_Murat's Armistice broken off--Napoleon leaves Moscow on 19th
October--Bloody Skirmish at Malo-Yarowslavetz--Napoleon in great
danger while reconnoitring--He retreats to Vereia, where he meets
Mortier and the Young Guard--Winzengerode made Prisoner, and
insulted by Buonaparte--The Kremlin is blown up by the
French--Napoleon continues his Retreat towards Poland--Its
Horrors--Conflict near Wiazma, on 3d November, where the French lose
4000 Men--Cross the River Wiazma during the Night--The Viceroy of
Italy reaches Smolensk, in great distress--Buonaparte arrives at
Smolensk, with the headmost division of the Grand Army--Calamitous
Retreat of Ney's Division--The whole French Army now collected at
Smolensk--Cautious conduct of Prince Schwartzenberg--Winzengerode
freed on his road to Paris, by a body of Cossacks--Tchitchagoff
occupies Minsk--Perilous situation of Napoleon._
[Sidenote: MURAT ATTACKED AND DEFEATED.]
It was easy to make Murat himself the active person in breaking off the
armistice, a step which the Russian general preferred, lest a formal
intimation of rupture on his own side, might lead the King of Naples to
suspect his further purpose. Accordingly, a Cossack having fired his
carabine when Murat was examining the advanced guards, irritated, as it
was designed to do, that fiery soldier, and induced him to announce to
the Russian generals that the armistice was ended. The Russians were the
first to commence hostilities.
The camp, or position, which Murat occupied, Worodonow, was covered on
the right, and on the centre, by a rivulet or brook, running in a deep
ravine; but the stream taking another direction, left a good part of the
left wing uncovered, which was at the same time exposed to surprise from
a wood covering a little plain where his left rested. The sum of Murat's
force, which consisted of the cavalry, and Poniatowski's division, was
computed to be upwards of 30,000. It is singular that since the King of
Naples expected an attack, as was intimated by his letter to his
brother-in-law, he did not take the precaution of placing videttes and
advanced guards in the woody plain. But the French, from their long
train of success, were accustomed to despise their enemies, and to
consider a surprise as a species of affront which they were never to be
exposed to.
The Russians had laid a plan, which, had it been dexterously executed,
must have destroyed the whole French advanced guard. An attack upon the
left of Murat's position, by two Russian columns, under Count Orloff
Dennizoff, was completely successful; but other two columns, by whom he
should have been supported, did not arrive in time upon the point of
action; the Poles, under Poniatowski, made a glorious defence upon the
right, and the vanguard was saved from utter destruction. But there was
a complete defeat; the King of Naples lost his cannon, his position, and
his baggage, had 2000 men killed, and lost 1500 prisoners. The French
cavalry, except a few of those belonging to the guard, might be said to
be utterly destroyed. Every thing which the Russians saw in the enemy's
camp, convinced them of the distress to which the French were reduced.
Flayed cats and horse-flesh were the dainties found in the King of
Naples' kitchen.
It was the 18th of October when first the noise of the cannon, and soon
after, the arrival of an officer, brought intelligence of this mishap to
Buonaparte. His energy of character, which had appeared to slumber
during the days he had spent in a species of irresolution at Moscow,
seemed at once restored. He poured forth, without hesitation, a torrent
of orders suited for the occasion, directing the march of the troops to
support Murat at Worodonow. Notwithstanding the miscellaneous variety
of directions, each was distinct in itself, yet critically connected
with the others, so as to form, on the whole, a perfect and
well-connected plan of movements. Part of the army marched that night;
the rest had their route for the next morning. A garrison, under
Maréchal Mortier, was left as a rear-guard in the Kremlin; from which it
may be inferred that Napoleon did not as yet intend a final retreat.
On the 19th October, before day-break, the Emperor in person left
Moscow, after an abode of thirty-four days. "Let us march," he said, "on
Kalouga, and woe to those who shall oppose us."[179] In this brief
sentence he announced the whole plan of his retreat which was to defeat
the army of Koutousoff, or compel him to retire, and then himself to
return to the frontiers of Poland, by the unwasted route of Kalouga,
Medyn, Ynkowo, Elnia, and Smolensk.
The French army, which now filed from the gates of Moscow, and which
continued to move on in a living mass for many hours, comprehended about
120,000 men, indifferently well appointed, and marching in good order.
They were followed by no less than 550 pieces of cannon, a train beyond
proportion to their numbers, and 2000 artillery waggons.[180] So far the
march had a martial and imposing aspect. But in the rear of these came a
confused crowd of many thousands, consisting of followers of the camp,
stragglers who had rejoined it, and prisoners, many of them employed in
carrying, or driving forward in wheelbarrows, the spoil of the
conquerors.[181]
Among these were French families formerly inhabitants of Moscow, and
composing what was called the French colony there, who could no longer
reckon upon it as a safe place of abode, and who took the opportunity of
retiring with their countrymen. There was, besides, a mixture and
confusion of all imaginable kind of carriages, charged with the baggage
of the army, and with the spoils of Moscow, to swell those trophies
which Napoleon had seized upon to amuse the Parisians, as well as what
had been seized by individuals. This miscellaneous crowd resembled,
according to Ségur, a horde of Tartars returning from a successful
invasion.[182]
[Sidenote: BATTLE OF MALO-YAROWSLAVETZ.]
There were, as has been said, three routes from Moscow to Kalouga. The
central, or old road, was that upon which the Russians lay encamped at
their grand position of Taroutino, and in front of it was that of
Worodonow, or Ynkowo, where they had so lately defeated Murat. Napoleon
advanced a day's march on this route, in order to induce Koutousoff to
believe that he proposed to attack his army in front; but this was only
a feint, for, on the next day, he turned off by cross-roads into the
western, or new road to Kalouga, with the view of advancing by that
route until he should be past the Russian camp at Taroutino, on the
right flank, and then of again crossing from the new road to the old
one, and thus getting possession of Borowsk and Malo-Yarowslavetz, towns
on the same road to the southward of Taroutino. Thus the Russian
position would be turned and avoided, while the main body of the French
Emperor would be interposed betwixt Koutousoff and Kalouga, and the
fertile southern provinces laid open to supply his army.
On the 23d, the Emperor with his main body, attained Borowsk, and
learned that the division of Delzons, which formed his vanguard, had
occupied Malo-Yarowslavetz without opposition. Thus far all seemed to
have succeeded according to Napoleon's wish.
But Koutousoff, so soon as he was aware of the danger in which he stood
of being cut off from Kalouga, retaliated upon Napoleon his own
manœuvre, and detached Generals Doktoroff and Raefskoi to the
southward with a strong division, to outmarch the French, and occupy the
position of Malo-Yarowslavetz, or to regain it if it was taken. He
himself breaking up his camp at Taroutino, followed with his whole army
by the road of Lectazowo, and marched so rapidly as to outstrip the
French army, and reach the southward of Malo-Yarowslavetz, and
consequently again interpose himself between Napoleon and Kalouga.
