city…. At Smolensk Beaupré +himself had a narrow escape from freezing to death; he narrates: During +the frightful night when we left Smolensk I felt much harassed; toward +5 in the morning, a feeling of lassitude impelled me to stop and rest. +I sat down on the trunk of a birch, beside eight frozen corpses, and +soon experienced an inclination to sleep, to which I yielded the more +willingly as at that moment it seemed delicious. Fortunately I was +aroused from that incipient somnolency—which infallibly would have +brought on torpor—by the cries and oaths of two soldiers who were +violently striking a poor exhausted horse that had fallen down. + +I emerged from that state with a sort of shock. + +The sight of what was beside me strongly recalled to my mind the danger +to which I exposed myself; I took a little brandy and started to run to +remove the numbness of my legs, the coldness and insensibility of which +were as if they had been immersed in an iced bath. + +He then describes his experience in similar cases: It happened three or +four times that I assisted some of those unfortunates who had just +fallen and began to doze, to rise again and endeavored to keep them in +motion after having given them a little sweetened brandy. + +It was in vain; they could neither advance nor support themselves, and +they fell again in the same place, where of necessity they had to be +abandoned to their unhappy lot. Their pulse was small and +imperceptible. Respiration, infrequent and scarcely sensible in some, +was attended in others by complaints and groans. Sometimes the eyes +were open, fixed, dull, wild, and the brain was seized by a quiet +delirium; in other instances the eyes were red and manifested a +transient excitement of the brain; there was marked delirium in these +cases. Some stammered incoherent words, others had a reserved and +convulsive cough. In some blood flowed from the nose and ears; they +agitated their limbs as if groping. (This description of Beaupré +complements the account given by von Scherer.) + +Many had their hands, feet, and ears frozen. A great many were mortally +stricken when obliged to stop to relieve nature; the arrival of that +dreaded moment was in fact very embarrassing, on account of the danger +of exposing oneself to the air as well as owing to the numbness of the +fingers which rendered them unable to readjust the clothes…. + +And they traveled day and night, often without knowing where they were. + +Ultimately they were obliged to stop, and, complaining, shivering, +forced to lie down in the woods, on the roads, in ditches, at the +bottom of ravines, often without fire, because they had no wood at +hand, nor strength enough to go and cut some in the vicinity; if they +succeeded in lighting one, they warmed themselves as they could, and +fell asleep without delay. + +The first hours of sleep were delightful, but, alas! they were merely +the deceitful precursor of death that was waiting for them. + +The fire at length became extinct for want of attention or owing to the +great blast. Instead of finding safety in the sweets of sleep, they +were seized and benumbed by cold, and never saw daylight again…. + +I have seen them sad, pale, despairing, without arms, staggering, +scarce able to sustain themselves, their heads hanging to the right or +left, their extremities contracted, setting their feet on the coals, +lying down on hot cinders, or falling into the fire, which they sought +mechanically, as if by instinct. + +Others apparently less feeble, and resolved not to allow themselves to +be depressed by misfortune, rallied their powers to avoid sinking; but +often they quitted one place only to perish in another. + +Along the road, in the adjacent ditches and fields, were perceived +human carcasses, heaped up and lying at random in fives, tens, fifteens +and twenties, of such as had perished during the night, which was +always more murderous than the day. + +When no longer able to continue walking, having neither strength nor +will power, they fell on their knees. + +The muscles of the trunk were the last to lose the power of +contraction. + +[Illustration: “And never saw daylight again.”] + +Many of those unfortunates remained for some time in that posture +contending with death. + +Once fallen it was impossible for them, even with their utmost efforts, +to rise again. The danger of stopping had been universally observed; +but, alas! presence of mind and firm determination did not always +suffice to ward off mortal attacks made from all directions upon one +miserable life! + + + + +WIASMA + + +About a mile and a half from Wiasma the enemy appeared to the left of +the road, and his fire happened to strike the midst of the tail of the +army, composed of disbanded soldiers without arms, with wounded and +sick among them, and women and children. Every artillery discharge of +the Russians caused frightful cries and a frightful commotion in the +helpless mass. + +And the rear guard, in trying to make them advance, ill-treated them, +the soldiers who had clung to the flag assumed the right to despise +those who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, had abandoned it. + +Of the old generals of Davout some had been killed, Friant was so +severely wounded that he could not be about, Compans had been wounded +in the arm, Moraud in the head, but these two, the former with one arm +in a sling, the other with a bandaged head, were on horseback, +surrounding the marshal commanding the first corps which had been +reduced to 15 thousand from 20 thousand at Moshaisk, from 28 thousand +in Moscow, and from 72 thousand crossing the Niemen. The remaining 15 +thousand were all old warriors whose iron constitution had triumphed. + +The battle of Wiasma took place on the 2d. of November. The Russians +under Miloradovitch had 100 cannon, whereas the French under Ney, +Davout, and the wounded generals named above, had only 40. This day +cost the French 1,500 to 1,800 men in killed and wounded, and, as +mentioned, these were of the oldest and best; the loss of the Russians +was twice that number, but their wounded were not lost, while it was +impossible to save a single one of the French, for the latter had no +attendance at all; the cold being very severe it killed them, and those +who did not perish by the frost were put to death by the cruel, +ferocious Russian peasants. + +Entering Wiasma at night, nothing in the way of provisions was found; +the guard and the corps which had been there before the battle had +devoured everything. No provisions were left of those taken along from +Moscow. The army passed a sombre and bitter cold night in a forest; +great fires were lighted, horse meat was roasted, and the soldiers of +Prince Eugene and of Marshal Davout, especially the latter who had been +on their feet for three days, slept profoundly around great camp-fires. +During two weeks they had been on duty to cover the retreat and during +this time had lost more than one half of their number. + +Napoleon arrived at Dorogobouge on November 5th., the Prince Eugene on +the 6th., the other corps on the 7th. and 8th. + +Until then the frost had been severe but not yet fatal. All of a +sudden, on the 9th., the weather changed, and there was a terrible +snow-storm. + +On their way to Moscow the regiments had traversed Poland during a +suffocating heat and had left their warm clothing in the magazines. + +Some soldiers had taken furs with them from Moscow, but had sold them +to their officers. + +Well nourished, they could have stood the frost, but living on a little +flour diluted with water, on horse meat roasted at the camp fire, +sleeping on the ground without shelter, they suffered frightfully. We +shall later on speak more in detail of the miserable clothing. + +The first snow which had been falling after they had left Dorogobouge +had seriously increased the general misery. Except among the soldiers +of the rear guard which had been commanded with inflexible firmness by +Davout, and which was now led by Ney, the sense of duty began to be +lost by almost all soldiers. + +As we have learned, all the wounded had to be left to their fate, and +soldiers who had been charged to escort Russian prisoners relieved +themselves of their charge by shooting these prisoners dead. + +The horses had not been shod in Russian fashion for traveling on the +ice. The army had come during the summer without any idea of returning +during the winter; the horses slipped on the ice, those of the +artillery were too feeble to draw cannon even of small calibre, they +were beaten unmercifully until they perished; not only cannons and +ammunition had to be left, but the number of vehicles carrying +necessities of life diminished from day to day. The soldiers lived on +the fallen horses; when night came the dead animals were cut to pieces +by means of the sabre, huge portions were roasted at immense fires, the +men devoured them and went to sleep around the fires. If the Cossacks +did not disturb their dearly bought sleep the men would awake; some +half burnt, others finding themselves lying in the mud which had formed +around them, and many would not rise any more. General von Kerner, of +the Wuerttembergian troops had slept in a barn during the night from +November 7th. to November 8th. Coming out at daybreak he saw his men in +the plain as they had lain down around a fire the evening before, +frozen and dead. The survivors would depart, hardly glancing at the +unfortunates who had died or were dying, and for whom they could do +nothing. + +The snow would soon cover them, and small eminences marked the places +where these brave soldiers had been sacrificed for a foolish +enterprise. + +It was under these circumstances that Ney, the man of the greatest +energy and of a courage which could not be shaken by any kind of +suffering, took command of the rear guard, relieving Davout whose +inflexible firmness and sense of honor and duty were not less admirable +than the excellent qualities of Ney. The bravest of the brave, as +Napoleon had called Ney, had an iron constitution, he never seemed to +be tired nor suffering from any ailment; he passed the night without +shelter, slept or did not sleep, ate or did not eat, without ever being +discouraged; most of the time he was on his feet in the midst of his +soldiers; he did not find it beneath the dignity of a Marshal of +France, when necessary, to gather 50 or 100 men about him and lead +them, like a simple captain of infantry, against the enemy under fire +of musketry, calm, serene, believing himself invulnerable and being +apparently so indeed; he did not find it incompatible with his rank to +take up the musket of a soldier who had fallen and to fire at the enemy +like a private. There is a great painting in the gallery of Versailles +representing him in such an action. He had never been wounded in +battle. And this great hero was executed in the morning of December +7th., 1815, in the garden of the Luxembourg. + +Louis XVIII, this miserable and insignificant man of legitimate royal +blood who had never rendered any service to France, wanted revenge—Ney +was arrested and condemned by the Chamber of Peers after the marshals +had refused to condemn him. His wife pleaded in vain for his life, the +king remained inflexible. Ney was simply shot by 12 poor soldiers +commanded for the execution. After the marshal had sunk down, an +Englishman suddenly rode up at a gallop and leaped over the fallen +hero, to express the triumph of the victors. It was in as bad taste as +everything that England contrived against Napoleon and his men.[2] + + [2] Brave men were condemned to deportation or were executed; derision + and mocking of Napoleon’s generals was the order of the day. + +Among the spectators there was also a Russian general in full uniform +and on horseback. Tzar Alexander expelled him from the army after he +had heard of it. + +The Bourbons commenced a tromocraty which was called, in contrast to +the terrorisms of the revolution, the white terror. + +Much has been written about the fantastic costume of Murat, but I do +not recollect having read the true explanation of it. All writers agree +that he was the bravest, the greatest cavalry general. As such he meant +to be distinguished from far and near in the midst of the battle where +danger was greatest, so that the sight of his person, his exposure to +the enemy, should encourage and inspire his soldiers. He rode a very +noble white horse and wore a Polish kurtka of light blue velvet which +reached down to the knees, embroidered with golden lace, dark red +mameluke pantaloons with golden galloons, white gauntlets and a +three-cornered general’s hat with white plumes; the saddle was of red +velvet and a caparison of the same stuff, all embroidered with gold. +The neck of the king was bare, a large white scalloped collar fell over +the collar of the kurtka. A strong black full beard gave a martial +expression to his face with the fiery eyes and regular features. +Sometimes he wore a biretta with a diamond agraffe and a high plume of +heron feathers. Very seldom he appeared in the uniform of a marshal. + +And this other great hero, who, like Ney, had never been wounded in +battle, was executed by order of the court of Naples on October 13th., +1815, in the hall of castle Pizzo. + + + + +VOP + + +In order to give an idea of the great difficulties the soldiers had to +face, and examples of their heroic behavior under trying circumstances, +let us relate the disaster of Vop. + +While Napoleon, with the imperial guard, the corps of Marshal Davout +and a mass of stragglers, all escorted by Marshal Ney, was marching on +the road to Smolensk, Prince Eugene had taken the road to +Doukhowtchina. The prince had with him 6 or 7 thousand men under arms, +including the Italian guard, some Bavarian cavalry which still had +their horses and their artillery mounted, and also many stragglers, +with these a number of families who had been following the Italian +division. + +At the end of the first day’s journey—it was on November 8th.—near the +castle Zazale, they hoped to find at this castle some provisions and an +abode for the night. A great cold had set in, and when they came to a +hill the road was so slippery that it was almost impossible to +negotiate the elevation with even the lightest load. Detaching horses +from the pieces in order to double and treble the teams they succeeded +in scaling the height with cannons of small calibre, but they were +forced to abandon the larger ones. + +The men being exhausted as well as the horses they felt humiliated at +being obliged to leave their best pieces. While they had exerted +themselves with such sad results, Platow had followed them with his +Cossacks and light cannons mounted on sleighs and incessantly fired +into the French. The commander of the Italian artillery, General +Anthouard, was severely wounded and was compelled to give up his +command. + +A gloomy night was passed at the castle Zazale. + +On the morning of the 9th. they left at an early hour to cross the Vop, +a little rivulet during the summer but now quite a river, at least four +feet deep and full of mud and ice. + +The pontooneers of Prince Eugene had gone ahead, working during the +night to construct a bridge, but frozen and hungry they had suspended +their work for a few hours, to finish it after a short rest. + +At daybreak those most anxious to cross went on the unfinished bridge +which they thought was completed. + +A heavy mist prevented them from recognizing their error until the +first ones fell into the icy water emitting piercing cries. Finally +horses and men waded through the water—some succeeded, other succumbed. + +It would lead too far to give here a full description of the +distressing scenes, the difficulty of passing with artillery and the +mostly vain attempts to bring over the baggage wagons. But, to cap the +climax, there arrived 3 or 4 thousand Cossacks shouting savagely. With +the greatest difficulty only was the rear guard able to keep them at a +distance so that they could not come near enough to make use of their +lances. Their artillery, however, caused veritable desolation. + +Among the poor fugitives from Moscow there were a number of Italian and +French women; these unfortunates stood at the border of the river, +crying and embracing their children, but not daring to wade through it. +Brave soldiers, full of humanity, took the little ones in their arms +and passed with them, some repeating this two and three times, in order +to bring all the children safely over. These desolate families, not +being able to save their vehicles, lost with them the means of +subsistence brought from Moscow. All the baggage, the entire artillery +with the exception of seven or eight pieces, had been lost, and a +thousand men had been killed by the fire of the Cossacks. + +This dreadful event on the retreat from Moscow is called the disaster +of Vop and was the precursor of another disaster of the same nature, +but a hundred times more frightful, the disaster of the Beresina. + + * * * * * + +There was another cause of death of which we have not spoken yet: this +was the action of the heat at the campfires. Anxious to warm +themselves, most of the soldiers hastened to bring their limbs near the +flame; but this sudden exposure to extreme heat, after having suffered +from the other extreme—cold—was acting on the feeble circulation in the +tissues and produced gangraene of the feet, the hands, even of the +face, causing paralysis either partial, of the extremities, or general, +of the whole body. + +Only those were saved who had been able to keep up their circulation by +means of hot drinks or other stimulants and who, noticing numbness, had +rubbed the affected parts with snow. Those who did not or could not +resort to these precautions found themselves paralyzed, or stricken +with sudden gangraene, in the morning when the camp broke up. + +The hospitals of Koenigsberg admitted about 10 thousand soldiers of +Napoleon’s army, only a small number of whom had been wounded, most of +them with frozen extremities, who had, as the physicians of that time +called it, a pest, the fever of congelation which was terribly +contagious. + +The heroic Larrey although exhausted from fatigue had come to these +hospitals to take care of the sick, but he became infected with the +contagion himself and was taken sick. + +A great calamity was the want of shoes; we have seen that this was +already felt in Moscow, before they set out on the endless march over +ice and snow. + +The soldiers had their feet wrapped in rags, pieces of felt or leather, +and when a man had fallen on the road some of his comrades would cut +off his feet and carry them to the next camp fire to remover the +rags—for their own use. + +But the general appearance of the emaciated soldiers with long beards, +and faces blackened by the smoke of camp-fires, the body wrapped in +dirty rags of wearing apparel brought from Moscow, was such that it was +difficult to recognize them as soldiers. + +And the vermin! Carpon, a surgeon-major of the grand army, in +describing the days of Wilna which were almost as frightful as the +disaster of the Beresina, speaks on this subject. It is revolting. +Strange to say, it is hardly ever mentioned in the medical history of +wars, although every one who has been in the field is quite familiar +with it. + +At last I have found—in Holzhausen’s book—a description of the most +revolting lice plague (phtheiriasis) from which, according to his +valet, Constant, even the emperor was not exempted. As a matter of +course under the circumstances—impossibility of bodily cleanliness—this +vermin developed in a way which baffles description. Suckow, a +Wuerttembergian first lieutenant, speaks of it as causing intolerable +distress, disturbing the sleep at the campfire. Johann von Borcke +became alarmed when he discovered that his whole body was eaten up by +these insects. A French colonel relates that in scratching himself he +tore a piece of flesh from the neck, but that the pain caused by this +wound produced a sensation of relief. + + + + +SMOLENSK + + +All the corps marched to Smolensk where they expected to reach the end +of all their misery and to find repose, food, shelter; in fact, all +they were longing for. + +Napoleon entered the city with his guards and kept the rest of the +army, including the stragglers, out of doors until arrangements could +have been made for the regular distribution of rations and quarters. +But together with the stragglers the mass of the army became +unmanageable and resorted to violence. + +Seeing that the guards were given the preference they broke out in +revolt, entered by force and pillaged the magazines. “The magazines are +pillaged!” was the general cry of terror and despair. Every one was +running to grasp something to eat. + +Finally, something like order was established to save some of the +provisions for the corps of Prince Eugene and Marshal Ney who arrived +after fighting constantly to protect the city from the troops of the +enemy. They received in their turn eatables and a little rest, not +under shelter but in the streets, where they were protected, not from +the frost, but from the enemy. + +There were no longer any illusions. The army having hoped to find +shelter and protection, subsistence, clothes and, above all, shoes, at +Smolensk, they found nothing of all this and learned that they had to +leave, perhaps the next day, to recommence the interminable march +without abode for the night, without bread to eat and constantly +fighting while exhausted, with the cruel certainty that if wounded they +would be the prey of wolves and vultures. + +This prospect made them all desperate; they saw the abyss, and still +the worst was yet in store for them: Beresina and Wilna! + +Napoleon left Smolensk on November 14th. The cold had become more +intense—21 deg. Reaumur (16 deg. below zero Fahrenheit)—this is the +observation of Larrey who had a thermometer attached to his coat; he +was the only one who kept a record of the temperature. + +The cold killed a great many, and the road became covered with dead +soldiers resting under the snow. + +To the eternal honor of the most glorious of all armies be it said that +it was only at the time when the misery had surpassed all boundaries, +when the soldiers had to camp on the icy ground with an empty stomach, +their limbs paralyzed in mortal rigor, that the dissolution began. + +It was even after the heroic battle of Wiasma that they fought day for +day. + +It was not the cold which caused the proud army to disband, but hunger. + +Provisions could nowhere be found; all horses perished, and with them +the possibility of transporting food and ammunition. + +And it is one thing to suffer cold and hunger, traveling under ordinary +circumstances, and another to suffer thus and at the same time being +followed by the enemy. + + + + +BERESINA + + +In order to understand the disaster of the Beresina it is necessary to +cast a glance at the condition of Napoleon’s army at that time. + +After the battle at Krasnoe, Napoleon at Orscha, on November 19th., +happy to have found a place of safety at last, with well furnished +magazines, made a new attempt to rally the army by means of a regular +distribution of rations. A detachment of excellent gendarmes had come +from France and was employed to do police duty, to engage everybody, +either by persuasion or by force, to join his corps. These brave men, +accustomed to suppress disorder in the rear of the army, had never +witnessed anything like the condition with which they were obliged to +deal at this time. They were dismayed. All their efforts were in vain. +Threats, promises of rations if the soldiers would fall in line, were +of no avail whatever. The men, whether armed or not, thought it more +convenient, above all more safe, to care for themselves instead of +again taking up the yoke of honor, thereby taking