This woman could have remained a secular lady, not burdened with anything but her family and household. But Ekaterina Bakunina took the risk of changing the atmosphere of the capital's living rooms to serve as a merciful sister in the military campaigns of the 19th century. And until the end of her life, she never turned off the chosen path.

Kisey young lady

In the family of the St. Petersburg mayor Mikhail Bakunin, children were allowed a lot. And when political and social disputes flared up in the living room, no one was surprised if the children participated in the conversations. The youngest, Ekaterina, especially liked to talk with adults. Once she intervened in a conversation about women's participation in nursing the sick, which at that time was reduced to zero in Russian hospitals. The girl announced that a woman by nature was intended to care for the sick and that she herself would like to become a sister of mercy. Parents laughed at their daughter's strange desire, thinking that it would be forgotten with age, but it turned out differently.

However, like her sisters, for the time being, Katya led a completely ordinary secular lifestyle. From the girls of her position, society did not expect absolutely any feats: get an education at home, shine in the world, successfully marry and give birth to the next noble generation. Subsequently, Ekaterina Mikhailovna, not without malice, wrote about herself that “perhaps she would have fully deserved the name “muslin young lady” from the current girls attending lectures and anatomical theaters.”

However, as soon as the Exaltation of the Cross community was founded in St. Petersburg to train merciful sisters and then send them to the war that broke out in the Crimea at the end of 1853, Bakunina immediately joined it. Ekaterina Mikhailovna was already a mature lady of 40 years old, she never married (her biographers did not find any explanation for this) and finally allowed herself to do what her soul had long been lying to. Relatives strongly objected to this adventure, but could not prevent the realization of a childhood dream. She went to medical classes in a carriage, so as not to accidentally fall ill and stay at home instead of being sent to the front. The doctors laughed at her, but the adult woman, who made an important decision, did not care.

Presence of mind, barely compatible with female nature

In December 1853, Ekaterina Bakunina successfully completed medical courses and, after tedious coordination with officials, one of the first volunteers went to the Crimea. In January of the following year, she was already listed as a sister at the dressing station of the Nikolaev battery in Sevastopol. Military everyday life turned out to be much more severe than it seemed in St. Petersburg. Dressings, operations and care were not as difficult to cope with as the need for constant moral support for the wounded. But Ekaterina Mikhailovna, even during her off-duty hours, visited her wards in order to talk with them and brighten up their hospital days at least a little.

Subsequently, she recalled that at first the number of patients admitted to the hospital every day seemed to her small. However, every day there were more and more of them, and work was added: in a day she happened to assist in several dozen operations. The famous surgeon Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov, with whom Bakunina worked, remained in admiration for the assistant: she was not afraid of blood, dirt, complicated wounds, or shelling when shells fell a few meters from the field hospital. He wrote that this sister of mercy "displayed a presence of mind scarcely compatible with female nature."

In addition to medical talents, Bakunina also showed organizational skills and the ability to deal with officials who strove to cash in on military supplies. Noticing this, Pirogov appointed her head of the nursing department, which was engaged in transporting the wounded to Perekop. His decision was correct: no one better than Bakunina could agree on warm sheepskin coats with which they covered the wounded, on food for them, on the placement of the sisters upon arrival at a new place. Over time, she was also assigned the issuance of cash benefits, knowing her scrupulousness in financial matters. There are cases when Bakunina sought several transfers of money from one position to another, but the allowance always found an addressee. In 1856 the war ended and the sisters returned to Petersburg. By that time, the authority of Ekaterina Mikhailovna had grown so much that she headed the Exaltation of the Cross community, and held this position until 1860.

All for people

Perhaps she would have remained the head of the community for a long time, but the patroness of the organization, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, insisted on turning it into a strict religious order along the lines of European sister communities. Ekaterina Mikhailovna, on the other hand, was an opponent of the European model, which, according to her, "is the product of reason and the desire to live like a Christian with some comfort." She believed that in such a community there is no place for simple sympathy for human suffering, and the patriotic feeling in them is relegated to the background. The disagreements between the two ladies gradually reached an extreme, and Bakunina had to leave the community. She went to live in her estate - the village of Kozitsino in the Tver province.

Medicine as such in the province at that time was practically absent. But cholera, plague and typhoid epidemics raged there, and a single doctor relied on the whole county (about one and a half hundred thousand people). For Ekaterina Bakunina, all this meant that there would be something for her here too. Not accustomed to sitting idly by, the lady here opened a small hospital on her estate and began to fight against the ailments that beset the district. At first, in the eyes of the peasants, all this looked like a fool of an old maid suffering from idleness. But gradually the patients were drawn to the estate, there were more and more of them, and it soon became clear that the idea took root.

During the first year, Bakunina's hospital cured about two thousand people, and a year later this number doubled. Ekaterina Mikhailovna, who went through the excellent school of Pirogov, did not let anything take its course. In the morning she received the sick in the hospital, then got into a droshky and drove around the yards, where she examined those who could not reach the hospital: she distributed medicines she had prepared with her own hands, bandaged wounds, and consoled those who had lost hope of recovery. If she herself could not cope with the disease, then she invited the county doctor at her own expense. Bakunina worked so selflessly and the results of her work were so impressive that an imperial allowance of 200 rubles was assigned to the Kozitsin hospital, and then the Zemstvo assembly also joined the financing.

Your name will not be erased from the memory of the sick

Almost two decades passed, and the former head of the sister community was again remembered in the capital. Russia entered the war with Turkey and the army was again in desperate need of well-organized nursing care for the wounded. Ekaterina Mikhailovna was already well over 60 years old, but as soon as she received an invitation from the Russian Red Cross to lead hospital nurses, she did not hesitate for a minute. In the midst of military confusion, in the mud and blood of field hospitals, she felt at home, like nowhere else.

The elderly lady immediately left Kozitsino and was soon in the Caucasus, where the nursing staff of all hospitals was transferred to her. Bakunina rolled up her sleeves and again plunged into the affairs of military medicine and caring for the wounded. Nothing could shake her self-confidence: when more than half of the sisters contracted typhus and fell ill, she managed to do work in the hospital and still take care of sick subordinates.

Ekaterina Mikhailovna stayed at the front for more than a year and during this time managed to organize the work of several hospitals, from operational work and caring for the wounded to supply. At the end of the war, the doctors with whom she worked gave her a memorable address, where they expressed their respect as an experienced assistant and a person "worthy of the name of a Russian warrior."

After the war, Bakunina returned to her estate, where she continued her medical practice. A year before her death, she published her memoirs of the Crimean War, where she described in detail nursing work in difficult field conditions, the courage of the people with whom the war brought her together, and her own reflections on the need for mercy and sympathy for patients. Ekaterina Mikhailovna died in 1894 in Kozitsin and was buried in the Bakunin family vault. She left no descendants, but the memory of the selfless activity to which she dedicated her life has survived to this day.

In 2011, a charitable foundation named after Ekaterina Bakunina was created, and the Society of Orthodox Doctors of the city of Tver bears her name. In Sevastopol, you can find a street named after her. People like Ekaterina Mikhailovna are not in danger of oblivion, because their deeds remain alive for many years after their death.

Anna Novgorodtseva

Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina

The feat of mercy

Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina is a representative of the well-known noble family of the Bakunins, who gave Russia a whole galaxy of public and state figures. The place of Ekaterina Mikhailovna herself in this galaxy is special and, in my opinion, the most significant. In addition to being one of the founders of the hospital business in Russia, the founder of medical care in the Tver province, a forerunner of women's medical education, the life of Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina is an example of a personal feat in the name of mercy for those suffering from wounds and illnesses. A sister of mercy is her main regalia in life.

Katya Bakunina was born on August 19, 1811 in St. Petersburg in the family of the civil governor of the St. Petersburg province, Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakunin (1764-1837). Her mother Varvara Ivanovna, nee Golenishcheva-Kutuzova (1773-1840) was a second cousin of the great commander M.I. Kutuzov. There were six children in the family: Evdokia, Vasily, Lyubov, Ivan, Praskovya, Ekaterina - the youngest.

Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakunin was in military service since 1775. He served in the Life Guards of Izmailovsky, Semenovsky, Vladimir Dragoon Regiments, the cuirassier regiment of Prince A. Potemkin. Since 1797 - Major General, Chief of the Orenburg Dragoon Regiment. Since 1801 in the civil service. From 1802 - governor of the Mogilev province, in 1808-1816. - Governor of the St. Petersburg province, from 1808 to 1827 - senator.

