During the night the air was heavy, and I wakened every hour in spite
of my great fatigue, but my comrades slept on, some talking in their
sleep. Buche did not stir.
Close at hand, on the edge of the forest, our stacked muskets sparkled
in the moonlight. In the distance on the left I could hear the "Qui
vive,"[1] and on our front the "Wer da."[2] Nearer to us, our
sentinels stood motionless, up to their waists in the standing grain.
[1] Who goes there!--French.
[2] Who goes there!--German.
I rose up softly and looked about me. In the vicinity of Sombref, two
leagues to our right, I could hear a great tumult from time to time,
which would increase and then cease entirely. It might have been
little gusts of wind among the leaves, but there was not a breath of
air and not a drop of dew fell, and I thought, "Those are the cannon
and wagons of the Prussians, galloping over the Namur road; their
battalions and squadrons, which are coming continually. What a
position we shall be in to-morrow with that mass of men already before
us, and re-enforcements arriving every moment."
They had extinguished their fires at St. Amand and at Ligny, but they
burned brighter than ever at Sombref. The Prussians who had just
arrived after forced marches were no doubt making their soup.
A thousand thoughts ran through my brain, and I said to myself from
time to time, "You escaped from Lutzen and Leipzig and Hanau, why not
escape this time also?"
But the hopes which I cherished did not prevent me from realizing that
the battle would be a terrible one. I lay down, however, and slept
soundly for half an hour, when the drum-major, Padoue himself,
commenced to beat the reveille. He promenaded up and down the edge of
the wood and turned off his rolls and double rolls with great
satisfaction. The officers were standing in the grain on the hill-side
in a group, looking toward Fleurus, and talking among themselves. Our
reveille always commenced before that of the Austrians or Prussians or
any of our enemies. It is like the song of the lark at dawn. They
commence theirs on their big drums with a dismal roll which gives you
the idea of a funeral. But, on the contrary, their buglers have pretty
airs for sounding the reveille, while ours only give two or three
blasts, as much as to say: "Come, let us be going! there is no time to
lose." Everybody rose and the sun came up splendidly over the grain
fields, and we could feel beforehand how hot it would be at noon.
Buche and all the detailed men set off with their canteens for water,
while others were lighting handfuls of straw with tinder for their
fires. There was no lack of wood, as each one took an armful from the
piles that were already cut. Corporal Duhem and Sergeant Rabot and
Zebede came to have a talk with me. We were together in 1813, and they
had been at my wedding, and in spite of the difference in our rank they
had always continued their friendship for me.
"Well! Joseph," said Zebede, "the dance is going to commence."
"Yes," I replied, and recalling the words of poor Sergeant Pinto the
morning before Lutzen, I added with a wink, "this, Zebede, will be a
battle, as Sergeant Pinto said, where you will gain the cross between
the thrusts of ramrod and bayonet, and if you do not have a chance now
you need never expect it."
They all began to laugh, and Zebede said:
"Yes, indeed, the poor old fellow richly deserved it, but it is harder
to catch than the bouquet at the top of a climbing pole."
We all laughed, and as they had a flask of brandy, we took a crust of
bread together as we watched the movements of the enemy which began to
be perceptible. Buche had returned among the first with his canteen
and now stood behind us with his ears wide open like a fox on the alert.
Files of cavalry came out of the woods and crossed the grain fields in
the direction of St. Amand, the large village at the left of Fleurus.
"Those," said Zebede, "are the light horse of Pajol who will deploy as
scouts. These are Exelman's dragoons. When the others have
ascertained the positions they will advance in line, that is the way
they always do, and the cannon will come with the infantry. The
cavalry will form on the right or the left and support the flanks, and
the infantry will take the front rank. They will form their attacking
columns on the good roads and in the fields, and the affair will begin
with a cannonade for twenty minutes or half an hour, more or less, and
when half the batteries are disabled, the Emperor will choose a
favorable moment to put us in, but it is we who will catch the bullets
and canister because we are nearest. We advance, carry arms, in
readiness for a charge, at a quick step and in good order, but it
always ends in a double quick, because the shot makes you impatient. I
warn you, conscripts, beforehand, so that you may not be surprised."
More than twenty conscripts had ranged themselves behind us to listen.
The cavalry continued to pour out of the wood.
"I will bet," said Corporal Duhem, "that the Fourth cavalry has been on
the march in our rear since daybreak."
And Rabot said they would have to take time to get into line, as it was
so bad traversing the wood. We were discussing the matter like
generals, and we scanned the position of the Prussians around the
villages, in the orchards, and behind the hedges, which are six feet
high in that country. A great number of their guns were grouped in
batteries between Ligny and St. Amand, and we could plainly see the
bronze shining in the sun, which inspired all sorts of reflections.
