GENERAL HISTORY. 



[179 



great saciifioes must be expected." 

 In the second, on the following 

 day, he mentions the incredible ef- 

 forts he has made for a small ad- 

 vance, and says, " These three last 

 days have cost us two-thirds of the 

 artillery of this corps of the army. 

 Yesterday about 400 horses died ; 

 and to-day perhapsdoublethat num- 

 ber have perished, exclusive of the 

 great number which I have caused 

 to be put on for the military bag- 

 gage, and for that of individuals. 

 Whole trains of horses have pe- 

 rished in the harness at once. — I 

 must not conceal from your high- 

 ness, that these three days of suf- 

 fering have so dispirited the sol- 

 dier, that I believe him at this'mo- 

 ment very little capable of making 

 any effort. Numbers of men are 

 dead of hunger or cold, and others 

 in des[)air have suffered themselves 

 to be taken by the enemy." In 

 thisdreadful condition he was aaain 

 attacked by General PlatoflP, at the 

 head of his Cossaks, who, in his 

 report to Marshal KutusofF, speaks 

 of 3,000 prisoners, and G2 pieces 

 of cannon, as the result of his vic- 

 tory. 



The pursuit of the retreating ar- 

 my, on its route to Smolensko, still 

 continued ; and on the 10th, a body 

 of 2,000 men, with 60 officers, be- 

 ing a division of General Auge- 

 reau's corps, was surrounded by 

 the cavalry of Count Orloff Deniz- 

 ofF, and laid down their arms, after 

 a feeble resistance. On the 14th. 

 Count Witgenstein, who had made 

 himself master of Witepsk, was 

 attacked by Marshal Victor, in 

 consequence of an order to drive 

 him beyond the Duna. After an 

 obstinate action, which coniinued 

 the greatest part of the day, the 

 French retired with considerable 



loss, having failed of iheir purpose. 

 Several other actions took place, 

 which are represented as being 

 uniformly favourable to the Rus- 

 sians, and were preludes to much 

 more important successes. The 

 French, who, after blowing up the 

 fortifications of Smolensko, were 

 marching upon Krasnoi, a town to 

 the south-west of that city, were 

 overtaken by the advanced troops 

 of Marshal Kutusoff's army, which 

 had made prodigious exertions for 

 that purpose, and on November 

 16, the corps of Marshal Davoust, 

 which had been turned by Prince 

 Galitzin, was brought to action. 

 The battle lasted the whole day. 

 Napoleon himself being in the 

 field, which he quitted without 

 waiting for the issue. It termin- 

 ated in the complete destruction or 

 dispersion of Davoust's army, 

 which, besides a very heavy loss 

 in killed and wounded, had above 

 9,000 men, with two generals and 

 many inferior oflScers, taken pri- 

 soners, and lost 70 pieces of can- 

 non. An additional force was 

 then sent to reinforce General 

 Millardovitch, in order to stop the 

 advance of Marshal Ney with the 

 rear divisions of the French. On 

 the 17th, under cover of a thick 

 fog, Ney's troops got unperceived 

 to the foot of the Russian batteries, 

 and endeavoured to pierce through 

 the lines of their opponents. Their 

 efforts, however, were ineffectual, 

 and after great carnage from the 

 Russian cannon and musketry, the 

 remainder, in number 12,000, at 

 midnight, laid down their arms, 

 giving up their cannon, baggage, 

 and military chest. Ney himself 

 escaped, wounded, by flight across 

 the Dnieper. 



In the further retreat to the 

 [N 2] banks 



