Barclay de Tolly, Michel, Russian prince and field-marshal, born 
in Livonia in 1759,* died at Insterburg, in East Prussia, May 25, 
1818. In 1769, when not yet 11, he entered the Russian army, and 
served during 29 years in its different campaigns against the 
Turks, Swedes, and Poles, but did not emerge from the inferior 
ranks before 1798. He distinguished himself in the campaign of 
1806. His military reputation dates from the year 1807, when, at 
the head of the Russian vanguard, he most gallantly defended 
Prussian Eylau, making a prolonged stand in the streets, the 
church, and the churchyard of that town.”' In 1808 he forced the 
Swedes back into Carelia, and, in 1809, as general of infantry, 
imitated, on a much larger scale, the celebrated march of Charles 
Gustavus over the frozen waters of the Little Belt, by marching 
12,000 Russians with artillery, ammunition, provisions, and 
baggage, over the ice which covered the gulf of Bothnia. He took 
Umea, accelerated by his appearance the revolution preparing 
against Gustavus IV, and compelled the Swedes to sue for peace.” 
After 1810 he was intrusted with the direction of the Russian war 
ministry. 

In 1812 he assumed the command of the lst army of the west. 
Its principal corps, at the head of which he placed himself, and 
which official reports had swollen to 550,000 men, proved, in fact, 
to consist of 104,000 only, while the aggregate of the troops, 
stationed from the coasts of the Baltic to the banks of the Pruth, 
did not muster beyond 200,000. Thus the retreat of the Russian 
army, the original design of which Napoleon, in his memorials of 

St. Helena,* falsely attributed to Barclay de Tolly, and which, long 
before the rupture between Russia and France, had _ been 
elaborated by the Prussian general, Phull,” and after the 
declaration of war, was again pressed upon Alexander by 
Bernadotte, had now become not a thing of choice, but of dire 
necessity. While Barclay de Tolly had the great merit of resisting 
the ignorant clamors for battle which arose from the Russian rank 
and file, as well as from headquarters, he executed the retreat 
with remarkable ability, incessantly engaging some part of his 
troops in order to afford to Prince Bagration the means of 
effecting a junction with him, and to Admiral Tschitschagoff the 
facilities for falling in the rear of the enemy. When forced to a 
battle, as at Smolensk,’* he took a position which prevented the 
battle from becoming decisive. When, not far from Moscow, a 
decisive battle was no longer to be avoided, he selected the strong 
position of Gzhatsk, hardly to be assailed in the front, and to be 
turned only by very extended roundabout ways. °° He had already 
posted his army when Kutusoff arrived, in whose hands the 
intrigues of the Russian generals, and the murmurs of the 
Muscovite army against the foreigner heading the holy war, had 
placed the supreme command. Out of spite against Barclay de 
Tolly, Kutusoff abandoned the lines of Gzhatsk, in consequence of 
which the Russian army had to accept battle in the unfavorable 
position of the Borodino. During that battle, Aug. 26,” Barclay, 
commanding the right wing, was the only general who held his 
post, not retiring until the 27th, thus covering the retreat of the 
Russian army, which, but for him, would have been completely 
destroyed. After the retreat from the Borodino, beyond Moscow, 
it was Barclay de Tolly again who prevented any useless attempt at 
a defence of the holy city. 

During the campaign of 1813, Barclay took the fortress of 
Thorn, April 44 1813, vanquished Lauriston at Konigswartha, 
covered, after the defeat of Bautzen, May 8,° the retreat of the 
allied army, won the battle of Gorlitz, contributed to Vandamme’s 

capitulation, and distinguished himself in the battle of Leipsic.* 
During the campaign of 1814 he commanded no independent 
corps, and acted in an administrative and diplomatical, rather than 
in a military character. By the stern discipline he imposed upon 
the troops under his immediate control, he won the good opinions 
of the French people. On Napoleon’s return from Elba, he arrived 
too late from Poland to assist at the battle of Waterloo,” but 
partook in the second invasion of France. He died on a journey to 
the bath of Carlsbad. The last years of his life were darkened by 
calumny. He was, beyond question, the best of Alexander’s 
generals, unpretending, persevering, resolute, and full of common 
sense. 

September 15, 1857 can Cyclopaedia