THE BATTLE OF PULTOWA.
1709
Invasion of the Swedes--Their progress through the country--Artificial
roads--Pultowa--Fame of the battle--Situation of Pultowa--It is
besieged--Menzikoff--Manoeuvres--Menzikoff most successful--King
Charles wounded--The Czar advances to Pultowa--The king resolves to
attack the camp--A battle determined upon--Military rank of the
Czar--His address to the army--The litter--The battle--Courage and
fortitude of the king--The Swedes defeated--Narrow escape of the
Czar--He discovers the broken litter--Escape of King Charles--Dreadful
defeat--Flight and adventures of the king--He offers now to make
peace--The king's followers--Peter's reply--Carriage for the
king--Flight to the Turkish frontier--Sufferings of the retreating
army--Deputation sent to the Turkish frontier--Reception of the
messenger--Boats collected--Crossing the river--Bender--Fate of the
Swedish army--The prisoners--Anecdote of the Czar--The Czar's
habits--Disposition of the prisoners--Adventures of the King of
Sweden--Military promotion of the Czar
In the mean time, while these transactions had been taking place among
the Russians, the King of Sweden had been gradually making his way
toward the westward and southward, into the very heart of the Russian
dominions. The forces of the emperor, which were not strong enough to
offer him battle, had been gradually retiring before him; but they had
devastated and destroyed every thing on their way, in their retreat, so
as to leave nothing for the support of the Swedish army. They broke up
all the bridges too, and obstructed the roads by every means in their
power, so as to impede the progress of the Swedes as much as possible,
since they could not wholly arrest it.
The Swedes, however, pressed slowly onward. They sent off to great
distances to procure forage for the horses and food for the men. When
they found the bridges down, they made detours and crossed the rivers
at fording-places. When the roads were obstructed, they removed the
impediments if they could, and if not, they opened new roads.
Sometimes, in these cases, their way led them across swampy places
where no solid footing could be found, and then the men would cut down
an immense quantity of bushes and trees growing in the neighborhood,
and make up the branches into bundles called _fascines_. They would
lay these bundles close together on the surface of the swamp, and then
level them off on the top by loose branches, and so make a road firm
enough for the army to march over.
Things went on in this way until, at last, the farther progress of King
Charles was arrested, and the tide of fortune was turned wholly against
him by a great battle which was fought at a place called Pultowa. This
battle, which, after so protracted a struggle, at length suddenly
terminated the contest between the king and the Czar, of course
attracted universal attention at the time, for Charles and Peter were
the greatest potentates and warriors of their age, and the struggle for
power which had so long been waged between them had been watched with
great interest, through all the stages of it, by the whole civilized
world. The battle of Pultowa was, in a word, one of those great final
conflicts by which, after a long struggle, the fate of an empire is
decided. It, of course, greatly attracted the attention of mankind,
and has since taken its place among the most renowned combats of
history.
Pultowa is a town situated in the heart of the Russian territories
three or four hundred miles north of the Black Sea. It stands on a
small river which flows to the southward and westward into the Dnieper.
It was at that time an important military station, as it contained
great arsenals where large stores of food and of ammunition were laid
up for the use of Peter's army. The King of Sweden determined to take
this town. His principal object in desiring to get possession of it
was to supply the wants of his army by the provisions that were stored
there. The place was strongly fortified, and it was defended by a
garrison; but the king thought that he should be able to take it, and
he accordingly advanced to the walls, invested the place closely on
every side, and commenced the siege.
The name of the general in command of the largest body of Russian
forces near the spot was Menzikoff, and as soon as the King of Sweden
had invested the place, Menzikoff began to advance toward it in order
to relieve it. Then followed a long series of manoeuvres and partial
combats between the two armies, the Swedes being occupied with the
double duty of attacking the town, and also of defending themselves
from Menzikoff; while Menzikoff, on the other hand, was intent, first
on harassing the Swedes and impeding as much as possible their siege
operations, and, secondly, on throwing succors into the town.
