Charles XII. crosses the Boristhenes, penetrates into the Ukraine,
but concerts his measures badly.--One of his armies is defeated by
Peter the Great: he loses his supply of provisions and ammunition:
advances forward through a desert country: his adventures in the
Ukraine.
[Sidenote: 1708.]
At last Charles arrives on the borders of the Boristhenes, at a small
town called Mohilow. This was the important spot where it was to be
determined, whether he should direct his march eastward, towards Moscow;
or southwards, towards the Ukraine. His own army, his friends, his
enemies, all expected that he would direct his course immediately for
the capital of Russia. Which ever way he took, Peter was following him
from Smolensko with a strong army; no one expected that he would turn
towards the Ukraine. He was induced to take this strange resolution by
Mazeppa, hetman of the Cossacks, who, being an old man of seventy and
without children, ought to have thought only of ending his days in
peace: gratitude should have bound him to the czar, to whom he was
indebted for his present dignity; but whether he had any real cause of
complaint against that prince, or that he was dazzled with the lustre of
Charles's exploits, or whether, in time, he thought to make himself
independent, he betrayed his benefactor, and privately espoused the
interests of the king of Sweden, flattering himself with the hopes of
engaging his whole nation in a rebellion with himself.
Charles made not the least doubt of subduing the Russian empire, as soon
as his troops should be joined by so warlike a people as the Cossacks.
Mazeppa was to furnish him with what provisions, ammunition, and
artillery, he should want; besides these powerful succours, he was to be
joined by an army of sixteen or seventeen thousand men, out of Livonia,
under the command of general Levenhaupt, who was to bring with him a
prodigious quantity of warlike stores and provisions. Charles was not at
the trouble of reflecting, whether the czar was within reach of
attacking the army, and depriving him of these necessary supplies. He
never informed himself whether Mazeppa was in a condition to observe his
promises; if that Cossack had credit enough to change the disposition of
a whole nation, who are generally guided only by their own opinion; or
whether his army was provided with sufficient resources in case of an
accident; but imagined, if Mazeppa should prove deficient in abilities
or fidelity, he could trust in his own valour and good fortune. The
Swedish army then advanced beyond the Boristhenes towards the Desna; it
was between these two rivers, that he expected to meet with Mazeppa. His
march was attended with many difficulties and dangers, on account of the
badness of the road, and the many parties of Russians that were hovering
about these regions.
Sept. 11.] Menzikoff, at the head of some horse and foot, attacked the
king's advanced guard, threw them into disorder, and killed a number of
his men. He lost a great number of his own, indeed, but that did not
discourage him. Charles immediately hastened to the field of battle, and
with some difficulty repulsed the Russians, at the hazard of his own
life, by engaging a party of dragoons, by whom he was surrounded. All
this while Mazeppa did not appear, and provisions began to grow scarce.
The Swedish soldiers, seeing their king share in all their dangers,
fatigues, and wants, were not dispirited; but though they admired his
courage, they could not refrain from murmuring at his conduct.
The orders which the king had sent to Levenhaupt to march forward with
all haste, to join him with the necessary supplies, were not delivered
by twelve days so soon as they should have been. This was a long delay
as circumstances then stood. However, Levenhaupt at length began his
march; Peter suffered him to pass the Boristhenes, but as soon as his
army was got between that river and the lesser ones, which empty
themselves into it, he crossed over after him, and attacked him with his
united forces, which had followed in different corps at equal distances
from one another. This battle was fought between the Boristhenes and the
Sossa.[75]
Prince Menzikoff was upon his return with the same body of horse, with
which he had lately engaged Charles XII. General Baur followed him, and
the czar himself headed the flower of his army. The Swedes imagined they
had to deal with an army of forty thousand men, and the same was
believed for a long time on the faith of their relation; but my late
memoirs inform me, that Peter had only twenty thousand men in this day's
engagement, a number not much superior to that of the enemy: but his
vigour, his patience, his unwearied perseverance, together with that of
his troops, animated by his presence, decided the fate, not of that day
only, but of three successive days, during which the fight was renewed
at different times.
They made their first attack upon the rear of the Swedish army, near the
village of Lesnau, from whence this battle borrows its name. This first
shock was bloody, without proving decisive. Levenhaupt retreated into a
wood, and thereby saved his baggage. (Oct. 7.) The next morning, when
the Swedes were to be driven from this wood, the fight was still more
bloody, and more to the advantage of the Russians. Here it was that the
czar, seeing his troops in disorder, cried out to fire upon the
runaways, and even upon himself, if they saw him turn back. The Swedes
were repulsed, but not thrown into confusion.
At length a reinforcement of four thousand dragoons arriving, he fell
upon the Swedes a third time; who retreated to a small town called
Prospock, where they were again attacked; they then marched towards the
Desna, the Russians still pursuing them: yet they were never broken,
but lost upwards of eight thousand men, seventeen pieces of cannon, and
forty-four colours: the czar took fifty-six officers and near nine
hundred private men prisoners; and the great convoy of provisions and
ammunition that were going to Charles's army, fell into the hands of the
conqueror.
