and it was almost impossible to carry out the Emperor's command
because a swarm of Cossacks separated us from the 14th. It was
clear that any officer sent towards the unfortunate regiment
would be killed or captured before he got there. Nevertheless, an
order is an order; and the marshal had to obey.
It was the custom, in the imperial army, for the aides to line up
a few paces from their general, and the one in front went off
first; when he had completed his mission, he joined the back of
the queue, so that as each took his turn to carry orders, the
dangers were shared equally. A brave captain of engineers, named
Froissart, who, although not an aide-de-camp, was attached to the
marshal's staff, was nearest to him and was sent off to carry the
order to the 14th. He left at the gallop; we lost sight of him
in the midst of the Cossacks and never saw him again, nor did we
know what became of him.
The marshal, seeing that the 14th did not budge, sent another
officer, named David. He suffered the same fate as Froissart, and
we heard no more of him. It is likely that they were both killed,
and having been stripped of their clothing their bodies were not
recognisable among the many dead who covered the ground. For the
third time the marshal called out "An officer to take orders
"!...It was my turn.
When he saw before him the son of his old friend, and, I think I
may dare to say, his favourite aide-de-camp, the good marshal's
face fell and his eyes filled with tears, for he could not
disguise from himself that he was sending me to an almost certain
death; but the Emperor's order had to be obeyed; I was a soldier;
no one else could take my place, I would not have allowed
something so dishonourable. So I took off! Now, while prepared
to sacrifice my life, I thought it my duty to take every
precaution which might save it. I had noticed that the two
officers who had gone before me had left with drawn sabres, which
made me think that they intended to defend themselves against the
Cossacks who would attack them during the ride. This intention
was in my opinion ill-advised, for they would have been forced to
stop and fight a multitude of enemies who, in the end, had
overwhelmed them. I adopted a different approach, and leaving my
sabre in its scabbard, I thought of myself as a rider who, to win
the prize in a race, goes as fast as possible by the shortest
route towards the winning post without taking any notice of what
is to right or left of him during his passage. Now, my winning
post being the hillock occupied by the 14th, I resolved to get
there without paying any attention to the Cossacks, whom I
blotted out of my thoughts.
This system worked perfectly. Lisette, light as a swallow, and
flying rather than galloping, rushed through space, leaping over
the piled up bodies of men and horses, over ditches and the
broken mountings of guns, as well as the half-extinguished
bivouac fires. Thousands of Cossacks were scattered about the
plain. The first ones to see me behaved like hunters who, having
raised a hare, mark its presence by shouts of "Yours! Yours!" But
none of them tried to stop me, firstly because I was going so
fast, and also perhaps because each one thought I would be caught
by his comrades who were further on. In this way I escaped from
them all and arrived at the 14th without either I or my excellent
mare having suffered a scratch.
I found the 14th formed in a square on top of the hillock; but
the slope of the ground was so gentle that the enemy cavalry had
been able to carry out a number of charges, which had been
vigourously repelled, so that they were surrounded by heap of the
dead bodies of horses and Russian Dragoons, which formed a sort
of rampart, and now made the position almost inaccessible to
cavalry; for even with the aid of our infantrymen, I had great
difficulty in getting over this bloody and frightful defence
work, but at last I was inside the square.
Since the death of Colonel Savary, killed during the crossing of
the Ukra, the 14th had been commanded by a battalion commander;
when I gave this officer the order which I carried, for him to
leave his position and try to rejoin the army corps, he replied
that the enemy artillery which had been firing at them for an
hour had occasioned such heavy losses that the handful of
soldiers which he had left would inevitably be exterminated if
they went down onto the level ground; and anyway there was no
time to prepare for the execution of this movement, since a
Russian column, coming to attack, was now close to us. "I can see
no way of saving the regiment," said the battalion commander. "Go
back to the Emperor and say good-bye to him from the 14th; and
take back the Eagle which we can no longer defend."
