Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1859-07-28
Written for the Marshall Co. RcpubIicanil ]
4 . l2,
RETREAT FROM MOSCOW.
By MAJOR JOHN T. LAseESnAroH,i SEN.
CHAPTER XIII.

I
the recent battle, now pouring down the heights
in thick columns. On seeing that one of the bridg
es was. broken down, and the adjacent banks so
oyercrowded with fugityes that it was utterly i'm
possible to break themselves path in the direction
OF the other bridge, they turned upwards against
the stream to reach the opposite shore, either by
swimming or wadins over. This stream of NOR
tails also threatened to oyerwhclm the spot VIC had
chosen; We therefore thought it necessary to seek
refuge higher up towards the source of the river.
But even here nature was adverse to us, for the
wind beat right into our faces, and blinded Us with
the driving SNOW. M-my others. dcspairing of es-
c,pe by means of the remaining bridge, followed,
and thus crowd collected at tlis point also. From
the heights camc, pouring down cavalry. foot sol
diers, wagons and field pieces, pell NELL These
two torrents soon merged into one, and now, the
Wild, destructive pressure commenced afresho La
rush called out: Follow me; let us push further up
towards the hills; where one seeks safety is the
place Tor US to find it.' 0iialiud fan.s5 sat
u 10 do this II was necessary to.pcrmcate the rush
ins torrent of fugtiycs, which subjected MS to the
encounter "a sharp conaicti almost bcrcft of or
the crowd. proceeded rapidly across slippery
Descent; here again hostile fate lurkcd in our path
Two held pieces came .tlown the hli on the icy de
scent; tiehorscs slipped their foothoI, and were n
bout Ealing Impelled by furious .laslinss of the
whip, and urgent shouts, the horses dashed away
ut iul. gilop directly towards the spot where We
were. Wcenleavored to nuke our way to one side:
4 A a el hat 4.
The gallant B'iskcr too late, the leaders came
IN contact with him, and hurled him and his horse
together to the the ground. The wheels had pxass
ed over his head and breast, frigfaiy tcarin. and
dishguring the Youthful countenance. The blood
oo7ang and trickling from the wounds, minglipe
with the SHOW and ice. With hurried steps we row
continued our flight up the stream. A sweeping
curve in its threw the bridge and the crowd
oat OF sight, and we now heard only the dull reports
of the enemy's guns Our way led US through
wintry solitude. To the left was the Berczina full
oft oating m ,sscs of ice: To the right were the
heights from which the piercing blast chapped our
hands, and drove the snow into our faces But still
rsnhosi'it,blc reception was friendly, compared
with the scenes out ofwhich lie had escaped -
Thus we had continued eur wearisonc progress
for more than an hour, and still the much longcd
for Weselowa was not in sight Atlcngth our at
tcnton was drawn to a body of horscmcn lo made
their appearance on TIE heights. I.arusli's keen
eye saw directly who they were, and he exclaimed:
.Thosc are Cossaeks; know them by their lanccs,
if these rapacious villains should fill upon us. moth
ing could prevent our being stripped of everything
isox 81, 2
keep as near the shore here below as possible
fThswas done and fortun,tely there was another
bend in the river, which carried us out OF sight of
oar purs,lcrs; at the same time We bclicId in the
distncc the snow covered roofs of Wesclowa AZ
this moment too, the sound of horses feet was
heard. The riders came gaoping towards us;
when quite near they halted, anil voice called out
in Russian: "Hallo.is that wesclowa yondct?''
Ls,rush started joyfully as he heard these words.
exclaimins, "Grcat God, Kliski," With bolster
otis rapture we hailed This gallant Pole, Who with A.
bout thirty Polish Lancers had cut his way through
a whole column OF Platoffs' CoSsacks. ~ ~. i''
"Thesc are all bring out of the mur,lcrons con
aici!' he said Let Us go on; there lies wcseIowa.
| trnst We shah bc able to cross the river; once on
Wejoiucl our little troop to his, which how a.
mounted to fifty all told. In an hour more we reach
ed the hamlet. a Lithuanian peasant guided us
to ford where the river not quite the depth of
man. notwithstanding that the ice was drifting
in large masses. We courageously ventured into the
current. We reached the opposite shore in safety,
and thus finally rescued, we lifted our hearts and
eyes in profound gratitude to heaven We. then
pursued our way to Zemb'n. Here We found Mar
slia Ney, whom still devolvcd the most difficult
task-that of covering the retreat The worst of
the fatigue and suffering seemed, however, to have
passed--for We now found ourselves in region
that was not utterly Did waste. in which the inhab-
itants were more f.yorably disposed. A high
wrought desire for devcrance caused the smallest
glimpscs OF hope to be looked upon as the consum
nation Of all our desires; but the impacable api-
mostly OF fortune was not yet appcased 1t slum-
bercd only to regain strength. = rf...s
By this time anything like organization in tie
army was no longer to be thought Of. Every one
joined that division detachment in which lie cx-
pccted to find .he most security, or which hc fcllin
with accilenly- Colonel Larush, again with the !
nluc ns'hu ci iaitiipi DraSoonSs attached himself
To- Ncy--partly from preference towards the
Mushal personally. partly because his militia I
ry ambition prompted him always to seek the ,
perils of ba,tle, as being more mcritorious-
During our progress of the first few days, the enc
my pressed but not very cagcrly; swarms of Cos
sacks, WHICH were Dispersed by single cannonslot
were the only ones finally that molestcd us. But I
the day arrived for which tie most inveterate en-
cmy of the army--the Russian winter-secmed to
have treasured up all his wrath. On the night of
the 81 Of December, the wind suddenly recrcd
round from south westerly to cutting north-eas
terly bearing On its wings were borne the ter
rors of the North Pole-to the destruction of these
last fragment of once proud and gigantic host
Winter, lurking spitcfully, had hall concealed itself
behind a veil Of comparative mildness Now he
had stolen upon US under cover Of dark night, and
fallen upon US in our sleep. Pinchcd with acute
pam from his touch, we opened our eyes. and the
ptilcss monster stood before US in all his dread in
spring deformity. number of US bad taken iup
our quarters in large barn. where we warmed each
other by lying close togcthcr-for the space did
pot admit the making Of . frc. Towards morning !
woke up from priekling pain i,s my hands and !