In this contest Menzikoff was, on the whole, most successful. He
contrived one night to pass a detachment of his troops through the
gates of Pultowa into the town to strengthen the garrison. This
irritated the King of Sweden, and made him more determined and reckless
than ever to press the siege. Under this excitement he advanced so
near the walls one day, in a desperate effort to take possession of an
advanced part of the works, that he exposed himself to a shot from the
ramparts, and was badly wounded in the heel.
This wound nearly disabled him. He was obliged by it to confine
himself to his tent, and to content himself with giving orders from his
couch or litter, where he lay helpless and in great pain, and in a
state of extreme mental disquietude.
His anxiety was greatly increased in a few days in consequence of
intelligence which was brought into his camp by the scouts, that Peter
himself was advancing to the relief of Pultowa at the head of a very
large army. Indeed, the tidings were that this great force was close
at hand. The king found that he was in danger of being surrounded.
Nor could he well hope to escape the danger by a retreat, for the broad
and deep river Dnieper, which he had crossed to come to the siege of
Pultowa, was behind him, and if the Russians were to fall upon him
while attempting to cross it, he knew very well that his whole army
would be cut to pieces.
He lay restless on his litter in his tent, his thoughts divided between
the anguish of the wound in his heel and the mental anxiety and
distress produced by the situation that he was in. He spent the night
in great perplexity and suffering. At length, toward morning, he came
to the desperate resolution of attacking the Russians in their camp,
inferior as his own numbers were now to theirs.
He accordingly sent a messenger to the field-marshal, who was chief
officer in command under himself, summoning him to his tent. The
field-marshal was aroused from his sleep, for it was not yet day, and
immediately repaired to the king's tent. The king was lying on his
couch, quiet and calm, and, with an air of great serenity and
composure, he gave the marshal orders to beat to arms and march out to
attack the Czar in his intrenchments as soon as daylight should appear.
The field-marshal was astonished at this order, for he knew that the
Russians were now far superior in numbers to the Swedes, and he
supposed that the only hope of the king would be to defend himself
where he was in his camp, or else to attempt a retreat. He, however,
knew that there was nothing to be done but to obey his orders. So he
received the instructions which the king gave him, said that he would
carry them into execution, and then retired. The king then at length
fell into a troubled sleep, and slept until the break of day.
By this time the whole camp was in motion. The Russians, too, who in
their intrenchments had received the alarm, had aroused themselves and
were preparing for battle. The Czar himself was not the commander. He
had prided himself, as the reader will recollect, in entering the army
at the lowest point, and in advancing regularly, step by step, through
all the grades, as any other officer would have done. He had now
attained the rank of major general; and though, as Czar, he gave orders
through his ministers to the commander-in-chief of the armies directing
them in general what to do, still personally, in camp and in the field
of battle, he received orders from his military superior there; and he
took a pride and pleasure in the subordination to his superior's
authority which the rules of the service required of him.
He, however, as it seems, did not always entirely lay aside his
imperial character while in camp, for in this instance, while the men
were formed in array, and before the battle commenced, he rode to and
fro along their lines, encouraging the men, and promising, as their
sovereign, to bestow rewards upon them in proportion to the valor which
they should severally display in the coming combat.
The King of Sweden, too, was raised from his couch, placed upon a
litter, and in this manner carried along the lines of his own army just
before the battle was to begin. He told the men that they were about
to attack an enemy more numerous than themselves, but that they must
remember that at Narva eight thousand Swedes had overcome a hundred
thousand Russians in their own intrenchments, and what they had done
once, he said, they could do again.
The battle was commenced very early in the morning. It was complicated
at the beginning with many marches, countermarches, and manoeuvres, in
which the several divisions of both the Russian and Swedish armies, and
the garrison of Pultowa, all took part. In some places and at some
times the victory was on one side, and at others on the other. King
Charles was carried in his litter into the thickest of the battle,
where, after a time, he became so excited by the contest that he
insisted on being put upon a horse. The attendants accordingly brought
a horse and placed him carefully upon it; but the pain of his wound
brought on faintness, and he was obliged to be put back in his litter
again. Soon after this a cannon ball struck the litter and dashed it
to pieces. The king was thrown out upon the ground. Those who saw him
fall supposed that he was killed, and they were struck with
consternation. They had been almost overpowered by their enemies
before, but they were now wholly disheartened and discouraged, and they
began to give way and fly in all directions.
