_Campaign on the Rhine--General Plan--Wartensleben and the
Archduke Charles retire before Jourdan and Moreau--The Archduke
forms a junction with Wartensleben, and defeats Jourdan, who
retires--Moreau, also, makes his celebrated Retreat through the
Black Forest--Buonaparte raises the Siege of Mantua, and defeats
the Austrians at Salo and Lonato--Misbehaviour of the French
General Valette, at Castiglione--Lonato taken, with the French
Artillery, on 3d August--Retaken by Massena and
Augereau--Singular escape of Buonaparte from being captured at
Lonato--Wurmser defeated between Lonato and Castiglione, and
retreats on Trent and Roveredo--Buonaparte resumes his position
before Mantua--Effects of the French Victories on the different
Italian States--Inflexibility of Austria--Wurmser
recruited--Battle of Roveredo--French victorious, and Massena
occupies Trent--Buonaparte defeats Wurmser at Primolano--and at
Bassano, 8th September--Wurmser flies to Vicenza--Battle of
Saint-George--Wurmser finally shut up within the walls of
Mantua._
[Sidenote: CAMPAIGN ON THE RHINE.]
The reader must, of course, be aware, that Italy, through which we are
following the victorious career of Napoleon, was not the only scene of
war betwixt France and Austria, but that a field of equally strenuous
and much more doubtful contest was opened upon the Rhine, where the high
military talents of the Archduke Charles were opposed to those of Moreau
and Jourdan.
The plan which the Directory had adopted for the campaign of 1796 was of
a gigantic character, and menaced Austria, their most powerful enemy
upon the continent, with nothing short of total destruction. It was
worthy of the genius of Carnot, by whom it was formed, and of Napoleon
and Moreau, by whom it had been revised and approved. Under sanction of
this general plan, Buonaparte regulated the Italian campaign in which he
had proved so successful; and it had been schemed, that to allow Austria
no breathing space, Moreau, with the army of the Sambre and Meuse,
should press forward on the eastern frontier of Germany, supported on
the left by Jourdan, at the head of the army of the Rhine, and that both
generals should continue to advance, until Moreau should be in a
position to communicate with Buonaparte through the Tyrol. When this
junction of the whole forces of France, in the centre of the Austrian
dominions, was accomplished, it was Carnot's ultimate plan that they
should advance upon Vienna, and dictate peace to the Emperor under the
walls of his capital.[166]
Of this great project, the part intrusted to Buonaparte was completely
executed, and for some time the fortune of war seemed equally auspicious
to France upon the Rhine as in Italy. Moreau and Jourdan crossed that
great national boundary at Neuwied and Kehl, and moved eastward through
Germany, forming a connected front of more than sixty leagues in
breadth, until Moreau had actually crossed the river Lech, and was
almost touching with his right flank the passes of the Tyrol, through
which he was, according to the plan of the campaign, to have
communicated with Buonaparte.
During this advance of two hostile armies, amounting each to
seventy-five thousand men, which filled all Germany with consternation,
the Austrian leader Wartensleben was driven from position to position by
Jourdan, while the Archduke Charles was equally unable to maintain his
ground before Moreau. The imperial generals were reduced to this
extremity by the loss of the army, consisting of from thirty to
thirty-five thousand men, who had been detached under Wurmser to support
the remains of Beaulieu's forces, and reinstate the Austrian affairs in
Italy, and who were now on their march through the Tyrol for that
purpose. But the archduke was an excellent and enterprising officer, and
at this important period he saved the empire of Austria by a bold and
decided manœuvre. Leaving a large part of his army to make head
against Moreau, or at least to keep him in check, the archduke moved to
the right with the rest, so as to form a junction with Wartensleben, and
overwhelm Jourdan with a local superiority of numbers, being the very
principle on which the French themselves achieved so many victories.
Jourdan was totally defeated, and compelled to make a hasty and
disorderly retreat, which was rendered disastrous by the insurrection of
the German peasantry around his fugitive army. Moreau, also unable to
maintain himself in the heart of Germany, when Jourdan, with the army
which covered his left flank, was defeated, was likewise under the
necessity of retiring, but conducted his retrograde movement with such
dexterity, that his retreat through the Black Forest, where the
Austrians hoped to cut him off, has been always judged worthy to be
compared to a great victory.[167] Such were the proceedings on the
Rhine, and in the interior of Germany, which must be kept in view as
influencing at first by the expected success of Moreau and Jourdan, and
afterwards by their actual failure, the movements of the Italian
army.[168]
[Sidenote: ADVANCE OF WURMSER.]