The Eagles of the infantry were very heavy, and their weight was
increased by the long thick pole of oak on which they were
mounted. I was bending forward and attempting to detach the
Eagle from its pole, when one of the many bullets which the
Russians were firing at us went through the back part of my hat,
very close to my head. The shock was made worse by the fact that
the hat was held on by a strong leather strap which went under my
chin, and so offered more resistance to the blow. I was partially
stunned by this, and found myself unable to move.
However the column of Russian infantry was now climbing the
hillock; they were Grenadiers, whose headgear, garnished with
metal, looked like mitres. These men, full of liquor, flung
themselves on the feeble remnants of the 14th, who defended
themselves bravely with their bayonets, and even when the square
was broken, formed themselves into little groups and continued
for a long time the unequal struggle. In my confused state, I was
unable to react in any way; I was attacked by a drunken Russian
soldier, who thrust his bayonet into my left arm, and then,
aiming another blow at me, lost his balance and missing his mark,
he slashed Lisette's haunch.
The pain of this injury aroused her ferocious instincts, she
grabbed the soldier with her teeth and tore away the greater part
of his face,then, kicking and biting, she forced her way through
the melee and taking the path by which we had come, she went off
at the gallop in the direction of the Eylau cemetery while,
thanks to the Hussar's saddle in which I was seated, I remained
on her back.
As we approached Eylau a new danger arose. The snow had started
to fall again and in the poor visibility a battalion of the Guard
took me for a Russian and opened fire on me, but although my
cloak and my saddle were hit, both I and my mare were untouched.
Lisette, continuing to gallop, went through the three lines of
infantry like a grass-snake through a hedge, but this last burst
of speed drained her resources, she was losing a lot of blood
because one of the big veins in her haunch had been cut, she
collapsed suddenly and fell, throwing me to the ground, where I
was rendered unconscious.
I must have remained in this state for about four hours, and I
was not aroused by the great charge of Murat's ninety squadrons
of cavalry, which went past me and perhaps over me. When I came
to, this is the dreadful position in which I found myself. I was
completely naked except for my hat and my right boot. A soldier
of the transport section, believing me to be dead, had despoiled
me, as was customary, and in an attempt to remove my boot, was
dragging at my leg, with one foot on my stomach. I was able to
raise the upper part of my body and to spit out some clots of
blood, my face, shoulders and chest were badly bruised, and blood
from my wounded arm reddened the rest of my body. I gazed around
with haggard eyes, and must have been a horrible spectacle. The
transport driver made off with my possessions before I could
summon my wits and address a word to him. I was too dazed and
weak to move, and unable to call for help. The cold was
increasing and I had little hope of surviving without some form
of miracle, and something like a miracle took place.
Marshal Augereau had a valet de chambre, named Pierre Dannel, a
very intelligent boy, loyal, but inclined to be cheeky; and it so
happened that while we were at Houssaye, Dannel, having spoken
back to his master, had been given his notice. Desolated, Dannel
begged me to intercede for him, which I did with so much zeal
that he was reinstated in the marshal's good graces; since when
the valet had been devoted to me. Dannel had taken it on himself
to come from Landsberg, on the day of the battle, to bring some
victuals to his master, which he had put in a very light wagon,
able to go anywhere, and containing all the things that the
marshal used most frequently. This little wagon was driven by a
soldier who had served in the same transport unit as the man who
had stripped me. This fellow, carrying my effects, was passing
the wagon which was standing at the Eylau cemetery when,
recognising his old friend, he went up to him to show him the
lovely booty he had taken from a dead man.
Now, while we were in cantonments by the Vistula, the marshal
having told Dannel to go to Warsaw to get some provisions, I
asked him to take my pelisse and have the black astrakhan with
which it was trimmed, removed and replaced by grey; a style newly
adopted by the aides-de-camp of Prince Berthier, who set the
fashion in the army. I was still the only one of Marshal
Augereau's officers who had grey astrakhan.
Dannel, who was present when the transport driver displayed his
booty, easily recognised my pelisse, which made him look more
closely at the other belongings of the alleged dead man, amongst
which he saw my watch, marked with my father's initials, for it
had been his. The valet de chambre had no doubt that I had been
killed, but mourning my death, he wished to see me for the last
time, and having been led there by the transport driver, he found
me alive!
