Dasha of Sevastopol - this was the name of one of the sisters of mercy during the Crimean War. Like the names of other participants, her surname was undeservedly forgotten by our contemporaries. Meanwhile, this woman was one of the first Russian nurses. Many servicemen who took part in the Crimean War owe their lives to her. Contemporaries highly appreciated her work: she was introduced to the royal family and received several high awards. We will also try to follow the life of this amazing woman, whose name is Dasha Sevastopolskaya.

short biography

Dasha Sevastopolskaya's real name is Daria Lavrentievna Mikhailova. She was born in 1836 on the outskirts of Sevastopol in the family of a sailor. She lost her mother early and earned her living by washing clothes. With the money she earned, she was able to buy a cow, which was her only wealth.

At this time, joint Anglo-French troops landed on the territory of Crimea. It happened in which her father died. Dasha was left completely alone. “How can an orphan survive?” - the neighbors were gossiping. And then Dasha decided on a desperate act. She sold her nursing cow, her dilapidated house, and with the money raised she bought a horse and cart, vinegar, wine and dressings. She cut her braid and, changing into a man's dress, went to the front line, where the fiercest battles were taking place.

Defense of Sevastopol

During this time, the volunteer movement of “Sevastopol patriots” was formed. Its main participants were the mothers of the fighters who defended the Crimean line. Dasha Sevastopolskaya, along with other sisters of mercy, helped the wounded on the battlefield, pulled them out of the fire, and provided emergency care.

Her “carriage of grief,” as Dasha’s acquaintances called her convoy, became the first medical mobile combat station in history, and Dasha of Sevastopol herself rightfully earned the title of the first Russian sister of mercy. According to the memoirs of the great surgeon Nikolai Pirogov, the sanitary situation and medical care were extremely unsatisfactory, the wounded often lay on the battlefield for several days, and many of them died not so much from their wounds as from medical care not provided on time. Dasha of Sevastopol directed her convoy towards them, lying on the bare ground. Like an angel of mercy, she found wounded soldiers, disinfected their wounds, and consoled them with warm words. She did not have any medical education; her natural ingenuity and folk experience helped her. She extended her mercy to all the wounded - both her own and others: she did not deprive the British, the Turks, or the French of her participation. Few people knew her patronymic and surname - among the wounded she was known as Dasha Sevastopolskaya. The sister of mercy not only carried out her immediate duties, but also proved herself to be an excellent intelligence officer: dressed in a man's suit, she went on reconnaissance missions and took part in battles.

After the war

Various sources claim that after the Crimean events, Dasha Sevastopolskaya was able to buy a tavern on the Black Sea coast, in the village of Belbek. From archival documents it became known that in 1855 she married sailor Maxim Khvorostov and began to be called Daria Khvorostova. After the end of hostilities, the couple left Crimea and lived in Nikolaev for some time. The names of the children of this married couple have not been preserved in history. Soon Daria Sevastopolskaya left her husband and, leaving the mainland, returned to Sevastopol again. According to one version, the reason for the separation was Khvorostov’s heavy drinking, according to another, his death.

End of life

The life of the great ascetic, sister of mercy, ended in Sevastopol; here she died in 1910 and was buried in the cemetery in Dokovo Ravine. Unfortunately, the wars of the twentieth century did not preserve the place where Dasha of Sevastopol was buried. No one was interested in the biography of this woman in the 20th century, and a city park was laid out on the site of the ancient cemetery.

Awards

The feat of Dasha of Sevastopol was highly appreciated by her contemporaries. Seeing the zeal and humanism of the young sister of mercy, Nikolai Pirogov took her under his command. At this time, the emperor's brothers came to Crimea to strengthen the spirit of the Russian army. They personally wrote about Dasha to the emperor, highly appreciating her courage and mercy. On the personal initiative of the emperor, she was the only one of her class to be awarded a gold medal on the Vladimir ribbon “For Diligence.”

You should know that such an award could only be received by those who already had similar three. But for Dasha of Sevastopol, an exception was made. In addition to this medal, she received another - “For the Defense of Sevastopol”, which was given to active participants in hostilities. By the highest order of the Tsar himself, she was given 500 rubles in silver and promised another 1000 rubles - after Dasha of Sevastopol, a sister of mercy, got married. The award was presented to her by representatives of the Romanov family - Grand Dukes Mikhail and Konstantin. For her selfless work, she was revered by representatives of various social strata, she was remembered and respected by all those whom she saved.

