Sire, The result of the examination of -the prisoners, of whom the greater part are ignorant recruits, or men taken before the close and off the field of battle, as well as almost all of them wounded with bullets, and the greater part dying, has afforded me the following information with regard to some divisions of the enemy's army.1st. The 12th division, forming part of the 7th corps, composed of the infantry regiments of Smolensko, Narva, Alexopol, and New Ingria, as well as of the 6th and 41st regiments of foot chasseurs, and commanded by Major-General Palitzin, who had succeeded General Kulbakin, wounded at Mohilow, received its recruits, which were drawn from depots, and brought up by Miloradowitz, on the 3d instant, in consequence of which the regiments of infantry were raised to 800 each, and the chasseur regiments to 1,200, which makes the strength of this division to have amounted, before the battle, to 4,800 men, exclusive of two companies of artillery, with twentyfour pieces of cannon, from 6 to 12 pounders. On the day of the battle of the 7th of September, this division was stationed in the centre of the first line. About two in the afternoon it had already sustained great losses, and was in want of ammunition. A Lieutenant of the regiment of Alexopol, named Peter Voronin, who, having been sent to the reserve to demand more, lost his way among the brush-wood, and was taken after the retreat of the army, declares, that General Rajewsky, commanding the corps d'armée, received a severe contusion, which obliged him to quit the field of battle, and that the General in Chief, Prince Bagration, was wounded. All the prisoners of this division agree in stating, that it lost more than half of its number; that its confusion was complete at the time of its retreat; and that it owed its safety solely to Platow and Uvaroff, who covered it. Those of the 41st chasseurs say, that there scarcely remained 50 men to each company.- -2d. The 1st division of grenadiers, consisting of the grenadiers of the body guard, of St. Petersburgh, Ekaterinoslay, Taurida, Pawlowski, and Arakschezeff, commanded by Count Strogonoff, and forming part of the 3d corps d'armée, was on the extremity of the left, in the rear of the battery, where it suffered considerably by the fire of the artillery; it was flanked by two squadrons of cuirassiers, which equally suffered without being brought into action. The respective strength of these grenadier regiments amounted, before the battle, to from 8 to 900 men.Their loss is estimated at one-third, which they ascribe to the cowardice of the officers, who abandoned their ranks, and concealed themselves in the brush-wood. Two regiments of chasseurs attached to this division, which were stationed in advance, were dispersed; their loss is unknown.A soldier, named Gregoriot de Pskow, who has served for nine years in the regiment of St. Petersburgh, declares, that he never saw his regiment give way as it did on this occasion. He says, that before the battle, Gen. Koutouzoff rode along their line, and harangued his troops, which, however, did not produce much effect. This man adds, that he heard Major Dalin, the commandant of his regiment, say, that about mid-day Beningsen had gone 40 versts beyond Mojaisk, to prepare there the means of defence: he believes that he went to Little Viasma.—It was not known what had become of Tutsckow, the Commander in Chief of the 3d corps, or of the 3d division of Kanowitzin, which formed part of it.—3d. The 2d division of grenadiers, consisting of the regiments of Astracan, Fanagoria, Kioff, Moscow, Little Russia, and Siberia, commanded by Prince Charles of Mecklenburgh, and forming part of the 8th corps of Borosdin, was stationed on the 5th of September at the great redoubt, which was taken on the same day, and where it lost its cannon, a Colonel, and more than the half of its men, The regiments of this division were quite full on arriving at Smolensko; but they had not more than 1,000 each on the 5th, before the action; and numbered not more than from 7 to 800 each, on the morning of the 7th, when they were in the village which they were charged to defend, in advance of the batteries of the left flank. It was at this time that the Prince of Mecklenburgh was wounded.-4th. The 2d corps of Bagavout had manoeuvred on the 6th and 7th, in order to advance to the left of the line, to support the 3d corps. All the prisoners assert, that not one half of it] tered Moscow. The enemy had raised on returned to Mojaisk.