Moscow. Several fires break out in the city. At the time, they were attributed to Napoleon’s troops, but were likely started by the retreating Tsarist army. Seventy-five percent of Moscow’s buildings were reduced to ashes in six days of fires, costing 270 million rubles, an astronomical amount for the time. The Russians also abandoned 70,000 muskets and much of their military equipment in the city. The army’s goods had been loaded onto 23 barges, but the fourth, overloaded with artillery, ran aground on the Moskva River, blocking the passage of the other 19 barges! Equipment worth 5 million rubles was set ablaze. When they reconquered the city, they discovered 70,000 bodies of Russians, likely killed directly or indirectly by the fires.