The king had, however, not been touched by the ball which struck the
litter. He was at once raised from the ground by the officers around
him, and borne away out of the immediate danger. He remonstrated
earnestly against being taken away, and insisted upon making an effort
to rally his men; but the officers soon persuaded him that for the
present, at least, all was lost, and that the only hope for him was to
make his escape as soon as possible across the river, and thence over
the frontier into Turkey, where he would be safe from pursuit, and
could then consider what it would be best to do.
The king at length reluctantly yielded to these persuasions, and was
borne away.
In the mean time, the Czar himself had been exposed to great danger in
the battle, and, like the King of Sweden, had met with some very narrow
escapes. His hat was shot through with a bullet which half an inch
lower would have gone through the emperor's head. General Menzikoff
had three horses shot under him. But, notwithstanding these dangers,
the Czar pressed on into the thickest of the fight, and was present at
the head of his men when the Swedes were finally overwhelmed and driven
from the field. Indeed, he was among the foremost who pursued them;
and when he came to the place where the royal litter was lying, broken
to pieces, on the ground, he expressed great concern for the fate of
his enemy, and seemed to regret the calamity which had befallen him as
if Charles had been his friend. He had always greatly admired the
courage and the military skill which the King of Sweden had manifested
in his campaigns, and was disposed to respect his misfortunes now that
he had fallen. He supposed that he was unquestionably killed, and he
gave orders to his men to search every where over the field for the
body, and to guard it, when found, from any farther violence or injury,
and take charge of it, that it might receive an honorable burial.
The body was, of course, not found, for the king was alive, and, with
the exception of the wound in his heel, uninjured. He was borne off
from the field by a few faithful adherents, who took him in their arms
when the litter was broken up. As soon as they had conveyed him in
this manner out of immediate danger, they hastily constructed another
litter in order to bear him farther away. He was himself extremely
unwilling to go. He was very earnest to make an effort to rally his
men, and, if possible, save his army from total ruin. But he soon
found that it was in vain to attempt this. His whole force had been
thrown into utter confusion; and the broken battalions, flying in every
direction, were pursued so hotly by the Russians, who, in their
exultant fury, slaughtered all whom they could overtake, and drove the
rest headlong on in a state of panic and dismay which was wholly
uncontrollable.
Of course some escaped, but great numbers were taken prisoners. Many
of the officers, separated from their men, wandered about in search of
the king, being without any rallying point until they could find him.
After suffering many cruel hardships and much exposure in the
lurking-places where they attempted to conceal themselves, great
numbers of them were hunted out by their enemies and made prisoners.
In the mean time, those who had the king under their charge urged his
majesty to allow them to convey him with all speed out of the country.
The nearest way of escape was to go westward to the Turkish frontier,
which, as has already been said, was not far distant, though there were
three rivers to cross on the way--the Dnieper, the Bog, and the
Dniester. The king was very unwilling to listen to this advice. Peter
had several times sent a flag of truce to him since he had entered into
the Russian dominions, expressing a desire to make peace, and proposing
very reasonable terms for Charles to accede to. To all these proposals
Charles had returned the same answer as at first, which was, that he
should not be ready to treat with the Czar until he arrived at Moscow.
Charles now said that, before abandoning the country altogether, he
would send a herald to the Russian camp to say that he was now willing
to make peace on the terms which Peter had before proposed to him, if
Peter was still willing to adhere to them.
