The Illustrious Dead (28 page)

Chapter Three: Drumbeat

35 “His statistical expert”: McLynn, p. 496.

35 “By the first months”: Ibid.

35 “‘It would be a crime’”: Quoted in Zamoyski, p. 72.

36 “‘I have come,’”: Caulaincourt,
Memoirs
, p. 129.

36 “‘Whether he triumphs’”: Quoted in Zamoyski, p. 79.

37 “‘We will die or conquer’”: Troyat, p. 46.

38 “The army itself was a pageant”: For a discussion of uniforms, see Haythornwaite, Philip and Chappell, Mike,
Uniforms of Napoleon’s Russian Campaign
, London: Arms & Armour Press, 1996 and Haythorn waite and Fosten, Bryan,
Napoleon’s Line Infantry
, London: Osprey, 1983.

39 “and the grenadiers”: Quoted in Nicolson, p. 24.

39 “Franz Roeder was a captain”: For an account of Roeder’s service, see
The Ordeal of Captain Roeder.

40 “‘which may be partly caused’”: Roeder, p. 50.

40 “‘creeping nervous fever’”: Ibid., p. 51.

40 “‘I share the thoughts’”: Brett-James, p. 11.

40 “10,000 wills”: Ibid., p. 13.

41 “But the forty-six-year-old”: For the inexperience of the novice doctors, see Larrey’s letter of January 1812, quoted in Howard, p. 69.

41 “‘Medicine is the science’”: Quoted in Fournier, p. 163.

41 “‘I dress’”: Quoted in McLynn, p. 37.

42 “‘I’m trying to rise’”: Quoted in Cronin, p. 314.

42 “‘Walcheren has for its defense’”: Quoted in Howard, p. 64.

43 “‘hunchbacks and cripples’”: Howard, p. 24.

43 “The pathogen had aided”: Prinzing, p. 101.

43 “‘a malignant, nervous and putrid’”: Howard, p. 201

43 “‘[The dead] were thrown’”: Ibid., p. 164.

44 “‘Like an enormous fire’”: For a description of typhus at Mantua, see the testimony of Napoleon’s surgeon J. Baptiste-Turiot, quoted in Schom, p. 62.

44 “Spanish prisoners”: Prinzing, p. 103.

44 “During the Wars”: Ibid., p. 96.

Chapter Four: Crossing

46 “In his diary”: Roeder, p. 62.

47 “In the noise”: Accounts of soldiers falling out of the ranks and dying are found in Larrey’s memoirs and Kerckhove’s account, among others.

47 “Some victims”: The description of the symptoms are collected from firsthand accounts of typhus victims in the medical literature. The description of “a very uncommon feeling” is from Dr. Smyth’s own experience of the disease in
The Description of the Jail Distemper.
Other symptoms come from Johnson’s description of his own illness in
Practical Illustrations of Typhus and Other Fevers
, as well as Bartlett, Smith, et al. All of the accounts are listed in the bibliography under Primary Sources.

49 “‘Of the illness’”: The patient is John Reed, the journalist and Bolshevik activist. The writer is his wife, Louise Bryant, in a letter dated November 14, 1920, published in
The Liberator
, February 1921. Reed died of typhus on October 19, 1920, with Bryant by his side. He was buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.

49 “The mistake was compounded”: Prinzing, p. 102.

50 “To understand what”: This brief overview of nineteenth-century attitudes toward disease is informed by several sources, including Roy Porter’s
The Greatest Benefit to Mankind
, J. Rosser Matthews’s
Quantification and the Quest for Medical Certainty
, McNeill’s
Plagues and Peoples
, and several essays, including “Fevers and Science in Early Nineteenth Century Medicine,” by Leonard Wilson.

52 “‘loaded with’”: Quoted in Howard, p. 201.

53 “In 1811”: See North’s
A Treatise on a Malignant Epidemic.

53 “The doctor’s name”: For an account of Lind’s experiments, see Winslow, p. 295 and Roddis, pp. 57-64.

55 “One of Lind’s”: Roddis, p. 64.

55 “‘enjoy a better’”: Quoted in the article “Thumpers!” by Henrik Bering,
Policy Review
, June-July 2005.