This good fellow, to whom I owe my life, was overjoyed. He
hurried to fetch my own servant and some orderlies, who carried
me into a barn where they rubbed me down with rum, while they
sent for Dr. Raymond. When he at last arrived, he dressed the
wound in my arm and declared that the blood which I had lost
would save me.
Soon I was surrounded by my comrades including my brother. A
reward was given to the transport rider who had taken my clothes,
which he handed over with good grace; but as they were soaked
with blood and water, Marshal Augereau had me wrapped up in
clothes of his own.
The Emperor had given permission for Augereau to return to
Landsberg, but his wound made it impossible for him to ride a
horse; so his aides-de-camp got hold of a sledge on which they
mounted the body of a carriage. The marshal, who had decided not
to abandon me, had me strapped in beside him, for I was too weak
to sit upright.
Before I was picked up from the battlefield, I had seen my poor
Lisette near to me. Her wound had stopped bleeding and she was
back on her feet, eating some straw which had been used by
soldiers in their bivouacs, the previous night. My servant, who
was very fond of Lisette, returned to look for her; he cut strips
of clothing from a dead soldier and dressed the wound on her
haunch, and got her fit enough to walk to Landsberg.
The commandant of the little garrison of the town, had had the
good sense to prepare quarters for the wounded. The officers of
the staff were put into a large and comfortable inn, so that
instead of spending the night lying naked in the snow, I was
tucked into a good bed and being looked after by my brother, my
companions and the worthy Dr. Raymond. The doctor had to cut the
boot which the soldier had tried to pull off, and even so, he had
difficulty in getting it off because my foot had swollen so much.
You will see, later that this could have cost me my leg, and
perhaps even my life.
We stayed in Landsberg for thirty-six hours. The rest and the
care given me restored my ability to move, and when, on the
second day after the battle, Marshal Augereau set off for Warsaw,
I was able, though still very weak, to travel on the sledge. The
journey took eight days, because we moved only in short stages; I
was recovering my strength little by little, but I was aware of
an icy cold in my right foot.
On our arrival at Warsaw, I was put in a large house which had
been reserved for the marshal, which suited me very well, as I
was unable to get out of bed. The wound of my arm was healing,
the bruising of my upper body was dispersing, and my skin was
resuming its normal colour, however the doctor did not know why I
could not get up, and hearing me complain about my leg, he
decided to have a look at it, and what do you suppose he found?
My foot had become gangrenous! An accident which had occurred
many years ago was the cause of this. While I was at Soreze, my
right foot had been pierced by the foil of a fencing opponent,
which had lost its button. It seems that this injury had made my
foot more sensitive to cold, and while I was lying on the snow it
had become frostbitten, and not having been treated in time,
gangrene had set in at the site of the old fencing injury, the
area was covered by a scar the size of a five franc piece. The
doctor looked with alarm at my foot, then, taking a bistoury, and
having me held down by four servants, he picked off the scab and
dug into my foot to remove the dead flesh, just as one would cut
out the rotten part of an apple.
I suffered greatly, at first without complaining, though it was a
different matter when the bistoury, having reached live tissue,
exposed the muscles and bones, which one could see. The doctor
then stood on a chair and having soaked a sponge in warm
sweetened wine, he allowed it to fall, drop by drop into the hole
he had made in my foot. The pain was intolerable! Nevertheless I
had to endure for a week this fearful torture, but my leg was
saved.
Today, when one is so prodigal with decorations and promotions,
an officer who ran the risks which I had run in reaching the 14th
regiment, would certainly be rewarded; but under the Empire this
sort of devotion to duty was regarded as so normal that I was
given no medal, and never thought of asking for one.
A long rest having been judged necessary for the cure of Marshal
Augereau's wound, the Emperor instructed him to go to France for
treatment, and brought Marshal Massena from Italy; to whom my
brother, Bro and several of my friends were appointed. Marshal
Augereau took me with him, along with his secretary and Dr.
Raymond. I had to be lifted in and out of the carriage, but
otherwise I felt my health improve the further we got away from
those frozen wastes to a more friendly climate. My mare spent the
winter in the stables of M. de Launay, the administrator of army
forage supplies.