Charles was led to hope that this proposal might perhaps be successful,
from the fact that there was a portion of his army who had not been
engaged at Pultowa that was still safe; and he had no doubt that a very
considerable number of men would succeed in escaping from Pultowa and
joining them. Indeed, the number was not small of those whom the king
had now immediately around him, for all that escaped from the battle
made every possible exertion to discover and rejoin the king, and so
many straggling parties came that he soon had under his command a force
of one or two thousand men. This was, of course, but a small remnant
of his army. Still, he felt that he was not wholly destitute of means
and resources for carrying on the struggle in case Peter should refuse
to make peace.
So he sent a trumpeter to Peter's camp with the message; but Peter sent
word back that his majesty's assent to the terms of peace which he had
proposed to him came too late. The state of things had now, he said,
entirely changed; and as Charles had ventured to penetrate into the
Russian country without properly considering the consequences of his
rashness, he must now think for himself how he was to get out of it.
For his part, he added, he had got the birds in the net, and he should
do all in his power to secure them.
After due consultation among the officers who were with the king, it
was finally determined that it was useless to think for the present of
any farther resistance, and the king, at last, reluctantly consented to
be conveyed to the Turkish frontier. He was too ill from the effects
of his wound to ride on horseback, and the distance was too great for
him to be conveyed in a litter. So they prepared a carriage for him.
It was a carriage which belonged to one of his generals, and which, by
some means or other, had been saved in the flight of the army. The
route which they were to take led across the country where there were
scarcely any roads, and a team of twelve horses was harnessed to draw
the carriage which conveyed the king.
No time was to be lost. The confused mass of officers and men who had
escaped from the battle, and had succeeded in rejoining the king, were
marshaled into something like a military organization, and the march,
or rather the flight, commenced. The king's carriage, attended by such
a guard as could be provided for it, went before, and was followed by
the remnant of the army. Some of the men were on horseback, others
were on foot, and others still, sick or wounded, were conveyed on
little wagons of the country, which were drawn along in a very
difficult and laborious manner.
[Illustration: Flight of the King of Sweden.]
This mournful train moved slowly on across the country, seeking, of
course, the most retired and solitary ways to avoid pursuit, and yet
harassed by the continual fear that the enemy might at any time come up
with them. The men all suffered exceedingly from want of food, and
from the various other hardships incident to their condition. Many
became so worn out by fatigue and privation that they could not
proceed, and were left by the road sides to fall into the hands of the
enemy, or to perish of want and exhaustion; while those who still had
strength enough remaining pressed despairingly onward, but little less
to be pitied than those who were left behind.
When at length the expedition drew near to the Turkish borders, the
king sent forward a messenger to the pasha in command on the frontier,
asking permission for himself and his men to pass through the Turkish
territory on his way to his own dominions. He had every reason to
suppose that the pasha would grant this request, for the Turks and
Russians had long been enemies, and he knew very well that the
sympathies of the Turks had been entirely on his side in this war.
Nor was he disappointed in his expectations. The pasha received the
messenger very kindly, offered him food, and supplied all his wants.
He said, moreover, that he would not only give the king leave to enter
and pass through the Turkish territories, but he would give him
efficient assistance in crossing the river which formed the frontier.
This was, indeed, necessary, for a large detachment of the Russian army
which had been sent in pursuit of the Swedes was now coming close upon
them, and there was danger of their being overtaken and cut to pieces
or taken prisoners before they should have time to cross the stream.
The principal object which the Czar had in view in sending a detachment
in pursuit of the fugitives was the hope of capturing the king himself.
He spoke of this his design to the Swedish officers who were already
his prisoners, saying to them jocosely, for he was in excellent humor
with every body after the battle, "I have a great desire to see my
brother the king, and to enjoy his society; so I have sent to bring
him. You will see him here in a few days."
The force dispatched for this purpose had been gradually gaining upon
the fugitives, and was now very near, and the pasha, on learning the
facts, perceived that the exigency was very urgent. He accordingly
sent off at once up and down the river to order all the boats that
could be found to repair immediately to the spot where the King of
Sweden wished to cross. A considerable number of boats were soon
collected, and the passage was immediately commenced. The king and his
guards were brought over safely, and also a large number of the
officers and men. But the boats were, after all, so few that the
operation proceeded slowly, and the Russians, who had been pressing on
with all speed, arrived at the banks of the river in time to interrupt
it before all the troops had passed, and thus about five hundred men
fell into their hands. They were all made prisoners, and the king had
the mortification of witnessing the spectacle of their capture from the
opposite bank, which he had himself reached in safety.