Malo-Yarowslavetz offers a strong position. The town is built on a rapid
declivity, broken with cliffs, the bottom of which is washed by the
river Louja. On the northern side of the Louja, and connected with the
town by a bridge, is a small plain with some huts, where Delzon's army
bivouacked, having stationed two battalions to defend the town, and to
watch the motions of the enemy. About four in the morning, when all were
asleep, save the few sentinels who kept a careless watch, the Russians
rushed into the place with dreadful outcries, drove the two battalions
out of the town, and pushed them down the declivity and across the Louja
to their main body. The noise of the artillery drew the attention of
Eugene the viceroy, who being only about three leagues from the scene of
action, arrived there about the dawn. The soldiers of Delzons' division
were then discovered struggling to regain the southern bank on which the
town was situated. Encouraged by the approach of Eugene, Delzons pushed
forward across the bridge, repelled the Russians, gained the middle of
the village, and was shot dead. His brother, who endeavoured to drag
the general's body from the spot, incurred the same fate. General
Guilleminot succeeded to the command, and threw a strong party of French
into the church, which served as a citadel during the continuance of the
action. The Russians rushed in once more, and drove Guilleminot back to
the bridge. He was, however, succoured by Prince Eugene, who, after
various less serious attempts, directed a whole division on the
town.[183]
Malo-Yarowslavetz was then recovered by the French; but, on
reconnoitring a little farther, the whole of Koutousoff's army appeared
on the plain beyond it, upwards of 100,000 men in number, and already
possessed of a good position, which they were improving by
intrenchments. Reinforcements from the Russian ranks immediately
attacked the French, who were driven back on the town, which, being
composed of wooden huts, was now in flames, and the French were again
dispossessed of Malo-Yarowslavetz. The miserable ruins of this place
were five times won and lost. At length, as the main body of the grand
army came up under Napoleon himself, he found the French still in
possession of the disputed village and its steep bank. But beyond them
lay the numerous Russian army, stationed and intrenched, supported by a
very large train of artillery, and seeming to render a battle absolutely
indispensable to dislodge them from the position they had taken, and the
fortifications with which they had secured themselves.
A council of war was held in the headquarters of the Emperor, the hut of
a poor weaver, divided by a screen, which served as the only
partition.[184] Here he received and meditated upon the reports of his
generals, together with their opinions, and learned, to his distress,
that Bessières, and other good officers, reported that the position
occupied by Koutousoff was unassailable.[185] He resolved to judge with
his own eyes on the next day, and in the meantime turned a negligent ear
to the reports which informed him that the Cossacks were stealing
through the woods, and insinuating themselves betwixt him and his
advanced guard.
At dawning, Napoleon mounted his horse, in order to reconnoitre, and
incurred in the attempt a great risk of his life or freedom. It was
about daybreak, when, as attended by his staff and orderly soldiers, he
crossed the little plain on the northern side of the Louja in order to
gain the bridge, the level ground was suddenly filled with fugitives, in
the rear of whom appeared some black masses. At first, the cries they
made seemed to be those of _Vive l'Empereur_; but the wild hourra of the
Cossacks, and the swiftness of their advance, soon announced the
children of the desert. "It is the Cossacks," said Rapp, seizing the
reins of the Emperor's bridle. "You must turn back." Napoleon refused to
retreat, drew his sword, as did his attendants, and placed themselves on
the side of the highway. Rapp's horse was wounded, and borne down by one
of these lancers; but the Emperor and suite preserved their liberty by
standing their ground, while the cloud of Cossacks, more intent on
plunder than prisoners, passed them within lance's length, without
observing the inestimable prey which was within their grasp, and threw
themselves upon some carriages which were more attractive. The arrival
of the cavalry of the guard cleared the plain of this desultory but
venturous and pertinacious enemy; and Napoleon proceeded to cross the
river and ascend the further bank, for the purpose of reconnoitring. In
the meantime, the audacity of the Cossacks in their retreat, was equal
to the wild character of their advance. They halted between the
intervals of the French cavalry to load their pistols and carabines,
perfectly secure that if pressed, their horses, at a touch of the whip
which is attached to their bridle, would outstrip the exhausted chargers
of the French Imperial Guard.[186]
When the plain was attained, Napoleon saw on the front, and barring the
road to Kalouga, Koutousoff, strongly posted with upwards of 100,000
men, and on the right, Platoff and 6000 Cossacks, with artillery. To
this belonged the pulk which he had just encountered, and who were
returning from the flanks of his line, loaded with booty, while others
seemed to meditate a similar attack. He returned to his miserable
headquarters, after having finished his reconnoitring party.
[Sidenote: RETREAT ON VEREIA.]
A second council of war was held, in which Buonaparte, having heard the
conflicting opinions of Murat, who gave his advice for attacking
Koutousoff, and of Davoust, who considered the position of the Russian
general as one which, covering a long succession of defiles, might be
defended inch by inch, at length found himself obliged to decide between
the angry chiefs, and with a grief which seemed to deprive him of his
senses for a little while, gave the unusual orders--to retreat.[187]
Buonaparte's own personal experience had convinced him how much, in
advancing, his flanks would be exposed to the Hettman and his Cossacks,
who had mustered in great force in the neighbourhood of Medyn. Other
intelligence informed him that his rear had been attacked by another
body of Cossacks coming from Twer, and who belonged not to Koutousoff's
army, but to another Russian division under the command of Winzengerode,
which was advancing from the northward to re-occupy Moscow. This showed
that the communications of the French were at the enemy's mercy on the
west and the north, on flank and in rear, and seems to have determined
the Emperor to give at length, and most reluctantly, the orders to
retreat, for the purpose of returning to the frontiers by Vereia and
Wiazma, the same road by which they had advanced.
It was very seldom that Napoleon resigned the settled purpose of his own
mind, either to the advice of those around him, or to any combination of
opposing circumstances. He usually received any objection founded on the
difficulty of executing his orders, with an evasive answer, "_Ah, on ne
peut pas!_" which, from the sarcastic mode in which he uttered the
words, plainly showed that he imputed the alleged impossibility to the
imbecility of the officer who used the apology. It might have been
better for Napoleon, in many instances, had he somewhat abated this
pertinacity of disposition; and yet it happened, that by yielding with
unwonted docility to the advice of his generals upon the present
occasion, he actually retreated at the very moment when the grand
Russian army were withdrawing from the position in which Davoust had
pronounced them unassailable. The reason of this retrograde movement,
which involved the most serious risk, and which, had Napoleon been aware
of it, might have yielded him access to the most fertile and unharassed
provinces of Russia, was said to be Koutousoff's fears that the French,
moving from their right flank, might have marched round the Russian army
by the way of Medyn. The truth seems to be, that Koutousoff, though
placed in command of the grand army, in order to indulge the soldiers
with a general action, was slow and cautious by nature, and rendered
more so by his advanced age. He forgot, that in war, to gain brilliant
results, or even to prevent great reverses, some risks must be run; and
having received just praise for his practised and cautious movements
from the battle of Borodino till that of Malo-Yarowslavetz, he now
carried the qualities of prudence and circumspection to the extreme, and
shunned a general action, or rather the hazard of a general attack from
the French, when he might certainly have trusted, first, in the chance
(which turned out the reality) of Buonaparte's retreat; secondly, in the
courage of his troops, and the strength of his position. "But Fortune,"
says Tacitus, "has the chief influence on warlike events;" and she so
ordered it, that both the hostile armies retired at once. So that while
Buonaparte retreated towards Borowsk and Vereia, the route by which he
had advanced, the Russians were leaving open before him the road to
Kalouga, to gain which he had fought, and fought in vain, the bloody
battle of Malo-Yarowslavetz. Favoured, however, by their immense clouds
of light cavalry, the Russians learned the retrograde movement of
Napoleon long before he could have any certain knowledge of theirs; and
in consequence, manœuvred from their left so as to approach the
points of Wiazma and Gjatz, by which the French must needs pass, if they
meant to march on Smolensk.
