The first combat of importance during the Russian campaign was fought at
Ostrowna. On the 18th of July, Napoleon reached Klubokoe. There he was
informed that the Russian general, Barclay de Tolly, had abandoned the
camp at Drissa, and was marching towards Witepsk. He immediately ordered
all his corps upon Beszenkowici; and so admirable and precise were his
combinations, that the whole of his immense mass of armies reached the
place in one day. Segur has graphically described the apparent chaos of
confusion which seemed to result from that very regularity itself. The
columns of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, presenting themselves on
every side; the rush, the crossing, the jostling; the contention for
quarters, and for forage and provisions; the aides-de-camp bearing
important orders vainly struggling to open a passage. At length, before
mid night, order had taken the place of this apparent anarchy. The vast
collection of troops had flowed off towards Ostrowno, or been quartered
in the town, and profound silence succeeded the tumult. The Russian army
had got the start of Napoleon, and now occupied Witepsk.
The first combat of Ostrowno took place on the 25th of July. The Russian
infantry, protected by a wood, fiercely contested the ground, but were
beaten back at every point by the repeated charges of Murat, seconded by
the eighth regiment of infantry, and the divisions of Bruyeres and St.
Germains; and at length the division of Delzons coming up completed the
victory of the French. On the 26th, the Russians who had been
reinforced, and had occupied a very strong position, seemed disposed to
renew the struggle. Barclay had thrown forward this portion of his force
to retard the French advance, while he daily looked for the junction of
Bagration. The French van had also been reinforced; Prince Eugene with
the Italian division having joined in the night. The numbers and strong
position of the Russians gave them an immense superiority in the
beginning of the day. They attacked with fury, issuing in large masses
out of their woods with deafening war cries. The French regiments
opposed to this onset were mowed down, beaten back, and in danger of an
irretrievable rout. At this critical moment, Murat placed himself at the
head of a regiment of Polish lancers, and with word and gesture incited
them to an unanimous and energetic rush. Roused by his address, and
inspired with rage at the sight of their oppressors, they obeyed with
impetuosity. His object had been to launch them against the enemy, not
to mingle personally in the torrent of the fight, which must disqualify
him for the command; but their lances were in their rests, and closely
filed behind him; they occupied the whole width of the ground; they
hurried him forwards at the full speed of their horses, and he was
absolutely compelled to charge at their head, which he did, as the
eye-witnesses affirm, “with an admirable grace,” his plumed hat and
splendid uniform giving him on this occasion, and numberless others in
which he displayed a most joyous and reckless courage, the air of some
knight of romance. This impetuous onset was seconded by the other French
leaders. Eugene, General Girardin, and General Pire attacked at the head
of their columns, and finally the wood was gained. The Russians
retreated, and disappeared from view in a forest two leagues in depth,
into the recesses of which even the impetuosity of Murat hesitated to
follow. The forest was the last obstacle which hid Witepsk from their
view. At this moment of uncertainty, Napoleon appeared with the main
body of the army, and all difficulties and uncertainties soon vanished.
After hearing the report of the two princes, he went without delay to
the highest point of ground he could reach. There he observed long and
carefully the nature of the position, and calculated the movements of
his enemies; he then ordered an immediate advance. The whole army
rapidly traversed the forest, and began to debouch upon the plain of
Witepsk before night-fall. The approaching darkness, the multitude of
Russian watch-fires which covered the open ground, and the time
requisite to complete the extrication of his several divisions from the
defiles of the forest, obliged Napoleon to halt at this point. He
believed himself to be in presence of the main Russian army, and on the
eve of the great battle he so ardently desired. He left his tent, and
repaired to his advanced posts before daybreak on the 27th, and the
first rays of the sun shewed him the whole of Barclay’s forces encamped
on an elevated position, commanding all the avenues of Witepsk. The deep
channel of the river Lucszissa marked the foot of this position, and ten
thousand cavalry and a body of infantry were stationed in advance of the
river to dispute its approaches; the main body of the Russian infantry
was in the centre on the high road; its left, on woody eminences; its
right, supported by cavalry, resting on the Dwina.
Napoleon took his station on an insulated hill in view of both armies.
