Winzingerode, who was already in the suburbs with his troops, pressed forward rather inconsiderately to reoccupy the Kremlin, riding himself in advance without an escort, attended only by a single aide-de-camp. The result was that he was taken prisoner, though he made a dishonourable, if not entirely inexcusable, attempt to escape by waving his handkerchief and pretending to have come on a parley. Mortier quite rightly declined to listen, and detained him. The evacuation was then completed. The Marshal made the most strenuous efforts to save all the invalids and to alleviate their sufferings as far as possible, but so great was the deficiency of transport that many hundreds had to be left behind. Eighteen guns, doubtless rendered unserviceable, were also abandoned. The gigantic convoy, guarded by Mortier’s small force, moved not by the main road to Smolensk, but by cross roads on Vereia. At Tarutino Kutuzov during the 23rd received the intelligence sent by Miloradovich and Dokhturov. The hour is a little doubtful, but he cannot have received Dokhturov’s report until late in the day, and it was not possible to march at once owing to the absence of a large part of the artillery horses, which, as before the action of Vinkovo, had been led far away to obtain forage. The blame freely lavished upon Kutuzov for dilatoriness seems to be without foundation; there was no unnecessary delay. To set forth to encounter Napoleon without the artillery would have been unwise to the verge of insanity. As a fact, supposing the final information to have reached the camp about 4 p.m., six or seven hours was not too long in which to call in the parties and make preparations for the march. Platov was sent off at once with 15 regiments of Cossacks to observe and harass the march of Napoleon’s column, and at 11 p.m. the rest of the army started for Maloyaroslavetz. The distance, allowing for deviations, was about 25 miles, mostly over an execrable byway rendered almost impassable by the pouring rain. Nevertheless, the Russians pushed doggedly forward, and by 11 a.m. on the 24th the head of the column was within reach of Maloyaroslavetz. Seeing that Ney, who on this same night was moving across from the eastern road, did not reach Borovsk until the evening of the 26th, having occupied three days in covering about 36 miles, the greatest credit is due to the Russian army. Dokhturov with his force reached Maloyaroslavetz in the night of the 23rd-24th. Either now or soon after daylight on the 24th he was joined by Dorokhov from Vereia. His troops must have been nearly dead beat, but he managed to spread them round the town so as to hold the outlets of all the roads which led out of it. He, of course, did not know that there were only two battalions holding the town; but Buturlin’s blame of him for not carrying it is unreasonable. His men had been marching for nearly an entire day and night, and it was indispensably necessary to allow them some rest.