After the taking of Ratisbon, Napoleon advanced upon Vienna, which
offered but a feeble resistance, and was easily occupied. But the
Austrian army, in abandoning the capital of the empire, had not given up
the struggle.
Sheltered by the Danube, the bridges over which they had destroyed at
Vienna, and the surrounding places, they awaited a favorable opportunity
of taking the offensive. The bridge of Lintz was the first object of
their attacks; but Vandamme opposed to them a vigorous resistance, and
Bernadotte, arriving, completely routed them. On his side, Napoleon was
also impatient to force the passage of the river, in order to finish
this glorious campaign. The reconstruction of the bridge, was,
therefore, his first care. Massena had thrown several over the arms of
the Danube, which bathe the island of Lobau; Napoleon resolved to make
use of it for the passage of the whole army. In three days, the corps of
Lannes, Bessieres, and Massena had taken up a position on the island.
The communication with the right bank, was by a bridge of boats, five
hundred yards in length, and extending over three arms of the river.
Another bridge, which was not more than sixty-one yards in length,
connected the island with the left bank. It was here, that on the 21st
of May, thirty-five thousand men crossed without opposition, to give
battle between Aspern and Essling.
The reports brought to the French during the night were contradictory.
Many lights were seen on the heights of Bisamberg; but nearer to the
French and in their front, the horizon exhibited a pale streak of about
a league in length, the reflected light of numerous watch-fires, which a
rising ground between prevented from being themselves visible. From such
indications as could be collected, Lannes was of opinion that they were
in presence of the whole Austrian army. Napoleon was on horseback by
break of day on the 21st, to judge for himself; but clouds of light
troops prevented his getting near enough to reconnoitre accurately.
Presently the skirmishers were withdrawn, and the Austrians were seen
advancing with their whole force, double in number to the French, and
with two hundred and twenty pieces of artillery. Yet with this vast
disproportion of odds, they were strangely astonished at the stand which
they made on this occasion, as the French were mortified and reproached
with having suffered a repulse or made only a drawn battle of it instead
of a complete victory. The conflict commenced about four in the
afternoon with a furious attack on the village of Aspern, which was
taken and retaken several times, and at the close of the day remained
(except the church and church-yard) in the possession of Massena, though
on fire with the bombs and choked up with the slain. Essling was the
object of three general attacks, against all which the French stood
their ground. Lannes was at one time on the point of being overpowered,
had not Napoleon by a sudden charge of cavalry come to his relief. Night
separated the combatants.
The hundred thousand Austrians of the Archduke had not been able to gain
an inch of ground from the thirty-five thousand French of Massena,
Lannes and Bessieres. After the camp-fires were kindled among the dead
of Aspern and Essling, both armies received reinforcements. The
grenadiers of Oudinot, the division of St. Hilaire, two brigades of
light cavalry, and the train of artillery passed the bridges, and took
up a position on the line of battle. Napoleon confidently expected to
achieve a decisive victory on the following day.
At four o’clock in the morning, the signal for battle was again given by
the enemy against the village of Aspern; but Massena was there to defend
it. This illustrious warrior, whose intrepidity, coolness and military
talents, never appeared to better advantage than in difficult positions,
did not content himself with repulsing the Austrians each time they
attacked; he soon took upon himself the defensive, and completely
overthrew the columns which were opposed to him. At the same moment,
Lannes and the young guard fell impetuously on the centre of the
Austrian army, in order to cut off the communication with the two wings.
Every thing gave way before the heroic marshal, and the victory became
certain and decisive, when, about seven o’clock in the morning, it was
announced to the Emperor, that a sudden increase of the Danube, which
had carried away trees, vessels and even houses, had also borne away the
great bridge which joined the island of Lobau with the right bank, and
which formed the only method of communication between the troops engaged
on the left bank, and the rest of the French army. At this news,
Napoleon, who had scarcely fifty thousand men with him, to make head
against a hundred thousand, suspended the movement in advance, and
ordered his marshals merely to retain their position, in order,
afterwards to effect their retreat in good order to the island of Lobau.
