THE CAMP-FIRE ON THE NAREW.
Napoleon, having vanquished the Prussians, once more turned his arms against the Russians, who, under the command of Kamenski and Bennigsen, numbered about one hundred and fifteen thousand men. They were posted upon the Vistula; but as Napoleon easily passed that great river, they retired behind theNarew. The passage of this stream was one of the remarkable achievements of the French, during this portion of the Emperor’s splendid career.
Having arrived in the night, between the 18th and 19th of December, 1806, Napoleon reconnoitred the position of Marshal Davoust on the Narew, but a thick fog prevented him from attaining much accurate intelligence. He made his dispositions for attacking the enemy on the 22d or 23d of December. It is high time, he wrote to Marshal Davoust, to take our winter quarters; but this cannot be done till we have driven back the Russians.
The four divisions of General Bennigsen first presented themselves. Count Tolstoy’s division, posted at Czarnowo, occupied the apex of the angle formed by the junction of the Ukra and the Narew. That of General Sacken, also placed in rear towards Lopaczym, guarded the banks of the Ukra. The division of Prince Gallitzin was in reserve at Pultusk. The four divisions of General Buxhovden were at a great distance from those of General Bennigsen, and not calculated to render support to him.
It is easy to perceive that the distribution of the Russian corps was not judiciously combined in the angle of the Ukra and the Narew, and that they had not sufficiently concentrated their forces. If, instead of having a single division at the point of the angle, and one on each side at too great a distance from the first, lastly, five out of reach, they had distributed themselves with intelligence over ground so favourable for the defensive; if they had strongly occupied, first the conflux, thenthe two rivers, the Narew from Czarnowo to Pultusk, the Ukra from Pomichowo to Kolozomb; if they had placed in reserve in a central position, at Nasielsk, for example, a principal mass, ready to run to any threatened point, they might have disputed the ground with advantage. But Generals Bennigsen and Buxhovden were on bad terms; they disliked to be near each other; and old Kamenski, who had arrived only on the preceding day, had neither the necessary intelligence nor spirit for prescribing other dispositions than they had adopted in following each of them his whim.
Napoleon, who saw the position of the Russians from without only, certainly concluded that they were intrenched behind the Narew and the Ukra, for the purpose of guarding the banks, but without knowing how they were established and distributed there. He thought that it would be advisable to take, in the first place, the conflux, where it was probable, they would defend themselves with energy, and having carried that point, to proceed to the execution of his plan, which consisted in throwing the Russians, by a wheel from right to left, into the marshy and woody country in the interior of Poland. In consequence, having repeated the order to Marshals Ney, Bernadotte and Bessieres, forming his left, to proceed rapidly from Thorn to Biezun on the upper course of the Ukra; to Marshals Soult and Augereau, forming in his centre, to set out from Plock and Modlin, and form a junction at Plonsk on the Ukra; he put himself at the head of his right, composed of Davoust’s corps, Lannes’s corps, of the guard, and the reserves, resolved to force immediately the position ofthe Russians at the conflux of the Ukra and the Narew. He left in the works of Praga the Poles of the new levy, with a division of dragoons, a force sufficient to ward off all accidents, as the army was not to remove far from Warsaw.
Having arrived on the morning of the 23d of December at Okunin on the Narew, in wet weather, by muddy and almost impassable roads, Napoleon alighted, to superintend in person the dispositions of attack. This general, who, according to some critics, while directing armies of three hundred thousand men, knew not how to lead a brigade into fire, went himself to reconnoitre the enemy’s positions, and to place his forces on the ground, down to the very companies of the voltigeurs.
The Narew had been already crossed at Okunin, below the conflux of the Ukra and the Narew. To penetrate into the angle formed by those two rivers, it was necessary to pass either the Narew or the Ukra above their point of junction. The Ukra, being the narrower of the two, was deemed preferable for attempting a passage. Advantage had been taken of an island which divided it into two arms, near its mouth, in order to diminish the difficulty. On this island the French had established themselves, and they had yet to pass the second arm to reach the point of land occupied by the Russians between the Ukra and the Narew. This point of land, covered with woods, coppices, marshes, &c., looked like one very dense thicket. Further off, the ground became somewhat clearer, then rose and formed a steep declivity, which extended from the Narew to the Ukra. To the right of this natural intrenchmentappeared the village of Czarnowo on the Narew, to the left of the village of Pomichowo on the Ukra. The Russians had advanced guards of tirailleurs in the thicket, several battalions and a numerous artillery on the elevated part of the ground, two battalions in reserve, and all their cavalry in the rear. Napoleon repaired to the island, mounted the roof of a barn by means of a ladder, studied the position of the Russians with a telescope, and immediately made the following dispositions. He scattered a great quantity of tirailleurs all along the Ukra, and to a considerable distance above the point of passage. He ordered them to keep up a brisk firing, and to kindle large fires with damp straw, so as to cover the bed of the river with a cloud of smoke, and to cause the Russians to apprehend an attack above the conflux, towards Pomichowo. He even directed to that quarter Gauthier’s brigade, belonging to Davoust’s corps, in order the more effectually to draw the enemy’s attention thither. During the execution of these orders, he collected at dusk all the companies of voltigeurs of Morand’s division, on the intended point of passage, and ordered them to fire from one bank to the other, through the clumps of wood, to drive off the enemy’s posts, while the seamen of the guard were equipping the craft collected on the Narew. The 17th of the line and the 13th light infantry were in column, ready to embark by detachments, and the rest of Morand’s division was assembled in the rear, in order to pass as soon as the bridge was established. The other divisions of Davoust’s corps were at the bridge of Okunin, awaiting the moment for acting. Lannes was advancing from Warsaw to Okunin.
THE CAMP-FIRE ON THE NAREW.Page 214.
THE CAMP-FIRE ON THE NAREW.Page 214.
THE CAMP-FIRE ON THE NAREW.Page 214.
The seamen of the guard soon brought some boats, by means of which several detachments of voltigeurs were conveyed from one bank to the other. These penetrated into the thicket, while the officers of the pontoniers and the seamen of the guard were occupied in forming a bridge of boats with the utmost expedition. At seven in the evening, the bridge being passable, Morand’s division crossed in close column, and marched forward, preceded by the 17th of the line and the 13th light infantry, and by a swarm of tirailleurs. They advanced under cover of the darkness and the wood. The sappers of the regiment cleared a passage through the thicket for the infantry. No sooner had they overcome these first obstacles, than they found themselves unsheltered, opposite to the elevated plateau which runs from the Narew to the Ukra, and which was defended either by abattis or by a numerous artillery. The Russians, amidst the darkness of the night, opened upon the French columns a continuous fire of grape and musketry, which did some mischief. While the voltigeurs of Morand’s division and the 13th light infantry approached as tirailleurs, Colonel Lanusse, at the head of the 17th of the line, formed in column of attack on the right, to storm the Russian batteries. He had already carried one of them, when the Russians advancing in mass upon his left flank, obliged him to fall back. The rest of Morand’s division came up to the support of the two first regiments. The 13th light, infantry having exhausted its cartridges, was replaced by the 30th, and again they marched by the right to attack the village of Czarnowo, while on the left, General Petit proceeded with four hundred picked men to theattack of the Russian intrenchments facing the Ukra, opposite to Pomichowo. In spite of the darkness, theymanœuvredmanœuvredwith the utmost order. Two battalions of the 30th and one of the 17th attacked Czarnowo, one by going along the bank of the Narew, the two others by directly climbing the plateau on which the village is seated. These three battalions carried Czarnowo, and, followed by the 51st and the 61st regiments, debouched on the plateau, driving back the Russians into the plain beyond it. At the same moment General Petit had assaulted the extremity of the enemy’s intrenchments towards the Ukra, and, seconded by the fire of artillery, kept up by Gauthier’s brigade from the other side of the river, had carried them. At midnight, the assailants were masters of the position of the Russians from the Narew to the Ukra, but, from the tardiness of their retreat, which could be discerned in the dark, it was to be inferred that they would return to the charge, and, for this reason, Marshal Davoust sent the second brigade of General Gudin’s division to the assistance of General Petit who was most exposed. During the night, the Russians, as it had been foreseen, returned three times to the charge, with the intention of retaking the position which they had lost, and hurling down the French from the plateau towards that point of woody and marshy ground on which they had landed. Thrice were they suffered to approach within thirty paces, and each time the French replying to their attack by a point-blank fire, brought them to a dead stand, and then, meeting them with the bayonet, repulsed them. At length, the night being far advanced, they betook themselves in full retreat,towards Nasielsk. Never was night action fought with greater order, precision, and hardihood. The Russians left, killed, wounded and prisoners, about eighteen hundred men, and a great quantity of artillery. The French had six hundred wounded, and about one hundred killed.