the risk of being +killed, or wounded,—which amounted to the same thing—they would not +think of sacrificing their individual self for the sake of the whole. +Some of the disbanded soldiers had retained their arms, but only to +defend themselves against the Cossacks and to be better able to maraud. +They lived from pillaging, taking advantage of the escort of the army, +without rendering any service. [Illustration] In order to warm +themselves they would put fire to houses occupied by wounded soldiers, +many of whom perished in the flames in consequence. They had become +real ferocious beasts. Among these marauders were only very few old +soldiers, for most of the veterans remained with the flag until death. + +Napoleon addressed the guards, appealing to their sense of duty, saying +that they were the last to uphold military honor, that they, above all, +had to set the example to save the remainder of the army which was in +danger of complete dissolution; that if they, the guards, would become +guilty, they would be more guilty than any of the other corps, because +they had no excuse to complain of neglect, for what few supplies had +been at the disposal of the army, their wants had always been +considered ahead of the rest of the army, that he could resort to +punishments, could have shot the first of the old grenadiers who would +leave the ranks, but that he preferred to rely on their virtue as +warriors to assure their devotedness. The grenadiers expressed their +assent and gave promises of good conduct. All surviving old grenadiers +remained in the ranks, not one of them had disbanded. Of the 6 thousand +who had crossed the Niemen, about 3,500 survived, the others had +succumbed to fatigue or frost, very few had fallen in battle. + +The disbanded soldiers of the rest of the army, having in view another +long march, with great sufferings to endure, were not disposed to +change their ways. They now needed a long rest, safety, and abundance, +to make them recognize military discipline again. The order to +distribute rations among those who had rallied around the flag could +not be kept up for more than a few hours. The magazines were pillaged, +as they had been pillaged at Smolensk. The forty-eight hours’ stay at +Orscha was utilized for rest and to nourish a few men and the horses. + +In these days Napoleon was as indefatigable as he ever had been as +young Bonaparte. His proclamation of the 19th. did not remain quite +unheeded even among the disbanded, but, on the march again, the nearer +they came to the Beresina the more pronounced became the lack of +discipline. In the following description I avail myself of the +classical work of Thiers’ “Histoire du Consulat et de l’Empire.” + +The only bridge over the Beresina, at Borisow, had been burned by the +Russians. It was as by miracle that General Corbineau met a Polish +peasant who indicated a place—near the village Studianka—where the +Beresina could be forded by horses. Napoleon, informed of this fact on +November 28th., at once ordered General Eblé to construct the bridge +and on November 25th., at 1 o’clock in the morning, he issued orders to +Oudinot to have his corps ready for crossing the river. The moment had +arrived when the great engineer, the venerable General Eblé, was to +crown his career by an immortal service. + +He had saved six cases containing tools, nails, clamps, and all kinds +of iron pieces needed for the construction of trestle bridges. In his +profound foresight he had also taken along two wagon-loads of charcoal, +and he had under his command 400 excellent pontooneers upon whom he +could reply absolutely. + +General Eblé has been described as the model of an officer, on account +of his imposing figure and his character. + +Eblé and Larrey were the two men whom the whole army never ceased to +respect and to obey, even when they demanded things which were almost +impossible. General Eblé then with his 400 men departed in the evening +of November 24th. for Borisow, followed by the clever General +Chasseloup who had some sappers with him, but without their tools. +General Chasseloup was a worthy associate of the illustrious chief of +the pontooneers. They marched all night, arriving at Borisow on the +25th., at 5 o’clock in the morning. There they left some soldiers in +order to deceive the Russians by making them believe that the bridge +was to be constructed below Borisow. Eblé with his pontooneers, +however, marched through swamps and woods along the river as far as +Studianka, arriving there during the afternoon of the 25th. Napoleon in +his impatience wanted the bridges finished on that day, an absolute +impossibility; it could not be done until the 26th., by working all +night, and not to rest until this was accomplished was the firm +resolution of these men who by that time had marched two days and two +nights. General Eblé spoke to his pontooneers, telling them that the +fate of the army was in their hands. He inspired them with noble +sentiments and received the promise of the most absolute devotedness. +They had to work in the bitter cold weather—severe frost having +suddenly set in—all night and during the next day, in the water, in the +midst of floating ice, probably under fire of the enemy, without rest, +almost without time to swallow some boiled meat; they had not even +bread or salt or brandy. This was the price at which the army could be +saved. Each and every one of the pontooneers pledged himself to their +general, and we shall see how they kept their word. + +Not having time to fell trees and to cut them into planks, they +demolished the houses of the unfortunate village Studianka and took all +the wood which could serve for the construction of bridges; they forged +the iron needed to fasten the planks and in this way they made the +trestles. At daybreak of the 26th. they plunged these trestles into the +Beresina. Napoleon, together with some of his generals, Murat, +Berthier, Eugene, Caulaincourt, Duroc, and others, had hastened to +Studianka on this morning to witness the progress of Eblé’s work. Their +faces expressed the greatest anxiety, for at this moment the question +was whether or not the master of the world would be taken prisoner by +the Russians. He watched the men working, exerting all their might in +strength and intelligence. But it was by no means sufficient to plunge +bravely into the icy water and to fasten the trestles, the almost +superhuman work had to be accomplished in spite of the enemy whose +outposts were visible on the other side of the river. Were there merely +some Cossacks, or was there a whole army corps? This was an important +question to solve. One of the officers, Jacqueminot, who was as brave +as he was intelligent, rode into the water, traversed the Beresina, the +horse swimming part of the way, and reached the other shore. On account +of the ice the landing was very difficult. In a little wood he found +some Cossacks, but altogether only very few enemies could be seen. +Jacqueminot then turned back to bring the good news to the emperor. As +it was of the greatest importance to secure a prisoner to obtain exact +information about what was to be feared or to be hoped, the brave +Jacqueminot once more crossed the Beresina, this time accompanied by +some determined cavalry men. They overpowered a Russian outpost, the +men sitting around a fire, took a corporal with them, and brought this +prisoner before Napoleon who learned to his great satisfaction that +Tchitchakoff with his main force was before Borisow to prevent the +passage of the French, and that at Studianka there was only a small +detachment of light troops. + +It was necessary to take advantage of these fortunate circumstances. +But the bridges were not ready. The brave General Corbineau with his +cavalry brigade crossed the river under the above-described +difficulties, and established himself in the woods. Napoleon mounted a +battery of 40 cannons on the left shore, and now the French could +flatter themselves to be masters of the right shore while the bridges +were made, and that their whole army would be able to cross. Napoleon’s +star seemed to brighten again, the officers grouped around him, +saluting with expressions of joy, such as they had not shown for a long +time. + +All was now depending on the completion of the bridges, for there were +two to be constructed, each 600 feet in length; one on the left for +wagons, the other, on the right, for infantry and cavalry. A hundred +pontooneers had gone into the water and with the aid of little floats +built for this purpose, had commenced the fixation of the trestles. The +water was freezing and formed ice crusts around their shoulders, arms, +and legs, ice crusts which adhered to the flesh and caused great pain. +They suffered without complaining, without appearing to be affected, so +great was their ardor. The river at that point was 300 feet wide and +with 23 trestles for each bridge the two shores could be united. In +order to transport first the troops, all efforts were concentrated on +the construction of the bridge to the right—that is, the one for +infantry and cavalry—and at 1 o’clock in the afternoon it was ready. + +About 9 thousand men of the corps of Marshal Oudinot passed over the +first bridge and under great precautions took two cannons along. +Arrived on the other side, Oudinot faced some troops of infantry which +General Tschaplitz, the commander of the advance guard of Tchitchakoff, +had brought there. The engagement was very lively but of short +duration. The French killed 200 men of the enemy and were able to +establish themselves in a good position, from where they could cover +the passage. Time was given now for the passage of enough troops to +meet Tchitchakoff, during the rest of the day, the 26th. and the +succeeding night. Concerning many details I have to refer to Thiers’ +description. + +At 4 o’clock in the afternoon the second bridge was completed. +Napoleon, on the Studianka side, yet supervised everything; he wanted +to remain among the last to cross the bridge. General Eblé, without +himself taking a moment of rest, had one-half the number of his +pontooneers rest on straw while the other half took up the painful task +of guarding the bridges, of doing police duty, and of making repairs in +case of accidents, until they were relieved by the others. On this day +the infantry guards and what remained of cavalry guards marched over +the bridge, followed by the artillery train. + +Unfortunately, the left bridge, intended for vehicles, shook too much +under the enormous weight of wagons following one another without +interruption. Pressed as they were, the pontooneers had not had time to +shape the timber forming the path, they had to use wood as they found +it, and in order to deaden the rumbling of the wagons they had put +moss, hemp, straw—in fact, everything they could gather in +Studianka—into the crevices. But the horses removed this kind of litter +with their feet, rendering the surface of the path very rough, so that +it had formed undulations, and at 8 o’clock in the evening three +trestles gave way and fell, together with the wagons which they +carried, into the Beresina. The heroic pontooneers went to work again, +going into the water which was so cold that ice immediately formed anew +where it had been broken. With their axes they had to cut holes into +the ice to place new trestles six, seven and even eight feet deep into +the river were the bridge had given way. At 11 o’clock the bridge was +secure again. + +General Eblé, who had always one relief at work while the other was +asleep, took no rest himself. He had extra trestles made in case of +another accident. At 2 o’clock in the morning three trestles of the +left bridge, that is the one for the vehicles, gave way, unfortunately +in the middle of the current, where the water had a depth of seven or +eight feet. This time the pontooneers had to accomplish their difficult +task in the darkness. The men, shaking from cold and starving, could +not work any more. The venerable General Eblé, who was not young as +they were and had not taken rest as they had, suffered more than they +did, but he had the moral superiority and spoke to them, appealing to +their devotedness, told them of the certain disaster which would +annihilate the whole army if they did not repair the bridges; and his +address made a deep impression. With supreme self-denial they went to +work again. General Lauriston, who had been sent by the emperor to +learn the cause of the new accident, pressed Eblé’s hand and, shedding +tears, said to him: For God’s sake, hasten! Without showing impatience, +Eblé, who generally had the roughness of a strong and proud soul, +answered with kindness: You see what we are doing, and he turned to his +men to encourage, to direct them, and notwithstanding his age—he was 54 +years old—he plunged into that icy water, which those young men were +hardly able to endure (and this fact is stated by all the historians +whose works I have read). At 6 o’clock in the morning (November 27th.) +this second accident had been repaired, the artillery train could pass +again. + +The bridge to the right—for infantry—did not have to endure the same +kind of shaking up as the other bridge, and did not for one moment get +out of order. If the stragglers and fugitives had obeyed all could have +crossed during the night from November 26th. to November 27th. But the +attraction of some barns, some straw to lie on, some eatables found at +Studianka, had retained a good many on this side of the river. The +swamps surrounding the Beresina were frozen, which was a great +advantage, enabling the people to walk over them. On these frozen +swamps had been lighted thousands of fires, and 10 thousand or 15 +thousand individuals had established themselves around them and did not +want to leave. Soon they should bitterly regret the loss of a precious +opportunity. + +In the morning, on November 27th., Napoleon crossed the Beresina, +together with all who were attached to his headquarters, and selected +for his new headquarters the little village Zawnicky, on the other side +of the Beresina. In front of him was the corps of Oudinot. All day long +he was on horseback personally to hasten the passage of detachments of +the army, somewhat over 5 thousand men under arms. Toward the end of +the day the first corps arrived, under Davout, who since Krasnoe had +again commanded the rear guard. This was the only corps which still had +some military appearance. + +The day of November 27th. was occupied to cross the Beresina and to +prepare for a desperate resistance, for the Russians could no longer be +deceived as to the location of the bridges. At 2 o’clock in the +afternoon a third accident happened, again on the bridge to the left. +It was soon repaired, but the vehicles arrived in great numbers, and +all were pressing forward in such a way that the gendarmes had +extraordinary difficulties to enforce some order. + +The 9th. corps, that of Marshal Victor, had taken a position between +Borisow and Studianka, in order to protect the army at the latter +place. It had been foreseen that the crossing would be little +interfered with during the first two days, the 26th. and 27th., because +Tchitchakoff was as yet ignorant of the real points elected for the +bridges, expecting to find the French army below Borisow on the other +side of the Beresina. Wittgenstein and Kutusoff had not yet had time to +unite and did not sufficiently press the French. + +Napoleon had good reasons to expect that the 28th. would be the +decisive day. He was resolved to save the army or to perish with it. +Taking the greatest pains to deceive Tchitchakoff as long as possible +he ordered Marchal Victor to leave the division Partouneaux, which had +been reduced by marches and fights from 12 thousand to 4 thousand +combatants, at Borisow. Victor with 9 thousand men and 700 to 800 +horses was to cover Studianka. + +These 9 thousand were the survivors of 24 thousand with whom Victor had +left Smolensk to join Oudinot on the Oula. During one month’s marching +and in various engagements 10 thousand to 11 thousand had been lost. +The bearing, however, of those who survived was excellent, and seeing +what was left of the grand army, the glory of which had, not long ago, +been the object of their jealousy, in its present condition, they were +stricken with pity and asked their oppressed comrades who had almost +lost their pride as a result of the misery, what calamity could have +befallen them? You will soon be the same as we are, sadly answered the +victors of Smolensk and Borodino. + +The hour of the supreme crisis had come. The enemy, having now learned +the truth, came to attack the French when many of them had not yet +crossed the Beresina and were divided between the two sides of the +river. Wittgenstein, who with 3 thousand men had followed the corps of +Victor, was behind the latter between Borisow and Studianka, and ready +with all his might to throw Victor into the Beresina. Altogether, +including the forces of Tchitchakoff, there were about 72 thousand +Russians, without counting 30 thousand men of Kutusoff in the rear, +ready to fall on Victor’s 12 thousand to 13 thousand and Oudinot’s 7 +thousand or 8 thousand of the guards; 28 thousand to 30 thousand French +were divided between the two shores of the Beresina hampered by 40 +thousand stragglers, to fight, during the difficult operation of +crossing the Beresina, with 72 thousand partly in front, partly in the +rear. + +This terrible struggle began in the evening of the 27th. The +unfortunate French division of Partouneaux, the best of the three of +Victor’s corps, had received orders from Napoleon to remain before +Borisow during the 27th., in order to deceive, as long as possible, and +to detain Tchitchakoff. In this position Partouneaux was separated from +his corps which, as we have seen, was concentrated around Studianka, by +three miles of wood and swamps. As could be easily foreseen, +Partouneaux was cut off by the arrival of the troops of Platow, +Miloradovitch, and Yermaloff, who had followed the French on the road +from Orscha to Borisow. In the evening of the 27th. Partouneaux +recognized his desperate position. With the immense dangers threatening +him were combined the hideous embarrassment of several thousand +stragglers who, believing in the passage below Borisow, had massed at +that point, with their baggage, awaiting the construction of the +bridge. The better to deceive the enemy they had been left in their +error, and now they were destined to be sacrificed, together with the +division of Partouneaux, on account of the terrible necessity to +deceive Tchitchakoff. + +When the bullets came from all sides, the confusion soon reached the +climax; the three little brigades of Partouneaux forming for defense +found themselves entangled with several thousand stragglers and +fugitives who clamorously threw themselves into their ranks; the women +of the mass, with baggage, especially with their frightful, piercing +cries, characterized this scene of desolation. General Partouneaux +decided to extricate himself, to open a way or to perish. He was with a +thousand men against 40 thousand. Several challenges to surrender he +refused, and kept on fighting. The enemy, likewise exhausted, suspended +firing toward midnight, being certain to take the last of this handful +of braves who resisted so heroically in the morning. With daybreak the +Russian generals again challenged General Partouneaux, who was standing +upright in the snow with the 400 or 500 of his brigade, remonstrating +with him, and he, with desperation in his soul, surrendered. The other +two brigades of his division that had been separated from him also laid +down their arms. The Russians took about 2 thousand prisoners, that is, +the survivors of Partouneaux’s division of 4 thousand, only one +battalion of 300 men had succeeded, during the darkness of the night, +in making its escape and reaching Studianka. + +The army at Studianka had heard, during this cruel night, the sound of +the cannonade and fusillade from the direction of Borisow. Napoleon and +Victor were in great anxiety; the latter thought that the measure +taken, i.e., the sacrifice of his best division, of 4 thousand men who +would have been of great value, had been unjustifiable, because after +the crossing had begun on the 26th. it was no longer possible to +deceive the enemy. + +The night was passed in cruel suspense, but being the prey of sorrows +of so many kinds the French could hardly pay due attention to the many +new ones which presented themselves at every moment. The silence which +reigned on the morning of the 28th. indicated the catastrophe of the +division Partouneaux. + +The firing now began on the two sides of the Beresina, on the right +shore against the troops that had crossed, on the left against those +covering the passage of the rear of the army. From this moment on +nothing was thought of but fight. The cannonade and fusillade soon +became extremely violent, and Napoleon, on horseback, incessantly +riding from one point to another, assumed that Oudinot resisted +Tchitchakoff while Eblé continued to care for the bridges, and that +Victor, who was fighting Wittgenstein, was not thrown into the icy +floods of the Beresina together with the masses which had not yet +crossed. + +Although the firing was terrible on all sides and thousands were killed +on this lugubrious field; the French resisted on both banks of the +river. + +For the description of this battle I desire to refer to Thiers’ great +work. Taking all circumstances into consideration, it did the greatest +honor to Napoleon’s guns, to the valor of his generals and of his +soldiers. + +The confusion was frightful among the masses that had neglected to +cross in time, and those who had arrived too late for the opportunity. +Many, ignoring that the first bridge was reserved for pedestrians and +horsemen, the second for wagons, crowded with delirious impatience upon +the second bridge. The pontooneers on guard at the entrance of the +bridge to the right were ordering the vehicles to the one on the left, +which was 600 feet farther down. This precaution was an absolute +necessity, because the bridge to the right could not endure the weight +of the wagons. Those who were directed by the pontooneers to go to the +other bridge had the greatest difficulty to pass through the compact +masses pressing and pushing to enter the structure. A terrible +struggle! Opposing currents of people paralyzed all progress. The +bullets of the enemy, striking into this dense crowd, produced fearful +furrows and cries of terror from the fugitives; women with children, +many on wagons, added to the horror. All pressed, all pushed; the +stronger ones trampled on those who had lost their foothold, and killed +many of the latter. Men on horseback were crushed, together with their +horses, many of the animals becoming unmanageable, shot forward, +kicked, reared, turned into the crowd and gained a little space by +throwing people down into the river; but soon the space filled up +again, and the mass of people was as dense as before. + +This pressing forward and backward, the cries, the bullets striking +into the helpless crowd, presented an atrocious scene—the climax of +that forever odious and senseless expedition of Napoleon. + +The excellent General Eblé, whose heart broke at this spectacle, tried +in vain to establish a little order. Placing himself at the head of the +bridge he addressed the multitude; but it was only by means of the +bayonet that at last some improvement was brought about, and some +women, children, and wounded were saved. Some historians have stated +that the French themselves fired cannon shots into the crowd, but this +is not mentioned by Thiers. This panic was the cause that more than +half the number of those perished who otherwise could have crossed. +Many threw