As the divisions of Wurmser's army began to arrive on the Tyrolese
district of Trent, where the Austrian general had fixed his
head-quarters, Buonaparte became urgent, either that reinforcements
should be despatched to him from France, or that the armies of the Rhine
should make such a movement in advance towards the point where they
might co-operate with him, as had been agreed upon at arranging the
original plan of the campaign. But he obtained no succours; and though
the campaign on the Rhine commenced, as we have seen, in the month of
June, yet that period was too late to afford any diversion in favour of
Napoleon, Wurmser and his whole reinforcements being already either by
that time arrived, or on the point of arriving, at the place where they
were to commence operations against the French army of Italy.[169]
The thunder-cloud which had been so long blackening on the mountains of
the Tyrol, seemed now about to discharge its fury. Wurmser, having under
his command perhaps eighty thousand men, was about to march from Trent
against the French, whose forces, amounting to scarce half so many, were
partly engaged in the siege of Mantua, and partly dispersed in the towns
and villages on the Adige and Chiese, for covering the division of
Serrurier, which carried on the siege. The Austrian veteran, confident
in his numbers, was only anxious so to regulate his advance, as to
derive the most conclusive consequences from the victory which he
doubted not to obtain. With an imprudence which the misfortunes of
Beaulieu ought to have warned him against, he endeavoured to occupy with
the divisions of his army so large an extent of country, as rendered it
very difficult for them to maintain their communications with each
other. This was particularly the case with his right wing under
Quasdonowich, the Prince of Reuss, and General Ocskay, who were detached
down the valley of the river Chiese, with orders to direct their march
on Brescia. This division was destined to occupy Brescia, and cut off
the retreat of the French in the direction of Milan. The left wing of
Wurmser's army, under Melas, was to descend the Adige by both banks at
once, and manœuvre on Verona, while the centre, commanded by the
Austrian field-marshal in person, was to march southward by the left
bank of the lago di Guarda, take possession of Peschiera, which the
French occupied, and, descending the Mincio, relieve the siege of
Mantua. There was this radical error in the Austrian plan, that, by
sending the right wing by the valley of Chiese, Wurmser placed the broad
lake of Guarda, occupied by a French flotilla, between that division and
the rest of his army, and of course made it impossible for the centre
and left to support Quasdonowich, or even to have intelligence of his
motions or his fate.[170]
The active invention of Buonaparte, sure as he was to be seconded by
the zeal and rapidity of the French army, speedily devised the means to
draw advantage from this dislocation of the Austrian forces. He resolved
not to await the arrival of Wurmser and Melas, but, concentrating his
whole strength, to march into the valley of Chiese, and avail himself of
the local superiority thus obtained, to attack and overpower the
Austrian division left under Quasdonowich, who was advancing on Brescia,
down the eastern side of the lake. For this purpose one great sacrifice
was necessary. The plan inevitably involved the raising of the siege of
Mantua. Napoleon did not hesitate to relinquish this great object, at
whatever loss, as it was his uniform system to sacrifice all secondary
views, and to incur all lesser hazards, to secure what he considered as
the main object of the campaign. Serrurier, who commanded the blockading
army, was hastily ordered to destroy as much as possible of the cannon
and stores which had been collected with so much pains for the
prosecution of the siege.[171] A hundred guns were abandoned in the
trenches, and Wurmser, on arriving at Mantua, found that Buonaparte had
retired with a precipitation resembling that of fear.[172]
On the night of the 31st July this operation took place, and, leaving
the division of Augereau at Borghetto, and that of Massena at Peschiera,
to protect, while it was possible, the line of the Mincio, Buonaparte
rushed, at the head of an army which his combinations had rendered
superior, upon the right wing of the Austrians, which had already
directed its march to Lonato, near the bottom of the lago di Guarda, in
order to approach the Mincio, and resume its communication with Wurmser.
But Buonaparte, placed by the celerity of his movements between the two
hostile armies, defeated one division of the Austrian right at Salo,
upon the lake, and another at Lonato. At the same time, Augereau and
Massena, leaving just enough of men at their posts of Borghetto and
Peschiera to maintain a respectable defence against Wurmser, made a
forced march to Brescia, which they supposed to be still occupied by a
third division of the Austrian right wing. But that body, finding itself
insulated, and conceiving that the whole French army was debouching on
them from different points, was already in full retreat towards the
Tyrol, from which it had advanced with the expectation of turning
Buonaparte's flank, and destroying his retreat upon Milan. Some French
troops were left to accelerate their flight, and prevent their again
making head, while Massena and Augereau, rapidly countermarching,
returned to the banks of the Mincio to support their respective
rear-guards, which they had left at Borghetto and Peschiera, on the line
of that river.
[Sidenote: BATTLE OF LONATO.]
They received intelligence, however, which induced them to halt upon
this counter-march. Both rear-guards had been compelled to retire from
the line of the Mincio, of which river the Austrians had forced the
passage. The rear-guard of Massena, under General Pigeon, had fallen
back in good order, so as to occupy Lonato; that of Augereau fled with
precipitation and confusion, and failed to make a stand at Castiglione,
which was occupied by Austrians, who intrenched themselves there.
Valette, the officer who commanded this body, was deprived of his
commission in presence of his troops for misbehaviour,[173] an example
which the gallantry of the French generals rendered extremely infrequent
in their service.
Wurmser became now seriously anxious about the fate of his right wing,
and determined to force a communication with Quasdonowich at all risks.
But he could only attain the valley of the Chiese, and the right bank of
the lago di Guarda, by breaking a passage through the divisions of
Massena and Augereau. On the 3d of August, at break of day, two
divisions of Austrians, who had crossed the Mincio in pursuit of Pigeon
and Valette, now directed themselves, with the most determined
resolution, on the French troops, in order to clear the way between the
commander-in-chief and his right wing.