[Sidenote: WINZENGERODE MADE PRISONER.]
At Vereia, where Napoleon had his headquarters on the 27th October, he
had the satisfaction to meet with Mortier, and that part of the Young
Guard which had garrisoned the Kremlin. They brought with them an
important prisoner, whom chance, or rather his own imprudence, had
thrown into their hands. We have said incidentally, that upon the French
army evacuating Moscow, Winzengerode, with a considerable body of
forces, advanced upon the Twer to regain possession of the city. All was
vacant and silent except where the French garrison lay, deserted and
moody in the Kremlin, with a few detached outposts. Winzengerode, with a
single aide-de-camp, rode imprudently forward, and both were seized by
the French soldiers. The general waved a white handkerchief, and claimed
the privilege of a flag of truce, alleging that he came to summon the
French marshal to surrender. But Mortier refused him the privilege he
claimed, observing, plausibly, that it was not the custom of general
officers to summon garrisons in person.
Before leaving Moscow, the French, by the especial command of Napoleon,
prepared to blow up the ancient palace of the Czars. As the Kremlin was
totally useless as a fortification, even if Napoleon could have hoped
ever to return to Moscow as a victor, this act of wanton mischief can
only be imputed to a desire to do something personally displeasing to
Alexander, because he had been found to possess a firmer character than
his former friend had anticipated.[188] The mode of executing this
mandate, which, however, should be probably ascribed to the engineers,
was a piece of additional barbarity. Aware that some of the Russians who
were left behind, men of the lowest rank and habits, would crowd in to
plunder the palace when the French retreated, they attached long
slow-matches to the gunpowder which was stored in the vaults of the
palace, and lighted them when the rear of the French column marched out.
The French were but at a short distance, when the explosion took place,
which laid a considerable part of the Kremlin in ruins, and destroyed at
the same time, in mere wantonness, a number of wretches, whom curiosity
or love of plunder had, as was anticipated, induced to crowd within the
palace.[189] The Russian troops poured in, destroyed the mines which had
not yet exploded, and extinguished the fire which had already caught the
building. The patriotic foresight of the Russian peasants was now made
manifest. We have mentioned the extreme wants of the French in the
desolate city. No sooner was the Russian flag hoisted, than these wants
vanished, as if by magic. Eighteen hundred cars, loaded with bread,
poured in from the neighbourhood, on the very day that saw Moscow
re-occupied. The bread, and the mode of conveying it, had been in secret
prepared by these rustic patriots.
We return to the movements of the French army.
The dreadful explosion of the Kremlin shook the ground like an
earthquake, and announced to Napoleon, then on his march against
Koutousoff, that his commands had been obeyed. On the next day, a
bulletin announced in a triumphant tone that the Kremlin, coeval with
the Russian monarchy, _had existed_; and that Moscow was now but an
impure laystall, while "the 200,000 persons which once formed her
population, wandered through the forests, subsisting on wild roots, or
perishing for want of them." With yet more audacity, the same official
annunciation represents the retreat of the French as an advance on the
road to victory. "The army expects to be put in motion on the 24th, to
gain the Dwina, and to assume a position which will place it eighty
leagues nearer to St. Petersburgh, and to Wilna; a double advantage,
since it will bring us nearer the mark we aim at, and the means by which
it may be accomplished."[190] While such splendid figments were
circulated for the satisfaction of the people of Paris, the real
question was, not whether the French were to approach St. Petersburgh,
but by what means they were to get out of Russia with the semblance of
an army remaining together.
Napoleon's spirit was observed to be soured by the result of the affair
at Malo-Yarowslavetz. It was indeed an operation of the last
consequence, since it compelled a broken and suffering army to retreat
through a country already wasted by their own advance, and by the acts
of the Russians, where the houses were burnt, the inhabitants fled, and
the roads broken up, instead of taking the road by Kalouga, through a
region which offered both the means of subsistence and shelter. When the
advanced season of the year was considered, it might be said that the
retreat upon Vereia sounded the death-knell of the French army. These
melancholy considerations did not escape Buonaparte himself, though he
endeavoured to disguise them from others, by asserting, in a bulletin
dated from Borowsk, that the country around was extremely rich, might be
compared to the best parts of France and Germany, and that the weather
reminded the troops of the sun and the delicious climate of
Fontainbleau.[191] His temper was visibly altered. Among other modes of
venting his displeasure, he bitterly upbraided his prisoner
Winzengerode, who was then brought before him.--"Who are you?" he
exclaimed[192]--"A man without a country!--You have ever been my
enemy--You were in the Austrian ranks when I fought against them--I have
become Austria's friend, and I find you in those of Russia--You have
been a warm instigator of the war; nevertheless, you are a native of the
Confederation of the Rhine--you are my subject--you are a rebel--Seize
on him, gendarmes!--Let him be brought to trial!"[193]
[Sidenote: WINZENGERODE.]
To this threat, which showed that Napoleon accounted the states of the
Confederacy not as appertaining in sovereignty to the princes whose
names they bore, but as the immediate subjects of France, from whom the
French Emperor was entitled to expect direct fealty, Napoleon added
other terms of abuse; and called Winzengerode an English hireling and
incendiary, while he behaved with civility to his aide-de-camp
Narishkin, a native Russian. This violence, however, had no other
consequence than that of the dismissal of Winzengerode, a close
prisoner, to Lithuania, to be from thence forwarded to Paris.[194] The
presence of a captive of rank and reputation, an aide-de-camp of the
Emperor of Russia, was designed of course to give countenance to the
favourable accounts, which Napoleon might find it convenient to
circulate on the events of the campaign. It was not, however,
Winzengerode's fortune to make this disagreeable journey. He was, as
will be hereafter mentioned, released in Lithuania, when such an event
was least to be hoped for.
Accounts had been received, tending to confirm the opinion that the
Russian army were moving on Medyn, with the obvious purpose of
intercepting the French army, or at least harassing their passage at
Wiazma or at Gjatz. By the orders of Napoleon, therefore, the army
pressed forward on the last named town. They marched on in three corps
d'armée. Napoleon was with the first of these armies. The second was
commanded by the Viceroy of Italy, Prince Eugene. The third, which was
destined to act as a rear-guard, was led by Davoust, whose love of order
and military discipline might be, it was hoped, some check upon the
license and confusion of such a retreat. It was designed that one day's
march should intervene between the movements of each of these bodies, to
avoid confusion, and to facilitate the collecting subsistence; being a
delay of two, or at most three days, betwixt the operations of the
advanced guard and that of the rear.
