Our Notes & References

The sole edition of a lovely little book intended for “the juvenile part of British society” (preface), recounting the history of the warriors who defeated Napoleon; with a plan for Britain’s own Cossacks.

Very rare, as we couldn’t trace any other copies at auction since 1970. We could locate only three holdings in libraries: BL (likely without frontispiece), National Library of Scotland, and National Library of Ireland. (OCLC lists also a copy in the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, but their own catalogue doesn’t show any record.)

British public interest in, and romanticisation of, the Cossacks —fanned by contemporary reports of the Napoleonic army’s disastrous campaign in Russia— reached its height after Russian troops “fulfilled the English dream of Napoleon’s destruction” (Goncharenko, our translation). Excitement peaked in March 1813 when “a real live Cossack, an immense steel lance sprouting from between his thighs, drove up to the [London] Post Office accompanying dispatches”. This imposing figure —six feet tall, with a long, curly grey beard— was Private Aleksandr Zemlenukhin of the 9th Don Regiment. “He was feted for a week”, with The Times seemingly charting his every move. “The publisher Ackermann had two portraits made of him, he was cheered at Lloyd’s Coffee House, entertained to a cold collation at the Mansion House, and stood beside the Lord Mayor on the balcony of the Royal Exchange where the Tsar and Wellington were toasted. Asked if he had killed any Frenchmen, Zemlenukhin coolly replied: ‘three officers; besides the fry’, and patriotic Englishmen were delighted with his answer. The City raised a subscription for him and the Prince Regent presented him with a sabre and sword belt in silver and black velvet” (Longworth).

The author, Samuel Kittle, was likewise drawn to the contemporary fascination with the Cossacks and produced this small, accessible volume to educate British youth. His work opens with Ackermann’s portrait of Zemlenukhin in full length as engraved frontispiece, and a three-page appendix recounts the Cossack’s celebrated stay in London in 1813.

The book draws upon information from lengthier sources, including Edward Browne’s History of the Cossacks (1672), Edward Daniel Clarke’s not-yet-fully-published account of his travels in Russia, and entries on the Cossacks and the Russian Empire from contemporary British encyclopaedias. Described here as the “author of lectures on the Apocalyptical Epistles” and elsewhere as a “minister of the gospel”, Kittle sees in the Cossacks potential candidates for Christian missionary work among their Muslim and pagan neighbours, drawing parallels with British missionary efforts in the East Indies.

The chapters range from the origins of the Cossack tribes and their long history of both alliance and conflict with Poland, to detailed descriptions of the different Cossack ‘denominations’—including the Don Cossacks, the Zaporozhian Sich, the Black Sea, Volga, Greben (Caucasian), Orenburg, Ural, and Siberian Cossacks.

The appendix includes the intriguing “Plan for Forming Cossack Regiments for the British Army”, which refers to an actual proposal by Captain J. B. Drouville. Presented to the Duke of York in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces, the plan outlined the formation of a corps of lancers, or light cavalry, modelled on the Cossacks, complete with details on organisation, roles, uniforms, and weaponry. The plan was never released.

Bibliography

Cat. Russica K-524; Goncharenko, Oleg, Ot Austerlitsa do Parizha. Dorogami porazhenii i pobed, Veche, 2012; Longworth, Philip. The Cossacks, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970, p. 241.