the region of Cantal, and he had met, the previous winter,
another Auvergnian whom he knew, and who was living in Genoa
where he had a small business. Bastide went to visit this friend,
and was surprised, on entering the house, to smell the odour
which floats around a grocer's shop. Bastide remarked on this and
asked his friend if he had some food. His friend admitted that he
had, and begged Bastide to keep this a secret, since all food
found in private hands was confiscated and taken to the army
stores. The shrewd Bastide then offered to arrange the purchase
of any surplus provisions by someone who would pay cash and would
keep the secret inviolate. He came to tell me of his discovery.
My father had left me some thousands of francs, so I bought, and
brought back to our dwelling at night, a quantity of dried cod,
cheese, figs, sugar, chocolate etc. All of which was extremely
expensive, and the Auvergnian had most of my money. However I was
happy to pay whatever he asked, for I heard daily at general
headquarters suggestions that the siege would continue and the
famine get worse. Sadly, this in fact happened. My joy at having
procured some food was increased by the thought that I had
thereby saved the life of my friend Colindo, who, without it,
would have assuredly died of starvation, for he knew no one in
the army except me and Col. Sacleux, who was shortly to be struck
down by a dreadful misfortune.
Massena, attacked on all sides, seeing his troops worn down by
continual battle and famine, forced to hold down a large
population, driven to despair by hunger, found himself in a most
critical position, and believed that to maintain good order in
the army he needed to impose iron discipline. So any officer who
did not execute his orders immediately was dismissed, under the
power which the law gave at that time to the commander-in-chief.
Several examples of this kind had already been made when, during
a sortie which we had pushed forward some six leagues from the
town, the brigade commanded by Col. Sacleux was not in position
at the time ordered in a valley where it was meant to block the
passage of the Austrians, who thus escaped.
The commander-in-chief, furious at seeing his plans come to
nothing, dismissed poor Col. Sacleux by publishing his dismissal
in an order of the day. Sacleux may well not have understood what
was expected of him, but he was a very brave man. Assuredly he
would have blown his brains out, had he not been determined to
restore his honour. He took up a musket and joined the ranks as a
private soldier! He came to see us one day, Colindo and I were
sore at heart to see this excellent man dressed as a simple
infantryman. We said our good-byes to Sacleux who, after the
surrender of the town, was restored to his rank of colonel at the
request of Massena himself, who had been impressed by Sacleux's
courage. But the following year, when peace had been made in
Europe, Sacleux, perhaps wishing to rid himself completely of the
stigma with which he had been so unjustly branded, asked to be
posted to the war in Santa-Dominica, where he was killed at the
moment when he was about to be promoted to brigadier-general!
There are men who, in spite of their merits, have a cruel
destiny; of which he was an example.
Chap. 12.
I shall discuss only briefly the conduct of the siege or blockade
which we sustained. The fortifications of Genoa consisted at that
time of a plain wall, flanked by towers; but what made the place
well suited for defence was the fact that it is surrounded at a
short distance by mountains, the summits and flanks of which are
dotted with forts and strong-points. The Austrians continually
attacked these positions. When they took one, we went to retake
it, and the next day they came to take it again. If they managed
to do so, we went to chase them out once more. There was an
endless shuttling back and forth, with varying results, but in
the end, we remained in control of the terrain. These encounters
were often very fierce. In one of them, General Soult, who was
General Massena's right hand man, was climbing up Monte Corona at
the head of his men to retake a fort of that name, which we had
lost the day before, when his knee was struck by a bullet at a
moment when the enemy, who greatly outnumbered his party, were
running down from the top of the mountain. It was impossible with
the few troops we had at this point to resist the avalanche, and
a retreat was called for. The soldiers carried General Soult for
some way, on their muskets, but the intolerable pain which he
suffered decided them that he should be left at the foot of a
tree, where his brother and one of his aides-de-camp stayed with
him to protect him from being attacked by the first enemy troops
to arrive. Luckily there were among these some officers who had
much respect for their illustrious prisoner.
