The Russians, under General Bennigsen, were pursued and harassed by the
French Marshals after the passage of the Narew, until the evening of the
7th of February, 1807, when they halted beyond the village of Eylau, and
evinced a determination to give battle on the following day. The French
army was worn with fatigue, reduced in number by rapid marches and
rear-guard actions, pinched with hunger and suffering from cold. But
they were now to fight a great battle against a superior number of brave
and disciplined troops.
Napoleon, losing no time, dispatched the same evening several officers
to Marshals Davoust and Ney, to bring them back, the one to his right,
the other to his left. Marshal Davoust had continued to follow the Alle
to Bartenstein, and he was not more than three or four leagues off. He
replied that he should arrive at daybreak upon the right of Eylau (the
right of the French army) ready to fall upon the flank of the Russians.
Marshal Ney, who had been directed upon the left, so as to keep the
Prussians at a distance, and to be able to rush upon Konigsberg, in case
the Russians should throw themselves behind the Pregel—Marshal Ney was
marching for Krentzburg. Messengers were dispatched after him, though it
was not so sure that he could be brought back in time to the field of
battle, as it was that Marshal Davoust would make his appearance there.
Deprived of Ney’s corps, the French army amounted at most to fifty and
some thousand men. If Marshal Ney were to arrive in time, it would be
possible to oppose sixty-three thousand men to the enemy, all present
under fire. No expectation could be entertained of the arrival of
Bernadotte’s corps, which was thirty leagues off.
Napoleon, who slept that night but three or four hours in a chair in the
house of the postmaster, placed the corps of Marshal Soult at Eylau
itself, partly within the town, partly on the right and left of it,
Augereau’s corps and the imperial guard a little in rear, and all the
cavalry upon the wings, till daylight should enable him to make his
dispositions.
General Bennigsen had at last determined to give battle. He was on level
ground, or nearly so, excellent ground for his infantry, not much versed
in manœuvres, but solid, and for his cavalry, which was numerous. His
heavy artillery, which he had directed to make a circuit, that it might
not cramp his movements, had just rejoined him.
His army, amounting to seventy-eight or eighty thousand men, and to
ninety thousand with the Prussians, had sustained considerable losses in
the late battles, but scarcely any in marches, for an army in retreat,
without being in disorder, is rallied by the enemy that pursues it,
whereas the pursuing army, not having the same motives for keeping close
together, always leaves part of its effective force behind. Deducting
the losses sustained at Mohrungen, Bergfried, Waltersdorf, Hoff,
Heilsberg, and at Eylau itself, one may say that General Bennigsen’s
army was reduced to about eighty thousand men, seventy-two thousand of
whom were Russians, and eight thousand Prussians. Thus, in case General
Lestocq and Marshal Ney should not arrive, fifty-four thousand French
would have to fight seventy-two thousand Russians. The Russians had,
moreover, a formidable artillery, computed at four or five hundred
pieces. That of the French amounted to two hundred at most, including
the guard. It is true that it was superior to all the artilleries of
Europe, even to that of the Austrians. General Bennigsen, therefore,
determined to attack at daybreak. The character of his soldiers was
energetic, like that of the French soldiers, but governed by other
motives. The Russians had neither that confidence of success nor that
love of glory which the French exhibited, but a certain fanaticism of
obedience, which induced them to brave death blindly.
Since debouching upon Eylau, the country appeared level and open. The
little town of Eylau, situated on a slight eminence, and topped by a
Gothic spire, was the only conspicuous point. The ground gently sloping,
on the right of the church, presented a cemetery. In front it rose
perceptibly, and on this rise, marked by some hillocks, appeared the
Russians in a deep mass. Several lakes, full of water in spring, frozen
in winter, at this time covered with snow, were not distinguishable in
any way from the rest of the plain. Scarcely did a few barns united into
hamlets, and lines of barriers for folding cattle, form a _point
d’appui_, or an obstacle on this dreary field of battle. A gray sky,
dissolving at times into thick snow, added its dreariness to that of the
country, a dreariness which seized upon both the eye and heart.