Varvara Ivanovna Bakunina, the wife of Mikhail Mikhailovich, accompanied her husband on the Persian campaign in 1796, and in 1812 she witnessed the memorable events of the era of the First Patriotic War. She left notes about these events, which her daughter Ekaterina Bakunina kept and later handed over for publication to the Russian Starina magazine.

Evdokia Bakunina, born in 1794, the eldest of the children in the family, became an artist. She studied painting in Italy and received a gold medal from the Academy of Fine Arts. In the 1820-30s. Evdokia Mikhailovna played a prominent role in Moscow society and was the bride of the famous poet Adam Mickiewicz, but the marriage did not take place due to differences in religion and religious views of the bride and groom.

Vasily Mikhailovich Bakunin (1795-1863) began his military service in 1812 as a junker in the Life Guards of the Artillery Brigade. Discharged from service in 1848 by major general. Participated in the Decembrist movement - was a member of the Welfare Union. His participation in the Decembrist movement was commanded by the highest to be ignored. Vasily Bakunin was a member of the Russian Eagle Masonic Lodge in St. Petersburg. Engaged in literature.

Nothing is known about Lyubov Bakunina, who was born in 1801, most likely she died at an early age.

Ivan Mikhailovich Bakunin (1802-1874), colonel, married Ekaterina Vasilievna Sobakina, they had two sons and a daughter. Ivan Bakunin was the only one from the family who left heirs.

Praskovya Bakunina was born in 1910 and was in poor health. Engaged in literature, in the 1840s. published her stories in the magazine "Moskvityanin". Of all the sisters and brothers, she was the closest to Ekaterina Bakunina.

The Bakunins' house was very enlightened. Both Mikhail Mikhailovich and Varvara Ivanovna were educated and progressive people, therefore they gave the children an excellent education and upbringing. Their house sometimes resembled a social and literary salon, in which political and philosophical ideas that were advanced for their circle were discussed. It was the time of the Decembrists, Zhukovsky, Karamzin, Krylov, Pushkin.

For what reason none of the Bakunin sisters married, it is difficult to say.

Fortunately, the memoirs of Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina of 1854-1860 have been preserved, on which I will rely when writing this article.

Here is what she recalls about her youth: “... she passed the way the life of girls of our rank passed in that old time, that is, in field trips, music lessons, drawing, home performances, balls, at which I must admit, I danced with pleasure , and, perhaps, would have fully deserved from the current girls attending lectures and anatomical theaters the name “muslin young lady”. Bakunina writes that the desire to become a sister of mercy lived in her "almost since childhood."

In the autumn of 1853, Turkey, supported by the Western powers, declared war on Russia. In November 1853, the Russian Black Sea squadron under the command of Admiral P.S. Nakhimov destroyed the Turkish fleet in the bay of Sinop, and the allied Western powers were forced to enter into an open war against Russia. In September 1854, the allies in the coalition (Turkey, England, France and Sardinia) landed their troops in the Crimea and began the siege of Sevastopol. Russian ships were scuttled by Russian sailors at the entrance to the Sevastopol Bay in order to make it difficult for the enemy squadron to invade from the sea. On land, sailors and soldiers with the help of the civilian population withstood an eleven-month siege of the fortress. During the defense of the fortress city, admirals P.S. Nakhimov, V.A. Kornilov, V.I. Istomin. Besieged Sevastopol held out for 349 days and nights, holding down the main forces of the enemy, who sometimes fired up to 60 thousand artillery shells per day in the city. And only at the end of August 1855, at the cost of huge losses in its ranks, the enemy managed to capture the southern side of Sevastopol and push the Russian troops to the north. The war began during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, and peace was concluded in March 1856 in Paris under Emperor Alexander II (Emperor Nicholas I died in 1855).

By the time the Crimean War began, in 1853, Ekaterina Bakunina was over 40 years old. She was a mature woman who clearly understood the essence of what was happening.

The war was unfortunate for the empire. The losses in Sevastopol were enormous, there was a catastrophic shortage of male medical personnel, and the hospital facilities were in ruins. I will give an excerpt from the book by S.K. Makhaeva “Ascetics of Mercy”: “The Eastern War of 1853-56 began. Letters began to arrive from the theater of operations describing the terrible torments of the wounded and sick soldiers who suffered from a lack of care and order, from the dishonesty of hospital commanders and servants and suppliers of provisions, from the terrible indifference to their sufferings of those who were entrusted with the care of the defenders of the fatherland. It became known that French sisters had left for their army, that the famous Miss Nightingale with her sisters had gone to English hospitals. And we still had no idea about the sisters of mercy. Finally, in Russia they thought about helping the wounded directly on the battlefield. The initiative was taken by Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, the widow of Nicholas I's brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich, and the founder of military field surgery, Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov. Elena Pavlovna decided to organize a community of sisters of mercy in St. Petersburg, designed to work in the army. Such a community was the first in Russia and Europe.

November 5, 1854 in the church of the Mikhailovsky Palace (now the Russian Museum) a solemn ceremony of opening the Exaltation of the Cross community took place. After the liturgy, the sisters of mercy, headed by the headmistress A.P. Stakhovich took an oath (the oath was given for a year), in which there were such words: "... as long as my strength becomes, I will use all my cares and labors to serve my sick brothers." The main goal of the community was to train sisters of mercy to care for the wounded and sick in the army. The community united patriotic women from different strata of society - from highly educated (among them were wives, widows and daughters of titular and collegiate advisers, nobles, landowners, merchants, officers) to illiterate women. The real state councilor N.I. was entrusted with directing their activities in the Crimea. Pirogov. On the morning of November 6, the first group of sisters of the community left for the front.

The presence of women in the theater of operations at that time was not welcomed in Russian society, and the appearance of sisters of mercy initially caused displeasure in both aristocratic and military circles. N.I. Pirogov, in the “Memorandum on the Basic Principles and Rules of the Holy Cross Exaltation Community of Sisters of Care,” written on October 14, 1855, justified the need to involve women in providing medical care in war: “It has already been proven by experience that no one better than women can sympathize with the suffering of the patient and surround him with cares unknown and, so to speak, not peculiar to men. It is really difficult to overestimate the help of the sisters of mercy at the front: in addition to performing direct nursing duties, they delivered food to the wounded, changed linen, controlled the work of laundries, and monitored the general order.

Ekaterina Bakunina was among those who wished to immediately go to the front. However, she did not immediately succeed in fulfilling her desire. Relatives opposed, and the leadership of the community was in no hurry to call her to the sisters of mercy. She repeatedly wrote to St. Petersburg and received evasive answers. In her memoirs, Bakunina writes: “... I wrote to this that I was very surprised by such a division, and that when the daughter of Bakunin, who was governor in St. Petersburg, and the granddaughter of Admiral Ivan Longinovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov, wants to follow the sailors, it seems strange refuse it to her. To this they answered me that I would be in the first detachment that would gather.

... But most of all I was embarrassed and tormented by my brother (he is a military man, was in the campaign of 1828 and 29); he kept saying that this was nonsense, self-deception, that we would not bring any benefit, but would only be a heavy and useless burden.

Despite the resistance of her relatives, she achieved admission to the community and took a short course of study. From the memoirs of E.M. Bakunina: “I also went two times for dressings of the morning visitation (reception - italics of the author). I remember that there were many gangrenous. It was good preparation for Sevastopol. I know that some doctors laughed at me, saying: “What kind of sister of mercy is this, who goes to dressings in a carriage!” But I was so afraid of catching a cold and being forced to stay that I took great care of myself. And, thank God, I was not worse than others and was preparing very seriously to accept the long-desired title of sister of mercy, I fasted and took communion.

And then came December 10 (1854). All eight of us, already dressed in brown dresses, white aprons and white caps, went to mass in the upper church of the palace. The Grand Duchess was there; there were also various ladies and also my relatives: my sister (Praskovya), Fyodor Nikolaevich Glinka with his wife and others.

After mass, the priest loudly read our oath before the lectern, on which lay the Gospel and the cross, and we began to approach and kiss the words of the Savior and the cross, and then knelt before the priest; and he put on us a golden cross on a blue ribbon. This moment will never leave my memory!

But even here I had a little embarrassment: when I went to those who were standing, Theophilus Tolstoy, stopping me, said: “What have you done, cousin.” But this was already the last resistance, and then everyone recognized the accomplished fact. The next day we left for Moscow.

