CAMP-FIRES AT ASPERN AND ESSLING.
After the taking of Ratisbon, Napoleon advanced upon Vienna, which offered but a feeble resistance, and was easily occupied. But the Austrian army, in abandoning the capital of the empire, had not given up the struggle.
Sheltered by the Danube, the bridges over which they had destroyed at Vienna, and the surrounding places, they awaited a favorable opportunity of taking the offensive. The bridge of Lintz was the first objectof their attacks; but Vandamme opposed to them a vigorous resistance, and Bernadotte, arriving, completely routed them. On his side, Napoleon was also impatient to force the passage of the river, in order to finish this glorious campaign. The reconstruction of the bridge, was, therefore, his first care. Massena had thrown several over the arms of the Danube, which bathe the island of Lobau; Napoleon resolved to make use of it for the passage of the whole army. In three days, the corps of Lannes, Bessieres, and Massena had taken up a position on the island. The communication with the right bank, was by a bridge of boats, five hundred yards in length, and extending over three arms of the river. Another bridge, which was not more than sixty-one yards in length, connected the island with the left bank. It was here, that on the 21st of May, thirty-five thousand men crossed without opposition, to give battle between Aspern and Essling.
The reports brought to the French during the night were contradictory. Many lights were seen on the heights of Bisamberg; but nearer to the French and in their front, the horizon exhibited a pale streak of about a league in length, the reflected light of numerous watch-fires, which a rising ground between prevented from being themselves visible. From such indications as could be collected, Lannes was of opinion that they were in presence of the whole Austrian army. Napoleon was on horseback by break of day on the 21st, to judge for himself; but clouds of light troops prevented his getting near enough to reconnoitre accurately. Presently the skirmishers were withdrawn, and the Austrianswere seen advancing with their whole force, double in number to the French, and with two hundred and twenty pieces of artillery. Yet with this vast disproportion of odds, they were strangely astonished at the stand which they made on this occasion, as the French were mortified and reproached with having suffered a repulse or made only a drawn battle of it instead of a complete victory. The conflict commenced about four in the afternoon with a furious attack on the village of Aspern, which was taken and retaken several times, and at the close of the day remained (except the church and church-yard) in the possession of Massena, though on fire with the bombs and choked up with the slain. Essling was the object of three general attacks, against all which the French stood their ground. Lannes was at one time on the point of being overpowered, had not Napoleon by a sudden charge of cavalry come to his relief. Night separated the combatants.
The hundred thousand Austrians of the Archduke had not been able to gain an inch of ground from the thirty-five thousand French of Massena, Lannes and Bessieres. After the camp-fires were kindled among the dead of Aspern and Essling, both armies received reinforcements. The grenadiers of Oudinot, the division of St. Hilaire, two brigades of light cavalry, and the train of artillery passed the bridges, and took up a position on the line of battle. Napoleon confidently expected to achieve a decisive victory on the following day.
At four o’clock in the morning, the signal for battle was again given by the enemy against the village ofAspern; but Massena was there to defend it. This illustrious warrior, whose intrepidity, coolness and military talents, never appeared to better advantage than in difficult positions, did not content himself with repulsing the Austrians each time they attacked; he soon took upon himself the defensive, and completely overthrew the columns which were opposed to him. At the same moment, Lannes and the young guard fell impetuously on the centre of the Austrian army, in order to cut off the communication with the two wings. Every thing gave way before the heroic marshal, and the victory became certain and decisive, when, about seven o’clock in the morning, it was announced to the Emperor, that a sudden increase of the Danube, which had carried away trees, vessels and even houses, had also borne away the great bridge which joined the island of Lobau with the right bank, and which formed the only method of communication between the troops engaged on the left bank, and the rest of the French army. At this news, Napoleon, who had scarcely fifty thousand men with him, to make head against a hundred thousand, suspended the movement in advance, and ordered his marshals merely to retain their position, in order, afterwards to effect their retreat in good order to the island of Lobau. This order was executed. Generals and soldiers valorously upheld the honor of the French flag. The enemy informed of the destruction of the bridges, which had kept back the park of reserve of the French army, and which thus deprived the cannon and infantry of cartridges, became so emboldened as to resume the offensive on all points. They attacked Aspernand Essling, three times at the same moment, and were three times repulsed. General Mouton distinguished himself at the head of the fusileers of the guard. Marshal Lannes, whom the Emperor had charged to maintain the field of battle, valiantly fulfilled his task; he powerfully contributed to save this fine portion of the French army, the existence of which a stroke of fate had nearly compromised. But this striking service was the last which this illustrious soldier was to render to his country and to the great captain who was rather his friend than his master. A bullet struck him in the thigh towards the close of the day. Amputation was immediately performed, and with such success as caused hopes to be conceived which were not to be realized.
Lannes was borne on a litter before the Emperor, who wept at the sight of the companion of all his victories mortally wounded.
“Was it requisite,” said he in a tone of anguish, “that my heart on this day should have been struck so severe a blow, to force me to give way to other cares than those of my army!”
Lannes was conveyed to the island of Lobau. He had fainted. But he recovered his senses in the presence of Napoleon, the god of his idolatry: he clung around his neck, and said—
“In an hour you will have lost him who dies with the glory and conviction of having been your best friend!”
But Lannes lingered in agony for ten days. He did not want to die. He had not drank deep enough ofglory. He said the man who could not cure a Marshal and a Duke of Montebello ought to be hanged!
“It is at the moment of quitting life,” said Napoleon, later, “that one clings to it with all one’s strength. Lannes, the bravest of all men, Lannes, deprived of both legs, wished not to die. Every moment, the unfortunate man asked for the Emperor; he clung to me for the rest of his life; he wished but for me, thought of me only. A species of instinct! Assuredly he loved his wife and children better than me; and yet he spoke not of them; it was because he expected nought from them; it was he who protected them, whilst, on the contrary, I was his protector. I was for him something vague, superior; I was his providence; he prayed to me! It was impossible,” added Napoleon, “impossible to be more brave than Lannes and Murat. Murat remained brave only. The mind of Lannes would have increased with his courage; he would have become a giant. If he had lived in these times, I do not think it would have been possible to have seen him fail either in honor or duty. He was of that class of men who change the face of affairs by their own weight and influence.”