The late rear-guard of Massena, which, by his counter-march, had now
become his advanced-guard, was defeated, and Lonato, the place which
they occupied, was taken by the Austrians, with the French artillery,
and the general officer who commanded them. But the Austrian general,
thus far successful, fell into the great error of extending his line too
much towards the right, in order, doubtless, if possible, to turn the
French position on their left flank, thereby the sooner to open a
communication with his own troops on the right bank of the lago di
Guarda, to force which had been his principal object in the attack. But,
in thus manœuvring,[174] he weakened his centre, an error of which
Massena instantly availed himself. He formed two strong columns under
Augereau, with which he redeemed the victory, by breaking through and
dividing the Austrian line, and retaking Lonato at the point of the
bayonet. The manœuvre is indeed a simple one, and the same by which,
ten years afterwards, Buonaparte gained the battle of Austerlitz; but it
requires the utmost promptitude and presence of mind to seize the exact
moment for executing such a daring measure to advantage. If it is but
partially successful, and the enemy retains steadiness, it is very
perilous; since the attacking column, instead of flanking the broken
divisions of the opposite line, may be itself flanked by decided
officers and determined troops, and thus experience the disaster which
it was their object to occasion to the enemy. On the present occasion,
the attack on the centre completely succeeded. The Austrians, finding
their line cut asunder, and their flanks pressed by the victorious
columns of the French, fell into total disorder. Some, who were farthest
to the right, pushed forward, in hopes to unite themselves to
Quasdonowich, and what they might find remaining of the original right
wing; but these were attacked in front by General Soret, who had been
active in defeating Quasdonowich upon the 30th July, and were at the
same time pursued by another detachment of the French, which had broken
through their centre.
Such was the fate of the Austrian right at the battle of Lonato, while
that of the left was no less unfavourable. They were attacked by
Augereau with the utmost bravery, and driven from Castiglione, of which
they had become masters by the bad conduct of Valette. Augereau achieved
this important result at the price of many brave men's lives;[175] but
it was always remembered as an essential service by Buonaparte, who
afterwards, when such dignities came in use, bestowed on Augereau the
title of Duke of Castiglione.[176] After their defeat, there can be
nothing imagined more confused or calamitous than the condition of the
Austrian divisions, who, having attacked, without resting on each other,
found themselves opposed and finally overwhelmed by an enemy who
appeared to possess ubiquity, simply from his activity and power of
combining his forces.
A remarkable instance of their lamentable state of disorder and
confusion, resembling in its consequences more than one example of the
same sort, occurred at Lonato. It might, with any briskness of
intelligence, or firmness of resolution, have proved a decisive
advantage to their arms; it was, in its result, a humiliating
illustration, how completely the succession of bad fortune had broken
the spirit of the Austrian soldiers. The reader can hardly have
forgotten the incident at the battle of Millesimo, when an Austrian
column which had been led astray, retook, as if it were by chance, the
important village of Dego;[177] or the more recent instance, when a body
of Beaulieu's advanced guard, alike unwittingly, had nearly made
Buonaparte prisoner in his quarters.[178] The present danger arose from
the same cause, the confusion and want of combination of the enemy; and
now, as in the former perilous occurrences, the very same circumstances
which brought on the danger, served to ward it off.
[Sidenote: ESCAPE AT LONATO.]
A body of four or five thousand Austrians, partly composed of those who
had been cut off at the battle of Lonato, partly of stragglers from
Quasdonowich, received information from the peasantry, the French
troops, having departed in every direction to improve their success, had
only left a garrison of twelve hundred men in the town of Lonato. The
commander of the division resolved instantly to take possession of the
town, and thus to open his march to the Mincio, to join Wurmser. Now, it
happened that Buonaparte himself, coming from Castiglione with only his
staff for protection, had just entered Lonato. He was surprised when an
Austrian officer was brought before him blindfolded, as is the custom on
such occasions, who summoned the French commandant of Lonato to
surrender to a superior force of Austrians, who, he stated, were already
forming columns of attack to carry the place by irresistible force of
numbers. Buonaparte, with admirable presence of mind, collected his
numerous staff around him, caused the officer's eyes to be unbandaged,
that he might see in whose presence he stood, and upbraided him with the
insolence of which he had been guilty, in bringing a summons of
surrender to the French commander-in-chief in the middle of his
army.[179] The credulous officer, recognising the presence of
Buonaparte, and believing it impossible that he could be there without
at least a strong division of his army, stammered out an apology, and
returned to persuade his dispirited commander to surrender himself, and
the four thousand men and upwards whom he commanded, to the
comparatively small force which occupied Lonato. They grounded their
arms accordingly, to one-fourth of their number, and missed an inviting
and easy opportunity of carrying Buonaparte prisoner to Wurmser's
headquarters.
The Austrian general himself, whose splendid army was thus destroyed in
detail, had been hitherto employed in revictualling Mantua, and throwing
in supplies of every kind; besides which, a large portion of his army
had been detached in the vain pursuit of Serrurier, and the troops
lately engaged in the siege, who had retreated towards Marcaria. When
Wurmser learned the disasters of his right wing, and the destruction of
the troops despatched to form a communication with it, he sent to recall
the division which we have mentioned, and advanced against the French
position between Lonato and Castiglione, with an army still numerous,
notwithstanding the reverses which it had sustained. But Buonaparte had
not left the interval unimproved. He had recalled Serrurier from
Marcaria, to assail the left wing and the flank of the Austrian
field-marshal. The opening of Serrurier's fire was a signal for a
general attack on all points of Wurmser's line. He was defeated, and
nearly made prisoner; and it was not till after suffering great losses
in the retreat and pursuit, that he gained with difficulty Trent and
Roveredo, the positions adjacent to the Tyrol, from which he had so
lately sallied with such confidence of victory. He had lost perhaps one
half of his fine army, and the only consolation which remained was, that
he had thrown supplies into the fortress of Mantua. His troops also no
longer had the masculine confidence which is necessary to success in
war. They were no longer proud of themselves and of their commanders;
and those, especially, who had sustained so many losses under Beaulieu,
could hardly be brought to do their duty, in circumstances where it
seemed that Destiny itself was fighting against them.
