ciiAP. xxv.J CAVALRY UNDER NAPOLEON. 



899 



was at this period that the irregular horsemen com- 

 menced a partisan warfare of the most destructive 

 character on the flanks and rear of the French position. 

 These troops cut off the foraging parties, and soon 

 formed a cordon around Moscow, which, occupying all 

 the roads, captured the convoys of supplies and virtually 

 held the army of Napoleon in a species of investment. 

 The scarcity of provisions so occasioned was soon most 

 severely felt ; forage for the cavalry horses was so difiicult 

 to obtain, that the dragoons were obliged to go to great 

 distances in search of fodder, and moving out so far 

 away from theii* lines, they were often cut off and cap- 

 tured by the Cossacks, who swarmed throughout the 

 whole countiy. In three weeks, in the month of Octo- 

 ber, these light troops in the neighbourhood of Moscow 

 actually captured as many as 4,180 Fn ich soldiers with- 

 out a battle being fought. Murat at this time reported 

 that one half of the whole force of French cavalry, that 

 had survived the advance to Moscow and had reached 

 that place, had perished in the indecisive but incessant 

 skirmishes that had been going on at the outposts.' 



This reduction of the French cavalry weakened their 

 army seriously, and made the subsequent operations of 

 the Cossacks on the retreat more decisive, on account of 

 the great superiority they had acquired. The operations 

 were resumed by the Kussians on the 18th October, when 

 an attack was made upon the troops under Murat, at 

 Winkowno. The attack on his left rear, by Count 

 Orloff''8 cavalry, soon threw Murat's troops into confusion, 

 and compelled him to retreat, with the loss of 1,500 

 prisoners, 38 cannon, and his whole baggage. 



Napoleon at once set out for Kalouga, but being 

 checked in his march, by the battle of Malo Jaroslawitz, 

 he rode on to inspect the scene of action. While he 

 was moving, in apparent security, in the midst of his 

 army, the cry was raised of the Cossacks. "It is 

 Platoflf 1 they are 10,000." At first Napoleon would not 

 believe it, and he was in imminent danger of being cap- 

 tured. His aide-de-camp. General Rapp, was unhorsed, 

 ' Alison, iii. 575, 576. 2 n,id. iii. 578. 