themselves, or were pushed, into the water and drowned. And +this terrible conflict among the masses having lasted all day, far from +diminishing, it became more horrible with the progress of the battle +between Victor and Wittgenstein. The description of this battle I omit, +referring again to Thiers, confining myself to give some figures. Of +700 to 800 men of General Fournier’s cavalry hardly 300 survived; of +Marshal Victor’s infantry, hardy 5 thousand. Of all these brave men, +mostly Dutchmen, Germans, and Polanders, who had been sacrificed there +was quite a number of wounded who might have been saved, but who had +perished for want of all means of transportation. The Russians lost 10 +thousand to 11 thousand. + +This double battle on the two shores of the Beresina is one of the most +glorious in the history of France; 28 thousand against 72 thousand +Russians. These 28 thousand could have been taken or annihilated to the +last man, and it was almost a miracle that even a part of the army +escaped this disaster. + +With nightfall some calm came over this place of carnage and confusion. + +On the next morning Napoleon had to recommence, this time not to +retreat, but to flee; he had to wrest from the enemy the 5 thousand men +of Marshal Victor’s corps, Victor’s artillery and as many as possible +of those unfortunates who had not employed the two days by crossing. +Napoleon ordered Marshal Victor to cross during the night with his +corps and with all his artillery, and to take with him as many as +possible of the disbanded and of the refugees who were still on that +other side of the river. + +Here we now learn of a singular flux and reflux of the frightened +masses. While the cannon had roared, every one wanted to cross but +could not, now when with nightfall the firing had ceased they did not +think any more of the danger of hesitation, not of the cruel lesson +which they had learned during the day. They only wanted to keep away +from the scene of horror which the crossing of the bridge had +presented. It was a great task to force these unfortunates to cross the +bridges before they were set on fire, a measure which was an absolute +necessity and which was to be executed on the next morning. + +The first work for Eblé’s pontooneers was now to clear the avenues of +the bridges from the mass of the dead, men and horses, of demolished +wagons, and of all sorts of impediments. This task could be +accomplished only in part; the mass of cadavers was too great for the +time given for the removal of all of them, and those who crossed had to +walk over flesh and blood. + +In the night, from 9 o’clock to midnight, Marshal Victor crossed the +Beresina, thereby exposing himself to the enemy, who, however, was too +tired to think of fighting. He brought his artillery over the left +bridge, his infantry over the right one, and with the exception of the +wounded and two pieces of artillery, all his men and all his material +safely reached the other side. The crossing accomplished, he erected a +battery to hold the Russians in check and to prevent them from crossing +the bridges. + +There remained several thousand stragglers and fugitives on this side +of the Beresina who could have crossed during the night but had refused +to do so. Napoleon had given orders to destroy the bridges at daybreak +and had sent word to General Eblé and Marshal Victor to employ all +means in order to hasten the passage of those unfortunates. General +Eblé, accompanied by some officers, himself went to their bivouacs and +implored them to flee, emphasizing that he was going to destroy the +bridges. But it was in vain; lying comfortably on straw or branches +around great fires, devouring horse meat, they were afraid of the +crowding on the bridge during the night, they hesitated to give up a +sure bivouac for an uncertain one, they feared that the frost, which +was very severe, would kill them in their enfeebled condition. + +Napoleon’s orders to General Eblé was to destroy the bridges at 7 +o’clock in the morning of November 29th., but this noble man, as humane +as he was brave, hesitated. He had been awake that night, the sixth of +these vigils in succession, incessantly trying to accelerate the +passing of the bridge; with daybreak, however, there was no need any +more to stimulate the unfortunates, they all were only too anxious now. +They all ran when the enemy became visible on the heights. + +Eblé had waited till 8 o’clock when the order for the destruction of +the bridges was repeated to him, and in sight of the approaching enemy +it was his duty not to lose one moment. However, trusting to the +artillery of Victor, he still tried to save some people. His soul +suffered cruelly during this time of hesitation to execute an order the +necessity of which he knew only too well. Finally, having waited until +almost 9 o’clock when the enemy approached on the double quick, he +decided with broken heart, turning his eyes away from the frightful +scene, to set fire to the structures. Those unfortunates who were on +the bridges threw themselves into the water, every one made a supreme +effort to escape the Cossacks or captivity, which latter they feared +more than death. + +The Cossacks came up galloping, thrusting their lances into the midst +of the crowd; they killed some, gathered the others, and drove them +forward, like a herd of sheep, toward the Russian army. It is not +exactly known if there were 6 thousand, 7 thousand or 8 thousand +individuals, men, women, and children, who were taken by the Cossacks. + +The army was profoundly affected by this spectacle and nobody more so +than General Eblé who, in devoting himself to the salvation of all, +could well say that he was the savior of all who had not perished or +been taken prisoner in the days of the Beresina. Of the 50 thousand, +armed or unarmed, who had crossed there was not a single one who did +not owe his life and liberty to him and his pontooneers. But the 400 +pontooneers who had worked in the water, paid with their lives for this +noblest deed in the history of wars; they all died within a short time. +General Eblé survived his act of bravery only three weeks; he died in +Koenigsberg on the 21st. day of December, 1812. + +This is an incomplete sketch of the immortal event of the Beresina, +full of psychological interest and therefore fit to be inserted in the +medical history of Napoleon’s campaign in Russia. + +To a miraculous accident, the arrival of Corbineau, the noble +devotedness of Eblé, the desperate resistance of Victor and his +soldiers, to the energy of Oudinot, Ney, Legrand, Maison, Zayonchek, +Doumerc, and, finally, to his own sure and profound decision, his +recognition of the true steps to be taken, Napoleon owed the +possibility that he could escape after a bloody scene, the most +humiliating, the most crushing disaster. + + + + +TWO EPISODES + + +Surgeon Huber of the Wuerttembergians, writes to his friend, Surgeon +Henri de Roos, who settled in Russia after the campaign of 1812, how he +crossed the Beresina, and in this connection he describes the following +dreadful episode: + +“A young woman of twenty-five, the wife of a French colonel killed a +few days before in one of the engagements, was near me, within a short +distance of the bridge we were to cross. Oblivious of all that went on +about her, she seemed wholly engrossed in her daughter, a beautiful +child of four, that she held in the saddle before her. She made several +unsuccessful attempts to cross the bridge and was driven back every +time, at which she seemed overwhelmed with blank despair. She did not +weep; she would gaze heavenward, then fix her eyes upon her daughter, +and once I heard her say: ‘O God, how wretched I am, I cannot even +pray!’ Almost at the same moment a bullet struck her horse and another +one penetrated her left thigh above the knee. With the deliberation of +mute despair she took up the child that was crying, kissed it again and +again; then, using the blood-stained garter removed from her fractured +limb, she strangled the poor little thing and sat down with it, wrapped +in her arms and hugged close to her bosom, beside her fallen horse. +Thus she awaited her end, without uttering a single word, and before +long she was trampled down by the riders making for the bridge.” + +The great surgeon Larrey tells how he nearly perished at the crossing +of the Beresina, how he went over the bridge twice to save his +equipment and surgical instruments, and how he was vainly attempting to +break through the crowd on the third trip, when, at the mention of his +name, every one proffered assistance, and he was carried along by +soldier after soldier to the end of the bridge. + +He has related the incident in a letter to his wife, dated from +Leipzig, March 11th., 1813. “Ribes,” says he—Ribes was one of +Napoleon’s physicians—“was right when he said that in the midst of the +army, and especially of the Imperial guard, I could not lose my life. +Indeed, I owe my life to the soldiers. Some of them flew to my rescue +when the Cossacks surrounded me and would have killed or taken me +prisoner. Others hastened to lift me and help me on when I sank in the +snow from physical exhaustion. Others, again, seeing me suffer from +hunger, gave me such provisions as they had; while as soon as I joined +their bivouac they would all make room and cover me with straw or with +their own clothes.” + +At Larrey’s name, all the soldiers would rise and cheer with a friendly +respect. + +“Any one else in my place,” writes Larrey further, “would have perished +on the bridge of the Beresina, crossing it as I was doing, for the +third time and at the most dangerous moment. But no sooner did they +recognize me than they grasped me with a vigorous hold, and sent me +along from hand to hand, like a bundle of clothes, to the end of the +bridge.” + + + + +WILNA + + +The threatening barrier had been surmounted, and on went the march to +Wilna, without any possibility of a day’s rest, because the miserable +remainder of the French army was still followed by light Russian +troops. + +During the first days after the crossing of the Beresina the supply of +food had improved, it was better indeed than at any time during the +retreat. They passed through villages which had not suffered from the +war, in which the barns were well filled with grain and with feed for +the horses, and there lived rich Jews who could sell whatever the +soldiers needed. Unfortunately, however, this improved condition lasted +only a few days, from November 30th. to December 4th., and before Wilna +was reached the want was felt again and made itself felt the more on +account of the most intense cold which had set in. + +During the few good days the soldiers had eaten roast pork, and all +kinds of vegetables, in consequence their weakened digestive tract had +been overtaxed so that diarrhoea became prevalent, a most frightful +condition during a march on the road, with a temperature of 25 deg. +below zero, Reaumur (about 25 deg. below zero, Fahrenheit). + +The 6th. of December was a frightful day, although the cold had not yet +reached its climax which happened on the 7th. and 8th. of December, +namely 28 deg. below zero, Reaumur (31 degrees below zero, Fahrenheit). + +[Illustration: “The Gate of Wilna.”] + +Holzhausen gives a graphic description of the supernatural silence +which reigned and which reminded of the silence in the arctic regions. +There was not the slightest breeze, the snowflakes fell vertically, +crystal-clear, the snow blinded the eyes, the sun appeared like a red +hot ball with a halo, the sign of greatest cold. + +The details of the descriptions which Holzhausen has collected from old +papers surpass by far all we have learned from von Scherer’s and +Beaupré’s writings. And all that Holzhausen relates is verified by +names of absolute reliability; it verifies the accounts of the two +authors named. + +General von Roeder, one of the noblest of the German officers in +Napoleon’s army—a facsimile of one of his letters is given in +Holzhausen’s book—says about the murderous 7th. of December: “Pilgrims +of the Grand Army, who had withstood many a severe frost indeed, +dropped like flies, and of those who were well nourished, well +clothed—many of these being of the reserve corps having but recently +come from Wilna to join the retreating army,—countless numbers fell +exactly like the old exhausted warriors who had dragged themselves from +Moscow to this place.” + +The reserve troops of which Roeder speaks were the division Loison, the +last great body of men that had followed the army. They had been in +Koenigsberg and had marched from there to Wilna during the month of +November, had remained in the latter place until December 4th., when +they were sent to protect the retreating soldiers and the Emperor +himself, on leaving the wreck of his once grand army at Smorgoni on +December 5th. + +These troops who thus far had not sustained any hardships, came +directly from the warm quarters of Wilna into the terrible cold. + +It was quite frightful, says Roeder, to see these men, who a moment +before had been talking quite lively, drop dead as if struck by +lightning. + +D. Geissler, a Weimaranian surgeon, renders a similar report and adds +that in some cases these victims suffered untold agonies before they +died. + +Lieutenant Jacobs states that some said good bye to their comrades and +laid down along the road to die, that others acted like maniacs, cursed +their fate, fell down, rose again, and fell down once more, never to +rise again. Cases like the latter have been described also by First +Lieutenant von Schauroth. + +Under these circumstances, says Holzhausen, it appears almost +incomprehensible that there were men who withstood a misery which +surpassed all human dimensions. And still there were such; who by +manfully bearing these sufferings, set to others a good example; there +were whole troops who, to protect others in pertinacious rear guard +fights, opposed the on-pressing enemy. + +Wonderful examples of courage and self-denial gave some women, the wife +of a Sergeant-Major Martens, who had followed the army, and a Mrs. +Basler, who was always active, preparing some food while her husband +with others was lying exhausted at the camp fire, and who seldom spoke, +never complained. This poor woman lost a son, a drummer boy, who had +been wounded at Smolensk. She as well as her husband perished in Wilna. + +Sergeant Toenges dragged a blind comrade along—I shall not leave him, +he said. Grenadiers, sitting around a fire, had pity on him and tried +to relieve his sufferings. Many such examples are enumerated in +Holzhausen’s book. + +Our highest admiration is due to the conduct of the brave troops of the +rear guard who fought the Russians, who sacrificed themselves for the +sake of the whole, and, like at Krasnoe and at the Beresina, for their +disbanded comrades. + +The rearguard was at first commanded by Ney, then, after the 3rd. of +December, by Marshal Victor; after the dissolution of Victor’s corps at +Smorgoni and Krapowna, by Loison and, finally, near Wilna, by Wrede +with his Bavarians. + +Count Hochberg has given a classical description of the life in the +rear guard; it is the most elevating description of greatness, of human +magnanimity, and it fills us with admiration for the noble, the brave +soldier. + +Interesting is the engagement at Malodeszno. A certain spell hangs over +this fight; here perished two Saxon regiments that had gloriously +fought at the Beresina. + +The scene was a romantic park with the castle of Count Oginsky where +Napoleon had had his headquarters on the preceding day, and from where +he dated his for ever memorable 29th. bulletin in which he told the +world the ruin of his army. + +Toward 2 o’clock in the afternoon the enemy attacked the division of +Girard who was supported by Count Hochberg. Then the Russians attacked +the park itself. The situation was very serious, because the Badensian +troops under Hochberg had only a few cartridges and could not properly +answer the fire of the enemy. Night came, and the darkness, writes a +Badensian sergeant, was of great advantage to us, for the Russians +stood against a very small number, the proportion being one battalion +to 100 men. Count Hochberg led his brigade, attacking with the bayonet, +and nearly became a victim of his courage. The Badensian troops drove +the enemy away, but they themselves received the death blow. Count +Hochberg said he had no soldiers left whom he could command. + +And now it was the division Loison which formed the rear guard. + +On the 5th. of December this division had come to Smorgoni where +Napoleon took leave from his marshals and from his army, after he had +entrusted Murat with the command. + +The division Loison, during the eventful night from December 5th. to +6th., had rendered great services. Without the presence of Loison’s +soldiers Napoleon would have fallen into the hands of his enemies, and +the wheel of the history of the world would have taken a different +turn. + +Dr. Geissler describes Napoleon, whom he saw at a few paces’ distance +on the day of his departure, and he writes “the personality of this +extraordinary man, his physiognomy with the stamp of supreme +originality, the remembrance of his powerful deeds by which he moved +the world during his time, carried us away in involuntary admiration. +Was not the voice which we heard the same which resounded all over +Europe, which declared wars, decided battles, regulated the fate of +empires, elevated or extinguished the glory of so many.” + +It may appear strange that in a medical history I record these details, +but I give them because they show how the personality of Napoleon had +retained its magic influence even in that critical moment. + +The soldiers wanted to salute him with their _Vive l’Empereur_! but, in +consideration of the assumed incognito of the Imperator without an +army, it was interdicted. + +Up to this day Napoleon has been blamed for his step, to leave the +army. At the Beresina he had refused with pride the offer of some Poles +to take him over the river and to bring him safely to Wilna. Now there +was nothing more to save of the army, and other duties called him +peremptorily away. If we study well the situation, the complications +which had arisen from the catastrophe and which were to arise in the +following year, we must in justice to him admit that he was obliged to +go in order to create another army. + +It is not a complete history which I am writing; otherwise it would be +my duty to speak of the deep impression, the dramatic effect, which +Napoleon’s departure had made on his soldiers. In presenting somewhat +extensively some details of those days I simply wished to show who they +were and how many brave men there were who had been spared for the +atrocities of Wilna. + +If I were to do justice to the voluminous material before me of the +bravery of the soldiers on their march from the Beresina to Wilna I +would have to write a whole book on this part of the history alone. + + * * * * * + +Once more the hope of the unfortunates should be disappointed in a most +cruel way. They knew of fresh troops and of rich magazines in Wilna. +But only 2 thousand men were left of the Loison division, not enough to +defend the place against the enemy whose coming was to be expected. + +The provisions, however, were stored in the magazines, and there were, +according to French accounts, forty day rations of bread, flour and +crackers for 100 thousand men, cattle for 36 days, 9 million rations of +wine and brandy; in addition, vegetables and food for horses, as well +as clothing in abundance. + +Unfortunately, the governor of Wilna, the Duke of Bassano, was only a +diplomat, entirely incompetent to handle the situation, which required +military talent. + +Unfortunate had also been Napoleon’s choice of Murat. On August 31st, +1817, he said in conversation with Gourgaud, “I have made a great +mistake in entrusting Murat with the highest command of the army, +because he was the most incompetent man to act successfully under such +circumstances.” + +No preparations were made for the entering troops, no quarters had been +assigned for them when they came. + +And they came on the 9th; most horrible details have been recorded of +this day when the disbanded mass crowded the gate. + +Wilna was not only not in ruins, but it was the only large city which +had not been abandoned by its inhabitants. But these inhabitants shut +their doors before the entering soldiers. Only some officers and some +Germans, the latter among the families of German mechanics, found an +abode in the houses. Some Poles were hospitable, also some Lithuanians, +and even the Jews. + +All writers complain of the avidity and cruelty of the latter; they +mixed among the soldiers to obtain whatever they had saved from the +pillage of Moscow. These Jews had everything the soldier was in need +of, bread and brandy, delicacies and even horses and sleighs; in their +restaurants all who had money or valuables could be accommodated. And +these places were crowded with soldiers who feasted at the well +supplied tables, and even hilarity developed among these men saved from +the ice fields of Russia. During the night every space was occupied as +a resting place. + +While those who could afford it enjoyed all the good things of which +they had been deprived so long, the poor soldiers in the streets were +in great misery. The doors being shut, they entered the houses by force +and illtreated the inhabitants who on the next day took a bitter +revenge. + +Even the rich magazines had remained closed, tedious formalities had to +be observed, the carrying out of which was an impossibility since the +whole army was disbanded. No regiment had kept together, no detachment +could be selected to present vouchers for receiving rations. + +Lieutenant Jacobs gives an illustration of the condition: “Orders had +been given to receive rations for four days. Colonel von Egloffstein in +the evening of the 9th sent Lieutenant Jacobs with 100 men to the bread +magazine to secure as much as possible, and as this magazine was at +some distance, and as Cossacks had already entered the city, he ordered +25 armed men to accompany the hundred, who, naturally enough, were not +armed. The commissary of the magazine refused to hand out bread without +a written order of the commissaire-ordonateur; the lieutenant therefore +notified him that he would take by force what he needed for his +regiment. And with his 25 carabiniers he had to fight for the bread.” + +Finally the pressing need led to violence. During the night of the +10th. the desperate soldiers, aided by inhabitants, broke into the +magazines, at first into those containing clothing, then they opened +the provision stores, throwing flour bags and loaves of bread into the +street where the masses fought for these missiles. And when the liquor +depots were broken into, the crowd forced its way in with howls. They +broke the barrels, and wild orgies took place until the building took +fire and many of the revelers became the victims of the flames. + +While this pillaging went on the market place of Wilna was the scene of +events not less frightful. A detachment of Loison’s division, obedient +to their duty, had congregated there, stacked arms and, in order to +warm themselves to the best of their ability—the temperature was 30 +deg. below zero R. (37 deg. below zero F.)