Napoleon, at his evening camp-fire on the Narew, congratulated General Morand and Marshal Davoust upon their gallant conduct, and hastened to reap the benefits of the victory. Then followed a series of actions in terrible weather, and in a country now hardened with frost, and then slushed with rain. In all these, the lieutenants of the Emperor, and especially the indomitable Lannes, gained unfading glory.
CAMP-FIRE AT EYLAU.
The Russians, under General Bennigsen, were pursued and harassed by the French Marshals after the passage of the Narew, until the evening of the 7th of February, 1807, when they halted beyond the village of Eylau, and evinced a determination to give battle on the following day. The French army was worn with fatigue, reduced in number by rapid marches and rear-guardactions, pinched with hunger and suffering from cold. But they were now to fight a great battle against a superior number of brave and disciplined troops.
Napoleon, losing no time, dispatched the same evening several officers to Marshals Davoust and Ney, to bring them back, the one to his right, the other to his left. Marshal Davoust had continued to follow the Alle to Bartenstein, and he was not more than three or four leagues off. He replied that he should arrive at daybreak upon the right of Eylau (the right of the French army) ready to fall upon the flank of the Russians. Marshal Ney, who had been directed upon the left, so as to keep the Prussians at a distance, and to be able to rush upon Konigsberg, in case the Russians should throw themselves behind the Pregel—Marshal Ney was marching for Krentzburg. Messengers were dispatched after him, though it was not so sure that he could be brought back in time to the field of battle, as it was that Marshal Davoust would make his appearance there.
Deprived of Ney’s corps, the French army amounted at most to fifty and some thousand men. If Marshal Ney were to arrive in time, it would be possible to oppose sixty-three thousand men to the enemy, all present under fire. No expectation could be entertained of the arrival of Bernadotte’s corps, which was thirty leagues off.
Napoleon, who slept that night but three or four hours in a chair in the house of the postmaster, placed the corps of Marshal Soult at Eylau itself, partly within the town, partly on the right and left of it, Augereau’scorps and the imperial guard a little in rear, and all the cavalry upon the wings, till daylight should enable him to make his dispositions.
General Bennigsen had at last determined to give battle. He was on level ground, or nearly so, excellent ground for his infantry, not much versed in manœuvres, but solid, and for his cavalry, which was numerous. His heavy artillery, which he had directed to make a circuit, that it might not cramp his movements, had just rejoined him.
His army, amounting to seventy-eight or eighty thousand men, and to ninety thousand with the Prussians, had sustained considerable losses in the late battles, but scarcely any in marches, for an army in retreat, without being in disorder, is rallied by the enemy that pursues it, whereas the pursuing army, not having the same motives for keeping close together, always leaves part of its effective force behind. Deducting the losses sustained at Mohrungen, Bergfried, Waltersdorf, Hoff, Heilsberg, and at Eylau itself, one may say that General Bennigsen’s army was reduced to about eighty thousand men, seventy-two thousand of whom were Russians, and eight thousand Prussians. Thus, in case General Lestocq and Marshal Ney should not arrive, fifty-four thousand French would have to fight seventy-two thousand Russians. The Russians had, moreover, a formidable artillery, computed at four or five hundred pieces. That of the French amounted to two hundred at most, including the guard. It is true that it was superior to all the artilleries of Europe, even to that of the Austrians. General Bennigsen, therefore, determinedto attack at daybreak. The character of his soldiers was energetic, like that of the French soldiers, but governed by other motives. The Russians had neither that confidence of success nor that love of glory which the French exhibited, but a certain fanaticism of obedience, which induced them to brave death blindly.
Since debouching upon Eylau, the country appeared level and open. The little town of Eylau, situated on a slight eminence, and topped by a Gothic spire, was the only conspicuous point. The ground gently sloping, on the right of the church, presented a cemetery. In front it rose perceptibly, and on this rise, marked by some hillocks, appeared the Russians in a deep mass. Several lakes, full of water in spring, frozen in winter, at this time covered with snow, were not distinguishable in any way from the rest of the plain. Scarcely did a few barns united into hamlets, and lines of barriers for folding cattle, form apoint d’appui, or an obstacle on this dreary field of battle. A gray sky, dissolving at times into thick snow, added its dreariness to that of the country, a dreariness which seized upon both the eye and heart.
During the greater part of the night Napoleon was employed in learning the force and position of the enemy, and drawing a plan of the battle, as he reclined on the snow by his dreary camp-fire. The four hours of sleep in a chair was quite sufficient to refresh his energies, and prepare him for the great struggle of the next day. The troops who bivouacked in the vicinity of Eylau, suffered severely from the cold. They had but few fires, as fuel was scarce. Most of these gallant soldiers,who had been marching and fighting for several days, dared not trust themselves to slumber on the ground for fear of freezing to death.
At break of the day, the position of the Russians was discovered. They were drawn up in two lines, very near to each other, their front being covered by three hundred pieces of cannon, planted on the salient points of the ground. In the rear, two close columns, appuying, like two flying buttresses, this double fine of battle seemed designed to support it, and to prevent its breaking under the shock of a charge from the impetuous French. A strong reserve of artillery was placed at some distance. The cavalry was partly in the rear, and partly on the wings. The Cossacks kept with the body of the army.
Napoleon, on horseback, at daybreak, stationed himself in the cemetery to the right of Eylau, where, scarcely protected by a few trees from the cannonade which the Russians had already commenced, he surveyed the positions of the enemy. He could foresee that victory would cost him dearly, from the solid and obstinate mass which the Russian general had formed.