The illustrious marshal expired at Viluna on the 31st of May. He was lamented as the Roland of the army, and one of the greatest generals France had produced. General St. Hilaire, also, an excellent officer, was mortally wounded in this bloody struggle. He was highly esteemed by the Emperor, and if he had lived would doubtless have risen to the rank of marshal.
Napoleon was now cooped up in the island of Lobau. He had fought two indecisive battles. But that theywere indecisive, when he contended with an army double his own in number, was a triumph, of which any other commander would not have ceased to boast. However, the Emperor prepared himself to strike a blow as decisive as was Friedland after Eylau.
In the meantime, Napoleon ordered the funeral obsequies of the illustrious Lannes to be celebrated in a style which astonished all Europe, and showed how a man should be honored who had risen from the ranks by force of talent, to be a marshal and a Duke of Montebello. It was a funeral procession of an army of thirty thousand men, detailed for this service, who escorted the remains of the illustrious warrior from Germany to France. They remind us of Alexander honoring the remains of his friend Hœphestion. Paris had never witnessed a grander procession than that which conveyed the remains of Lannes from the Invalides to the Pantheon. It was not a cortege; it was a whole army marching in mourning for a hero, with arms lowered and flags bound with crape, and bearing a magnificent cenotaph. The funeral march was composed by the greatest composer of Germany, the peerless Beethoven, and it was performed by a band, the like of which had never been heard in Paris. Occasionally, the mournful strains were interrupted by the solemn roll of three hundred drums, and the firing of many guns reminded those who listened, of those tremendous storms of battle, in which the lion-hearted Lannes had so often bled for France. The whole funeral ceremony was eminently worthy of the Emperor and his illustrious friend.
THE CAMP-FIRE AT WAGRAM.
After the bloody conflicts of Essling and Aspern, Napoleon remained stationary for a considerable time. The Archduke, uneasy at the movements of Marshal Davoust before Presburg, dared not assume the offensive, and employed himself in fortifying his position between Aspern and Ebersdorf. Napoleon labored at the reconstruction of the bridges,and the communication between the island and the right bank was re-established. Soon afterwards, the Emperor learned that the army of Italy, under the command of Prince Eugene, had defeated the Austrians, and that the victors had effected a junction with the army of Germany, on the heights of Simmering. On the 14th of June, the Prince gained another victory over the Austrians at Raab. Marmont, after some successes in Dalmatia, came to re-unite himself with the Grand Army, and to place himself within the circle of the Emperor’s operations. Napoleon’s eagle eye saw that the moment for a decisive stroke had arrived, and he immediately began the advance movement, which led to the famous battle of Wagram.
About ten o’clock at night, on the 4th of July, the French began to cross the Danube. Gunboats, prepared for the purpose, silenced some of the Austrian batteries. Others were avoided by passing the river out of reach of their fire, which the French were enabled to do by their new bridges. At daybreak, on the morning of the 5th, the Archduke Charles was astonished to see the whole French army on the left bank of the Danube, and so posted as to render the fortifications which he had constructed with so much labor utterly useless for defence.
Greatly frightened at the progress of the French army, and at the great results obtained by it, almost without effort, the Archduke ordered all the troops to march, and at six o’clock in the evening, occupied the following position:—the right, from Stradelau to Gerasdorf; the centre, from Gerasdorf to Wagram, and theleft, from Wagram to Neusiedel. The French army had their left at Gros-Aspern, their centre at Rachsdorf, and their right at Glinzendorf. In this position, the day had almost closed, and a great battle was expected on the morrow; but this would be avoided, and the position of the enemy destroyed, by preventing them from conceiving any system, if, in the night, possession were taken of Wagram; then their line, already immense, taken by surprise and exposed to the chances of battle, would allow the different bodies of the army to err without order or directions, and they would thus become an easy prey without any serious engagement. The attack on Wagram took place; the French carried this place; but a column of Saxons and another of French mistook each other in the obscurity for hostile troops, and so the operation failed.
When the bloody and indecisive struggle was relinquished for the night, only one house was left standing of the village of Wagram, which had been taken and retaken, and at length destroyed by the furious cannonade.
As the movement designed by the Emperor had failed, it remained to prepare for the struggle of the next day. It appeared that the dispositions of the French and Austrian generals was reversed. The Emperor passed the whole night in strengthening his centre, where he was in person within cannon-shot of Wagram. To effect this, the lion-hearted Massena marched to the left of Aderklau, leaving a single division at Aspern, which had orders to fall back if hard pressed, upon the island of Lobau. The intrepid and inexorableDavoust received orders to leave the village of Grosshoffen to approach the centre. The Austrian general, on the contrary, committed the time-condemned error of weakening his centre in order to strengthen his wings. All night could be seen the far-extending lines of the blazing fires, which seemed to join each other in the distance; and all night could be heard the heavy tread of the troops, marching to take up positions under the vigilant eye of the Emperor. Brave, confident hearts, how many of them were destined to be swept to earth by the storm of the Austrian artillery!
At length, the day of the 6th dawned upon the plain of Wagram, and exhibited the two vast bodies of men, whose accoutrements glittered in the light, who were about to be hurled together in deadly conflict. At the first peep of day, Bernadotte occupied the left, leaving Massena in the second line. Prince Eugene, with the laurels of Raab freshly enwreathing his brow, connected him with the centre, where the corps of Oudinot, Marmont, those of the imperial guard, and the divisions of the cuirassiers, formed eight lines of battle-scarred veterans, eager for the fray. Davoust marched from the right in order to reach the centre.