—and to thaw the frozen +bread, had lighted a fire. I cannot describe the fight among these +soldiers for single pieces of bread; they were too horrid. + +This night ended, and in the morning the cannon was heard again. + +An early attack had been expected, and perspicacious officers had taken +advantage of the few hours of rest to urge their men to prepare for the +last march to the near frontier. Count Hochberg implored his officers +to follow this advice, but the fatigues and sickness they had +undergone, their frozen limbs and the threat of greater misery, made +most of them refuse to heed his entreaties. Thus Hochberg lost 74 of +his best and most useful officers who remained in Wilna and died there. +Similar attempts were made in other quarters. Many of those addressed +laughed sneeringly. This sneering I shall never forget, says Lieutenant +von Hailbronner, who escaped while the enemy was entering. Death on the +road to Kowno was easier, after all, than dying slowly in the hospitals +of Wilna. + +On the 10th., in the morning, the Russians entered, and the Cossacks +ran their lances through every one in their way. + +There were fights in the streets, the troops of the division Loison +fought the Russians. + +[Illustration] + +Old Sergeant Picart, of the old guard, on hearing the drum, struck his +comrade Bourgogne, the writer of some memoirs of the campaign, on the +shoulder, saying: “Forward, comrade, we are of the old guard, we must +be the first under arms.” And Bourgogne went along, although sick and +wounded. + +German and French bravery vied with each other on the 10th. of +December. Ney and Loison along with Wrede. The latter, on the day +previous, had come to the house of the marshal to offer him a small +escort of cavalry if he would leave Wilna. Ney pointing to the mass of +soldiers who had to be protected, answered: “All the Cossacks in the +world shall not bring me out of this city to-night.” + +Ney and Wrede left with their troops. + +Woe to those who had remained, their number was about 10 thousand, +besides 5 thousand sick in the hospitals. + +According to Roeder, 500 were murdered in the streets on this day, +partly by Cossacks, partly by Jews, the latter revenging themselves for +ill treatment. + +All reports, and they are numerous, of Germans, French and also +Russians, speak of the cruelty of the Jews of Wilna. We must not +forget, however, the provocations under which they had to suffer, nor +how they, in supplying soldiers with eatables and clothing, saved many +who otherwise would have perished. + +Von Lossberg says that Christian people of Wilna have also taken part +in the massacre, and only the Poles did not participate. + +The Cossacks began their bloody work early in the morning. + +Awful cries of the tortured were heard in the Wuerttembergian hospital, +telling the sick who were lying there what they themselves had to +expect from the entering enemies. + +Those who had remained in Smolensk and Moscow after the armed soldiers +had departed were at once massacred. In Wilna likewise many were +murdered, but the greater number—many thousands—(other circumstances +did not permit to do away with all these prisoners in the same way) +perished after days or weeks of sickness and privations of all kind. + +Wilna’s convents could tell of it if their walls could speak. + +Dr. Geissler narrates that the prisoners in the Basilius monastery into +which soldiers of all nationalities had been driven, during 13 days +received only a little hardtack, but neither wood nor a drop of water; +they had to quench their thirst with the snow which covered the corpses +in the yard. + +The Englishman Wilson, of whom I have spoken already, who had come to +Wilna with Kutusow’s army, says: “The Basilius monastery, transformed +into a prison, offered a terrible sight—7,500 corpses were piled up in +the corridors, and corpses were also in other parts of the building, +the broken windows and the holes in the walls were plugged with feet, +legs, hands, heads, trunks, just as they would fit in the openings to +keep out the cold air. The putrefying flesh spread a terrible stench.” + +(Carpon, a French Surgeon-Major who was with the army in Wilna, has +described the events in a paper “_Les Morts de Wilna_”. I cannot quote +from his writings because he gives impossible statistics and +contradicts himself in his narrations.) + +Yelin speaks of a hospital in which all the inmates had been murdered +by the Cossacks. He himself was in a Wuerttembergian hospital and +describes his experience: “Terrible was the moment when the door was +burst open. The monsters came in and distributed themselves all over +the house. We gave them all we had and implored them on our knees to +have pity, but all in vain. ‘Schelma Franzuski,’ they answered, at the +same time they beat us with their kantchous, kicked us unmercifully +with their feet, and as new Cossacks came in all the time, we were +finally deprived of all our clothing and beaten like dogs. Even the +bandages of the poor wounded were torn off in search of hidden money or +valuables. Lieutenant Kuhn (a piece of his cranium had been torn away +at Borodino) was searched; he fell down like dead and it took a long +time and much pain to bring him to life again.” + +Lieutenant von Soden was beaten with hellish cruelty on his sore feet +and gangraenous toes so that they bled. When nothing more could be +found on the sick and wounded they were left lying on the stone floor. + +There was no idea of medicine. + +The cold in the rooms was so great that hands and feet of many were +frozen. + +Sometimes prisoners shaking with frost would sneak out at night to find +a little wood. Some Westphalians who had tried this were beaten to +death. + +Some of the prisoners were literally eaten up by lice. + +Those who did not die of their wounds, of filth, and of misery, were +carried away by petechial typhus which had developed into a violent +epidemic in Wilna, and several thousand of the citizens, among them +many Jews, succumbed to the ravages of this disease. + +One witness writes: “Little ceremony was observed in disposing of the +dead; every morning I heard how those who had died during the night +were thrown down the stairs or over the balcony into the yard, and by +counting these sinister sounds of falling bodies we knew how many had +died during the night.” + +The brutality of the guards was beyond description. First Lieutenant +von Grolman, one of the most highly educated officers of the Badensian +contingent, was thrown down the stairway because this (seriously +wounded) officer had disturbed the inspector during the latter’s +leisure hour. + +Beating with the kantchou was nothing unusual. + +A Weimaranian musician, Theuss, has described some guileful tortures +practiced on the prisoners, which are so revolting that I dare not +write them. They are given in Holzhausen’s book. + +In their despair the prisoners, especially the officers among them, +sent petitions to Duke Alexander of Wuerttemberg, to the Tzar, to the +Grand Duke Constantine, and to the Ladies of the Russian Court. The +Tzar and his brother Constantine came and visited the hospitals. They +were struck by what they saw, and ordered relief. Officers were +permitted to walk about the city, and many obtained quarters in private +houses. Those who could not yet leave the gloomy wards of the hospitals +were better cared for. + +It is touching to read Yelin’s narration how the emaciated arms of +those in the hospitals were stretched out when their comrades, +returning from a promenade in the city, brought them a few apples. + +As they were no longer guarded as closely as before, many succeeded in +escaping. Captain Roeder was one of them; Yelin was offered aid to +flee, but he remained because he had given his word of honor to remain. + +But most of these favors came too late, only one tenth were left that +could be saved, the others had succumbed to their sufferings or died +from typhus. + +A pestilential odor filled Wilna. Heaps of cadavers were burnt and when +this was found to be too expensive, thrown into the Wilia. Few of the +higher officers were laid at rest in the cemetery, among them General +von Roeder who as long as he was able had tried everything in his power +to ameliorate the condition of his soldiers. Holzhausen brings the +facsimile of a letter of his, dated Wilna, December 30th., to the King +of Wuerttemberg which proves his care for his soldiers. He died on +January 6th., 1813. + + + + +FROM WILNA TO KOWNO + + +While the prisoners of Wilna were suffering these nameless cruelties, +the unfortunate army marched to reach the border of Russia at Kowno, +the same Kowno where the Grand Army six months before had been seen in +all its military splendor, crossing the Niemen. + +They had now to march 75 miles, a three days’ march to arrive there. + +The conditions were about the same as those on the march from the +Beresina to Wilna. Still the same misery, frost, and hunger, scenes of +murder, fire. The description of the details would in general be a +repetition, with little variation. + +The following is an account of the last days of the retreat taken from +a letter of Berthier to the Emperor. + +When the army entered Wilna on December 8th., almost all the men were +chilled by cold, and despite the commands of Murat and Berthier, +despite the fact that the Russians were at the gates, both officers and +soldiers kept to their quarters and refused to march. + +However, on the 10th, the march upon Kowno was begun. But the extreme +cold and the excess of snow completed the rout of the army. The final +disbanding occurred on the 10th, and 11th., only a struggling column +remained, extending along the road, strewn with corpses, setting out at +daybreak to halt at night in utter confusion. In fact, there was no +army left. How could it have subsisted with 25 degrees of cold? The +onslaught, alas, was not of the foe, but of the harshest and severest +of seasons fraught with crippling effect and untold suffering. + +Berthier, as well as Murat, would have wished to remain in Kowno +through the 12th., but the disorder was extreme. Houses were pillaged +and sacked, half the town was burned down, the Niemen was being crossed +at all points, and it was impossible to stem the tide of fugitives. An +escort was barely available for the protection of the King of Naples, +the generals, and the Imperial eagles. And all amidst the cold, the +intense cold, stupefying and benumbing! + +Four fifths of the army—or what bore the name of such, though reduced +to a mere conglomeration and bereft of fighting men—had frozen limbs; +and when Koenigsberg was reached, in a state of complete +disorganisation, the surgeons were constantly employed in amputating +fingers and toes. + +Dr. W. Zelle, a German military surgeon, in his book “1812” describes +the last days of the army. Kowno was occupied by a considerable force +of artillery, with two German battalions, and it contained also very +large supplies, a great deal of ammunition, provisions, clothing, and +arms of various kinds. About an hour’s march from Wilna the retreating +masses encountered the hill and defile of Ponary and it was at this +point where the imperial treasure, so far conscientiously guarded by +German troops from Baden and Wuerttemberg, was lost. When the leaders +of the treasure became convinced of the impossibility to save it, the +jaded horses not being able after 15 hours’ effort to climb the ice +covered hill, they had the wagons opened, the money chests broken, and +the coin surrendered to the soldiers. + +The sight of the gold brought new life even to the half frozen ones; +they threw away their arms and were so greedy in loading themselves +down with the mammon that many of them did not notice the approaching +Cossacks until it was too late. Friend and foe, Frenchmen and Russians +pillaged the wagons. Honor, money, and what little had remained of +discipline, all was lost at this point. + +However, side by side with these outrages, noble deeds could also be +recorded. Numerous wagons with wounded officers had to be abandoned, +the horses being too weak to take another step, and many of the +soldiers disregarded everything to save these unfortunates, carrying +them away on their shoulders. An adjutant of the emperor, Count +Turenne, distributed the private treasure of the emperor among the +soldiers of the Old Guard, and not one of these faithful men kept any +of the money for himself. All was honestly returned later on, and more +than 6 millions of francs reached Danzig safely. + +The retreat during these scenes and the following days, when the +terrible cold caused more victims from hour to hour, was still covered +by Ney whose iron constitution defied all hardships. From five until +ten at night he personally checked the advance of the enemy, during the +night he marched, driving all stragglers before him. From seven in the +morning until ten the rear guard rested, after which time they +continued the daily fight. + +His Bavarians numbered 260 on December 11th., 150 on the 17th. and on +the 13th. the last 20 were taken prisoners. The corps had disappeared. +The remainder of Loison’s division and the garrison of Wilna diminished +in the same manner until, finally, the rear guard consisted of only 60 +men. + +[Illustration] + +What was left of the army reached Kowno on the 12th, after a long, +tedious march, dying of cold and hunger. In Kowno there was an +abundance of clothes, flour, and spirits. But the unrestrained soldiers +broke the barrels, so that the spilled liquor formed a lake in the +market place. The soldiers threw themselves down and by the hundreds +drank until they were intoxicated. More than 1200 drunken men reeled +through the streets, dropped drowsily upon the icy stones or into the +snow, their sleep soon passing into death. Of the entire corps of +Eugene there remained only eight or ten officers with the prince. Only +one day more (the 13th.) was the powerful Ney able, with the two German +battalions of the garrison, to check the Cossacks, vigorously supported +by the indefatigable generals, Gerard and Wrede. Not until the 14th., +at 9 o’clock at night, did he begin to retreat, with the last of the +men, after having destroyed the bridges over the Wilia and the Niemen. +Always fighting, receding but not fleeing, his person formed the rear +guard of this Grand Army which five months previous crossed the river +at this very point, now, on the 14th, consisting of only 500 foot +guards, 600 horse guards, and nine cannon. + +It is nobody but Ney who still represents the Grand Army, who fires the +last shot before he, the last Frenchman, crosses the bridge over the +Niemen, which is blown up behind him. If we look upon the knightly +conduct of Ney during the entire campaign we cannot but think how much +greater he was than the heroes of Homer. + +This man has demonstrated to the world upon this most terrible of all +retreats that even fate is not able to subdue an imperturbable courage, +that even the greatest adversity redounds to the glory of a hero. + +More than a thousand times did Ney earn in Russia the epithet, “the +bravest of the brave,” and the legend which French tradition has woven +around his person is quite justified. No mortal has ever performed such +deeds of indomitable moral courage; all other heroes and exploits +vanish in comparison! + +Here, at the Niemen, the pursuit by the Russians came to an end for the +time being. They, too, had suffered enormously. + +Not less than 18 thousand Russians were sick in Wilna; Kutusoff’s army +was reduced to 35 thousand men, that of Wittgenstein from 50 thousand +to 15 thousand. The entire Russian army, including the garrison of +Riga, numbered not more than 100 thousand. The winter, this terrible +ally of the Russians, exacted a high price for the assistance it had +rendered them; of 10 thousand men who left the interior, well provided +with all necessities, only 1700 reached Wilna; the troops of cavalry +did not number more than 20 men. + +In all the literature which I have examined I did not find a better +description of the life and the struggle of the soldiers on the retreat +than that given by General Heinrich von Brandt of his march from Zembin +to Wilna. It is a vivid picture of many details from which we derive a +full understanding of the great misery on the retreat in general. + +I shall give an extensive extract in his own words: + +“We arrived late at Zembin, where we found many bivouac fires. It was +very cold. Here and there around the fires were lying dead soldiers. + +“After a short rest, which had given us some new strength, we continued +the march. If the stragglers arrive, we said to ourselves, we shall be +lost; therefore, let us hurry and keep ahead of them. Our little column +kept well together, but at every halt some men were missing. Toward +daybreak the cold became more severe. While it was dark yet, we met a +file of gunpowder carts carrying wounded; from a number of these +vehicles we heard heart-rending clamors of some of the wounded asking +us to give them death. + +“At every moment we encountered dead or dying comrades, officers and +soldiers, who were sitting on the road, exhausted from fatigue, +awaiting their end. The sun rose blood-red; the cold was frightful. We +stopped near a village where bivouac fires were burning. Around these +fires were grouped living and dead soldiers. We lodged ourselves as +well as we could and took from those who had retired from the scene of +life—apparently during their sleep—anything that could be of service to +us. I for my part helped myself to a pot in which I melted snow to make +a soup from some bread crusts which I had in my pocket. We all relished +this soup. + +“After an hour’s rest we resumed our march and about 30 hours after our +departure we reached Plechtchenissi. During this time we had made 25 +miles. At Plechtchenissi we found, at a kind of farm, sick, wounded and +dead, all lying pell-mell. There was no room for us in the house; we +were obliged to camp outside, but great fires compensated us for the +want of shelter. + +“We decided to rest during part of the night. While some of the +soldiers roasted slices of horse meat and others prepared oatmeal cakes +from oats which they had found in the village, we tried to sleep. But +the frightful scenes through which we had passed kept us excited, and +sleep would not come. + +“Toward 1 o’clock in the morning we left for Molodetchno. The cold was +frightful. Our way was marked by the light of the bivouac fires which +were seen at intervals and by cadavers of men and horses lying +everywhere, and as the moon and the stars were out we could see them +well. Our column became smaller all the while, officers and men +disappeared without our noticing their departure, without our knowing +where they had fallen behind; and the cold increased constantly. When +we stopped at some bivouac fire it seemed to us as if we were among the +dead; nobody stirred, only occasionally would one or the other of those +sitting around raise his head, look upon us with glassy eyes, rest +again, probably never to rise again. What made the march during that +night especially disagreeable was the icy wind whipping our faces. +Toward 8 o’clock in the morning we perceived a church tower. That is +Molodetchno, we all cried with one voice. But to our disappointment we +learned on our arrival that it was only Iliya, and that we were only +half-way to Molodetchno. + +“Iliya was not completely deserted by the inhabitants, but the troops +that had passed through it before us had left almost nothing eatable in +the place. We found abode in some houses and for a while were protected +from the cold which was by no means abating. In the farm of which we +took possession we found a warm room and a good litter, which we owed +to our predecessors. + +“It was strange that none of us could sleep; we all were in a state of +feverish excitement, and I attribute this to an indistinct fear; once +asleep we might perhaps not awake again, as we had seen it happen a +thousand times. + +“The longer we remained at Iliya the more comfortable we felt, and we +decided to stay there all day and wait for news. Soup of buckwheat, a +large pot of boiled corn, some slices of roast horse meat, although all +without salt, formed a meal which we thought delicious.” + +Von Brandt describes how they took off their garments, or their +wrappings which served as garments, to clean and repair them; how some +of his men found leather with which they enveloped their feet. The day +and the night passed, and all had some sleep. But they had to leave. + +“Some of the men refused to go; one of them when urged to come along +said: ‘Captain, let me die here; we all are to perish, a few days +sooner or later is of no consequence.’ He was wounded, but not +seriously, a bullet had passed through his arm; it was a kind of apathy +which had come over him, and he could not be persuaded. He remained and +probably died. + +“We left; the cold was almost unbearable. Along the road we found +bivouacs, at which one detachment relieved the other; the succeeding +surpassing the preceding one in misery and distress. Everywhere, on the +road and in the bivouacs, the dead were lying, most of them stripped of +their clothes. + +“It was imperative to keep moving, for remaining too long at the +bivouac fires meant death, and dangerous was it also to remain behind, +separated from the troop. (The danger of being alone under such +circumstances as existed here has been pointed out by Beaupré.) + +“We marched to Molodetchno where the great road commences and where we +expected some amelioration, and, indeed, we found it. The everlasting +cold was now the principal cause of our sufferings. + +“In the village there was some kind of order; we saw many soldiers +bearing arms and of a general good appearance. The houses were not all +deserted, neither were they as overcrowded as in other places through +which we had passed. We established ourselves in some of them situated +on the road to Smorgoni, and we had reason to be satisfied with our +choice. We bought bread at an enormous price, made soup of it which +tasted very good to us, and we had plenty for all of us. + +“At Molodetchno men of our division joined us and brought us the news +of the crossing of the Beresina.” + +von Brandt gives the description of the events at the Beresina and +tells of the historical significance of Molodetchno as the place where +Napoleon sojourned 18 hours and from where he dated the 29th. bulletin. + +“We left the village on the following morning at an early hour and +continued our march on the road to Smorgoni. + +“A description of this march,” writes von Brandt, “would only be a +repetition of what had been said of scenes of preceding days. We were +overtaken by a snowstorm the violence of which surpassed all +imagination, fortunately this violence lasted only some hours, but on +account of it our little column became dispersed. + +“One bivouac left an impression of horror to last for all my lifetime. +In a village crowded with soldiers we came to a fire which was burning +quite lively, around it were lying some dead. We were tired; it was +late, and we decided to rest there. We removed the corpses to make room +for the living and arranged ourselves the best way we could. A fence +against which the snow had drifted protected us from the north wind. +Many who passed by envied us this good place. Some stopped for a while, +others tried to establish themselves near us. Gradually the fatigue +brought sleep to some of us; the stronger ones brought wood to keep up +the fire. But it snowed constantly; after one had warmed one side of +the body an effort was made to warm the other; after one foot had been +warmed the other was brought near the flame; a complete rest was +impossible. At daybreak we prepared to depart. Thirteen men of our +troop, all wounded, did not answer the roll call. My heart pained. + +[Illustration: “No fear, we soon shall follow you.”] + +“We had to pass in front of the fence which had given us protection +against the wind during the night. Imagine our surprise when we saw +that what we had taken for a fence was a pile of corpses which our +predecessors had heaped one upon the other. These dead were men of all +countries, Frenchmen, Swiss, Italians, Poles, Germans, as we could +distinguish by their uniforms. Most of them had their arms extended as +if they had been stretching themselves. ‘Look, Captain,’ said one of +the soldiers, ‘they stretch their hands out to us; ah, no fear, we soon +shall follow you.’ + +“We were soon to have another horrid sight. In a village, many houses +of which had been burnt, there were the ghastly remains of burnt +corpses, and in one building, especially, there was a large number of +such infesting the air with their stench. A repetition of scenes I had +seen at Saragossa and at Smolensk.” + +“At sunset we arrived at Smorgoni, and here we enjoyed great comfort. +It was the first place where we could obtain something for money. From +an old Jewess we bought bread, rice, and also a little coffee, all at +reasonable prices. It was the first cup of coffee I had had for months, +and it invigorated me very much.” + +“We were young, and our good humor had soon been restored to us; it +made us forget, for the time being at least, how much we had suffered, +and at this moment we did not think of the suffering yet in store for +us.” + +“We left for Ochmiana; our march was tedious. Again we encountered a +great many dead strewn on the road; many of them had died from cold; +some still had their arms, young men, well dressed, their cloaks, +shoes, and socks, however, were taken from them. Half way to Ochmiana +we took a rest at a bivouac which had been evacuated quite recently.” + +“The night we passed here was fearful. I had an inflamed foot, and felt +a burning pain under the arms which caused me great difficulty in the +use of my crutches. Fortunately I found a place on which a fire had +been burning, and I was not obliged to sleep on the snow. The soldiers +kept up a fire all night, and I had a good and invigorating sleep, in +consequence of which I could take up the march on the following day, +with new courage and zeal.” + +“Toward 11 o’clock we arrived, together with a mass of fugitives, at +Ochmiana. Before entering the city we encountered a convoy of +provisions, escorted by a young Mecklenburg officer, Lieutenant +Rudloff, who some years later served as a Prussian general. He made an +attempt to defend his sleighs, but in vain. The crowd surrounded him +and his convoy and pushed in such a manner that neither he nor his men +were able to stir. The sleighs, carrying excellent biscuits, were +pillaged. I myself gathered some in the snow, and I can well say that +they saved my life until we reached Wilna.” + +“Arrived at Ochmiana we at once continued our march upon Miednicki.” + +“The city was occupied by a crowd of disbanded soldiers—marauders who +had established themselves everywhere. It was only with difficulty that +we found some sort of lodging in a kind of pavilion which was icy and +had no chimneys. However, we managed to heat it and arranged litter for +20 men. With bread and biscuit brought from Ochmiana we prepared a good +meal.” + +“When we crossed the Goina we numbered 50; this number had increased so +that we were at one time 70, but now our number had decreased to 29.” + +“We left at an early hour on the next morning. It was frightfully cold. +Half way to Miednicki we had to stop at a bivouac. On the road we saw +many cadavers.” Von Brandt here describes the fatal effects of cold and +his description, though less complete, corresponds with the +descriptions given by Beaupré, von Scherer, and others. Especially +revolting, he says, was the sight of the toes of the cadavers; often +there were no more soft parts. The soldiers, first of all, took the +shoes from their dead comrades, next the cloaks; they would wear two or +three or cut one to cover their feet and their head with the pieces. + +The last part of the march to Miedniki was most painful for von Brandt, +on account of the inflammation of his left foot. + +He describes his stay at that place in which there were many +stragglers. He bivouaked in a garden; they had straw enough and a good +fire, also biscuits from Ochmiana, and they suffered only from the +cold, 30 deg. below zero R. (36 deg. below zero Fahrenheit.) On this +occasion von Brandt speaks of the pains, the sufferings, the condition +of his comrades. One of them, Zelinski, had not uttered a word since +their departure from Smorgoni; he had no tobacco, and this troubled him +more than physical pain; another one, Karpisz, crushed by sorrow and +sufferings, was in a delirious state; in the same condition were some +of the wounded. But after all, in the midst of their sad reflections, +some of them fell asleep. Those who were well enough took up reliefs on +night watch. Every one of the group had to bear some special great +misery, and upon the whole their trials were beyond endurance: In the +open air at 30 deg. R. below zero, without sufficient clothing, without +provisions, full of vermin, exposed at any moment to the attacks of the +enemy, surrounded by a rapacious rabble, deprived of aid, wounded, they +were hardly in a condition to drag themselves along. + +“Still an 8 hours’ march to Wilna,” I said to Zelinski; “Will we reach +there?” He shook his head in doubt. + +One of the men, Wasilenka, a sergeant, the most courageous, the firmest +of the little column, of a robust constitution, had found at Ochmiana +some brandy and some potatoes. He said if one had not lost his head +entirely, one could have many things, but nothing can be done with the +French any more; they are not the Frenchmen of former times, a +Cossack’s casque upsets them; it is a shame! And he told the great news +of Napoleon’s departure from the army of which the others of von +Brandt’s column had yet not been informed. Interesting as was the +conversation on this event, I have to omit it. + +The extreme cold did not allow much sleep; long before daylight they +were on their feet. It was a morning of desolation, as always. + +von Brandt now describes the characteristic phenomena of the landscape; +the words are almost identical with the description Beaupré has given +of the Russian landscape in the winter of 1812. + +“I could not march, the pain under my shoulders was very great. I felt +as if all at this region of my body would tear off. But I marched all +the same. Many were already on the road, all in haste to reach the +supposed end of their sufferings. They seemed to be in a race, and the +cold, the incredible cold, drove them also to march quickly. On this +day there perished more men than usual, and we passed these +unfortunates without a sign of pity, as if all human feeling had been +extinguished in the souls of us, the surviving. We marched in silence, +hardly any one uttered a word; if, however, some one spoke, it was to +say how is it that I am not in your place; besides this nothing was +heard but the sighing and the groans of the dying. + +“It was perhaps 9 o’clock when we had covered half of the way and took +a short rest, after which we resumed our march and arrived before Wilna +toward 3 o’clock, having marched ten hours, exhausted beyond +description. The cold was intolerable; as I learned afterward it had +reached 29 deg. below zero Reaumur (36 deg. below zero Fahrenheit.) But +imagine our surprise when armed guards forbade us to enter the city. +The order had been given to admit only regular troops. The commanders +had thought of the excesses of Smolensk and Orscha and here at least +they intended to save the magazines from pillage. Our little column +remained at the gate for a while; we saw that whoever risked to mix +with the crowd could not extricate himself again and could neither +advance nor return. It came near sunset, the cold by no means abated +but, on the contrary, augmented. Every minute the crowd increased in +number, the dying and dead mixed up with the living. We decided to go +around the city, to try to enter at some other part; after half an +hour’s march we succeeded and found ourselves in the streets. They were +full of baggage, soldiers, and inhabitants. But where to turn? Where to +seek aid? By good luck we remembered that our officers passing Wilna on +their way during the spring had been well received by Mr. Malczewski, a +friend of our colonel. Nothing more natural than to go to him and ask +for asylum. But imagine our joy, our delight, when at our arrival at +the house we found our colonel himself, the quartermaster and many +officers known by us, who all were the guests of Mr. Malczewski. Even +Lieutenant Gordon who commanded our depot at Thorn was there; he had +come after he had had the news of the battle of Borodino. + +“My faithful servant Maciejowski and the brave Wasilenka carried me up +the stairs and placed me in bed. I was half dead, hardly master of my +senses. Gordon gave me a shirt, my servant took charge of my garments +to free them from vermin, and after I had had some cups of hot beer +with ginger in it and was under a warm blanket, I recovered strength +enough to understand what I was told and to do what I was asked to do.” + +“A Jewish physician examined and dressed my wounds. He found my +shoulders very much inflamed and prescribed an ointment which had an +excellent effect. I fell into a profound sleep which was interrupted by +the most bizarre imaginary scenes; there was not one of the hideous +episodes of the last fortnight which did not pass in some form or +another before my mind.” + +“Washed, cleaned, passably invigorated, refreshed especially by some +cups of hot beer, I was able to rise on the following morning and to +assist at the council which the colonel had called together.” + +Von Brandt now describes how the mass of fugitives came and pillaged +the magazines. The colonel saved a great many, supplied them with +shoes, cloaks, caps, woolen socks, and provisions, von Brandt describes +the scenes of Wilna from the time the Cossacks had entered. + +“The colonel prepared to depart; at first he hesitated to take us, the +wounded, along, asking if we could stand the voyage. I said to remain +would be certain death, and with confidence I set out on the march with +my men, the number of whom was now twenty. We had sleighs and good +horses. + +“The night was superb. It was light like day. The stars shone more +radiantly than ever upon our misery. The cold was still severe beyond +description and more sensible to us who had nearly lost the habit to +feel it during forty-eight hours of relief. + +“We had to make our way through an indescribable tangle of carriages +and wagons to reach the gate, and the road as far as we could see was +also covered with vehicles, wagons, sleighs, cannons, all mixed up. We +had great difficulties to remain together. + +“After an hour’s march all came to a halt; we found ourselves before a +veritable sea of men. The wagons could not be drawn over a hill on +account of the ice, and the road became hopelessly blockaded. Here it +was where the military treasure of 12 million francs was given to the +soldiers.” + +Von Brandt describes his most wonderful adventures on the way to Kowno +which, although most interesting, add nothing to what has already been +described. I gave this foregoing part of von Brandt’s narration because +it gives a most vivid picture of the life of the soldiers during the +supreme moments of the retreat from Moscow. + + + + +PRISONERS OF WAR + + +Beaupré was taken prisoner at the passage of the Beresina and remained +in captivity for some time. His lot as a prisoner of war was an +exceptionally good one. He tells us that prisoners when they were out +of such parts of the country as had been ravaged by the armies, +received regular rations of a very good quality, and were lodged by +eight, ten, and twelve, with the peasants. In the provincial capitals, +they received furs of sheep skin, fur bonnets, gloves, and coarse +woolen stockings, a sort of dress that appeared to them grotesque as +well as novel, but which was very precious as a protection against the +cold during the winter. When arrived at the places in which they were +to pass the time of their captivity they found their lot ameliorated, +and the reception accorded to them demanded a grateful eulogy of the +hospitality exercised by the Russians. + +Quite different was the experience of a very young German, Karl Schehl, +a private whose memoirs have been kept in his family, and were recently +published by one of his grand-nephews. After a battle on the retreat +from Moscow he, with many others, was taken prisoner by Cossacks, who +at once plundered the captives. Schehl was deprived of his uniform, his +breeches, his boots. He had a gold ring on his ring finger, and one of +the Cossacks, thinking it too much trouble to remove the ring in the +natural way, had already drawn his sabre to cut off the prisoner’s left +hand, when an officer saw this and gave the brutal Cossack a terrible +blow in the face; he then removed the ring without hurting the boy and +kept it for himself. Another officer took Schehl’s gold watch. Schehl +stood then with no other garment but a shirt, and barefoot, in the +bitter cold, not daring to approach the bivouac fire. + +[Illustration] + +The Cossacks (on examining the garments of Schehl), found in one of the +pockets a B clarinette. This discovery gave them great pleasure; they +induced their captive to play for them, and he played, chilled to the +bone in his scanty costume. But now the Cossacks came to offer him +garments, a regular outfit for the Russian winter. They gave him food +to eat and did all they could to show their appreciation of the music. +What a rapid change of fortune within two hours, writes Schehl. Toward +noon, riding a good horse, with considerable money in Russian bank +notes and a valuable gold watch in his possession, all brought from +Moscow, at 1 p.m. he stood dressed in a shirt only, with his bare feet +on the frozen ground, and at 2 p. m. he was admired as an artist by a +large audience that gave him warm clothes, which meant protection +against the danger of freezing to death, and a place near the fire. + +During that afternoon and the following night more French soldiers of +all arms, mostly emaciated and miserable, were escorted to the camp by +Russian militia, peasants, armed with long, sharp lances. It was the +night from October 30th. to 31st., at the time of the first snowfall, +with a temperature of -12 deg. Reaumur (about 5 degrees above zero +Fahrenheit). Of the 700 prisoners, many of them deprived of their +clothing, as Schehl had been deprived, who had to camp without a fire, +quite a number did not see the next morning, and the already described +snow hills indicated where these unfortunates had reached the end of +their sufferings. The commanding officer of the Cossacks ordered the +surviving prisoners to fall in line for the march back to Moscow. The +escort consisted of two Cossacks and several hundred peasant-soldiers. +Within sixteen hours the 700 had been reduced to 500. And they had to +march back over the road which they had come yesterday as companions of +their emperor. The march was slow, they were hardly an hour on the road +when here and there one of the poor, half naked, starving men fell into +the snow; immediately was he pierced with the lance of one of the +peasant soldiers who shouted stopai sukinsin (forward you dog), but as +a rule the one who had fallen was no longer able to obey the brutal +command. Two Russian peasant soldiers would then take hold, one at each +leg, and drag the dying man with the head over snow and stones until he +was dead, then leave the corpse in the middle of the road. In the woods +they would practice the same cruelties as the North American Indians, +tie those who could not rise to a tree and amuse themselves by +torturing the victim to death with their lances. And, says Schehl, I +could narrate still other savageries, but they are too revolting, they +are worse than those of the savage Indians. Fortunately, Schehl himself +was protected from all molestations by the peasants by the two Cossacks +of the escort. He was even taken into the provision wagon where he +could ride between bundles of hay and straw. On the evening of the +first day’s march the troops camped in a birch forest. Russian people +are fond of melancholy music; Schehl played for them adagios on his +clarinette, and the Cossacks gave him the best they had to eat. His +comrades, now reduced to 400 in number, received no food and were so +terror-stricken or so feeble that only from time to time they emitted +sounds of clamor. Some would crawl into the snow and perish, while +those who kept on moving were able to prolong their miserable lives. +The second night took away 100 more, so that the number of prisoners +was reduced to less than 300 on the morning of October 31st. During the +night from October 31st. to November 1st. more than one-half of the +prisoners who had come into the camp had perished, and there were only +about 100 men left to begin the march. This mortality was frightful. +Schehl thinks that the peasants killed many during the night in order +to be relieved of their guard duty. For the Cossacks would send the +superfluous guardsmen away and retain only as many as one for every +four prisoners. They saw that the completely exhausted Frenchmen could +be driven forward like a herd of sick sheep, and hardly needed any +guard. In the morning we passed a village, writes Schehl, in which +stood some houses which had not been burned. The returned inhabitants +were busy clearing away the rubbish and had built some provisional +straw huts. I sat as harmless as possible on my wagon when suddenly a +girl in one of the straw huts screamed loud Matuschka! Matuschka! +Franzusi! Franzusi Niewolni! (Mother! mother! Frenchmen! French +prisoners!), and now sprang forward a large woman, armed with a thick +club and struck me such a powerful blow on the head that I became +unconscious. When I opened my eyes again the woman struck me once more, +this time on my left shoulder and so violently that I screamed. My arm +was paralyzed from the stroke. Fortunately, one of the Cossacks came to +my rescue, scolded the woman, and chased her away. + +On the evening of November 1st., the troops came to a village through +which no soldiers had passed, which had not been disturbed by the war. +Of the prisoners only 60 remained alive, and these were lodged in the +houses. + +Schehl describes the interior of the houses of Russian peasants as well +as the customs of the Russian peasants, which description is highly +interesting, and I shall give a brief abstract of it. + +The houses are all frame buildings with a thatched roof, erected upon a +foundation of large unhewn stones, the interstices of which are filled +with clay, and built in an oblong shape, of strong, round pine logs +placed one on top of the other. Each layer is stuffed with moss, and +the ends of the logs are interlocking. The buildings consist of one +story only, with a very small, unvaulted cellar. + +Usually there are only two rooms in these houses, and wealthy peasants +use both of them for their personal requirements; the poorer classes, +on the other hand, use only one of the rooms for themselves, and the +other for their horses, cows, and pigs. + +The most prominent part of the interior arrangement of these rooms is +the oven, covering about six feet square, with a brick chimney in the +houses of the wealthy, but without chimney in those of the poor, so +that the smoke must pass through the door giving a varnished appearance +to the entire ceiling over the door. + +There are no chairs in the rooms; during the day broad benches along +the walls and oven are used instead. At night, the members of the +household lie down to sleep on these benches, using any convenient +piece of clothing for a pillow. It seems the Russian peasant of one +hundred years ago considered beds a luxury. + +Every one of these houses, those of the rich as well as those of the +poor, contains in the easterly corner of the sitting room a cabinet +with more or less costly sacred images. + +On entering the room the newcomer immediately turns his face toward the +cabinet, crossing himself three times in the Greek fashion, +simultaneously inclining his head, and not until this act of devotion +has been performed does he address individually every one present. In +greeting, the family name is never mentioned, only the first name, to +which is added: Son of so and so (likewise the first name only), but +the inclination of the head—pagoda like—is never omitted. + +All the members of the household say their very simple prayers in front +of the cabinet; at least, I never heard them say anything else but +_Gospodin pomilui_ (O Lord, have mercy upon us); but such a prayer is +very fatiguing for old and feeble persons because _Gospodin pomilui_ is +repeated at least 24 times, and every repetition is accompanied with a +genuflection and a prostration, naturally entailing a great deal of +hardship owing to the continued exertion of the entire body. + +In addition to the sacred cabinet, the oven, and the benches, every one +of the rooms contains another loose bench about six feet long, a table +of the same length, and the kvass barrel which is indispensable to +every Russian. + +This cask is a wooden vat of about 50 to 60 gallons capacity, standing +upright, the bottom of which is covered with a little rye flour and +wheat bran—the poor use chaff of rye—upon which hot water is poured. +The water becomes acidulated in about 24 hours and tastes like water +mixed with vinegar. A little clean rye straw is placed inside of the +vat, in front of the bunghole, allowing the kvass to run fairly clear +into the wooden cup. When the vat is three-quarters empty more water is +added; this must be done very often, as the kvass barrel with its +single drinking cup—placed always on top of the barrel—is regarded as +common property. Every member of the household and every stranger draws +and drinks from it to their heart’s content, without ever asking +permission of the owner of the house. Kvass is a very refreshing summer +drink, especially in the houses of wealthy peasants who need not be +particular with their rye flour and who frequently renew the original +ingredients of the concoction. + +The peasant soldiers took the most comfortable places; for Schehl and +his nine comrades, who were lodged with him in one of the houses, straw +was given to make a bed on the floor, but most of the nine syntrophoi +were so sick and feeble that they could not make their couch, and six +could not even eat the pound of bread which every one had received; +they hid the remaining bread under the rags which represented their +garments. Schehl, although he could not raise his left arm, helped the +sick, notwithstanding the pain he suffered, to spread the straw on the +floor. On the morning of the 2d. of November the sick, who had not been +able to eat all their bread, were dead. Schehl, while the surviving +ones were still asleep, took the bread which he found on the corpses, +to hide it in his sheepskin coat. This inheritance was to be the means +of saving his life; without it he would have starved to death while a +prisoner in Moscow. + +They left this village with now only 29 prisoners and arrived on the +same evening, reduced to 11 in number, in Moscow, where they were +locked up in one of the houses, together with many other prisoners. Of +the 700 fellow prisoners of Schehl 689 had died during the four days +and four nights of hunger, cold, and most barbaric cruelties. If the +prisoners had hoped to be saved from further cruelties while in Moscow +they were bitterly disappointed. First of all, their guards took from +them all they themselves could use, and on this occasion Schehl lost +his clarinette which he considered as his life saver. Fortunately, they +did not take from him the six pieces of bread. After having been +searched the prisoners were driven into a room which was already filled +with sick or dying, lying on the floor with very little and bad straw +under them. The newcomers had difficulties to find room for themselves +among these other