It has been often asked, nor has the question ever been satisfactorily
answered, why Napoleon preferred that his columns should thus creep over
the same ground in succession, instead of the more combined and rapid
mode of marching by three columns in front, by which he would have saved
time, and increased, by the breadth of country which the march occupied,
the means of collecting subsistence. The impracticability of the roads
cannot be alleged, because the French army had come thither arranged in
three columns, marching to the front abreast of each other, which was
the reverse of their order in the retreat.
In the road, the army passed Borodino, the scene of the grand battle
which exhibited so many vestiges of the French prowess, and of the loss
they had sustained.[195] This, the most sanguinary conflict of modern
times, had been entirely without adequate advantages to the victors. The
momentary possession of Moscow had annihilated every chance of an
essential result by the catastrophe which followed; and the army which
had been victorious at Borodino was now escaping from their conquests,
surrounded by danger on every hand, and already disorganised on many
points, by danger, pain, and privation. At the convent of Kolotskoi,
which had been the grand hospital of the French after the battle, many
of the wounded were found still alive, though thousands more had
perished for want of materials necessary for surgical treatment, food of
suitable quality, bandages, and the like. The survivors crawled to the
door, and extended their supplicating hands to their countrymen as they
passed onwards on their weary march. By Napoleon's orders, such of the
patients as were able to bear being moved were placed on the suttlers'
carts, while the rest were left in the convent, together with some
wounded Russian prisoners, whose presence, it was hoped, might be a
protection to the French.[196]
Several of those who had been placed in the carriages did not travel
very far. The sordid wretches to whom the carts and wains, loaded with
the plunder of Moscow, belonged, got rid in many cases of the additional
burden imposed on them, by lagging behind the column of march in
desolate places, and murdering the men intrusted to their charge. In
other parts of the column, the Russian prisoners were seen lying on the
road, their brains shot out by the soldiers appointed to guard them, but
who took this mode of freeing themselves of the trouble. It is thus that
a continued course of calamity renders men's minds selfish, ravenous,
and fiendish, indifferent to what evil they inflict, because it can
scarcely equal that which they endure; as divines say of the condemned
spirits, that they are urged to malevolent actions against men, by a
consciousness of their own state of reprobation.
[Sidenote: GJATZ--WIAZMA.]
Napoleon, with his first division of the grand army, reached Gjatz[197]
without any other inconvenience than arose from the state of the roads,
and the distresses of the soldiery. From Gjatz he advanced in two
marches to Wiazma, and halted there to allow Prince Eugene and Marshal
Davoust to come up, who had fallen five days' march to the rear, instead
of three days only, as had been directed. On the 1st November, the
Emperor again resumed his painful retreat, leaving, however, the corps
of Ney at Wiazma to reinforce and relieve the rear-guard under Davoust,
who, he concluded, must be worn out with the duty. He resumed with his
Old Guard the road to Dorogobouje, on which town he thought it probable
the Russians might be moving to cut him off, and it was most important
to prevent them.
Another order of Napoleon's confirms his sense of the danger which had
now begun to oppress him. He commanded the spoils of Moscow, ancient
armour, cannon, and the great cross of Ivan, to be thrown into the lake
of Semelin, as trophies which he was unwilling to restore, and unable to
carry off.[198] Some of the artillery, which the unfed horses where
unable to drag forward, were also now necessarily left behind, though
the circumstance was not communicated in every instance to Napoleon,
who, bred in the artillery department, cherished, like many officers of
that branch of service, a sort of superstitious reverence for his guns.
The Emperor, and the vanguard of his army, had hitherto passed
unopposed. It was not so with the centre and rear. They were attacked,
during the whole course of that march, by clouds of Cossacks, bringing
with them a species of light artillery mounted on sledges, which,
keeping pace with their motions, threw showers of balls among the
columns of the French; while the menaced charge of these irregular
cavalry frequently obliged the march to halt, that the men might form
lines or squares to protect themselves. The passage of streams where the
bridges were broken down, and the horses and waggons were overturned on
the precipitous banks, or in the miry fords, and where drivers and
horses dropped down exhausted, added to this confusion when such
obstacles occurred. The two divisions, however, having as yet seen no
regular forces, passed the night of the 2d November in deceitful
tranquillity, within two leagues of Wiazma, where Ney was lying ready to
join them.
In that fatal night, Miloradowitch, one of the boldest, most
enterprising, and active of the Russian generals, and whom the French
were wont to call the Russian Murat, arrived with the vanguard of the
Russian regulars, supported by Platoff and many thousand Cossacks, and
being the harbinger of Koutousoff, and the whole grand army of Russia.
The old Russian general, when he learned the French Emperor's plan of
retiring by Gjatz and Wiazma, instantly turning his own retreat into a
movement to the left, arrived by cross-roads from Malo-Yarowslavetz. The
Russians now reached the point of action at daybreak, pushed through
Prince Eugene's line of march, and insulated his vanguard, while the
Cossacks rode like a whirlwind among the host of stragglers and
followers of the army, and drove them along the plain at the lance's
point. The viceroy was succoured by a regiment which Ney, though himself
hardly pressed, despatched to his aid from Wiazma, and his rear-guard
was disengaged by the exertions of Davoust, who marched hastily forward
to extricate them. The Russian artillery, which is superior in calibre,
and carries farther than the French, manœuvred with rapidity, and
kept up a tremendous cannonade, to which the French had no adequate
means of replying. Eugene and Davoust made a most gallant defence; yet
they would not have been able to maintain their ground, had Koutousoff,
as was to have been expected, either come up in person, or sent a strong
detachment to support his vanguard.
The battle lasted from seven in the morning till towards evening, when
Eugene and Davoust pushed through Wiazma with the remains of their
divisions, pursued by and almost mingled with the Russians, whose army
marched into the town at the charging step, with drums beating, and all
the indications of victory. The French divisions, under cover of the
night, and having passed the river (which, like the town, is called
Wiazma,) established themselves in obscurity and comparative safety upon
the left bank. The day had been disastrous to the French arms, though
their honour remained unsullied. They had lost about 4000 men, their
regiments were mouldered down to battalions, their battalions to
companies, their companies to weak picquets.[199]
All tacticians agree, that, if Koutousoff had reinforced Miloradowitch
as warmly urged by Sir Robert Wilson, or if he had forced the town of
Wiazma, which his numbers might have enabled him to do, both the centre
and rear divisions of Napoleon's force, and probably the troops under
Ney also, must have been inevitably cut off. But the aged general
confided in the approach of the Russian winter, and declined to
purchase, by the blood of his countrymen, a victory of which he held
himself secured by the climate. The French were so far from any place
where they could procure either food or shelter; they were so hemmed in,
and confined to the desolated high-roads, which every column as it
passed rendered more impracticable to the rest, that he refused to gain,
at the sword's point, advantages which he deemed himself sure of
possessing without effort. Determined, therefore, to avoid a general
battle, yet to maintain his advantages over the French by manœuvring,
Koutousoff, turning a deaf ear to the remonstrances, and even threats,
of those who differed in opinion from him, removed his headquarters to
Krasnoi, leaving to Miloradowitch the duty of beating up the rear of the
French on their retreat, by following the course of the high-road, while
the Hettman Platoff, flanking the French march with his Cossacks, took
advantage of every opportunity to distress them.