Monuments

In the building of the panorama dedicated to the defense of Sevastopol, the bust of Dasha occupies one of the central places. The third city hospital in this city bears her name, and a memorial created in her honor was opened in the village of Shelanga.

Mercy and compassion are what distinguishes humans from other creatures inhabiting our planet. However, it is one thing to take pity on a homeless person and give him a few coins so that he can buy food, and quite another to risk his life to alleviate the suffering of the wounded on the battlefield. It is not for nothing that girls and women who became sisters of mercy have always enjoyed the respect of their fellow citizens. Although it is generally accepted that the Englishwoman Florence Nightingale was the first to decide on such a feat, by the time she arrived in Crimea, the “Carriage of Woe” had been driving around on the other side of the front line for more than a month. It was managed by the first Russian nurse Dasha Sevastopolskaya.

Biography before the war

Unfortunately, very little information has been preserved about the girl who saved hundreds of lives of Russian soldiers during the Crimean War. And those grains that have reached us are extremely contradictory.

It is reliably known that Daria was born in 1836 in the family of a sailor of the 10th fin crew, Lavrenty Mikhailov. The village of Klyuchishchi, which was located near Kazan, is sometimes called the place of her birth, but most likely it happened in the village of Sukhaya Balka, on the outskirts of Sevastopol. Dasha's mother died when she was very young, and her father never remarried. At an early age, the girl took on all the household chores, and at the age of 12 she began doing laundry for money.

The life of an orphan

In 1853, real grief fell on Dasha - her father died in a battle near Sinop. So, the fragile girl was left alone in a dilapidated shack. Lavrenty Mikhailov’s pension was a pittance and in order to make ends meet, Daria was forced to go from house to house and offer laundry services. Through her hard work, she saved some money and bought a cow. It seemed that now the girl would be able to exhaust herself less with hard work, but great trouble was already approaching Sevastopol.

War

Dasha's hometown was in danger of being captured by Allied forces after the Russian emperor refused to withdraw troops from Moldavia and Wallachia. War was declared in October 1853, and at the time of the events described, several bloody battles had already taken place. The enemy fleet blocked Russian ships in the Sevastopol Bay, and ground battles were fought on the banks of the Alma River.

"Carriage of Grief"

Chaos reigned in the city. However, Dasha Sevastopolskaya (Mikhailova) is accustomed to steadfastly enduring adversity. Moreover, she was sensitive to the misfortune of others, and her heart sank when she saw the suffering of her fellow citizens. Day by day the situation became more and more threatening, and Daria made a conscious decision. She sold the cow and with the proceeds bought a horse and cart, vinegar for washing wounds and linen, equipping a mobile dressing station. Then she cut off her braid and changed into her father's old sailor uniform. In this form she went to the first line of defense of the Russian troops. The neighbors were extremely surprised by the girl’s behavior and they decided that Dasha had lost her mind due to the death of her father and the war.

On the front line

Dasha Sevastopolskaya, as the soldiers and officers nicknamed the girl, spent the whole day tirelessly taking out the wounded and providing them with first aid. Sometimes this angel in the flesh also picked up enemy soldiers, since he could not look at the suffering of people whose bodies were mutilated by bayonets, bullets and shell fragments. When the battle of Alma ended with the defeat of the Russian troops, Dasha and her cart returned to Sevastopol. Soon the enemy went on the offensive from Balaklava and Inkerman, besieging her hometown.

During the siege of Sevastopol

The brave girl’s work never became less, especially since she found an empty house and began converting it into a hospital, so that there would be somewhere to take the wounded. Her efforts did not go unnoticed and the residents of Sevastopol began to help Dasha in whatever way they could. They began to bring her blankets, bandages, food for the soldiers and medicine. The real tragedy for the girl was the death of her front-line friend, a horse. However, Dasha Sevastopolskaya did not remain without transport for long, as one of the officers ordered the brave “sister” to be given a cart and a horse so that she could continue rescuing the wounded.

Under the leadership of Pirogov

Soon Dasha Sevastopolskaya and a group of her volunteer assistants came under the guidance of the famous surgeon Pirogov. He arrived in the city together with the sisters of the Holy Cross community of sisters of mercy, formed in St. Petersburg in November 1854. Right in the conditions of a field hospital, the scientist trained his unprofessional female medical staff. Among the women who arrived from the capital, there were many aristocrats (sister of the famous writer Ekaterina Griboedova, relative of M.I. Kutuzov and daughter of senator Ekaterina Bakunin, Baroness Lode, etc.), who left their luxurious palaces and mansions to help wounded Russian soldiers. It was during this period that a new method was introduced into world military medical practice, which consisted in selecting patients based on the urgency of surgical intervention. As a result, the most seriously wounded began to be operated on right at the front line, which sharply reduced their mortality rate.