Chapter Five: Pursuit

60 “‘He has come’”: Ségur, p. 27.

60 “‘I have never’”: Larrey, p. 12.

62 “The Belgian doctor”: All quotes from de Kerckhove are from his
Histoire des maladies observées à la Grand Armée française, pendant les campagnes de Russe en 1812 et d’Allemagne en 1813
, Janssens, 1836. Translated for the author by Rose-Marie Coulombel.

62 “‘Nothing announced’”: de Kerckhove, p. 8.

62 “‘60,000 [troops]’”: Larrey,
Surgical Memoirs.

62 “‘in the first weeks,’”: Clausewitz, p. 110.

62 “‘was already stricken’”: Wilson, p. 29.

63 “‘dragged themselves behind’”: de Kerckhove, p. 30.

63 “Napoleon was losing 4,000 to 6,000 soldiers”: McLynn, p. 511.

63 “Another 30,000”: Zamoyski, p. 163.

63 “Pleurisy, jaundice”: de Kerckhove lists these and a few other diseases as being present on p. 20.

63 “‘Under these circumstances’”: Vossler, p. 51.

63 “Dysentery ruled”: The timing of the dominance of each disease is impossible to chart with absolute precision, but both de Kerckhove and Ebstein (pp. 42-4), quoting the doctor Lamazurier, support the late summer as the time when typhus became strongest. “In the second half of August,” Ebstein writes, “typhus became the dominant disease, but it didn’t yet reveal its terrible contagiousness.”

63 “with 80,000 sick”: Zinsser, p. 162.

63 “although recent outbreaks”: Jane Perlez, “A Stubborn Killer of Refugees: Dysentery,”
New York Times
, August 5, 1994.

64 “At one hospital”: von Scherer’s findings are summarized in Rose, p. 15.

64 “‘Typhus was present’”: de Kerckhove, p. 48.

65 “One major”: This letter is contained in Paul Britten Austin’s monumental collection of eyewitness accounts of the invasion, which will be referenced throughout. P. 238.

65 “‘Napoleon doesn’t give a damn’”: Austin,
The March on Moscow
, p. 238.

66 “‘What misery’”: Roeder, p. 94.

67 “‘This did not remain’”: Clausewitz, p. 110.

Chapter Six: Smolensk

70 “‘It was truly heartbreaking’”: Caulaincourt, p. 50.

73 “‘Each night’”: Quoted in Dodge, p. 501.

73 “3,400 men”: Riehn, p. 192.

75 “‘terrifying’ increase”: de Kerckhove, p. 65.

75 “between 200 and 500 rubles”: Parkinson, p. 3.

76 “One Bavarian officer”: Labaume, p. 69. 76 “50,000 men”: Cate, p. 205.

76 “800,000 silver rubles”: Ibid.

77 “‘War’s a game’”: Austin,
The March on Moscow
, p. 159.

77 “‘The campaign of 1812’”: Ségur, p. 19.

78 “‘I shall send you’”: Cate, p. 170.

78 “‘Well, what are we’”: Ségur, p. 22.

Chapter Seven: The Sound of Flames

80 “‘The number of sick’”: de Kerckhove, p. 41.

80 “‘Never was there’”: Caulaincourt, p. 66.

81 “‘This news filled’”: Quoted in Zamoyski, p. 207.

84 “He was down to”: McLynn, p. 511.

84 “‘One man after another’”: Walter, p. 44.

85 “‘The thought of the coming day’”: Walter, p. 49.

86 “‘shattered great heaps’”: Brett-James, p. 86.

87 “triple-vented shell”: Austin, p. 194.

87 “‘A second earlier’”: Brett-James, p. 86.

87 “The regimental bands”: The lineup is for a line infantry band of 1802, which would have been largely unchanged for 1812. See
Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians
, by Eric Blom, George Grove, and Denis Stevens, 1955, p. 770.

88 “One cannonball”: Ségur, p. 32.

88 “‘Everything which doesn’t make haste’”: Austin, p. 196.

89 “‘An eruption’”: Caulaincourt, p. 77.

89 “‘You German’”: Quoted in Zamoyski, p. 219.

89 “‘It is painful’”: Quoted in Cooper, p. 95.

90 “‘The flames became’”: du Faur, p. 54.

