Supplying the Kostroma militia with horses in 1812

Kondrat'ev Nikolai Vladimirovich Chief Librarian; Information Center “K. D. Ushinsky Library” Russian Academy of Education 127550, Russia, Moscow region, Moscow, Dmitrovskoe shosse, 37 building 1, block 134 nickolay.kondratjev@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction. One of the undeveloped areas in the study of the Kostroma militia of 1812-1814. The goal is to clarify and detail data on the supply of horses for the Kostroma military force, their use during the military campaign, and loss statistics.

The source base is documents published in 1962 in a collection edited by L.G.Beskrovny and R.E. Altshuller^[1], as well as previously unpublished documents from the collections of the Russian State Military Historical Archive (hereinafter – RGVIA), the Russian State Historical Archive (hereinafter – RGIA), and the State Archive of the Kostroma Region (hereinafter – GAKO).

The course and results of the study. In general, in the historiography of the militias of 1812, during the 19th and 20th centuries, supply issues, including horses, statistical accounting of supplies and losses remained in the shadow of more relevant topics, since simultaneously with the accumulation of factual material, there was primarily an understanding of the role of militias in the campaigns of the Patriotic War and the Foreign campaign. During this period, provincial militias were not considered as independent areas of historiography, but were considered in conjunction with the historical description of the actions of the regular army.^[1;3;9;25].

Specialized publications published at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries^[10;34;2;23] accumulated significant factual material for the study of the history of provincial militias during the Patriotic War of 1812 and the Foreign Campaign of 1813-1814, including information about the Kostroma military force. But the growing interest in provincial subjects has not led to the emergence of large-scale regional studies in general, nor on the issues of material support for the people's military force in particular.

In Soviet historiography, despite the appearance of generalizing studies and the publication of collections of documents ^[4;8;26], there was no detailed study of the financial, economic and economic indicators of militia activities.

Modern monographic research and dissertations increasingly have a regional focus^{[7;22;27;33;35;36]}, but they are still few in number and not saturated with information about economic issues, including the supply of horses for the needs of the militia. A characteristic feature of modern research is the change of scientific priorities. Thus, S.V. Belousov believes that "it is relevant to study the interaction of society and government and to determine the effectiveness of provincial administration management in wartime conditions using the example of studying the formation and activities" of a single district militia^[7].

L.M. Spiridonova^[35] and D.A.Nikolaev^[27] considered the most promising comprehensive study of the militia as a phenomenon and the interpretation of the image of the militia warrior as an example of homo belli, that is, they actualized the study of the history of everyday life.

Thematically oriented research began to appear in the 21st century. A.I. Begunova^[5;6], R.N.Rakhimov^[30], and D.A. Nikolaev^[27] wrote in some detail about the supply of horses and the participation of militia cavalry in the military campaign as a whole and about mounted formations (for example, about Bashkir and Meshcheryak regiments).

One of the important aspects in these studies is to take into account the number of horses as a source of cavalry formation and military transport. According to A.I. Begunova^[5], "approximately the horse population at the beginning of the 19th century was estimated at 30-35 million heads. <…. In addition, in the second half of the 18th century, new state-owned stud farms were founded, specifically designed for the cultivation of combat horses. For example, in the Life Guards, a mounted regiment of tall, dark-colored horses was supplied by a factory located in the village of Pochinki, Nizhny Novgorod province. Near the town of Gadyacha, Poltava province, there was a stud farm where horses suitable for service in heavy and medium cavalry were bred. In addition, horses for the army were raised at the Khoroshevsky stud farm (100 tall mares and 8 stallions), Gavrilovsky (120 mares and 9 stallions), Danilovsky (217 mares of "German breeds, tall, black-haired", and 19 stallions), Sidorovsky in Kostroma province (130 mares, 14 stallions), Vsegodnicheskoe in Vladimir province (115 mares and 9 stallions), Skopinsky in Ryazan province (100 dark-colored mares and 10 stallions), Bogoroditsky in Tula province (90 mares and 8 stallions). By the end of the 18th century, there were 1,364 broodmares in state stud farms. In addition to state-owned stud farms, there were more than 250 private stud farms in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century."

Based on the analysis of the historiographical heritage of the XIX-XXI centuries, it must be recognized that the study of the problems of material support for the activities of the people's military force of 1812-1814 has been practically unexplored, and therefore in demand. The implementation of this task in our case is complicated by the fact that a very limited amount of sources and historiographical materials about the Kostroma militia are presented in scientific circulation.