The enemy, on the contrary, ordered the corps of Bellegarde to march upon Stradelau. The corps of Colowrath, Lichtenstein, and Hiller, connected this right with the position of Wagram, where the Prince of Hohenzollern was, and to the extremity of the left, at Neusiedel, to which extended the corps of Rosemberg, in order to fall upon Davoust. The corps of Rosemberg and that of Davoust, making an inverse movement, metwith the first rays of the sun, and gave the signal for battle. The Emperor made immediately for this point, reinforced Davoust with the divisions of cuirassiers, and took the corps of Rosemberg in flank with a battery of twelve pieces of General Count Nansouty. In less than three quarters of an hour, the fine corps of Davoust had defeated Rosemberg’s troop, and driven it beyond Neusiedel, with great loss.
In the meantime the cannonade commenced throughout the line, and the dispositions of the enemy became developed every moment; the whole of their left was studded with artillery; one would have said that the Austrian general was not fighting for the victory, but that the only object he had in view, was how to profit by it. This disposition of the enemy appeared so absurd, that some snare was dreaded, and the Emperor hesitated some time before ordering the easy dispositions which he had to make, in order to annul those of the enemy, and render them fatal to him. He ordered Massena to make an attack on a village occupied by the foe, and which somewhat pressed the extremity of the centre of the army. He ordered Davoust to turn the position of Neusiedel, and to push from thence upon Wagram; and bade Massena and General Macdonald form in column, in order to carry Wagram the moment Davoust should march upon it.
While this was going forward, word was brought that the enemy was furiously attacking the village which Massena had carried; that the left had advanced about three thousand yards; that a heavy cannonade was already heard at Gross-Aspern, and that the intervalfrom Gros-Aspern to Wagram appeared covered by an immense line of artillery. It could no longer be doubted: the enemy had committed an enormous fault, and it only remained to profit by it. The Emperor immediately ordered General Macdonald to dispose the divisions of Broussier and Lamarque in attacking columns; they were supported by the division of General Nansouty, by the horse guards, and by a battery of sixty pieces of the guard and forty pieces of different corps. General Count de Lauriston, at the head of this battery of a hundred pieces of artillery, galloped towards the enemy, advanced without firing to within half cannon-shot, and then commenced a prodigious cannonade which soon silenced that of the enemy, and carried death into their ranks. General Macdonald marched forward to the charge. And such a charge had never before been witnessed upon the field of battle. Macdonald advanced, as it were, in the face of a volcano pouring forth a red tide of death. Whole squadrons were swept to the earth, but, led by a man without fear, the guards never even faltered; but on, on—still on—they advanced, like a decree of fate, which nothing could check. To sustain them, Bessieres charged with the cavalry of the old guard, but was hurled from his horse by a cannon-shot, which damped the enthusiasm of his troops, and rendered their onset weak. Napoleon, who, riding on a splendid white charger, was a conspicuous mark for the balls of the enemy, seeing his faithful Bessieres fall, turned away, saying, “Let us avoid another scene!” alluding to the incidents attending the death of the illustrious Lannes. But Macdonald continued his rapidadvance, attacked and broke the centre of the Austrians, and captured their guns. But here he was compelled to halt; the column which he had led to the charge had been reduced to between two and three thousand effective men. Its path was piled with the slain. But the centre of the enemy was broken. Their right, seized with a panic, fell back in haste, and Massena then attacked in front, while Davoust, who had carried Neusiedel and Wagram, attacked and penetrated the left. It was but ten o’clock, and yet the victory already clung to the eagles of the French. From that time until noon, the Archduke only fought for a safe retreat. The French continued to gain ground; until, when the sun had reached the meridian, the dispirited Austrian general gave the order for retreat. The French pursued. But Murat, to Napoleon’s regret, was not at the head of the cavalry, and many of the advantages of such a glorious victory were lost. Long before night’s shadows descended, the Austrians were out of sight, and the French encamped upon the field of their victory, although the cavalry had posts advanced as far as Soukirchen.
At dark, the Emperor could sum up the results of this terrible battle, in which between three and four hundred thousand men, with from twelve to fifteen hundred pieces of artillery, did the work of death. Ten flags, forty pieces of cannon, twenty thousand prisoners, of whom three or four hundred were officers, were the trophies. Besides these, the Austrians left upon the field about nine thousand men wounded, and an immense number of slain. The Archduke himself was woundedin this bloody struggle. The French had suffered a severe loss. Besides a great number of brave men who had been swept into the sea of death by the storm of the Austrian artillery, there were six thousand wounded, among whom were Marshal Bessieres, and the Generals Sahuc, Seras, Defranc, Grenier, Vignoble and Frere.
It was a fitting time to do honor to the unrivalled commanders of the army. Macdonald had been in a kind of disgrace. But the Emperor now forgot all but his unequalled charge. He advanced to that intrepid general, and said, “Shake hands, Macdonald; no more animosity between us: let us henceforth be friends!” That night, by the camp-fire of Wagram, three new marshals of the empire were created, viz.:—Macdonald, Oudinot and Marmont.
The troops were excessively fatigued, and were glad when they received orders from the Emperor to cease the pursuit, and bivouac on the plain of Wagram. The Emperor then entered his tent to seek repose. But he had not tasted its sweets more than half an hour, when an aid-de-camp came in hurriedly, crying, “Up! up! to arms!” This cry was caught up and repeated throughout the whole army, startling the quiet night. “In five minutes,” says the author of Travels in Moravia, “the troops were in position and ready for action, and the Emperor was on horseback, with all his generals around him. This rapid and regular movement was unparalleled. And certainly it was an astonishing display of perfect discipline and promptitude. The cause of this alarm was the approach of an Austrian corps, numbering three thousand men, under the ArchdukeJohn. But that body, having failed in an attempt at surprise, retreated, and the French returned to their bivouacs, much amused with the incident of the night. In a short time, all was silent again upon the bloody plain of Wagram.
Then followed the treaty of Schœnbrunn, which once more prostrated the coalition, and secured Maria Louisa, a daughter of the proud house of Hapsburg-Lorraine, in the place of the beloved Josephine, as Empress of France. Thus the child of the people had conquered an alliance with the daughter of emperors.
MURAT.
MURAT.
MURAT.
THE CAMP-FIRE ON THE NIEMEN.
