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![1686] DIAEY OF PATRICK GORDON. 157 Vloizka,* where wee dined, and gott fresh horses](https://cache.getarchive.net/Prod/thumb/cdn2/L3Bob3RvLzE2OTkvMTIvMzEvMTY4Ni1kaWFleS1vZi1wYXRyaWNrLWdvcmRvbi0xNTctdmxvaXprYS13aGVyZS13ZWUtZGluZWQtYW5kLWdvdHQtZnJlc2gtaG9yc2VzLWVjYzg5Yy02NDAuanBlZw%3D%3D/40/60/webp "1686] DIAEY OF PATRICK GORDON. 157 Vloizka,* where wee dined, and gott fresh horses")
192 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1698 ' To-day, seventy men were hanged by fives and threes on one gallows
Summary
Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
192 DIARY OF PATRICK GORDON. [1698
' To-day, seventy men were hanged by fives and threes on one gallows. Numbers more were
sent away to confinement.
' An order came for the army to be dismissed. "We were all thanked for our services. Three
regiments went ofi" immediately. The Generalissimo and we, bis assessors or aids, with the
Butirki regiment, remained all night.
' In the morning, the four Strelitzes condemned last Saturday were brought out and beheaded.
With few exceptions, all those executed submitted to their fate with great indifference, without
saying a word, only crossing themselves ; some took leave of the lookers-on, One hundred and
thirty had been executed, about seventy had been killed in the engagement or died of their
wounds, eighteen hundred and forty-five been sent to various convents and prisons, and
twenty-five remained in this convent.
' This day, after devotion, I, with many more, were confirmed by the Archbishop of Anura
[Ancyra], called Pctrus Paulus de St. Joseph, of the Carmelite order ; I takeiug the name of
Leopoldus, and my son Theodorus that of Joseph.
' I was called to Preobraschensk. The gracious letter of his Majesty was read, in which our
services were commended. The same was read to the soldiers, who were promised a ruble a
piece, besides that they were all to be treated at his Majesty's table. We also were sumptuously
treated, especially in drink.
' Gott this account of my mother's father. The Laird of Petlurg maryed Janet Ogilby,
daughter to the Laird of Cullen, and was soone after killed at the battel of Pinky, leaving him
who succeeded unborne, or in the cradle. She was afterwards maryed to one Olgilby of Blarak,
her cousin, a cadet of the house of CuUen, and of 3000 merks in the Boyne. By him she had a
son called James, brother uterine to Sir John Gordon of Petlurge, and unkle to Mr Eobert.
This James marryed Marjery Gordon, daughter to Georg Gordon of Coclaraghy. These were
my grandfather and grandmother.'
The tidings of the formidable revolt of the Strelitzes reached the Czar at Vienna, towards
the end of July, and hastened his journey homewards.
On the second of September, Gordon, who had gone, with his eldest son and his family, to
visit his estate in the country, writes : ' I received a letter saying that the Czar had arrived in
Moscow, and had been at my house to enquire for me.' Gordon returned in a few days, and
was immediately sent for by the Czar, who received him very gi-aciously, and thanked him in
the heartiest way for his faithful services, and the great things he had done.
'Many Strelitzes were brought up and put to the torture, his Majesty being desirous to insti-
tute a stricter examination than ours.
' I was unwell and kept the house. A sharp enquiry was made into the Strelitz business.
' More Strelitzes put to the question. A number were directed to prepare for death.
♦ In the afternoon, I went to Preobraschensk, but in vain : every body about the court was
engaged in arresting more of the adherents of the Princess Sophia, and putting the Zarina* in
the convent.
* [The widow of the late Czar Ivan, Pro- vived her husband twenty-seven years, dying
skovia, daughter of Feodor Soltykof. She sur- in 1723.]
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.
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