The coverage of the economic side of militia activities, including the supply and use of horses, in published sources and historiographical research is very superficial. Thus, this topic was not considered at all in the "Notes on the Kostroma Militia"^[21] and in the writings of K.A. Voensky^[14]. V.R.Apukhtin also provided very limited data. In fact, he limited himself to stating: "at the suggestion of the commander of the third district, Count Tolstoy, who arrived in Kostroma on August 7, it was decided to allocate ... 660 people and organize an equestrian hundred. For this purpose, 660 horses with harness were donated, and in addition, 220 horses and 110 carts for the militia" ^{[2, p.70]}.

N.N. Vinogradov's study turned out to be somewhat more extensive, however, it did not concern the entire Kostroma province, but exclusively the Kineshma district^[12]. He also pointed out that the creation of a mounted regiment (to allocate 600 men from 11,000 warriors plus 6 non-commissioned officers) It was the initiative of Count Tolstoy, who was guided by the Moscow militia in this matter. Like Apukhtin, Vinogradov recorded the decision of the nobility to organize a wagon train of 110 carts and provide it with 110 pairs, that is, 220 lifting horses with proper harness, and a bridle, saddle, sweatbox and oat sack should be attached to each riding horse. The execution of this decision required proportional calculation of the distribution by county. She made up:1 riding horse with 424 souls, 1 lifting horse with 1413 souls, 1 wagon with 2608 souls, "this preparation is assigned to the plots....It is equalizing among the landowner's souls"^{[12, p.83]}. Thus, he estimated that 73 horsemen and 7 for non-commissioned officers, 24 lifting and 13 carts should have been assembled in Kineshma. The provision of fodder was planned with money from the donated amounts.

Apukhtin and Vinogradov's information is confirmed by documents from the central archives. According to the accounting documents deposited in the RGVIA, 600 riding horses were assembled for the cavalry regiment, 220 lifting horses and 110 carts for the wagon train ^{[31, l.109]}. This information is duplicated in the submission of the Kostroma civil governor N.F.Pasinkov to the Minister of Police ^{[32, l.2]}, and the document also contains a complete set for one rider: bridle, saddle, sweater, oat bag ^[32,l.5ob].

Also, according to the governor's reports to the Committee on Internal Militia, it was possible to find out the distribution of supplies of horses and carts in all counties of Kostroma province^{[32, l.7ob]}:

Table.1controllable supply figures by county

Based on reports by the commander of the Kostroma militia, P.G. Bardakov (unsolved cases in the GAKO), S.G.Vinogradov provides the following data: on December 15, 1812, 10,800 people, 529 combat horses, 141 lifting horses, and 70 wagons were gathered in the militia. Arrears amounted to 200 people, 131 drill horses, 79 lifting horses and 40 wagons^[13]. Shortages of soldiers, horses, and wagons were noted in all counties except Nerekhtsky.

The statement on the state of the militia troops of the III district for January 1813 ^{[26, pp.390-395]} contains the following information on the supply and distribution of horses: in the column "According to the list there were 561 combat troops, 158 lifting horses, distributed: There are 563 combat troops in the cavalry regiment, 2 cavalry sub-regiments, 39 in the 1st regiment, 50 in the 2nd regiment, 41 in the 3rd regiment, 19 in the 4th regiment ^{[26, p.390]}. Losses amounted to 2 combatant and 7 lifting (1,4 1 and 1, respectively, on the shelves) ^{[26, p.391]}. As a result, at the time of the start of the campaign, Kostroma had 561 combatant and 151 lifting horses ^{[26, p.391]}.

The same statement^{[26, pp.390-395]} allows us to compare the number of horses supplied and the losses of the Kostroma militia with other formations of the III district.:

The Ryazan militia: the cavalry regiment alone - 1186 combat troops, then 800 on business trips; 10 casualties.

Nizhny Novgorod militia: mounted regiment - 632 combat troops and 10 hoists, in five infantry regiments of 50 hoists each, that is, 260 hoists in total; losses of 5 combat troops and 1 hoisting in a foot regiment.

Ø Penza militia: There were 654 combat troops in the mounted and 44 in the artillery team with 4 guns, 12 lifting troops in the mounted and 2 in the artillery, 42 lifting troops in three on foot; 4 combat losses.

Ø Simbirsk militia: 660 combat troops in the cavalry regiment plus 13 lifting troops, 42 lifting troops each in the foot regiments; losses of 2 combat troops and 1 lifting regiment in the foot regiment.

Kazan militia: 266 combat troops in two mounted hundreds plus 6 lifting horses in two mounted hundreds and 51 lifting horses in a foot regiment; losses - 1 combat.

As we can see, by the beginning of the campaign of the military force of the III district, none of the provincial militias could do without losses of cavalry, but these losses were minimal.