During the greater part of the night Napoleon was employed in learning
the force and position of the enemy, and drawing a plan of the battle,
as he reclined on the snow by his dreary camp-fire. The four hours of
sleep in a chair was quite sufficient to refresh his energies, and
prepare him for the great struggle of the next day. The troops who
bivouacked in the vicinity of Eylau, suffered severely from the cold.
They had but few fires, as fuel was scarce. Most of these gallant
soldiers, who had been marching and fighting for several days, dared not
trust themselves to slumber on the ground for fear of freezing to death.
At break of the day, the position of the Russians was discovered. They
were drawn up in two lines, very near to each other, their front being
covered by three hundred pieces of cannon, planted on the salient points
of the ground. In the rear, two close columns, appuying, like two flying
buttresses, this double fine of battle seemed designed to support it,
and to prevent its breaking under the shock of a charge from the
impetuous French. A strong reserve of artillery was placed at some
distance. The cavalry was partly in the rear, and partly on the wings.
The Cossacks kept with the body of the army.
Napoleon, on horseback, at daybreak, stationed himself in the cemetery
to the right of Eylau, where, scarcely protected by a few trees from the
cannonade which the Russians had already commenced, he surveyed the
positions of the enemy. He could foresee that victory would cost him
dearly, from the solid and obstinate mass which the Russian general had
formed.
Owing to the position of Eylau, which stretched itself out facing the
Russians, Napoleon could give the less depth to his line of battle, and
consequently the less scope to the balls of the artillery. Two of
Marshal Soult’s divisions were placed at Eylau, Legrand’s division in
advance and a little to the left, Leval’s division, partly on the left
of the town, upon an eminence topped by a mill, partly on the right, at
the cemetery itself. The third division of Marshal Soult’s, St.
Hilaire’s division, was established still further to the right, at a
considerable distance from the cemetery, in the village of Rothenen,
which formed the prolongation of the position of Eylau. In the interval
between the village of Rothenen, and the town of Eylau, an interval left
vacant for the purpose of making the rest of the army debouch there, was
posted a little in rear, Augereau’s corps, drawn up in two lines, and
formed of Desjardins’s and Heudelet’s divisions. Augereau, tormented
with fever, his eyes red and swollen, but forgetting his complaints at
the sound of the cannon, had mounted his horse to put himself at the
head of his troops. Further in rear of that same _debouche_ came the
infantry and cavalry of the imperial guard, the divisions of cuirassiers
and dragoons, both ready to present themselves to the enemy by the same
outlet, and meanwhile somewhat sheltered from the cannon by a hollow of
the ground. Lastly, at the extreme right of this field of battle, beyond
and in advance of Rothenen, at the hamlet of Serpallen, the corps of
Marshal Davoust was to enter into action in such a manner as to fall
upon the flank of the Russians.
Thus Napoleon was in open order, and his line having the advantage of
being covered on the left by the buildings of Eylau, on the right by
those of Rothenen, the combat of artillery, by which he designed to
demolish the kind of wall opposed to him by the Russians, would be much
less formidable for him than for them. He had caused all the cannon of
the army to be removed from the corps, and placed in order of battle. To
these he had ordered the forty pieces belonging to the guard, and he was
thus about to reply to the formidable artillery of the Russians by an
artillery far inferior in number, but much superior in skill.
The Russians had commenced the firing. The French had answered it
immediately by a violent cannonade at half cannon-shot. The earth shook
under the tremendous detonation. The French artillerymen, not only more
expert, but firing at a living mass, which served them for a butt, made
dreadful havoc. The balls swept down whole files. Those of the Russians,
on the contrary, directed with less precision, and striking against
buildings, inflicted less mischief. The town of Eylau and the village of
Rothenen were soon set on fire. The glare of the conflagration added its
terrors to the horrors of the carnage. Though there fell far fewer
French than Russians, still there fell a great many, especially in the
ranks of the imperial guard, motionless in the cemetery. The
projectiles, passing over the head of Napoleon, and sometimes very close
to him, penetrated the walls of the church, or broke branches from the
trees at the foot of which he had placed himself to direct the battle.
