Notes of a Cavalier Maiden

The biography of Durova is remarkable and dramatic; she described her unique story in her memoirs "Notes of a Cavalier Maiden". Nadezhda Durova rose from a private soldier to a staff captain and was awarded the soldier's Order of St. George for her feats and courage. She spent ten years on the battlefields, participated in two foreign campaigns and the Patriotic War of 1812, served as an orderly to Mikhail Kutuzov, and was patronized by Emperor Alexander I himself. After retiring, Durova engaged in literary activity, which was blessed by Alexander Pushkin. The poet published an excerpt from her memoirs in the magazine "Sovremennik", and the publication created a sensation among contemporaries, while the Patriotic War acquired a new hero.