Owing to the position of Eylau, which stretched itself out facing the Russians, Napoleon could give the less depth to his line of battle, and consequently the less scope to the balls of the artillery. Two of Marshal Soult’s divisions were placed at Eylau, Legrand’s division in advance and a little to the left, Leval’s division, partly on the left of the town, upon an eminence topped by a mill, partly on the right, at the cemetery itself. The third division of Marshal Soult’s, St. Hilaire’s division,was established still further to the right, at a considerable distance from the cemetery, in the village of Rothenen, which formed the prolongation of the position of Eylau. In the interval between the village of Rothenen, and the town of Eylau, an interval left vacant for the purpose of making the rest of the army debouch there, was posted a little in rear, Augereau’s corps, drawn up in two lines, and formed of Desjardins’s and Heudelet’s divisions. Augereau, tormented with fever, his eyes red and swollen, but forgetting his complaints at the sound of the cannon, had mounted his horse to put himself at the head of his troops. Further in rear of that samedebouchecame the infantry and cavalry of the imperial guard, the divisions of cuirassiers and dragoons, both ready to present themselves to the enemy by the same outlet, and meanwhile somewhat sheltered from the cannon by a hollow of the ground. Lastly, at the extreme right of this field of battle, beyond and in advance of Rothenen, at the hamlet of Serpallen, the corps of Marshal Davoust was to enter into action in such a manner as to fall upon the flank of the Russians.
Thus Napoleon was in open order, and his line having the advantage of being covered on the left by the buildings of Eylau, on the right by those of Rothenen, the combat of artillery, by which he designed to demolish the kind of wall opposed to him by the Russians, would be much less formidable for him than for them. He had caused all the cannon of the army to be removed from the corps, and placed in order of battle. To these he had ordered the forty pieces belonging to the guard, and he was thus about to reply to the formidable artilleryof the Russians by an artillery far inferior in number, but much superior in skill.
The Russians had commenced the firing. The French had answered it immediately by a violent cannonade at half cannon-shot. The earth shook under the tremendous detonation. The French artillerymen, not only more expert, but firing at a living mass, which served them for a butt, made dreadful havoc. The balls swept down whole files. Those of the Russians, on the contrary, directed with less precision, and striking against buildings, inflicted less mischief. The town of Eylau and the village of Rothenen were soon set on fire. The glare of the conflagration added its terrors to the horrors of the carnage. Though there fell far fewer French than Russians, still there fell a great many, especially in the ranks of the imperial guard, motionless in the cemetery. The projectiles, passing over the head of Napoleon, and sometimes very close to him, penetrated the walls of the church, or broke branches from the trees at the foot of which he had placed himself to direct the battle.
This cannonade lasted for a long time, and both armies bore it with heroic tranquillity, never stirring, and merely closing their ranks as fast as the cannon made breaches in them. The Russians seemed first to feel a sort of impatience. Desirous of accelerating the result by the taking of Eylau, they moved off to carry the position of the mill, situated on the left of the town.
Part of their right formed in column, and came to the attack. Leval’s division gallantly repulsed it, and by their firmness left the Russians no hope of success.
As for Napoleon, he attempted nothing decisive, for he would not endanger, by sending it forward, the corps of Marshal Soult, which had done so well to keep Eylau under such a tremendous cannonade. He waited for acting till the presence of Marshal Davoust’s corps, which was coming on the right, should begin to be felt on the flank of the Russians.
This lieutenant, punctual as he was intrepid, had actually arrived at the village of Serpallen. Friant’s division marched at the head. It debouched the first, encountered the Cossacks, whom it had soon driven back, and occupied the village of Serpallen with some companies of fight infantry. No sooner was it established in the village and in the grounds on the right, than one of the masses of cavalry posted on the wings of the Russian army detached itself, and advanced towards. General Friant, availing himself with intelligence and coolness of the advantages afforded by the accidents of the locality, drew up the three regiments of which his division was then composed behind the long and solid wooden barrier, which served for folding cattle. Sheltered behind this natural intrenchment, he kept up a fire within point-blank range upon the Russian squadrons, and forced them to retire. They fell back, but soon returned, accompanied by a column of nine or ten thousand infantry. It was one of the two close columns, which served for flying buttresses to the Russian fine of battle, and which now bore to the left of that fine, to retake Serpallen. General Friant had but five hundred men to oppose to it. Still, sheltered behind the wooden barrier with which he had coveredhimself, and able to deploy without apprehension of being charged by the cavalry, he saluted the Russians with a fire so continuous and so well directed, as to occasion them considerable loss. Their squadrons having shown an intention to turn him, he formed the 33d into square on his right, and stopped them by the imperturbable bearing of his foot-soldiers. As he could not make use of his cavalry, which consisted of some horse chasseurs, he made amends for it by a swarm of tirailleurs, who kept up such a fire upon the flanks of the Russians, as to oblige them to retire towards the heights in rear of Serpallen, between Serpallen and Klein-Sausgarten. On retiring to these heights, the Russians covered themselves by a numerous artillery, the downward fire of which was very destructive. Morand’s division had arrived in its turn on the field of battle. Marshal Davoust, taking the first brigade, that of General Ricard, went and placed it beyond and on the left of Serpallen; he then posted the second, composed of the 51st and the 61st, on the right of the villages, so as to support either Ricard’s brigade or Friant’s division. The latter had proceeded to the right of Serpallen, towards Klein-Sausgarten. At this very moment, Gudin’s division was accelerating its speed to get into line. Thus the Russians had been obliged by the movement of the French right to draw back their left from Serpallen towards Klein-Sausgarten.
The expected effect on the flank of the enemy’s army was therefore produced. Napoleon, from the position which he occupied, had distinctly seen the Russian reserves directed towards the corps of Marshal Davoust.The hour for acting had arrived; for, unless he interfered, the Russians might fall in mass upon Marshal Davoust and crush him. Napoleon immediately gave his orders. He directed St. Hilaire’s division, which was at Rothenen, to push forward and to give a hand to Morand’s division about Serpallen. He commanded the two divisions of Augereau’s corps, to debouch by the interval between Rothenen and Eylau, to connect themselves with St. Hilaire’s division, and to form all together an oblong line from the cemetery of Eylau to Serpallen. The result expected from this movement was to overturn the Russians, by throwing their right upon their centre, and thus break down, beginning at its extremity, the long wall which he had before him.