This cannonade lasted for a long time, and both armies bore it with
heroic tranquillity, never stirring, and merely closing their ranks as
fast as the cannon made breaches in them. The Russians seemed first to
feel a sort of impatience. Desirous of accelerating the result by the
taking of Eylau, they moved off to carry the position of the mill,
situated on the left of the town.
Part of their right formed in column, and came to the attack. Leval’s
division gallantly repulsed it, and by their firmness left the Russians
no hope of success.
As for Napoleon, he attempted nothing decisive, for he would not
endanger, by sending it forward, the corps of Marshal Soult, which had
done so well to keep Eylau under such a tremendous cannonade. He waited
for acting till the presence of Marshal Davoust’s corps, which was
coming on the right, should begin to be felt on the flank of the
Russians.
This lieutenant, punctual as he was intrepid, had actually arrived at
the village of Serpallen. Friant’s division marched at the head. It
debouched the first, encountered the Cossacks, whom it had soon driven
back, and occupied the village of Serpallen with some companies of fight
infantry. No sooner was it established in the village and in the grounds
on the right, than one of the masses of cavalry posted on the wings of
the Russian army detached itself, and advanced towards. General Friant,
availing himself with intelligence and coolness of the advantages
afforded by the accidents of the locality, drew up the three regiments
of which his division was then composed behind the long and solid wooden
barrier, which served for folding cattle. Sheltered behind this natural
intrenchment, he kept up a fire within point-blank range upon the
Russian squadrons, and forced them to retire. They fell back, but soon
returned, accompanied by a column of nine or ten thousand infantry. It
was one of the two close columns, which served for flying buttresses to
the Russian fine of battle, and which now bore to the left of that fine,
to retake Serpallen. General Friant had but five hundred men to oppose
to it. Still, sheltered behind the wooden barrier with which he had
covered himself, and able to deploy without apprehension of being
charged by the cavalry, he saluted the Russians with a fire so
continuous and so well directed, as to occasion them considerable loss.
Their squadrons having shown an intention to turn him, he formed the 33d
into square on his right, and stopped them by the imperturbable bearing
of his foot-soldiers. As he could not make use of his cavalry, which
consisted of some horse chasseurs, he made amends for it by a swarm of
tirailleurs, who kept up such a fire upon the flanks of the Russians, as
to oblige them to retire towards the heights in rear of Serpallen,
between Serpallen and Klein-Sausgarten. On retiring to these heights,
the Russians covered themselves by a numerous artillery, the downward
fire of which was very destructive. Morand’s division had arrived in its
turn on the field of battle. Marshal Davoust, taking the first brigade,
that of General Ricard, went and placed it beyond and on the left of
Serpallen; he then posted the second, composed of the 51st and the 61st,
on the right of the villages, so as to support either Ricard’s brigade
or Friant’s division. The latter had proceeded to the right of
Serpallen, towards Klein-Sausgarten. At this very moment, Gudin’s
division was accelerating its speed to get into line. Thus the Russians
had been obliged by the movement of the French right to draw back their
left from Serpallen towards Klein-Sausgarten.
The expected effect on the flank of the enemy’s army was therefore
produced. Napoleon, from the position which he occupied, had distinctly
seen the Russian reserves directed towards the corps of Marshal Davoust.