This order was executed. Generals and soldiers valorously upheld the
honor of the French flag. The enemy informed of the destruction of the
bridges, which had kept back the park of reserve of the French army, and
which thus deprived the cannon and infantry of cartridges, became so
emboldened as to resume the offensive on all points. They attacked
Aspern and Essling, three times at the same moment, and were three times
repulsed. General Mouton distinguished himself at the head of the
fusileers of the guard. Marshal Lannes, whom the Emperor had charged to
maintain the field of battle, valiantly fulfilled his task; he
powerfully contributed to save this fine portion of the French army, the
existence of which a stroke of fate had nearly compromised. But this
striking service was the last which this illustrious soldier was to
render to his country and to the great captain who was rather his friend
than his master. A bullet struck him in the thigh towards the close of
the day. Amputation was immediately performed, and with such success as
caused hopes to be conceived which were not to be realized.
Lannes was borne on a litter before the Emperor, who wept at the sight
of the companion of all his victories mortally wounded.
“Was it requisite,” said he in a tone of anguish, “that my heart on this
day should have been struck so severe a blow, to force me to give way to
other cares than those of my army!”
Lannes was conveyed to the island of Lobau. He had fainted. But he
recovered his senses in the presence of Napoleon, the god of his
idolatry: he clung around his neck, and said—
“In an hour you will have lost him who dies with the glory and
conviction of having been your best friend!”
But Lannes lingered in agony for ten days. He did not want to die. He
had not drank deep enough of glory. He said the man who could not cure a
Marshal and a Duke of Montebello ought to be hanged!
“It is at the moment of quitting life,” said Napoleon, later, “that one
clings to it with all one’s strength. Lannes, the bravest of all men,
Lannes, deprived of both legs, wished not to die. Every moment, the
unfortunate man asked for the Emperor; he clung to me for the rest of
his life; he wished but for me, thought of me only. A species of
instinct! Assuredly he loved his wife and children better than me; and
yet he spoke not of them; it was because he expected nought from them;
it was he who protected them, whilst, on the contrary, I was his
protector. I was for him something vague, superior; I was his
providence; he prayed to me! It was impossible,” added Napoleon,
“impossible to be more brave than Lannes and Murat. Murat remained brave
only. The mind of Lannes would have increased with his courage; he would
have become a giant. If he had lived in these times, I do not think it
would have been possible to have seen him fail either in honor or duty.
He was of that class of men who change the face of affairs by their own
weight and influence.”
The illustrious marshal expired at Viluna on the 31st of May. He was
lamented as the Roland of the army, and one of the greatest generals
France had produced. General St. Hilaire, also, an excellent officer,
was mortally wounded in this bloody struggle. He was highly esteemed by
the Emperor, and if he had lived would doubtless have risen to the rank
of marshal.
Napoleon was now cooped up in the island of Lobau. He had fought two
indecisive battles. But that they were indecisive, when he contended
with an army double his own in number, was a triumph, of which any other
commander would not have ceased to boast. However, the Emperor prepared
himself to strike a blow as decisive as was Friedland after Eylau.
In the meantime, Napoleon ordered the funeral obsequies of the
illustrious Lannes to be celebrated in a style which astonished all
Europe, and showed how a man should be honored who had risen from the
ranks by force of talent, to be a marshal and a Duke of Montebello. It
was a funeral procession of an army of thirty thousand men, detailed for
this service, who escorted the remains of the illustrious warrior from
Germany to France. They remind us of Alexander honoring the remains of
his friend Hœphestion. Paris had never witnessed a grander procession
than that which conveyed the remains of Lannes from the Invalides to the
Pantheon. It was not a cortege; it was a whole army marching in mourning
for a hero, with arms lowered and flags bound with crape, and bearing a
magnificent cenotaph. The funeral march was composed by the greatest
composer of Germany, the peerless Beethoven, and it was performed by a
band, the like of which had never been heard in Paris. Occasionally, the
mournful strains were interrupted by the solemn roll of three hundred
drums, and the firing of many guns reminded those who listened, of those
tremendous storms of battle, in which the lion-hearted Lannes had so
often bled for France. The whole funeral ceremony was eminently worthy
of the Emperor and his illustrious friend.
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