The capture of General Soult having encouraged the Austrians,
they pushed us back to the city wall, which they were preparing
to attack when a heavy storm darkened the blue sky, which we had
had since the beginning of the siege. The rain fell in torrents.
The Austrians halted and most of them sought shelter in the
blockhouses or under the trees. Then General Massena, one of
whose principal gifts was the ability to turn to advantage the
unforeseen incidents of warfare, addressed his men, rekindled
their spirit, and having reinforced them with some troops from
the town, he ordered them to fix bayonets and led them, at the
height of the storm, against the erstwhile victorious Austrians
who, taken by surprise, retired in disorder. Massena pursued them
with such effect that he cut off some three thousand Grenadiers,
who laid down their arms.
This was not the first time that we had taken numerous prisoners,
for the total of those we had captured since the beginning of the
siege amounted to more than eight thousand; but having no food
for them, Massena had always sent them back, on the condition
that they would not be used against us for a period of six
months. Although the officers held religiously to their promise,
the wretched soldiers, who went back to the Austrian camp
ignorant of the undertaking that their leaders had made on their
behalf, were transferred to other regiments and forced to fight
against us once more. If they fell again into our hands,
something that often happened, they were once more sent back and
transferred anew; so that there were very many of these men who,
on their own admission, had been captured four or five times.
Massena, angered at the lack of good faith on the part of the
Austrian generals, decided that this time he would retain both
officers and men of the three thousand Grenadiers whom he had
captured; and so that the duty of guarding them would not fall on
his troops, he had the unfortunate prisoners loaded into floating
hulks moored in the middle of the harbour with the guns of the
harbour mole aimed at them. He then sent an envoy to General Ott,
who commanded the Austrian troops before Genoa, to reproach him
for his failure to keep his word, and to warn him that he did not
consider himself bound to give the prisoners more than half the
ration of the French soldier; but that he would agree to an
arrangement which the Austrians might make with the British,
whereby vessels might bring, every day, food for the prisoners,
and not leave until they had seen it eaten, so that it could not
be thought that Massena was using this pretext to bring in food
for his own men. The Austrian general who may have hoped that a
refusal would compel Massena to send back the three thousand
soldiers, whom he probably intended to use again, turned down
this philanthropic proposal, and Massena then carried out his
threat.
The French ration was composed of a quarter of a pound of
disgusting bread and an equal amount of horse flesh; the
prisoners were given only half this amount! This was fifteen days
before the end of the siege. For fifteen days, these poor devils
remained on this regime!. Every two or three days Messena renewed
his offer to the enemy general; he never accepted, perhaps out of
obstinacy, or perhaps because the English admiral, Lord Kieth,
was unwilling to employ his long-boats for fear, it is said, that
they would bring typhus back to the fleet. However that may be,
the wretched Austrians were left howling with rage and hunger in
their floating prison. It was truly appalling! In the end, having
eaten their boots and packs, and perhaps some dead bodies, they
nearly all died of starvation! There were hardly more than seven
or eight hundred left when the place was surrendered to our
enemies. The Austrian soldiers, when they entered the town,
hurried to the harbour and gave food to their compatriots with so
little caution that many of them died as a result.
I have described this horrible episode, firstly as an example of
the sort of ghastly event which war brings in its train, but
principally to brand with shame the conduct and lack of good
faith of the Austrian general, who forced soldiers who had been
captured and released on parole, to take up arms against us once
more, although he had promised to send them back to Germany.
In the course of the fighting which took place during the siege,
I ran into a number of dangers but I shall limit myself to
mentioning two of the more serious.
I have already said that the Austrians and the English took it in
turns to keep us constantly in action. The first attacked us at
dawn, on the landward side, and we fought them all day; at night,
Lord Kieth's fleet would begin its bombardment, and try, under
cover of darkness, to seize the harbour; which forced the
garrison to keep a keen look-out on the seaward side, and
prevented it from having any rest or relaxation. Now, one night,
when the bombardment was more violent than usual, the
commander-in-chief was warned that the light of Bengal flares
burning on the beach had disclosed numerous boat loads of English
soldiers heading for the harbour breakwater. Massena, his staff,
and the squadron of guides which went everywhere with him,
immediately mounted their horses. We were about a hundred and
fifty to two hundred horsemen when, passing through a little
square called Campetto, the general stopped to speak to an
officer who was returning from the harbour. Someone shouted "Look
out for bombs!" And at that moment, one fell onto the crowded
square.