Supreme Grace

On one of the days of the protracted defense of Sevastopol, the sons of Nicholas the First arrived in the city to raise the morale of the Russian army. They were amazed to hear the story of an orphan girl who, from the first days of the war, was in the hottest spots, saving the lives of soldiers and officers. The princes informed their father about the “maiden Daria” and the emperor ordered the sister of mercy to be awarded a gold medal on the Vladimir ribbon and 500 silver rubles. In addition, Nicholas the First promised that if Dasha Sevastopolskaya (photo in her youth, see above) got married, he would give her a dowry of 1000 rubles. By the way, the gold medal “For Diligence,” according to the regulations on this award, was awarded only to those who already had 3 silver medals. Thus, an exception was made for the brave girl in commemoration of the unusual feat that Dasha of Sevastopol accomplished in the Crimean War.

Marriage

In the summer of 1855, shortly before the surrender of Sevastopol to French troops, Daria married a private of the Fourth Last Crew, Maxim Khvorostov. The wedding was quite magnificent for wartime, and Colonel P.K. Menkov acted as the imprisoned father.

Together with her husband, she left the city and returned there after it was abandoned by the enemy as a result of fulfilling the obligations under the Treaty of Paris.

With 1,000 rubles of the “imperial dowry to start their own household,” the Khvorostovs bought a tavern in the village of Belbek. However, the compassionate Daria Lavrenyevna often lent money to the needy and fed the hungry, so things went poorly for the couple. Having sold the tavern, they went to the port city of Nikolaev, where Maxim hoped to find work, but this did not bring them happiness, since the husband began to drink and died (according to some reports, he left the family).

Last years

Since Dasha Sevastopolskaya (a brief biography of her youth is presented above) never gave birth to children during her married life, being left completely alone, she returned to her hometown and settled on the Korabelnaya side. There she lived quietly until her death in a modest house by the sea.

The only bright event of the last days of her life was the shooting of the first feature film about war in the history of Russian cinema, “The Defense of Sevastopol.” In its finale, it was decided to show the viewer the last living participants in those events. Among the 14 gray-haired heroes were Daria Mikhailova (married to Khvorostova) and Elizaveta Serzhbutovskaya. They were dressed in festive dresses and asked to wear awards received in the distant years of their youth at the front. The image of Dasha Sevastopolskaya was also recreated in the feature film “Pirogov”. There her role was played by Tatyana Piletskaya.

The first Russian nurse died in 1910. She was buried in the cemetery in Dock Ravine. Unfortunately, in the subsequent years of the revolution and the Civil War, no one cared about the grave of the lonely old woman, so today no one can indicate its place.

Alternative version of the biography

As already mentioned, information about Daria Mikhailova is extremely scarce. In addition, there are many contradictions in it. In particular, in the village of Shelanga, located on the territory of Tatarstan, a monument to Daria Mikhailova was erected, since local residents are sure that she is their compatriot and after her death she returned to her homeland, where she was buried. If this version is correct, then there is no way she could have ended up on the set of the film “Defense of Sevastopol.”

Memory

On November 15, 2005, a monument to Dasha of Sevastopol was unveiled in the City of Russian Naval Glory. It is a three-meter rotunda made of white stone. On its front side there is a bas-relief depicting a portrait of Dasha of Sevastopol. Hospital N3, in the courtyard of which a monument was erected, now bears the name of the first Russian sister of mercy. In addition, her bust was preserved on the building of the Panorama of the Defense of Sevastopol. Another monument to the “sister” can be seen in Dnepropetrovsk. It is installed next to the busts of her mentor Pirogov, Admiral Nakhimov, Vice Admiral Kornilov, sailor Koshka and other heroes.

Several years ago, a special award was also established for nursing staff - the “Dasha Sevastopol Medal”. It is awarded to those whose professionalism and compassion are recognized by both colleagues and patients.

The Englishwoman Florence Nightingale arrived at the location of the allied forces in Crimea on November 5, 1854. If the first Russian sister of mercy went down in history as a girl driving a “carriage of grief,” then her British colleague was called the Lady with a Lamp. At the time of the arrival of the Englishwoman and her 38 assistants, Dasha Sevastopolskaya had already been providing assistance to the wounded for several months. However, in all encyclopedias Florence Nightingale is named as the first military nurse. In this regard, the Englishwoman’s birthday (May 12) is celebrated around the world as International Nurses Day.