"I am sure," said Zebede, "that they are all barricaded, and they have
dug ditches and pierced the walls; we should have done well to push on
yesterday, when their squares retreated to the first village on the
heights. If we were on a level with them it would be very well, but to
climb up across those hedges under the enemy's fire will cost a trifle,
unless something should happen in the rear as is sometimes the case
with the Emperor."
The old soldiers were talking in this fashion on all sides, and the
conscripts were listening with open ears.
Meanwhile the camp-kettles were suspended over the fire, but they were
expressly forbidden to use their bayonets for this purpose as it
destroyed their temper. It was about seven o'clock, and we all thought
that the battle would be at St. Amand. The village was surrounded by
hedges and shrubbery, with a great tower in the centre, and higher up
in the rear there were more houses and a winding road bordered with a
stone wail. All the officers said: "That is where the struggle will
be." As our troops came from Charleroi they spread over the plain
below us, infantry and cavalry side by side; all the corps of Vandamme
and Gerard's division. Thousands and thousands of helmets glittered in
the sun, and Buche who stood beside me, exclaimed:
"Oh! oh! oh! look, Joseph, look! they come continually!"
And we could see innumerable bayonets in the same direction as far as
the eye could reach.
The Prussians were spreading more and more over the hill-side near the
windmills. This movement continued till eight o'clock. Nobody was
hungry, but we ate all the same, so as not to reproach ourselves; for
the battle, once begun, might last two days without giving us a chance
to eat again.
Between eight and nine o'clock the first battalions of our division
left the wood. The officers came to shake hands with their comrades,
but the staff remained in the rear. Suddenly the hussars and chasseurs
passed us, extending our line of battle toward the right. They were
Morin's cavalry. Our idea was that when the Prussians should have
become engaged in the attack on St. Amand, we would fall on their flank
at Ligny. But the Prussians were on their guard, and from that moment
they stopped at Ligny, instead of going on to St. Amand. They even
came lower down, and we could see the officers posting the men among
the hedges and in the gardens and behind the low walls and barracks.
We thought their position very strong. They continued to come lower
down in a sort of fold of the hill-side between Ligny and Fleurus, and
that astonished us, for we did not yet know that a little brook divided
the village into two parts, and that they were filling the houses on
our side, and we did not know that if they were repulsed they could
retreat up the hill and still hold us always under their fire.
If we knew everything about such affairs beforehand, we should never
dare to commence such a dangerous enterprise, but the difficulties are
discovered step by step. We were destined that day to find a great
many things which we did not expect.
About half-past eight several of our regiments had left the wood, and
very soon the drums beat the assembly and all the battalions took their
arms. The general, Count Gerard, arrived with his staff, and passing
us at a gallop, without any notice, went on to the hill below Fleurus.
Almost immediately the firing commenced; the scouts of Vandamme
approached the village on the left, and two pieces of cannon were sent
off, with the artillerymen on horseback. After five or six discharges
of cannon from the top of the hill the musketry ceased and our scouts
were in Fleurus, and we saw three or four hundred Prussians mounting
the hill in the distance, toward Ligny. General Gerard, after looking
at this little engagement, came back with his staff and passed slowly
down our front, inspecting us carefully, as if he wished to ascertain
what sort of humor we were in. He was about forty-five years old,
brown, with a large head, a round face, the lower part heavy, with a
pointed chin. A great many peasants in our country resemble him, and
they are not the most stupid. He said not a word to us, and when he
had passed the whole length of our line, all the generals and colonels
were grouped together. The command was given to order arms. The
orderlies then set off like the wind; this engrossed the attention of
all, but not a man stirred. The rumor spread that Grouchy was to be
commander-in-chief, and that the Emperor had attacked the English four
leagues away, on the route to Brussels.
This news put us in anything but a pleasant humor, and more than one
said, "It is no wonder that we are here doing nothing since morning; if
the Emperor was with us, we should have given battle long ago, and the
Prussians would not have had time to know where they were."
This was the talk we indulged in, and it shows the injustice of men;
for three hours afterward, in the midst of shouts of "_Vive
l'Empereur_," Napoleon arrived. These shouts swept along the line like
a tempest, and were continued even opposite Sombref. Now everything
was right. That for which we had reproached Marshal Grouchy, was
perfectly proper when done by the Emperor, since it was he.
Very soon the order reached us to advance our line five hundred paces
to the right, and off we started through the rye, oats, and barley,
which were swept down before us, but the principal line of battle on
the left was not changed.
As we reached a broad road which we had not before seen and came in
sight of Fleurus, with its little brook bordered with willows, the
order was given to halt! A murmur ran through the whole
division--"There he is!"
He was on horseback, and only accompanied by a few of the officers of
his staff.