I and several others had pushed our horses under a balcony which
overhung the door of an hotel, and it was on this balcony that
the bomb fell. It reduced the balcony to rubble, and bounced onto
the road, where it exploded with a fearful bang in the middle of
the square, which was lit for an instant by its malevolent light,
after which there was complete darkness. One expected many
casualties. There was the most profound silence, which was
broken by the voice of General Massena, asking if anyone was
hurt. There was no reply, for by some miracle, not one of the
horses or men had been hit by the flying fragments. As for those
who, like me, had been under the balcony, we were covered with
dust and bits of building material, but nobody was injured.
I have said that the English bombarded us only at night. However,
one day, when they were celebrating some occasion or other, their
ships, dressed overall, approached the town in broad daylight,
and amused themselves by hurling at us a large number of
projectiles. Those of our batteries which were in the best
position to reply to this fire, were located near the breakwater
on a big bastion in the form of a tower, known as the Lanterne.
The general ordered me to take a message to the officer in charge
of this battery, instructing him to direct all his efforts on an
English brig, which had insolently anchored a short distance from
the Lanterne. Our gunners fired with such accuracy that one of
our large bombs fell on the English brig, piercing it from deck
to keel so that it sank almost immediately. This so infuriated
the English admiral that he had all his guns trained on the
Lanterne, on which they now opened a violent fire. My mission
being completed, I should have returned to Massena; but it is
rightly said that young soldiers, not recognising danger,
confront it more coolly than those with more experience. The
spectacle of which I was a witness, I found very interesting. The
platform of the Lanterne was floored with flagstones and was the
size of a small courtyard. It was equipped with twelve cannons on
enormous wooden mountings. Although it may be very difficult for
ship at sea to aim its fire with sufficient accuracy to hit such
a small target as was the platform of the Lanterne, the English
managed to land several bombs there. As these bombs descended,
the gunners took shelter behind or underneath the massive timbers
of the gun mountings. I did the same; but this shelter was not
entirely safe, because the flagstones presented a great
resistance to the bombs, which, being unable to bury themselves,
rolled unpredictably about the platform in all directions, and
the fragments from their explosion could pass under or behind the
mountings. It was, therefore, absurd to stay there when, like me,
one was not obliged to do so. But I experienced a fearful
pleasure, if one can describe it thus, in running here and there
with the gunners whenever a bomb fell, and emerging with them as
soon as the fragments from its explosion had settled. It was a
game which could have cost me dear. One gunner had his legs
broken, others were wounded by bomb fragments, lumps of metal
which did terrible damage to anything they hit. One of them
sliced through the thick timber baulk of a mounting behind which
I was sheltering. However, I remained on the platform until Col.
Mouton, who later became Marshal the Comte de Lobeau, and who,
having served under my father, took an interest in me, while
passing, caught sight of me. He came over to the Lanterne and
ordered me sharply to come down and return to my post beside
General Massena. He added, "You are still very young, but you
should realise that, in war, it is stupid to expose yourself to
needless danger. Would you be any better off if you had a leg
smashed for no good reason?"
I never forgot this lesson, and I have often thought of the
difference it would have made to my life, if I had lost a leg at
the age of seventeen.
Chap. 13.
The courage and tenacity with which Massena had defended Genoa
would have very important results. Major Franceschi, sent by
Massena to contact the First Consul, had managed to slip through
the enemy fleet at night, both in going and coming. On arriving
back in Genoa he said that he had left Bonaparte descending the
St. Bernard at the head of the army of reserve. Field-marshal
Melas was so convinced of the impossibility of bringing an army
across the Alps, that while part of his force, under General Ott
was blockading us, he had gone with the remainder fifty leagues
away, to attack General Suchet on the Var. This gave the First
Consul the opportunity to enter Italy without resistance, so that
the army of reserve had reached Milan before the Austrians had
ceased to regard its existence as imaginary. The First Consul,
once in Italy, would have liked to go straight away to the aid of
the town's brave garrison, but to do that it was necessary for
him to unite all the elements of his force, such as the artillery
and military supplies, whose passage across the Alps had proved
extremely difficult. This delay gave Marshal Melas the time to
hurry with his main force from Nice in order to oppose Bonaparte,
who was then unable to continue his march towards Genoa without
defeating the Austrian army.
