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PEEFACE. xxiil The first nuptials of the second daughter of Patrick Iwanowitsch were graced by the presence of the Czar Peter
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Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
PEEFACE. xxiil
The first nuptials of the second daughter of Patrick Iwanowitsch
were graced by the presence of the Czar Peter. Her husband,
Major Daniel Crawford, died in 1G92. Two years afterwards she
married Colonel Snivius, but was again a widow in 1698.
The high place which Gordon won for himself at the Court of
Moscow tempted not a few of his kinsfolks into the service of the
Czar."^ The most successful was his son-in-law, Alexander Alex-
androwitsch, as he was called in Russia/*^ Leaving the French army,
where he had gained a captain's commission, he came to Moscow in
1696, and was at once made major in General Gordon's regiment.
He was present at the capture of Asof, and rose in ten or twelve
years to the rank of Major-General. In 1711, the death of his
father recalled him to Scotland, where he acted as Lieutenant-
General of the insurgent army in 1715. He escaped attainder by
a mistake in the act, and in 1727 returned to Scotland. He died
^' There were Gordons in Russia before first sight seem due to them, although I am
Patrick Iwanowitsch. Frequent mention of scarcely prepared to vouch for all that he tells
William Gordon, a seaman engaged in the about one of his six Scoto- Muscovite colonels,
early trade between England and Muscovy, ' Colonel Thomas Game, agnamed the Sola-
is made in Dr. Hamel's 'England aid vonian and upright Gentile, who, for the
Russia.' The lesearchesof Dr. Posselthave height and grossness o; his person, being
discovered, among the military archives of in his stature taller, and greater in his com-
St. Petersburg, certain documents regarding pass of body than any within six kingdoms
a Captain William Gordon in 1631, and a about him, was elected King of Bucharia.'
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Gordon in '»=' George Gordon of Coclarachy, by his
1634. The latter, no doubt, is the person first wife, a daughter of Seton of Pitmedden,
of the same name who appears in Sir Tho- had two sons, the elder of whom Alexander
mas Urqiihart's 'Jewel,' among 'those Scot- Gordon of Auchintoul, a senator of the
tish colonels that served under the great College of Justice for a few months before
Duke of Muscovy, against the Tartar and the Revolution of 16S8, married a niece of
Polonian.' Lord Gray. The eldest son of this marriao^e,
I have seen reason to think that more born in 16C9, married, in 1700, Katharfne
trust may be given to the intimations of the Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of General
fantastic Knight of Cromarty than may at Patrick Gordon.
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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