The Burning of Moscow
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107. Histoire de la destruction de Moscou en 1812, 105–107.
108. Ordre du jour, 20 September 1812, ‘Extraits du Livre d’Ordres du 2e Régiment de Grenadiers a pied de la Garde imperiale,’ in Carnet de la Sabretache 8 (1900), 683.
109. Ordre du jour, 21 September 1812, ‘Extraits du Livre d’Ordres du 2e Régiment de Grenadiers a pied de la Garde imperiale,’ in Carnet de la Sabretache 8 (1900), 684–685.
110. Ordre du jour, 23 September 1812, ‘Extraits du Livre d’Ordres du 2e Régiment de Grenadiers a pied de la Garde imperiale,’ in Carnet de la Sabretache 8 (1900), 685–686.
111. Napoleon to Lefebvre, 23 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1109.
112. These troops were drawn from the Young Guard, Roguet’s division and the 1st, 3rd and 4th Corps. Napoleon to Berthier, 25 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1111.
113. Napoleon to Berthier, 28 September 1812, S.H.D., département de l’Armée de Terre, 17 C 113. One battalion comprised carabiniers and cuirassiers, while the other included chasseurs, hussars and chevau-légers. See also Napoleon to Berthier, 30 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1122.
114. Ordre du jour, 29 September 1812, ‘Extraits du Livre d’Ordres du 2e Régiment de Grenadiers a pied de la Garde imperiale,’ in Carnet de la Sabretache 8 (1900), 690–691.
115. To keep the Guard occupied, Napoleon required it to parade every day, at noon, in front of the imperial palace inside the Kremlin. ‘The troops must be in full military uniform, with music, and all officers and staff of the Guard must be present as well.’ Ordre du jour, 21 September 1812, ‘Extraits du Livre d’Ordres du 2e Régiment de Grenadiers a pied de la Garde imperiale,’ in Carnet de la Sabretache 8 (1900), 684. Nevertheless, some Guardsmen continued to rob and pillage. For example, Michel Marc, Police Commissar of the 13th District, reported that a fourrier of the 10th Guard Cavalry Company had robbed a Russian straggler. Marc’s Report of 9 October 1812, RGVIA, f. 846, op. 16, d. 3587, l. 12.
116. Ordre du jour, 29 September 1812, ‘Extraits du Livre d’Ordres du 2e Régiment de Grenadiers a pied de la Garde imperiale,’ in Carnet de la Sabretache 8 (1900), 692–693; Russkii arkhiv (1864), 408–410; Ordre du jour, 30 September 1812, RGVIA, f. 846, op. 16, d. 3587, l. 4.
117. Napoleon to Berthier, 8 October 1812, in Correspondance de Napoléon, XXIV, No. 19264.
118. See ‘Tableau par apercus des ressourses existantes après l’incendie dans la place de Moscou, 27 September 1812’, in Popov, Frantsuzy v Moskve, 122f.
119. Commissar George Lalance’s Report of 2 October 1812, RGVIA, f. 846, op. 16, d. 3587, l. 7.
120. Joseph de Roch’s Report of 5 October 1812, RGVIA, f. 846, op. 16, d. 3587, l. 9.
121. Humbert Droz’s Report of 11 October 1812, RGVIA, f. 846, op. 16, d. 3587, l. 14.
122. Berthier to Davout, 12 October 1812, in Popov, Frantsuzy v Moskve, 120.
123. Chudimov to Soimonov, 17 November 1812, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 16.
124. Dumas, III, 455–456. A Russian report claims that once the cross was removed, Napoleon had an optical telegraph built on top of the Ivan the Great’s tower. Perechen’ izvestii iz Moskvy po 3–e oktyabrya, in Ruskii arkhiv (1864), 1202.
125. Pastoret, 530.
126. For example, he recruited foreigners residing in Moscow to provide intelligence. Major General Ivashkin to Emperor Alexander I, 11 November 1812, RGVIA., f. 846, op. 16, d. 3586, ll. 9–9b.
127. Interrogation Protocol of Jacob Dulon, July 1814, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 114. Dulon lived in merchant Clementz’s house at Maroseika.
128. Major General Ivashkin to Rostopchin, 7 August 1814; Interrogation Protocols of Paul Lacrois, F. Kotov, I. Kozlov, P. Nakhodkin, J. Dulon and V. Konyaev, July 1814, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 107, 111–115. For biographical details of leading members of the municipality, see Zemtsov, 52–60.