The Austrians are supposed to have lost nearly forty thousand men in
these disastrous battles. The French must have at least suffered the
loss of one-fourth of the number, though Buonaparte confesses only to
seven thousand men;[180] and their army, desperately fatigued by so many
marches, such constant fighting, and the hardships of a campaign, where
even the general for seven days never laid aside his clothes, or took
any regular repose, required some time to recover their physical
strength.
Meantime, Napoleon resumed his position before Mantua; but the want of
battering cannon, and the commencement of the unhealthy heats of autumn,
amid lakes and inundations, besides the great chance of a second attack
on the part of Wurmser, induced him to limit his measures to a simple
blockade, which, however, was so strict as to retain the garrison within
the walls of the place, and cut them off even from the islet called the
Seraglio.
The events of this hurried campaign threw light on the feelings of the
different states of Italy. Lombardy in general remained quiet, and the
citizens of Milan seemed so well affected to the French, that
Buonaparte, after the victory of Castiglione, returned them his thanks
in name of the Republic.[181] But at Pavia, and elsewhere, a very
opposite disposition was evinced; and at Ferrara, the Cardinal Mattei,
archbishop of that town, made some progress in exciting an insurrection.
His apology, when introduced to Buonaparte's presence to answer for his
conduct, consisted in uttering the single word _Peccavi!_ and Napoleon,
soothed by his submission, imposed no punishment on him for his
offence,[182] but, on the contrary, used his mediation in some
negotiations with the court of Rome. Yet though the Bishop of Ferrara,
overawed and despised, was permitted to escape, the conduct of his
superior, the Pope, who had shown vacillation in his purposes of
submission, when he heard of the temporary raising of Mantua, was
carefully noted and remembered for animadversion, when a suitable moment
should occur.
[Sidenote: INFLEXIBILITY OF AUSTRIA.]
Nothing is more remarkable, during these campaigns, than the
inflexibility of Austria, which, reduced to the extremity of distress by
the advance of Moreau and Jourdan into her territories, stood
nevertheless on the defensive at every point, and by extraordinary
exertions again recruited Wurmser with fresh troops, to the amount of
twenty thousand men; which reinforcement enabled that general, though
under no more propitious star, again to resume the offensive, by
advancing from the Tyrol. Wurmser, with less confidence than before,
hoped now to relieve the siege of Mantua a second time, and at a less
desperate cost, by moving from Trent towards Mantua, through the defiles
formed by the river Brenta. This manœuvre he proposed to execute with
thirty thousand men, while he left twenty thousand, under General
Davidowich, in a strong position at or near Roveredo, for the purpose of
covering the Tyrol; an invasion of which district, on the part of the
French, must have added much to the general panic which already
astounded Germany, from the apprehended advance of Moreau and Jourdan
from the banks of the Rhine.
Buonaparte penetrated the design of the veteran general, and suffered
him without disturbance to march towards Bassano upon the Brenta, in
order to occupy the line of operations on which he intended to
manœuvre, with the secret intention that he would himself assume the
offensive, and overwhelm Davidowich as soon as the distance betwixt them
precluded a communication betwixt that general and Wurmser. He left
General Kilmaine, an officer of Irish extraction[183] in whom he reposed
confidence, with about three thousand men, to cover the siege of Mantua,
by posting himself under the walls of Verona, while, concentrating a
strong body of forces, Napoleon marched upon the town of Roveredo,
situated in the valley of the Adige, and having in its rear the strong
position of Calliano. The town is situated on the high road to Trent,
and Davidowich lay there with twenty-five thousand Austrians, intended
to protect the Tyrol, while Wurmser moved down the Brenta, which runs in
the same direction with the Adige, but at about thirty miles' distance,
so that no communication for mutual support could take place betwixt
Wurmser and his lieutenant-general. It was upon Davidowich that
Buonaparte first meant to pour his thunder.
[Sidenote: Sept. 4.]