unfortunates. The guards brought a pail of fresh +water but nothing to eat. In a room with two windows, which faced the +inner court-yard, were locked up over 30 prisoners, and all the other +rooms in the building were filled in the same way. During the night +from November 2d. to November 3d. several of Schehl’s companions died +and were thrown through the window into the court yard, after the +jailors had taken from the corpses whatever they could use. Similar +acts were performed in the other rooms, and it gave the survivors a +little more room to stretch their limbs. This frightful condition +lasted six days and six nights, during which time no food was given to +them. The corpses in the yard were piled up so high that the pile +reached up to the windows. It was 48 hours since Schehl had eaten the +last of the six pieces of bread, and he was so tortured by hunger that +he lost all courage, when at 10 o’clock in the forenoon a Russian +officer entered and in German ordered the prisoners to get ready within +an hour for roll call in the court yard, because the interimistic +commanding officer of Moscow, Colonel Orlowski, was to review them. +Immediately before this took place, the prisoners had held a counsel +among themselves whether it would be wise to offer themselves for +Russian military service in order to escape the imminent danger of +starving to death. When that officer so unexpectedly had entered, +Schehl, although the youngest—he was only 15 years of age—but +relatively the strongest, because he was the last of them who had had a +little to eat, rose with difficulty from his straw bed and made the +offer, saying that they were at present very weak and sick from hunger, +but that they would soon regain their strength if they were given +something to eat. The officer in a sarcastic and rough manner replied: +“His Majesty our glorious Emperor, Alexander, has soldiers enough and +does not need you dogs.” He turned and left the room, leaving the +unfortunates in a state of despair. Toward 11 o’clock he returned, +ordering the prisoners to descend the stairs and fall in line in the +court yard. All crawled from their rooms, 80 in number, and stood at +attention before the colonel, who was a very handsome and strong man, +six foot tall, with expressive and benevolent features. The youth of +Schehl made an impression on him, and he asked in German: “My little +fellow, are you already a soldier?” + +S. At your service, colonel. + +C. How old are you? + +S. Fifteen years, colonel. + +C. How is it possible that you at your young age came into service? + +S. Only my passion for horses induced me to volunteer my services in +the most beautiful regiment of France, as trumpeter. + +C. Can you ride horseback and take care of horses? + +S. At your service, colonel! + +C. Where are the many prisoners who have been brought here, according +to reports there should be 800. + +S. What you see here, colonel, is the sad remainder of those 800 men. +The others have died. + +C. Is there an epidemic disease in this house? + +S. Pardon me, colonel, but those comrades of mine have all died from +starvation; for during the six days we are here we received no food. + +C. What you say, little fellow, cannot be true, for I have ordered to +give you the prescribed rations of bread, meat, and brandy, the same as +are given to the Russian soldiers, and this has been the will of the +Czar. + +S. Excuse me, colonel, I have told the truth, and if you will take the +pains to walk into the rear yard you will see the corpses. + +The colonel went and convinced himself of the correctness of my +statement. He returned in the greatest anger, addressed some officer in +Russian, gave some orders and went along the front to hear Schehl’s +report confirmed by several other prisoners. The officer who had +received orders returned, accompanied by six Uhlans, each of the latter +with hazelnut sticks. Now the jailors were called and had to deliver +everything which they had taken from their prisoners; unfortunately, +Schehl’s clarinette was not among the articles that were returned. And +now Schehl witnessed the most severe punishment executed on the +jailors. They had to remove their coats and were whipped with such +cannibal cruelty that bloody pieces of flesh were torn off their backs, +and some had to be carried from the place. They deserved severe +punishment, for they had sold all the food which during six days had +been delivered to them for 800 men. + +The surviving prisoners were now treated well, the colonel took Schehl +with him to do service in his castle. + +The case of Karl Schehl is a typical one. + +Holzhausen has collected a great many similar ones from family papers, +which never before had been published. All the writers of these papers +speak, exactly like Schehl, in plain, truthful language, and the best +proof of their veracity is that all, independent of each other, tell +the same story of savage cruelty and of robbery. All, in narrating +their experiences, do not omit any detail, all give dates and +localities which they had retained exactly from those fearful days +which had left the most vivid impressions. There is much repetition in +these narrations, for all had experienced the same. + +All tell that the Cossacks were the first to rob the prisoners. These +irregular soldiers received no pay and considered it their right to +compensate themselves for the hardships of the campaign by means of +robbery. + +Besides the tales collected by Holzhausen I can refer to many other +writers, Frenchmen, the Englishman Wilson, and even Russians among +them, but the material is so voluminous that I shall confine myself to +select only what concerned physicians who were taken prisoners. + +The Bavarian Sanitary Corps, captured at Polotsk, after having been +mercilessly robbed by Cossacks, was brought before a Russian General, +who did not even take notice of them. It was only after Russian +physicians interfered in their behalf that they obtained a hearing of +their grievances. + +Prisoners tell touching stories how they were saved by German +physicians, in most instances from typhus. In almost all larger Russian +cities there were German physicians, and this was a blessing to many of +the prisoners. Holzhausen gives the names of several of the sick and +the names of the physicians who spared no pains in attending to the +sufferers. + +In the course of time and with the change of circumstances the lot of +the prisoners in general was ameliorated, and in many instances their +life became comfortable. Many found employment as farm hands or at some +trade, as teachers of languages, but the principal occupation at which +they succeeded was the practice of medicine. Whether they were +competent physicians or only dilettantes they all gained the confidence +of the Russian peasantry. In a land in which physicians are scarce the +followers of Aesculap are highly appreciated. + +When a Russian peasant had overloaded his stomach and some harmless +mixture or decoction given him by some of the pseudo physicians had had +a good effect—post hoc ergo propter hoc—the medicine man who had come +from far away was highly praised and highly recommended. + +Lieutenant Furtenbach treated with so-called sympathetic remedies and +had a success which surprised nobody more than himself. + +Real physicians were appreciated by the educated and influential +Russians and secured a more lucrative practice within weeks than they +had been able to secure after years at home. Dr. Roos, of whom I have +already spoken, having been taken prisoner near the Beresina, became +physician to the hospitals of Borisow and Schitzkow and soon had the +greatest private practice of any physician in the vicinity; he +afterward was called to the large hospitals in St. Petersburg, and was +awarded highest honors by the Russian government. + +More remarkable was the career of Adjutant Braun which has been told by +his friend, Lieutenant Peppler, who acted as his assistant. + +Braun had studied medicine for a while, but exchanged sound and lancet +for the musket. As prisoner of war, at the urgent request of his friend +Peppler, he utilized his unfinished studies. Venaesection was very +popular in Russia, he secured a lancet, a German tailor made rollers +for him, and soon he shed much Russian blood. The greatest triumph, +however, of the two Aesculapians was Braun’s successful operation for +cataract which he performed on a police officer, his instrument being a +rusty needle. The description of the operating scene during which the +assistant Peppler trembled from excitement is highly dramatic. Braun +became the favorite of the populace and everybody regretted that he +left when he was free. + + + + +TREATMENT OF TYPHUS + + +Among the old publications referring to the medical history of +Napoleon’s campaign in Russia I found one of a Prussian army physician, +Dr. Krantz, published in the year 1817 with the following title: +Bemerkungen ueber den Gang der Krankheiten welche in der königlich +preussischen Armee vom Ausbruch des Krieges im Jahre 1812 bis zu Ende +des Waffenstillstandes (im Aug.) 1813 geherrscht haben. (Remarks on the +course of the Diseases which have reigned in the Royal Prussian Army +from the Beginning of the War in the Year 1812 until the End of the +Armistice [in August] 1813). From this I shall give the following +extract: + +It is well known that the soldiers constituting the wreck of the Grand +Army wherever they passed on their way from Russia through Germany +spread ruin; their presence brought death to thousands of peaceful +citizens. Even those who were apparently well carried the germs of +disease with them, for we found whole families, says Krantz, in whose +dwelling soldiers, showing no signs of disease, had stayed over night, +stricken down with typhus. The Prussian soldiers of York’s corps had +not been with the Grand Army in Moscow, and there was no typhus among +them until they followed the French on their road of retreat from +Russia. From this moment on, however, the disease spread with the +greatest rapidity in the whole Prussian army corps, and this spreading +took place with a certain uniformity among the different divisions. On +account of the overflowing of the rivers, the men had to march closely +together on the road, at least until they passed the Vistula near +Dirschau, Moeve, and Marienwerder. Of the rapid extent of the infection +we can form an idea when we learn the following facts: In the first +East Prussian regiment of infantry, when it came to the Vistula, there +was not a single case of typhus, while after a march of 14 miles on the +highway which the French had passed before them there were 15 to 20 men +sick in every company, every tenth or even every seventh man. In those +divisions which had been exposed to infection while in former +cantonments, the cases were much more numerous, 20 to 30 in every +company. + +Simultaneously with typhus there appeared the first cases of an +epidemic ophthalmy. Although the eye affection was not as general as +the typhus—it occurred only in some of the divisions, and then at the +outset not so severely as later on—both evils were evidently related to +each other by a common causal nexus. They appeared simultaneously under +similar circumstances, but never attacked simultaneously the same +individual. Whoever had ophthalmy was immune against typhus and vice +versa, and this immunity furnished by one against the other evil lasted +a long period of time. Both diseases were very often cured on the +march. We found confirmed, says Krantz, what had been asserted a long +time before by experienced physicians, that cold air had the most +beneficial effect during the inflammatory stage of contagious typhus. +For this reason the soldiers who presented the first well-known +symptoms of typhus infection: headache, nausea, vertigo, etc., were +separated from their healthy comrades and entrusted to medical care, +and this consisted, except in the case of extraordinarily grave +symptoms, in dressing the patient with warm clothing and placing him +for the march on a wagon where he was covered all over with straw. The +wagon was driven fast, to follow the corps, but halted frequently on +the way at houses where tea (Infusum Chamomillae, species aromaticarum, +etc.) with or without wine or spiritus sulphuricus aetherius were +prepared; of this drink the patient was given a few cupfuls to warm +him. As a precaution against frost, which proved to be a very wise one, +hands and feet were wrapped in rags soaked in spiritus vini +camphoratus. For quarters at night isolated houses were selected for +their reception—a precaution taught by sad experience—and surgeons or +couriers who had come there in advance had made the best preparations +possible. All the hospitals between the Vistula and Berlin, constantly +overfilled, were thoroughly infected, and thus transformed into regular +pest-houses exhaling perdition to every one who entered, the physicians +and attendants included. On the other hand, most of the patients who +were treated on the march recovered. Of 31 cases of typhus of the 2d. +battalion of the infantry guards transported from Tilsit to Tuchel, +only one died, while the remaining 30 regained their health completely, +a statistical result as favorable as has hardly ever happened in the +best regulated hospital and which is the more surprising on account of +the severe form of the disease at that time. An equally favorable +result was obtained in the first East Prussian regiment of infantry on +the march from the Vistula to the Spree. + +There was not a single death on the march; of 330 patients 300 +recovered, 30 were sent into hospitals of Elbing, Maerkisch Friedland, +Conitz, and Berlin, and the same excellent results were reported from +other divisions of the corps where the same method had been followed. + +A most remarkable observation among the immense number of patients was +that they seldom presented a stage of convalescence. Three days after +they had been free from fever for 24 hours they were fit, without +baggage, for a half or even a whole day’s march. If the recovery had +not been such a speedy one, says Krantz, how could all the wagons have +been secured in that part of the country devastated by war for the +transportation of the many hundreds of sick. + +At the beginning of the sickness a vomitium of ipecacuanha and tartarus +stibiatus was administered (though on the march no real medical +treatment was attempted); later on aether vitrioli with tinctura +valerianae, tinctura aromatica and finally tinctura chinae composita +aurantiorum with good wine, etc., were given. It is interesting to read +Krantz’s statement of how much some physicians were surprised who had +been accustomed to treat their patients in hospitals according to the +principles of that period, which consisted in the exclusion of fresh +air and the hourly administration of medicine. The mortality of those +treated on the march in the manner described was never more than 2 to 3 +per cent. + +As already mentioned, an epidemic ophthalmy spread simultaneously with +typhus among a large number of the troops returning from Courland, +especially among those who formed the rear guard, in which was the +first East Prussian regiment to which Krantz was attached. + +In a far greater proportion the men of the two Prussian cavalry +regiments and artillery batteries which Napoleon had taken with him to +Moscow, that is into ruin, succumbed to the morbid potencies which +acted upon them from all sides. + +On March 17th., 1813, York’s corps entered Berlin, and from this time +on contagious typhus disappeared almost completely in this army +division. It is true that occasionally a soldier was attacked, but the +number of these was insignificant, and the character of the sickness +was mild. Other internal diseases were also infrequent among these +troops during that time. Epidemic ophthalmy, however, was very +prevalent in the East Prussian regiment of infantry. From February, +1813, until the day of the battle of Leipzig, 700 men were treated for +this disease. The character of this ophthalmy was mild, and under +treatment the patients completely recovered within a few days (nine +days at most) without any destructive lesion remaining. Quite different +from this form was a severe ophthalmy which appeared in the army toward +the end of the year 1813, and also during the years 1814 and 1815. + + + + +AFTER THE SECOND CROSSING OF THE NIEMEN + + +Out of the enemy’s country, on their way home, the soldiers had by no +means reached the limit of their sufferings. Instead of being able now +to take the much longed for and so much needed rest they were compelled +to keep on marching in order to reach the meeting places designated to +them, the principal one of which was Koenigsberg. + +Before entering Prussia they had to pass through a district which was +inhabited by Lithuanians who had suffered very much from the army +passing on the march to Moscow, and who now took revenge on the +retreating soldiers. + +Most happy were the Germans of the army breathing again the air of +their native country, and they could not restrain their feelings when +they found themselves in clean dwellings. + +Their first occupation was to restore themselves in regard to +cleanliness, to free their faces from a thick covering of dirt +intensified by smoke which could be compared with a mask. All these +unfortunate men wore this mask, but, as they said while in Moscow, +without any desire to dance. Especially the better educated ones among +them felt ashamed to present themselves in this condition in which they +had dragged themselves through Russia and Poland. + +On December 16th, von Borcke and his General, von Ochs, came to +Schirwind, for the first time again in a Prussian city. Quarters were +assigned to them in one of the best houses, the house of the widow of a +Prussian officer. The lady, on seeing the two entering the house, was +astonished to learn that they were a general with his adjutant, and +that they should be her guests. Nothing about them indicated their +rank, they were wrapped in sheepskins and rags full of dirt, blackened +by the smoke from the camp fires, with long beards, frozen hands and +feet. + +On January 2nd., 1813, these two officers arrived at Thorn. They +considered themselves saved from the great catastrophe, when there, +like in all places to which the wrecks of the grand army had come, +typhus broke out. General von Ochs was stricken down with this disease, +and his condition did not warrant any hopes for recovery. His son, +however, who had gone through the whole retreat wounded and sick with +typhus, whom the general and his adjutant had brought from Borodino in +a wagon under incredible difficulties, had recovered and was able to +nurse his father. + +And General von Ochs came home with his Adjutant, von Borcke, on +February 20th., 1813. + +Good people took pains to give their guests an opportunity to clean +themselves thoroughly; the well-to-do had their servants attend to this +process; in houses of the working class man and wife would give a +helping hand. + +Sergeant Schoebel, together with a comrade, was quartered in the house +of an honest tailor who, seeing how the soldiers were covered with +lice, made them undress and, while the wife boiled the undergarments, +the tailor ironed the outer clothing with a hot iron. + +Generous people tried to ameliorate in every manner possible the need +which presented itself in such a pitiful form. + +Lieutenant Schauroth was sitting in despair at a table in an inn when +one nobleman pressed a double Louisd’or into his hand and another +placed his sleigh at the lieutenant’s disposal to continue his journey. + +In Tapiau a carpenter’s helper, himself a very poor man, begged among +his friends to obtain a suit of clothes for Sergeant Steinmueller, whom +he had never known before. + +But cases of this kind were the exception; in general the Prussian +peasants remembered the many excesses which, notwithstanding Napoleon’s +strict orders, the soldiers had committed on their march through East +Prussia; they remembered the requisitions, they felt the plight of +Prussia since the battle of Jena, and they revenged themselves on the +French especially, but even the Germans of Napoleon’s soldiers had to +suffer from the infuriated, pitiless peasantry. Holzhausen describes +scenes which were not less atrocious than those enacted by Russian +peasants. + +And those who were treated kindly had the most serious difficulties: +the sudden change from misery to regular life caused many serious +disorders of the organs of digestion, ennervation and circulation. All +who have been in the field during our civil war know how long it took +before they were able again to sleep in a bed. The Napoleonic soldiery +describe how the warmth of the bed brought on the most frightful mental +pictures; they saw burnt, frozen, and mutilated comrades and had to try +to find rest on the floor, their nervous and their circulatory systems +were excited to an intolerable degree. After eating they vomited, and +only gradually the ruined stomach became accustomed again, first, to +thin soups and, later on, to a more substantial diet. + +How much they had suffered manifested itself in many ways after the +thick crust had been removed from their body and, above all, after what +had taken the place of shoes had been taken off. When Sergeant Toenges +removed the rags from his feet the flesh of both big toes came off. +Captain Gravenreuth’s boots had been penetrated by matter and ichor. +Painful operations had to be performed to separate gangraenous parts. +In Marienwerder Hochberg found all the attendants of Marshal Victor on +the floor while a surgeon was amputating their limbs. + +But these were comparatively minor affairs, amputated limbs played no +roll when hundreds of thousands of mutilated corpses rested on the +fields of Russia. + +An enemy more vicious than the one that had decimated the beautiful +army was lying in wait for the last remainder which tried to rally +again. + +It was the typhus that on the road from Moscow all through Germany and +through France did its destructive work. + +This disease had been observed, as Dr. Geissler reports, first in +Moscow, ravaged most terribly in Wilna and held a second great harvest +in Koenigsberg, where the first troops arrived on December 20th. + +One-half of those who had been attacked succumbed, although the +hospitals of Koenigsberg were ideal ones compared with those of Wilna. + +Geissler and his colleague had to work beyond description to ameliorate +and to console; help was impossible in the majority of cases. + +The physicians of Koenigsberg were not as lucky as Dr. Krantz, whose +patients were in the open air instead of being confined in a hospital. + +It is heartrending to read how so many who had withstood so much, +escaped so many dangers, had to die now. One of these was General Eblé, +the hero of the Beresina. + + + + +LITERATURE. + + +BEAUPRE, MORICHEAU. A Treatise on the Effects and Properties of Cold +with a Sketch, Historical and Medical, of the Russian Campaign. +Translated by John Clendining with Appendix xviii, 375 pp., 8 vo. +Edinburgh, Maclachnan and Stewart 1826. + +BLEIBTREU, CARL. Die Grosse Armee. Zu ihrer Jahrhundertfeier. 3. Band. +Smolensk—Moskau—Beresina. Stuttgart, 1908. + +——, Marschälle, Generäle. Soldaten, Napoleon’s I. Berlin (without +date). + +VON BORCKE, JOHANN. Kriegerleben 1806-1815. Berlin, 1888. + +BONOUST, MARTIN. Considerations générales sur la congelation pendant +l’ivresse, observée en Russie en 1812. Paris, 1817. + +BRANDT. Aus dem Leben des Generals Heinrich von Brandt. Berlin, 1870. + +CARPON, CHIRURGIEN. Majeur de la Grande Armée, Les Morts de Wilna. La +France Médicale, 1902, pp. 457-63. + +CHUQUET, ARTHUR. 1812 La Guerre de Russie. 