On December 15, 1854, as part of the third medical detachment (three doctors, two paramedics, eight sisters), Ekaterina Bakunina went to the battlefield. Already after the New Year, the detachment arrived in Simferopol. Ekaterina Mikhailovna wrote: “We arrived right at the house where the sisters of the first department lived. The impression was very sad. They set to work with all zeal and zeal; Simferopol hospitals were overflowing with the wounded and especially those with typhoid, and the sisters themselves began to fall ill very soon. When I arrived, four sisters had already died; some were getting better, while others were still very sick, and the eldest of this department herself, she was also the head of the whole community, Alexandra Petrovna Stakhovich, was still in bed.

Soon the entire detachment of sisters, with whom Ekaterina Bakunina arrived, was sent to the besieged Sevastopol. And tireless, hellish work began at the dressing station of the Nikolaev battery. From the memoirs of Sister Bakunina: “... I don’t remember exactly what date of February (1855) I was on duty at the Nikolaev battery; early in the morning, one of the wounded began to bleed heavily. And the doctor sent for Dr. L.L. Obermiller. It was impossible to help the wounded - the bleeding was from the carotid artery, but immediately Obermiller told the doctor in Latin that Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich had died! For us it was completely unexpected; we only heard that the Grand Dukes Nikolai and Mikhail Nikolaevich, who had lived for more than a month in Sevastopol and often visited our hospitals on the south side, suddenly left, but we all decided that this was right for the empress. In the meantime, everyone was already ordered to go to the cathedral for the oath. And I, looking at our deceased soldier, mentally repeated the words of the last funeral song: “I’m going to the judge, the idea is to bear partiality: slaves and masters are coming together, king and warrior, rich and wretched in equal dignity, each of them from their deeds or be glorified or be ashamed…”

With pain in my heart, I read the lines about Gushchin's house - the hospital where all the hopeless were sent: “... There were always two sisters in this hospital, Grigoryeva and Golubtsova, and it was a great feat: it was so bleak there. Poor Golubtsova endured a lot: firstly, their carriage capsized and two of her ribs were broken; then she had typhus, for several days she was completely unconscious, and finally, when there were many cases of cholera in the summer, she was at this hospital and died of cholera.

In the course of March, some sisters recovered, others fell ill, and one more died.

Easter in 1855 was early, March 27th. On Palm Sunday, I also fell ill with typhus, during Passion Week I took communion with spare gifts, and although I was in my memory and even dressed every day, I could not go further than the bed. It was sad to spend Holy Week like this and meet Christ's Resurrection not in the church, which they did not dare to illuminate from the outside, so as not to make it a target for shots, but on the bed.

The memoirs of Ekaterina Bakunina describe in detail all the hardships that befell the sisters of mercy, their difficult relationship, since various reasons pushed the sisters into this hell, about which many of them had no idea: “... Put your hand on your heart, and before God, and Before people, I can firmly say that all the sisters were truly useful, of course, to the extent of their strength and abilities. Firstly, there could be no monetary interest, since the sisters of the Exaltation of the Cross community were provided with everything, but they did not receive a salary. Among us were quite simple and illiterate, and half-educated, and very well-educated. I think that there were those who, before entering, had never heard what the sisters of mercy were and what they should be, but everyone knew and remembered the words of the Savior: “Whenever you do one of these least, do it to me.” And everyone worked, sparing neither strength nor health. But, however, various gossip and orders, which I found unnecessary and unfair, brought me to the point that I refused to be an older sister, but only performed the duties of a sister with our wounded, which I was very glad to: there was no need to bother about the sisters, do housework, write reports.

Here is how Ekaterina Bakunina describes in a letter to her sister Praskovya (May 13, 1855) what happened in Sevastopol during the shelling of the city: “... The firing is not heard behind this din and groans. One shouts without words, the other: “Argue, brothers, advocate!” One, seeing a damask of vodka, shouts with some desperation: “Be a dear mother. Give me vodka!”

In all corners one can hear exclamations to the doctors who are examining the wounds: “Have mercy, your honor, do not torture! ..” And I myself, forcibly making my way between the stretcher, shout: “workers here!” This one should be taken to Gushchin's house, this one - to the Nikolaev battery, and this one - put on a bed. They bring a lot of officers; the entire operating room is filled with the wounded, but now there is no time for operations: God forbid, just bandage everyone. And we bandage everyone.

They brought an officer; his whole face is covered in blood. I wash it. And he takes out money to give to the soldiers who carried him; many do it. Another is wounded in the chest; you kneel down to shine a light on the doctor and to find out if it’s not right through, you put your hand under your back and look for the exit of the bullet. Can you imagine how much blood there is! .. But enough! If I told all the terrible wounds and torments that I saw that night, you would not sleep for several nights! ..».

N.I. Pirogov, who observed everything with his own eyes, wrote: “Whoever knows only by rumor what this memento mori (a reminder of death) means, he cannot imagine all the horrors of the plight of the sufferers. Huge stinking wounds that infect the air with unhealthy fumes; cries and suffering during prolonged dressings; the groans of the dying; death at every step in its various forms - disgusting, terrible and touching; all this disturbs the soul of even the most experienced doctors, who have turned gray in the performance of their duties. What can be said about the women who have dedicated themselves from one participation and a feeling of disinterested mercy to this service?

Pirogov wrote about Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina: “Daily, day and night, you could find her in the operating room assisting during operations; at a time when bombs and rockets either flew over or did not reach and lay around the meeting. She revealed ... a presence of mind that was hardly compatible with female nature and distinguished the sisters until the very end of the siege.

Not everything suited Ekaterina Bakunina in relation to the sisters to the sick and wounded, and she bitterly recalled: “I will also say about petty changes in our communal life. Sister Loda did not like something with us, and she began to ask to be placed in Bakhchisarai again. Baroness Ekaterina Osipovna Budberg, a good, efficient and kind sister, came to us in her place as an older sister. But what I didn’t like was that in our community, where everything seems to be based on love, mercy, full readiness to do everything possible, some bureaucratic and formal attitude to business began to be introduced. I know that there were sisters who were angry with me because I go to the sick not on my duty day, but I just go to talk to them, which they love very much.

During the capture of the southern part of Sevastopol by the enemy, Ekaterina Bakunina was the last of the sisters of mercy who went across the bridge to the north side.

After the surrender of the southern part of Sevastopol, N.I. Pirogov came up with the idea of ​​transporting the wounded to safe places. At that level of development of means of communication and organization of hospital business, this was very troublesome: long journeys, dirt and dampness of country roads, observation of patients, overnight stays in cold stage huts, poor organization of food and transport. Ekaterina Bakunina volunteered to escort transports with the wounded to Perekop and Berislav. In her memoirs, Ekaterina Mikhailovna described all the difficulties she had to face in this difficult matter: “I decided to go with transport again and went to the main hospital where they depart from to find out if there would be transport. Nobody there knew anything. Then I went to look for General Ostrogradsky. I don't remember his official title, but I do know that he was in charge of hospitals. He was a kind man - he himself used to carry beds - a glorious sergeant major would be, but not a manager! I finally found him at the board. I began to tell him about what was happening in Perekop, what changes there had been, and he answered me completely indifferently: “But I don’t know that.” It completely blew me up, and I say to him: “Why are you the boss there?” - "How, boss!" - “I had the conviction that the bosses should know what they are doing,” and I told him a lot more, and said that I was now going to Nikolai Ivanovich (Pirogov). And Ostrogradsky was so kind as to escort me to the porch, and soon he himself went to Nikolai Ivanovich, to whom I had come earlier, to ask him if he would like me to go to transport the next day. He told me that he would be very pleased if I would decide myself, since it was cold, and I had to go not to Perekop, but to Berislav. Of course, I made up my mind. The weather was windy, but quite warm, and most importantly, it was dry. I was only afraid of mud for the horses, since the tarantass is heavy, and I was very glad that Ostrogradsky came to Nikolai Ivanovich, since with the latter I could get all the patients to be in cloth underdresses, otherwise they, despite cold, still in canvas. There was also a terrible order: when the transport was sent from Simferopol, then only two short fur coats were given for each cart, although there were four sick people on the cart! But what is even worse - when the patients continued on their way to Russia, where it is colder, short fur coats were taken away and sent back to Simferopol!

