badly wounded, and this successive loss of the services of their officers, occasioned some indecision in the French movement; at length, however, they carried the redoubts that covered the Russian left. Bagrathion immediately reënforced the routed division, and retook the position; and Kutusoff, perceiving that Napoleon was directing great strength against this part of his line, moved the corps of Bagawouth from the right to its support. At the same time, Ney received orders to support Davoust, and he had gallantly made himself master of the disputed redoubt, when Bagawouth's corps, in turn, dislodged him and drove him back on the plain. Ney and Davoust, thus repulsed, united their forces for a spirited attack on the right division of the Russian centre; and after a combat of no less than four hours, they found themselves unable to force Kutusoff's lines, and sent an urgent request to the Emperor for reënforcements. Napoleon, thinking it time for a decisive charge, ordered up the Young Guard, and the greater part of the reserve cavalry, to support the two marshals; four hundred pieces of cannon were brought to bear on the redoubts in this quarter, and, under the cover of their fire, these immense columns advanced to the assault. The fire from the Russian batteries was concentrated on this mass, and it swept off whole battalions at once, but the survivors closed their ranks and pressed on with a firm step to the ramparts. Bagrathion, perceiving that the French gradually gained ground, ordered the whole left wing to abandon their intrenchments, and charge the attacking columns in flank. A terrible contest ensued. Full eighty thousand men, having seven hundred pieces of cannon, accumulated in a small space, fought with great fury for more than an hour, without any perceptible advantage to either side, until at last Bagrathion was severely wounded, and the Russians began to give way. General Konownitsyn, however, assumed the command, and effected a retreat in good order to a strong position in the rear, behind the ravine of Semenowskoie, and for the rest of the day maintained his ground against every assault of the enemy.

In the centre, where Barclay commanded, a desperate conflict was also waged. The Russians at first lost the village of Borodino, and afterward the great centre redoubt which formed the strongest point of his whole position; but by a determined effort the latter was retaken, a part of the attacking force made prisoners, and the remainder driven back in confusion to the Emperor's quarters. Napoleon was now strongly urged to send forward his final reserve of Imperial Guards; but for a time he refused to do so, leaving the routed division to sustain itself against the Russian cavalry. He, however, at length ordered the charge, and the impetuosity of those veterans, together with a terrible onslaught of cuirassiers in flank, carried the redoubt. The Russian general made several attempts to recover it, but without success, and toward evening he withdrew his whole force to the heights directly in the rear of his original position. Thus, at the close of the day, the Russians had abandoned their whole first line of defence; but they had gained a second line, stronger than the other, where the French did not venture to molest them.

The Russian loss in this terrible battle, amounted to forty-seven thousand men fifteen thousand killed, thirty thousand wounded, and two thousand prisoners; and among the slain, were the brave Bagrathion and several general officers of distinction. The French lost Generals Caulaincourt, Monbrun, and several other officers, together with a total of

fifty thousand men, of whom twelve thousand were killed, and thirty-eight thousand wounded. In addition to this, the French lost ten, and the Russians thirteen pieces of cannon: so that on the whole, the French could boast of no other advantage in the action than the mere keeping possession of the battle-field.

The day after the battle of Borodino, the Russians retired by the great road toward Moscow. The magnitude of his loss, rendered Kutusoff unwilling to risk the remainder of the army in another general action with the French, who were constantly receiving reënforcements; but no signs of confusion marked his route; and the subsequent retreat was conducted with such perfect order, that when the French troops reached the point where the roads to Moscow and Kaluga separate, they were for some time uncertain, as they had previously been at Witepsk, which of the two the Russians had followed. Kutusoff reached a position half a league in front of Moscow on the 13th of September, and held a council of war to deliberate the question of abandoning the town to its fate. Kutusoff and Barclay eventually insisted on a retreat, assigning as a reason, that it was indispensable to preserve the army entire until the new levies could be incorporated into its ranks, and averring that the abandonment of the metropolis "would lead the enemy into a snare, where his destruction would be inevitable." These prophetic words determined the council, and orders were given for the troops to retire in the direction of Kolomna. On the morning of the 14th, therefore, the army continued its retreat, and in silent despondency defiled through the streets of the sacred city.

Nothing could exceed the consternation of the inhabitants of Moscow, when they found themselves deserted by their defenders. They had been led to believe, from the government reports, that the French were entirely defeated at Borodino, and that Napoleon's advance to Moscow was impossible; they therefore had not thought of preparations for quitting the city. Nevertheless, when their departure thus became unavoidable, they made exertions equal to the emergency, and in a short time, no less than three hundred thousand people left their homes, and reverted at once to the nomadic life of their ancestors.