The battle of Roveredo, fought upon the 4th of September, was one of
that great general's splendid days. Before he could approach the town,
one of his divisions had to force the strongly intrenched camp of Mori,
where the enemy made a desperate defence. Another attacked the Austrians
on the opposite bank of the Adige, (for the action took place on both
sides of the river,) until the enemy at length retreated, still fighting
desperately. Napoleon sent his orders to General Dubois, to charge with
the first regiment of hussars:--he did so, and broke the enemy, but fell
mortally wounded with three balls. "I die," he said, "for the
Republic--bring me but tidings that the victory is certain."[184]
The retreating enemy were driven through the town of Roveredo, without
having it in their power to make a stand. The extreme strength of the
position of Calliano seemed to afford them rallying ground. The Adige is
there bordered by precipitous mountains, approaching so near its course,
as only to leave a pass of forty toises' breadth between the river and
the precipice, which opening was defended by a village, a castle, and a
strong defensive wall resting upon the rock, all well garnished with
artillery. The French, in their enthusiasm of victory, could not be
stopped even by these obstacles. Eight pieces of light artillery were
brought forward, under cover of which the infantry charged and carried
this strong position; so little do natural advantages avail when the
minds of the assailants are influenced with an opinion that they are
irresistible, and those of the defenders are depressed by a uniform and
uninterrupted course of defeat. Six or seven thousand prisoners, and
fifteen pieces of cannon captured, were the fruits of this splendid
victory; and Massena the next morning took possession of Trent in the
Tyrol, so long the stronghold where Wurmser had maintained his
headquarters.[185]
The wrecks of Davidowich's army fled deeper into the Tyrol, and took up
their position at Lavisa, a small village on a river of a similar name,
about three leagues to the northward of Trent, and situated in the
principal road which communicates with Brixen and Inspruck. Buonaparte
instantly pursued them with a division of his army, commanded by
Vaubois, and passed the Lavisa with his cavalry, while the enemy were
amused with an assault upon the bridge. Thus he drove them from their
position, which, being the entrance of one of the chief defiles of the
Tyrol, it was of importance to secure, and it was occupied accordingly
by Vaubois with his victorious division.
[Sidenote: THE TYROL.]
Buonaparte, in consequence of his present condition, became desirous to
conciliate the martial inhabitants of the Tyrol, and published a
proclamation, in which he exhorted them to lay down their arms, and
return to their homes; assuring them of protection against military
violence, and labouring to convince them, that they had themselves no
interest in the war which he waged against the Emperor and his
government, but not against his subjects.[186] That his conduct might
appear to be of a piece with his reasoning, Napoleon issued an edict,
disuniting the principality of Trent from the German empire, and
annexing it in point of sovereignty to the French Republic, while he
intrusted, or seemed to intrust, the inhabitants themselves with the
power of administering their own laws and government.
Bounties which depended on the gift of an armed enemy, appeared very
suspicious to the Tyrolese, who were aware that, in fact, the order of a
French officer would be more effectual law, whenever that nation had the
power, than that of any administrator of civil affairs whom they might
themselves be permitted to choose. As for the proclamation, the French
general might as well have wasted his eloquence on the rocks of the
country. The Tyrol, one of the earliest possessions of the House of
Austria, had been uniformly governed by those princes with strict
respect to the privileges of the inhabitants, who were possessed already
of complete personal freedom. Secured in all the immunities which were
necessary for their comfort, these sagacious peasants saw nothing to
expect from the hand of a stranger general, excepting what Buonaparte
himself has termed, those vexations necessarily annexed to a country
which becomes the seat of war, and which, in more full detail, include
whatever the avarice of the general, the necessities of the soldiers,
not to mention the more violent outrage of marauders and plunderers, may
choose to exact from the inhabitants. But, besides this prudent
calculation of consequences, the Tyrolese felt the generous spirit of
national independence, and resolved that their mountains should not be
dishonoured by the march of an armed enemy, if the unerring rifle-guns
of their children were able to protect their native soil from such
indignity. Every mode of resistance was prepared; and it was then that
those piles of rocks, stones, and trunks of trees, were collected on the
verge of the precipices which line the valley of the Inn, and other
passes of the Tyrol, but which remained in grim repose till rolled down,
to the utter annihilation of the French and Bavarian invaders in 1809,
under the direction of the valiant Hofer and his companions in arms.
More successful with the sword than the pen, Buonaparte had no sooner
disposed of Davidowich and his army, than he began his operations
against Wurmser himself, who had by this time learned the total defeat
of his subordinate division, and that the French were possessed of
Trent. The Austrian field-marshal immediately conceived that the French
general, in consequence of his successes, would be disposed to leave
Italy behind, and advance to Inspruck, in order to communicate with the
armies of Moreau and Jourdan, which were now on the full advance into
Germany. Instead, therefore, of renouncing his own scheme of relieving
Mantua, Wurmser thought the time favourable for carrying it into
execution; and in place of falling back with his army on Friuli, and
thus keeping open his communication with Vienna, he committed the great
error of involving himself still deeper in the Italian passes to the
southward, by an attempt, with a diminished force, to execute a purpose,
which he had been unable to accomplish when his army was double the
strength of the French. With this ill-chosen plan, he detached Mezaros
with a division of his forces, to manœuvre on Verona, where, as we
have seen, Buonaparte had stationed Kilmaine to cover the siege, or
rather the blockade, of Mantua. Mezaros departed accordingly, and
leaving Wurmser at Bassano on the Brenta, marched south-westward towards
the collateral valley of the Adige, and attacked Kilmaine, who, by
drawing his men under cover of the fortifications of Verona, made a
resolute defence. The Austrian general, finding it impossible to carry
the place by a coup-de-main, was meditating to cross the Adige, when he
was recalled by the most urgent commands to rejoin Wurmser with all
possible despatch.
As soon as Buonaparte learned this new separation of Wurmser from a
large division of his army, he anticipated the possibility of defeating
the field-marshal himself, driving him from his position at Bassano, and
of consequence, cutting off at his leisure the division of Mezaros,
which had advanced so far to the southward as effectually to compromise
its safety.