In the same order, we drove five overnights, but our transport was stopped at the place of Perekop in the Armenian Bazaar - five miles before reaching Perekop. The sick were somehow placed in unheated houses, and the mayor announced that there was no apartment for the sisters, but the non-commissioned officer ordered otherwise, and we were given a pretty Armenian house - clean, warm. One thing was sad and hard: there is no supper for the sick, and in the absence of boilers we could not give them coffee or tea to drink; One small samovar will not make two hundred people drink.

In the morning I went to Perekop to work in the office, so that they could send vodka to the sick and arrange dinner; I saw the commandant there too; and then she came directly to General Bogushevsky to ask when the transport would start, and to bother to leave sheepskin coats and tires on the carts. At first he was very unkind, but then, when his wife came and, having found out who I was, she said that she knew all my family, and then both became very kind. She said that her sister wrote to her that I was here, and she really wanted to see me. I was very glad that I could tell him in detail about the unfortunate state of transport in the Armenian Bazaar. They can say in apology that instead of 2000 people they could have put in, they have 5000! But I kept hoping that at least something would be done, even though there would be boilers and straw.

I will cite a few more excerpts from Bakunina’s memoirs, characterizing both the tragedy of the Crimean War and the personality of Ekaterina Mikhailovna herself: “... I entered the hut, packed full of our patients. I brought stockings, knitted mittens, and from all sides they began to shout: “Give me, mother, one stocking, because I only have one leg!” - “And for me on both, but I have one hand, I didn’t put on footcloths at two o’clock.” “Give me the right hand!” - “By the way, but to me on the left!” - "And my left!" - "Me too!"

Surely there is no one on the right? - shouts one laughing. Who has the right hand? Speak!

Having handed it out to the armless, I went to look for the legless in the carts. There are 80 amputees and 20 with compound fractures in our transport…

We went up to the hut where the weakest had gathered. Looking at them, it was clear that we were unlikely to take them to the next station. It is terrible to see a dying man in bed, but to know that in the last minutes he will be shaken on a wagon in the cold is a terrible, terrible necessity! We can leave the dead, but the dying must be carried. Your heart aches when you think about it, and you pray to God that their suffering will end soon before they leave!..

This is the estate of the book. Vorontsov, and, thank God, the people live well here; otherwise you suffer, looking at the sick, and even at the owners, who go to panshchina for six days. And what a hard life they have! My God, how much suffering everywhere and for everyone!..

How clearly I still see this little church without a dome and a bell tower, and above the boarded roof only the cross shines with the pink glow of the sunset ... When we entered, Vespers was in progress. Then I asked the priest to serve a thanksgiving service. How I prayed, how I thanked the Lord for the fact that I could at least not contribute, but a millionth part of the contribution to the great common cause! How I asked God to forgive me for everything that I did during this year against my vow, thanked for my strength, for my health! ..».

On February 2, 1856, the new abbess of the Exaltation of the Cross community, Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Khitrovo, died of typhus. “Why did God deprive the community,” wrote E. Bakunina, “of such an exemplary sister of mercy, smart, well-mannered, kind, condescending, true sister of mercy! I have never seen such a thing again!”

The authority of Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina was so high that Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna agreed with the opinion of Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov to place Sister Bakunin at the head of the orphaned community of the Exaltation of the Cross. February 9, 1856 N.I. Pirogov writes to Bakunina: “Most respected sister Ekaterina Mikhailovna. The community, which owes so much to your zeal, is now, after the death of our unforgettable abbess, again without a leader ...

On behalf of her highness, the high patroness of a good cause, I propose and even demand from you, as a sacred duty: take charge of the community. Do not excuse and do not object; here modesty and distrust are out of place; forget for a while all your private relationships for the common cause. I guarantee you, you are now needed for the community as abbess. You know her purpose, you know the sisters; you know the course of affairs; you have both good intention and energy. You know your shortcomings better than I do, and who knows himself well, for him this knowledge is better than perfection. You know just as much as I respect and love you. You also know my attachment to the community, and therefore I am sure that my proposal will be accepted by you without question. This is not the time to talk too much - act. Her Imperial Highness wishes that you, having assumed the title of abbess and the management of the community, first come to us in St. Petersburg for a short time as soon as possible, and then you would also go for a short, so desired, rest in Moscow. But, for God's sake, do not hesitate and be more decisive! Decisiveness, however, is not for me to teach you. So, with God, venerable Ekaterina Mikhailovna, come here as soon as possible. Hurry up. Sincerely respecting you, N. Pirogov.”

Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna's handwritten note: “My dear Ekaterina Mikhailovna! Would you like to console me and the Community for the enormous loss we have suffered? Will you agree to take on the difficult duty of abbess for this year? You are the only one who can be called to this by your character, by the services that you have rendered, by the spirit of the institution that you know and share, by the knowledge, finally, of the sisters, the authorities, and the entire administrative course of the matter. I tell myself that if you fulfill my request, you will have the courage to fulfill this calling in its entirety. The task is a serious one, since it is not only about oneself, but also about leading so many different elements in the spirit of unity, humility, energy, order and Christian love. All this is not alien to you. I appeal to your heart to attach it to the sisters, to this Community, so tested, so undaunted, so blessed. Answer me now and go to Moscow and from there to here before returning to your post. May God help you, may He inspire and strengthen you. Elena".

Bakunina agreed to lead the Exaltation of the Cross community. The Grand Duchess awarded her a medal for the defense of Sevastopol.

On March 25, 1856, peace was concluded. Here is what Sister Bakunin writes about this: “On the 25th it was announced that peace had been concluded. Of course, they did not yet know the sad conditions of the Parisian peace; however, I don’t know, as far as I am concerned, whether I would be interested and whether I would feel anything else, except that the war is over, that people, and even Christians, will not stand against each other and try to inflict as much damage as possible harm to one another! And how it distorts all feelings! I experienced it myself, and, reading the report of the French doctor who was in Dobruja: “Finally, the world has come to put an end to our disasters,” I did not regret, but was glad that they were no better than ours.

I fully agree with Mr. Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, that this is disgusting, immoral, un-Christian; but here's what I will never agree with him: I believe that I had to resist with all my means and with all my skill the evil that various officials, suppliers, etc. inflicted on our sufferers in hospitals; I considered and still consider it a sacred duty to fight and resist this.

At the end of April, Bakunina received a rescript from Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna: “Ekaterina Mikhailovna! Fully appreciating your high moral qualities, which were so brilliantly displayed during the siege of Sevastopol, I have chosen you for this year as the sister abbess of the Exaltation of the Cross community, and I instruct you to begin correcting your position right now. Along with this, I entrust you with the task of surveying the branches of the community located along the way during your journey to the Crimea and instructing you to offer everything you have noticed for consideration and discussion by the community committee.

And again Ekaterina Mikhailovna goes to the Crimea to restore order in the hospital facilities. She does not like any bureaucracy and she writes bitterly: “What was very boring and even painful for me at that time was writing papers. I had to write to the sisters in all the departments, and most often I had to write to St. Petersburg and I had to write first in draft, not in order to make phrases beautiful - I never pursued this, and I didn’t know how - but to have a vacation. After all, we received answers in two weeks. You will get some answer, hastily written, so that suddenly you will not understand what exactly they are answering until you look at what you asked then.

And I spent a lot of time writing, so that I had little left for the sick, which made me very sad; but all the same, I went every day to the barracks, and to the camp, and two or three days later, to the officers' hospital.

In early September 1856, Ekaterina Bakunina returned to St. Petersburg and took up the affairs of the community.

In the fall, she managed to secure a meeting with her cousin, a well-known ideologist of the anarchist movement, Mikhail Bakunin, who was imprisoned in the Shlisselburg fortress.

Ekaterina Mikhailovna led the Exaltation of the Cross community until 1860. This activity brought her many disappointments.

Let us turn again to her memoirs: “But what did I do that year (1857)! Nothing, and maybe worse than nothing. She was tormented, busy, annoyed and grieved. On the one hand, ideal, inapplicable theories to us, on the other - material vulgarity, greed, stupidity! All lofty thoughts shattered into dust against the inexorable reality. Only in the hospital, at the bedside of the sick, seeing the sisters faithfully fulfilling their duties, and hearing the grateful words of the sufferers, do I rest my soul ... ".