Dasha Sevastopolskaya, whose brief biography is presented above, showed the world an example of courage and heroism. Her feat was repeated by nurses from the First World War and girls from the medical battalions of the Great Patriotic War. The memory of them is alive in the hearts of the people, and workers of clinics, hospitals and other medical institutions should follow their example.

Left orphaned at the age of 13, the girl saw a lot of grief, wandering in search of bread and earnings in the homes of poor people like herself. When an enemy fleet appeared near the Crimean coast in September 1854, work began to strengthen Sevastopol. Everyone worked day and night, from young to old, and Dasha worked too. She washed the clothes of Russian soldiers, and when she came to the camp, she saw all the agony of the city’s defenders. And then the girl decided to devote herself to serving the war sick, but it was not easy to do, since no one would allow her to live among the soldiers and do her job. Then Dasha bought an old sailor suit, dressed as a sailor and began her merciful work during the battle of Alma.
The thunder of shots, cannonballs and bombs whistling in the air and exploding, the desperate cries and groans of the wounded initially frightened the girl, but she pulled herself together: she took scissors, lint and rags from her bag and began, as best she could, to wrap and bandage the wounds, to help and console unhappy. Forgetting fear and no longer paying attention to the horrors of the battle, she ran from one soldier to another and tirelessly bandaged their wounds. This created a random dressing station, and the paramedic who came up was quite surprised at how the “sailor” worked. And the number of wounded became more and more numerous, they lay on the grass for a long time and waited for their turn when the hand of an inexperienced “sailor” would touch them.
After the Battle of Almena, Dasha worked days and nights either at dressing stations or in hospitals. Having not received any special education, she, according to the opinion of the surgeon N.I. Pirogov, could even assist doctors during operations.

The grateful popular rumor dubbed it “Sevastopol”. Under this name, the selfless Russian girl was also preserved in the memories of doctors - contemporaries - participants in the Crimean campaign of 1854-1856. And only recently, in the Central Military Historical Archive, documents were discovered that indicated her real surname and patronymic - Daria Lavrentievna Mikhailova.

The commanders, “shy with the enemy,” were reproached with their courage by a 17-year-old orphan, who became the first front-line sister of mercy in Russia and took a vow of chastity in the name of this.

Great Pirogov heard about Dasha of Sevastopol from the commander-in-chief of the Russian troops, Prince Menshikov, in mid-1854, when he, a famous surgeon, volunteered to arrive in Sevastopol to provide prompt medical assistance to wounded Russian soldiers. What appeared to the eye of the humanist doctor shocked him - overcrowded hospitals, unsanitary conditions... There were no supplies of linen for the wounded, no vehicles, as if there had been no war.

This is how Nikolai Ivanovich himself talks about it: “At six o’clock in the evening I dragged myself to a small house with a dirty yard... In a kennel, three arshins in length and the same amount in width, stood, hunched over, in some greasy archaluk, the fate of Sevastopol ". The great physician was characterized by independence, courage and, when necessary, malicious tongue, which is why he was not so favored in the highest circles. They were afraid of him and resisted his arrival in every possible way. However, the surgeon, with the help of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, went with the sisters of the Holy Cross Community (the prototype of the Russian Red Cross Society) voluntarily...

In one of his letters to his wife, Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov told the following about Dasha of Sevastopol: “...Driven by the mercy of her feminine nature, she helped the wounded here on the battlefields and hospitals with such self-sacrifice that she attracted the attention of the higher authorities...”

By “higher authorities,” Pirogov meant the sovereign himself, Emperor Nicholas I, who took a great part in Dasha’s fate. The fact is that Nikolai Pavlovich learned about the feat of a girl from a lower class, famous for her Christian virtue, from the letters of his sons Mikhail and Nikolai, who were in Crimea to “raise the spirit of the Russian army.” The Grand Dukes informed the illustrious father that in Sevastopol “a girl named Daria is caring for the wounded and sick, and is doing exemplary efforts.” Nicholas I ordered her to be presented with a gold medal on the Vladimir ribbon with the inscription “For zeal” and 500 rubles in silver, and also ordered it to be announced that “on her marriage he will grant another 1000 rubles in silver for the establishment.” By the way, according to their status, the gold medal “For Diligence” was awarded to those who already had three medals - silver. So the king highly appreciated the feat of the girl from the people.