90 “‘The mirage of victory’”: Ségur, p. 33.

90 “‘Never can you’”: Labaume, p. 54.

90 “The fire had carbonized”: Nicolson, p. 56.

91 “‘And yet’”: Roeder, p. 145.

91 “Pisani approached the body”: See Pisani’s account of Smolensk in
Con Napoleone nella Campagna di Russia
, beginning on p. 124.

91 “‘Here the wounded’”: Ebstein, p. 20.

93 “‘You are unworthy’”: Brett-James, p. 83.

93 “‘Amidst the stumps’”: Ségur, p. 35.

94 “‘Even if’”: Quoted in Horne, p. 145.

94 “‘imperative need’”: Brett-James, p. 98.

95 “‘The terrible deprivations’”: Ebstein, p. 62.

95 “‘Write to the generals’”: Cooper, p. 89.

98 “‘Once more’”: Caulaincourt, p. 82.

99 “‘Once again’”: Ibid., p. 83.

99 “‘The two armies’”: Clausewitz, p. 131.

Chapter Eight: Smoke

100 “An autopsy”: The dissection was carried out by Dr. Robert Jackson and the description is included in his wonderfully detailed
An Outline of the History and Cure of Fever
, 1798.

101 “Among them”: For a detailed discussion of the origins of
Rickettsia
, see Gray, Michael W., “Rickettsia, Typhus and the Mitochondrial Connection,”
Nature
, November 12, 1998, p. 109-10.

102 “‘a molecular theater’”: For a discussion of the
Rickettsia
genome, see Friedman, Roberta, “Bacterial Revelations,”
Natural History
, June 2001.

104 “The body louse in Africa”: Ibid., p. 177.

105 “‘These thunders’”: Donne,
Devotions.

106 “more Irish would die”: Porter, p. 29.

106 “But the discovery”: See Wilford, John Noble, “Lice from Mummies Provide Clues to Ancient Migrations,”
International Herald Tribune
, February 6, 2008.

106 “a mysterious illness in 1083”: Zinsser, p. 242.

106 “During the Middle Ages”: The discussion of typhus’s early history is informed, among other sources, by Zinsser, pp. 242-81.

108 “‘Throughout all the people’”: Translated from the original Latin for the author by Luco Grillo.

Chapter Nine: At Borodino

110 “‘Beloved, is it that’”: Roeder, p. 125.

111 “now down to 1,500”: Roeder, p. 138.

111 “eating less than he should have”: Riehn sees a drastic change in available supplies once the army crossed from Poland into old Russia: “The march now led through fertile regions, where the rye stood tall in the fields. … food was not a problem.” pp. 232-3.

111 “‘This poor army’”: Quoted in Parkinson, p. 137.

113 “‘I was young’”: Ibid., p. 91.

113 “‘one stupidity’”: Brett-James, p. 110.

113 “‘I had no other course’”: Ibid., p. 110.

114 “‘The nobility’”: Quoted in Parkinson, p. 47.

114 “‘But I hope’”: Ibid., p. 1.

115 “‘The day was cloudy’”: Quoted in Zamoyski, p. 249.

115 “‘a hatcher of intrigues’”: Quoted in Parkinson, p. 118.

116 “‘plunged in grief’”: Brett-James, p. 148.

117 “Men escaping”: Cate, p. 261.

118 “‘The objective’”: Parkinson, p. 14.

121 “The Russian commander”: Cate, p. 284.

121 “‘This invention’”: Rose, p. 45.

121 “The device”: Ségur, p. 91.

121 “‘In a fortnight’”: Caulaincourt, p. 90.

121 “The emperor even”: Napoleon touched on this idea in an interview with the Russian emissary Count Orlin. Cooper, p. 90.

122 “‘It will lose me’”: Caulaincourt, p. 92.

124 “‘Our outposts were’”: Brett-James, p. 121.

125 “‘Fortune is a shameless courtesan’”: Ibid., p. 120.

125 “‘There were many’”: Labaume, p. 70.

126 “Ognik (‘Fire’)”: Parkinson, p. 137.

129 “‘Weak and starved’”: Ségur, p. 62.

129 “‘The voice of the court’”: Clausewitz, p. 142.