The marshal went by way of Rawa to Silesia. As long as we were in
dreadful Poland, where there are no metalled roads, it took
twelve and sometimes sixteen horses to drag the coach out of the
bogs and swamps through which we travelled. We went always at
walking pace and it was not until we reached Germany that we
found ourselves in a civilised country with proper roads. We
stopped at Dresden, and spent ten or twelve days at
Frankfurt-on-Main, from where we had marched the previous October
to attack Prussia.
We finally reached Paris about the 15th of March. I could walk
with much difficulty, and had my arm in a sling, and I still felt
the effects of what I had been through, but the pleasure of
seeing my mother once more, and the care she devoted to me,
combined with the gentle influence of the returning spring,
effected my cure.
Chap. 35.
I spent the end of March, all of April, and the first week of May
in Paris. It was during this time that I got to know the
Desbrieres, a family of which my marriage was soon to make me a
member. I had recovered my health, and I realised that I could
not stay any longer in Paris. Marshal Augereau sent me to Marshal
Lannes who took me willingly onto his staff.
The Emperor, in order to keep an eye on any moves which the enemy
might be tempted to make during the winter, had settled himself
in the middle of the cantonments of his troops, first at Osterode
and then at the chateau of Finkenstein, from where, while
planning a new campaign, he governed France and directed his
ministers, who, every week, sent him their reports. The
portfolios holding the various documents furnished by each
ministry were collected every Wednesday by M. Denniee the elder,
under-secretary of state for war, who sent them off on Thursdays
in the charge of a junior official whose duty it was to deliver
them into the hands of the Emperor. But this system worked very
badly because most of these officials had never been out of
France. They did not know a word of German, nor did they
understand the currency or the regulations regarding posting in
foreign countries, so they did not know how to manage matters
once they had crossed the Rhine. In addition, these gentlemen,
being unused to fatigue, soon found themselves overcome by that
of a journey of more than three hundred leagues, which lasted
continuously for ten days and ten nights. One of them was so
incompetent as to allow his despatches to be stolen. Napoleon was
so angry at this mishap that he sent a courier to Paris to tell
M. Denniee not to give the portfolios in future to officials
except those who knew Germany, and who, being able to support
fatigue and privation, could carry out their duties more
efficiently.
M. Denniee was having great difficulty in finding anyone to fill
the post, when I turned up with a letter ordering me to report to
Marshal Lannes. Delighted to have found someone to take the next
lot of despatches, he warned me to be ready to leave on the
coming Thursday, and gave me five thousand francs for expenses
and the purchase of a carriage, which suited me very well, as I
did not have much money to get me back to the army in the depths
of Poland.
We left Paris about the 10th of May. Both my servant and I were
armed, and if one of us left the coach the other remained on
guard. We knew enough German to keep the postilions up to the
mark, and as I was in uniform, they obeyed me with more alacrity
than they would a civilian official. So that instead of taking
the usual nine and a half or ten days over the journey, we made
it in eight and a half.
The Emperor was delighted to have his despatches twenty-four
hours earlier than expected, and after praising the keenness
which had led me to ask to return to duty in spite of my recent
wounds, he added that as I had been so efficient a courier, I
could leave for Paris that same night to take back some other
portfolios; a task which would not prevent me from taking part in
the campaign, which could not restart before the beginning of
june.
Although I had spent nothing like the five thousand francs which
M. Denniee had given me, the marshal of the palace gave me the
same sum to return to Paris, which I did as quickly as possible.
I stayed no more than twenty-four hours in the capital, and left
once more for Poland; the minister again gave me five thousand
francs for this third journey; it was far more than was
necessary, but that was how Napoleon wanted it. It is true that
these trips were very tiring and very boring, even though the
weather was fine. I was on the road day and night for nearly a
month in the sole company of my servant.
I reported to the Emperor at Finkenstein, and was afraid that I
might have to continue as postman until fighting broke out, when
fortunately some replacements were found and the Emperor
authorised me to go to Marshal Lannes, to whom I reported at
Marienberg on the 25th May. He had with him Colonel Sicard,
Augereau's aide-de-camp, who had been kind enough to take charge
of my horses. It was with much pleasure that I saw once more my
mare Lisette, who was fit enough for more service.