This was the first time that the czar in person gained a pitched battle,
against an enemy who had distinguished himself by so many victories over
his troops: he was employed in a general thanksgiving for his success,
when he received advice that general Apraxin had lately gained an
advantage over the enemy in Ingria, (Sept. 17,) some leagues from Narva,
an advantage less considerable indeed than that of Lesnau; but this
concurrence of fortunate events greatly raised the hopes and courage of
his troops.
Charles XII. heard of these unfortunate tidings just as he was ready to
pass the Desna, in the Ukraine. Mazeppa at length joined him; but
instead of twenty thousand men, and an immense quantity of provisions,
which he was to have brought with him, he came with only two regiments,
and appeared rather like a fugitive applying for assistance, than a
prince, who was bringing powerful succours to his ally. This Cossack had
indeed begun his march with near fifteen or sixteen thousand of his
people, whom he had told, at their first setting out, that they were
going against the king of Sweden; that they would have the glory of
stopping that hero on his march, and that he would hold himself
eternally obliged to them for so great a service.
But when they came within a few leagues of the Desna, he made them
acquainted with his real design. These brave people received his
declaration with disdain: they refused to betray a monarch, against
whom they had no cause of complaint, for the sake of a Swede, who had
invaded their country with an armed force, and who, after leaving it,
would be no longer able to defend them, but must abandon them to the
mercy of the incensed Russians, and of the Poles, once their masters,
and always their enemies: they accordingly returned home, and gave
advice to the czar of the defection of their chief: Mazeppa found
himself left with only two regiments, the officers of which were in his
own pay.
He was still master of some strong posts in the Ukraine, and in
particular of Bathurin, the place of his residence, looked upon as the
capital of the country of the Cossacks: it is situated near some forests
on the Desna, at a great distance from the place where Peter had
defeated general Levenhaupt. There were always some Russian regiments
quartered in these districts. Prince Menzikoff was detached from the
czar's army, and got thither by round-about marches. Charles could not
secure all the passes; he did not even know them all, and had neglected
to make himself master of the important post of Starowdoub, which leads
directly to the Bathurin, across seven or eight leagues of forest,
through which the Desna directs its course. His enemy had always the
advantage of him, by being better acquainted with the country.
Menzikoff and prince Galitzin, who had accompanied him, easily made
their passage good, and presented themselves before the town of
Bathurin, (Nov. 14,) which surrendered almost without resistance, was
plundered, and reduced to ashes. The Russians made themselves masters of
a large magazine destined for the use of the king of Sweden, and of all
Mazeppa's treasures. The Cossacks chose another hetman, named
Skoropasky, who was approved by the czar, who being willing to impress a
due sense of the enormous crime of treason on the minds of the people,
by a striking example of justice, the archbishop of Kiow, and two other
prelates, were ordered to excommunicate Mazeppa publicly, (Nov. 22,)
after which he was hanged in effigy, and some of his accomplices were
broken upon the wheel.
In the meanwhile, Charles XII. still at the head of about twenty-five or
twenty-seven thousand Swedes, who were reinforced by the remains of
Levenhaupt's army, and the addition of between two or three thousand
men, whom Mazeppa had brought with him, and still infatuated with the
same notion of making all the Ukraine declare for him, passed the Desna
at some distance from Bathurin, and near the Boristhenes, in spite of
the czar's troops which surrounded him on all sides; part of whom
followed close in the rear, while another part lined the opposite side
of the river to oppose his passage.
He continued his march through a desert country, where he met with
nothing but burned or ruined villages. The cold began to set in at the
beginning of December so extremely sharp, that in one of his marches
near two thousand of his men perished before his eyes: the czar's troops
did not suffer near so much, being better supplied; whereas the king of
Sweden's army, being almost naked, was necessarily more exposed to the
inclemency of the weather.
In this deplorable situation, count Piper, chancellor of Sweden, who
never gave his master other than good advice, conjured him to halt, and
pass at least the severest part of the winter in a small town of the
Ukraine, called Romna, where he might intrench himself, and get some
provisions by the help of Mazeppa; but Charles replied, that--He was not
a person to shut himself up in a town. Piper then intreated him to
re-pass the Desna and the Boristhenes, to return back into Poland, to
put his troops into winter quarters, of which they stood so much in
need, to make use of the Polish cavalry, which was absolutely necessary;
to support the king he had nominated, and to keep in awe the partisans
of Augustus, who began already to bestir themselves. Charles answered
him again--That this would be flying before the czar, that the season
would grow milder, and that he must reduce the Ukraine, and march on to
Moscow.[76]
January, 1709.] Both armies remained some weeks inactive, on account of
the intenseness of the cold, in the month of January, 1709; but as soon
as the men were able to make use of their arms, Charles attacked all the
small posts that he found in his way; he was obliged to send parties on
every side in search of provisions; that is to say, to scour the country
twenty leagues round, and rob all the peasants of their necessary
subsistence. Peter, without hurrying himself, kept a strict eye upon all
his motions, and suffered the Swedish army to dwindle away by degrees.
