CHAP. VIII. 1709. of 24,000 men, of whom not a half were Swedish troops. Charles, disappointed in the supplies he expected from Mazeppa, and reduced to the greatest straits from want of ammunition and provisions, sent the most urgent orders to his lieutenant to hasten his march. But these orders arrived too late to avert the disaster which ensued. The Czar, intent on intercepting this important convoy, upon the safe arrival of which the issue of the campaign and the fate of his crown depended, collected a powerful army of thirty thousand combatants, with which he watched the movements of the Swedish general. He permitted him, with the huge convoy which he conducted, to pass the Dnieper without molestation, but fell upon him when his unwieldy column was involved in the extensive marshes which adjoin the tributary streams that, from the eastward, flow into that noble river. The Swedes fought with their usual gallantry, and, during four days that the conflict lasted, were never entirely broken. But the perseverance of the Russians, and the skill of the Czar, at length triumphed, and inflicted on their opponents the most dreadful disaster. By almost incredible exertions of valour, Levenhaupt, with a part of his force, succeeded in making his way through, and joined Charles; but he lost 8000 men killed and wounded, 950 prisoners, 17 guns, and Vie de 45 standards; and, what was a still greater disaster, 17. Biog. the whole precious convoy fell into the hands of the 193. Russians.1 1 Voltaire's Pierre, c. Univ. vi. 9. Charles Charles, though grievously affected by this disaster, was not dismayed. Having collected 25,000 men from March of the remains of his own army, the wreck of Levenhaupt's towards force, and the trifling reinforcements brought up by Nov. 1708. Mazeppa, he passed the Desna, and in the commence Moscow, CHAP. 1709, ment of winter began his advance towards Moscow. No words can convey an idea of the horrors of the march, or the sufferings which the soldiers underwent in the course of it. Charles, however, still persevered, and stifled every complaint by sharing the fare, enduring the hardships, and facing the dangers of the meanest soldier in his army. Animated by this example, the troops struggled on with heroic resolution; but the rigour of the climate was not the less severely felt by their exhausted frames. In the month of December the thermometer fell to 20° below zero of Fahrenheit; and under this terrible cold above two thousand of his men, almost all destitute of any adequate clothing, perished in a few days. In vain the Chancellor Piper conjured him to halt, to fortify himself in some town of the Ukraine, or to recross the Desna, and seek refuge in Poland. Charles replied, Norberg, ii. that to do so would be to fly before the Czar; that he taire's Vie was not the man to yield to difficulty; that the weather would soon become milder; and that they must continue their march to Moscow.1 1 Chapilain 263. Vol de Pierre, c. 17. 10. After a thousand they arrive June 1709. Animated by the heroic spirit of their chief, the Swedes, like the Macedonians of old, followed their hardships, beloved king through difficulties which, to any other at Pultowa, troops, would have been deemed insurmountable. Driven in different, and often opposite directions, by the necessity of finding subsistence, they advanced at one period towards the south-east, as far as the western end of the great central ridge which separates the Nogais Tartars from the Cossacks of Tanais. It is on the east of those mountains that the altars which mark the extreme limits of Alexander the Great's conquests in Asia still remain. He was there joined by some thousand Zaporavians, whom he embodied into two regiments. Aided by this VIII. 1709. reinforcement, he laid siege to PULTOWA, a small town CHAP. situated on the river Vorskla, in which there were considerable supplies of provisions, and which might serve as a base for operations in the direction of Moscow. No sooner did Peter hear that this town was besieged than he collected all his forces, and advanced at the head of Pierre, c. sixty thousand men, for the most part well-disciplined 1 Voltaire's veterans, accompanied by a plentiful train of artillery, Vie de to attack the Swedish king, whose troops were now 17. Biog. reduced by the rigour of the climate, sickness, and the 194. sword, to twenty-four thousand men.1 Univ. vi. 11. tions for the Pultowa, 1709. The Czar arrived in the neighbourhood of Pultowa on the 15th June, and took post at a little distance Preparafrom Charles. His first care was to place his cavalry battle of in a position between two woods, where it could not June 15, be outflanked. His next, to cover his infantry with redoubts, which might enable them to withstand the