While Bonaparte and Melas were engaged in marches and
countermarches in preparation for a battle which would decide the
destiny of France and Italy, the garrison of Genoa found itself
reduced to its last extremity. The typhus epidemic was raging.
The hospitals had become ghastly charnel houses; starvation was
at its worst. Nearly all the horses had been eaten, and though
for a long time the soldiers had had no more than half a pound of
rotten food daily, the distribution for the following day was not
assured. There was absolutely nothing left when, on the 15th
Prairial Massena gathered all his generals and colonels together
and announced that he had decided to attempt a breakout with
those remaining men who were fit for duty, to try to reach
Livorno; but his officers declared unanimously that the troops
were no longer in a state to engage in combat, or even a simple
march, unless they were given sufficient food to restore their
strength, and the stores were completely empty! General Massena
then considered that, having carried out the orders of the First
Consul and facilitated his entry into Italy, that it was his duty
to save the remains of a garrison which had fought so valiantly,
and which it was in the country's interest to preserve. He
therefore resolved to treat for the evacuation of the place, for
he would not allow the word capitulation to be uttered. The
English admiral and General Ott had, for more than a month, been
making proposals for a parley, which Massena had always turned
down; but now, compelled by circumstance, he told them that he
would accept. The conference took place in the little chapel
which is situated in the middle of the bridge of Conegliano, and
which is, as a result, between the sea and the French and
Austrian lines. The French, English, and Austrian staffs occupied
each end of the bridge. I was present at this most interesting
event.
The foreign generals treated Massena with much respect and
consideration, and although he demanded favourable conditions,
Admiral Kieth said more than once that the defense had been so
heroic that they did not wish to refuse them. It was then agreed
that the garrison would not be made prisoners, that they could
retain their weapons and could go to Nice, and that having
reached there they would be free to engage in further
hostilities.
Massena, who realised how important it was that the First Consul
should not be led into making any false move because of his
anxiety to go to the aid of Genoa, asked that the negotiations
should permit the safe passage of two officers through the
Austrian lines, whom he proposed to send to Bonaparte to inform
him of the evacuation of the town by the French. General Ott
opposed this because he intended to leave with some twenty-five
thousand men of the blockading force to go and join Field-marshal
Melas, and he did not want these French officers to warn General
Bonaparte of his movements. But Admiral Kieth overruled this
objection. The treaty was about to be signed when, from far away,
in the midst of the mountains, came the distant sound of gunfire.
Massena held up his pen, saying, "That is the First Consul, who
has arrived with his army." The foreign commanders were much
taken aback, but after a long pause it was realised that the
sound was that of thunder, and Massena appended his signature.
It is to be regretted that the garrison and its commander were
deprived of the fame which would have been theirs if they had
been able to hold Genoa until the arrival of Bonaparte; and
furthermore, Massena would have liked to hold out for a few more
days, to delay the departure of General Ott's men to join in the
battle, which was inevitable, between the First Consul and
Field-marshal Melas. In the event, General Ott was unable to join
the main Austrian army until the day after the battle of Marengo,
the result of which might have been very different if the
Austrians, whom we had great difficulty in overcoming, had had
twenty-five thousand more men with which to oppose us. The
Austrians took possession of Genoa on the 16th Prairial(May)
after a siege which had lasted two whole months.
Massena, as has been said, considered it so important that the
First Consul was informed immediately about the situation that he
had demanded a safe conduct for two aides-de-camp, so that if any
thing untoward befell one of them, the other could carry his
despatch. As it would be useful if an officer going on such a
mission spoke Italian, Massena chose a Major Graziani, an Italian
who was in the French service, but being a most suspicious man,
Massena feared that a foreigner might be corrupted by the
Austrians and delay his journey, so he sent me to make sure that
he made all possible haste. This precaution was unnecessary as
Major Graziani was a man of probity who knew the urgency of his
mission.