The oppressive continental policy of Napoleon caused the rupture of the peace of Tilsit, and led to the grand, but disastrous invasion of Russia. Alexander gave the first offence by not fulfilling the condition of his treaty with Napoleon. The French Emperor then began to see the error of that treaty. It should have secured the independence of Poland. The czar pressed Napoleon for a declaration that Poland should never bere-established, but the Emperor refused to make this concession. Both rulers then prepared for a struggle on a gigantic scale. Napoleon determined to invade, and Alexander was resolved to make a resolute defence.
Napoleon determined to concentrate an army of four hundred thousand men upon the banks of the Niemen. He was thoroughly informed of the vast resources of France and of the condition of the country through which he would be compelled to march. As far as human calculation could reach, his views were clear and accurate.
It was from the bosom of that France, of which he had made a “citadel,” which appeared impregnable, and across that Germany whose sovereigns were at his feet, that Napoleon wended his way towards the frontier of the Russian empire, in order to place himself at the head of the most formidable army which the genius of conquest had ever led. Fouche, Cardinal Fesch, and other noted councillors strove to dissuade Napoleon from the impending war; but the Emperor was confident, and seems to have entertained no doubt of his success. “The war,” he said, “is a wise measure, called for by the true interests of France and the general welfare. The great power I have already attained, compels me to assume an universal dictatorship. My views are not ambitious. I desire to obtain no further acquisition; and reserve to myself only the glory of doing good, and the blessings of posterity. There must be but one European code; one court of appeal; one system of money, weights and measures; equal justice and uniform laws throughout the continent. Europe must constitutebut one great nation, and Paris must be the capital of the world.” Grand but premature conception!
The signal for the advance of the Grand Army was now sounded. It moved forward in thirteen divisions, besides the Imperial Guard, and certain chosen troops. The first division was headed by the stern and intrepid Davoust; the second, by Oudinot; the third, by the indomitable Ney; the fourth, by the skilful Prince Eugene; the fifth, by the devoted Poniatowski; the sixth, by that cool and skilful general, Gouvion St. Cyr; the seventh, by the veteran Regnier; the eighth, by the brave but reckless Jerome Bonaparte; the ninth, by the resolute Victor; the tenth, by the hero of Wagram, Macdonald; the eleventh, by the old veteran of Italy, Augereau; the twelfth, by the bold and brilliant Murat; and the thirteenth by Prince Schwartzenberg. The Old Guard—that solid and impenetrable phalanx—was commanded by Bessieres, Le Febre and Mortier.
Long before daybreak, on the 23d of June, the French army approached the Niemen. It was only two o’clock in the morning, when the Emperor, accompanied only by General Hays, rode forward to reconnoitre. He wore a Polish dress and bonnet, and thus escaped observation. After a close scrutiny, he discovered a spot near the village of Poineven, above Kowno, favorable to the passage of the troops, and gave orders for three bridges to be thrown across, at nightfall. The whole day was occupied in preparing facilities for the passage of the river, the line which separated them from the Russian soil.
The first who crossed the river were a few sappersin a boat. The day had been very warm, and the night was welcomed by the weary soldiers, who knew they had yet a difficult task to perform. Napoleon, who had been somewhat depressed all day, now seemed to regain his cheerful spirits. He posted himself upon a slight eminence, where he could superintend operations. The sappers found all silent on the Russian soil, and no enemy appeared to oppose them, with the exception of a single Cossack officer on patrole, who asked, with an air of surprise, who they were, and what they wanted. The sappers quickly replied, “Frenchmen!” and one of them briskly added, “Come to make war upon you; to take Wilna, and deliver Poland.” The Cossack fled into the wood, and three French soldiers discharged their pieces at him without effect. These three shots were the signals for the opening of this ever-memorable campaign. Their echoes roused Napoleon from the lethargy into which he had fallen, and he immediately planned the most active measures.
Three hundred voltigeurs were sent across to protect the erection of the bridges. At the same time, the dark masses of the French columns began to issue from the valleys and forests, and to approach the river, in order to cross it at dawn of day.
All fires were forbidden, and perfect silence was enjoined. The men slept with their arms in their hands, on the green corn, heavily moistened with dew, which served them for beds, and their horses for provender. Those on watch, passed the hours in reading over the Emperor’s proclamation, and speculating on the prospect which the daylight would disclose. The night waskeen, and pitch dark. The silence maintained amidst such a prodigious mass of life—felt to be there, whilst nothing could be seen—rendered the hours unspeakably solemn.
Before dawn, the whole array was under arms; but the first beams of the sun shewed no opposing enemy; nothing but dry and desert sand, and dark silent forests. On their own side of the river, men and horses, and glittering arms, covered every spot of ground within the range of the eye, and the Emperor’s tent in the midst of them stood on an elevation. At a given signal, the immense mass began to defile in three columns towards the bridges. Two divisions of the advanced guard, in their ardor for the precedence, nearly came to blows. Napoleon crossed among the first, and stationed himself near the bridges to encourage the men by his presence. They saluted him with their usual acclamations. He seemed depressed, for a time, partly owing to his previous exertions and want of rest, partly from the excessive heat of the day, but no doubt still more from the passive desolation which met his forces, when he had expected a mortal enemy to contend with him in arms. This latter feeling was presently manifested in its reaction, and with a fierce impatience he set spurs to his horse, dashed into the country, and penetrated the forest which bordered the river; “as if,” says Segur, “he were on fire to come in contact with the enemy alone.” He rode more than a league in the same direction, surrounded throughout by the same solitude. He then returned to the vicinity of the bridges, and led the army into the country, while a menacing sky hungblack and heavy over the moving host. The distant thunder began to roar and swell, and the storm soon descended. The lightning flamed across the whole expanse above their heads; they were drenched with torrents of rain; the roads were all inundated; and the recently oppressive heat of the atmosphere was suddenly changed to a bitter chilliness. Some thousands of horses perished on the march, and in the bivouacs which followed: many equipages were abandoned on the sands; and many men fell sick and died.