The memoirs of sister Bakunina about the death of the artist Alexander Andreevich Ivanov are interesting: “... I cannot but mention how kind Alexander Ivanovich (Andreevich) Ivanov was to the sisters. He arrived in June (1858) in St. Petersburg with his painting (“The Appearance of Christ to the People”)…

But we, unfortunately, for our part, rendered him a sad service when, completely alone, he fell ill with cholera in the small apartment of the painter Botkin; his sisters were always with him. Our doctor, sister E.P. Kartseva and I, we also often went there. On July 3 he died. I vividly remember how we escorted him from the academic church on foot to the convent where he is buried.”

Ekaterina Mikhailovna in her struggle for the embodiment of her ideas in the organization and activities of the community was invariably supported by N.I. Pirogov. On August 5, 1857, he wrote to her from Odessa: “You will have enough selflessness, nobility of soul, impartiality, and true love for the work you have begun for this. I know very well that you will not be able to communicate to the community the character of a formal religious institution; but by your example of action and your love for the cause, you can, of course, under favorable conditions, impart to it a certain moral character. So, if the Grand Duchess wants to make a religious order out of the community, then you are unlikely to have time to contribute to the achievement of this goal; but your honesty, straightforwardness, zeal for business and experience are more than sufficient to give a truly moral character to the institution, if they want to limit themselves to just such a direction.

In the summer of 1859, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna expressed her desire that Ekaterina Mikhailovna go to Berlin and Paris to study the experience of organizing communities of sisters of mercy there. Bakunina fulfilled the will of the princess and made a foreign tour. Visiting communities in Berlin and Paris disappointed her. Here is what she writes about this: “What can I say about the general impression made on me by this magnificent, richly and firmly arranged institution (the diaconal house “Bethany” in Berlin”)? First ... - great strength. Everything is built for one purpose, built grandiosely, with a wide hand. The church is big, beautiful; garden. Everything from the largest to the smallest is adapted to one purpose. The cleanliness and cleanliness are excellent throughout. But I remember that I was definitely blown cold. The deaconesses are very neat, very friendly, but all very young; it is clear that they are inexperienced; they can, with strict discipline, perfectly fulfill their small duties, and seriously engage in cleaning copper handles and floors. But these are not the sisters we dreamed about - about sisters who comfort the sick, intercessors for them, sisters who bring ardent feelings of love and participation, truth and conscientiousness into other people's hospitals! ..

What can be said about the service of sisters to the sick? We can say that the same as everywhere else: the same shortcomings, and the same qualities. They bandage them carefully, beautifully, but sometimes they make the same mistake as everywhere else: they go from a bad ulcer to a clean one without washing their hands, or they leave a dirty compress lying around. I after all constantly went with them on bandaging. And once I was very struck: in a special room lay a dying patient - gangrene and pyemia; an attendant was sitting with him, and the deaconess in another room was cleaning the brass lock! So I would change them; and in general I found that they treat the sick very coldly; and their attire, a black dress, a very small cape, white aprons with a bib, muslin caps with flies and tulle frills, give them the appearance of soubrettes rather than servants to the afflicted. Yes, and there are a lot of them. So I find they don't care much; I had 217 sick people, and 60 deaconesses and subjects. This is very good because they see very well that it is not the institution that needs them, but they need it.

... So, S-te Hedwig (St. Hedwig's monastery) is a product of exalted religion and thoughts about saving one's soul ... "Bethany" - one might say - is a product of reason and a desire to live like a Christian with some comfort. The Exaltation of the Cross community is a product of a patriotic feeling, striving to participate in a common cause, experiencing strong sympathy for so many sufferings and a willingness to share the common danger and labors. An involuntary interest in war is the beginning of our community. What will come of this? I do not know, but I understand that other beginnings are needed. But what? Which? My thoughts here are even more confused than in St. Petersburg. It's sad, it's hard!

My God! Is it really only possible to lead people with strict, killing discipline? It's sad for humanity."

Unable to overcome the contradictions that arose between her own aspirations and the desire of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna to turn the community into a religious order, Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina left the Exaltation of the Cross community in the summer of 1860.

“Order was established in the community,” she wrote, “that a sister leaving on vacation would take off and leave in the community her golden cross, which we wear on a wide blue ribbon.

I vividly remember the light-gloomy Petersburg summer night, the twilight of the beautiful communal church, and how I entered it alone, prayed, wept and took off, with sadness, but with complete determination, the heavy cross of the Mother Superior and hung it on the communal image of the Exaltation of the Cross

During the Crimean War, a Russian woman for the first time left the sphere of domestic life in the field of public service, demonstrating high business and moral qualities. An example was the daughter of the St. Petersburg Governor Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina. Her mother is Kutuzov's niece. Bakunina E.M. was born in 1812. In 1854. Bakunina E.M. lived in Moscow and from there, guided by the best intentions, the desire to help the wounded on the bastions of Sevastopol, applied for enrollment in the Exaltation of the Cross community, which was organized in St. Petersburg. In this regard, E.M. Bakunina began to visit hospitals in order to get acquainted with the care of the wounded. There was no news from St. Petersburg, relatives and friends were against Catherine’s idea, and she was forced to write the following words to St. Petersburg: “The granddaughter of Admiral Ivan Loginovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov wants to follow the sailors, it seems strange to refuse her this.”

Bakunina E.M. nevertheless, she left for Sevastopol at the head of the 3rd detachment of sisters of mercy, and with her activities there she earned full recognition and love from the wounded and respect for N.I. Pirogov. A true aristocrat, deeply religious, E. Bakunina was a woman of great humility - for a long time she preferred to remain an ordinary sister. Pirogov and Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna had to work hard to persuade Ekaterina to take over after the death of E.A. Khitrovo the post of abbess of the community. Persuading Ekaterina Mikhailovna to head the community, Pirogov wrote to her: “I demand from you, as from anyone, take charge of the community. You know how much I respect and love you, you know my attachment to the community, and therefore you do not dare to refuse. In turn, the Grand Duchess urged not to refuse her request, to take on the position of abbess: “You are the only one who can be called to the high post of abbess. You have the courage to fulfill this calling to the fullest. I appeal to your heart!

As head of the community, Bakunina showed great organizational skills, tirelessly touring the most remote hospitals, delving into the problems of supplying them with medicines and food, household belongings and warm clothes for wounded soldiers. Strictly exacting for indifference, and even more so for fraud among hospital ministers.

Ekaterina Mikhailovna contributed to the establishment of control by the sisters over the state of hospital affairs. At the request of Bakunina E.M. the wounded were regularly given warm underwear. Often she accompanied carts with the wounded, sharing with them all the hardships of the journey, starving, getting sick with them, but protecting them from the indifference and slovenliness of negligent workers.

After the end of the Crimean company, Moscow arranged for Bakunina E.M. solemn meeting, and in honor of her arrival in St. Petersburg, the poet Fyodor Glinka wrote the poem “26. III. 1856":

From the world of storms came to the world in the capital,

Let's welcome Bakunin - sister,

And mercy welcoming a sister in her!

In Moscow Bakunina E.M. at the request of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, she continued to lead the Exaltation of the Cross community of sisters of mercy and at the same time set about creating a new community of sisters of mercy. But, unfortunately, her desire, her struggle against the transformation of the community into a religious order, for further improvement in the training of sisters of mercy did not bring success.

After traveling to Germany and France, where Ekaterina Mikhailovna went to get acquainted with the activities of the sister communities there, she had a firm conviction that such communities should be based not on religious, but on moral principles. It does not matter what religion a sister belongs to, but her social views and moral principles are important. However, the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna did not agree with these convictions of hers and in the summer of 1860. Bakunina forever said goodbye to the community, where she was the sister-priest. Bakunina left for the Kazitsyno family estate in the Tver province. Near the manor house, she organized a small clinic for peasants at her own expense. When necessary, she turned to doctors for advice, calling them at her own expense from the city. Soon she set up several beds in her hospital and set up a pharmacy in her own house with a free distribution of medicines, which she herself prepared.

Her independent activity for 7 years bore fruit: the local provincial zemstvo began organizing public medical care for the rural population. The clinic of Bakunina entered the general network, a paramedic was appointed to help her, and a doctor began to come regularly 3 times a month. Here she wrote "Memoirs of a Sister of Mercy".

