Swedish retreat thumb|left|250px|Charles XII at the Battle of Poltava by Carl Andreas Dahlström Realizing they were the last Swedes on the battlefield, Charles ordered a retreat to the woods, gathering what remaining forces he could for protection, including the remnants of Creutz's detachment. The Russians halted at the edge of the woods and their artillery fire stopped; only the Cossacks and Kalmyks roamed the plains south of the woods. Emerging from the woods at around noon, Charles—on horseback after his litter was destroyed, and protected by a square of a couple of thousand men—headed to Pushkaryovka and his baggage train 5 km to the south, reaching it after 1:00 p.m., by which time the battle was over.
Swedish retreat thumb|left|250px|Charles XII at the Battle of Poltava by Carl Andreas Dahlström Realizing they were the last Swedes on the battlefield, Charles ordered a retreat to the woods, gathering what remaining forces he could for protection, including the remnants of Creutz's detachment. The Russians halted at the edge of the woods and their artillery fire stopped; only the Cossacks and Kalmyks roamed the plains south of the woods. Emerging from the woods at around noon, Charles—on horseback after his litter was destroyed, and protected by a square of a couple of thousand men—headed to Pushkaryovka and his baggage train 5 km to the south, reaching it after 1:00 p.m., by which time the battle was over.