204 ANDREW JACKSON HOWE. 



obstacle to the advance. Mounted Cossacks drove 

 away cattle, destroyed forage, and cut down bridges. 

 The approach to Smolensk was hotly contested by 

 the forces commanded by Alexander. The wounded 

 Russians always fell into French hands, and gave the 

 ambulance corps all they could do. At the storming 

 of Smolensk the French lost heavily, but carried 

 their point. They had twelve hundred killed, and six 

 thousand wounded ; and the Russians left as many 

 more upon the battle Held. The city was given up to 

 hospital purposes, but could not accommodate all who 

 needed timely succor. Hospital supplies were nearly 

 exhausted, so that the silky cuticle of the w r hite birch 

 was utilized in dressings. One day Larrey executed 

 over one hundred capital operations, eleven of which 

 were amputation at the shoulder-joint. Rarely not 

 over five minutes were spent in amputating a leg or 

 thigh. 



After the fall of Smolensk the Russians retreated 

 toward MOSCOW T , but offered battle at every advan- 

 tageous point on the way. Great rains rendered the 

 roads miry. Forage for men and horses became scanty. 

 At best the great plains about Moscow are not fertile ; 

 and the army of Alexander destroyed what it could 

 not consume. At Giad, a fortified place, the Russians 

 made their last stand, and fought bravely. This was 

 on the fifth of September, with the signs of autumn 

 palpably apparent. Two thousand wounded Russians 

 were to be cared for, yet hardly a rag could be had to 

 wrap a shattered limb. For the time it was thought 

 best to abandon them, the expectation being that a 

 relief party could be sent out from Moscow to care for 

 them. There already began to prevail a foreboding 

 that the destructive policy manifested by the Russians 



