The rush for the one remaining bridge became yet more frantic and the day closed amidst scenes of unspeakable woe.

Stout swimmers threw themselves into the stream, only to fall victims to the ice floes and the numbing cold.

At dawn of the 29th, the French rearguard fired the bridge to cover the retreat.

Then a last, loud wail of horror arose from the farther bank, and despair or a loathing of life drove many to end their miseries in the river or in the flames.
Such was the crossing of the Beresina.

The ghastly tale was told once more with renewed horrors when the floods of winter abated and laid bare some 12,000 corpses along the course of that fatal stream.