The Emperor found shelter in a convent, from the first fury of the tempest, but shortly departed for Kowno, where the greatest disorder prevailed. The passage of Oudinot had been impeded by the bridge across the Vilia having been broken down by the Cossacks. Napoleon treated this circumstance with contempt, and ordered a squadron of the Polish guard to spur into the flood, and swim across. This fine picked troop instantly obeyed. They proceeded at first in good order, and soon reached the centre of the river; but here the current was too strong, and their ranks were broken. They redoubled their exertions, but the horses became frightened and unmanageable. Both men and horses were soon exhausted. They no longer swam, but floated about in scattered groups, rising and sinking, while some among them went down. At length, the men, finding destruction inevitable, ceased their struggles, but as they were sinking, they turned their faces towards Napoleon, and cried out, “Vive l’Empereur!” Three of these noble-spirited patriots uttered this cry, while only a part of their faces wereabove the waters. The army was struck with a mixture of horror and admiration. Napoleon watched the scene apparently unmoved, but gave every order he could devise for the purpose of saving as many of them as possible, though with little effect. It is probable that his strongest feeling, even at the time, was a presentiment that this disastrous event was but the beginning of others, at once tremendous and extensive.
Marshal Oudinot with the second corps crossed the Vilia, by a bridge at Keydani. Meanwhile the rest of the army was still crossing the Niemen, in which operation three entire days were consumed.
After the first night of the arrival upon the Niemen, camp-fires were permitted, and their vast line illumined the sky to a great distance. The troops suffered severely from the sudden changes of the weather—from oppressive heat to piercing cold. But when we learn their sufferings in the rest of the campaign, we forget this first taste of misery. Before the army had entirely crossed the Niemen, Napoleon reached the plain of Wilna, which he found the Russians had deserted. However, he was received by the inhabitants of Wilna as a deliverer, and the restorer of the nationality of Poland. Still the steady movement of retreat, laying waste the country—the plan which the Russian generals had adopted—caused the Emperor to be gloomy, and it seemed as if the cloud of adversity had already begun to obscure his star.
MASSENA.
MASSENA.
MASSENA.
THE CAMP-FIRE AT WITESPSK.
The first combat of importance during the Russian campaign was fought at Ostrowna. On the 18th of July, Napoleon reached Klubokoe. There he was informed that the Russian general, Barclay de Tolly, had abandoned the camp at Drissa, and was marching towards Witepsk. He immediately ordered all his corps upon Beszenkowici; and so admirable and precise were his combinations,that the whole of his immense mass of armies reached the place in one day. Segur has graphically described the apparent chaos of confusion which seemed to result from that very regularity itself. The columns of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, presenting themselves on every side; the rush, the crossing, the jostling; the contention for quarters, and for forage and provisions; the aides-de-camp bearing important orders vainly struggling to open a passage. At length, before mid night, order had taken the place of this apparent anarchy. The vast collection of troops had flowed off towards Ostrowno, or been quartered in the town, and profound silence succeeded the tumult. The Russian army had got the start of Napoleon, and now occupied Witepsk.
The first combat of Ostrowno took place on the 25th of July. The Russian infantry, protected by a wood, fiercely contested the ground, but were beaten back at every point by the repeated charges of Murat, seconded by the eighth regiment of infantry, and the divisions of Bruyeres and St. Germains; and at length the division of Delzons coming up completed the victory of the French. On the 26th, the Russians who had been reinforced, and had occupied a very strong position, seemed disposed to renew the struggle. Barclay had thrown forward this portion of his force to retard the French advance, while he daily looked for the junction of Bagration. The French van had also been reinforced; Prince Eugene with the Italian division having joined in the night. The numbers and strong position of the Russians gave them an immense superiority in the beginningof the day. They attacked with fury, issuing in large masses out of their woods with deafening war cries. The French regiments opposed to this onset were mowed down, beaten back, and in danger of an irretrievable rout. At this critical moment, Murat placed himself at the head of a regiment of Polish lancers, and with word and gesture incited them to an unanimous and energetic rush. Roused by his address, and inspired with rage at the sight of their oppressors, they obeyed with impetuosity. His object had been to launch them against the enemy, not to mingle personally in the torrent of the fight, which must disqualify him for the command; but their lances were in their rests, and closely filed behind him; they occupied the whole width of the ground; they hurried him forwards at the full speed of their horses, and he was absolutely compelled to charge at their head, which he did, as the eye-witnesses affirm, “with an admirable grace,” his plumed hat and splendid uniform giving him on this occasion, and numberless others in which he displayed a most joyous and reckless courage, the air of some knight of romance. This impetuous onset was seconded by the other French leaders. Eugene, General Girardin, and General Pire attacked at the head of their columns, and finally the wood was gained. The Russians retreated, and disappeared from view in a forest two leagues in depth, into the recesses of which even the impetuosity of Murat hesitated to follow. The forest was the last obstacle which hid Witepsk from their view. At this moment of uncertainty, Napoleon appeared with the main body of the army, and all difficultiesand uncertainties soon vanished. After hearing the report of the two princes, he went without delay to the highest point of ground he could reach. There he observed long and carefully the nature of the position, and calculated the movements of his enemies; he then ordered an immediate advance. The whole army rapidly traversed the forest, and began to debouch upon the plain of Witepsk before night-fall. The approaching darkness, the multitude of Russian watch-fires which covered the open ground, and the time requisite to complete the extrication of his several divisions from the defiles of the forest, obliged Napoleon to halt at this point. He believed himself to be in presence of the main Russian army, and on the eve of the great battle he so ardently desired. He left his tent, and repaired to his advanced posts before daybreak on the 27th, and the first rays of the sun shewed him the whole of Barclay’s forces encamped on an elevated position, commanding all the avenues of Witepsk. The deep channel of the river Lucszissa marked the foot of this position, and ten thousand cavalry and a body of infantry were stationed in advance of the river to dispute its approaches; the main body of the Russian infantry was in the centre on the high road; its left, on woody eminences; its right, supported by cavalry, resting on the Dwina.
