The Siege of The Cossack Wagons
The Polish army stood on alert for several days, intending to prevent the Cossack wagon-fort from moving off. Initially, the Cossacks were commanded by Colonel Filon Dzhalalii, but after a few days he was replaced by Ivan Bohun. On July 10, the Cossacks fell into a panic, believing that their commanders had run off in the night, leaving them to their fate. The Polish forces attacked the panicked Cossacks and the battle turned into a slaughter. There were 30,000 dead in the camp, including some women and children.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Berestechko
Famous quotes containing the words siege, cossack and/or wagons:
“One likes people much better when they’re battered down by a prodigious siege of misfortune than when they triumph.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“The Cossack eats Poland,
Like stolen fruit;
Her last noble is ruined,
Her last poet mute:
Straight, into double band
The victors divide;
Half for freedom strike and stand;—
The astonished Muse finds thousands at her side.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“We joined long wagon trains moving south; we met hundreds of wagons going north; the roads east and west were crawling lines of families traveling under canvas, looking for work, for another foothold somewhere on the land.... The country was ruined, the whole world was ruined; nothing like this had ever happened before. There was no hope, but everyone felt the courage of despair.”
—Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968)