3 vols. Paris, 1912. + +EBSTEIN, DR. WILHELM. Geh. Medizinalrat und Professor der Medizin an +der Universität Goettingen, Die Krankheiten im Feldzuge gegen Russland +(1812). Eine geschichtlich-medizinische Studie. Stuttgart, 1902. + +GOURGAUD, GENERAL G. DE. Napoleons Gedanken und Erinnerungen, St. +Helena, 1815-1818, Nach dem 1898 veröffentlichten Tagebuch deutsch +bearbeitet von Heinrich Conrad. 7. Aus. Stuttgart, 1901. Illustrated. + +HOLZHAUSEN, PAUL. Die Deutschen in Russland, 1812. Leben und Leiden auf +der Moskauer Heerfahrt. 2 vols. Berlin, 1912. + +KERCKHOVE, J. R. DE. Chirurgien-en-Chef des Hopitaux militairs, +Histoire des maladies observées a la grande Armée française pendant les +campagnes de Russie en 1812. 2 vols. l’Allemagne en 1813. Anvers, 1836. + +KIELLAND. ALEXANDER L. Rings um Napoleon. Uebersetzt von Dr. Friedrich +Leskien und Marie Leskien-Lie. 3 Auflage. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1907. +Illustrated. + +KRANTZ, DR. Bemerkungen über den Gang der Krankheiten welche in der +Königl. preuss. Armee vom Ausbruche des Krieges im Jahr 1812 bis zu +Ende des Waffenstillstandes (im Aug.) 1813 geherrscht haben. Magazin f. +d. ges. Heilkunde. Berlin, 1817. + +LOSSBERG, GENERALLIEUTENANT VON. Briefe in die Heimath. Geschrieben +während des Feldzugs 1812 in Russland. Leipzig, 1848. + +DE MAZADE, CH. LE COMTE ROSTOPCHINE. Revue des Deux Mondes, Sept. 15, +1863. + +RAMBAUD, ALF. La Grande Armee a Moscou d’après les recits russes. Revue +des Deux Mondes, July 1, 1873. + +SCHEHL, KARL. Mit der grossen Armee 1812 von Krefeld nach Moskau. +Erlebnisse des niederrheinischen Veteranen Karl Schehl. Herausgegeben +von Seinem Grossneffen Ferd, Schehl, Krefeld. Düsseldorf, 1912. + +DE SCHERER, JOANNES. Historia morborum, qui in expeditione contra +Russian anno MDCCCXII facta legiones Wuerttembergica invaserunt, +praesertim eorem, qui frigore orti sunt. Inaugural Dissertation. +Tuebingen, 1820. + +THIERS, A. Histoire du Consulat et de l’Empire. + +VON YELIN. In Russland 1812. Aus dem Tagebuch des württembergischen +Offiziers von Yelin. Munchen, 1911. Illustrated. + +ZELLE, DR. W. Stabsarzt A. D., Kreisarzt, 1812. Das Voelkerdrama in +Russland. 2. Auf. (Without date.) + + + + +INDEX + + +Alcoholic Beverages +Alexander the Great +Anthouard + +Basilius Monastery +Beaupré +Belle-Isle +Beresina +Berlin +Berthier, +Borcke, von +Borisow +Borodino +Bourgeois +Bourgogne +Brandt, von +Braun + +Carpon +Caulaincourt +Cesarian Insanity +Charles XII +Chasseloup +Commanders +Compans +Constant +Corbineau +Corvisart +Crossing the Niemen +Curtius + +Description of diseases 100 Years Ago +Dirschau +Dorogobouge +Doumerc +Dresden +Dysentery + +Eblé +Ebstein +Egloffstein + +Fournier +Friant +Furtenbach + +Gangraene +Geissler +Ghjat +Girard +Glinka +Goina +Gordon +Gourgaud +Gravenreuth +Grolmann, von + +Happrecht, von +Hochberg, von +Holzhausen +Huber + +Iliya +Inoralow + +Jacobs +Jacqueminot +Jaroslawetz +Jews + +Kalkreuter, von +Kalouga +Karpisz +Keller, von +Kerchhove +Kerner, von +Kohlreuter, von +Koenigsberg +Kowno +Krantz +Krapowna +Krasnoe +Kuhn +Kvass +Kurakin +Kutusof + +Laplander +Larrey +Lauriston +Legrand +Leppich’s Airship +Loison +Lossberg, von +Louis XVIII + +Maciejowski +Maison +Malczowski +Malodeszno +Maloijorolawez +Marienwerder +Mergentheim +Miednicki +Miloradovitch +Mohilew +Molodetchno +Montholon +Moscow +Moeve +Murat at Thorn + +Ochmiana +Ochs, von +Oginsky +Ophthalmy +Orlowski +Orscha +Ostrowno + +Partouneaux +Peppler +Phtheiriasis +Picart +Platow +Plechtchenissi +Polotsk +Prisoners of War +Retreat from Moscow +Ribes +Roeder +Roos, de +Rostopchine +Rudloff + +Samoide +Schauroth +Schehl +Scherer, von +Schirwind +Schmetter, von +Schoebel +Shoes +Siberia +Smolensk +Smorgoni +Soden, von +Steinmüller +Strizzowan +Studianka +Suckow + +Tapian +Tchitchakoff +Theuss +Thiers, Tilsit +Toenges +Tschaplitz +Tuchel +Turenne + +Victor, Vop + +Wasilenka +Westphalians +Wiasma +Wilna +Wilson +Witepsk +Wittgenstein +Wrede, von + +Xenophon + +Yelin +Yermaloff + +Zayonchek +Zawnicki +Zazale +Zelinski +Zembin + + + + +SUBSCRIPTION LIST. + + + 3 Dr. H.J. Achard, Ravenswood, Chicago. + 1 Dr. Fred. H. Albee, 125 W. 58th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. W.T. Alexander, 940 St. Nicholas Avenue, N.Y. City. + 1 Rev, Mother Alphonsus, School of St. Angela, N.Y. City. + 1 Mr. Gustav Amberg, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Ernest F. Apeldom, 2113 Howard St., Philadelphia, Pa. + 1 Dr. S.T. Armstrong, Hillbourne Farms, Katonah, N.Y. + 1 Dr. M. Aronson, 1875 Madison Avenue, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. C.E. Atwood, 14 E. 60th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. John Waite Avery, 295 Atlantic Street, Stamford, Conn. + 1 Dr. Arcadius Avellanus, 47 W. 52nd Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Frederick A. Baldwin, 4500 Olive Street, St. Louis, Mo. + 1 Dr. Richard T. Bang, 139 W. 11th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Mr. R.G. Barthold, 57 W. 92nd Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. James E. Baylis, Medical Corps U.S.A., Ft. D.A. Russell, Wyo. + 1 Mr. N. Becher, 361 Crescent Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. + 1 Mr. E. Bilhuber, 45 John Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. G.F. Bond, 960 N. Broadway, Yonkers, N.Y. + 10 Hon. D.N. Botassi, Consul General of Greece, N.Y. City, + 1 Dr. Arthur A. Boyer, 11 E. 48th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. John W. Brannan, 11 W. 12th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. G.E. Brewer, 61 W. 48th Street, N.Y. City. + 3 Dr. Ira C. Brown, Medical Army Corps, E. 3 Kinnean Apts., Seattle, + Wash. + 1 Dr. A.F. Brugman, 163 W. 8sth Street, N.Y. City, + 1 Dr. Peter A. Callan, 452 Fifth Avenue, N.Y. City, + 1 Dr. Arch. M. Campbell, 36 First Avenue, Mt. Vernon, N.Y. + 1 Dr. Arturo Carbonell, 1st Lient. U.S.A., San Juan, Porto Rico. + 1 Dr. C.E. Carter, Boston Building, Salt Lake City, Utah, + 1 Dr. Geo. P. Castritsy, 230 W. 95th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Miss Florence E. de Cerkez, 411 W. 114th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. H.N. Chapman, 3814 Washington Bl., St. Louis, Mo. + 1 Dr. F.R. Chambers, 15 Exchance Place, Jersey City, N.J. + 2 Mrs. Mary Lefferts-Claus, Brookwood, Cobham, Va. + 1 Dr. Fred. J. Conzelmann, Wards Island, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. John McCoy, 157 W. 73rd Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Rev. D.F. Coyle, Crotona Parkway, 176th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Rt. Rev. Thos. F. Cusack, 142 E. 29th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. F.L. Davis, 4902 Page Bl., St. Louis, Mo. + 1 Dr. A.E. Davis, 50 W. 37th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Mr. C.E. Dean, 37 Wall Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Mr. A. Drivas, 340-42 E. 33rd Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Louis C. Duncan, Capt. Med. Corps, U.S.A., Washington, D.C. + 1 Dr. J.H. Erling, Jr., 150 W. 96th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Mrs. Clinton Pinckney Farrell, 117 E. 2ist Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Albert Warren Ferris, The Glen Springs, Watkins, N.Y. + 1 Dr. Geo. Fischer, 90 Auburn Street, Paterson, N.J. + 1 Dr. H. Fischer, 111 E. 81st Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Wm. F. Fluhrer, 507 Madison Avenue, N.Y. City. + 3 Dr. F. Foerster, 926 Madison Avenue, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Russell S. Fowler, 301 De Kalb Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y. + 1 Dr. Louis Friedman, 262 W. 113th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Robt. M. Funkhouser, 4354 Olive Street, St. Louis, Mo. + 1 Dr. A.E. Gallant, 540 Madison Avenue, N.Y. City. + 1 Messrs F. Gerolimatos and Co., 194 Avenue B, N.Y. City. + 1 Mr. José G. Garcia, 1090 St. Nicholas Avenue, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Samuel M. Garlich, 474 State Street, Bridgeport, Conn. + 1 Dr. H.J. Garrigues, Tryon, N.C. + 1 Mrs. Isabella Gatslick, 519 W. 143rd Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Arpad G. Gerster, 34 E. 75th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Mr. H.F. Glenn, 324 W. Washington Street, Fort Wayne, Ind. + 1 Mr. J. Goldschmidt, Publisher Deutsche Med. Presse, Berlin, + Germany. + 1 Dr. Hermann Grad, 159 W. 12Oth Street, N.Y. City, + 1 Mr. Gromaz von Gromadzinski, 365 Edgecombe Avenue, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Jas. T. Gwathmey, 40 E. 41st Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. H.R. Gunderman, Selby, South Dakota. + 1 Dr. F.J. Haneman, 219 Burnett Street, East Orange, N.J. + 1 Dr. Harold Hays, 11 W. 81st Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Wm. Van V. Hayes, 34 W. 50th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. I.S. Haynes, 107 W. 85th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Louis Heitzmann, 110 W. 78th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Johnson Held, 616 Madison Avenue, N.Y. City. + 1 Mr. F. Herrmann, 37 Wall Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Abraham Heyman, 40 E. 41st Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Thos. A. Hopkins, St. Louis, Mo. + 1 Dr. John Horn, 72 E. 92nd Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. B.W. Hoagland, Woodbridge, N.J. + 1 Dr. Chas. H. Hughes, 3858 W. Pine Bl., St. Louis, Mo. + 1 Dr. L.M. Hurd, 15 E. 48th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Rev. Mother Ignatius, College of New Rochelle, N.Y. + 1 Dr. H. Illoway, 1113 Madison Avenue, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. C.J. Imperatori, 245 W. 1O2nd Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Miss Maud Ingersoll, 117 E. 21st Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Walter B. Jennings, 140 Wadsworth Avenue, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. George B. Jones, 1st Lieut. Med. Corps, Las Cascadas Panama + Canal Zone. + 1 Dr. Oswald Joerg, 12 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. + 1 Mr. John Kakavos, 636 Lexington Avenue, N.Y. City. + 1 Mr. Albert Karg, 469 Fourth Avenue, N.Y. City. + 1 Rev. Arthur C. Kenny, 408 W. 124th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. E.D. Kilbourne, Capt. Med. Corps, U.S.A., Columbus, O. + 1 Dr. H. Kinner, 1103 Rutges Street, St. Louis, Mo. + 5 Mr. Richard Kny, Pres. Kny Scheerer Co., N.Y. City, + 1 Dr. A. Knoll, Ludwigshafen, Germany. + 3 Dr. S. Alphonsus Knopf, 16 W. 95th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. S.J. Kopetzky, 616 Madison Avenue, N.Y. City, + 1 Dr. John E. Kumpf, 302 E. 30th Street, N.Y. City, + 1 Rev. Mother Lauretta, Middletown, N.Y. + 1 Dr. M.D. Lederman, 58 E. 75th Street, N.Y. City. + 5 Messrs. Lekas and Drivas, 17 Roosevelt Street, N.Y. City. + 5 Messrs. Lemcke and Buechner, 30 W. 27th Street, N.Y. City. + 3 Dr. B. Leonardos, Director Museum of Inscriptions, Athens, Greece. + 1 Dr. H.F. Lincoln, U.S.A., Ft. Apache, Arizona. + 1 Dr. Forbes R. McCreery, 123 E. 40th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Miss Agnes McGinnis, 2368 Seventh Avenue, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. W. Duncan McKim, 1701 l8th Street N.W., Washington, D.C. + 1 Dr. C.A. McWilliams, 32 E. 53rd Street, N.Y. City. + 2 Dr. Wm. Mabon, Wards Island, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Chas. O. Maisch, State Infirmary, Tewksbury, Mass. + 1 Mr. E. A. Manikas, 49 James Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Mr. Edward J. Manning, 59 W. 76th Street, N.Y. City. + 3 Mr. Wm. Marko, 254 Bowery, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. L.D. Mason, 171 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. + 1 Dr. Charles H. May, 698 Madison Avenue, N.Y. City. + 5 Rev. Isidore Meister, S.L.D., Marmaraneck, N.Y. + 1 Mrs. Meixner, 476 Third Avenue, Astoria, N.Y. + 1 Dr. Alfred Melzer, 785 Madison Avenue, N.Y. City. + 2 Mr. George Merck, Llewellyn Park, West Orange, N.J. + 1 Mr. Frank Miglis, 1-5 New Bowery, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Kenneth W. Millican, London, England. + 1 Mrs. Maria G. Minekakis, 153 W. 22nd Street, N.Y. City. + 2 Mr. Epominondas Minekakis, 366 Sixth Avenue, N.Y. City, + 1 Professor P.D. de Monthulé, 97 Hamilton Place, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Robert T. Morris, 616 Madison Avenue, N.Y. City, + 1 Dr. Wm. J. Morton, 19 E. 28th Street, N.Y. City, + 1 Dr. J.B. Murphy, 104 So. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Ill. + 1 Miss Mary Murphy, 233 Eighth Street, Jersey City, N.J. + 2 Mr. Wm. Neisel, 44-60 E. 23rd Street. N.Y. City. + 2 Dr. Rupert Norton, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Md. + 1 Dr. M.C. O’Brien, 161 W. 122nd Street, N.Y. City, + 1 Mr. Adolf Olson, 383 E. 136th Street, N.Y. City, + 1 Mr. O.G. Orr, 37 Wall Street, N.Y. City, + 1 Dr. Francis R. Packard, 302 S. 19th Street, Philadelphia, Pa. + 1 Dr. Charles E. Page, 120 Tremont Street, Boston, Mass. + 1 Dr. Roswell Park, 510 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, N.Y. + 1 Dr. Ralph L. Parsons, Ossining, N.Y. + 1 Mr. E.B. Pettel, 308 E. 15th Street, N.Y. City. + 1 Dr. Daniel J. Phelan, 123 W. 94th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. C. W. Pilgrim, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. + 1 Dr. J. L. Pomeroy, 212 Am. Nat. Bank, Monrovia, Cal. + 1 Dr. R. S. Porter, Captain Med. Corps, U. S. A., Fort Wm. H. Seward, + Alaska. + 1 Dr. M. Rabinowitz, 1261 Madison Avenue, N. Y. City. + + 1 Dr. Chas. Rayersky, Liberty, N. Y. + 1 Dr. R. G. Reese, 50 W. S2nd Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. Pius Renn, 171 W. 95th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Miss Jennie M. Rich, 624 S. Washington Square, Philadelphia, Pa. + 1 Dr. Jno. D. Riley, Mahanoy City, Pa. + 1 Dr. A. Ripperger, 616 Madison Avenue, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. John A. Robinson, 40 E. 41 st Street, N. Y. City. + 2 Mr. Hermann Roder, 366 Central Avenue, Jersey City, N. J. + 1 Dr. Max Rosenthal, 26 W. 90th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Mr. Gregory Santos, 32 Madison Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. Thos. E. Satterthwaite, 7 E. 80th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. Reginald H. Sayre, 14 W. 48th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Mr. M. F. Schlesinger, 47 Third Avenue, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. W. S. Schley, 24 W. 45th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Mrs. Schoenfeld, 374 Washington Avenue, Astoria, N. Y. + 1 Dr. G. Schroeder, Schoemberg O. A. Neuenbürg, Wuerttemberg, + Germany. + 1 Dr. P. David Schultz, 601 W. 156th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. E. S. Sherrnan, 20 Central Avenue, Newark, N. J. + 1 Mr. James S. Smitzes, Tarpon Springs, Fla. + 1 Dr. John B. Solley, Jr., 968 Lexington Avenue, N. Y. City. + 5 Messrs. G. E. Stechert & Co., 151-155 W. 25th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. Heinrkh Stern, 250 W. 73d Street, N. Y. City, + 1 Dr. Geo. David Stewart, 61 W. 50th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. Chas. Stover, Amsterdam, N. Y. + 3 Dr. August Adrian Strasser, 115 Beech Street, Arlington, N. J. + 1 Dr. Alfred N. Strouse, 79 W. 50th Street, N. Y. City, + 1 Surgeon General’s Office, Washington, D. C. + 1 Mr. Fairchild N. Terry, 984 Simpson Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Mr. Vasilios Takis, 2060 E. 15th Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. + 1 Mr. John G. Theophilos, Coney Island, N. Y. + 1 Dr. Henry H. Tyson, 47 W. 51st Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Professor Dr. H. Vierordt, Tuebingen, Germany. + 1 Dr. Hermann Vieth, Ludwigshafen, Germany. + 1 Dr. Agnes C. Vietor, Trinity Court, Boston, Mass. + 1 Mr. George Villios, 31 Oliver Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Mr. John Villios, 31 Oliver Street, N. Y. + 1 Dr. Antonie P. Voislawsky, 128 W. 59th. St., N. Y. City + 1 Dr. Cornelius Doremus Van Wagenen, 616 Madison Avenue, N. Y. City. + 2 Rev. Thos. W. Wallace, 921 Morris Avenue, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. Jas. J. Walsh, 110 W. 74th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. Josephine Walter, 61 W. 74th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. Henry W. Wandles, 9 E. 39th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. Freeman F. Ward, 616 Madison Avenue, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. Edward J. Ware, 121 W. 93rd Street, N. Y. City. + 2 Kommerzienrat Richard Weidner, Gotha, Germany. + 1 Dr. Sara Welt-Kakels, 71 E. 66th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. H. R. Weston, Lieut. U. S. A., Key West Barracks, Fla. + 1 Dr. Thos. H. Willard, 1 Madison Avenue, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. M. H. Williams, 556 W. 150th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. Linsly R. Williams, 882 Park Avenue, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. Frederick N. Wilson, 40 E. 41st Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. Fred. Wise, 828 Lexington Avenue, N. Y. City. + 2 Mr. A. Wittemann, 250 Adams Street. Brooklyn, N. Y. + 1 Miss E. Wittemann, 17 Ocean Terrace, Stapleton, S. I. + 1 Dr. David G. Yates, 79 W. 104th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Professor Dr. Zimmerer, Regensburg, Germany. + 1 Mr. H. H. Tebault, 624 Madison Avenue. + 1 Dr. R. L. Sutton, U. S. N., Kansas City, Mo. + 1 Mr. L. Schwalbach, 12 Judge Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. + 1 Mr. N. Becker, 361 Crescent Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. + 1 Mr. Anton Emmert, 563 Hart Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. + 1 Dr. Ernest V. Hubbard, 11 E. 48th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. J. A. Koempel, 469 E. 156th Street, N. Y. City. + 1 Dr. John D. Riley, 200 E. Mahonoy Ave., Mahonoy City, P. I. + 1 Dr. John McCoy, 157 W. 73rd Street, N. Y. City. + + + + +OTHER BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR. + + +PHYSICIAN VS. BACTERIOLOGIST. + +BY PROF. O. ROSENBACH, M.D. + +Translated from the German by ACHILLES ROSE, M.D., New York. + +This volume embraces Rosenbach’s discussion on the +clinico-bacteriologic and hygienic problems based on original +investigations. They represent a contest against the overgrowth of +bacteriology, principally against the overzealous enthusiasm of +orthodox bacteriologists. + +PARTIAL CONTENTS—Significance of Animal Experiments for Pathology and +Therapy, The Doctrine of Efficacy of Specifics, Disinfection in the +Test Tube and in the Living Body, Should Drinking Water and Milk be +Sterilized? In How Far Has Bacteriology Advanced Diagnosis and Cleared +Up Aetiology? The Mutations of Therapeutic Methods; Stimulation, +Reaction, Predisposition; Bacterial Aetiology of Pleurisy; The +Significance of Sea Sickness; Pathogenesis of Pulmonary Phthisis; +Constitution and Therapy; Care of the Mouth in the Sick; Some Remarks +on Influenza; The Koch Method; The Cholera Question; Infection; +Orotherapy; Undulations of Epidemics. + +_The Post Graduate_, New York: “It is a rich storehouse for every +physician and will give much food for thought.” + +12mo, Cloth. 455 Pages. $1.50, net; By Mail, $1.66. + +CARBONIC ACID IN MEDICINE. + +BY ACHILLES ROSE, M.D. + +It sets forth facts about the healing qualities of carbonic acid gas +which were known centuries ago and then passed into disuse until they +had become unjustly forgotten. + +THE CONTENTS—The Physiology and Chemistry of Respiration; History of +the Use of Carbonic Acid in Therapeutics; Inflation of the Large +Intestine with Carbonic-acid Gas for Diagnostic Purposes; The +Therapeutic Effect of Carbonic-acid Gas in Chloriasis, Asthma, and +Emphysema of the Lungs, in the Treatment of Dysentry and Membranous +Enteritis and Colic, Whooping-cough, Gynecological Affections; The +Effects of Carbonic-acid Baths on the Circulation; Rectal Fistula +Promptly, Completely, and Permanently Cured by Means of Carbonic-acid +Applications; Carbonic-acid in Chronic Suppurative Otitis and +Dacryocystitis; Carbonicacid Applications in Rhinitis. + +“From this little volume the practitioner can derive much valuable +information, while the physiologist will find a point of departure for +new investigations.”—The Post-Graduate, New York. Illustrated. 12mo. +Cloth, 268 Pages. $1.00, net; By Mail, $1.10. + +ATONIA GASTRICA BY DR. ACHILLES ROSE. + +Atonia Gastrica, by which term is understood abdominal relaxation and +ptosis of viscera, is a subject of vast importance, as has been proved +by the avalanche of literature it has caused during the last decade. +The relation of some ailments to abdominal relaxation has only been +recognized since the author’s method of abdominal strapping has been +adopted and extensively practiced. This book gives in attractive form +all we know in regard to aetiology; it describes and treats on the +significance of the plaster strapping as the most rational therapeutic +measure. The illustrations given with the description will prove of +much practical value to those who wish to give the method a trial, but +who have not had the opportunity to see the Rose belt applied. + +12mo. Cloth. Price, $1.00, net. + +FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers, 44-60 East Twenty-third Street, +New York. + +MEDICAL GREEK COLLECTION OF PAPERS ON MEDICAL ONOMATOLOGY. + +BY DR. ACHILLES ROSE, Honorary Member of the Medical Society of Athens. +Member of the Committee on Nomenclature of the Medical Society of +Athens. + +G. E. STECHERT & COMPANY, 151-155 West 25th Street, New York. Price, +$1.00. + +Dr. James P. Warbasse of Brooklyn, N. Y., wrote concerning this book: +“I am much in sympathy with your efforts to secure more uniformity and +correctness in our medical words. While you may not be wholly satisfied +with the results which you are able to secure or with the reception +which your work has received at the hands of your colleagues, still it +is continually bearing fruit. The campaign which you have carried on +has awakened a general and widespread interest in the matter, and is +bound to accomplish great good. I have read with much interest your +correspondence with the Academy of Medicine. It shows an admirable +persistent enthusiasm on one hand and a successful postponing diplomacy +on the other.” + +“For the work done by you, your name will be praised by generations.” + +In order to understand the onomatology question in medicine as it +stands at present one has to read this book. + +CHRISTIAN GREECE AND LIVING GREEK. BY DR. ACHILLES ROSE. NEW YORK: + +G. E. STECHERT & CO., 151-155 West 25th Street. Price, $1.00. + +CONTENTS. + +PREFACE.—A Political Retrospect on Greece.—The Hostility of the Great +European Powers towards Greece Since the Establishment of the Greek +Kingdom.—Pacifico Affair and Lord Palmerston.—Cretan Insurrections. +—Latest War.—Greece’s Future + +CHAPTER I.—An Historical Sketch of Greek.—Relation of the Greek of +To-day to the Greek of the Attic Orators.—Exposure of many Erroneous +Views which have been Prevailing until Recently + +CHAPTER II.—Proper Pronounciation of Greek.—The Only True Historical +Pronounciation is the One of the Greeks of To-day; the Erasmian is +Arbitrary, Unscientific, is a Monstrosity + +CHAPTER III.—The Byzantines.—Misrepresentations in Regard to Byzantine +History.—Our Gratitude due to the Byzantine Empire + +CHAPTER IV.—The Greeks under Turkish Bondage.—The Misery into which the +Greek World was Thrown during the Centuries of Turkish Bondage, the +Wonderful Rising of the Greek People from the Lethargy caused by +Slavery, and their Spiritual and Political Resurrection + +CHAPTER V.—The Greek War of Independence, and the European Powers.—The +most Incomprehensible Wrongs Done to the Heroic Greek Race by the +Powers while it was Struggling for Liberty after Long Centuries of +Terrific Vicissitudes, under Circumstances which Presented More +Difficulties than any Other Nation had Encountered.