It was ten in the morning. General St. Hilaire moved off, left Rothenen, and deployed obliquely in the plain, under a terrible fire of artillery, his right at Serpallen, his left towards the cemetery. Augereau moved nearly at the same time, not without a melancholy foreboding of the fate reserved for hiscorps d’armee, which he saw exposed to the danger of being dashed to pieces against the centre of the Russians, solidly appuyed upon several hillocks. While General Corbineau was delivering the orders of the Emperor to him, a ball pierced the side of that gallant officer. Marshal Augereau marched immediately. The two divisions of Desjardins and Heudelet debouched between Rothenen and the cemetery, in close columns; then, having cleared the defile, formed in order of battle, the first brigade of each division deployed, the second in square. While they were advancing, a squall of wind and snow, beating all atonce into the faces of the soldiers, prevented them from seeing the field of battle. The two divisions, enveloped in this kind of cloud, mistook their direction, and bore a little to the left, leaving on their right a considerable space between them and St. Hilaire’s division. The Russians, but little incommoded by the snow, which they had at their backs, seeing Augereau’s two divisions advancing towards the hillocks on which they appuyed their centre, suddenly unmasked a battery of seventy-two pieces, which they kept in reserve. So thick was the grape poured forth by this formidable battery, that in a quarter of an hour half of Augereau’s corps was swept down. General Desjardins, commanding the first division, was killed; General Heudelet, commanding the second, received a wound that was nearly mortal. The staff of the two divisions was soonhors de combat. While they were sustaining this tremendous fire, being obliged to re-form while marching, so much were their ranks thinned, the Russian cavalry, throwing itself into the space which separated it from Morand’s division, rushed upon themen masse. Those brave divisions, however, resisted—but they were obliged to fall back towards the cemetery of Eylau, giving ground without breaking, under the repeated assaults of numerous squadrons. The snow having suddenly ceased, they could then perceive the melancholy spectacle. Out of six or seven thousand combatants, about four thousand killed or wounded strewed the ground. Augereau, wounded, himself, but more affected by the disaster of hiscorps d’armeethan by his personal danger, was carried into the cemetery of Eylau to the feet of Napoleon, towhom he complained, not without bitterness, of not having been timely succored. Silent grief pervaded every face in the imperial staff. Napoleon, calm and firm, imposing on others the impassibility which he imposed on himself, addressed a few soothing words to Augereau, then sent him to the rear, and took his measures for repairing the mischief. Dispatching, in the first place, the chasseurs of his guard and some squadrons of dragoons which were at hand, to drive back the enemy’s cavalry, he sent for Murat, and ordered him to make a decisive effort on the line of infantry which formed the centre of the Russian army, and which, taking advantage of Augereau’s disaster, began to press forward. At the first summons, Murat came up at a gallop. “Well,” said Napoleon, “are you going to let those fellows eat us up?” He then ordered that heroic chief of his cavalry to collect the chasseurs, the dragoons, the cuirassiers, and to fall upon the Russians with eighty squadrons, to try what effect the shock of such a mass of horse, charging furiously, would have on an infantry reported not to be shaken. The cavalry of the guard was brought forward, ready to add its shock to the cavalry of the army. The moment was critical, for, if the Russian infantry were not stopped, it would go and attack the cemetery, the centre of the position, and Napoleon had only six foot battalions of the imperial guard to defend it.
Murat galloped off, collected his squadrons, made them pass between the cemetery and Rothenen, through the same debouch by which Augereau’s corps had already marched to almost certain destruction. GeneralGrouchy’s dragoons charged first, to sweep the ground, and clear it of the enemy’s cavalry. That brave officer, whose horse fell with him, put himself, on rising, at the head of a second brigade, and effected his purpose of dispersing the groups of cavalry which preceded the Russian infantry. But, for overturning the latter, nothing short of the heavy iron-clad squadrons of General d’Hautpoul was required. That officer, who distinguished himself by consummate skill in the art of managing a numerous cavalry, came forward with twenty-four squadrons of cuirassiers, followed by the whole mass of dragoons. These cuirassiers, ranged in several lines, started off and threw themselves upon the Russian bayonets. The first lines, arrested by the fire, could not penetrate, and falling back to right and left, went to form afresh behind those who followed them, in order to charge anew. At length, one of them, rushing on with more violence, broke the enemy’s infantry at one point, and opened a breach, through which cuirassiers and dragoons strove which should penetrate first. As a river, which has begun to break down a dike, soon carries it away entirely, so the masses of the squadrons, having once penetrated the infantry of the Russians, finished in a few moments the overthrow of their first line. The horse then dispersed to slaughter. A most horrible fray ensued between them and the Russian foot soldiers. They went, and came, and struck on all sides those obstinate antagonists. While the first line of infantry was thus overturned and cut in pieces, the second fell back to a wood that bounded the field of battle. A last reserve of artillery had been left there.The Russians placed it in battery, and fired confusedly at their own soldiers and at the French, not caring whether they slaughtered friends or foes, if they only got rid of the formidable horse. General d’Hautpoul was mortally wounded by a rifle ball. While the cavalry was thus engaged with the second line of the Russian infantry, some parties of the first rallied and renewed their fire. At this sight the horse grenadiers of the guard, headed by General Lepic, one of the heroes of the army, came forward in their turn to second Murat’s efforts. Dashing off at a gallop, they charged the groups of infantry which they perceived to be still on their legs, and crossing the ground in all directions, completed the destruction of the centre of the Russian army, the wrecks of which at last fled for refuge to the patches of wood which had served them for an asylum.
During this scene of confusion, a fragment of that vast line of infantry had advanced to that same cemetery. Three or four thousand Russian grenadiers, marching straight forward with the blind courage of braver and more intelligent troops, came to throw themselves on the church of Eylau, and threatened the cemetery occupied by the imperial staff. The foot guard, motionless till then, had endured the cannonade without firing a piece. With joy it beheld an occasion for fighting arrive. A battalion was called for; two disputed the honor of marching. The first in order, led by General Dorsenne, obtained the advantage of measuring its strength with the Russian grenadiers, went up to them without firing a shot, attacked them with the bayonet, and threw one upon another, whileMurat dispatched against them two battalions of chasseurs under General Bruyere. The Russian grenadiers, hemmed in between the bayonets of the grenadiers of the guard and the swords of the chasseurs, were almost all taken or killed, before the face of Napoleon, and only a few paces from him.
This cavalry action, the most extraordinary perhaps of any in the great wars, had for its result to overthrow the centre of the Russians, and to drive it back to a considerable distance. It would have been requisite to have at hand a reserve of infantry, in order to complete the defeat of troops which, after being laid on the ground, rose again to fire. But Napoleon durst not venture to dispose of Marshal Soult’s corps, reduced to half of its effective, and necessary for keeping Eylau. Augereau’s corps was almost destroyed.
Napoleon, in the cemetery, in which were heaped the bodies of a great number of his officers among the time-browned tombstones, was graver than usual; but his countenance was inflexible as ever, and no thought of retreat crossed his resolute soul. Crowds of his bravest veterans were lying mangled around him; and the prospect of the field must have been gloomy, indeed. But his iron will did not bend; he had confidence that the star of his fortune had not yet begun to descend.
Marshal Davoust and General St. Hilaire justified the confidence of their chief, and not only maintained their own position against the enemy, but had even pushed detachments upon their rear. But the event which Napoleon dreaded had occurred.
General Lestocq, perseveringly pursued by MarshalNey, appeared on that field of carnage, with seven or eight thousand Prussians, eager to revenge themselves for the disdain of the Russians. General Lestocq, only an hour or two ahead of Marshal Ney’s corps, had merely time to strike one blow before he was struck himself. He debouched upon the field of battle at Schmoditten, passed behind the double line of the Russians, now broken by the fire of the artillery, by the swords of the horse, and presented himself at Kuschitten, in front of Friant’s division, which, passing beyond Klein-Sausgarten; had already driven back the left of the enemy upon its centre. The village of Kuschitten was occupied by four companies of the 108th, and by the 51st, which had been detached from Morand’s division for the support of Friant’s division. The Prussians, rallying the Russians around them, dashed impetuously on the 51st, and on the four companies of the 108th, without being able to break them, though they obliged them to fall back to a considerable distance, in rear of Kuschitten. The Prussians, after this first advantage, pushed on beyond Kuschitten, in order to recover the positions of the morning. They marched, deployed in two lines. The Russian reserves, being rallied, formed two close columns on their wings. A numerous artillery preceded them. In this manner they advanced across the rear of the field of battle, to regain the lost ground, and to beat back Marshal Davoust upon Klein-Sausgarten, and from Klein-Sausgarten to Serpallen. But Generals Friant and Gudin, having Marshal Davoust at their head, hastened up. Friant’s entire division, and the 12th, 21st and 25thregiments, belonging to Gudin’s division, placed themselves foremost, covered by the whole of the artillery of the third corps. To no purpose did the Russians and Prussians exert themselves to overcome the formidable obstacle; they were unsuccessful. The French, appuyed on woods, marshes and hillocks, here deployed in line, there dispersed as tirailleurs, opposed an invincible obstinacy to this last effort of the allies. Marshal Davoust, passing through the ranks till dark, kept up the firmness of his soldiers, saying, “Cowards will be sent to die in Siberia; the brave will die here like men of honor.” The Prussians and the raided Russians desisted from the attack. Marshal Davoust remained firm in that position of Klein-Sausgarten, where he threatened the rear of the enemy.
