The pillage lasted several days and went on in good order.
* * * * *
The French had entered Moscow. The first word of Napoleon to Mortier, whom
he had named governor of Moscow, was "no pillage!" But this point of honor
had to be abandoned. The 100 thousand men who had entered were troops of
the elite, but they came starving at the end of their adventurous
expedition. During the first days they walked the streets in search of a
piece of bread and a little wine. But little had been left in the cellars
of the abandoned houses and in the basements of the little shops, and with
the conflagration there was almost nothing to be found. The Grand Army was
starving as much almost as on the march. Dogs which had returned in
considerable numbers to lament on the ruins of the houses of their masters
were looked upon as precious venison. The uniforms were already in rags,
and the Russian climate made itself felt. These poor soldiers, poorly clad,
dying from starvation, were begging for a piece of bread, for linen or
sheepskin, and, above all, for shoes. There was no arrangement for the
distribution of rations; they had to take from wherever they could, or
perish.
Napoleon established himself in the Kremlin, the generals in the mansions
of the noblemen, the soldiers in the taverns or private houses until the
fire dislodged them. Napoleon, with a part of his staff, was obliged to
seek refuge in the park Petrovski, the commanders took quarters wherever
they could, the soldiers dispersed themselves among the ruins.
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