Pugatchef must have possessed a secret and unaccountable charm to make himself dreaded and cherished at the same time. Even at the time when the victorious army pressed him with restless activity; when, by the loss of several engagements, his forces were reduced to 4,000 men; and himself, compelled constantly to be changing his quarters; his very appearance produced wonders; at his mere voice in the districts in which he had never been before, the people flocked to him, murdered their lords, and acknowledged him their sovereign and master, with a sort of devotion difficult to describe, and which surpasses all belief. At length, though vanquished, he seemed to have formed the most dangerous of his plans; he crossed the Wolga, gave the slip to his enemies, and resolved to march towards Moscow. Whole regions went over to him; the utmost consternation prevailed in that capital, the great mass of Russian serfs were longing for his arrival; and had he reached Moscow, nothing could have possibly resisted him, as the fame of his genius and victories, strongly magnified, preceded him. Some writers venture to say, that he had more chance of being ultimately successful in his second attempt to conquer Moscow, when he had matured his plans, than at first. In order to check his progress, and to convince the people of his being an impostor, his first wife, Sophia (the second he married at laitzkoy), was found out at the Don, and sent to meet him publicly, by special orders of Catherine II. The interview took place. She came on him unexpectedly, but the object of the stratagem failed. Pugatchef did not lose, for an instant, his presence of mind; and, perceiving her, he said to his friends, ''Take care of that woman; I knew her husband; he was very kind to me; the poor creature is at times deranged."
But the time had now arrived, when Pugatchef was rapidly approaching the end of his hitherto prosperous career.
Colonel Michelson having received the necessary reinforcements, and gained new advantages, lost not a moment in marching against Pugatchef. Not satisfied with forcing him to retreat with his army from the town of Tzaritshin, he pushed him towards Tschernoiar, cut oif his supplies, and following his advantage with great ability, surprised him at last in a difficult position, when his scattered forces, embarrassed by waggons, women, artillery, cavalry, and a multitude without order, were scarcely moving, in a long and deep ravine on the banks of the Wolga. His bands, attacked in all directions, were compelled to fight for their lives, and made the most determined resistance; but soon disabled by the superiority of numbers, not less by the difficulties of their military position, than by the efforts of their adversaries, they gave way and fled in all directions. Some of them were cut to pieces; others, who endeavoured to escape, were hurled with their horses and waggons from high rocks into the river, and were either killed or drowned; the remainder surrendered at discretion.