At eleven o'clock, on the 14th, the advanced guard of the French army, from an eminence on their route, descried the minarets of the metropolis; the domes of more than two hundred churches, and the roofs of a thousand palaces glittered in the rays of the sun, and the leading squadrons, struck by the magnificence of the spectacle, halted to exclaim, "Moscow ! Moscow!" and the cry, repeated from rank to rank, reached the Emperor's guard. The soldiers then broke their array and rushed tumultuously forward, while Napoleon in the midst of them gazed impatiently on the scene. His first words were, "Here is that famous city at last!" but he immediately added, "It is full time!"

The entry of the French troops into the town, however, dispelled many of their illusions. Moscow was deserted. Its long streets and splendid palaces reëchoed nothing but the clangor of the invader's march the dwelling-places of three hundred thousand people were as silent as a wilderness. Napoleon in vain waited until evening for a deputation from the magistrates, or from the chief nobility. No one came forward to deprecate his hostility, and the mournful truth finally forced itself upon him, that Moscow, as if struck by enchantment, was bereft of its inhabit

ants.

He nevertheless advanced, and the troops took possession of the

town, while he established his head-quarters at the ancient palace of the Czars.

But a terrible catastrophe was at hand. At midnight, on the 15th, a bright light illuminated the northern and western parts of the city; and the sentinels at the Kremlin, soon discovered that the splendid edifices in that vicinity were on fire. The wind changed repeatedly during the night, but to whatever quarter it veered, the conflagration extended itself; fresh fires were perpetually breaking out, and Moscow was soon one sea of flame. Napoleon clung with great tenacity to the Kremlin, but the approaching and surrounding fire at last forced him to abandon it, and with some difficulty he made his escape to the country palace of Petrow. sky. The conflagration continued for thirty-six hours, and laid ninetenths of the city in ashes.

While these events were in progress, the Russian army retired on the road to Kolomna; and, after falling back two marches in that direction, it wheeled to the left, and, by a semi-circular route, regained the road to Kaluga, and encamped at Tarutino. By this masterly movement, Kutusoff at once drew near to his reënforcements, covered the richest provinces of the Empire, secured the supplies of his army, and threatened the enemy's communications.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW.

NAPOLEON returned to the Kremlin, which eventually escaped the flames, on the 20th of September, and anxiously awaited the impression which the intelligence of his success would produce on the Russian government. To aid the anticipated effect, Count Lauriston was dispatched to the head-quarters of Kutusoff, with authority to propose an armistice, and Murat had an interview with General Benningsen. Kutusoff immediately forwarded Napoleon's letter to St. Petersburg, through the hands of Prince Wolkousky, while the French deputation were amused with hopes of an arrangement held out to them by the Russian generals.

For a time, the Emperor lay inactive at Moscow, expecting the submission of the cabinet of St. Petersburg: but day after day, and week after week rolled on, without any answer to his proposals. Meantime, the early winter of those northern latitudes was visibly approaching, and the anxiety of the troops in regard to their future movements began to be loudly and freely expressed. At the same time, the discipline and efficiency of the army daily declined amid the license which followed the pillage of Moscow. All the efforts of the officers failed to arrest the insubordination of the men, and the more so, as the pressure of famine aggravated their calamities. The food of the officers frequently consisted of nothing but horse-flesh, and the common soldiers were often on the point of starving.

Very different from this was the appearance of the Russian camp at Tarutino. Discipline, order and comfort, reigned there undisturbed

The levies which arrived from the southern provinces filled up the numerous chasms in the battalions, and all the necessaries of life were furnished in abundance by the surrounding country. One feeling of enthusiasm and one purpose of vengeance animated the entire soldiery. The Cossacks of the Don took arms in a body at the call of Platoff, and twenty-two regiments joined the army. The savage aspect of the horses which these rude warriors brought from the wilderness, with their uncombed manes sweeping the ground, attested how deeply the innermost recesses of the Russian Empire were pervaded by that indomitable spirit of resistance, which brought thence these wild children of the desert to combat for the national freedom.

While the fate of Napoleon's proposals to Alexander remained in suspense, a sort of armistice prevailed between the two main armies; but a guerilla warfare was maintained by the Russian light troops, and especially by the Cossacks, who formed a vast circle around Moscow, occupied every road, and intercepted the enemy's supplies of forage and provisions. The French cavalry were by this means compelled to traverse large districts in search of food, and their detachments were almost invariably cut off by their enterprising and active assailants. During the first three weeks of October, the French lost in this manner more than four thousand men who were taken prisoners, and the reports from Murat announced the alarming fact, that one-half of the whole remaining cavalry of the army had perished in these inglorious encounters.