129. Kolchugin, 46.
130. Cited in Zemtsov, 52; S. Bakhrushin, Moskva v 1812 godu (Moscow, 1913), 30–31.
131. There are several lists of notables who served in the municipal government and the total number of people differs depending on the document. See ‘Raspisanie osobam, sostavlyavshim frantsuzskoe pravlenie ili munitsipalitet v Moskve 1812 goda,’ in Russki arkhiv 4 (1864), 839–842; Schukin, Bumagi, I, 58–61; Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 102–103.
132. Interrogation Protocol of Ivan Kozlov, July 1814, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 113.
133. Interrogation Protocols of P. Nakhodkin and P. Korobov, July 1814, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 112, 114.
134. Kolchugin, 49–50.
135. Cited in Popov, Frantsuzy v Moskve, 119. Popov consulted d’Horrer’s handwritten manuscript which has not been located since.
136. A. Andreyev, ‘”Ya sluzhil gorodu, a ne vragu.” Pismo professora Kh. Steltzera rektory Moskovskogo universiteta I.A. Heimu, 1812 g.’ in Istoricheskii arkhiv 3 (1997), 44–45.
137. Interrogation Protocol of I. Kozlov, July 1814, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 113.
138. Bestuzhev-Riumin (1859), 172–173.
139. Ysarn, 28.
140. Major General Ivashkin to Rostopchin, 7 August 1814; Interrogation Protocols, July 1814, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 106–107, 110–111.
141. Interrogation Protocol of P. Nakhodkin; Interrogation Protocols of P. Nakhodkin and J. Dulon, July 1814, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 112, 115.
142. Andreyev, 52.
143. Proclamation, 1 October 1812, in Schukin, I, 163; Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 100–101; Popov, Frantsuzy v Moskve, 116–117. For an interesting discussion of the Russian historiography of this issue, see Zemtsov, 48–50.
144. For a concise overview see V. Zemtsov, ‘Moskovskii munitsipalitet’ in Otechestvennaya voina 1812 goda i Osvoboditelnyi pokhod russkoi armii 1813–181 godov. Entsiklopediya (Moscow, 2012), II, 527. Overall, the municipality employed over a hundred men in various capacities. V. Ulanov, who analysed eighty-seven high- and mid-ranking individuals of this municipality, concluded that more than twenty of them were foreigner subjects while thirty came from the Russian bureaucratic and merchant class. In addition, there were four retired officers and four scholars, including one professor. For details see V. Ulanov, ‘Organizatsiya upravleniya v zanyatykh frantsuzami russkikh oblastyakh,’ in Otechestvennaya voina i Russkoe obschestvo, IV, 121–140,
145. Proclamation of 1 October 1812, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 100–101. Members of the municipality wore two bands of red ribbon – a larger one across the right shoulder when acting in their official capacity, and a small one round their left arm when off duty. The head of the municipality also wore a white sash. Constables and minor officials wore bands of white ribbon round their left arms. Bestuzhev-Riumin, who served in the sixth department (dealing with t
he poor and sick), recalled that he did not wear a band on his arm but instead wore a red band across his chest. This band was made from the ribbon of the prestigious Order of St Alexander of Neva, which he inherited from his grandfather. Bestuzhev-Riumin also informs us that the houses of members of the municipality were marked with a special sign to protect them against any attacks. The gate to his house featured an inscription, ‘logement d’adjoint au maitre de la ville’.
146. Ysarn, 28. For details on police officials see Zemtsov, 51; Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 101f.
147. For the subsequent prosecution of the members of the municipal government see ‘The Governing Senate’s Decree of 31 October 1814’, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 116–125.
148. 2nd (Pyatnitskii) District’s Commissioner Daniel Fabre’s Report of 4–5 October 1812, RGVIA, f. 846, op. 16, d. 3587, l. 8.
149. Lassan’s Report of 30 September 1812, RGVIA, f. 846, op. 16, d. 3587, ll. 5–5b.
150. Napoleon to Berthier, 6 October 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1145.
151. Proclamation, 6 October 1812, in Schukin, I, 165.
152. Proclamation of 6 October, in Chambray (1825), 272–274.
153. Beauvollier, 38–39.
154. Zemtsov, 57–58. In contrast the third municipal official, Kozlov, successfully procured forty-six cows and thirty sheep.
