the lion of the russian army - Florida State University

some 2,000 men Turks made a sortie from Silistra to join the vizier’s forces; they were
repulsed and forced back into town. 29
The victory over the Turkish corps gave Bagration a respite to gather his forces at
Silistra. He appointed Mikhail Miloradovich to command the reserve corps in Moldavia
and Wallachia so he gave his corps to General Langeron. 30 Reinforcements of four
infantry battalions and five squadrons of dragoons with six 12-pounder cannon arrived on
9 October. 31 Bagration also confirmed his orders to Zass and Kamensky to march
towards Bazardjik (Dobrich) and Varna. The Cossack patrols reconnoitered the area
around these towns and engaged small Turkish patrols they encountered. 32 Above all,
Bagration was concerned with the condition of his troops and the lack of supplies. The
winter was expected to begin in a month and Bagration described the hardships his
soldiers would have to endure:
The military operations are taking place in a region that cannot provide
any supplies for the army…. The Turks destroyed the local villages upon
the arrival of the Russian army; most of residents were resettled, but those
who remain are extremely poor. They have no bread, wagons or any other
means to provide for the army. In short, I am fighting in the barren steppes
[v goloi stepi]. 33
Bagration emphasized that he would need some 80,000 oxen to transport supplies,
excluding forage, to sustain the army in the region. However, without the forage, the
transport cattle and cavalry horses would perish during the winter and leave the troops
stranded on the southern bank of the Danube. Besides, those oxen would require
29 Langeron, Recollections, Russkaia starina, 135 (1908): 404.
30 Bagration to Arakcheyev, 7 October 1809, Voennii sbornik, 10 (1864): 63.
31 Langeron, Recollections, Russkaia starina, 135 (1908): 404.
32 On 8 October, a Cossack patrol of the Adrianov II’s Cossack Regiment attacked some 400
Turkish foragers near Varna. The Cossacks routed them, killing 50 and capturing 30 men. In
addition, they seized 120 oxen, which were butchered to feed the troops. Bagration reported that
his troops lost four men wounded and three horses killed. Order to Army, 15 October 1809,
Danubian Correspondence of Bagration, 45-46.
33 Bagration to Alexander, No. 1,023, 12 October 1809, Voennii sbornik, 10 (1864): 60.
525