The two armies were exhausted. That day, so sombre, was every moment becoming more sombre still, and about to terminate in a tremendous night. More than thirty thousand Russians, struck by the balls and the swords of the French, strewed the ground, some dead, others wounded more or less severely. Many of the soldiers began to abandon their colors. General Bennigsen, surrounded by his lieutenants, was deliberating whether to resume the offensive, and try the effect of one more effort. But, out of an army of eighty thousand men, not more than forty thousand were left in a state to fight, the Prussians included. If he were worsted in this desperate engagement, he would not have wherewithal to cover his retreat. However, he was still hesitating, when intelligence was brought him of a last and important incident. Marshal Ney,who had closely followed the Prussians, arriving in the evening on the left, as Marshal Davoust had arrived in the morning on the right, debouched at length near Althof.
Thus Napoleons combinations, retarded by time, had, nevertheless, brought upon the two flanks of the Russian army the forces that were to decide the victory. The order for retreat could no longer be deferred; for Marshal Davoust, having maintained himself at Klein-Sausgarten, would not have much to do to meet Marshal Ney, who had advanced to Schmoditten; and the junction of these two Marshals would have exposed the Russians to the risk of being enveloped. The order for retreating was instantly given by General Bennigsen; but, to insure the retreat, he purposed to curb Marshal Ney, by attempting to take from him the village of Schmoditten. The Russians marched upon that village, under favor of the night, and in profound silence, in hopes of surprising the troops of Marshal Ney, who had arrived late on the field of battle, when it was difficult to recognise one another. But the latter were on their guard. General Marchand, with the 6th light infantry, and the 39th of the line, allowing the Russians to approach, then receiving them with a point-blank fire, stopped them short. He then rushed upon them with the bayonet, and obliged them to renounce all serious attack. From that moment they definitely commenced their retreat.
Napoleon knew that he was master of the field of battle. He occupied the slightly rising plain beyond Eylau, having his cavalry and his guard before him andat the centre, and his other corps in possession of the positions which the Russians had occupied in the morning.
Certain of being victorious, but grieved to the bottom of his heart, the Emperor had remained amidst his troops, and ordered them to kindle fires, and not leave the ranks, even to go in quest of provisions. A small quantity of bread and brandy was distributed among the soldiers, and, though there was not enough for all, yet no complaints were heard. Less joyous than at Austerlitz and at Jena, they were full of confidence, proud of themselves, ready to renew that dreadful struggle, if the Russians had the courage and the strength to do so. Whoever had given them, at this moment, bread and brandy, which they were in want of, would have found them in as high spirits as usual. Two artillerymen of Marshal Davoust’s corps having been absent from their company during this engagement, and arrived too late to be present at the battle, their comrades assembled in the evening at the bivouac, tried them, and not liking their reasons, inflicted upon them, on that frozen and blood-stained ground, the burlesque punishment which the soldiers call thesavate.
There was no great abundance of any thing but ammunition. The service of the artillery, performed with extraordinary activity, had already replaced the ammunition consumed. With not less zeal was the service of the medical and surgical department performed. A great number of wounded had been picked up; to the others relief was administered on the spot, till they could be removed in their turn. Napoleon, overwhelmedwith fatigue, was still afoot, and superintending the attentions that were paid to his soldiers.
In the rear of the army, so firm a countenance was not every where presented. Many stragglers, excluded from the effective in the morning, in consequence of the marches, had heard the din of that tremendous battle, had caught some hourras of the Cossacks, and fallen back, circulating bad news along the roads. The brave collected to range themselves beside their comrades, the others dispersed in the various routes which the army had traversed.
Daybreak next morning threw a light upon that frightful field of battle, and Napoleon himself was moved to such a degree as to betray his feelings in the bulletin which he published. On that icy plain, thousands of dead and dying, cruelly mangled, thousands of prostrate horses, an infinite quantity of dismounted cannon, broken carriages, scattered projectiles, burning hamlets,all this standing out from a ground of snow, exhibited a thrilling and terrible spectacle. “This spectacle,” exclaimed Napoleon, “is fit to excite in princes a love of peace and a horror of war!”
This singularity struck all eyes. From a propensity for returning to the things of past times, and also from economy, an attempt had been made to introduce the white uniform again into the army. The experiment had been made with some regiments, but the sight of blood on the white dress decided the question. Napoleon, filled with disgust and horror, declared that he would have none but blue uniforms, whatever might be the cost.
The Russians had left upon the field, about seven thousand dead, and five thousand wounded, and they took with them fifteen thousand more wounded. They had consequently twenty-seven thousand men placedhors de combat. Besides this loss, four thousand prisoners were made by the French, who also captured twenty-four pieces of cannon and sixteen colors. The loss of the French was about three thousand killed and four thousand wounded. Several eagles had been carried away by Bennigsen. It was a terrible, but indecisive battle. The victor was too much grieved to listen to the pæans of triumph, although his valor and skill had been nobly displayed in defeating a superior enemy.
THE CAMP-FIRE AT FRIEDLAND.
After the bloody struggle of Eylau, in which thirty thousand men were placedhors de combat, the Russians seemed desirous of avoiding a conflict until they had received large reinforcements. In the mean time, Napoleon collected about two hundred thousand men between the Vistula, and the Memel, besieged and captured Dantzic, and was again in a condition to strike a tremendous blow at the inferior forces of the enemy. Early in June, 1807, the Russiangeneral, Bennigsen, made the first offensive movement. The division of Marshal Ney, stationed at Gustadt, was attacked by a superior force, and that intrepid officer retreated, fighting, as far as Deppen. But on the 8th of June, Napoleon moved forward to extricate his lieutenant, and the Russians then fell back upon Heilsberg. There a desperate action occurred, in which both armies suffered terribly. The Russians were compelled to retreat, but they retired unmolested. On the 13th, Bennigsen approached the town of Friedland, situated on the west bank of the Alle, communicating with the eastern bank by long wooden bridges. Here the decisive battle of the next day was fought.
The course of the Alle, near the spot where the two armies were about to meet, exhibits numerous windings. The French came up by the woody hills, beyond which the ground gradually sinks to the banks of the Alle. The ground at this season was covered with rye of great height. To the right of the French, the river was seen pursuing its way through the plain, then turning round Friedland, coming to the left, thus forming an elbow. At daybreak on the morning of the 14th, Lannes, who commanded the advanced division of the French army, reached Posthenen, whence he could see the Russians marching across the bridges to deploy into the plain, and drawing up in a line of battle facing the heights. A rivulet, called the Mill Stream, there formed a small pond, after dividing the plain into two unequal halves. Bennigsen imagined that he had to contend with but one division of the French army, and, for the time, he had this advantage. But the whole force underNapoleon’s immediate command was coming up to support the gallant Lannes, and by crossing the bridges, the Russian general fairly placed himself in the power of the Emperor. For this Napoleon had manœuvred several days, and he now saw that the victory would be one of that complete, decisive kind he loved.