On the 16th Prairial we departed from Genoa where I left Colindo,
whom I expected to collect in a few days time, as we knew that
the First Consul's army was not very far away. Major Graziani and
I reached it the next day at Milan.
General Bonaparte spoke to me with sympathy about the loss which
I had suffered, and promised that he would be a father to me if I
behaved myself well, a promise which he kept. He asked us endless
questions about the events which had occurred in Genoa, and about
the strength and movements of the Austrian forces we had come
through to reach Milan; he kept us by him, and had horses
provided for us from his stable, since we had travelled on post
mules.
We followed the First Consul to Montebello and then to the
battlefield of Marengo, where we were employed to carry his
orders. I shall not go into any details about this battle, where
I ran into no danger; one knows that we were on the brink of
defeat, and might have fallen if General Ott's men had arrived in
time to take part in the action. The First Consul, who feared
that he might see them appear at any moment, was very anxious,
and did not relax until our cavalry and the infantry of General
Desaix, of whose death he was still unaware, had ensured victory
by overwhelming the Grenadiers of General Zach. Seeing that the
horse which I was riding was slightly wounded on a leg, he took
me by the ear, and said, laughing, "I lend you my horses, and
look what happens to them!" Major Graziani having died in 1812, I
am the only French officer who was present at the siege of Genoa
and the battle of Marengo.
After this memorable affair, I went back to Genoa, which the
Austrians had left as a result of our victory at Marengo. There I
rejoined Colindo and Major R***. I visited my father's grave,
then we embarked on a French brig, which in twenty-four hours
carried us to Nice. Some days later, a ship from Leghorn brought
Colindo's mother, who had come in search of her son. This fine
young man and I had come through some very rough times together,
which had strengthened the friendship between us, but our paths
were divergent and we had to part, albeit with much regret.
I have said earlier, that about the middle of the siege,
Franceschi, carrying despatches from General Massena to the First
Consul, had reached France by passing through the enemy fleet at
night. He took with him the news of my father's death. My mother
had thereupon nominated a council of guardians, who sent to the
aged Spire, who was at Nice with the coach and my father's
baggage, an order to sell everything and return to Paris, which
he then did. There was now nothing to detain me on the banks of
the Var, and I was in a hurry to rejoin my dear mother; but this
was not so easy; public coaches were, at the time, very scarce;
the one that ran from Nice to Lyon went only every second day and
was booked up for several weeks by sick or wounded officers,
coming, like me, from Genoa.
To overcome this difficulty, Major R***, two colonels, a dozen
officers and I decided to form a group to go to Grenoble on foot,
crossing the foothills of the Alps by way of Grasse, Sisteron,
Digne and Gap. Mules would carry our small amount of baggage,
which would allow us to cover eight to ten leagues every day.
Bastide was with me and was a great help to me, for I was not
accustomed to making such long journeys on foot, and it was very
hot. After eight days of very difficult walking, we reached
Grenoble, from where we were able to take coaches to Lyon. It was
with sorrow that I saw once more the town and the hotel where I
had stayed with my father in happier times. I longed for and yet
dreaded the reunion with my mother and my brothers. I fancied
that they would ask me to account for what I had done with her
husband and their father! I was returning alone, and had left him
in his grave in a foreign land! I was very unhappy and had need
of a friend who would understand and share my grief, while Major
R***, happy, after so much privation, to enjoy once more,
abundance and good living, was madly jolly, which I found most
wounding; so I decided to leave for Paris without him; but he
claimed, now that I had no need of him, that it was his duty to
deliver me to the arms of my mother, and I was forced to put up
with his company as far as Paris, to where we went by mail coach.
There are scenes which are perhaps better left to the
imagination, so I shall not attempt to describe my first
heartbreaking meeting with my widowed mother and my brothers. You
can picture it for yourselves.