In 1877 At the age of 65, E.M. Bakunina again ended up in the war in the Caucasus at the request of the Russian Red Cross Society. In the Caucasus, E.M. Bakunin headed the management of military hospitals from Tiflis to Alexandropol. As a simple nurse, she nursed not only the wounded soldiers, but also the sisters of mercy, who became victims of the then epidemic of typhus. At the end of the war, E.M. Bakunina, as a sign of her outstanding merits, was presented with an address, the text of which was reproduced by the priest Sergei Mozhaev in the book “Ascetics of Mercy”. By that time, for her merciful deeds, E.M. Bakunin was awarded two medals, which she proudly wore on her chest. Returning to Kazitsyno, she resumed her usual duties, taking care of the health of local peasants.

The great surgeon Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov, speaking of the undeniable contribution to the world history of the Russian sisters of mercy, rightly attributed Ekaterina Bakunina, whose roots are closely connected with the Tver land, to the most outstanding among them.

Biography

Ekaterina Mikhailovna was born in 1810 in the family of a nobleman - Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakunin (1764-1847), a former governor of St. Petersburg and a senator.

E. M. Bakunina was the cousin of the famous anarchist Mikhail Bakunin and the granddaughter of I. L. Golenishchev-Kutuzov.

E. M. Bakunina received an excellent, comprehensive education. In her memoirs, Bakunina writes that in her youth she was more like a “muslin young lady”: she studied music, dances, drawing, adored sea bathing in the Crimea, home balls, where she danced with pleasure. She had not listened to lectures on the natural sciences at all before and did not go to anatomical theaters.

Crimean War

By the time the Crimean War began, Ekaterina Mikhailovna was a respectable secular lady for forty years. Among the first volunteers, she wished to immediately go to the front. But getting there was no easy task. Relatives did not even want to hear about her intentions. Written requests in the office of the Grand Duchess for enrollment in the community remained unanswered. And yet, thanks to perseverance, Ekaterina Mikhailovna achieved her goal. In the Exaltation of the Cross community, she underwent initial medical training. When doctors taught her the basics of medicine in St. Petersburg, then, afraid of catching a cold in a cold climate in winter, she went to the hospital for classes in a carriage, which caused the ridicule of surgeons. But her cousin, officer Alexander, who knew her character and will better, telling her about the Crimea, about the accumulation of the wounded and typhoid, said: “After all, I know you, now you want to go there even more.” Then, wanting to test herself, she began to visit the "most vile" of Moscow hospitals every day.

On January 21, 1855, Bakunina, among the sisters of the Exaltation of the Cross community, began work in the theater of military operations in the barracks of besieged Sevastopol, where blood flowed like a river. In his memoirs, Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov writes with admiration and respect not only about selflessness, rare diligence, but also about courage and fearlessness of sister Catherine. Pirogov recalled: “Every day, day and night, you could find her in the operating room, assisting in operations, while bombs and rockets were falling all around. She showed a presence of mind that was hardly compatible with a woman's nature. The sisters were also inspired by the fact that the front-line authorities appreciated their help, equating it with a feat. Pirogov himself, as well as Vice-Admiral P.S. Nakhimov, who visited the hospitals, the generals considered them indispensable assistants. “It is impossible not to marvel at their diligence in caring for the sick and their truly stoic selflessness,” said many who saw their work. On behalf of Pirogov, Ekaterina Mikhailovna at the end of 1855 headed a new department of nurses to transport the wounded to Perekop. Later, she received an offer to lead the Exaltation of the Cross community. The great surgeon writes to her in a letter: “Do not excuse yourself and do not object, modesty is inappropriate here ... I guarantee you, you are now necessary for the community as an abbess. You know its meaning, sisters, the course of affairs, you have good intentions and energy. ... It’s not time to talk too much - act!” Bakunina remained in this post until 1860. She traveled to all the military hospitals of the Crimea and "became an example of patience and tireless work for all the sisters of the Community."

“The community is not just a collection of nurses,” Pirogov emphasized, “but the future means of moral control of the hospital administration.” Only the sisters of the independent Cross Exaltation community were taken to the positions of hospital servants, as well as to manage the warehouses.

One of the brightest representatives of such "moral control" was Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina.

The career of the sisters of mercy is determined by the opinion of the wounded, local leaders of the community, Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov and Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna. And the hospital officials could neither reward nor demote them with their power. The officials could not even interest the sisters in “entering the share”: their position was firm. This position was expressed by Ekaterina Mikhailovna. She said this about her main goal: “I had to resist with all my means and with all my skill the evil that various officials, suppliers, etc. inflicted on our sufferers in hospitals; and I considered and consider it my sacred duty to fight and resist this.

That is why Nikolai Ivanovich instructed the sisters to distribute cash benefits. The honesty of Bakunina and other sisters was also appreciated by the wounded themselves. “Do you remember me, Katerina Mikhailovna? - sometimes a soldier passing by with a detachment would shout joyfully and wave his hand to her, - it's me, Lukyan Chepchukh! You had my seven rubles on the Nikolaev Battery, and you had already sent them from Belbek to the Northern Camp.

Ekaterina Mikhailovna was the last of the sisters of mercy to leave Sevastopol, abandoned by the troops, on a floating bridge.

In 1856 the war was over, and the sisters returned to St. Petersburg, where the community continued its charitable work.

Continuation of charitable activities

In the summer of 1860, Ekaterina Mikhailovna left the community with a "contrite heart" and went to the village. In the village of Kozitsino, Novotorzhsky district, Tver province, far from the bustle of the capital, a new, no less bright stage of her life began in her favorite and useful work - medicine.

There were few doctors in the province. The population of the county (about 136 thousand people) was served by a single doctor. Epidemics of plague, cholera, smallpox, typhoid claimed thousands of lives. In a specially built wooden building, Bakunina opened a hospital with eight beds, received and provided medical care at her own expense, and she herself paid the doctor's maintenance. So the first stone was laid in the foundation of zemstvo medicine in the Novotorzhsky district.

At first, the peasants were wary of the master's undertaking. But distrust soon disappeared, and by the end of the year the number of those who received assistance exceeded two thousand people, a year later it doubled, and continued to grow. Reception Bakunin began in the morning. During the day, she traveled around the sick in a peasant cart, made dressings, gave medicines that she skillfully prepared herself. She paid special attention to peasant children. She willingly assumed the duties of a trustee of all district hospitals in the county, which differed in the province in that there were no fees for medical care.

Until the end of her days, already in Kozitsyn, Bakunina continued to defend the sick and the disenfranchised, remaining an example, a damning conscience for pragmatic people. The life of Ekaterina Mikhailovna is undoubtedly a vivid example of public service. She happened to become one of the organizers of the hospital business in Russia and medical care in the Tver province. Her merits were recognized by her contemporaries, and her name was included in pre-revolutionary reference books. In 1877 Russia entered the Russo-Turkish War. Bakunina, as one of the most experienced organizers of the hospital business, is in demand by the leadership of the Russian Red Cross Society. Despite the age of 65, she travels to the Caucasus as the head of the nurses of temporary hospitals. Her activities here were even more extensive than during the Crimean War. This time Ekaterina Mikhailovna stayed at the front for more than a year. Saying goodbye, the doctors of the five reformed hospitals presented her with a memorable address: “In every respect, you were worthy of the name of a Russian warrior. From beginning to end, you remained true to your program - to serve as an example to your younger friends in everything ... We, doctors, for whom you were a trustworthy and most experienced assistant, have and will forever preserve a feeling of boundless gratitude for you. Your name will not be erased from the memory of the sick, to whom you completely sacrificed yourself.

Ekaterina Mikhailovna died in 1894 in the village of Kozitsino, and was buried in the village of Pryamukhino (now the Kuvshinovsky district) of the Tver province in the Bakunin family vault.

Works. Memory

In 1893, a year before her death, Bakunina wrote the book “Memoirs of the Sister of Mercy of the Exaltation of the Cross Community”, in which we see her, energetic, fiery, with sparkling eyes and speeches, in simple peasant boots, briskly walking through impassable mud, when she fought with negligent non-commissioned officers for their transport with the sick and wounded.

In 1881, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy visited Ekaterina Mikhailovna in Kozitsyn. Remembering Sevastopol, he asked her: “Do you really have no desire to relax, change the situation?” “No, and where can I go when they are waiting for me every day. Can I leave them?" she answered. These words, in our opinion, contain the quintessence, the main content and meaning of the profession of a nurse in our time. In her charitable activities, Bakunina put forward her motto: "With the name of God - everything is for people." That is why the example of E. M. Bakunina is so important for our future graduates.