A gold medal and money were awarded to Dasha, which, in fulfillment of the will of His Majesty, was announced throughout the Black Sea Fleet. The Grand Dukes fulfilled another will of the priest - to kiss the maiden Daria on his behalf. Which they did with great pleasure. The royal sons at that time were one nineteen years old, the other twenty-one, and Dasha was seventeen, and she was very pretty.

This is how Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov saw her during his first meeting with the heroine of Sevastopol.

Patriotism is one of the almost instinctive feelings of a person. From the moment of birth, people instinctively, naturally and imperceptibly get used to their environment, the nature and culture of their country, to the way of life of their people. Therefore, the basis for the formation of patriotism is the deep feelings of love and affection for one’s culture and for one’s people, for one’s land, perceived as a person’s native, natural and habitual environment. The naturally developing feeling of attachment to paternal values ​​becomes the subject of comprehension in the process of targeted patriotic education, where on their basis conviction and willingness to act accordingly are formed.

In my understanding, patriotism, courage, heroism are words that are close in meaning. Patriotism is to be ready to defend the Motherland from enemies. Courage means to be valiant, persistent, strong, courageous, courageous, decisive. A hero is a person who performs feats, unusual in his courage, valor, and dedication. Our people showed miracles of patriotism, heroism, and courage while defending their native land.

The history of the Russian Red Cross during the defense of Sevastopol in 1854 is connected with her name. But it so happened that the first nurse in the world was named the Englishwoman Florence Nightingale, and Britain is unlikely to refuse this, although the facts speak differently - the first was our compatriot Daria Mikhailova, who received the nickname Sevastopol and became a legend of the Crimean War.

Strangely enough, extremely little is known about this girl, who became a legend during her lifetime. She was born in 1837 in Sevastopol in the family of a sailor of the Black Sea Fleet. She was left without a mother early, and in November 1853 she also lost her father, who died a heroic death in the Battle of Sinop. In the autumn of 1854, the hot flames of the Eastern (Crimean) War came close to the native coast: an enemy landing landed off the coast of Yevpatoria and moved towards Sevastopol.

And then Dasha did an act that was strange to an outsider. The neighbors decided that, apparently, the poor orphan had lost her mind from grief and suffering, but she acted completely consciously and purposefully, at the behest of her heart. She cut off her braid, changed into a sailor's uniform, sold all her property, and exchanged her precious cow, which kept her from starving to death, for a horse and cart. She bought vinegar and white linen and turned her cart into a dressing station.

Dasha’s cart moved to the banks of the Alma, to where one of the hardest battles of the Crimean War was taking place - Alminskoye. This “carriage of grief,” as the residents of the Ship Side called the carriage of the “crazed orphan,” became the first dressing station in history on the battlefield.

All day long, tirelessly, Dasha traveled to the front line and back, taking out the wounded, for whom there was no one to care for, without making out who was in front of her - Russian, French, English or Turk. Many were left lying on the bare ground, bleeding, without any help. And then Dasha appeared to the wounded like a bright angel, like the last hope.

“Be patient, my dear, everything will be fine, my dear,” - with these words Dasha washed and bandaged the wounds. As best she could, she tried to alleviate the plight of the wounded. The soldiers loved their young “sister” so much that very often, when they died, they bequeathed her some watches and some money.

How much many of them needed both the kind hands of the “sister” bandaging their wounds and a sip of water from the barrel she brought... Then Dasha and her troops returned to Sevastopol and joined the ranks of the city’s defenders. Together with many fellow countrymen - sailor's wives and daughters - she carried water and food to the bastions, spent days and nights at dressing stations, tirelessly caring for the wounded until the last day of defense... How many defenders of the Black Sea fortress then owed their lives to her - hundreds, thousands?

Franz Roubaud captured Dasha in his panorama (fragment) - Dasha with a yoke on her shoulder, at the parapet of the Malakhov Kurgan

she gives two Russian soldiers a drink from a bucket

In those days, the sailor's daughter became a truly legendary person and went down in history under the name of Dasha of Sevastopol. But she was not limited to only providing assistance to the wounded, which in itself was a feat. Daria, dressed in a man's dress, under the name of Alexander Mikhailov, participated in battles and went on reconnaissance missions. Perhaps, after Nadezhda Durova, this was the only example at that time of a woman’s direct participation in hostilities with weapons in her hands.

