17 September, 1812.

How confusing it must have been, Uncle, for the imperial guard to finally enter this

grand city and be greeted by no one.

No delegation of supplicants, no formal presentation of surrender.

It's now been realized that the Russians' plan was to evacuate every citizen who could walk

or crawl, and the place was inhabited upon our arrival only by the wounded, the weak,

the derelict, the orphaned.

As the very first night fell, fires broke out everywhere.

Remnants of Kutazov's army are attempting to leave Bonaparte with nothing to claim

as victor.

Immediately 400 men, including some from the 13th Infantry, were organized into a primitive

fire brigade, but by midnight the sky was orange and crimson with the flames.

There was no direction one could look without seeing densely arranged buildings wilting

under the inferno.

Bonaparte himself was forced to move his headquarters from the Kremlin into a ruined

palace on the St. Petersburg Road.

The Bohrnae led the 13th and 14th beyond the city limits as well, and we watched the

burning of Maffar for two whole days.

The rains did finally come, and applied the salve we could not, but when it was judged

safe enough for us to re-enter the city, it became quickly clear that everything ever

built inside it would continue to burn.

The looting began immediately.

...