The hour for acting had arrived; for, unless he interfered, the Russians
might fall in mass upon Marshal Davoust and crush him. Napoleon
immediately gave his orders. He directed St. Hilaire’s division, which
was at Rothenen, to push forward and to give a hand to Morand’s division
about Serpallen. He commanded the two divisions of Augereau’s corps, to
debouch by the interval between Rothenen and Eylau, to connect
themselves with St. Hilaire’s division, and to form all together an
oblong line from the cemetery of Eylau to Serpallen. The result expected
from this movement was to overturn the Russians, by throwing their right
upon their centre, and thus break down, beginning at its extremity, the
long wall which he had before him.
It was ten in the morning. General St. Hilaire moved off, left Rothenen,
and deployed obliquely in the plain, under a terrible fire of artillery,
his right at Serpallen, his left towards the cemetery. Augereau moved
nearly at the same time, not without a melancholy foreboding of the fate
reserved for his _corps d’armee_, which he saw exposed to the danger of
being dashed to pieces against the centre of the Russians, solidly
appuyed upon several hillocks. While General Corbineau was delivering
the orders of the Emperor to him, a ball pierced the side of that
gallant officer. Marshal Augereau marched immediately. The two divisions
of Desjardins and Heudelet debouched between Rothenen and the cemetery,
in close columns; then, having cleared the defile, formed in order of
battle, the first brigade of each division deployed, the second in
square. While they were advancing, a squall of wind and snow, beating
all at once into the faces of the soldiers, prevented them from seeing
the field of battle. The two divisions, enveloped in this kind of cloud,
mistook their direction, and bore a little to the left, leaving on their
right a considerable space between them and St. Hilaire’s division. The
Russians, but little incommoded by the snow, which they had at their
backs, seeing Augereau’s two divisions advancing towards the hillocks on
which they appuyed their centre, suddenly unmasked a battery of
seventy-two pieces, which they kept in reserve. So thick was the grape
poured forth by this formidable battery, that in a quarter of an hour
half of Augereau’s corps was swept down. General Desjardins, commanding
the first division, was killed; General Heudelet, commanding the second,
received a wound that was nearly mortal. The staff of the two divisions
was soon _hors de combat_. While they were sustaining this tremendous
fire, being obliged to re-form while marching, so much were their ranks
thinned, the Russian cavalry, throwing itself into the space which
separated it from Morand’s division, rushed upon them _en masse_. Those
brave divisions, however, resisted—but they were obliged to fall back
towards the cemetery of Eylau, giving ground without breaking, under the
repeated assaults of numerous squadrons. The snow having suddenly
ceased, they could then perceive the melancholy spectacle. Out of six or
seven thousand combatants, about four thousand killed or wounded strewed
the ground. Augereau, wounded, himself, but more affected by the
disaster of his _corps d’armee_ than by his personal danger, was carried
into the cemetery of Eylau to the feet of Napoleon, to whom he
complained, not without bitterness, of not having been timely succored.
Silent grief pervaded every face in the imperial staff. Napoleon, calm
and firm, imposing on others the impassibility which he imposed on
himself, addressed a few soothing words to Augereau, then sent him to
the rear, and took his measures for repairing the mischief. Dispatching,
in the first place, the chasseurs of his guard and some squadrons of
dragoons which were at hand, to drive back the enemy’s cavalry, he sent
for Murat, and ordered him to make a decisive effort on the line of
infantry which formed the centre of the Russian army, and which, taking
advantage of Augereau’s disaster, began to press forward. At the first
summons, Murat came up at a gallop. “Well,” said Napoleon, “_are you
going to let those fellows eat us up_?” He then ordered that heroic
chief of his cavalry to collect the chasseurs, the dragoons, the
cuirassiers, and to fall upon the Russians with eighty squadrons, to try
what effect the shock of such a mass of horse, charging furiously, would
have on an infantry reported not to be shaken. The cavalry of the guard
was brought forward, ready to add its shock to the cavalry of the army.
The moment was critical, for, if the Russian infantry were not stopped,
it would go and attack the cemetery, the centre of the position, and
Napoleon had only six foot battalions of the imperial guard to defend
it.