In 2009, the Tver Medical College (Tver Medical College) was awarded the title "named after E. M. Bakunina". The best students of the college were awarded scholarships to them. Bakunina. An exposition dedicated to the life and work of this amazing woman is unfolding within the walls of the Tver Medical College.

In the city of Sevastopol, one of the streets was named in honor of E.M. Bakunina, on which there is a comprehensive school No. 26, where there is a memorial corner about Ekaterina Mikhailovna.

Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina(August 19 or 1811, St. Petersburg - December 6, Kazitsino village, Tver province) - sister of mercy, heroine of two wars of the 19th century.

E. M. Bakunina received an excellent, comprehensive education. In her memoirs, Bakunina writes that in her youth she was more like a “muslin young lady”: she studied music, dances, drawing, adored sea bathing in the Crimea, home balls, where she danced with pleasure. She had not listened to lectures on the natural sciences at all before and did not go to anatomical theaters.

Crimean War

By the time the Crimean War began, Ekaterina Mikhailovna was a respectable secular lady forty years old. Among the first volunteers, she wished to immediately go to the front. But getting there was no easy task. Relatives did not even want to hear about her intentions. Written requests in the office of the Grand Duchess for enrollment in the community remained unanswered. And yet, thanks to perseverance, Ekaterina Mikhailovna achieved her goal. In the Exaltation of the Cross community, she underwent initial medical training. On January 21, 1855, Bakunina, among the sisters of the Holy Cross community, began work in the theater of operations in the barracks of the besieged Sevastopol, where blood flowed like a river. Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov in his memoirs writes with admiration and respect not only about disinterestedness, rare diligence, but also about the courage and fearlessness of sister Catherine. Pirogov recalled: “Every day, day and night, you could find her in the operating room, assisting in operations, while bombs and rockets were falling all around. She showed a presence of mind that was hardly compatible with a woman's nature. The sisters were also inspired by the fact that the front-line authorities appreciated their help, equating it with a feat. Pirogov himself, as well as vice-admiral P.S. Nakhimov, who visited the hospitals, the generals considered them indispensable assistants. On behalf of Pirogov, Ekaterina Mikhailovna at the end of 1855 headed a new department of nurses to transport the wounded to Perekop. Later, she received an offer to lead the Exaltation of the Cross community. The great surgeon wrote to her in a letter: “Do not excuse yourself and do not object, modesty is inappropriate here ... I guarantee you, you are now necessary for the community as abbess. You know its meaning, sisters, the course of affairs, you have good intentions and energy. ... It’s not time to talk too much - act!” Bakunina remained in this post until 1860. She traveled to all the military hospitals of the Crimea and "became an example of patience and tireless work for all the sisters of the Community."

“The community is not just a collection of nurses,” Pirogov emphasized, “but a future means of moral control.” One of the brightest representatives of such "moral control" was Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina.

The career of the sisters of mercy is determined by the opinion of the wounded, local leaders of the community, Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov and Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna about them. And the hospital officials could neither reward nor demote them with their power. The officials could not even interest the sisters in “entering the share”: their position was firm. This position was expressed by Ekaterina Mikhailovna. She said this about her main goal: “I had to resist with all my means and with all my skill the evil that various officials, suppliers, etc. inflicted on our sufferers in hospitals; and I considered and consider it my sacred duty to fight and resist this.

That is why Nikolai Ivanovich instructed the sisters to distribute cash benefits.

Ekaterina Mikhailovna was the last of the sisters of mercy to leave Sevastopol, abandoned by the troops, on a floating bridge.

In 1856 the war was over, and the sisters returned to St. Petersburg, where the community continued its charitable work.

Continuation of charitable activities

In the summer of 1860, Ekaterina Mikhailovna left the community with a "broken heart" and went to the village. In the village of Kozitsino, Novotorzhsky district, Tver province, far from the bustle of the capital, a new, no less bright stage of her life began in her favorite and useful work - medicine.

There were few doctors in the province. The population of the county (about 136 thousand people) was served by a single doctor. Epidemics of plague, cholera, smallpox, typhoid claimed thousands of lives. In a specially built wooden building, Bakunina opened a hospital with eight beds, conducted an appointment and provided medical care at her own expense, and she herself paid the doctor's maintenance. So the first stone was laid in the foundation of zemstvo medicine in the Novotorzhsky district.

At first, the peasants were wary of the master's undertaking. But distrust soon disappeared, and by the end of the year the number of those who received assistance exceeded two thousand people, a year later it doubled, and continued to grow. Reception Bakunin began in the morning. During the day, she traveled around the sick in a peasant cart, made dressings, gave medicines that she skillfully prepared herself. She paid special attention to peasant children. She willingly assumed the duties of a trustee of all district hospitals in the county, which differed in the province in that there were no fees for medical care.

Until the end of her days, already in Kozitsyn, Bakunina continued to defend the sick and the disenfranchised, remaining an example, a damning conscience for pragmatic people. The life of Ekaterina Mikhailovna is undoubtedly a vivid example of public service. She happened to become one of the organizers of the hospital business in Russia and medical care in the Tver province. Her merits were recognized by her contemporaries, and her name was included in pre-revolutionary reference publications. In 1877 Russia entered the Russo-Turkish War. Bakunina, as one of the most experienced organizers of the hospital business, is in demand by the leadership of the Russian Red Cross Society. Despite the age of 65, she travels to the Caucasus as the head of the nurses of temporary hospitals. Her activities here were even more extensive than during the years of the Crimean War. This time Ekaterina Mikhailovna stayed at the front for more than a year. Saying goodbye, the doctors of the five reformed hospitals presented her with a memorable address: "In every respect, you were worthy of the name of a Russian warrior.

In 1881, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy visited Ekaterina Mikhailovna in Kozitsyn. Remembering Sevastopol, he asked her: “Do you really have no desire to relax, change the situation?” “No, and where can I go when they are waiting for me every day. Can I leave them?" she answered. In her charitable activities, Bakunina put forward her motto: "With the name of God - everything is for people."

Ekaterina Mikhailovna died in 1894 in the village of Kozitsino, and was buried in the village of Pryamukhino, Tver province, in the Bakunin family vault.

Works

In 1893, a year before her death, Bakunina wrote the book “Memoirs of the Sister of Mercy of the Exaltation of the Cross Community”, in which we see her, energetic, fiery, with sparkling eyes and speeches, in simple peasant boots briskly walking through impassable mud.

• Bakunina E. M. Notes // Bulletin of Europe. - 1898. - No. 3-6.
• Bakunin E. Memoirs of the Sister of Mercy of the Exaltation of the Cross Community (1854-1860). - Kazitsyno, 1888-1889.

Memory

The name of Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina is the Society of Orthodox Doctors (Tver), Tver Regional Clinical Perinatal Center. In 2011, the Charitable Foundation named after Ekaterina Bakunina.

Modern doctors need moral ideals. The Tver Medical College considers E. M. Bakunina a role model. The best students of the college were awarded scholarships to them. Bakunina.

In Sevastopol, in honor of E. M. Bakunina, one of the streets was named, on which there is a comprehensive school No. 26, where there is a memorial corner about Ekaterina Mikhailovna.

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Notes

Literature

• Sysoev V.I. Bakunin. - Tver: Constellation, 2002.
• Sysoev V.I. Sister of Mercy Ekaterina Bakunina. - Tver; SPb. : Ekaterina Bakunina Charitable Foundation: Public Association "Golden Book of St. Petersburg", 2012. - 373 p. - (Library of the Golden Book of St. Petersburg). - ISBN 978-5-87049-787-7
• Sinitsyn. Memoirs of the doctor Sinitsyn about Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina // Bulletin of Europe. - 1898. - No. 7.