We especially note that the foot regiments The Kostroma militia were, firstly, unevenly provided with lifting horses; secondly, the figures given in the document do not correspond either to the number of 42 horses required by the staffing table of 1802 (it is indicated by A.I. Begunova ^[5;6]), or to later standards^[28].

There is no definitive information about the supply of horses to the reserve militia, since the relevant files in the GAKO have been lost.^{[15;16;17;18]}. But the documents have been postponed in the funds of the RGIA, including a list from the report of the Kostroma civil governor to the commander-in-chief of the internal militia in St. Petersburg dated January 28, 1813. (as indicated at the end of the document, it was duplicated to the commander of the militia of the III district, Lieutenant General and Cavalier Count P.A. Tolstoy) ^{[32, l.33-34ob]}. It appears from the case file that 300 people were going to be assigned to the equestrian team from among the reserve militia. The governor asked questions: at whose expense to support them for 3 months, whether to buy 300 combat horses and the required number of lifting equipment, if so, to whom and where to do it. No documents containing a response to the Kostroma governor's request were found. But since among the lost cases of the GAKO^[17] was the case of 1814 about horses belonging to the reserve militia (sub. by me - N.K.), then it can be assumed that the supply of horses did take place.

It also follows from the list of funds of the GAKO that, in addition to the supply of horses to the militia, horses were purchased for supply to the army artillery ^[18;20]. Presumably 500 horses were purchased. However, due to the loss of the GAKO files and the lack of duplicate information in the central archives, this narrow topic has no other details and remains undisclosed.

In general, we can summarize the approximate results of the supply of horses for the needs of the militia and the army: 1,400 combat and lifting horses.

The lack of statistics for Kostroma province and archival gaps do not allow us to accurately answer whether horse supplies were realized only through purchases on the domestic provincial market, or whether horses were purchased in other provinces.

Materials for the geography and statistics of Russia, collected on the eve of the reform of 1861^[24], suggest that Kostroma province could not provide the necessary number of horses with its own reserves in 1812. The reasons for this are as follows: firstly, horse breeding was underdeveloped even by the middle of the century, few landlords had their own factories, and even those were unproductive, there were 40 factories in total in the province, of which only 4 were recognized as worthy: Kartsov, Katenin, Lermontov and Volzhinsky. ^{[24, p.264]} Secondly, horse trading was organized at five fairs in five of the twelve counties: in Makaryev (Zimnaya), in the county village of Uren, Varnavinsky district, in the village of Sereda-Upino Nerekhtsky Uyezd, in the village of Molvitino, Buysky Uyezd, and at the fair at the Avraamiev Pokrovsky Gorodetsky Monastery in Chukhloma Uyezd^{[24, p.265]}. Thirdly, no more than 400 horses were exhibited at fairs from the province; the competition consisted of horses brought from Yaroslavl and Vyatka provinces, from Rostov the Great ^{[24, p.265]}. Fourth, according to statistics, in the middle of the century, there were 548 horses per 1,000 males in the province, only in one county the ratio was about 1:1, mostly 1:3, and it is unlikely that the figures of 1812 were better ^{[24, pp.265-266]}. Therefore, we consider it most realistic to talk not about the supply of horses, but mainly about the purchase in neighboring provinces.

With the end of hostilities and the dissolution of the militias, the question arose about the further use of mounted personnel.

In the autumn of 1814, the disbandment of the cavalry regiments of the Kostroma and Nizhny Novgorod militias began. The basic rules were set out in a decree of Emperor Alexander I to Army Commander M.B. Barclay de Tolly. The order about the horses was as follows: "To provide horses to E.I.the Grand Tsarevich and Grand Prince Konstantin Pavlovich, to select those suitable for the Polish troops, and to sell the rest on the spot, since the distribution of these to provinces that have suffered from the enemy, on the one hand, cannot be equalized between the inhabitants and will involve the treasury in costs. from the food supply of horses until they are distributed; on the other hand, these provinces have already received the government's assistance" ^{[26, p.418]}.

No information was found about the implementation of this order. In the province, a committee was formed at the noble assembly to sell horses and a wagon train with the harness due^[19]. However, it is not possible to find out the specific content and results of the committee's activities due to the loss of documents.

Conclusion. Based on the results of the study, the following conclusions were drawn: firstly, despite significant irreparable losses in the archive of the region, a comparison of documents and historiographical research allows us to present a very interesting aspect of the history of the Kostroma militia in 1812; secondly, documentary materials reveal previously unknown aspects of the topic, for example, the supply of horses not only for the main, but also for the reserve militia, not only for the militia, but also for the needs of the army; thirdly, a comparison of documentary and statistical data allows us to put forward certain hypotheses that will become the prospect of further study of the Kostroma militia.