Here, surrounded by a circle of chasseurs of his guard, he directed the
movements of his troops as they successively advanced to form in line of
battle. Two hundred Parisian voltigeurs of the ninth regiment of the
line, were the first who debouched, and were ranged on the left in front
of the Russian cavalry, and resting, like it, on the Dwina; they were
followed by the sixteenth chasseurs and some artillery. The Russians
looked on with coolness, offering no opposition. This favorable state of
inaction was suddenly interrupted by Murat. Intoxicated at the brilliant
and imposing assemblage of so many thousands of spectators, he
precipitated the French chasseurs upon the whole Russian cavalry. They
were met by an overwhelming opposition; broken, put to flight, and the
foremost cut to pieces. The King of Naples, stung to the quick at this
result, threw himself into the thickest of the rout and confusion, sword
in hand. His life had nearly been forfeited to his headstrong valor. A
furious and well-directed blow was just descending on his head, aimed
from behind by a Russian trooper, and it was only averted by a sudden
slash from the sabre of the orderly who attended Murat, which cut off
the trooper’s arm. The consequences of these rash proceedings did not
stop here. The successful resistance of the Russian cavalry impelled
them to advance nearly as far as the hill on which Napoleon was posted,
and his guard with great difficulty drove them back by repeated
discharges of their carbines. The two hundred Parisian voltigeurs, left
in an isolated position by the disorder into which the chasseurs had
been thrown, were next placed in imminent peril. The Russian cavalry in
returning to the main body, attacked and surrounded the voltigeurs. Both
armies, spectators of this sudden and unequal conflict, regarded that
small band of men as utterly lost. To the amazement of both French and
Russians, however, this handful of apparent victims was presently seen
to emerge unhurt from the dense cloud of assailants, who continued their
original movement upon their own position. The voltigeurs had rapidly
thrown themselves into square on a woody and broken space of ground,
close to the river. Here the Russian cavalry could not act, while the
steady fire of the voltigeurs made such havoc that their assailants were
glad to leave them as they found them. Napoleon sent the cross of the
Legion of Honor to every one of them on the spot.
The remainder of the day was spent by Napoleon in stationing his army;
in waiting for the successive arrivals of different corps,—to be brief,
in preparing for a decisive battle on the morrow. The more ardent of his
generals wished that he had not waited till “the morrow,” and when he
took leave of Murat with the words, “To-morrow you will see the sun of
Austerlitz,” the King of Naples incredulously shook his head, saying,
that “Barclay only assumed that posture of defiance, the better to
ensure his retreat;” and then, with a temerity, verging on the
ludicrous, gave vent to his impatient irritation by ordering his tent to
be pitched on the banks of the Lucszissa, nearly in the midst of the
enemy, that he might be the first to catch the sounds of their retreat.
Murat was right. The Russians retreated while the Emperor was preparing
to make Witepsk the scene of a decisive battle. At daybreak, Murat came
to inform the Emperor that he was going in pursuit of the Russians who
were no longer in sight. Napoleon would not at first credit the report,
but their empty camp soon convinced him of the truth. There was not even
a trace to indicate the route Barclay had taken. The army then entered
Witepsk, and found it deserted. They then followed in pursuit for six
leagues, through a deep and burning sand, and during the march the
soldiers suffered dreadfully from thirst. At last, night put an end to
their progress at Agliaponorchtchina. While the troops were busy in
procuring some muddy water to drink, Napoleon held a council, the result
of which was, that it was useless to pursue the Russian army any further
at present, and that it was advisable to halt where they were, on the
borders of Old Russia. As soon as the Emperor had formed this
resolution, he returned to Witepsk with his guards. On entering his
head-quarters in that city on the 28th, he took off his sword, and laid
it down on the maps which covered his table. “Here!” said he, “I halt. I
want to reconnoitre, to rally, to rest my army, and to organize Poland.
The campaign of 1812 is over; that of 1813 will do the rest.” Ah! well
for him would it have been, had he been content with the laurels that
were heaped upon his head, and fallen back then to devote himself to the
restoration of Poland. But his faith in his star had not yet been
weakened, and on, on—he would press, till checked by obstacles which no
human power could overcome.
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