asked me first what I had about me, and began by taking my watch and my purse, then, perceiving a ring on the finger of the hand which was wounded and much swollen, he tried to take it off, but finding this impossible by gentle means, he put my finger into his mouth, and would have infallibly bit it off, if, seized with indignation, I had not repulsed him, taken off the ring with great difficulty and pain, and thrown it in his face. My officer then from being a thief became my valet, and began to undress me; he took off
my, he was brought from the battle-field to the Russian head-quarters. Generals Sierakowski, Kniaziewicz, and Kaminski were also taken prisoners. Niemcewicz, Kosciuszko's friend, received a dangerous wound in this fight. This gallant and clever young man was a poet like Aeschyles, but the Greek had the happiness to sing the victory of his country, to which he contributed at the battle of Marathon, whilst the Pole, taken prisoner at that of Maciejowice, deplores, in prison, the misfortunes of his fatherland. Poninski being informed by the deserters of what had just happened to Kosciuszko, fell back upon Warsaw.”