We could only recognize him in the distance by has gray coat and his
hat; his carriage with its escort of lancers was in the rear. He
entered Fleurus by the high road, and remained in the village more than
an hour, while we were roasting in the grain fields.
At the end of this hour, which we thought interminable, files of staff
officers set off, at a gallop, bent over their saddle-bows till their
noses were between their horse's ears. Two of them stopped near
General Gerard, one remained with him, and the other went on again.
Still we waited, until suddenly the bands of all the regiments began to
play; drums and trumpets all together; and that immense line which
extended from the rear of St. Amand to the forest, swung round, with
the right wing in the advance. As it reached beyond our division in
the rear, we advanced our line still more obliquely, and again the
order came, Halt! The road running out of Fleurus was opposite us, a
blank wall on the left; behind which were trees and a large house, and
in front a windmill of red brick, like a tower.
We had hardly halted, when the Emperor came out of this mill with three
or four generals and two old peasants in blouses, holding their cotton
caps in their hands. The whole division commenced to shout, "Vive
l'Empereur!"
I saw him plainly as he came along a path in front of the battalion,
with his head bent down and his hands behind his back listening to the
old bald peasant. He took no notice of the shouts, but turned round
twice and pointed toward Ligny. I saw him as plainly as I could see
Father Goulden when we sat opposite each other at table. He had grown
much stouter than when he was at Leipzig, and looked yellow. If it had
not been for his gray coat and his hat, I should hardly have recognized
him. His cheeks were sunken and he looked much older. All this came,
I presume, from his troubles at Elba, and in thinking of the mistakes
he had made; for he was a wise man, and could see his own faults. He
had destroyed the revolution which had sustained him, he had recalled
the emigres who despised him, he had married an archduchess who
preferred Vienna to Paris, and he had chosen his bitterest enemies for
his counsellors.
[Illustration: The Emperor, his hands behind his back, and his head
bent forward.]
In short he had put everything back where it was before the revolution,
nothing was wanting but Louis XVIII., and then the kings had put Louis
XVIII. on his throne again. Now he had come to overthrow the
legitimate sovereign, and some called him a despot, and some a Jacobin.
It was unfortunate for him that he had done everything possible to
facilitate the return of the Bourbons. Nothing remained to him but his
army, if he lost that, he lost everything, for many of the people
wanted liberty like Father Goulden, others wanted tranquillity and
peace like Mother Gredel, and like me and all those who were forced
into the war.
These things made him terribly anxious, he had lost the confidence of
the whole world. The old soldiers alone preserved their attachment to
him, and asked only to conquer or die. With such notions you cannot
fail of one or the other, all is plain and clear; but a great many
people do not have these ideas, and for my part I loved Catherine a
thousand times more than the Emperor.
On reaching a turn in the wall, where the hussars were waiting for him,
he mounted his horse, and General Gerard who had recognized him came up
at a gallop. He turned round for two seconds to listen to him, and
then both went into Fleurus.
Still we waited! About two o'clock General Gerard returned, and our
line was obliqued a third time more to the right, and then the whole
division broke into columns, and we followed the road to Fleurus with
the cannon and caissons at intervals between the brigades. The dust
enveloped us completely.
Buche said to me:
"Cost what it may, I must drink at the first puddle we come to."
But we did not find any water. The music did not cease, and masses of
cavalry kept coming up behind us, principally dragoons. We were still
on the march when suddenly the roar of musketry and cannon broke on our
ears as when water breaking over its barriers sweeps all before it.
I knew what it was, but Buche turned pale and looked at me in mute
astonishment.
"Yes, indeed, Jean," said I, "those over there are attacking St. Amand,
but our turn will come presently."
The music had ceased but the thunder of the guns had redoubled, and we
heard the order on all sides, "Halt!"
The division stopped on the road and the gunners ran out at intervals
and put their pieces in line fifty paces in front, with their caissons
in the rear.
We were opposite Ligny. We could only see a white line of houses half
hidden in the orchards, with a church spire above them--slopes of
yellow earth, trees, hedges, and palisades. There we were, twelve or
fifteen thousand men without the cavalry, waiting the order to attack.
The battle raged fiercely about St. Amand, and great masses of smoke
rose over the combatants toward the sky.
While waiting for our turn, my thoughts turned to Catherine with more
tenderness than ever, the idea that she would soon be a mother crossed
my mind, and then I besought God to spare my life, but with this, came
the comfort of feeling that our child would be there if I should die to
console them all, Catherine, Aunt Gredel, and Father Goulden. If it
should be a boy they would call it Joseph, and caress it, and Father
Goulden would dandle it on his knee, Aunt Gredel would love it, and
Catherine would think of me as she embraced it, and I should not be
altogether dead to them. But I clung to life while I saw how terrible
was the conflict before us.
Buche said to me, "Joseph, will you promise me something?--I have a
cross--if I am killed."