With these facts in view, the officers were impressed with the most gloomy forebodings as to the fate of the army, if its stay at Moscow were prolonged and Napoleon, although he still flattered himself with a belief that his negotiations for peace would end satisfactorily, saw nevertheless, that if they were to eventuate otherwise, he would be forced to a disastrous retreat. As early as the 2nd of October, he had given orders for the evacuation of the Cathedral and adjoining convents of Smolenskowhich had escaped the conflagration of that city, and were then occupied as hospitals-in order that they might be ready to receive the sick and wounded followers of his retrograde march; and on the 6th of the same month he had written to Berthier, to post his corps in such a manner as to cover his anticipated retreat to that city. But it was now easier for Napoleon to issue orders for the protection of his homeward route, than for his marshals to obey them. The courage and audacity of the straggling Russian parties along the whole line of the French communications, increased with the embarrassments of the invaders; and not only convoys of provisions, but columns in march were intercepted and destroyed by these indefatigable foes.

During this critical period, Napoleon was wasting invaluable time in expectation of an answer to his proposals, which were never seriously entertained by the Russians, and would never have been received at all, but for the secret purpose of detaining him at Moscow until the approach of winter had rendered the escape of his army impossible. But on the 13th of October, a fall of snow aroused Napoleon to a sense of his danger, and he began in earnest to make preparations for retreat.

Kutusoff, who had remained inactive in his encampment, solely because he was fearful of prematurely awaking Napoleon from his fancied security, prepared to resume the offensive as soon as it became evident that the French were about to retire. He had for some time observed that the

advanced guard, under Murat and Poniatowski, thirty thousand strong, posted in the neighborhood of Winkowo, kept so negligent a watch at their outposts, as to offer a tempting opportunity for a surprise. He therefore placed a large body of men under the command of Benningsen, with orders to make the attack. Benningsen divided his force into five columns and hastened to Winkowo, where he arrived on the morning of the 18th of October, and assaulted the French position with great spirit: but as his columns did not all reach their designated positions at one time, Murat was enabled to retreat with a loss of only fifteen hundred men, thirty-eight pieces of cannon and all his baggage.

This comparatively trifling disaster accelerated Napoleon's movements. He left the Kremlin on the morning of the 19th, exclaiming, "Let us march to Kaluga, and wo to those who interrupt our progress!" He retreated from Moscow at the head of one hundred and five thousand combatants, with six hundred pieces of artillery; and in the rear of this imposing array, came an almost interminable train of wagons bearing the spoils pillaged from the devoted city. Napoleon at first advanced on the old road to Kaluga, which led directly to Kutusoff's encampment; but after marching for some hours in that direction, he turned suddenly to the right, and gained by cross-roads the new and shorter route to Kaluga, which ran through Malo-Jaroslawitz. This manœuvre was concealed from the Russians by the corps of Marshal Ney, which continued to advance slowly on the old road; and Kutusoff, in the belief that the whole army had moved on this route, at first sent only Platoff with fifteen regiments of Cossacks to take possession of Malo-Jaroslawitz. On discovering his error, he dispatched the corps of Doctoroff by a rapid night march to support the Cossacks. The French troops had, however, already reached the place in some force under Eugene, and an obstinate contest ensued, at the termination of which, late in the evening of the 24th, the viceroy remained master of a burning town; but he had purchased it by a loss of five thousand of his best troops. Moreover, a Russian army of one hundred thousand men, with seven hundred pieces of cannon, had improved the time consumed in the action to occupy a semi-circular line in his front, which precluded the possibility of a further advance toward Kaluga, without a general battle.

Napoleon remained in the neighborhood of Malo-Jaroslawitz during the night of the 24th, and sent out numerous parties to reconnoitre the Russian position; and their reports induced his most experienced officers to believe that a successful attack was impossible. No alternative remained, therefore, but to fall back on the Smolensko road; and the Emperor's agitation at this juncture was so great, that his attendants dared not approach him. On returning to the miserable cottage that constituted his head-quarters, he sent for Berthier, Murat and Bessières, and seating himself at a table on which a map of the country was spread out, he began to speak to them of the change which the arrival of Kutusoff on the highgrounds of Malo-Jaroslawitz had made in his situation. After a little discussion he became meditative, and, resting his cheeks on his hands and his elbows on the table, he fixed his eyes on the map, and remained for more than an hour in moody silence. The three generals, respecting his mental agony, sat also still and speechless. At last, he suddenly started up and dismissed them, without making known his intentions. But immediately afterward, he sent orders to Davoust to take his place at the