The ego-documents of Nadezhda Durova (1783–1866), the first woman to serve in the tsarist army, remain at the center of our attention. The notes, kept throughout her military service in the years 1806–1814, are a source of information not only in the context of their author’s biography, but also of the realities relating to the history of the army of the Russian Empire. Durova recorded in them a naturalistic description of combat operations and soldierly existence, vividly and precisely characterizing regimental commanders. They also describe the greatest battles of the Napoleonic campaign in East Prussia. The material for analysis was extracted on the basis of the Notes of a Cavalrywoman (Записки кавалерист-девицы) published in 1966.