To execute this plan required the utmost rapidity of movement; for,
should Wurmser learn that Buonaparte was advancing towards Bassano, in
time to recall Mezaros, he might present a front too numerous to be
attacked with hope of success. There are twenty leagues' distance
betwixt Trent and Bassano, and that ground was to be traversed by means
of very difficult roads, in the space of two days at farthest. But it
was in such circumstances that the genius of Napoleon triumphed, through
the enthusiastic power which he possessed over the soldiery, and by
which he could urge them to the most incredible exertions. He left Trent
on the 6th September, at break of day, and reached, in the course of the
evening, Borgo di Val Lugano, a march of ten French leagues. A similar
forced march of five leagues and upwards, brought him up with Wurmser's
advanced-guard, which was strongly posted at Primolano.
The effect of the surprise, and the impetuosity of the French attack
surmounted all the advantages of position. The Austrian double-lines
were penetrated by a charge of three French columns--the cavalry
occupied the high-road, and cut off the enemy's retreat on Bassano--in a
word, Wurmser's vanguard was totally destroyed, and more than four
thousand men laid down their arms.[187] From Primolano the French,
dislodging whatever enemies they encountered, advanced to Cismone, a
village, where a river of the same name unites with the Brenta. There
they halted exhausted with fatigue; and on that evening no sentinel in
the army endured more privations than Napoleon himself, who took up his
quarters for the night without either staff-officers or baggage, and was
glad to accept a share of a private soldier's ration of bread, of which
the poor fellow lived to remind his general when he was become
Emperor.[188]
[Sidenote: BATTLE OF BASSANO.]
Cismone is only about four leagues from Bassano, and Wurmser heard with
alarm, that the French leader, whom he conceived to be already deeply
engaged in the Tyrolese passes, had destroyed his vanguard, and was
menacing his own position. It was under this alarm that he despatched
expresses, as already mentioned, to recall Mezaros and his division. But
it was too late; for that general was under the walls of Verona, nigh
fifteen leagues from Wurmser's position, on the night of the 7th
September, when the French army was at Cismone, within a third part of
that distance. The utmost exertions of Mezaros could only bring his
division as far as Montebello, upon the 8th September, when the battle
of Bassano seemed to decide the fate of his unfortunate
commander-in-chief.
[Sidenote: Sept. 8.]
This victory was as decisive as any which Buonaparte had hitherto
obtained. The village of Salagna was first carried by main force, and
then the French army, continuing to descend the defiles of the Brenta,
attacked Wurmser's main body, which still lay under his own command in
the town of Bassano. Augereau penetrated into the town upon the right,
Massena upon the left. They bore down all opposition, and seized the
cannon by which the bridge was defended, in spite of the efforts of the
Austrian grenadiers, charged with the duty of protecting Wurmser and his
staff, who were now in absolute flight.
The field-marshal himself, with the military chest of his army, nearly
fell into the hands of the French; and though he escaped for the time,
it was after an almost general dispersion of his troops.[189] Six
thousand Austrians surrendered to Buonaparte;[190] Quasdonowich, with
three or four thousand men, effected a retreat to the north-east, and
gained Friuli; while Wurmser himself, finding it impossible to escape
otherwise, fled to Vicenza in the opposite direction, and there united
the scattered forces which still followed him, with the division of
Mezaros. When this junction was accomplished, the aged marshal had still
the command of about sixteen thousand men, out of sixty thousand, with
whom he had, scarce a week before, commenced the campaign. The material
part of his army, guns, waggons, and baggage, was all lost--his retreat
upon the hereditary states of Austria was entirely cut off--the flower
of his army was destroyed--courage and confidence were gone--there
seemed no remedy but that he should lay down his arms to the youthful
conqueror by whose forces he was now surrounded on all sides, without,
as it appeared, any possibility of extricating himself. But Fate itself
seemed to take some tardy compassion on this venerable and gallant
veteran, and not only adjourned his final fall, but even granted him
leave to gather some brief-dated laurels, as the priests of old were
wont to garland their victims before the final sacrifice.
Surrounded by dangers, and cut off from any other retreat, Wurmser
formed the gallant determination to throw himself and his remaining
forces into Mantua, and share the fate of the beleaguered fortress which
he had vainly striven to relieve. But to execute this purpose it was
necessary to cross the Adige, nor was it easy to say how this was to be
accomplished. Verona, one point of passage, was defended by Kilmaine,
who had already repulsed Mezaros. Legnago, where there was a bridge, was
also garrisoned by the French; and Wurmser had lost his bridge of
pontoons at the battle of Bassano. At the village of Albarado, however,
there was an established ferry, totally insufficient for passing over so
considerable a force with the necessary despatch, but which Wurmser used
for the purpose of sending across two squadrons of cavalry, in order to
reconnoitre the blockade of Mantua, and the facilities which might
present themselves for accomplishing a retreat on that fortress. This
precaution proved for the time the salvation of Wurmser, and what
remained of his army.