155. Korbeletskii, 80.
156. Kolchugin, 50.
157. Alexey Olenin, ‘Rasskazy iz istorii 1812 g.’ in Russkii arkhiv 12 (1868), Entries Nos. 8 and 12,
158. Perechen’ izvestii iz Moskvy po 3–e oktyabrya, in Ruskii arkhiv (1864), 1201.
159. Beauvollier, 38–39.
160. Vendramini, 105.
161. Kolchugin, 50.
162. Laugier, 83–84.
163. Lejeune, II, 197.
164. Tutolmin to Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, September 1812, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 93.
165. Bozhanov, 261–262.
166. Ryazanov, 191–192.
167. Kurz, 95–96.
168. Kurz, 95–96.
169. Vionnet, 42–43.
170. For just some instances see Chevalier, 208; Adam, 213; Lecointe de Laveau, 125–126.
171. Rostopchin to his wife, 15 September 1812, in Narichkine, 175–176.
172. Montesquiou-Fezensac, Journal de la Campagne de Russie, 59–60. Castellane bragged that he personally disarmed a dozen drunken Russian soldiers wandering around in the streets; nudging them along with a ‘Cossack lance’, he took them all to the headquarters. Castellane, I, 154.
173. Domergues, I, 49.
174. Combe, 106–107.
175. Maxim Sakov to Ivan Batashov, [n.d.] September 1812, in Russkii Arkhiv (1871), 0222.
176. Maxim Sakov to Ivan Batashov, [n.d.] September 1812, in Russkii Arkhiv (1871), 0223.
177. Poluyaroslavtseva, 7. Also see interrogations of peasants suspected of ransacking Count Stroganov’s estate, Schukin, III, 44–56.
178. ‘Razskaz o dvenadtsatom gode’, in Russkii arkhiv 6 (1871), 0198–0199, 0206.
179. Vionnet de Maringone, 32–33.
180. ‘Vypiska iz izvestii iz Moskvy, 30 September 1812,’ in Russkii arkhiv (1864), 1193.
181. Popov, 72–73.
182. Alexander Bulgakov to Natalya Bulgakov, 31 October 1812, in Russkii arkhiv (1866), 705; Rostopchin to Alexander, 13 October 1812, in Russkii arkhiv 8 (1882), 547–548.
183. Surrugues, 20.
184. Ysarn, 21, 25.
185. Lecointe de Laveau, 112.
186. Surrugues, 28–29.
187. Labaume, 226.
188. Napoleon to Berthier, 18 September 1812, S.H.D., département de l’Armée de Terre, 17 C 113.
189. Soltyk, 255.
190. Poluyaroslavtseva, 9.
191. Years later Anna Grigorievna observed, ‘All this sickened me, but the instinct for self-preservation is uppermost. If we had let them go after beating them, you can see that they would have gone away in a fury and returned with a band of their comrades to exterminate us to the last man. And so we had no pity. To the death!’
192. Kruglova, 64.
193. Sysoev, 13–14.
194. Alekseyev, 28–29.
195. Kozlovskii, 113.
196. Ryazanov, 90–94.
197. ‘After this Fabricius took the consulate, a person came with a letter to the camp written by the king’s principal physician, offering to take off Pyrrhus by poison, and so end the war without further hazard to the Romans, if he might have a reward proportional to his service. Fabricius, hating the villainy of the man, and disposing the other consul to the same opinion, sent despatches immediately to Pyrrhus to caution him against the treason. His letter was to this effect: “Caius Fabricius and Quintus Aemilius, consuls of the Romans, to Pyrrhus the king, good health. You seem to have made an ill-judgement both of your friends and enemies; you will understand by reading this letter sent to us, that you are at war with honest men, and trust villains and knaves. Nor do we disclose this to you out of any favour to you, but lest your ruin might bring a reproach upon us, as if we had ended the war by treachery, as not able to do it by force.” When Pyrrhus had read the letter, and made inquiry into the treason, he punished the physician, and as an acknowledgement to the Romans sent to Rome the prisoners without ransom.’ Plutarch’s Lives of Illustrious Men, translated by John Dryden (New York, 1887), II, 26.
198. This conversation was retold by I.M. Kovalevskii, who heard it from Yermolov. See N. Rozanov, ‘Zamysel Fignera, 1812 g.’ in Russkaya starina (1875), XIII, 450–451.