An excerpt characterizing Bakunin, Ekaterina Mikhailovna

- Yes, just judge how you chill your legs, where will you go?
- Oh, empty talk! - said the sergeant major.
- Ali and you want the same? - said the old soldier, reproachfully addressing the one who said that his legs were shivering.
– What do you think? - suddenly rising from behind the fire, a sharp-nosed soldier, who was called a crow, spoke in a squeaky and trembling voice. - He who is smooth will lose weight, and death to the thin. At least here I am. I have no urine,” he suddenly said decisively, turning to the sergeant-major, “they were sent to the hospital, the aches had overcome; and then you stay behind...
“Well, you will, you will,” the sergeant-major said calmly. The soldier fell silent, and the conversation continued.
- Today, you never know these Frenchmen were taken; and, frankly, there are no boots on any of them, so, one name, ”one of the soldiers began a new conversation.
- All the Cossacks were amazed. They cleaned the hut for the colonel, carried them out. It's a pity to watch, guys, - said the dancer. - They tore them apart: so alive alone, do you believe it, mutters something in its own way.
“A pure people, guys,” said the first. - White, like a white birch, and there are brave ones, say, noble ones.
– How do you think? He has been recruited from all ranks.
“But they don’t know anything in our language,” the dancer said with a smile of bewilderment. - I tell him: “Whose crown?”, And he mumbles his own. Wonderful people!
“After all, it’s tricky, my brothers,” continued the one who was surprised at their whiteness, “the peasants near Mozhaisk said how they began to clean up the beaten ones, where there were guards, so what, he says, their dead lay there for a month. Well, he says, he lies, he says, theirs is how the paper is white, clean, it doesn’t smell like gunpowder blue.
- Well, from the cold, or what? one asked.
- Eka you're smart! By cold! It was hot. If it were from the cold, ours would not be rotten either. And then, he says, you will come to ours, all, he says, is rotten in worms. So, he says, we will tie ourselves with scarves, yes, turning our faces away, and dragging; no urine. And theirs, he says, is white as paper; does not smell of gunpowder blue.
Everyone was silent.
- It must be from food, - said the sergeant major, - they ate the master's food.
Nobody objected.
- Said this man, near Mozhaisk, where there were guards, they were driven from ten villages, they drove twenty days, they didn’t take everyone, then the dead. These wolves that, he says ...
“That guard was real,” said the old soldier. - There was only something to remember; and then everything after that ... So, only torment for the people.
- And that, uncle. The day before yesterday we ran, so where they do not allow themselves. They left the guns alive. On your knees. Sorry, he says. So, just one example. They said that Platov took Polion himself twice. Doesn't know the word. He will take it: he will pretend to be a bird in his hands, fly away, and fly away. And there's no way to kill either.
- Eka lie, you're healthy, Kiselev, I'll look at you.
- What a lie, the truth is true.
- And if it were my custom, if I caught him, I would bury him in the ground. Yes, with an aspen stake. And what ruined the people.
“We’ll do everything in one end, he won’t walk,” the old soldier said, yawning.
The conversation fell silent, the soldiers began to pack.
- Look, the stars, passion, are burning like that! Say, the women laid out the canvases, - said the soldier, admiring the Milky Way.
- This, guys, is for the harvest year.
- Drovets will still be needed.
“You’ll warm your back, but your belly will freeze.” Here is a miracle.
- Oh my God!
- Why are you pushing - about you alone fire, or what? You see... collapsed.
From behind the silence that was being established, the snoring of some of the sleepers was heard; the rest turned and warmed themselves, occasionally speaking. A friendly, cheerful laughter was heard from a distant, about a hundred paces, fire.
“Look, they’re rattling in the fifth company,” said one soldier. - And the people that - passion!
One soldier got up and went to the fifth company.
“That’s laughter,” he said, returning. “Two keepers have landed. One is frozen at all, and the other is so courageous, byada! Songs are playing.
- Oh oh? go see…” Several soldiers moved towards the fifth company.

The fifth company stood near the forest itself. A huge fire burned brightly in the middle of the snow, illuminating the branches of trees weighed down with frost.
In the middle of the night, the soldiers of the fifth company heard footsteps in the forest in the snow and the squawking of branches.
“Guys, witch,” said one soldier. Everyone raised their heads, listened, and out of the forest, into the bright light of the fire, stepped out two, holding each other, human, strangely dressed figures.
They were two Frenchmen hiding in the forest. Hoarsely saying something in a language incomprehensible to the soldiers, they approached the fire. One was taller, wearing an officer's hat, and seemed quite weak. Approaching the fire, he wanted to sit down, but fell to the ground. Another, small, stocky, soldier tied with a handkerchief around his cheeks, was stronger. He raised his comrade and, pointing to his mouth, said something. The soldiers surrounded the French, laid out an overcoat for the sick man, and brought both porridge and vodka.
The weakened French officer was Rambal; tied with a handkerchief was his batman Morel.
When Morel drank vodka and finished the bowl of porridge, he suddenly became painfully amused and began to say something to the soldiers who did not understand him. Rambal refused to eat and silently lay on his elbow by the fire, looking with meaningless red eyes at the Russian soldiers. From time to time he let out a long groan and fell silent again. Morel, pointing to his shoulders, inspired the soldiers that it was an officer and that he needed to be warmed up. A Russian officer, approaching the fire, sent to ask the colonel if he would take a French officer to warm him up; and when they returned and said that the colonel had ordered the officer to be brought in, Rambal was told to go. He got up and wanted to go, but staggered and would have fallen if a soldier standing nearby had not supported him.
- What? You will not? one soldier said with a mocking wink, addressing Rambal.
- Hey, fool! What a lie! That is a peasant, really, a peasant, - reproaches were heard from different sides to the joking soldier. They surrounded Rambal, lifted the two in their arms, intercepted by them, and carried them to the hut. Rambal hugged the necks of the soldiers and, when they carried him, spoke plaintively:
– Oh, nies braves, oh, mes bons, mes bons amis! Voila des hommes! oh, mes braves, mes bons amis! [Oh well done! O my good, good friends! Here are the people! O my good friends!] - and, like a child, he bowed his head on the shoulder of one soldier.
Meanwhile, Morel sat in the best place, surrounded by soldiers.
Morel, a small stocky Frenchman, with inflamed, watery eyes, tied around with a woman's handkerchief over his cap, was dressed in a woman's fur coat. He, apparently drunk, put his arm around the soldier who was sitting beside him, and sang a French song in a hoarse, broken voice. The soldiers held their sides, looking at him.
- Come on, come on, teach me how? I will pass quickly. How? .. - said the joker songwriter, whom Morel was embracing.
Vive Henri Quatre,
Vive ce roi vaillanti -
[Long live Henry the Fourth!
Long live this brave king!
etc. (French song)]
sang Morel, winking his eye.
Ce diable a quatre…
- Vivarika! Wif seruvaru! sidblyaka…” the soldier repeated, waving his hand and really catching the tune.
- Look, smart! Go ho ho ho! .. - coarse, joyful laughter rose from different sides. Morel, grimacing, laughed too.
- Well, go ahead, go on!
Qui eut le triple talent,
De boire, de battre,
Et d "etre un vert galant ...
[Having a triple talent,
drink, fight
and be kind...]
- But it's also difficult. Well, well, Zaletaev! ..
“Kyu…” Zaletaev said with an effort. “Kyu yu yu…” he drew out, diligently protruding his lips, “letriptala, de bu de ba and detravagala,” he sang.
- Oh, it's important! That's so guardian! oh… ho ho ho! “Well, do you still want to eat?”
- Give him some porridge; after all, it will not soon eat up from hunger.
Again he was given porridge; and Morel, chuckling, set to work on the third bowler hat. Joyful smiles stood on all the faces of the young soldiers who looked at Morel. The old soldiers, who considered it indecent to engage in such trifles, lay on the other side of the fire, but occasionally, rising on their elbows, looked at Morel with a smile.
“People too,” said one of them, dodging in his overcoat. - And the wormwood grows on its root.
– Oo! Lord, Lord! How stellar, passion! To frost ... - And everything calmed down.
The stars, as if knowing that now no one would see them, played out in the black sky. Now flashing, then going out, now shuddering, they busily whispered among themselves about something joyful, but mysterious.

X
The French troops were gradually melting away in a mathematically correct progression. And that crossing over the Berezina, about which so much has been written, was only one of the intermediate steps in the destruction of the French army, and not at all the decisive episode of the campaign. If so much has been written and written about the Berezina, then on the part of the French this happened only because on the Berezinsky broken bridge the disasters that the French army had previously suffered evenly, suddenly grouped here at one moment and into one tragic spectacle that everyone remembered. On the part of the Russians, they talked and wrote so much about the Berezina only because far from the theater of war, in St. Petersburg, a plan was drawn up (by Pfuel) to capture Napoleon in a strategic trap on the Berezina River. Everyone was convinced that everything would actually be exactly as planned, and therefore they insisted that it was the Berezinsky crossing that killed the French. In essence, the results of the Berezinsky crossing were much less disastrous for the French in the loss of guns and prisoners than the Red, as the figures show.