Murat galloped off, collected his squadrons, made them pass between the
cemetery and Rothenen, through the same debouch by which Augereau’s
corps had already marched to almost certain destruction. General
Grouchy’s dragoons charged first, to sweep the ground, and clear it of
the enemy’s cavalry. That brave officer, whose horse fell with him, put
himself, on rising, at the head of a second brigade, and effected his
purpose of dispersing the groups of cavalry which preceded the Russian
infantry. But, for overturning the latter, nothing short of the heavy
iron-clad squadrons of General d’Hautpoul was required. That officer,
who distinguished himself by consummate skill in the art of managing a
numerous cavalry, came forward with twenty-four squadrons of
cuirassiers, followed by the whole mass of dragoons. These cuirassiers,
ranged in several lines, started off and threw themselves upon the
Russian bayonets. The first lines, arrested by the fire, could not
penetrate, and falling back to right and left, went to form afresh
behind those who followed them, in order to charge anew. At length, one
of them, rushing on with more violence, broke the enemy’s infantry at
one point, and opened a breach, through which cuirassiers and dragoons
strove which should penetrate first. As a river, which has begun to
break down a dike, soon carries it away entirely, so the masses of the
squadrons, having once penetrated the infantry of the Russians, finished
in a few moments the overthrow of their first line. The horse then
dispersed to slaughter. A most horrible fray ensued between them and the
Russian foot soldiers. They went, and came, and struck on all sides
those obstinate antagonists. While the first line of infantry was thus
overturned and cut in pieces, the second fell back to a wood that
bounded the field of battle. A last reserve of artillery had been left
there. The Russians placed it in battery, and fired confusedly at their
own soldiers and at the French, not caring whether they slaughtered
friends or foes, if they only got rid of the formidable horse. General
d’Hautpoul was mortally wounded by a rifle ball. While the cavalry was
thus engaged with the second line of the Russian infantry, some parties
of the first rallied and renewed their fire. At this sight the horse
grenadiers of the guard, headed by General Lepic, one of the heroes of
the army, came forward in their turn to second Murat’s efforts. Dashing
off at a gallop, they charged the groups of infantry which they
perceived to be still on their legs, and crossing the ground in all
directions, completed the destruction of the centre of the Russian army,
the wrecks of which at last fled for refuge to the patches of wood which
had served them for an asylum.
During this scene of confusion, a fragment of that vast line of infantry
had advanced to that same cemetery. Three or four thousand Russian
grenadiers, marching straight forward with the blind courage of braver
and more intelligent troops, came to throw themselves on the church of
Eylau, and threatened the cemetery occupied by the imperial staff. The
foot guard, motionless till then, had endured the cannonade without
firing a piece. With joy it beheld an occasion for fighting arrive. A
battalion was called for; two disputed the honor of marching. The first
in order, led by General Dorsenne, obtained the advantage of measuring
its strength with the Russian grenadiers, went up to them without firing
a shot, attacked them with the bayonet, and threw one upon another,
while Murat dispatched against them two battalions of chasseurs under
General Bruyere. The Russian grenadiers, hemmed in between the bayonets
of the grenadiers of the guard and the swords of the chasseurs, were
almost all taken or killed, before the face of Napoleon, and only a few
paces from him.
This cavalry action, the most extraordinary perhaps of any in the great
wars, had for its result to overthrow the centre of the Russians, and to
drive it back to a considerable distance. It would have been requisite
to have at hand a reserve of infantry, in order to complete the defeat
of troops which, after being laid on the ground, rose again to fire. But
Napoleon durst not venture to dispose of Marshal Soult’s corps, reduced
to half of its effective, and necessary for keeping Eylau. Augereau’s
corps was almost destroyed.
Napoleon, in the cemetery, in which were heaped the bodies of a great
number of his officers among the time-browned tombstones, was graver
than usual; but his countenance was inflexible as ever, and no thought
of retreat crossed his resolute soul. Crowds of his bravest veterans
were lying mangled around him; and the prospect of the field must have
been gloomy, indeed. But his iron will did not bend; he had confidence
that the star of his fortune had not yet begun to descend.