Marshal Lannes, in his haste to march, had brought with him only Oudinot’s voltigeurs and grenadiers, the 9th hussars, Grouchy’s dragoons, and two regiments of Saxon cavalry. He could not oppose more than ten thousand men to the enemy’s advanced guard, which, successively reinforced, was treble that number, and was soon to be followed by the whole Russian army. Fortunately for the French, the soil afforded numerous resources to the skill and courage of their illustrious marshal. In the centre of the position which it was necessary to occupy, in order to bar the way against the Russians, was a village, that of Posthenen, through which ran the Mill Stream to pursue its course to Friedland. Somewhat in rear rose a plateau, from which the plain of the Alle might be battered. Lannes placed his artillery there, and several battalions of grenadiers to protect it. On the right, a thick wood, that of Sortlack, protruded in a salient, and divided into two the space comprised between the village of Posthenen and the banks of the Alle. There Lannes posted two battalions of voltigeurs, which, dispersed as tirailleurs, would be able to stop for a long time troops not numerous and not very resolute. The 9th hussars, Grouchy’s dragoons, the Saxon cavalry, amounted to three thousand horse, ready to fall upon any columnwhich should attempt to penetrate that curtain of tirailleurs. On the left of Posthenen, the line of woody heights extended, gradually lowering in the village of Heinrichsdorf, through which ran the high road from Friedland to Konigsberg. This point was of great importance, for the Russians, desirous to reach Konigsberg, would, of course, obstinately dispute the road thither. Besides, this part of the field of battle being more open, was naturally more difficult to defend. Lannes, who had not yet troops sufficient to establish himself there, had placed on his left, taking advantage of the woods and heights, the rest of his battalions, thus approaching the houses of Heinrichsdorf without being able to occupy them.
The fire, commenced at three in the morning, became all at once extremely brisk. The artillery, placed on the plateau of Posthenen, under the protection of Oudinot’s grenadiers, kept the Russians at a distance, and made considerable havoc among them. On the right, the voltigeurs, scattered on the skirt of the wood of Sortlack, stopped their infantry by an incessant tirailleur fire, and the Saxon horse, directed by General Grouchy, had made several unsuccessful charges against their cavalry. The Russians having become threatening towards Heinrichsdorf, General Grouchy, moving from the right to the left, galloped thither, to dispute with them the Konigsberg road, the important point for the possession of which torrents of blood were about to be spilt.
Though, in these first moments, Marshal Lannes had but ten thousand men to oppose twenty-five or thirtythousand, he maintained his ground, thanks to great skill and energy, and also to the able concurrence of General Oudinot, commanding the grenadiers, and of General Grouchy, commanding the cavalry. But the enemy reinforced himself from hour to hour, and General Bennigsen, on arriving at Friedland, had suddenly formed the resolution to give battle—a very rash resolution, for it would have been much wiser for him to have continued to descend the Alle to the junction of that river with the Pregel, and to take a position behind the latter, with his left to Wehlau, his right toKonigsbergKonigsberg. It would have taken him, it is true, another day to reach Konigsberg; but he would not have risked a battle against an army superior in number, in quality, better officered, and in a very unfavorable situation for him, since he had a river at his back, and he was very likely to be pushed into the elbow of the Alle, with all that vigor of impulsion of which the French army was capable.
He lost no time in having three bridges thrown over the Alle, one above and two below Friedland, in order to accelerate the passage of his troops, and also to furnish them with means of retreat. He lined with artillery the right bank, by which he arrived, and which commanded the left bank. Then, nearly his whole army having debouched, he disposed it in the following manner:—In the plain around Heinrichsdorf, on the right for him, on the left for the French, he placed four divisions of infantry, under Lieutenant-General Gortschakoff, and the better part of the cavalry under General Ouwarroff. The infantry was formed intwo lines. In the first were two battalions of each regiment deployed, and a third drawn up in close column behind the two others, closing the interval which separated them. In the second, the field of battle gradually narrowing the further it extended into the angle of the Alle, a single battalion was deployed and two were formed in close column. The cavalry, ranged on the side and a little in advance, flanked the infantry. On the left (the right of the French,) two Russian divisions, of which the imperial guard formed part, increased by all the detachments of chasseurs, occupied the portion of the ground comprised between the Mill Stream and the Alle. They were drawn up in two lines, but very near each other, on account of the want of room. Prince Bagration commanded them. The cavalry of the guard was there, under General Kollogribow. Four flying bridges had been thrown across the Mill Stream, that it might interrupt the communications between the two wings as little as possible. The fourth Russian division had been left on the other side of the Alle, on the ground commanding the left bank, to collect the army in case of disaster or to come and decide the victory, if it obtained any commencement of success. The Russians had more than two hundred pieces of cannon upon their front, besides those which were either in reserve or in battery on the right bank. Their army, reduced to eighty or eighty-two thousand men after Heilsberg, separated at this time from Kamenski’s corps and from some detachments sent to Wehlau to guard the bridges of the Alle, still amounted to seventy-two or seventy-five thousand men. GeneralBennigsen caused the mass of the Russian army to be moved forward in the order just described, so that, on getting out of the elbow of the Alle, it might deploy, extend its fires, and avail itself of the advantages of number which it possessed at the beginning of the battle.
The situation of Lannes was perilous, for he had the whole Russian army upon his hands. Fortunately, the time which had elapsed had procured him some reinforcements. General Nansouty’s division of heavy cavalry, composed of three thousand five hundred cuirassiers and carbineers, Dupas’s division, which was the first of Mortier’s corps, and numbered six thousand foot soldiers, lastly, Verdier’s division, which contained seven thousand, and was the second of Lannes’s corps, marched off successively, had come with all possible expedition. It was a force of twenty-six or twenty-seven thousand men, to fight seventy-five thousand. It was seven in the morning, and the Russians, preceded by a swarm of Cossacks, advanced towards Heinrichsdorf, where they already had infantry and cannon. Lannes, appreciating the importance of that post, sent thither the brigade of Albert’s grenadiers, and ordered General Grouchy to secure possession of it at any cost. General Grouchy, who had been reinforced by the cuirassiers, proceeded immediately to the village. Without stopping to consider the difficulty, he dispatched the brigade of Milet’s dragoons to attack Heinrichsdorf, while Carrie’s brigade turned the village, and the cuirassiers marched to support this movement. Milet’s brigade passed through Heinrichsdorf at a gallop, droveout the Russian foot-soldiers at the point of the sword, while Carrie’s brigade, going round it, took or dispersed those who had saved themselves by flight. Four pieces of cannon were taken. At this moment, the enemy’s cavalry, coming to the assistance of the infantry, expelled from Heinrichsdorf, rushed upon the dragoons and drove them back. But Nansouty’s cuirassiers charged it in their turn, and threw it upon the Russian infantry, which in this fray was obliged to withhold its fire.
