[Illustration: (Coat of Arms)]
[Illustration: (Stylized "N")]
[Illustration: From a Painting by Paul Delaroche
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, "SNUFF BOX" PORTRAIT]
Military Career
OF
Napoleon the Great
An Account of the Remarkable Campaigns
of the "Man of Destiny"
Authentic Anecdotes of the Battlefield as Told by the Famous
Marshals and Generals of the First Empire
BY
Montgomery B. Gibbs
"_He fought a thousand glorious wars,
And more than half the world was his;
And somewhere, now, in yonder stars,
Can tell, mayhap, what greatness is._"
--THACKERAY
CHICAGO:
E. A. WEEKS & COMPANY,
521-531 Wabash Ave.
COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY THE WERNER COMPANY
Mil. Car. Napoleon
To
My Friend
JOHN L. STODDARD
This Volume is
Affectionately
Dedicated.
Preface.
As the closing chapters of this volume were being written, a "Napoleonic
wave" seemed to be passing over the country, an echo, no doubt, of the
furore which Napoleon's name has excited in France during the past three
years. One writer wittily says:
"Where'er I turn, I'm forced to learn,
Some detail of his life,
I read about his sword and hats,
And how he beat his wife."
It seems but fair, therefore, for the author of this volume to declare
that the revival of interest in the career of the man who for fifteen
years had been the glory of France, has in no way caused the hasty
writing, or publication, of this anecdotal military history. It is the
result of years of study, and represents, not only a careful reading of
those authorities which all must have access to who would write
intelligently of the subject, but also of the more recent volumes which
have appeared from time to time, each having something new to reveal
concerning the seemingly inexhaustible fund of information pertaining
to this son of a poor Corsican gentleman, who as his greatest
biographer has said of him, "played in the world the parts of Alexander,
Hannibal, Cæsar and Charlemagne."
There has never been a time, during the last fifty years at least, when
the public was not eager to learn something new concerning the wonderful
career of the man who once held all Europe prisoner in the folds of the
French flag. The world regards Napoleon Bonaparte as a _military genius_
at least, whatever it may think of the political or social side of his
life, and its relation to France. The writer does not believe that they
are inseparably connected, and in offering this work it is his desire to
better acquaint the admirers, as well as the enemies of the "Little
Corporal," with his military career, not technically, but to picture him
as his marshals, generals and soldiers knew him on the battlefield and
around the campfire.
Many of these famous marshals and generals, who shared day by day all
the glories and perils of their chief, and who vied with him in their
activity and daring, have lately given to the world their "Memoirs,"
published many years after their death, for obvious reasons. From them
one gets a much clearer insight into the true characteristics of their
heroic leader. Being men of slight education their writings are confined
largely to the gossip of the campaigns in which they were active
participants, and in reading them one is often tempted to believe that
Napoleon was in command of both belligerent armies, so accurately did
this giant among warriors forecast the movements of the enemy on the
battlefield; and after victory had favored his bold strokes, finding
himself in a position to reshape, at will, the map of Europe; for he
conducted his campaigns with a degree of skill which, it is conceded by
all military authorities, has never been excelled.
No man ever understood how to excite emulation, by distributing praise
or blame, as did Napoleon. Chaboulon well says that the ascendancy
possessed by the Emperor over the minds and courage of the soldiery was
truly incomprehensible. A word, a gesture, was sufficient to inspire
them with enthusiasm, and make them face the most terrible ordeals. If
ordered to rush to a point, although the extreme danger of the manoeuvre
might at first strike the good sense of the soldiers, they immediately
reflected that their general would not have issued such a command
without a motive, or have exposed them wantonly. "He knows what he is
about," they would say, and immediately rush on to death, uttering
shouts of "Long live the Emperor!"
No attempt is here made to give a history of France from the time
Bonaparte first made his entrance into the drama of which he was so soon
to be the leading actor. The successive periods of the Revolution, the
Directory, the Consulate and the Empire are only introduced when found
necessary to explain the rapidly advancing steps of this wonderful
character in history, the worshiped idol of an entire nation, that his
military career may be the better understood; hence it has been thought
advisable to refer briefly, at times, to the relations of France with
other countries, and the cause of his spending, during the ten years of
his reign as Emperor, exactly fifty-four days less in camp, and under
the enemy's fire, so to speak, than he did in his royal residences!
This, then, is the story of the man who personally commanded in 600
skirmishes, and 85 pitched battles, resigning at last his leadership on
the field of Waterloo, a victim of treachery and incompetency exceeding
even his own well-grounded fears; but even after these years of constant
warfare and conquest, after maintaining huge armies in almost all parts
of the world, he left France the richest nation in the universe, and in
possession of a larger amount of specie than the rest of Europe; and
notwithstanding the fact that in 1796, when he was given command of the
Army of Italy, he found his government not only incapable of paying its
ragged and weary troops, but unable, even, to feed them!
M. B. G.
_Chicago, Ill. December 31, 1894._
Contents
CHAPTER I.
Page
BOYHOOD DAYS AND EARLY CAREER 9