Fortune, which has such influence in warlike affairs, had so ordered it,
that Kilmaine, apprehending that Wurmser would attempt to force a
passage at Verona, and desirous to improve his means of resistance
against so great a force, had sent orders that the garrison of four
hundred men who guarded the bridge at Legnago should join him at Verona,
and that an equal number should be detached from the blockade of Mantua,
to supply their place on the Lower Adige. The former part of his command
had been obeyed, and the garrison of Legnago were on their march for
Verona. But the relief which was designed to occupy their post, though
on their way to Legnago, had not yet arrived. The Austrian cavalry, who
had passed over at Albarado, encountering this body on its march from
the vicinity of Mantua, attacked them with spirit, and sabred a good
many. The commander of the French battalion, confounded at this
appearance, concluded that the whole Austrian army had gained the right
bank of the Adige, and that he should necessarily be cut off if he
prosecuted his march to Legnago. Thus the passage at that place was left
altogether undefended; and Wurmser, apprised of this unhoped-for chance
of escape, occupied the village, and took possession of the bridge.[191]
Buonaparte, in the meantime, having moved from Bassano to Arcola in
pursuit of the defeated enemy, learned, at the latter place, that
Wurmser still lingered at Legnago, perhaps to grant his troops some
indispensable repose, perhaps to watch whether it might be even yet
possible to give the slip to the French divisions by which he was
surrounded, and, by a rapid march back upon Padua, to regain his
communication with the Austrian territories, instead of enclosing
himself in Mantua. Buonaparte hastened to avail himself of these moments
of indecision. Augereau was ordered to march upon Legnago by the road
from Padua, so as to cut off any possibility of Wurmser's retreat in
that direction; while Massena's division was thrown across the Adige by
a ferry at Ronco, to strengthen General Kilmaine, who had already
occupied the line of a small river called the Molinella, which
intersects the country between Legnago and Mantua. If this position
could be made good, it was concluded that the Austrian general, unable
to reach Mantua, or to maintain himself at Legnago, must even yet
surrender himself and his army.
[Sidenote: ACTION OF CEREA.]
On the 12th September, Wurmser began his march. He was first opposed at
Cerea, where Murat and Pigeon had united their forces. But Wurmser made
his dispositions, and attacked with a fury which swept out of the way
both the cavalry and infantry of the enemy, and obtained possession of
the village. In the heat of the skirmish, and just when the French were
giving way, Buonaparte himself entered Cerea, with the purpose of
personally superintending the dispositions made for intercepting the
retreat of Wurmser, when, but for the speed of his horse, he had nearly
fallen as a prisoner into the hands of the general whose destruction he
was labouring to ensure. Wurmser arrived on the spot a few minutes
afterwards, and gave orders for a pursuit in every direction;
commanding, however, that the French general should, if possible, be
taken alive--a conjunction of circumstances worthy of remark, since it
authorised the Austrian general for the moment to pronounce on the fate
of him, who, before and after was the master of his destiny.
Having again missed this great prize, Wurmser continued his march all
night, and turning aside from the great road, where the blockading army
had taken measures to intercept him, he surprised a small bridge over
the Molinella, at a village called Villa Impenta, by which he eluded
encountering the forces of Kilmaine. A body of French horse, sent to
impede his progress, was cut to pieces by the Austrian cavalry. On the
14th, Wurmser obtained a similar success at Duc Castelli, where his
cuirassiers destroyed a body of French infantry; and having now forced
himself into a communication with Mantua, he encamped between the suburb
of Saint George and the citadel, and endeavoured to keep open the
communication with the country, for the purpose of obtaining a supply of
forage and provisions.
[Sidenote: Sept. 19.]
But it was not Buonaparte's intention to leave him undisturbed in so
commodious a position. Having received the surrender of an Austrian
corps which was left in Porto Legnago, and gleaned up such other
remnants of Wurmser's army as could not accompany their general in his
rapid march to Mantua, he resolved once more to force his way into the
islet of the Seraglio, upon which Mantua is built, and confine the
besieged within the walls of their garrison. On the 19th, after a very
severe and bloody action, the French obtained possession of the suburb
of Saint George, and the citadel termed La Favorita, and a long series
of severe sallies and attacks took place, which, although gallantly
fought by the Austrians, generally tended to their disadvantage, so that
they were finally again blockaded within the walls of the city and
castle.[192]
The woes of war now appeared among them in a different and even more
hideous form than when inflicted with the sword alone. When Wurmser
threw himself into Mantua, the garrison might amount to twenty-six
thousand men; yet, ere October was far advanced, there were little above
the half of the number fit for service. There were nearly nine thousand
sick in the hospitals,--infectious diseases, privations of every kind,
and the unhealthy air of the lakes and marshes with which they were
surrounded, had cut off the remainder. The French also had lost great
numbers; but the conquerors could reckon up their victories, and forget
the price at which they had been purchased.
It was a proud vaunt, and a cure in itself for many losses, that the
minister of war had a right to make the following speech to the
Directory, at the formal introduction of Marmont, then aide-de-camp of
Buonaparte, and commissioned to present on his part the colours and
standards taken from the enemy:--"In the course of a single campaign,"
he truly said, "Italy had been entirely conquered--three large armies
had been entirely destroyed--more than fifty stand of colours had been
taken by the victors--forty thousand Austrians had laid down their
arms--and, what was not the least surprising part of the whole, these
deeds had been accomplished by an army of only thirty thousand
Frenchmen, commanded by a general scarce twenty-six years old."[193]
FOOTNOTES:
[166] See Correspondence Inédite, tom. i., p. 12; Montholon, tom. iv.,
p. 372; Jomini, tom. viii., p. 388.