Napoleon took his station on an insulated hill in view of both armies. Here, surrounded by a circle of chasseurs of his guard, he directed the movements of his troops as they successively advanced to form in line of battle. Two hundred Parisian voltigeurs of the ninthregiment of the line, were the first who debouched, and were ranged on the left in front of the Russian cavalry, and resting, like it, on the Dwina; they were followed by the sixteenth chasseurs and some artillery. The Russians looked on with coolness, offering no opposition. This favorable state of inaction was suddenly interrupted by Murat. Intoxicated at the brilliant and imposing assemblage of so many thousands of spectators, he precipitated the French chasseurs upon the whole Russian cavalry. They were met by an overwhelming opposition; broken, put to flight, and the foremost cut to pieces. The King of Naples, stung to the quick at this result, threw himself into the thickest of the rout and confusion, sword in hand. His life had nearly been forfeited to his headstrong valor. A furious and well-directed blow was just descending on his head, aimed from behind by a Russian trooper, and it was only averted by a sudden slash from the sabre of the orderly who attended Murat, which cut off the trooper’s arm. The consequences of these rash proceedings did not stop here. The successful resistance of the Russian cavalry impelled them to advance nearly as far as the hill on which Napoleon was posted, and his guard with great difficulty drove them back by repeated discharges of their carbines. The two hundred Parisian voltigeurs, left in an isolated position by the disorder into which the chasseurs had been thrown, were next placed in imminent peril. The Russian cavalry in returning to the main body, attacked and surrounded the voltigeurs. Both armies, spectators of this sudden and unequal conflict, regarded that small band of men as utterlylost. To the amazement of both French and Russians, however, this handful of apparent victims was presently seen to emerge unhurt from the dense cloud of assailants, who continued their original movement upon their own position. The voltigeurs had rapidly thrown themselves into square on a woody and broken space of ground, close to the river. Here the Russian cavalry could not act, while the steady fire of the voltigeurs made such havoc that their assailants were glad to leave them as they found them. Napoleon sent the cross of the Legion of Honor to every one of them on the spot.
The remainder of the day was spent by Napoleon in stationing his army; in waiting for the successive arrivals of different corps,—to be brief, in preparing for a decisive battle on the morrow. The more ardent of his generals wished that he had not waited till “the morrow,” and when he took leave of Murat with the words, “To-morrow you will see the sun of Austerlitz,” the King of Naples incredulously shook his head, saying, that “Barclay only assumed that posture of defiance, the better to ensure his retreat;” and then, with a temerity, verging on the ludicrous, gave vent to his impatient irritation by ordering his tent to be pitched on the banks of the Lucszissa, nearly in the midst of the enemy, that he might be the first to catch the sounds of their retreat.
Murat was right. The Russians retreated while the Emperor was preparing to make Witepsk the scene of a decisive battle. At daybreak, Murat came to inform the Emperor that he was going in pursuit of the Russians who were no longer in sight. Napoleon wouldnot at first credit the report, but their empty camp soon convinced him of the truth. There was not even a trace to indicate the route Barclay had taken. The army then entered Witepsk, and found it deserted. They then followed in pursuit for six leagues, through a deep and burning sand, and during the march the soldiers suffered dreadfully from thirst. At last, night put an end to their progress at Agliaponorchtchina. While the troops were busy in procuring some muddy water to drink, Napoleon held a council, the result of which was, that it was useless to pursue the Russian army any further at present, and that it was advisable to halt where they were, on the borders of Old Russia. As soon as the Emperor had formed this resolution, he returned to Witepsk with his guards. On entering his head-quarters in that city on the 28th, he took off his sword, and laid it down on the maps which covered his table. “Here!” said he, “I halt. I want to reconnoitre, to rally, to rest my army, and to organize Poland. The campaign of 1812 is over; that of 1813 will do the rest.” Ah! well for him would it have been, had he been content with the laurels that were heaped upon his head, and fallen back then to devote himself to the restoration of Poland. But his faith in his star had not yet been weakened, and on, on—he would press, till checked by obstacles which no human power could overcome.
THE CAMP-FIRE AT SMOLENSKO.
Napoleon halted two weeks at Witepsk. He felt that if he could not find the Russian army, it was necessary to make a conquest that would end the campaign with substantial glory. Now, more than ever the idea of capturing the ancient Moscow entered his head, and he quickly decided to advance. Already full of the plan, which was to crown him with success, he ran to his maps. There he saw nothing but Smolensko and Moscow.
“At the sight of them,” says Hazlitt, “he appeared inflamed by the genius of war. His voice became harsh; his glance fiery, and his whole air stern and fierce. His attendants retired from his presence, through fear as well as respect; but at length his mind was fixed, his determination taken, and his line of march traced out. Immediately after, the tempest was calmed, and having given consistency and utterance to his great conceptions, his features resumed their wonted character of placidity and cheerfulness.” He did all in his power to gain over his officers to his purposes, and redoubled his attentions to his soldiers. The latter soon displayed a spirit of heroic devotion to his person.
The column of advance consisted of one hundred and eighty-five thousand men; not one half of the complement of the vast army which had entered Russia on the 23d of June.
It must be remembered that the great tract of country already passed was now occupied by his army, and necessarily expended a force, amounting perhaps to nearly eighty thousand men; but it is computed that in addition to this diminution of his army engaged in actual service, he had lost one-third of his original numbers by desertion, wounds, or death, either from fatigue or disease, or in the field of battle. Numbers of his hospital wagons, pontoons, and provision wagons, also, were far in the rear. Still, all these considerations gave way before his ardent desire to hurry the war to a termination, and the exertions he made at Witepsk were all with a view to an advance. Several actions, occurred between his generals and the different divisions of theRussian army during the period in which he held his head-quarters at Witepsk. Schwartzenberg conquered Tormazoff at Gorodeczna; Barclay retreated before Ney at Krasnoi; and Oudinot defeated Witgenstein near Polotsk, in a second combat,—the first in which they encountered was indecisive. It was at this moment that Napoleon received news of the conclusion of peace between Russia and Turkey, an event which much more than counterbalanced these successes.
