Related
1661] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 43 Wee rose early, and, towards eveniug, came to Kokenliausen
34 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1661 hired it ; the lodging or house belonging to that family
1686] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 131 Htle way, and being four, wee hired a coach
116 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 a third, on the way to Konigsberg
136 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1686 Queens hand; whereat his Majestic smileing
1661] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 47 good earnest to consider how I might ridd myself of this countrey
42 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1661 misfortune
146 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [168G Haveing dyned, and hearing my trunks were come from Edinburgh
186 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1697 put out the white flag
1660] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 31 take ship for Scotland. Ou his way back to the camp, he waited on the commandant of Pillau
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
1660] DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. 31
take ship for Scotjand. Ou his way back to the camp, he waited on the commandant of Pillau,
by whom, much against his will, he was constrained to stay to a marriage feast. He was much
rallied for his temperance at dinner, nor was it without difficulty that he was persuaded to join
in the gaieties which followed. The charms of hi': host's daughter having prevailed against
his dislike of dancing, the officers assailed him with fresh provocations to drink, but he turned a
deaf ear to them all.
When he returned to the anny, the general sent for him to say that a regiment of dragoons
was about to be raised, and that he should have a company in it. His first care was for the
health of his men, and for this purpose he repaired to I'osen to take counsel with a Jew doctor
in gi-eat repute for his successful treatment of the plague. Of this practitioner he bought ten dol-
lars' worth of pills. Several pages of the Diary are tilled with details of marches and counter
marches, of which the only object seems to have been the subsistence of the soldiers. It was
'the custom of the couutrj'' that recruiting parties and troops on march should be supported by
the districts through which they passed; but this privilege had been so much abused by self-
constituted bands, that Gordon was received very much as if he had been invading a hostile
country. His entrance into towns and villages was opposed by the inhabitants in arms; and
his men had often to march with matches lighted. He spared a visit to one town, of his own
accord, ho tells us, because it belonged to a prince who befriended foreigners, and because its
' provost' or chief-magistrate was a Scot. But he repented this precipitate piece of courtesy,
for which his countryman showed no gratitude.
A.D. 1660.
He was at the Castle of Lubowna, near Guesen, in the summer of IGCO, when the Podstaroste IfiGO.
infonncd him that the King of England had been recalled to his throne. Gordon was so over-
joyed with the tidings that he departed for once from his accustomed abstemiousness. He had
to pay the forfeit of his loyal festivities next morning.
Field-marshal Lubomirski, compelled by the jealousy of the nobles to abandon his design oi
raising a dragoon regiment, proposed that Gordon's company should be merged in his own
body-guard, and that that the whole should, in the meantime, be under Gordon's command.
In this capacity of Captain-lieutenant, he served in that campaign of the Poles and Crim-Tar-
tars, against the Cossacks of the Ukraine and the Muscovites, which terminated in the
disastrous route of the latter at Czudno or Slobodischtsche, in June, 1660. In this battle, June.
in which the Russians lost 115 standards, C7 guns, and 36,000 men killed or taken
prisoners, Gordon greatly distinguished himself, and received several wounds. His friend
Lieutenant colonel Menzies,* who fought in the Muscovite ranks, was taken prisoner by
* Thomas Menzies of Balgownie, the son of at Riga in Leifland with Ladie Marie Farser-
aRoman Catholic family driven from Scotland son, borne of noble and honourable parentage
by the Covenant, bus been mentioned in a pre- in the dukedomc of Curland.' It was given in
vious page, as Patrick Gordon's fellow travel- evidence by Lord ilenry Gordon, at Aberdeen
lerfrom i->antzic to Braunsberg in the summer in 1672, 'that the said deccast Lievtennant-
of 1651. In the same year ' he wes married Collonell Thomas Mcnzcis, being, in anno 1667,
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.