During these occurrences, Dupas’s division entered into line. Marshal Mortier, whose horse was killed by a cannon-ball, the moment he appeared on the field of battle, placed that division between Heinrichsdorf and Posthenen, and opened on the Russians a fire of artillery which, poured upon deep masses, made prodigious havoc in their ranks. The arrival of Dupas’s division rendered disposable those battalions of grenadiers which had at first been drawn up to the left of Posthenen. Lannes drew them nearer to him, and could oppose their closer ranks to the attacks of the Russians, either before Posthenen or before the wood of Sortlack. General Oudinot, who commanded them, taking advantage of all the accidents of ground, sometimes from clumps of wood scattered here and there, sometimes from pools of water, produced by the rains of the preceding days, sometimes from above the corn, disputed the ground with equal skill and energy. By turns he hid or exhibited his soldiers, dispersed them as tirailleurs, or exposed them in a mass, bristling with bayonets, to all the efforts of the Russians. Those brave grenadiers, notwithstanding their inferiority in number, kept up thefight, supported by their general, when, luckily for them, Verdier’s division arrived. Marshal Lannes divided it into two movable columns, to be sent alternately to the right, to the centre, to the left, wherever the danger was most pressing. It was the skirt of the wood of Sortlack and the village of the same name, situated on the Alle, that were the most furiously disputed. In the end, the French remained masters of the village, the Russians of the skirts of the wood.
Lannes was enabled to prolong till noon this conflict of twenty-six thousand men against seventy-five thousand. But it was high time for Napoleon to arrive with the rest of his army. Lannes, anxious to apprize him of what was passing, had sent to him almost all his aides-de-camp, one after another, ordering them to get back to him without loss of time, if they killed their horses. They found him coming at a gallop to Friedland, and full of a joy that was expressed in his countenance. “This is the 14th of June,” he repeated to those whom he met; “it is the anniversary of Marengo; it is a lucky day for us!” Napoleon, outstripping his troops through the speed of his horse, had successively passed the long files of the guard, of Ney’s corps, of Bernadotte’s corps, all marching for Posthenen. He had saluted in passing, Dupont’s fine division, which from Ulm to Braunsberg, had never ceased to distinguish itself, though never in his presence, and he had declared that it would give him great pleasure to see it fight for once.
The presence of Napoleon at Posthenen fired his soldiers and his generals with fresh ardor. Lannes,Mortier, Oudinot, who had been there since morning, and Ney, who had just arrived, surrounded him with the most lively joy. The brave Oudinot hastening up with his coat perforated by balls, and his horse covered with blood, exclaimed to the Emperor: “Make haste, Sire, my grenadiers are knocked up; but, give me a reinforcement, and I will drive all the Russians into the water.” Napoleon, surveying with his glass the plain, where the Russians, backed in the elbow of the Alle, were endeavoring in vain to deploy, soon appreciated their perilous situation and the unique occasion offered him by Fortune, swayed, it must be confessed, by his genius; for the fault which the Russian army were committing had been inspired, as it were, by him, when he pushed them from the other side of the Alle, and thus forced them to pass in before him, in going to the relief of Konigsberg. The day was far advanced, and it would take several hours to collect all the French troops. Some of Napoleon’s lieutenants were, therefore, of opinion that they ought to defer fighting a decisive battle till the morrow. “No, no,” replied Napoleon, “one does not catch an enemy twice in such a scrape.” He immediately made his dispositions for the attack. They were worthy of his marvellous perspicacity.
To drive the Russians into the Alle was the aim which every individual, down to the meanest soldier, assigned to the battle. But how to set about it, how to ensure that result, and how to render it as great as possible, was the question. At the farthest extremity of the elbow of the Alle, in which the Russian armywas engulphed, there was a decisive point to occupy, namely, the little point of Friedland itself, situated on the right, between the Mill Stream and the Alle. There were the four bridges, the sole retreat of the Russian army, and Napoleon purposed to direct his utmost efforts against that point. He destined for Ney’s corps the difficult and glorious task of plunging into that gulf, of carrying Friedland at any cost, in spite of the desperate resistance which it would not fail to make, of wresting the bridges from them, and thus barring against them the only way of safety. But at the same time he resolved, while acting vigorously on his right, to suspend all efforts on his left, to amuse the Russian army on that side with a feigned fight, and not to push it briskly on the left till, the bridges being taken on the right, he should be sure, by pushing it, to fling it into a receptacle without an outlet.
Surrounded by his lieutenants, he explained to them, with that energy and that precision of language which were usual with him, the part which each of them had to act in that battle. Grasping the arm of Marshal Ney, and pointing to Friedland, the bridges, the Russians crowded together in front, “Yonder is the goal,” said he; “march to it without looking about you: break into that thick mass whatever it costs you; enter Friedland, take the bridges, and give yourself no concern about what may happen on your right, on your left, or on your rear. The army and I shall be there to attend to that.” Ney, boiling with ardor, proud of the formidable task assigned to him, set out at a gallop to arrange his troops before the wood of Sortlack.Struck with his martial attitude, Napoleon, addressing Marshal Mortier, said, “That man is a lion!”
On the same ground, Napoleon had his dispositionswrittenwrittendown from his dictation, that each of his generals might have them bodily present to his mind, and not be liable to deviate from them. He ranged, then, Marshal Ney’s corps on the right, so that Lannes, bringing back Verdier’s division upon Posthenen, could present two strong lines with that and the grenadiers. He placed Bernadotte’s corps (temporarily Victor’s) between Ney and Lannes, a little in advance of Posthenen, and partly hidden by the inequalities of the ground. Dupont’s fine division formed the head of this corps. On the plateau, behind Posthenen, Napoleon established the imperial guard, the infantry in three close columns, the cavalry in two lines. Between Posthenen and Henrichsdorf was the corps of Marshal Mortier, posted as in the morning, but more concentrated and augmented by the young fusiliers of the imperial guard. A battalion of the 4th light infantry, and the regiment of the municipal guard of Paris, had taken the place of the grenadiers of the Albert brigade in Heinrichsdorf. Dumbrowski’s Polish division had joined Dupas’s division, and guarded the artillery. Napoleon left to General Grouchy the duty of which he had already so ably acquitted himself, that of defending the plain of Heinrichsdorf. To the dragoons and the cuirassiers commanded by that general he added the light cavalry of Generals Beaumont and Colbert, to assist him to rid himself of the Cossacks. Lastly, having two more divisions of dragoons to dispose of,he placed that of General Latour Maubourg, reinforced by the Dutch cuirassiers, behind the corps of Marshal Ney, and that of General La Houssaye, reinforced by the Saxon cuirassiers, behind Victor’s corps. The French in this imposing order amounted to no fewer than eighty thousand men. The order was repeated to the left not to advance, but merely to keep back the Russians till the success of the right was decided. Napoleon required that before the troops recommenced firing, they should wait for the signal from a battery of twenty pieces of cannon placed above Posthenen.
The Russian general, struck by this deployment, discovered the mistake which he had committed in supposing that he had to do with but the single corps of Marshal Lannes; he was surprised, and naturally hesitated. His hesitation had produced a sort of slackening in the action. Scarcely did occasional discharges of artillery indicate the continuance of the battle. Napoleon, who desired that all his troops should have got into line, rested for at least an hour, and being abundantly supplied with ammunition, was in no hurry to begin, and resisted the impatience of his generals, well knowing that, at this season, in this country, it was light till ten in the evening, he should have time to subject the Russian army to the disaster that he was preparing for it. At length, the fit moment appeared to him to have arrived, he gave the signal. The twenty pieces of cannon of the battery of Posthenen fired at once; the artillery of the army answered them along the whole line; and at this impatiently awaited signal, Marshal Ney moved off hiscorps d’armee.
