Related
1692] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 175 TO HIS SON JOHN. Mosco, January 11, 1692.
SEAL. Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
1666] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 67 Mosco, the fyfth of July
116. German regiments musketeers in the XVII century
106. Strelets in 1613 (The view depicts the Church of St. Basil the Blessed and the Kremlin wall in Moscow, at the beginning of the XVII century)
1690] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 171 Most Christian King
15-18. Arkhangelsk on the Dutch engraving of 1765
148 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 gave him a warning concerning tlie wedsett of the Muirtacke
68 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1666 24. I did wrltt to Mosko, to my wyfe and mother in law
164 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1688 [A.D. 1687. In a book quoted by the German editors— Korb's Diarium Idncris in Moscoviam
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
164 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1688
[A.D. 1687.
In a book quoted by the German editors— Korb's Diarium Idncris in Moscoviam, page 316— it
is said that Gordon was not merely threatened with degradation, but that he was actually
reduced to the lowest rank. But this statement seems to have been hazarded without sufficient
grounds. Nor is it true, as the same writer affirms, that Gordon did not regain his former
ary 2. dignity until the fall of Golizyn. On the contrary, so early as January, 1687, he was
formally apprised that, by order of the Czars, he was to command the select regiments of the
second division, in a war against the Tartars of the Crimea. He lost no time in drilling his
soldiers, and after a month's diligent exercise, was able to begin his march on the twenty-
lary 22. second of February.
To Gordon, as quartermaster-general, it fell to find themeans of transport, to reconnoitre
the line of advance, to make the roads and bridges, and to determine where the camp should be
pitched for the night. The route was over steppes swarming with the light horse of the
Tartars, so that the Muscovites had to march in dense columns, flanked on either hand by rows
i. of waggons, to break the charge of thd enemy. It is noted that, on the eighth of May, when
the expedition set out from the neighbourhood of Kiew, the string of waggons, twenty thousand
in number, was a thousand fathoms long, and five hundred and fifty-seven fathoms broad. By
the middle of June, the army had reached the lower steppes of the Dnieper, when the grass
having been set on fire by the Tartars, or, as was suspected, by the Cossack allies of the invading
force, dearth of forage for the horses compelled a retreat. The troops were soon afterwards
disbanded ; thanks and more substantial rewards being bestowed upon the officers. Gordon's
mber 11. services were recompensed by promotion to the rank of General.
A.D. 1688.
He spent the next year quietly at Moscow. He records that the Boyars, Peter Alexeiewitsch
ary 8. Golizyn, and Boris Feodorowitsch Dolgoi'uky, dined at his table in the beginning of January. A
new city was to be built where the Samara flows into the Volga, and of the plans which were
called for, Gordon's was chiefly followed. But he was not without his detractors. At a great
council, the Patriarch spoke bitterly against him, saying that the Muscovite arms could not
hope to prosper so long as a heretic commanded the best troops of the empire. But the Boyars
only laughed at this display of orthodox zeal. From his Butirki regiment— so called from the
place where it was quartered in the neighbourhood of Moscow— trained soldiers and drummers
were drafted to Kolomenski, at that time the residence of the younger of the two Emperors;
and this, it would seem, was the beginning of his intercourse with that remarkable man. Hence-
forth, the name of the Czar Peter becomes more and more frequent in the Diary.
Thus, on the twenty-fifth of January, it is noted that a privy council was held, at which the
Princess Sophia and both the Czars were present, the younger for the first time.
Two days afterwards, being the anniversary of the Czar Alexei Michaelowitsch of blessed
Gordon was brought up and remained a lifelong Roman Catholic, at a time when the Church was being persecuted in Scotland. At age of fifteen, he entered the Jesuit college at Braunsberg, East Prussia, then part of Poland. In 1661, after many years experiences as a soldier of fortune, he joined the Russian army under Tsar Aleksei I, and in 1665 was sent on a special mission to England. After his return, he distinguished himself in several wars against the Turks and Tatars in southern Russia. In recognition of his service he was promoted to major-general in 1678, was appointed to the high command at Kiev in 1679, and in 1683 was made lieutenant-general. In 1687 and 1689 he took part in expeditions against the Tatars in the Crimea, being made a full general. Later in 1689, a revolution broke out in Moscow, and with the troops under his command, Gordon virtually decided events in favor of Peter the Great against the Regent, Tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna. Consequently, he was for the remainder of his life in high favor with the Tsar, who confided to him the command of his capital during his absence from Russia. In 1696, Gordon's design of a "moveable rampart" played a key role in helping the Russians take Azov. One of Gordon's convinced the Tsars to establish the first Roman Catholic church and school in Muscovy, of which he remained the main benefactor and headed the Catholic community in Russia until his death. For his services his second son James, brigadier of the Russian army, was created Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1701. At the end of his life the Tsar, who had visited Gordon frequently during his illness, was with him when he died, and with his own hands closed his eyes. General Gordon left behind him a uniquely detailed diary of his life and times, written in English. This is preserved in manuscript in the Russian State Military Archive in Moscow. Passages from the Diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries (1635–1699) was printed, under the editorship of Joseph Robertson, for the Spalding Club, at Aberdeen, Scotland, 1859.