Durova’s cover was almost blown during riding practice, when her new horse sent her sailing over its head. Nadezhda landed hard and lost consciousness. She came to just in time to discover that her friends, who had rushed to her aid, had removed her jacket and cravat and were about to unbutton her blouse so she could breathe easier. This ‘undressing,’ as she described it later, was the only time she came close to being found out.

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Durova later transferred to the Lithuanian Lancer Regiment, frankly attributing her request to her own inability to live within her means. Lancer regiments did not require as much expenditure of funds as hussar regiments did.

Durova returned to combat during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 and again fought with outstanding courage. At the Battle of Borodino in September she received a severe contusion to her knee, caused by a glancing blow from a spent cannonball. Rather than go to the hospital, she immediately offered her services as a staff orderly to Field Marshal Mikhail I. Kutuzov, who knew her true identity and gladly accepted her offer. After the decimation of the Grand Armée in the winter of 1812, Durova went on to participate in the 1813 and 1814 campaigns to topple Napoleon from power, during which she received several more decorations.

Napoleon’s return to France, the Hundred Days and the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815, brought the Napoleonic wars to an end at last. In 1816 Durova, heeding her father’s requests to help him run the family estate, retired from the army with the rank of captain. By that time, her mother had died. In the postwar years, Durova continued to wear man’s clothing and referred to herself as a man, even with people who knew her from childhood. She admitted that she did ‘fancy women’s clothing’ but never wore a dress herself.

Bored with life in a small provincial town, Durova began to write. Her younger brother Vasily introduced her to the famous poet and writer Aleksandr S. Pushkin, who became a great admirer of her work and published it in his literary magazine, Contemporary, in 1836. It was also Pushkin who gave her the moniker ‘Cavalry Maiden.’ Besides her memoirs, Durova wrote four novels and numerous short stories between 1836 and 1840.

Nadezhda Durova lived out the rest of her life in the small town of Yelabuga, dying in 1866 at the age of 83. Fittingly, she was buried in a man’s clothing, with full military honors.

In the 1940s, Soviet playwright Aleksandr Gladkov wrote a play, A Long Time Ago, dedicated to Nadezhda Durova. When Eldar Ryazanov directed The Hussar Ballad in the 1960s, one of the film’s central characters was based on her.

The Durov family crest, in existence for more than 500 years, proudly proclaims, ‘Service to the Country.’ Although she never disclosed her true identity during her active duty career, Nadezhda Durova upheld the family motto, serving her country as well as any man did.

This article was written by Victor Kamenir and originally published in the April 2004 issue of Military History magazine.

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