From the wood of Sortlack issued Marchand’s division, advancing the first to the right, Bisson’s division the second to the left. Both were preceded by a storm of tirailleurs, who, as they approached the enemy, fell back and returned into the ranks. These troops marched resolutely up to the Russians, and took from them the village of Sortlack, so long disputed. Their cavalry, in order to stop the offensive movement, made a charge on Marchand’s division. But Latour Maubourg’s dragoons and the Dutch cuirassiers, passing through the intervals of the battalions, charged that cavalry in their turn, drove it back upon its infantry, and, pushing the Russians against the Alle, precipitated a great number into the deeply embanked bed of that river. Some saved themselves by swimming; many were drowned. His right once appuyed on the Alle, Marshal Ney slackened his march, and pushed forward his left, formed by Bisson’s division, in such a manner as to thrust back the Russians into the narrow space comprised between the Mill Stream and the Alle. When arrived at this point, the fire of the enemy’s artillery redoubled. The French had to sustain not only the fire of the batteries in front, but also the fire of those on the right bank of the Alle; and it was impossible to get rid of the latter by taking them, as they were separated from them by the deep bed of the river. The columns, battered at once in front and flank by the balls, endured with admirable coolness this terrible convergence of fires. Marshal Ney, galloping from one end of the line to the other, kept up the courage of his soldiers by his heroic bearing.Meanwhile, whole files were swept away, and the fire became so severe that the very bravest of the troops could no longer endure it. At this sight, the cavalry of the Russian guard, commanded by General Kollogribow, dashed off at a gallop, to try to throw into disorder the infantry of Bisson’s division, which appeared to waver. Staggered for the first time, that valiant infantry gave ground, and two or three battalions threw themselves in rear. General Bisson, who, from his stature, overlooked the lines of his soldiers, strove in vain to detain them. They retired, grouping themselves around their officers. The situation soon became most critical. Luckily, General Dupont, placed at some distance on the left of Ney’s corps, perceived this commencement of disorder, and without waiting for directions to march, moved off his division, passing in front of it, reminding it of Ulm, Dirnstein and Halle, and taking it to encounter the Russians. It advanced, in the finest attitude, under the fire of that tremendous artillery, while Latour Maubourg’s dragoons, returning to the charge, fell upon the Russian cavalry, which had scattered in pursuit of the foot soldiers, and succeeded in the attempt to drive it back. Dupont’s division, continuing its movement on that open ground, and, supporting its left on the Mill Stream, brought the Russian infantry at a stand. By its presence it filled Ney’s soldiers with confidence and joy. Bisson’s battalions formed anew, and the whole line, re-invigorated, began to march forward again. It was necessary to reply to the formidable artillery of the enemy, and Ney’s artillery was so very inferior in number, that itcould scarcely stand in battery before that of the Russians. Napoleon ordered General Victor to collect all the guns of his division, and to range them in mass on the front of Ney. The skilful and intrepid General Senarmont commanded that artillery. He moved it off at full trot, joined it to that of Marshal Ney, took it some hundred paces ahead of the infantry, and, daringly placing himself in front of the Russians, opened upon them a fire, terrible from the number of the pieces and the accuracy of aim. Directing one of his batteries against the right bank, he soon silenced those which the enemy had on that side. Then, pushing forward his line of artillery, he gradually approached to within grape-shot range, and, firing upon the deep masses, crowding together as they fell back into the elbow of the Alle, he made frightful havoc among them. The line of infantry followed this movement, and advanced under the protection of General Senarmont’s numerous guns. The Russians, thrust further and further back into this gulf, felt a sort of despair, and made an effort to extricate themselves. Their imperial guard, placed upon the Mill Stream, issued from that retreat, and marched, with bayonet fixed, upon Dupont’s division, also placed along the rivulet. The latter, without waiting for the imperial guard, went to meet it, repulsed it with the bayonet, and forced it back to the ravine. Thus driven, some of the Russians threw themselves beyond the ravine, the others upon the suburbs of Friedland. General Dupont, with part of his division, crossed the Mill Stream, drove before him all that he met, found himself on the rear of the right wing of the Russiansengaged with the left in the plain of Heinrichsdorf, turned Friedland, and attacked it by the Konigsberg road; while Ney, continuing to march straight forward, entered by the Eylau road. A terrible conflict ensued at the gates of the town. The assailants pressed the Russians in all quarters; they forced their way into the street in pursuit of them; they drove them upon the bridges of the Alle, which General Senarmont’s artillery, left outside, enfiladed with its shot. The Russians crowded upon the bridges to seek refuge in the ranks of the fourteenth division, left, in reserve, on the other side of the Alle, by General Bennigsen. That unfortunate general, full of grief, had hurried to this division, with the intention of taking it to the bank of the river to the assistance of his endangered army. Scarcely had some wrecks of his left wing passed the bridges, when those bridges were destroyed—set on fire by the French, and, by the Russians themselves, in their anxiety to stop pursuit. Ney and Dupont, having performed their task, met in the heart of Friedland in flames, and congratulated one another on this glorious success.
Napoleon, placed in the centre of the divisions which he kept in reserve, had never ceased to watch this grand sight. While he was contemplating it attentively, a ball passed at the height of the bayonets, and a soldier, from an instinctive movement, stooped his head. “If that ball was intended for you,” said Napoleon, smiling, “though you were to burrow a hundred feet under ground, it would be sure to find you there.” Thus he wished to give currency to that useful belief that Fatestrikes the brave and the coward without distinction, and that the coward who seeks a hiding-place disgraces himself to no purpose.
On seeing that Friedland was occupied and the bridges of the Alle destroyed, Napoleon at length pushed forward his left upon the right wing of the Russian army, deprived of all means of retreat, and having behind it a river without bridges. General Gortschakoff, who commanded that wing, perceived the danger with which he was threatened, and, thinking to dispel the storm, made an attack on the French line, extending from Posthenen to Heinrichsdorf, formed by the corps of Marshal Lannes, by that of Mortier, and by General Grouchy’s cavalry. But Lannes, with his grenadiers, made head against the Russians. Marshal Mortier, with the 15th and the fusiliers of the guard, opposed to them an iron barrier. Mortier’s artillery, in particular, directed by Colonel Balbois and an excellent Dutch officer, M. Vanbriennen, made incalculable havoc among them. At length, Napoleon, anxious to take advantage of the rest of the day, carried forward his whole line. Infantry, cavalry, artillery, started all at once. General Gortschakoff, while he found himself thus pressed, was informed that Friedland was in the possession of the French. In hopes of retaking it, he dispatched a column of infantry to the gates of the town. That column penetrated into it, and for a moment drove back Dupont’s and Ney’s soldiers; but these repulsed in their turn the Russian column. A new fight took place in that unfortunate town, and the possession of it was disputed by the light of theflames that were consuming it. The French finally remained masters, and drove Gortschakoff’s corps into that plain without thoroughfare which had served it for field of battle. Gortschakoff’s infantry defended itself with intrepidity, and threw itself into the Alle rather than surrender. Part of the Russian soldiers were fortunate enough to find fordable passages, and contrived to escape. Another drowned itself in the river. The whole of the artillery was captured. A column, the furthest on the right (right of the Russians) fled and descended the Alle, under General Lambert, with a portion of the cavalry. The darkness of the night and the disorder of victory facilitated its retreat, and enabled it to escape.