For the first time in the history of wars, Dasha turned her cart into a dressing station. She helped all the wounded, Russians, Turks, French, and British. At first her neighbors thought she had gone crazy in the chaos of the war. But the 17-year-old girl purposefully continued her hard work every day. She, like a white angel, appeared before people who seemed to have lost all hope and, on the “carriage of grief,” as her carriage was called, took the wounded to the city.

One day her horse was killed by shrapnel and the girl began to carry the wounded on herself. One of the officers, having learned about this, ordered to bring her a new one. Soon after this, the famous surgeon Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov arrived in Sevastopol. Dasha and her assistants came under his command.

At this time, the emperor’s younger sons, Grand Dukes Nicholas and Mikhail, also came to Crimea “to raise the spirit of the Russian army.” Amazed, they wrote to their father about the girl Daria, caring for the wounded and sick with exemplary diligence. Nicholas I awarded her a gold medal with the inscription “For zeal” on the Vladimir ribbon and 500 silver rubles. According to its status, this medal was awarded only to holders of three silver medals, but the emperor, admiring the feat of a simple girl, made an exception for her. Moreover, another 1000 rubles in silver were promised to her after marriage.

Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov wrote in one of his letters to his wife that Daria now appears with a medal on her chest... He also noted that this young woman is not bad-looking and assists him in operations. Dasha's example inspired other women who also began to care for the wounded. According to Pirogov, the sisters of mercy meekly endured all the labors and dangers, selflessly sacrificed themselves with the heroism that is characteristic of real soldiers.

The archival documents also reported that in 1855, immediately after the Sevastopol epic, Daria Mikhailova married a sailor of the 4th fin crew, Maxim Khvorostov, and in connection with this received a “dowry” from the state - a thousand rubles “for setting up a household” and veteran's medal "For the Defense of Sevastopol".

When the war ended, Sevastopol lay in ruins. Many residents who lost their homes left the city. To have a means of living, Dasha bought a tavern in Balbec, but her business did not work out. Soon, she and her husband sold their property and moved to the sea in Nikolaev. After separating from her husband (according to various sources, due to his drunkenness or early death), she returned to Sevastopol, living alone on the Korabelnaya side. Daria died in 1910 and was buried in the cemetery in Dokovy Ravine. The grave of the selfless woman has not been preserved, a public garden is now laid out on the site of the cemetery, but the memory of Dasha of Sevastopol lives on among the people, and this is the main thing.

As a bonus, watch a short story made for the 100th anniversary of the defense of Sevostopol. There are unique archival footage there. Incl. from 1:25 to 1:28 you can see Daria Lavrentievna.

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Introduction

She became famous among the people as a military sister of mercy and found her happiness in selfless help and selfless service to other people. Not a nurse - she had no special education, but a merciful sister, driven by a warm impulse of the heart. She rightfully took her place among the world famous ascetics.

The history of the Russian Red Cross during the defense of Sevastopol in 1854 is connected with her name. Sevastopol sister medal

Biography

Very little is known about Dasha. When the Crimean War began, which lasted three years, she was only seventeen years old. Dasha was born in 1836 on the outskirts of Sevastopol in the village of Sukhaya Balka in the family of a sailor of the 10th fin crew Lavrenty Mikhailov. According to another version, in the village of Klyuchishchi, not far from Kazan. She lost her mother early, whose name history has not preserved. It is only known that Dasha’s mother was also the daughter of a sailor and made a living by washing clothes. From the age of twelve, Dasha also began washing clothes and with the money she earned she was even able to buy a cow, but this was her only wealth. And in 1853, my father died in a bloody battle at Sinop. But even during his father’s life, his salary was small - after all, the treasury saved on sailors. A small, thin girl with a thick brown braid was left all alone in her dilapidated, dilapidated house.

How to live further? In her situation, anyone would despair, but not Dasha. A difficult, lonely childhood strengthened her character, which was far from timid and compassionate by nature. Hardship and need did not embitter Dasha; on the contrary, they awakened in her sympathetic heart sympathy for other people and a desire to help. She, who grew up without parental care and affection, had plenty of courage and perseverance, but the situation was terrible. What can I say - war...

Chaos reigned in Sevastopol, which was under shelling. The famous lawyer Anatoly Fedorovich Koni recalled: “The Honored General told me the following episode from the last days of the brutal bombing of long-suffering Sevastopol, when a day

building up to three thousand wounded and killed; The commander, whom the narrator, while still a young lieutenant, accompanied to the position at night, could not resist a sorrowful exclamation at the constant meeting with the stretchers on which the dying were carried. From the dark mass of living “cover” lying on the ground, someone’s head rose and an encouraging voice said: “Your Excellency, don’t worry: we have enough for three more days!”