During the first week of August, intelligence reached Witepsk, that the advanced guard, led by Prince Eugene, had obtained some advantages near Suraij; but that, in the centre, at Tukowo, near the Dnieper, Sebastiani had been surprised, and conquered by superior numbers. This information, together with the march of Barclay upon Rudnia, decided Napoleon. He conjectured that the whole Russian army was united between the Dwina and the Dnieper, and was marching against his cantonments. His conjecture proved to be perfectly correct. The Russian commander-in-chief conceiving that the French army at Witepsk lay considerably more dispersed than his own, had resolved to attempt a surprise. The utmost activity now pervaded head-quarters. On the 10th of August, Napoleon was observed to write eight letters to Davoust, and nearly as many to each of his commanders. “If the enemy defends Smolensko,” he said, in one of his letters to Davoust, “as I am tempted to believe he will, we shall have a decisive engagement there, and we cannot have too large a force. Orcha will become the central point of the army. Every thing induces me to believe thatthere will be a great battle at Smolensko.” Barclay having laid a plan for the surprise of Napoleon, the latter by a daring manœuvre avoided it, and almost succeeded in an attempt to turn the very same plan of surprise upon his enemy. Allowing the skirmishing to continue on the advanced posts, he changed his line of operations, and turning the left of the Russians instead of their right, which was expected by Barclay, he gained the rear of their army, and endeavored to occupy Smolensko, and act upon their lines of communication with Moscow. To effect this, he had withdrawn his forces from Witepsk and the line of the Dwina, with equal skill and rapidity, and throwing four bridges across the Dnieper, made a passage for Ney, Eugene Beauharnais, and Davoust, with Murat at the head of two large bodies of cavalry. They were supported by Poniatowski and Junot, who advanced in different routes. The attack was led by Ney and Murat, who bore down all opposition till they reached Krasnoi, where a battle was fought on the 14th of August. He had thus suddenly changed his line of operations from the Dwina to the Dnieper, and the manœuvre has been the subject of much admiration and criticism among French and Russian tacticians.
The Russian general, Newerowskoi, who commanded at Krasnoi, finding himself attacked by a body of infantry stronger than his own, and two large bodies of cavalry besides, retreated upon the road to Smolensko. This road being favorable for the action of cavalry, he was hotly pressed by Murat, who led the pursuit in full splendor of attire, and with all the reckless valor whichcharacterised him. He also dispatched some of his light squadrons to alarm if not attack the front of the retreating corps, while he made furious onsets upon their flank and rear. Newerowskoi, however, effected a skilful and gallantly-conducted retreat, availing himself of a double row of trees on the high road to Smolensko, by which he evaded the charges of the cavalry, and was enabled to pour in a heavy fire. He made good his retreat into Smolensko, with the loss of four hundred men.
The day on which the combat at Krasnoi was fought, happened to be the Emperor’s birth-day. There was no intention of keeping it in these immense solitudes, and under the present circumstances of peril and anxiety. There could be no heartfelt festival without a complete victory. Murat and Ney, however, on giving in the report of their recent success, could not refrain from complimenting the Emperor on the anniversary of his nativity. A salute from a hundred pieces of artillery was now heard, fired according to their orders. Napoleon, with a look of displeasure, observed, that in Russia it was important to be economical of French powder. But he was informed in reply, that it was Russian powder, and had been taken the night before. The idea of having his birth-day celebrated at the expense of the Russians made Napoleon smile. Prince Eugene also paid his compliments to the Emperor on this occasion; but was cut short by Napoleon saying, “Every thing is preparing for a battle. I will gain that, and then we will see Moscow.”
While Newerowskoi was intrenched in Smolensko, the generals, Barclay and Bagration, who were stationedtowards Inkowo, between the Dnieper and Lake Kasplia, hesitated whether to attack the French army, which they believed to be still in their front. But when they heard of the situation of Newerowskoi, the question of forcing the French lines was superseded by the necessity of hurrying to the rescue of Smolensko. Murat had already commenced an attack on the city. Ney had attempted to carry the citadel by acoup de main, but was repulsed with the loss of two or three hundred men, and was himself slightly wounded. He withdrew to an eminence on the river’s bank, to examine the various positions, when on the other side of the Dnieper he thought he could discern some large masses of troops in motion. He hastened to inform the Emperor. Napoleon was presently on the spot, and distinguished, amidst clouds of dust, long dark columns which seemed electric with the intermittent glancing of innumerable arms. These masses were advancing with rapidity. It was Barclay and Bagration at the head of a hundred and twenty thousand men. At this sight, Napoleon clapped his hands for joy, exclaiming,—“At last I have them!” The moment that was to decide the fate of Russia or the French army, had apparently arrived.
Napoleon passed along the line, and assigned to each commander his station, leaving an extensive plain unoccupied in front, between himself and the Dnieper. This he offered to the enemy as a field of battle. The French army in this position was backed by defiles and precipices; but Napoleon had no anxiety about retreat, so certain felt he of victory.
Instead, however, of accepting the challenge to a decisive battle, Barclay and Bagration were seen next morning in full retreat towards Elnia; a movement which was so bitterly disappointing to Napoleon that he for some time refused to credit the fact. Various plans were contemplated by the Emperor for partially cutting off their retreat, but could not be brought into operation. He instantly ordered the storming of Smolensko, inferring that it should be considered as a mere passage through which he would force his way to Moscow. It appears that Murat was very anxious to dissuade him from this attempt, but finding his efforts in vain, the King of Naples was so exasperated that he rode in front of the most formidable of the Russian batteries while it was in full play upon the French; and having dismounted, remained standing immoveable, while the balls were cutting down men on all sides. The storming proceeded with success, except in the attack made by Ney upon the citadel, which repulsed him with loss. One battalion happening to present itself in flank before the Russian batteries, lost the entire row of a company by a single ball, which thus killed twenty-two men at the same instant. In the mean time, the main army, on an amphitheatre of hills, surveyed in anxiety the struggles of their comrades in arms, and occasionally applauded them with loud clapping hands as in a theatre, while they made good any fresh onset, dashing through a maze of balls and grape-shot which shadowed the air.