The fortress of Danzig, besieged by the French during the winter,
had fallen into their hands. The return of the good weather soon
saw campaigning recommence. The Russians attacked our cantonments
on the 5th of June, and were sharply repulsed at every point. On
the 10th there was a fierce encounter at Heilsberg which some
historians describe as a battle. The enemy were once more
defeated. I shall not go into any detail about this affair, since
Marshal Lannes' corps took very little part in it, not having
arrived until nightfall. We did, however, come under some heavy
fire and Colonel Sicard was mortally wounded. He had already been
wounded at Eylau, and although scarcely recovered from his
injuries, had returned to take part in the renewed fighting.
Before he died, the good colonel requested me to say his farewell
to Marshal Augereau, and gave me a letter for his wife. I was
very much upset by this painful scene.
The army now being in pursuit of the Russians, we passed through
Eylau. The fields which we had left three months previously
covered with snow and dead bodies, were now overspread by a
delightful carpet of green, bedecked with flowers. What a
contrast! How many soldiers lay beneath those verdant meadows? I
went and sat at the place where I had fallen and been despoiled,
and where I also would have died, had not a truly providential
combination of circumstances come to my aid. Marshal Lannes
wanted to see the hillock which the 14th had so valiantly
defended. I took him there. Since the time of the battle, the
enemy had been in occupation of the place; however, we found,
still intact, the monument which all the corps of the French army
had erected to the memory of their dead comrades of the 14th,
thirty-six of whose officers had been buried in the same grave.
This respect for the dead reflected honour on the Russians. I
remained for a few moments on the spot where I had been hit by
the bullet and wounded by the bayonet, and thought of the brave
men who lay in the dust, and whose fate I had so nearly shared.
The Russians, having been defeated on the 10th of June at
Heilsberg, retreated hastily and got a day ahead of the French
who, by the evening of the 13th, were concentrated beyond Eylau,
on the left bank of the Alle. The Russians occupied Bartenstein
on the right bank of this river, which the two armies now
descended on opposite sides.
Benningsen, whose stores of food and ammunition were in
Konigsberg, where the Prussian corps was stationed, wanted to
reach this town before the arrival of the French, but to do so he
had to cross over onto the left bank of the Alle, where there
were the French troops. The Russian commander hoped to reach
Friedland sufficiently far ahead of the French to be able to
cross the river before they could oppose him. The same reasons
which made Benningsen wish to hold on to Konigsberg, made
Napoleon wish to capture it. He had for several days constantly
manoeuvred to out-flank the Russian left, and keep them away from
the place, in the direction of which he had sent Murat, Soult and
Davout to oppose the Russians if they arrived before us.
The Emperor, however, did not stick to this scheme, and
foreseeing that the Russians would attempt to cross the Alle at
Friedland, he aimed to occupy the town before they did, and on
the night of the 13th-14th June, he despatched towards it the
corps of Marshal Lannes and Mortier, and three divisions of
cavalry. The rest of the army was to follow.
Marshal Lannes, who was in the van, with the Oudinot Grenadiers
and a brigade of cavalry, having arrived at Posthenen, a league
from Friedland, sent the 9th Hussars to reconnoitre the latter
town. They were repulsed with losses, and daybreak revealed a
large part of the Russian army massed on the opposite bank of the
Alle on the high ground between Allenau and Friedland. They had
begun to cross the old town bridge, beside which they had
constructed two new ones.
The aim of the two armies was very easily understood. The
Russians wanted to cross the Alle to get to Konigsberg, and the
French wanted to stop them and drive them back across the river,
which had very steep banks. The only crossing point was at
Friedland. The Russians had difficulty in deploying from
Friedland onto the open ground of the left bank, owing to the
fact that the way out of the town was much restricted by a large
lake, and by a stream called the Mill Stream, which ran in a very
steep-sided ravine. To protect their crossing, the Russians had
placed two strong batteries of guns on the right bank, which
could cover the town and part of the land between Posthenen and
Heinrichsdorf.