And then Dasha did an act that was strange to an outsider. The neighbors decided that, apparently, the poor orphan had lost her mind from grief and suffering, but she acted completely consciously and purposefully, at the behest of her heart. She cut off her braid, changed into a sailor's uniform, sold all her property, and exchanged her precious cow, which kept her from starving to death, for a horse and cart. She bought vinegar and white linen and turned her cart into a dressing station.

Dasha's cart moved to the banks of the Alma, to where one of the hardest battles of the Crimean War was taking place - Alminskoe. This “carriage of grief,” as the residents of the Ship Side called the carriage of the “crazed orphan,” became the first dressing station in history on the battlefield.

All day long, tirelessly, Dasha traveled to the front line and back, taking out the wounded, for whom there was no one to care for, without making out who was in front of her - Russian, French, English or Turk. Many were left lying on the bare ground, bleeding, without any help. And then Dasha appeared to the wounded like a bright angel, like the last hope.

“Be patient, my dear, everything will be fine, my dear,” - with these words Dasha washed and bandaged the wounds. As best she could, she tried to alleviate the plight of the wounded. The soldiers loved their young “sister” so much that very often, when they died, they bequeathed her some watches and some money.

After the defeat of Russian troops at Alma, near Balaklava and Inkerman, the blockade of Sevastopol began. Dasha adapted one of the houses into a hospital. Other women helped her, doing what they had the strength and means to do, and the necessary dressings, food, and blankets were brought by the townspeople. Dasha survived the blow when her horse was killed by shrapnel, and she had to pull out the wounded on herself, but, fortunately, one of the officers ordered a new one to be brought to her. And soon, together with other voluntary sisters, Dasha became subordinate to the famous surgeon Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov.

The emperor’s youngest sons, Nicholas and Mikhail, came to Crimea “to raise the spirit of the Russian army.” They also wrote to their father that in the fighting Sevastopol “a girl named Daria is taking care of the wounded and sick, and is doing exemplary efforts.” Nicholas I ordered her to receive a gold medal on the Vladimir ribbon with the inscription “For zeal” and 500 rubles in silver. According to their status, the gold medal “For Diligence” was awarded to those who already had three medals - silver, but for Dasha, the emperor, who admired her, made an exception. And another 1000 rubles were promised to her after marriage.

In one of his letters to his wife, Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov wrote: “Daria now appears with a medal on her chest received from the sovereign... She is a young woman, not ugly... She assists during operations.” Following Dasha, inspired by her example, other Sevastopol patriots - wives, sisters and daughters of defense participants - began to care for the wounded. According to the famous surgeon, Dasha and other nurses “uncomplainingly endured all the labors and dangers, unselfishly sacrificing themselves with heroism that would honor any soldier.”

Like Dasha, the Kryzhanovsky sisters - Ekaterina, Vassa and eleven-year-old Alexandra - were awarded gold medals “For Diligence” on the Vladimir Ribbon. But all of them were not doctors, which Pirogov really needed. And then he called on the nurses of the Holy Cross community of St. Petersburg, created on the initiative and at the expense of Princess Elena Pavlovna Romanova, the widow of the younger brother of Emperor Nicholas I, to “use all their strength and knowledge for the benefit of the army on the battlefield.”

Soon three detachments of sisters of mercy arrived from the capital to Sevastopol. Among them are Ekaterina Griboyedova, the sister of the writer and diplomat Alexander Griboyedov, Ekaterina Bakunina, the daughter of a senator, the great-niece of Field Marshal Mikhail Ivanovich Kutuzov, Baroness Lode and others. These were amazing women, who were not called “white doves” for nothing. They understood helping their neighbors as their duty, accepted other people’s pain as their own, endured difficult trials and at the same time did not lose their humanity and kindness. The sisters of mercy, according to Pirogov, turned Sevastopol hospitals “upside down”, restored order and cleanliness, and established treatment and nutrition for the wounded. They even managed to tame the unclean quartermasters, and the supply of hospitals improved dramatically.

In the summer of 1855, Dasha married a private of the 4th fin crew, Maxim Khvorostov, and received the 1000 silver rubles promised by the emperor.

When the war ended, Sevastopol lay in ruins. Many residents who lost their homes fled the city. To have a livelihood, Daria bought a tavern in the village of Belbek, but she did not succeed in becoming the owner of the inn. Soon, having sold her property, she settled with her husband in the port city of Nikolaev, near the sea.

