In 1774, during the battle in Alushta, Kutuzov was wounded by a bullet that damaged the right eye to the commander, but contrary to popular belief, his vision was preserved. Mikhail Illarionovich was awarded sixteen honorable awards, became the first St. George cavalier in the history of the Order. Kutuzov was a restrained, judicious commander, for whom the fame of the cunning was fixed. Napoleon himself called him "the old fox of the North." Mikhail Kutuzov is one of the main characters in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, which is studied in the 10th grade.