The king was immediately afterward conveyed to Bender, a considerable
town not far from the frontier, where, for the present, he was safe,
and where he remained quiet for some weeks, in order that his wound
might have opportunity to heal. Peter was obliged to content himself
with postponing for a time the pleasure which he expected to derive
from the enjoyment of his brother's society.
The portion of the Swedish army which remained in Russia was soon after
this surrounded by so large a Russian force that the general in command
was forced to capitulate, and all the troops were surrendered as
prisoners of war. Thus, in all, a great number of prisoners, both of
officers and men, fell into Peter's hands. The men were sent to
various parts of the empire, and distributed among the people, in order
that they might settle permanently in the country, and devote
themselves to the trades or occupations to which they had been trained
in their native land. The officers were treated with great kindness
and consideration. Peter often invited them to his table, and
conversed with them in a very free and friendly manner in respect to
the usages and customs which prevailed in their own country, especially
those which related to the military art. Still, they were deprived of
their swords and kept close prisoners.
One day, when some of these officers were dining with Peter in his
tent, and he had been for some time conversing with them about the
organization and discipline of the Swedish army, and had expressed
great admiration for the military talent and skill which they had
displayed in the campaigns which they had fought, he at last poured out
some wine and drank to the health of "his masters in the art of war."
One of the officers who was present asked who they were that his
majesty was pleased to honor with so great a title.
"It is yourselves, gentlemen," replied the Czar; "the Swedish generals.
It is you who have been my best instructors in the art of war."
"Then," replied the officer, "is not your majesty a little ungrateful
to treat the masters to whom you owe so much so severely?"
Peter was so much pleased with the readiness and wit of this reply,
that he ordered the swords of the officers all to be restored to them.
It is said that he even unbuckled his own sword from his side and
presented it to one of the generals.
It ought, perhaps, to be added, however, that the habit of drinking to
excess, which Peter seems to have formed early in life, had before this
time become quite confirmed, and he often became completely intoxicated
at his convivial entertainments, so that it is not improbable that the
sudden generosity of the Czar on this occasion may have been due, in a
considerable degree, to the excitement produced by the brandy which he
had been drinking.
Although the swords of the officers were thus restored to them, they
were themselves still held as prisoners until arrangements could be
made for exchanging them. In order, however, that they might all be
properly provided for, he distributed them around among his own
generals, giving to each Russian officer the charge of a Swedish
officer of his own rank, granting, of course, to each one a proper
allowance for the maintenance and support of his charge. The Russian
generals were severally responsible for the safe-keeping of their
prisoners; but the surveillance in such cases is never strict, for it
is customary for the prisoners to give their _parole_ of honor that
they will not attempt to escape, and then they are allowed, within
reasonable limits, their full personal liberty, so that they live more
like the guests and companions of their keepers than as their captives.
The King of Sweden met with many remarkable adventures and encountered
very serious difficulties before he reached his own kingdom, but it
would be foreign to the subject of this history to relate them here.
As to Mazeppa, he made his escape too, with the King of Sweden, across
the frontier. The Czar offered a very large reward to whoever should
bring him back, either dead or alive; but he never was taken. He died
afterward at Constantinople at a great age.
One of the most curious and characteristic results which followed from
the battle of Pultowa was the promotion of Peter in respect to his rank
in the army. It was gravely decided by the proper authorities, after
due deliberation, that in consequence of the vigor and bravery which he
had displayed on the field, and of the danger which he had incurred in
having had a shot through his hat, he deserved to be advanced a grade
in the line of promotion. So he was made a major general.
Thus ended the great Swedish invasion of Russia, which was the occasion
of the greatest and, indeed, of almost the only serious danger, from
any foreign source, which threatened the dominions of Peter during the
whole course of his reign.