Captain Jervoise's company was one of those in orders, and paraded
at daybreak, and, after a march of some distance, the force joined
that of Baron Spens. The troops were halted in a wood, and ordered
to light fires to cook food, and to prepare for a halt of some
hours. Great fires were soon blazing and, after eating their meal,
most of the troops wrapped themselves in the blankets that they
carried, in addition to their greatcoats, and lay down by the
fires.
They slept until midnight, and were then called to arms again. They
marched all night, and at daybreak the next morning, the 13th of
February, were near Pitschur, and at once attacked the Russian camp
outside the town. Taken completely by surprise, the Russians fought
feebly, and more than five hundred were killed before they entered
the town, hotly pursued by the Swedes. Shutting themselves up in
the houses, and barricading the doors and windows, they defended
themselves desperately, refusing all offers of surrender.
The Livonian peasants were, however, at work, and set fire to the
town in many places. The flames spread rapidly. Great stores of
hides and leather, and a huge magazine filled with hemp, added to
the fury of the conflagration, and the whole town was burned to the
ground; numbers of the Russians preferring death by fire, in the
houses, to coming out and surrendering themselves.
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