After breaking up with her husband (some sources say that due to his drunkenness, others say he died early), Daria returned to Sevastopol, where she lived quietly and modestly until the end of her days on her native Korabelnaya side. There were no relatives left alive, and Daria Lavrentievna whiled away her days in peace and solitude. Old-timers recalled that she died in 1910 and was buried in the cemetery in Dock Ravine. The grave of the selfless woman has not been preserved, a public garden is now laid out on the site of the cemetery, but the memory of Dasha of Sevastopol lives on among the people, and this is the main thing.

Awards

· Gold medal "For zeal"

· Medal of the Crimean War participant

· Insignia of the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea “For mercy named after Dasha of Sevastopol” (established in 2013).

Memory

· Bust of the Heroine on the building of the "Defense of Sevastopol" panorama.

· Monument to the Heroine near the 3rd city hospital of the city of Sevastopol.

· The 3rd city hospital of Sevastopol bears the name of the Heroine.

· A monument was unveiled in the village of Shelanga, on the territory of the local school.

· Bust of the Heroine on the Alley of Heroes in Sevastopol Park (Dnepropetrovsk).

To the cinema

· Although some articles mention the appearance of Daria, who allegedly lived until 1911, in the final scene of the silent film “Defense of Sevastopol”, in reality she did not participate in the filming of the film and is not in this final scene.

· The image of Dasha Sevastopolskaya was recreated in the feature film “Pirogov”, where her role was played by actress Tatyana Piletskaya. We will remember her too. Remember with gratitude and be proud of her Christian deed.

Conclusion

Perhaps today she could take the “vacant” place of Mother Teresa... True, the fighters of the Crimean War could not call her “mother”: Dasha was then 18 years old. Someone called her “daughter”, and more often “little sister” or “sister”. The bleeding soldiers believed in the miraculous power of these girlish hands, which, on inspiration, healed their wounds. Dasha saved people not out of duty as a physician, but at the behest of her heart, driven by the luminary of mercy. It was from here that the stable phrase “sister of mercy” appeared in Russian speech, filled with moral and philosophical meaning, embodying the image of an exalted sacrificial soul.

It should be noted that the nurses of those years are by no means the same as modern nurses. These were girls and widows of “noble birth”, i.e. aristocrats. Among those who, according to Pirogov, “uncomplainingly endured all the hardships and dangers, unselfishly sacrificing themselves with heroism that would honor any soldier,” were the noblewomen Ekaterina Griboedova, the sister of the writer and diplomat Alexander Griboyedov, Ekaterina Bakunina, the daughter of a senator, grandson niece of Field Marshal M.I. Kutuzov, Baroness E. Lode and others.

But it so happened that the first nurse in the world was named the Englishwoman Florence Nightingale, and Britain will never give up this, despite the facts. On November 5, 1854, Nightingale arrived with 38 women from Great Britain at the Turkish hospital in Scutari, after which the mortality rate of the wounded decreased significantly. In Crimea, the “lady with a lamp,” as the Englishwoman was nicknamed, appeared on April 25-26, 1855. By this time, Russian nurses had already been working in places of military action for 4 months. And Dasha of Sevastopol began this noble task even earlier.

Nowadays, at the site of the battles of the Eastern (Crimean) War, there are monuments to all those who died - Russians, Turks, Italians, French, British. There is also a “Monument of Reconciliation” - a symbol of the last “point” in the history of this war. The British said that they want to erect a monument to Florence Nightingale in Balaklava; they have a grateful memory. The memory of Russians, unfortunately, is shorter and more careless: no one is in a hurry to erect a monument to Dasha of Sevastopol. The city of Russian sailors, Sevastopol, became Ukrainian territory 13 years ago, and now people here are more busy looking for the “Ukrainian roots” of the Russian sister of mercy. However, the monument to Dasha has been standing for a long time and firmly, it is not made by hands, it has the best place - in people's memory.

Dasha Sevastopolskaya is the first sister of mercy, for whom human kindness, mercy, the ability to rejoice and worry about other people created the basis of her human happiness.

Many hundreds and thousands more women and girls who defended their Motherland are worthy of our respect. Being in the laundries, in the kitchen, in the headquarters office, they performed sometimes unnoticed, but at the same time extremely necessary work.

We, grateful descendants, will sacredly preserve in our hearts and carry through time and distance the memory of those who did not spare their lives in the name of the Motherland throughout its history. Their example helps us live, helps us revive Russia, fills the souls of young people with true patriotism.

Posted on Allbest.ru

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