—Philhellenism + +CHAPTER VI.—The Kingdom of Greece before the War of 1897.—Continuation +of the Hostility towards the Greeks Since a Part, Part Only of the +Nation was Set Free + +CHAPTER VII.—Greek as the International Language of Physicians and +Scholars in General.—The Necessity of Introducing Better Methods of +Teaching Greek in Schools in Order that Greek may become the +International Language of Scholars + +EPILOGUE.—Calumniations Against the Greeks of To-day and the Refutation +of These + +List of Subscribers EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS AND REVIEWS IN JOURNALS. + +His GRACE, ARCHBISHOP CORRIGAN, New York, wrote the day after having +received the book: “Dear Doctor, Many thanks for your great courtesy in +sending me a copy of your charming work, ‘Christian Greece and Living +Greek.’ I have already begun its perusal, the chapter on the proper +‘Pronunciation of Greek’ naturally inviting and claiming immediate +attention. I think you laugh Erasmus out of court. Now I must begin, if +leisure be ever afforded me, to dip into Greek again, to learn to +pronounce your noble language correctly. Congratulating you on your +success, and with best wishes, I am, dear Doctor, + + “Very faithfully yours, + +“M. A. CORRIGAN, ARCHBISHOP.” + +DR. ACHILLES ROSE. + +S. STANHOPE ORRIS, Professor of Greek in Princeton University, who was +Director of the American School at Athens from 1888 to 1889, who kindly +revised the manuscript, wrote: + +“I think that the impression which the manuscript has made on my mind +will be made on the minds of all who read your book—that it is the +production of an able, laborious, enthusiastic, scholarly man, who +deserves the gratitude and admiration of all who labor to perpetuate an +interest in the language, literature, and history of Greece.” + +Again, after having received the book, the same Philhellene writes to +the author: “Professor Cameron, my colleague, who has glanced at the +book, pronounces it eloquent, as I also do, and unites with me in +ordering a copy for our University Library.” + +HON. EBEN ALEXANDER, former United States Minister to Greece, Professor +of Greek, North Carolina University: “My dear Dr. Rose, The five copies +have been received, and I enclose check in payment…. I am greatly +pleased with the book. It shows everywhere the fruit of your +far-reaching studies, and your own enthusiastic interest has enabled +you to state the facts in a strongly interesting way. I hope that it +will meet with favor. I wonder whether you have sent a copy to the +King? He would like to see it, I know…. I am sincerely your friend.” + +WILLIAM F. SWAHLER, Professor of Greek, De Pauw University, +Greencastle, Ind., writes: “I received the book today in fine order, +and am much pleased so far as I have had time to peruse the same.” + +THOMAS CARTER, Professor of Greek and Latin, Centenary College, +Jackson, La., writes: “Am highly delighted with Dr. Rose’s work; have +not had the time to read it all yet, but from what I have been able to +get over, am more than ever convinced of his accurate learning, his +profound scholarship, and his devoted enthusiasm for his beloved +Hellas.” + +A. V. WILLIAMS JACKSON, Professor of Oriental Languages, Columbia +University, New York: “The welcome volume arrived this morning and is +cordially appreciated. This note is to express my thanks and to extend +best wishes for continued success.” + +MR. JOHN C. PALMARIS, of Chicago: “[Greek: Eugnomonon Eggaen]. Dr. +Achilles Rose. Dear Sir, Allow me to express my thanks from the bottom +of my heart as a Greek for your sincere love for my beloved country +‘Hellas,’ and to congratulate you for your noble philological and +precious work, ‘Christian Greece and Living Greek,’ with the true +Gnomikon. ‘It is shameful to defame Greece continually.’ I received +to-day the three copies for me and one for my brother-in-law (Prince +Rodokanakis), which I despatched immediately to Syra.” + +DR. A. F. CURRIER, New York: “Dear Dr. Rose, I received your book with +great pleasure. It is very attractively made up, and I am looking +forward to the pleasure of reading it. As I get older I am astonished +at the charm with which memory recalls history, myth, and poetry in the +study of the classics long ago. With sincerest wishes for your success, +believe me yours, Philhellenically.” + +C. EVERETT CONANT, Professor of Greek and Latin, Lincoln University, +Lincoln, III.: “I wish personally to thank you for the effort you are +making to set before us Americans the true status of the modern Greek +language in its relation with the classic speech of Pericles’ day. With +best wishes for the success of your laudable undertaking, I am +cordially yours.” + +MR. H. E. S. SLAGENHAUP, Taneytown, Md.: “Dr. Achilles Rose. Dear Sir, +Your book, ‘Christian Greece and Living Greek,’ reached me this +morning. Although it arrived only this morning I have already read the +greater part of it. It is a work for which every Philhellene must feel +truly grateful to you. Not only do I admire the care, the industry, and +the scholarly research which are evident on every page of this valuable +exposition of Hellenism and Philhellenism, but I most heartily indorse +every sentiment expressed in it. I rejoice that such a book has +appeared; I hope it may have a wide influence favorable to the just +cause of Hellas; and I pledge myself to render whatever assistance may +lie in my power in the furtherance of that cause. The disasters of the +past year have in no wise shaken my faith in the Hellenic race; on the +contrary, they have increased my admiration for the brave people who +undertook a war against such odds in behalf of their oppressed +brethren; and I believe that the cause which sustained such regrettable +defeats on the plains of Thessaly last year will eventually triumph in +spite of opposition.” + +FRANKLIN B. STEPHENSON, M. D., Surgeon United States Navy. “United +States Marine Corps Recruiting Office, Boston: My dear Doctor, Permit +me to write you of my pleasure and satisfaction in reading your +excellent book on Christian Greece and Greek; and to express my +appreciation of the clear and vivid manner in which you have portrayed +the life and work of the Hellenes, who have done so much in preserving +and transmitting to us the learning in science and art of the ancient +world…. Your reference to the eminent professor of Greek who said that +there was ‘no literature in modern Greek worthy of the name,’ reminds +me of the remark of a man, prominent in financial and social circles, +who told me that there was nothing in Russian to make it worth while +studying the language [Dr. Stephenson is a well-known +linguist—mastering eight languages, Russian among them]. I wish you all +success in the work of letting the light of truth, as to Greek, shine +in the minds of those who do not know their own ignorance.” + +MORTIMER LAMSON EARLE, Professor Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pa., who +mastered so well the living Greek language that Greeks of education +pronounce their admiration of his elegant style, saying that it is most +wonderful how well a foreigner writes their own language: “The book has +been duly received, but I have not as yet had time to read all of it. +However, I have read enough to know that, though I differ with you in +many details, I am heartily in accord with you in earnestly supporting +the cause of a people and language to which I am sincerely attached. I +am glad that you speak so highly in praise of the Klephtic songs. I +hope that your book may do much good.” + +LOUIS F. ANDERSON, Professor of Greek, Whitman College, Walla Walla, +Wash.: “From my rapid inspection I regard it as superior even to my +anticipations. I trust that it will have an extensive sale and +corresponding influence. It is the book needed just now. I hope to +write more in the future.” + +MR. C. MEHLTRETTER, New York: “After due reading of your book I feel it +my duty to congratulate you on same. True, you may have received so +many congratulatory notes that the layman’s opinion will be of little +value. Nevertheless, I can assure you the perusal of your book caused +me more pleasure and instruction than any other I heretofore read on +the subject. I assure you it will find a prominent place in my library, +and any time in future you should again write on _any subject_ consider +me one of your subscribers.” + +WILLIAM J. SEELYE, Professor of Greek, University of Wooster, Ohio: +“Dr. Rose’s book received yesterday. I have already read enough to see +that the author is not only full of his subject, but treats it with +judicial mind.” + +JOSEPH COLLINS, M.D., Professor Post-Graduate School of Medicine, New +York: “The chapters of your book that I have read have been +entertaining and instructive.” + +ISAAC A. PARKER, Professor of Greek and Latin, Lombard University, +Galesburg, Ill.: “I wish to say to Dr. Rose that, although I have yet +had time only to glance hastily at the book, the few sentences which I +have read have interested me very much, and it will give me much +pleasure to give it a careful perusal, as I see that it contains much +valuable information. The thanks of those interested in Greece and +Greek literature are due to Dr. Rose for giving them this book. Praise +is due to the printer for his excellent work.” + +CHARLES R. PEPPER, Professor Central University, Richmond, Ky.: “Your +book, ‘Christian Greece and Living Greek,’ came duly to hand. I am much +pleased with it. I hope the interest of the Philhellenes in the United +States may be quickened to a livelier degree in Greece and Greek +affairs, and that your book may accomplish a good work in putting +before the people generally the claims of Hellas to the gratitude, +love, and admiration of the civilized world.” + +[_From the Troy Daily Times_, Feb. 7, 1898.] + +“Christian Greece and Living Greek,” by Dr. Achilles Rose. In view of +the Hellenic defeat in the war with Turkey a year ago the future of +Greece to many minds is rather vague and clouded. This idea is due to +lack of knowledge of Greece history and character. Were Americans more +familiar with the character of the Hellenes and their traditions none +would doubt that the descendants of those great figures of the heroic +age have a mission before them and that this mission will be +accomplished in spite of Turkish bullets and the selfishness of the +other European powers. Dr. Rose in this volume offers a clear +presentation of the condition of Greece at the present time. His work +deals not only with the nation, but with the language, and the history +of each is traced from its earliest beginnings down to the present +time. The reading of this book will afford a much clearer understanding +of the causes leading to the war of 1897 than is generally possessed. +Of especial interest is an introduction written by one of the best +known Greeks now resident in this country, who reviews the causes +leading to the great war, and clearly shows the shamefulness of the +course pursued by the great European powers in leaving Hellas to her +fate. Some of the statements made are significant, notably the +following: “If Greece has sinned, it was on the side of compassion for +her oppressed children and coreligionists. She is bleeding from every +pore of her mutilated body, but there is a Nemesis which sooner or +later will overtake those who rejoice now at her defeat and +humiliation.” New York: Peri Hellados Publishing Office. + +From REV. HENRY A. BUTTZ, Dean Theological Seminary, Madison, N.J.: “My +dear Sir, I have read with interest your book ‘Christian Greece and +Living Greek,’ and have found it full of valuable suggestion. It +discusses many points of great interest, giving a more correct view of +the true condition of the Greece of to-day and of its relation to its +glorious past. I am especially pleased with your forcible putting of +the importance of adopting the modern Greek pronunciation in our study +of the Greek language. I wish your book a wide circulation.” + +F. A. PACKARD, M.D., Kearney, Neb.: “Dear Sir and Doctor, Your book on +‘Christian Greece and Living Greek’ received. I must say it is a grand +work and I prize it highly and consider it a valuable addition to my +library. Wishing you success, etc.” + +A. JACOBI, M.D., Professor Columbia University: “Dear Dr. Rose, The +perusal of your book has been a source of much pleasure to me. If +Hellas has as enthusiastic men and women among her own people as you +are, a friend in a foreign nation, she will have a promising future.” + +MR. LOUIS PRANG, Boston, Mass.: “‘Christian Greece and Living Greek’ +has given me not only great pleasure to read but I have learned more +about Greece, as it was and as it _really_ is, than I ever knew before. +Your book is exceedingly valuable to a man like me who desires +_reliable_ information on this very interesting people and who lacks +the time for personal investigation or much book-reading, which after +all, to judge by your statements, would not lead to a correct +appreciation of present conditions. Your personal experience based on +large and varied observations among the people, and your evidently +thorough study of past history make your judgment acceptable, and your +manner of giving it to the reader is eminently interesting and +engaging, and above all convincing. I do not think that what I have +said here will be of much interest or satisfaction to you, as coming +from a simple business man, but I wished to thank you for the enjoyment +your book has given me and to tell you that you have made at least one +convert for the cause of living Greek.” + +A GREEK LADY, living in Cairo, Egypt, writes to her father: “I thank +you above all for the book of Dr. Rose you were so kind as to send me, +and which I am perusing with the greatest interest. One can see that +Dr. Rose is a friend of our dear country; if there were more like him +we would not be so run down by ignorant and spiteful people.” + +[_From New York Medical Journal_, March 5th, 1898.] + +Dr. Rose’s well-known enthusiasm for the Greeks, their country, and +particularly their language has resulted in the production of a very +interesting book. Physicians will naturally be most interested in the +concluding chapter, which treats of Greek as the international language +of physicians and scholars in general, but from cover to cover there is +nothing commonplace in the book; it is quite readable throughout. We +congratulate Dr. Rose on the appearance of the volume in so attractive +a form. + +[_From The Independant_, March 24th, 1898.] + +Dr. Rose stands forth in his volume the champion of modern Greece, the +Greeks and their wrongs. He tells the story as it has been developed in +this century, and recites the older history and appeals to the +intelligent Christian world against the Great Assassin of +Constantinople. He believes the modern Greek tongue as now spoken and +written to be the ideal one for international intercourse, especially +on scientific matters, and repudiates the Erasmian method of +pronunciation. His account of the Greeks themselves is encouraging. He +claims for them a strict morality. Theft he declares unknown, and +drunkenness. The book is certainly eloquent and inspiring. + +[_From The Living Church_, Chicago, March 19th, 1898.] + +This is a most interesting book. There is not a dull page in it. It is +made up of various lectures delivered by the accomplished author, at +different times, on the Greek language and history. Magnificent as +Gibbon’s work is on the Byzantine Empire, the contemptuous tone he uses +toward it has much misled modern writers and readers in their +estimation of that wonderful monarchy. A state which lasted as that did +in the face of so many difficulties, could not have been so badly +governed as Gibbon implies. That Dr. Rose shows, and a good, English, +up-to-date Byzantine history is greatly to be desired. Dr. Rose’s +account of the Greek struggle for independence is vivid, patriotic, and +full of information on a subject that few people know much about. The +most interesting part of the book to scholars is the chapters on modern +Greek. Dr. Rose says: “The living Greek of to-day shows much less +deviation from the Greek of two thousand and more years ago than any +other European language shows in the course of centuries.” This +statement will surprise many, but it is literally true. Dr. Rose gives +the history of the creation of the modern Greek literary language on +the lines of classic Greek, and he advocates the use of modern Greek, +especially in the matter of pronunciation, in teaching classic Greek. +In all this we go with him heartily, and his views are being adopted in +many colleges in Europe and America. + +[_From the Evangelist_, February 17th, 1898.] + +We commend this book to all who would know what the “concert of +European powers” means to a struggling kingdom and people used as a +“buffer state” between the unspeakable Turk and civilized “Westerns.” +The historical chapters of the work are a revelation of the intricacies +of “the disgraceful deals of the great powers whose victim the kingdom +of Greece has been.” The story is simply told with great candor and +quiet reserve, but it carries a lesson that moves the heart and stirs +the indignation of dispassionate and perhaps indifferent observers. How +hard is it for a people like the Greeks or the Armenians to get a +hearing! What “political necessities” demand silence; what diplomatic +falsehoods, deceptions, subterfuges are indulged by ministries and +cabinets that are called Christian! The history of Greece from the fall +of the Byzantine Empire up to this hour is a tragedy, and the final +deliverance in 1828 was more painfully sad and disappointing, more +shamefully mismanaged and limited, more wretchedly hampered and +hindered in every possible way, than is easily conceivable, considering +the popular sentiment roused by such Philhellenes as Byron, Erskine, +Gladstone, and the Genevan banker Eynard. Think of the massacre of +Chios, and then hear men talking of Navarino as a blunder! + +But let our readers turn to the pages of Dr. Rose’s book for +information. There is a historical sketch of the Byzantine Empire, +showing the most extraordinary misrepresentations which have held on +till very recently; a second chapter exposes the “erroneous views which +have prevailed in regard to the relation of the Greek of to-day to the +Greek of the classical period,” with a chapter on “absurd ideas in +vogue in regard to Greek pronunciation”; a fourth chapter gives the +misery of the Turkish bondage and “their spiritual and political +resurrection”; then follows one on the wrongs to the Greeks in their +struggle for liberty, in which some American shipping firms are +involved and “Mr. W. J. Stillman” is pretty severely handled; then “the +kingdom of Greece before the war of 1897,” and an “Epilogue,” which +should be read before Dr. Hepworth has time to get in his Armenian +discoveries. This is the merest hint as to the intrinsic interest and +pertinency of the book, the only unprejudiced and patriotic plea for +the Greeks which has escaped the censorship of the press and politics +and politicians. Let the Greeks be heard! Let the list of Philhellenes +grow to a grand majority in Europe and America that shall make itself +heard in behalf of justice and humanity! + +The scholarly chapters are as admirable as the statesmanlike and +patriotic ones. They should lead to a Greek revival. We think the +university wars of “Greeks and Trojans” might be fought over again. We +join the Greeks! + +His EXCELLENCY KLÉON RANGABÉ, Greek Ambassador in Berlin, writes: “Many +sincere thanks for the kind transmission of your most interesting +book…. I can congratulate you most sincerely. You treat all the +important subjects in so exhaustive and conclusive a manner that all +those who seek for truth must necessarily be convinced. We are in +consequence indebted to you for a valuable service, but your own +American countrymen ought also to be thankful to you, for every apostle +of truth is in his way a benefactor of humanity. I hope that the days +of the Erasmian absurdity, which belongs to the Dark Ages and is +unworthy of American scholars, are now numbered. I hope that your book +will also appear in German as it would do a great deal of good here. +What you say about the system applied to Greek studies in general is +also perfectly correct. These studies are still and will always be the +soul of every liberal education, and, constantly undermined by the +materialistic tendencies of the age, they can only be saved through a +fundamental change of this system. The language must henceforth be +taught as a living one, having never ceased to live for a moment since +the days of Homer.” + +_Neologos_, an Athenian paper, writes a long article, reviewing the +book and its author’s works in general. “The author’s name is already +known to us by his lectures on Greece which have been published here. +Mr. Rose belongs to those who will persevere to establish an idea; +obstacles and difficulties can only serve to such characters to spur +their ardor. Mr. Rose is inspired by the noble idea to disseminate a +better knowledge of Greece of to-day and to enlist sympathies in her +behalf. He is combating the influence of an impossible Grecophobe +press. People abroad will change their opinion when they know our true +history, our character, our morals, customs, etc.” + +THE PUBLISHER OF THIS JOURNAL HAS PUBLISHED A GREEK TRANSLATION OF THE +BOOK. + +Other Athenian political and literary journals bring likewise reviews. +All are full of praise of the author and his book. The editor of the +journal, _Salpinx_, of Cyprus, writes that the author’s name is +engraved in the hearts determination of Greeks. + +D. B. ST. JOHN ROOSA, M.D., President Post-Graduate Medical School and +Hospital, New York: “My dear Dr. Rose, The copy of the important work +written by you, which has just been published, came to me two days ago. +I write to thank you, and again to express my sincere interest in your +book. I hope you may live to see it successful. A common language for +scientific men is indeed a great need. Yours ever faithfully.” + +B. T. SPENCER, A.M., Professor of Greek, Kentucky Wesleyan College: “I +am deeply interested in the subject and feel that that interest has +been intensified by reading Dr. Rose’s book. All the friends of Hellas +should read it.” + +DR. JAMES T. WHITTAKER, Cincinnati, Ohio: “I am enjoying your book very +much and have just finished the chapter concerning the Greeks under +Turkish bondage, which is the most interesting description of this +subject which I have ever seen.” + +KNUT HOEGH, M.D., Minneapolis, Minn.: “Your book came one mail after +your letter; I went to a medical meeting in the evening; during my +absence my oldest daughter read the book, and on my return, when I +opened the door, she told me how well she liked it. I had to sit down +and read it, and I did so until far out in the small hours. I must say +that the book opened new views to me, and I am sorry that I did not +know the many valuable facts contained in it when I was in Berlin last +year, when you know the wind that was blowing was anything but +Philhellenic. What a forcible argument against the prevailing order of +things in Europe is the whole Eastern question!” + +A German translation under the title: Die Griechen und ihre Sprache +seit der Zeit Konstantin’s des Grossen, has been published in Leipzig +Verlag von Wilhelm Friedrich, 1899. + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Napoleon's Campaign in Russia Anno 1812, by Achilles Rose + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NAPOLEON'S CAMPAIGN IN RUSSIA ANNO 1812 *** + +***** This file should be named 7973-0.txt or 7973-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/9/7/7973/ + +Produced by David Starner, John P. 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