199. Radozhitskii, 107–108.
200. ‘Rasskazy iz istorii 1812 goda,’ in Russkii arkhiv 11 (1868), 1867–1868. On a lighter note, it must noted that some Russian officers visited enemy-occupied Moscow as a dare. Prince Fedor Gagarin was well known for his gallantry as well as for recklessness and gambling. He earned his notoriety for a wild exploit he performed in the autumn of 1812. One evening, as a group of officers gathered for another round of drinking and gambling, Gagarin surprised everyone by announcing his bet that he would deliver two pounds of tea to Napoleon. Officers eagerly accepted this outlandish wager and Gagarin set out for Moscow. Precise details of what transpired next remain unclear but contemporaries were convinced that Gagarin had indeed reached the Kremlin, where he was detained and brought before Napoleon, who was amused by the prince’s exploit and let him return to the Russian army. N.I. Kulikov, ‘Vospominaniya’, in Russkaya starina 12 (1880), 992.
201. Eugène de Beauharnais to his wife, 21 September 1812, in Mémoires et Correspondance de Prince Eugène, VIII, 50.
202. ‘My intention is to allow complete freedom of the press, that it be entirely unhindered, and that only obscene works or those tending to foment political trouble be stopped.’ Napoleon to Montalivet, 11 October 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1181.
203. See Napoleon to Marie Louise, 24–27 September 1812 in Correspondance générale, XII, 1114, 1117.
204. Main Register Book of the Foundlings Home, September-October 1812, in Gorshkov, Moskva i Otechestvennaya voina 1812 g., II, 37–42; Tutolmin to Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, 23 November 1812, Russkii arkhiv 11 (1900), 467; Tutolmin to Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, 17 December 1812, in Chteniya v Imperatorskom Moskovskom obshestve istorii i drevnosti 2 (1860), 171. Napoleon was not the only one to take care of orphans. Marshal Mortier, Duc de Treviso, made arrangements for the care of nine children (given the last name of Trevizskii) at the Foundlings Home, as did General Edouard Milhaud (given the last name Milievyi). At the Dowager Empress’s request, all last names given to children after French generals were later deleted from the records. Most of these orphans, aged between 2 weeks and 7 years, died between November 1812 and January 1813.
205. Laugier, 82.
206. Morand to his wife, 10 October 1812, in Lettres interceptees par les
Russes durant la campagne de 1812, 66–67.
207. Bourgoing, 134.
208. Chlapowski, 127.
209. Duverger, 11–12.
210. For a fascinating discussion of the Moscow baths see Vionnet de Maringone, 51–55.
211. Britten-Austin, 84.
212. Bourgogne, 42–44.
213. Boulart, 262–264; Zaluski, 527–528.
214. Bausset claimed that Aurore Bursay directed this troupe, and in 1814 Bursay herself claimed that she was ‘the manageress of the Imperial Theatre of Moscow’. Neither claim is true. The stage-manager of this troupe was Louis Antoine Domergues.
215. Bausset, 99–103; Fusil, 18–21.
216. Combe, 126; Count Dunin-Stryzewski to his wife, 12 October 1812, in Lettres interceptees par les Russes durant la campagne de 1812, 79.
217. For an interesting discussion between Napoleon and Narbonne see Villemain, I, 225–230.
218. For details see Quand Napoléon inventait la France. Dictionnaire des institutions politiques, administratives et de cour du Consulat et de l’Empire (Tallandier, 2008).
219. See Tony Sauvel, ‘Le “décret de Moscou” mérite-t-il son nom?’, Revue historique de droit français et étranger, 4e série, 53 (July 1975), 436–440.
220. Bourgogne, 50–51.
221. Andoche Junot to Baroness Elizabeth-Augusta Daniels, 13 October 1812, in Lettres interceptees par les Russes durant la campagne de 1812, 84.
222. Frederic-Charles List to his wife, 22 September 1812; Marchal to curé Thugnet, 25 September 1812, in Ibid., 25, 34.
223. Muralt, 78.
224. Napoleon to Clarke, Napoleon to Maret, 24 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1112–1113. On Napoleon’s intentions to distribute these portable mills, see Napoleon to Berthier, 6 October 1812, Ibid., 1154. On 6 October the emperor complained that one month after departing from Paris these portable mills still had not reached Moscow. Napoleon to Maret, 6 October 1812, Ibid., 1159.
225. At Vilna alone the French authorities had 2 million rubles’ worth of counterfeit money. Napoleon to Berthier, 27 September 1812, in Arthur Chuquet, Ordres et Apostilles de Napoleon, II, 431; Napoleon to Maret, 27 September 1812, in Correspondance générale, XII, 1117.