Marshal Davoust and General St. Hilaire justified the confidence of
their chief, and not only maintained their own position against the
enemy, but had even pushed detachments upon their rear. But the event
which Napoleon dreaded had occurred.
General Lestocq, perseveringly pursued by Marshal Ney, appeared on that
field of carnage, with seven or eight thousand Prussians, eager to
revenge themselves for the disdain of the Russians. General Lestocq,
only an hour or two ahead of Marshal Ney’s corps, had merely time to
strike one blow before he was struck himself. He debouched upon the
field of battle at Schmoditten, passed behind the double line of the
Russians, now broken by the fire of the artillery, by the swords of the
horse, and presented himself at Kuschitten, in front of Friant’s
division, which, passing beyond Klein-Sausgarten; had already driven
back the left of the enemy upon its centre. The village of Kuschitten
was occupied by four companies of the 108th, and by the 51st, which had
been detached from Morand’s division for the support of Friant’s
division. The Prussians, rallying the Russians around them, dashed
impetuously on the 51st, and on the four companies of the 108th, without
being able to break them, though they obliged them to fall back to a
considerable distance, in rear of Kuschitten. The Prussians, after this
first advantage, pushed on beyond Kuschitten, in order to recover the
positions of the morning. They marched, deployed in two lines. The
Russian reserves, being rallied, formed two close columns on their
wings. A numerous artillery preceded them. In this manner they advanced
across the rear of the field of battle, to regain the lost ground, and
to beat back Marshal Davoust upon Klein-Sausgarten, and from
Klein-Sausgarten to Serpallen. But Generals Friant and Gudin, having
Marshal Davoust at their head, hastened up. Friant’s entire division,
and the 12th, 21st and 25th regiments, belonging to Gudin’s division,
placed themselves foremost, covered by the whole of the artillery of the
third corps. To no purpose did the Russians and Prussians exert
themselves to overcome the formidable obstacle; they were unsuccessful.
The French, appuyed on woods, marshes and hillocks, here deployed in
line, there dispersed as tirailleurs, opposed an invincible obstinacy to
this last effort of the allies. Marshal Davoust, passing through the
ranks till dark, kept up the firmness of his soldiers, saying, “Cowards
will be sent to die in Siberia; the brave will die here like men of
honor.” The Prussians and the raided Russians desisted from the attack.
Marshal Davoust remained firm in that position of Klein-Sausgarten,
where he threatened the rear of the enemy.
The two armies were exhausted. That day, so sombre, was every moment
becoming more sombre still, and about to terminate in a tremendous
night. More than thirty thousand Russians, struck by the balls and the
swords of the French, strewed the ground, some dead, others wounded more
or less severely. Many of the soldiers began to abandon their colors.
General Bennigsen, surrounded by his lieutenants, was deliberating
whether to resume the offensive, and try the effect of one more effort.
But, out of an army of eighty thousand men, not more than forty thousand
were left in a state to fight, the Prussians included. If he were
worsted in this desperate engagement, he would not have wherewithal to
cover his retreat. However, he was still hesitating, when intelligence
was brought him of a last and important incident. Marshal Ney, who had
closely followed the Prussians, arriving in the evening on the left, as
Marshal Davoust had arrived in the morning on the right, debouched at
length near Althof.
Thus Napoleons combinations, retarded by time, had, nevertheless,
brought upon the two flanks of the Russian army the forces that were to
decide the victory. The order for retreat could no longer be deferred;
for Marshal Davoust, having maintained himself at Klein-Sausgarten,
would not have much to do to meet Marshal Ney, who had advanced to
Schmoditten; and the junction of these two Marshals would have exposed
the Russians to the risk of being enveloped. The order for retreating
was instantly given by General Bennigsen; but, to insure the retreat, he
purposed to curb Marshal Ney, by attempting to take from him the village
of Schmoditten. The Russians marched upon that village, under favor of
the night, and in profound silence, in hopes of surprising the troops of
Marshal Ney, who had arrived late on the field of battle, when it was
difficult to recognise one another. But the latter were on their guard.