In the meanwhile, the viceroy received orders from Napoleon to abandon
the straight road to Smolensk, which was the route of the corps of
Davoust and Ney, and to move northward on Dowkhowtchina and Poreczie, to
afford countenance and support to Maréchal Oudinot, now understood to be
hard pressed by Witgenstein, who, as we shall presently see, had
regained the superiority in the north of Russia. The viceroy, in
obedience to this order, began his march on the new route which was
enjoined him, by marching himself upon Zasselie, closely pursued,
watched, and harassed by his usual Scythian attendants. He was compelled
to leave behind him sixty-four pieces of cannon; and these, with three
thousand stragglers, fell into the prompt grasp of the pursuers.
[Sidenote: OPERATIONS OF PRINCE EUGENE.]
A large cloud of Cossacks, with Platoff at their head, accompanied the
movements of the viceroy and his Italian army. Whoever strayed from the
column was inevitably their prey. Eugene passed a night at Zasselie,
without having as yet encountered any great misfortune. But in advancing
from thence to Dowkhowtchina, the French had to cross the Wop, a river
swelled by rains, while the passage to the ford was steep and frozen.
Here the viceroy passed over his infantry with great difficulty, but was
obliged to abandon twenty-three pieces of cannon and all his baggage to
the Cossacks. The unhappy Italians, wetted from head to foot, were
compelled to pass a miserable night in bivouac upon the other side; and
many expired there, whose thoughts, when perishing so miserably, must
have been on their own mild climate and delicious country. Next day, the
shivering, half-naked, and persecuted column reached Dowkhowtchina,
where they expected some relief; but their first welcome was from a
fresh swarm of Cossacks, which rushed out from the gates with cannon.
These were the advanced corps of the troops which had occupied Moscow,
and were now pressing westward where their services were more necessary.
Notwithstanding their opposition, Prince Eugene forced his way into the
place with much gallantry, and took up quarters for the night. But
having lost his baggage, the greater part of his artillery and
ammunition, and with the utter destruction of his cavalry, he saw no
prospect of being able to march forward to Witepsk to support Oudinot,
nor was he in a condition to have afforded him assistance, even if he
had been in communication. In this situation of distress, the viceroy
determined to rejoin the grand army, and for that purpose marched upon
Wlodimerowa, and from thence to Smolensk, where, harassed by the
Cossacks, he arrived in a miserable condition upon the 13th of November,
having fallen in with Maréchal Ney, upon his march, as we shall
afterwards mention.
The Emperor, in the meantime, had halted at Stakawo, during the 3d and
4th November. On the 5th he slept at Dorogobuje.
On the 6th November commenced that terrible Russian winter of which the
French had not yet experienced the horrors, although the weather had
been cold, frosty, and threatening. No sun was visible, and the dense
and murky fog which hung on the marching column, was changed into a
heavy fall of snow in large broad flakes, which at once chilled and
blinded the soldiers. The march, however, stumbled forward, the men
struggling, and at last sinking, in the holes and ravines which were
concealed from them by the new and disguised appearance of the face of
nature. Those who yet retained discipline and their ranks, stood some
chance of receiving assistance; but amid the mass of the stragglers,
men's hearts, intent upon self-preservation, became hardened and closed
against every feeling of sympathy and compassion, the sentiments of
which are sometimes excluded by the selfishness of prosperity, but are
almost always destroyed by the egotism of general and overwhelming
misfortune. A stormy wind also began to arise, and whirl the snow from
the earth, as well as that from the heavens, into dizzy eddies around
the soldiers' heads. There were many hurled to the earth in this manner,
where the same snows furnished them with an instant grave, under which
they were concealed until the next summer came, and displayed their
ghastly remains in the open air. A great number of slight hillocks on
each side of the road, intimated, in the meanwhile, the fate of these
unfortunate men.[200]
[Sidenote: SMOLENSK.]
There was only the word Smolensk, which, echoed from man to man, served
as a talisman to keep up the spirits of the soldiers. The troops had
been taught to repeat that name, as indicating the place where they were
once more to be welcomed to plenty and repose. It was counted upon as a
depôt of stores for the army, especially of such supplies as they had
outstripped by their forced marches, first on Wilna, and afterwards on
Moscow. They were now falling back, as was hoped and trusted, upon these
resources, and continued their march with tolerable spirit, which even
the snow-storm could not entirely depress. They reckoned also upon a
reinforcement of 30,000 men under Victor, who were waiting their arrival
at Smolensk; but a concourse of evil tidings had made the services of
that division necessary elsewhere.
On the same fatal 6th of November, Buonaparte received intelligence of
two events, both of deep import, and which corresponded but too well
with the storms around him. The one was the singular conspiracy of
Mallet, so remarkable for its temporary success, and its equally sudden
discomfiture. This carried his mind to Paris, with the conviction that
all could not be well with an empire where such an explosion could so
nearly attain success.[201] On the other hand, his thoughts were
recalled to his present situation by the unpleasing intelligence that
Witgenstein had assumed the offensive, beaten St. Cyr, taken Polotsk and
Witepsk, and re-occupied the whole line of the Dwina. Here was an
unexpected obstacle to his retreat, which he endeavoured to remove by
ordering Victor to move from Smolensk with the division just mentioned,
and instantly to drive Witgenstein behind the Dwina; not perhaps
considering, with sufficient accuracy, whether the force which his
marshal commanded was equal to the task.
Similar bad news came from other quarters. Four demi-brigades of
recruits from France had arrived at Smolensk. Baraguay d'Hilliers, their
general, had, by command from Buonaparte, sent forward these troops
towards Ellnia, intimating at the time, that they should clear the road
towards Kalouga, by which last town he then expected the Emperor to
approach Smolensk. As Napoleon was excluded from the Kalouga road, these
troops, as no longer useful at Ellnia, ought to have been drawn back on
Smolensk; but Baraguay d'Hilliers had no certain information of this
change of route. The consequence was, that the celebrated Russian
partisans, Orloff-Denizoff, Davidoff, Seslavin, and others, surprised
these raw troops in their cantonments, and made them all prisoners, to
the number of better than two thousand men. Other detachments of the
French about the same time fell into the hands of the Russians.
At length the longed-for Smolensk was visible. At the sight of its
strong walls and lofty towers, the whole stragglers of the army, which
now included treble the number of those who kept their ranks, rushed
headlong to the place. But instead of giving them ready admission, their
countrymen in the town shut the gates against them with horror; for
their confused and irregular state, their wild, dirty, and unshaved
appearance, their impatient cries for entrance--above all, their
emaciated forms, and starved, yet ferocious aspects--made them to be
regarded rather as banditti than soldiers. At length, the Imperial
Guards arrived and were admitted; the miscellaneous crowd rushed in
after them. To the guards, and some few others who had kept order,
rations were regularly delivered; but the mass of stragglers, being
unable to give any account of themselves or their regiments, or to bring
with them a responsible officer, died, many of them, while they besieged
in vain the doors of the magazines. Such was the promised distribution
of food--the promised quarters were nowhere to be found. Smolensk, as is
already recorded, had been burnt by the Russians, and no other covering
was to be had than was afforded by miserable sheds, reared against such
blackened walls as remained yet standing. But even this was shelter and
repose, compared to the exposed bivouac on wreaths of snow; and as the
straggling soldiers were compelled by hunger to unite themselves once
more with their regiments, they at length obtained their share in the
regular distribution of rations, and an approach towards order and
discipline began to prevail in the headmost division of the Grand Army
of France.
The central part of the army, under Davoust, who had relinquished the
rear-guard to Ney, continued to advance from Wiazma to Dorogobuje; but
at this point his distress became extreme, from the combined influence
of the storm, the enemy, and the disheartened condition of men driven
from their standards by want of food, searching for it in vain, and
afterwards unable from weakness to resume their ranks. Many fell into
the hands of the incensed peasants, by whom they were either killed, or
stripped naked and driven back to the high-road.
The rear-guard, under Ney, suffered yet more than these. Every house had
been burnt before their arrival, and their sufferings from the enemy
were the severer, that they were the last French whom they had to work
their revenge upon. Yet Ney continued to evince a degree of personal
firmness and resolution which has been rarely witnessed. At the passage
of the Dnieper, he was attacked by the enemy, and all was nearly lost in
one general confusion, when the Maréchal, seizing a musket to encourage
the few men who could be brought to act, succeeded, against all the
hopes of the Russians, and equally against the despairing calculations
of the French, in bringing over a part of his rear-guard. But he lost on
this fatal spot a great part of his artillery, and a great number of his
soldiers. We can give only one unvarying sketch of Ney's dreadful
retreat. On every point he was attacked by the same wasting, wearying
warfare, and every cessation from fighting was necessarily employed in
pushing forward towards Smolensk, which he was approaching on the 13th
of November, when suddenly the hills to his left were covered with a
disorderly mob of fugitives, whom a band of Cossacks were pursuing and
slaughtering at pleasure. Having succeeded in dispersing the Cossacks,
the next apparition was that of the army of Italy, to which the flying
stragglers belonged. This corps d'armée was on its return, as the reader
is aware, from Dowkhowtchina towards Smolensk, and was, as usual,
severely pushed at every step by the Cossacks. The passage of the Wop
had stripped the soldiers of baggage, provisions such as they had, and
artillery and cavalry. They kept their march, however, with sufficient
regularity. It was only the stragglers whom the Cossacks chased before
them, and wounded, took, and slew at pleasure.
These wretched fugitives no sooner saw Ney's army, than they flew to
shelter themselves under its protection, and by doing so communicated
their own terror to the Maréchal's ranks. All, both stragglers and
soldiers, began to hurry towards the Dnieper, over which was a bridge,
which their numbers soon choked up. Great loss was sustained, until
Eugene and the indefatigable Ney again presented a defensive front, and
repelled the assailants, who had again gathered around them. They were
so near Smolensk, that Napoleon could send them refreshments and
succour, during the action. The viceroy and Ney at length extricated
themselves from their persecutors, and entered Smolensk, where Davoust
had before found refuge. Napoleon allowed his army, which was now
entirely collected, five days to consume such supplies as were to be
found in the place, and to prepare for the terrors of a farther retreat.
But though such a delay was indispensable, the evil news which continued
to arrive from every quarter, positively prohibited his prolonging this
period of repose.[202]
[Sidenote: OPERATIONS OF THE RUSSIANS.]
It is now necessary to trace more particularly the incidents which had
taken place on the extreme flanks of Napoleon's line of advance, on both
of which, as we have already intimated, the Russians, powerfully
reinforced, had assumed the offensive, with the apparent purpose of
forming a communication with each other, and acting in conjunction, to
intercept the retreat of the grand army.
Upon the 18th of August, St. Cyr having beaten Witgenstein, and taken
Polotsk, the war had languished in that quarter. The French army lay in
an intrenched camp, well secured with barracks for shelter, and
fortifications for defence. But in the partisan war which they carried
on for two months, St. Cyr's army sustained great loss, while that of
Witgenstein was more than doubled by the arrival of recruits. Finally,
General Steingel, with two divisions of the Russian army from Finland,
amounting to 15,000, landed at Riga, and after some inefficient
movements against Macdonald, marched to the support of Witgenstein. The
Russian general, thus reinforced, began to act on the offensive with
great vigour. On the 17th of October, the French outposts were driven
into their intrenched camp at Polotsk. On the 18th, the camp itself was
furiously attacked, and the redoubts by which it was protected were
taken and retaken several times. The French remained in possession of
them, but St. Cyr was wounded, and his situation became very precarious.
In fact, the next day, 19th October, the attack was renewed by
Witgenstein on the right bank of the Dwina, while Steingel, advancing up
the opposite bank, threatened to occupy Polotsk and its bridge, and thus
to enclose St. Cyr in the intrenched camp.
Fortunately for the French general, night and a thick mist enabled him
to cross the river to the left bank, and thus to effect a retreat, which
Steingel was unable to prevent. But besides the disasters of the loss of
the camp, and of the important place of Polotsk, which the Russians
occupied on the 20th October, discord broke out between the Bavarian
General Wrede and St. Cyr. When the latter was wounded, the command
naturally devolved in course upon the Bavarian; but the other French
generals refused to submit to this substitution, and St. Cyr was
obliged, in spite of his wounds, to continue to act as commander-in-chief.
Wrede, in the meanwhile, assumed an independence of movement quite
unusual in an auxiliary general, who was acting with a French maréchal;
and, separating altogether from St. Cyr, fell back upon Vileika, near
Wilna, and withdrew himself from action entirely. The French division
must have been cut off, had not Victor, who was then lying at Smolensk
with a covering army of 25,000 men, received, as lately mentioned,
Napoleon's orders, despatched on the 6th November, to advance and
reinforce St. Cyr, who thus became once more superior to Witgenstein.
Victor was under orders, however, to run no unnecessary risk, but to
keep as far as possible on the defensive; because it was to this army,
and that under Schwartzenberg, that Napoleon in a great measure trusted
to clear the way for his retreat, and prevent his being intercepted ere
he gained the Polish frontiers. But when Witgenstein, even in the
presence of Victor, took Witepsk, and began to establish himself on the
Dwina, Napoleon caused Oudinot, as a more enterprising soldier, to
replace the Duke of Belluno; and ordered Eugene to move from Wiazma to
Dowkhowtchina, for the purpose of reinforcing that army. Eugene's march,
as we have formerly shown, was rendered useless, by his misfortune at
crossing the river Wop; and he was compelled to move towards Smolensk,
where he arrived in a most dilapidated condition.
In the meantime, Witgenstein received reinforcements, and not only kept
Oudinot in complete check, but gradually advanced towards Borizoff, and
threatened at that town, which lay directly in the course of Napoleon's
retreat, to form a junction with the army of the Danube, which was
marching northward with the same purpose of co-operation, and to the
movements of which we have now to direct the reader's attention.
It has been mentioned, that General Tormasoff had, on the 12th of
August, been defeated at Gorodeczno by the Austrians under
Schwartzenberg, and the French under Regnier, and that the Russians had
fallen back beyond the Styr. Schwartzenberg, satisfied with this
advantage, showed no vehement desire to complete the disaster of his
enemy. The French go nigh to bring an accusation against him of
treachery, which we do not believe. But his heart was not in the war. He
was conscious, that the success of Alexander would improve the condition
of Austria, as well as of Europe in general, and he fought no harder
than was absolutely necessary to sustain the part of a general of an
auxiliary army, who felt by no means disposed to assume the character of
a principal combatant.
While Tormasoff and the Austrians watched each other upon the Styr, two
smaller corps of Russians and Poles were making demonstrations in the
same country. Prince Bagration, upon retreating from the banks of the
Dwina, had not altogether deprived that neighbourhood of Russian troops.
At Bobruisk he had left a considerable garrison, which had been
blockaded first by the French cavalry under Latour Maubourg, and
afterwards, when Maubourg was summoned to join Napoleon, by the Polish
General Dombrowski. The garrison was supported by a Russian corps under
General Ertell. It was an instance of Napoleon's extreme unwillingness
to credit any thing that contradicted his wishes, that he persisted in
believing, or desiring to have it believed, that the Russians on this
point, which commanded still an access from Russia to Poland, were
inferior to the Poles, whom he had opposed to them; and while Dombrowski
was acting against Ertell, he overwhelmed the embarrassed general with
repeated orders to attack and destroy the enemy, before whom he could
scarce maintain his ground.
The armies were thus occupied, when Admiral Tchitchagoff, with 50,000
Russians, whom the peace with the Turks permitted to leave Moldavia,
advanced upon Volhynia, with the purpose of co-operating with Tormasoff
and Ertell; and, finally, of acting in combination with Witgenstein, for
intercepting Buonaparte's retreat.
On the 14th September, this important junction betwixt the armies of
Tormasoff and Tchitchagoff was effected; and the Russian army, increased
to 60,000 men, became superior to all the force, whether of French,
Austrians, or Poles, which could be opposed to them. They crossed the
Styr, and moved forward on the duchy of Warsaw, while Schwartzenberg,
not without loss, retreated to the banks of the Bug. His pursuers might
have pressed on him still closer, but for the arrival of Prince
Czernicheff, the aide-de-camp of the Emperor, who, escorted by a body of
chosen Cossacks, had executed a perilous march in order to bring fresh
orders to Tormasoff and Tchitchagoff. The former was directed to repair
to the grand army, to occupy the situation formerly held by Prince
Bagration, while the command of the united Volhynian army was devolved
upon Admiral Tchitchagoff, who, to judge by subsequent events, does not
seem to have been, on great emergencies, very well fitted for so
important a trust.
Prince Czernicheff then set out with his band of Scythians, to carry to
the army of Witgenstein tidings of the purposes and movements of that of
Moldavia. The direct course between the Russian armies was held by the
Franco-Austrian army. To escape this obstacle, Czernicheff took his
course westwards, and, penetrating deep into Poland, made so long a
circuit, as completely to turn the whole army of Schwartzenberg.
Marching with extraordinary despatch through the wildest and most secret
paths, he traversed the interior of Poland, avoiding at once the
unfriendly population and the numerous detachments of the enemy, and
sustaining his cavalry, horses and men, in a way in which none but
Cossacks, and Cossack horses, could have supported existence. We have
good evidence, that this flying party, on one occasion travelled nearly
100 English miles in twenty-four hours.
This extraordinary expedition was marked by a peculiar and pleasing
circumstance. The reader must recollect the capture of the German
General Winzengerode before the Kremlin, and the ungenerous manner in
which Buonaparte expressed himself to that officer. Winzengerode, with
another Russian general, were despatched, under a suitable guard, from
Moscow to Wilna, in order to their being sent from thence to Paris,
where the presence of two captives of such distinction might somewhat
gild the gloomy news which the Emperor was under the necessity of
transmitting from Russia. When Winzengerode was prosecuting his
melancholy and involuntary journey, far advanced into Poland, and out of
all hope either of relief or escape, he saw by the side of a wood a
figure, which retreated so suddenly as hardly gave even his experienced
eye time to recognise a Cossack's cap and lance. A ray of hope was
awakened, which was changed into certainty, as a band of Cossacks,
bursting from the wood, overcame the guard, and delivered the prisoners.
Czernicheff proceeded successfully on his expedition, embellished by
this agreeable incident, and moving eastward with the same speed,
sagacity, and successful enterprise, joined Witgenstein's army, then
lying between Witepsk and Tchakniki, with communications from the
Moldavian army, and directions how Witgenstein was to co-operate with
them in the intended plan of cutting off Napoleon's return to Poland.
In virtue of the orders which he had received, Tchitchagoff advanced
upon Schwartzenberg, from whom Napoleon might have first expected the
service of a covering army, so soon as his broken and diminished troops
should approach Poland. But when Tchitchagoff appeared in force, this
Franco-Austrian, or rather Austro-Saxon army, was, after some
skirmishing, compelled to retire behind the Bug. The admiral left
General Sacken, a brave and active officer, to observe Schwartzenberg
and Regnier, and keep them at least in check, whilst he himself
retrograded towards the Beresina, where he expected to be able to
intercept Buonaparte.
Tchitchagoff succeeded, on the 14th November, in occupying Minsk; a most
essential conquest at the moment, for it contained a very large
proportion of those stores which had been destined to relieve the grand
army, or rather its remains, so soon as they should approach Poland.
This success was followed by another equally important. Count Lambert,
one of Tchitchagoff's generals, marched against Borizoff, situated on
the Beresina, at the very point where it was probable that Napoleon
would be desirous to effect a passage. The valiant Polish General
Dombrowski hastened to defend a place, in the loss of which the
Emperor's safety must stand completely compromised. The battle began
about daybreak on the 21st November, and, after severe fighting, Lambert
obtained possession of Borizoff, after a victory, in which Dombrowski
lost eight cannon, and 2500 prisoners. The Admiral Tchitchagoff removed
his headquarters thither, as directed by the combined plan for farther
operations.
[Sidenote: ACTION NEAR WOLKOWITZ.]
While Tchitchagoff marched eastward to his place of destination on the
Beresina, Sacken, whom he had left in Volhynia, sensible of the
importance of the service destined for the admiral, made every exertion
to draw the whole attention of Schwartzenberg and Regnier upon himself.
In this daring and generous scheme he completely succeeded. As the
forces of the Austrian and the French generals were separated from each
other, Sacken marched against Regnier, and not only surprised, but
nearly made him prisoner. Nothing could have saved Regnier from
destruction, except the alertness with which Schwartzenberg came to his
assistance. The Austrian, with strong reinforcements, arrived nearly in
the moment when his presence must have annihilated Sacken, who, not
aware of the Austrians being so near, had, on the 15th November, engaged
in a serious action with Regnier near Wolkowitz. The Russian suffered
considerable loss, and effected a retreat with difficulty. He
concentrated his army, however, and continued his retreat from point to
point upon the position of Brzest, from which he had commenced his
advance. In this manner, Sacken withdrew the attention of Schwartzenberg
and the Austro-Saxon army to the banks of the Bug, at a moment when it
ought to have been riveted on the decisive scenes which were about to
take place on those of the Beresina.[203]
The French writers complain of the Austrian general on this occasion.
They cannot deny that Schwartzenberg was active and victorious; but they
complain that his activity exerted itself in a quarter which could not
greatly affect the issue of the campaign. Some tacticians account for
this, by supposing that his secret instructions, given when the Emperor
of Austria could not foresee that the personal safety of his son-in-law
would be implicated, prohibited Schwartzenberg to extend his military
operations beyond Volhynia and Lithuania.
From these details, it appears that Fortune was bending her blackest and
most ominous frowns on the favourite of so many years. Napoleon was
quartered, with the wretched relics of his grand army, amid the ruins of
the burnt town of Smolensk, in which he could not remain, although his
means of escape appeared almost utterly desperate.[204] The grand army
of the Russians waited on his flank to assault his columns the instant
they were in motion; and should he escape a pursuing enemy, all the
Polish towns in the front, where supplies had been provided for his
relief, had been taken, and the two large armies of Tchitchagoff and
Witgenstein lay in position on the Beresina to intercept him. Hemmed in
betwixt pursuers, and those who, in sportsman's phrase, were stationed
to head him back, destitute of cavalry to oppose the nations of Cossacks
which infested every motion, and having but little artillery to oppose
to that of the Russians, all probability of escape seemed removed to an
immeasurable distance.
FOOTNOTES:
[179] Ségur, tom. ii., p. 92; Twenty-fifth Bulletin of the Grand French
Army.
[180] "When we were about three leagues from Moscow, the Emperor stopped
to wait for news from Mortier, who had orders to destroy the Kremlin on
leaving the place. He was walking in a field with M. Daru; this
gentleman left him; I was called--'Well, Rapp, we are going to retreat
to the frontiers of Poland by the road to Kalouga; I shall take up good
winter-quarters. I hope that Alexander will make peace.'--'You have
waited a long time, Sire; the inhabitants foretell that it will be a
severe winter.'--'Poh! poh! with your inhabitants. It is the 19th of
October to-day; you see how fine it is. Do you not recognise my star.'
But all that he said to me in the way of encouragement did not deceive
even himself: his countenance bore the marks of uneasiness."--RAPP, p.
222.
[181] Jomini, tom. iv., p. 163.
[182] Ségur, tom. ii., p. 95.
[183] Jomini, tom. iv., p. 166; Ségur, tom. ii., p. 101; Labaume, p.
247; Twenty-seventh Bulletin.
[184] "In the habitation of a weaver--an old, crazy, filthy, wooden hut,
and in a dirty, dark room--was the fate of the army and of Europe about
to be decided."--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p. 107.
[185] "'O heavens!' exclaimed Napoleon, clasping his hands, 'Are you
sure you are right? Are you not mistaken? Will you answer for that?'
Bessières repeated his assertion. He affirmed that '300 grenadiers would
suffice to keep in check a whole army.' Napoleon then crossed his arms
with a look of consternation, hung his head, and remained as if
overwhelmed with the deepest dejection."--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p. 108.
[186] Mémoires de Rapp, p. 227; Ségur, tom. ii., p. 110.
[187] Ségur, tom. ii., p. 117.
[188] Jomini, tom. iv., p. 165.
[189] "Barrels of powder had been placed in all the halls of the palace
of the Czars, and 183,000 pounds under the vaults which supported them.
While Mortier was rapidly retiring, some Cossacks and squalid Muscovites
approached: they listened, and emboldened by the apparent quiet which
pervaded the fortress, they ventured to penetrate into it; they
ascended, and their hands eager after plunder, were already stretched
forth, when in a moment they were all destroyed, crushed, hurled into
the air, with the buildings which they had come to pillage, and 30,000
stand of arms that had been left behind there; and then their mangled
limbs, mixed with fragments of walls and shattered weapons, blown to a
great distance, descended in a horrible shower."--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p.
129.
[190] Twenty-sixth Bulletin of the Grand Army.
[191] "The inhabitants of Russia do not recollect such a season as we
have had for the last twenty years. The army is in an extremely rich
country: it may be compared to the best in France or
Germany."--_Twenty-sixth Bulletin._
[192] "Crossing his arms with violence, as if to grasp and to restrain
himself."--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p. 131.
[193] "The gendarmes remained motionless, like men accustomed to see
these violent scenes terminate without effect, and sure of obeying best
by disobeying."--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p. 131.
[194] "Each of us endeavoured to appease the Emperor; the King of
Naples, the Duke de Vicenza particularly, suggested to him how much, in
the present situation of things, any violence towards a man who had his
origin under the quality of a Russian general, would be to be lamented;
there was no council of war, and the affair rested there."--RAPP, p.
229.
[195] "The ground was covered all around with fragments of helmets and
cuirasses, broken drums, gun-stocks, tatters of uniforms, and standards
died with blood. On this desolate spot lay thirty thousand half-devoured
corses. A number of skeletons, left on the summit of one of the hills,
overlooked the whole. It seemed as if death had here fixed his empire:
it was that terrible redoubt, the conquest and the grave of
Caulaincourt. The cry, 'It is the field of the great battle!' formed a
long and doleful murmur. Napoleon passed quickly--nobody stopped. Cold,
hunger, and the enemy urged us on; we merely turned our faces as we
proceeded, to take a last melancholy look at the vast grave of our
companions in arms."--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p. 137.--"On arriving at
Borodino, my consternation was inexpressible at finding the 20,000 men,
who had perished there, yet lying exposed. In one place were to be seen
garments yet red with blood, and bones gnawed by dogs and birds of prey;
in another were broken arms, drums, helmets, and swords."--LABAUME, p.
265.
[196] Ségur, tom. ii., p. 138.
[197] "On approaching Gjatz, we felt the sincerest regret when we
perceived that the whole town had disappeared. Gjatz, constructed
entirely of wood, was consumed in a day. It contained many excellent
manufactories of cloth and leather, and furnished the Russian navy with
considerable quantities of tar, cordage, and marine stores."--LABAUME,
p. 270.
[198] "In this vast wreck, the army, like a great ship tossed by the
most tremendous of tempests, threw, without hesitation, into that sea of
ice and snow, all that could slacken or impede its progress."--SÉGUR,
tom. ii., p. 159.
[199] Jomini, tom. iv., p. 173; Ségur, tom. ii., p. 150; Twenty-eighth
Bulletin.
[200] Labaume, p. 287; Ségur, tom. ii., p. 160.
[201] "I delivered the despatches to the Emperor. He opened the packet
with haste: a _Moniteur_ was uppermost. He ran it over; the first
article which caught his eye was the enterprise of Mallet: 'What is
this! what! plots! conspiracies!' He tore open his letters: they
contained the detail of the attempt: he was thunderstruck."--RAPP, p.
232.--"As soon as he was alone with the most devoted of his officers,
all his emotions burst forth at once in exclamations of astonishment,
humiliation, and anger. Presently after he sent for several others, to
observe the effect which so extraordinary a piece of intelligence would
produce upon them. He perceived a painful uneasiness, consternation, and
confidence in the stability of his government completely
shaken."--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p. 161.
[202] Jomini, tom. iv., p. 186; Rapp, p. 239; Ségur, tom. ii., p. 165.
[203] Jomini, tom. iv., p. 193; Twenty-eighth Bulletin of the Grand
Army; Ségur, tom. ii., p. 181-202.
[204] "Napoleon arrived at Smolensk on the 9th of November, amidst this
scene of desolation. He shut himself up in one of the houses in the New
Square, and never quitted it till the 14th, to continue his
retreat."--SÉGUR, tom. ii., p. 178.