dreaded assault of the Swedish soldiers. For the next fortnight nothing material occurred except some skirmishes between the light troops on either side, in one of which Charles was severely wounded by a musket-ball in the foot, which confined him for several days to bed, and obliged him to submit to a painful operation, which he bore with his wonted stoicism. Before he was recovered, or able to sit on horseback, he learned that the Czar was making preparations to attack him in his intrenchments. No sooner did he obtain this intelligence than the spirit of the hero revived. He immediately ordered the troops to issue from their camp, and, instead of awaiting the attack, made dispositions for Vie de himself assaulting the Russian intrenchments.2 Being 17. Biog. still unable to sit on horseback, he was carried in a litter 193. to share in the dangers and glories of a day which could 2 Voltaire's Pierre, c. Univ. vi. CHAP. 1709. 12. Pultowa, defeat of Charles, July 6. 1709. not fail to be decisive of the fate of the Russian and Swedish monarchies. Such was the valour of the Swedish infantry that on Battle of the first onset they carried two redoubts; and in the and total first tumult of success they shouted " Victory." But their triumph was of short duration. The other redoubts were bravely defended; and the Czar, confident in his numbers and the discipline of his troops, led them out of their intrenchments, and the battle became general in the open plain. The leaders on each side shared in the dangers of the meanest soldier, and displayed a valour worthy of the most exalted rank. No great manœuvring took place; hand to hand, breast to breast, bayonet to bayonet, they contended for two hours with the most determined resolution. The litter of Charles was broken in pieces by a cannon-shot, and one of the men who carried it killed by his side. He calmly ordered himself to be put down, and sat till a new one was formed of the pikes of the soldiers. The Czar had his clothes perforated in several places with musket-balls, but, almost by a miracle, himself escaped unhurt. At length, after a desperate conflict, the Swedes, overwhelmed by numbers three times their own, were broken on all sides. desperate carnage took place, for scarce any quarter was given. Nine thousand were killed on the field of battle, three thousand prisoners, chiefly cavalry, were made in the pursuit the Russians only lost twelve hundred Of necessity Charles was mounted on horseback 17. Biog. in the general flight from the field. He bore the excru 1 Voltaire's Vie de Pierre, c. Univ. vi. 194. men. A ciating torture of his wound, and the anguish of a defeat irreparable beyond example, with equal resolution.1 Great as was this disaster, it was shortly after followed by another still more overwhelming. Charles retreated VIII. 13. of fourteen Swedes un towards the south with fourteen thousand men, the CHAP. remains of all that had escaped from that fatal field. But he was pursued by Prince Menzikoff, at the head of 1709. ten thousand of that light horse which, in every age, Surrender have proved so formidable to the invaders of the nomad thousand plains. The Swedes, keeping close together, contrived to der Count retire for some days without experiencing any consider- Piper, July able disaster; but at length they were entirely enveloped by their indefatigable pursuers. Surrounded on all sides, encumbered with wounded, without either provisions or ammunition, that proud infantry, which had achieved so many victories, and universally passed for invincible, was reduced to despair, and obliged to capitulate. Fourteen thousand men laid down their arms, including the whole Zaporavians, the last allies of the unhappy monarch, and who had suffered least in the battle. Count Piper, the king's prime-minister, FieldMarshal Renschild, General Levenhaupt, and all the other general officers of the army, were included in that disastrous capitulation. Charles, however, whom nothing could subdue, refused to be included in it, and made his way across the Dnieper at the head of two thousand horse the poor remains of forty-three thousand whom Vie de he had led in person from Saxony, and eighteen thou- 17. Biog. sand who had subsequently set out to join him under 194. General Levenhaupt.1 1 Voltaire's Pierre, c.' Univ. vi. 14. on this grief it oc This decisive victory at once doubled the strength of Russia, and reduced Sweden again to its original rank Reflections of a fourth-rate power, from which it had been only event, and raised by the transcendent military abilities of Gustavus casioned to Adolphus and Charles XII. Yet is it evident that rough. this terrible catastrophe, which closed the military career of the latter conqueror, and first established Russia in Marlbo |