General Marchand, with the 6th light infantry, and the 39th of the line,
allowing the Russians to approach, then receiving them with a
point-blank fire, stopped them short. He then rushed upon them with the
bayonet, and obliged them to renounce all serious attack. From that
moment they definitely commenced their retreat.
Napoleon knew that he was master of the field of battle. He occupied the
slightly rising plain beyond Eylau, having his cavalry and his guard
before him and at the centre, and his other corps in possession of the
positions which the Russians had occupied in the morning.
Certain of being victorious, but grieved to the bottom of his heart, the
Emperor had remained amidst his troops, and ordered them to kindle
fires, and not leave the ranks, even to go in quest of provisions. A
small quantity of bread and brandy was distributed among the soldiers,
and, though there was not enough for all, yet no complaints were heard.
Less joyous than at Austerlitz and at Jena, they were full of
confidence, proud of themselves, ready to renew that dreadful struggle,
if the Russians had the courage and the strength to do so. Whoever had
given them, at this moment, bread and brandy, which they were in want
of, would have found them in as high spirits as usual. Two artillerymen
of Marshal Davoust’s corps having been absent from their company during
this engagement, and arrived too late to be present at the battle, their
comrades assembled in the evening at the bivouac, tried them, and not
liking their reasons, inflicted upon them, on that frozen and
blood-stained ground, the burlesque punishment which the soldiers call
the _savate_.
There was no great abundance of any thing but ammunition. The service of
the artillery, performed with extraordinary activity, had already
replaced the ammunition consumed. With not less zeal was the service of
the medical and surgical department performed. A great number of wounded
had been picked up; to the others relief was administered on the spot,
till they could be removed in their turn. Napoleon, overwhelmed with
fatigue, was still afoot, and superintending the attentions that were
paid to his soldiers.
In the rear of the army, so firm a countenance was not every where
presented. Many stragglers, excluded from the effective in the morning,
in consequence of the marches, had heard the din of that tremendous
battle, had caught some hourras of the Cossacks, and fallen back,
circulating bad news along the roads. The brave collected to range
themselves beside their comrades, the others dispersed in the various
routes which the army had traversed.
Daybreak next morning threw a light upon that frightful field of battle,
and Napoleon himself was moved to such a degree as to betray his
feelings in the bulletin which he published. On that icy plain,
thousands of dead and dying, cruelly mangled, thousands of prostrate
horses, an infinite quantity of dismounted cannon, broken carriages,
scattered projectiles, burning hamlets, _all this standing out from a
ground of snow_, exhibited a thrilling and terrible spectacle. “This
spectacle,” exclaimed Napoleon, “is fit to excite in princes a love of
peace and a horror of war!”
This singularity struck all eyes. From a propensity for returning to the
things of past times, and also from economy, an attempt had been made to
introduce the white uniform again into the army. The experiment had been
made with some regiments, but the sight of blood on the white dress
decided the question. Napoleon, filled with disgust and horror, declared
that he would have none but blue uniforms, whatever might be the cost.
The Russians had left upon the field, about seven thousand dead, and
five thousand wounded, and they took with them fifteen thousand more
wounded. They had consequently twenty-seven thousand men placed _hors de
combat_. Besides this loss, four thousand prisoners were made by the
French, who also captured twenty-four pieces of cannon and sixteen
colors. The loss of the French was about three thousand killed and four
thousand wounded. Several eagles had been carried away by Bennigsen. It
was a terrible, but indecisive battle. The victor was too much grieved
to listen to the pæans of triumph, although his valor and skill had been
nobly displayed in defeating a superior enemy.
[Illustration]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration]