It was of little consequence that thirty or forty thousand fell as this or that town was captured by the way.

He had expected victory to be costly, and on he pressed with diminished numbers toward Moscow, armies retreating and villages burning before him.

If St.Petersburg was the brain of Russia, Moscow--Moscow the Holy--was its heart! What should they do?
Should they lure the French army on to its destruction and then burn and retreat?
or should they there take their stand and sacrifice the last army of Russia to save Moscow?
With tears streaming down their cheeks they yielded to the words of Kutuzof, who said: "When it becomes a matter of the salvation of Russia, Moscow is only a city like any other.

Let us retreat." The archives and treasures of the churches and palaces were carried to Valdimir, such as could of the people following them, and the city was left to its fate.
On September the 14th, 1812, the French troops defiled through the streets of Moscow singing the Marseillaise, and Napoleon established himself in the ancient palace of the Ivans within the walls of the Kremlin.

The torches had been distributed, and were in the hands of the Muscovites.