N.I. Pirogov,
a legendary military doctor called the first nurse Dasha
Sevastopolskaya the soul and the destiny of Sevastopol.
Dasha Sevastopolskaya (Darja Lavrentjevna Mikhailova) is a legendary figure
of the
Crimean war,
and the first defense of Sevastopol. For 150 years after
the war her name has been mentioned among the heroes of the first defense -
admirals, officers and sailors.
She was called "Sevastopolskaya" by the people, and Dasha was remembered
under this name ever after.
Dasha was the first volunteer nurse in Russia, who attended the injured right
after the battle and in the filed on battle. During the war a 17-year old
girl, showed the example of courage to the famous commanders.
Pirogov,
a famous surgeon who arrived to Sevastopol to provide the operative
medical care firstly heard of Dasha from the Duke Menshikov, a chief
commander of Russian troops.
The deed of a young orphan from the lower class became known to the Russian
emperor, Nikolay I. He was firstly told about Dasha by his sons - Michael
and Nikolay, who were in Crimea that time. The emperor awarded the nurse
with the gold medal on Vladimir's ribbon with the inscription "for devotion"
and gave her 500 silver rubles. He also promised to award Dasha with
1000 silver
rubles as a support when she gets married. It was very remarkable event,
because as a rool such medal had been always awarded to those who
already had 3 silver medals, which
meant the Russian tsar highly appreciated Dasha's deed.
This award was taken as a very exclusive one by Dasha's
contemporaries, as she was the only representative of a lower class
among Sevastopol heroes who was awarded not a silver but gold medal.
The archival documents say that in 1855 she got married to Private
Maksim (Maxim) Khvorostov and got the 1000 rubles previously promised
by the tsar. She is known to have lived in Sevastopol for the rest of her
life and worked at one of the city hospitals. When she retired, the injured
collected money to buy the icon of the Savior and presented it to Dasha.
She died in Sevastopol in 1911.
The name of Darja Mikhailova, a legendary Dasha Sevastopolskaya takes up an
honorable place in the history of the country among the other names Russia
will also be proud of.
We can also see her in the first Russia fiction film
"The Defense of Sevastopol" made by A. Khadzhonkov.
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