[167] "That retreat was the greatest blunder that ever Moreau committed.
If he had, instead of retreating, made a détour, and marched in the rear
of Prince Charles, he would have destroyed or taken the Austrian army.
The Directory, jealous of me, wanted to divide, if possible, the stock
of military reputation; and as they could not give Moreau credit for a
victory, they caused his retreat to be extolled in the highest terms:
although even the Austrian generals condemned him for it."--NAPOLEON,
_Voice_, &c., vol. ii., p. 40. See also Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 157.
[168] Montholon, tom. iii., pp. 292-307; Jomini, tom. viii., pp.
178-194.
[169] Montholon, tom. iii., p. 234.
[170] Montholon, tom. iii., p. 235; Jomini, tom. viii., p. 302.
[171] Jomini, tom. viii., p. 314; Montholon, tom. iii., p. 239.
[172] "Napoleon despatched Louis in the greatest haste to Paris, with an
account of what had taken place. Louis left his brother with regret on
the eve of the battle, to become the bearer of bad news. 'It must be
so,' said Napoleon, 'but before you return you will have to present to
the Directory the colours which we shall take to-morrow.'"--LOUIS
BUONAPARTE, tom. i., p 63.
[173] Buonaparte to the Directory; Moniteur, No. 328; Jomini, tom.
viii., p. 318; Botta, tom. ii., p. 64.
[174] "Sa manœuvre me parut un sûr garant de la
victoire."--BUONAPARTE to the Directory, 6th August.
[175] Buonaparte, in his despatch to the Directory, states the loss of
the Austrians at from two to three thousand killed, and four thousand
prisoners; Jomini, tom. viii., p. 325, says, "three thousand killed,
wounded, or prisoners."
[176] "That day was the most brilliant of Augereau's life, nor did
Napoleon ever forget it."--MONTHOLON, tom. iii., p. 255.
[177] See _ante_, p. 55.
[178] See _ante_, p. 84.
[179] "Go and tell your general," said Napoleon, "that I give him eight
minutes to lay down his arms; he is in the midst of the French army;
after that time there are no hopes for him."--MONTHOLON, tom. iii., p.
246; Jomini, tom. viii., p. 326. But see Botta, tom. i., p. 546.
[180] "In the different engagements between the 29th July and the 12th
August, the French army took 15,000 prisoners, 70 pieces of cannon, and
nine stand of colours, and killed or wounded 25,000 men; the loss of the
French army was 7000 men."--MONTHOLON, tom. iii., p. 251.
[181] "Your people render themselves daily more worthy of liberty, and
they will, no doubt, one day appear with glory on the stage of the
world."--_Moniteur_, No. 331, Aug. 9.
[182] "When brought before the Commander-in-chief, he answered only by
the word _peccavi_, which disarmed the victor, who merely confined him
three months in a religious house."--MONTHOLON, tom. iii., p. 254.
Mattei was born at Rome in 1744. Compelled, in 1810, to repair to France
with his colleagues, he was banished by Napoleon to Rhetel, for refusing
to be present at his marriage with Maria Louisa. The cardinal died in
1820.
[183] Kilmaine was born at Dublin in 1754. He distinguished himself at
Jemappes and in La Vendée, and was selected to command the "_Army of
England_," but died at Paris in 1799.
[184] Buonaparte to the Directory, 6th September.
[185] Jomini, tom. ix., p. 107; Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 5; Montholon,
tom. iii., p. 259.
[186] Montholon, tom. iii., p. 263.
[187] Buonaparte to the Directory, 8th September; Montholon, tom. iii.,
p. 265. Jomini, tom. ix., p. 114, estimates the prisoners at fully from
twelve to fifteen hundred.
[188] At the camp of Boulogne, in 1805.
[189] Napoleon the same night visited the field of battle, and he told
this anecdote of it at St. Helena--"In the deep silence of a beautiful
moonlight night," said the Emperor, "a dog leaping suddenly from beneath
the clothes of his dead master, rushed upon us, and then immediately
returned to his hiding-place, howling piteously. He alternately licked
his master's face, and again flew at us; thus at once soliciting aid and
threatening revenge. Whether owing to my own particular mood of mind at
the moment, the time, the place, or the action itself, I know not, but
certainly no incident on any field of battle ever produced so deep an
impression on me. I involuntarily stopped to contemplate the scene. This
man, thought I, must have had among his comrades friends; and here he
lies forsaken by all except his dog! What a strange being is man! and
how mysterious are his impressions! I had, without emotion, ordered
battles which were to decide the fate of the army; I had beheld with
tearless eyes, the execution of those operations, in the course of which
numbers of my countrymen were sacrificed; and here my feelings were
roused by the mournful howling of a dog. Certainly at that moment I
should have been easily moved by a suppliant enemy; I could very well
imagine Achilles surrendering up the body of Hector at the sight of
Priam's tears."--LAS CASES, tom. ii., p. 403. See also Arnault, Hist. de
Napoleon; and Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 11.
[190] Montholon, tom. iii., p. 266; Buonaparte, in his letter to the
Directory, says 5000; Jomini, tom. ix., p. 116, reduces them to 2000.
[191] Jomini, tom. ix., p. 116; Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 54; Montholon,
tom. iii., p. 267.
[192] Montholon, tom. iii., p. 271; Jomini, tom. ix., p. 126.