Bagration

Russian general, he was splendid at Eylau; he died at Borodino.

Bagration signed up as a plain sergeant in the Russian army in 1782. He was a colonel in the army in Poland in 1794. Suvarov, who had noticed him,took him along for the campaign in Italy. On April 10, 1799, Bagration took Brescia; on the fifteenth he defeated Serurier; on the sixteenth he forced Moreau to retreat to Marengo. At Trebia he commanded the advance guard of the combined Austro-Russian forces.

When Subarov was suddenly in disgrace with Czar Paul I, Bagration likewise found himself unemployed. In 1801 Alexander I succeeded his father. Bagration benefited by a return to favor. In 1805 he commanded the advance guard of Kutuzov's army, which was going to the aid of the Austrians. Surrounded by the corps of Murat and Soult, he had to face an enemy four times as large. Bagration refused to surrender. He set the village of Hollabrunn on fire and fought man against man. Finally, in a stratagem of despair, he had his men march in columns at the enemy and cried, "Don't fire; we are French". That worked, although he had lost nearly half his men.

Promoted lieutenant general, he was splendid at Eylau and Friedland. It was Bagration who on 20 June 1807 began the negotiations with Murat which led to the Peace of Tilsit between France and Russia. Bagration racked up victories with the army which fought the Swedes. The czar gave him an estate and entrusted to him the army of Moldavia, but he was defeated by the Turks at Tartaritza and replaced.

In 1812, when the French entered Russia, Alexander I placed him at the head of the left wing of the army. Bagration succeeded in sneaking between the corps of Jerome and Davout and joining the bulk of the Russian army just in time for the Battle of Smolensk. He also fought at Valentino. On September 15 at Borodino he bore the brunt of the French attack, on the left wing of his army. He resisted valiantly but received a mortal wound at the end of the day. Moved to Moscow, then to Sima when the French entered the capital, he died after suffering for a fortnight.