- -The musketeer re- the Sparrow Mountain, two wersts from the giments of Minsk, Tobolsk, Volhynia, and city, some redoubts, which he abandoned. Krementschug, as well as the 4th and 34th chasseurs of the 4th division, commanded by the Prince of Wirtemburg, amounted to 800 men each; and after the battle, none of them could muster 400: it was the same with the regiments of Raizan, Belosersky, Bresc, and Wilmanstradt, as well as the 30th and 48th chasseurs of the division of Alsoufieff.—A subaltern of the regiment of Raizan, named Prohoroff, declares, that his Colonel, Avens, was killed; and that during the retreat, he saw on the bank of the river, the General in Chief Tutsckow wounded, as well as the Colonel of the grenadiers of Moscow. This corps had few officers killed, but many wounded. 5th. The 24th division of the 6th corps, which was stationed in the grand central battery, mustered after the battle only 30 men each company, though two days before they amounted to 100 each in the regiments of Shirwansk, Butinkas, Usa, and Tomsk; while the companies of the 19th and 40th chasseurs amounted to 115 men each, by means of recruits drawn from Novogorod Sewersky.-6th. The 2d division of the guards, composed of the Ismailoff and Lithuanian regiments of grenadiers, and of two chasseur regiments of the guards, and of Finland, under the orders of General Lawroff, were stationed in line in the rear of the three batteries on the left of the centre. These regiments suffered considerably from the artillery; but that of Ismailoff having advanced with the bayonet, was so vigorously charged by the cavalry, that not more than 40 men of each company were left to it. General Krapowitski, commanding a brigade, and the Colonel of the regiment of Ismailoff, were there wounded. SOKOLNICKI, Gen. of Division, Mojaisk, Sept. 10, 1812. -The city of Moscow is as large as Paris; it is an extremely rich city, full of palaces of all the nobles of the empire. The Russian Governor, Rostapchin, wished to ruin this fine city when he saw it abandoned by the Russian army. ed 3,000 malefactors, whom he had taken from the dungeons; he also summoned together 6,000 satellites, and distributed arms among them from the arsenal.Our advanced guard, arrived in the centre of the city, was received by a fire of mus ketry, which issued from the Kremlin. The King of Naples ordered a battery of a few pieces of cannon to be opened, dispersed this rabble, and took possession of the Kremlin. We have found in the arsenal 60,000 new muskets, and 120 pieces of cannon on their carriages. The most complete anarchy reigned in the city; some drunken madmen ran through its different quarters, and every where set fire to them. The Governor Rostapchin had caused all the merchants and shopkeepers to be carried off, through whose instrumentality order might have been re-established. More than 400 French and Germans were arrested by his orders; in fine, he had taken the precaution of carrying off the firemen with the fire-engines; so that the most complete anarchy has desolated this great and fine city, and the flames are devouring it. We have found in it considerable resources of every kind. The Emperor is lodged in the Kremlin, which is in the centre of the city, like a kind of citadel, surrounded by high walls. Thirty thousand wounded or sick Russians are in the hospitals, abandoned, without succour and without nourishment. -The Russians acknowledge that they lost fifty thousand men in the battle of the wounded. A list has been made of the Moskwa. Prince Bagration was mortally Russian Generals wounded or killed in the battle: it amounts to between forty-five and Twentieth Bulletin of the Grand Army. Nineteenth Bulletin of the Grand Army. fifty. Moscow, Sept. 17. The Russians have celebrated Te Deum for the battle of Polotsk. Te Deums have been sung for the battles of Riga, for the battle of Ostrowno, and for that of Smolensko. According to the Russian accounts, they were every where conquerors, and they drove the French to a great distance burgh, where the enemy has not a single soldier. The temperature is still that of autumn; the soldiers have found, and continue to find, a number of pelisses and furs for the winter. Moscow was the depot of those articles. RUSSIAN BULLETINS. Official Intelligence from General Barclay de Tolli, dated Umolze, 9, (21) Aug. 1812. from the field of battle. It was then, the inhabitants, during the last twenty-four amidst the strains of the Russian Te Deums, hours, had saved many articles. They enthat the army arrived at Moscow. There deavoured to stop the progress of the flames, they thought themselves conquerors, at but the Governor had taken the horrid least the populace thought so, for well-in-precaution to carry off or destroy all the formed persons knew what was passing. engines. The army is recovering from -Moscow is the entrepot of Asia and of its fatigues; it has abundance of bread, poEurope. Its warehouses were immense; tatoes, cabbages, and other vegetables, every house was provided for eight months meat, salted provisions, wine, brandy, with necessaries of every description. sugar, coffee, and, in short, provisions of It was only the evening before, and the day all sorts. The advanced guard is twenty of our entrance, that the danger became wersts on the road to Kassau, by which the known. We found in the house of the mi-enemy is retreating. Another French adserable Rostopchin some papers, and a let-vanced guard is on the road to St. Peterster half written; he fled without finishing it.—Moscow, one of the finest and richest cities in the world, is no more. On the 14th the Russians set fire to the Exchange, to the Bazar, and the Hospital. On the 16th a violent wind arose. Three or four hundred ruffians set fire to the city in 500 different places at the same moment, by order of the Governor Rostopchin. Fivesixths of the houses were built of wood; the fire spread with a prodigious rapidity; it was an ocean of flame. Churches, of which there were 1,600-above 1,000 palaces, immense magazines, nearly all have After my last official report to your Imfallen a prey to the flames. The Kremlin perial Majesty, very important events have has been preserved. Their loss is in- taken place respecting the positions of the calculable for Russia, for her commerce, army. -On the 3d (15th) August, a reand for her nobility, who had left all there. port was received from Major-General It is not over-rating its value to state it at Newerauskye, that the enemy, who admany milliards.About 100 of these in-vanced in great force towards Krasmow, cendiaries have been apprehended and shot: had pushed on his advanced guards to Lady; all of them declared that they acted under in the mean time I also received informathe orders of Rostopchin, and the Director tion that Napoleon had left Witepsk, and of the Police.Thirty thousand sick concentrated his whole force near Baloand wounded Russians have been burnt. moutzchy, Orocha, and Dubrowna.The richest commercial houses in Russia In consequence of this, it was immediately are ruined. The shock must be consider- determined that the 2d army should march able. The clothing, the magazines, and to Smolensk, and after uniting all its corps the equipments of the Russian army have on the left bank of the Dnieper, halt. The been consumed. They have thus lost every 1st army was to approach Smolensk, or thing; they would remove nothing, because act offensively, should the enemy divide they always thought it impossible for us to his forces. On the night of the same day reach Moscow, and because they were will-Lieutenant-General Rajewski reported that ing to deceive the people. When they saw all in the hands of the French, they conceived the horrible project of destroying by fire this first capital, this holy city, the centre of the empire; and they have reduced to beggary 200,000 respectable inhabitants. This is the crime of Rostopchin, executed by felons liberated from the prisons. The resources which the army had found are consequently much diminished; however, we have collected, and are still collecting a number of necessaries. All the cellars are untouched by the fire, and Major-General Newerauskye, after having been attacked by a superior force, had found himself under the necessity of retreating, after having suffered considerable loss, and that he was only 7 wersts from Smolensk. All the other accounts agreed in stating that the enemy with his whole force were passing to the left bank of the Dnieper, in consequence of which, without loss of time, I immediately put the army in motion, and in the night of the 4th (16th) arrived near Smolensk, just as the enemy were making a heavy attack on part of Major-General Newerowkye, under General Docktorow, put themselves in motion, and continued their march through Sakilena, Bisklow, &c. At 9 p.m. the first column, consisting of the 2d, 3d, and 4th divisions of infantry, and of the first four of reserve of cavalry, under the command of Lieut.-General Kutusow, marched by the way of Krachatschens, Gedonow, &c. to the high road of Dorogubush, but the troops under the command of MajorGeneral Baraskorf who garrisoned the Petersburgh suburbs, marched on the 7th (19th) two hours after midnight, and formed the rear-guard of the front column. Lieut.-General Rajewski's corps. This the loss of our valiant soldiers; for which affair has already been made known to reason, after having successfully repulsed your Majesty by the Commander-in-Chief a severe attack, I determined, in the night of the 2d army, and serves as a new proof between the 5th and 6th (17th and 18th) of the invincible courage of your Majesty's to leave it; but still keeping possession of troops. Having ascertained that the enemy the suburbs, called St. Petersburgh, and concentrated their whole force at one point, with the whole army take possession of the and had even drawn Prince Poniatowski's heights opposite Smolensk, and to appear corps to their assistance, it was to be sup- as if waiting their attack. -The enemy, posed, his real intention was to anticipate after garrisoning the town, skirmished the us in Dorogubush, or any other point by whole day with our Yagers, who were which he might obtain possession of the posted in the suburbs of which during the Moscow road. Taking this into considera- whole evening; they attempted to take tion, we determined, together with Prince possession, but were constantly driven back. Bagration, that the 7th army should oc- Nevertheless, during the night they succupy Smolensk, and remain on the right ceeded in throwing a bridge across above bank of the Dnieper, and by that means the suburbs and in repairing the old one in cover the march of the 2d army to Doro- the suburbs.- -At 7 p. m. when no furgubush. In the night between the 4th ther attack from the enemy was expected, and 5th (16th and 17th) this plan was ex- a part of the army which formed the 2d ecuted.—The 6th corps, to which was column of the 2d and 3d corps of the caattached the 3d division of infantry, took valry, and 5th and 6th of infantry, and possession of Smolensk and all the outposts. The 2d army, which put itself in motion on the same night, took its position 15 wersts from Smolensk, and sent the irregular troops towards Jilnce and Rosbowl to observe the enemy. Meanwhile the enemy concentrated their whole force, and brought 150,000 men against Smolensk.On the 5th (17th), at one p.m. they attacked our troops, who were drawn up on the road from Krosno and other points round Smolensk, but after an engagement, which continued without intermission for three hours, they were re-(19th) pulsed at every point. At 5 p. m. after bringing a strong column of their forces, and an uncommonly numerous artillery forward, they attacked the city in every direction, but all their efforts and endeavours were vain; although they drove back our advanced troops even to the ruins of the walls of Smolensk, and appeared determined to storm the city, our valiant troops not only defeated them back to such a distance, that at night our advanced guards were placed without the walls. The attack of the enemy was very impetuous, but they received their recompense in their loss, which was so incredibly great that ours bear no proportion to it, although we had 4,000 killed or wounded.Our intention in defending Smolensk was to arrest the enemy, and prevent their arrival at Jilna and Dorogubush, and thereby give Prince Bagration time to arrive, without opposition, at the latter place; the further defence could have been no longer useful, but only on the contrary have occasioned General Platow detached part of his light troops, and formed a chain of detachments from Smolensk to Porilschiji, in such a manner, that we could approach with both columns to the Dnieper, and that these detachments should approach each other and form a mass, which could be freely used on all sides. On the retreat of Major-General Korf, at three p. m. the enemy began to pursue, and at the same time detached a great part of his troops in the high road to Moscow, and scarcely had the 2d corps passed the village of Gidennowo, where the road divides, one of which leads to Moscow, and the other to Bridichens, to which the first column marched when the enemy drove back the rear-guard, which was on the high Moscow road, and whilst they were furiously advancing to take possession of those points which the rear-guard of Major-General Korf's division had to pass. To prevent any danger to this General's detachment, which co vered the retreat of the army on the main road, and was still at six wersts' distance from the second corps, I ordered MajorGeneral Prince Wirtemberg to defend this post with some troops of the 4th division, and the necessary quantity of artillery, till Major-General Korf should arrive with his detachment. Notwithstanding the immense superiority of the enemy, the Prince of Wirtemberg kept possession of this post till Major-General Korf, with his detachment, joined him, and then protected our retreat.- -The enemy, who did not succeed in this operation, now began to force Major-General Korpon's corps, which we posted along the great road to Moscow, and to pass troops from the left to the right of the Dnieper, above his position, to become masters of the points which lead to the great road before the arrival of the 2d corps. The 3d and 4th corps were already drawn up in order of battle at this place, but in order to detain the enemy, the advanced guard, under Major-General Tutschkow, was sent against them. It was already four wersts from the high road, on which the 2d division of cavalry and Major-General Korf's detachment must pass. Not long after, Major-General Tutschkow was much pressed by the enemy, and was supported by the 3d and 4th divisions of cavalry, in order to assist in repelling the furious attacks of the enemy. -At six, p. m. the enemy attacked Major-General Tutschkow with their whole force, consisting of Davoust's, Ney's, a part of the Viceroy of Italy's, and with the cavalry of the King of Naples' corps, endeavouring, by every possible exertion, to drive him from his position. In the mean time, Major-General Korf's detachment, and the second corps arrived on the high road, from whence I also sent a part of the troops to support General Tutschkow. This action, which lasted from one, p. m. till ten at night, was hot and bloody. Your Majesty's troops acted most gallantly, and notwithstanding the immense superiority of the enemy, kept possession of this, to us, most important point. Our loss on this day is very considerable, but that of the enemy greatly exceeds it. We had cavalry attached to our left flank, which, notwithstanding the superior number of the enemy's cavalry, repulsed several desperate charges. At one o'clock of the morning of the 8th (20th) the army put itself in motion, taking the direction of Solowjewo, whence yesterday a part of the troops had passed the Dnieper, and the remainder to day.The whole army will take a position in the road, half way to Dogorobush, where the 2d army yesterday arrived. The greater part of the irregular troops are on the right bank of the Dnieper, and keep up the communication with the detachment of Adjutant-General Baron Winzengerode, who has been ordered to take post at Duchawischteschine.In these different engagements we have taken 500 officers and soldiers prisoners, and the irregular troops have during the same time made 800 prisoners. From General Barclay de Tolli, dated the 26th August. After dispatching my most submissive report to your Majesty on the 9th (21st) August, I received information that the enemy had crossed to the right bank of the Dnieper with his whole force, below Smolensk, and sent forward part of the 4th corps under the Viceroy of Italy, towards Duchowochtschina, and was, with the remainder, in pursuit of the Army under my command. The rear was on the 9th under the necessity of retreating entirely to the passage of the Dnieper by Soloujow. The first army, which on the evening of the 9th, marched out, the following morning took a position near the village of Uswat, on the right bank of the Usha, after hav ing strengthened the rear-guard under General Platow, and commanded him to detain the enemy as much as possible. On the 23d a small alteration was made in our positions. The 2d Army, which had marched from Dorogobush, took a position on the left wing of the 1st Army, leaving behind it a strong detachment of infantry and cavalry near Dorogobush, on the right bank of the Dnieper, under the command of Major-General Newerouske. In the mean time both rear-guards had joined, and at every step detained the enemy, nor did they retreat towards Uswat till the evening of the 23d.-The enemy ap proached, reconnoitred our position, and endeavoured to turn our left flank, whilst they approached from the side of Duchowochtschina towards Dorogobush, and appeared so near that Prince Bagration feared being cut off from the road to Julna, by which, in case of misfortune, he must retreat. At night, between the 11th and 12th (23d and 24th) both armies retreated on the road to Dorogobush.-The 2d corps took. a. position on the right bank of the Dnieper, and Major-General Newe(To be continued.) |