It is impossible for the reader to follow the Swedes in their march
through these countries: several of the rivers which they crossed are
not to be found in the maps: we must not suppose, that geographers are
as well acquainted with these countries, as we are with Italy, France,
and Germany: geography is, of all the arts, that which still stands the
most need of improvement, and ambition has hitherto been at more pains
to desolate the face of the globe, than to give a description of it.
We must content ourselves then with knowing, that Charles traversed the
whole Ukraine in the month of February, burning the villages wherever he
came, or meeting with others that had been laid in ashes by the
Russians. He advancing south-east, came to those sandy deserts, bordered
by mountains that separate the Nogay Tartars from the Don Cossacks. To
the eastward of those mountains are the altars of Alexander. Charles was
now on the other side of the Ukraine, in the road that the Tartars take
to Russia; and when he was got there, he was obliged to return back
again to procure subsistence: the inhabitants, having retired with all
their cattle into their dens and lurking-places, would sometimes defend
their subsistence against the soldiers, who came to deprive them of it.
Such of these poor wretches, who could be found, were put to death,
agreeably to what are falsely called, the rules of war. I cannot here
forbear transcribing a few lines from Norberg.[77] 'As an instance,'
says he, 'of the king's regard to justice, I shall insert a note, which
he wrote with his own hand to colonel Heilmen.
'Colonel,
'I am very well pleased that you have taken those peasants, who
carried off a Swedish soldier; as soon as they are convicted of the
crime, let them be punished with death, according to the exigency of
the case.
'Charles; and lower down, Budis.'
Such are the sentiments of justice and humanity shewn by a king's
confessor; but, had the peasants of the Ukraine had it in their power
to hang up some of those regimented peasants of East Gothland, who
thought themselves entitled to come so far to plunder them, their wives,
and families, of their subsistence, would not the confessors and
chaplains of these Ukrainers have had equal reason to applaud their
justice?
Mazeppa had for a considerable time, been in treaty with the
Zaporavians, who dwell about the two shores of the Boristhenes, and of
whom part inhabit the islands on that river. It is this division that
forms the nation, of whom mention has already been made in the first
chapter of this history, and who have neither wives nor families, and
subsist entirely by rapine. During the winter they heap up provisions in
their islands, which they afterwards go and sell in the summer, in the
little town of Pultowa; the rest dwell in small hamlets, to the right
and left of this river. All together choose a particular hetman, and
this hetman is subordinate to him of the Ukraine. The person, at that
time at the head of the Zaporavians, came to meet Mazeppa; and these two
barbarians had an interview, at which each of them had a horse's tail,
and a club borne before him, as ensigns of honour.
To shew what this hetman of the Zaporavians and his people were, I think
it not unworthy of history, to relate the manner in which this treaty
was concluded. Mazeppa gave a great feast to the hetman of the
Zaporavians, and his principal officers, who were all served in plate.
As soon as these chiefs had made themselves drunk with brandy, they took
an oath (without stirring from table) upon the Evangelists, to supply
Charles with men and provisions; after which they carried off all the
plate and other table-furniture. Mazeppa's steward ran after them, and
remonstrated, that such behaviour ill-suited with the doctrine of the
Gospels, on which they had so lately sworn. Some of Mazeppa's domestics
were for taking the plate away from them by force; but the Zaporavians
went in a body to complain to Mazeppa, of the unparalleled affront
offered to such brave fellows, and demanded to have the steward
delivered up to them, that they might punish him according to law. This
was accordingly complied with, and the Zaporavians, according to law,
tossed this poor man from one to another like a ball, and afterwards
plunged a knife to his heart.
Such were the new allies that Charles XII. was obliged to receive; part
of whom he formed into a regiment of two thousand men; the remainder
marched in separate bodies against the Cossacks and Calmucks of the
czar's party, that were stationed about that district.
The little town of Pultowa, with which those Zaporavians carry on a
trade, was filled with provisions, and might have served Charles for a
place of arms. It is situated on the river Worsklaw, near a chain of
mountains, which command it on the north side. To the eastward is a vast
desert. The western part is the most fruitful, and the best peopled. The
Worsklaw empties itself into the Boristhenes, about fifteen leagues
lower down; from Pultowa, one may go northward, through the defiles,
which communicate with the road to Moscow, a passage used by the
Tartars. It is very difficult of access, and the precautions taken by
the czar had rendered it almost impervious; but nothing appeared
impossible to Charles, and he depended upon marching to Moscow, as soon
as he had made himself master of Pultowa: with this view he laid siege
to that town in the beginning of May.