The troops were drawn off as night came on, and Napoleon retired to his tent. Count Lobau, havingobtained possession of the ditch, ordered some shells to be thrown into the city, to dislodge the enemy. Almost immediately were seen rising thick and black columns of smoke, with occasional gleams of light; then sparks and burning flakes; and at length pyramids of flame, which ascended from every part. These distinct and distant fires soon became united in one vast conflagration, which rose in whirling and destructive grandeur,—hung over nearly the whole of Smolensko, and consumed it amidst ominous and awful crashes. This disaster, which Count Lobau very naturally attributed to his shells, though it was the work of the Russians, threw him into great consternation. Napoleon, seated in front of his tent, viewed the terrific spectacle in silence. Neither the cause nor the result could as yet be ascertained, and the night was passed under arms. About three in the morning, a subaltern officer, belonging to Davoust, had ventured to the foot of the wall, and scaled it, without giving the least alarm. Emboldened by the silence which reigned around him, he made his way into the city, when suddenly hearing a number of voices speaking with the Sclavonian accent, he gave himself up for lost. But at this instant, the level rays of the sun discovered these supposed enemies to be the Poles of Poniatowski. They had been the first to penetrate the city, which Barclay had just abandoned to the flames. Smolensko having been reconnoitred, the army entered within its walls. The remarks of Segur on this occasion are very fine:—“They passed over the smoking and bloody ruins in martial order, and with all the pomp of military musicand displayed banners; triumphant over deserted ruins, and the solitary witness of their own glory. A spectacle without spectators; a victory scarcely better than fruitless; a glory steeped in blood; and of which the smoke that surrounded them, and that seemed indeed to be the only conquest, was the best and most characteristic emblem.”
Here Napoleon found, as at the Niemen, at Wilna, and at Witepsk, that phantom of victory which had decoyed him onward, had again eluded his grasp; and with mute and gloomy rage he walked along the city over heaps of smoking ruins and the naked bodies of the slain. He sat down in front of the citadel, on a mat at the door of a cottage, and here he held forth for an hour on the cowardice of Barclay, while bullets from the citadel walls were whizzing about his head. He dwelt upon the fine field for action he had offered him, the disgrace it was to have delivered up the keys of Old Russia without a struggle; the advantages he had given him in a strong city to support his efforts or to receive him in case of need. Without taking the slightest notice of the bullets from the Russian riflemen in the citadel, he thus continued to sit and vent his passionate disappointment, uttering the most bitter sarcasms upon the Russian general and army. “He was not yet in the secret,” laconically observes Hazlitt, “of the new Scythian tactics of defending a country by burning its capitals.” At length, he remounted his horse. One of his marshals remarked, as soon as he was out of hearing, that “if Barclay had been so very wrong in refusing battle, the Emperor would not have taken somuch time to convince us of it.” The truth was, he had no patience with the Russians for not staying—to be beaten.
The Russians still retained the suburbs of Smolensko, on the right bank of the Dnieper. During the night, Napoleon caused the bridges to be repaired, and a heavy cannonade to be kept up; and by the morning, the suburb had been deserted after being first set on fire. Ney and Junot immediately pressed forward through the burning labyrinth, and halted on the spot at which the roads to Petersburg and Moscow diverge, uncertain in which direction to continue the pursuit. At length, the French scouts brought information that Barclay had retreated in the direction of Moscow, taking at first a circuitous route through marshy and woody defiles. Ney came up with the rear guard at Stubna, where he dislodged them from a strong position, without difficulty; and next at Valoutina, where a desperate conflict took place, in which thirty thousand men were successively engaged on either side. Encumbered as he was by a long line of artillery and baggage, and hard pressed by Ney, Barclay was in extreme danger of losing his whole army, but he was saved by the unaccountable remissness of Junot, who had absolutely got into his rear, yet suspended his attack. Junot was a favorite with Napoleon, but he lost his command for this indecision. It was transferred to Rapp, who had just joined the army. The action had been sanguinary, and among other severe losses, the French general Gudin was mortally wounded. Napoleon visited the field of battle, which would probably have been a decisive one had he been present todirect the manœuvres. The soldiers were ranged round the dead bodies of French and Russians which covered the ground; the ghastly nature of their wounds, and the wrenched and twisted bayonets scattered about, bearing witness to the violence of the conflict. Napoleon felt that the time was come when his men required the support both of praise and rewards. Accordingly, he suppressed his chagrin at the indecisive result of the victory. His looks were never more impressive and affectionate. He declared this battle was the most brilliant exploit in their military history. In his rewards, he was munificent. The division of Gudin alone received eighty-seven decorations and promotions. He watched over and secured the care of the wounded, and left the field amidst the enthusiastic acclamations of his soldiers. He then returned to Smolensko. His carriage jolted over the grisly ruins of the fight, and his eyes were met on every side by all that is odious and horrible in fields of battle. Long lines of wounded were dragging themselves, or being borne along, and retarded his progress; when he entered the ruined city, carts were conveying out of sight the streaming heap of amputated limbs. Smolensko seemed one vast hospital, and its groans of anguish prevailed over and obliterated the glories and acclamations of Valoutina.
The situation of the French army had now become grave and critical. There could no longer be a doubt of the plan which Barclay was pursuing, and disastrous apprehensions crowded upon Napoleon’s mind. The burning of Smolensko was evidently one result of a deep laid design; it could not be attributed to accident.
What must have been his reflections on the evening of this disastrous day, when, with a burning city for a camp-fire, he at length discovered the settled policy of his enemy—the policy, namely, by which Robert Bruce, in his last will, directed his countrymen how to conquer the ever-invading English—the policy by which Francis the First baffled his great rival, Charles the Fifth, in his attempt to conquer France—the policy of laying waste the country, burning the cities, retreating without a pitched battle and leaving famine, cold and disease to destroy the invading force?
Whatever misfortune awaited him, the Emperor was resolved to meet it without delay. He really dared fate to do its worst.