[31] London, 1720.
_MARBOT'S MARCH_
I HAVE now [says General Marbot, speaking of his Spanish campaign]
reached one of the most terrible experiences of my military career.
Marshal Lannes had just won a great victory, and the next day, after
having received the reports of the generals, he wrote his despatch for
one of our officers to take to the Emperor. Napoleon's practice was to
give a step to the officer who brought him the news of an important
success, and the marshals on their side entrusted such tasks to officers
for whose speedy promotion they were anxious. It was a form of
recommendation which Napoleon never failed to recognise. Marshal Lannes
did me the honour of appointing me to carry the news of the victory of
Tudela, and I could indulge the hope of being major before long. But,
alas! I had yet much blood to lose before I reached that rank.
The high road from Bayonne to Madrid by Vittoria, Miranda del Ebro,
Burgos, and Aranda forks off at Miranda from that leading to Saragossa
by Logrono. A road from Tudela to Aranda across the mountains about
Soria forms the third side of a great triangle. While Lannes was
reaching Tudela the Emperor had advanced from Burgos to Aranda. It was,
therefore, much shorter for me to go from Tudela to Aranda than by way
of Miranda del Ebro. The latter road, however, had the advantage of
being covered by the French armies; while the other, no doubt, would be
full of Spanish fugitives who had taken refuge after Tudela in the
mountains. The Emperor, however, had informed Lannes that he was sending
Ney's corps direct from Aranda to Tudela; so thinking Ney to be at no
great distance, and that an advanced force which he had pushed on the
day after the battle to get touch of him at Taragona would secure me
from attack as far as Aranda, Lannes ordered me to take the shortest
road. I may frankly admit that if I had had my choice I should have
preferred to make the round by Miranda and Burgos; but the marshal's
orders were positive, and how could I express any fear for my own
person in the presence of a man who knew no more fear for others than he
did for himself?
The duties of marshal's aide-de-camp in Spain were terrible. During the
revolutionary wars the generals had couriers paid by the state to carry
their despatches; but the Emperor, finding that these men were not
capable of giving any intelligible account of what they had seen, did
away with them, and ordered that in future despatches should be carried
by aides-de-camp. This was all very well as long as we were at war among
the good Germans, to whom it never occurred to attack a French
messenger; but the Spaniards waged fierce war against them. This was of
great advantage to the insurgents, for the contents of our despatches
informed them of the movements of our armies. I do not think I am
exaggerating when I say that more than two hundred staff officers were
killed or captured during the Peninsular War. One may regret the death
of an ordinary courier, but it is less serious than the loss of a
promising officer, who, moreover, is exposed to the risks of the
battlefield in addition to those of a posting journey. A great number of
vigorous men well skilled in their business begged to be allowed to do
this duty, but the Emperor never consented.
Just as I was starting from Tudela, Major Saint-Mars hazarded a remark
intended to dissuade Lannes from sending me over the mountains. The
marshal, however, answered, 'Oh, he will meet Ney's advance guard
to-night, and find troops echelonned all the way to the Emperor's
head-quarters.' This was too decided for any opposition, so I left
Tudela November 4, at nightfall, with a detachment of cavalry, and got
without any trouble as far as Taragona, at the foot of the mountains. In
this little town I found Lannes' advance guard. The officer in command,
hearing nothing of Ney, had pushed an infantry post six leagues forward
towards Agreda. But as this body was detached from its supports, it had
been ordered to fall back on Taragona if the night passed without Ney's
scouts appearing.
[Illustration: 'Then, drawing their swords, they clashed at the rest']
After Taragona there is no more high road. The way lies entirely over
mountain paths covered with stones and splinters of rock. The officer
commanding our advanced guard had, therefore, only infantry and a score
of hussars of the 2nd (Chamborant) Regiment. He gave me a troop horse
and two orderlies, and I went on my way in brilliant moonlight. When we
had gone two or three leagues we heard several musket-shots, and
bullets whistled close past us. We could not see the marksmen, who were
hidden among the rocks. A little farther on we found the corpses of two
French infantry soldiers, recently killed. They were entirely stripped,
but their shakoes were near them, by the numbers on which I could see
that they belonged to one of the regiments in Ney's corps. Some little
distance farther we saw a horrible sight. A young officer of the 10th
Mounted Chasseurs, still wearing his uniform, was nailed by his hands
and feet, head downwards, to a barn door. A small fire had been lighted
beneath him. Happily, his tortures had been ended by death; but as the
blood was still flowing from his wounds, it was clear that the murderers
were not far off. I drew my sword; my two hussars handled their
carbines. It was just as well that we were on our guard, for a few
moments later seven or eight Spaniards, two of them mounted, fired upon
us from behind a bush. We were none of us wounded, and my two hussars
replied to the fire, and killed each his man. Then, drawing their
swords, they dashed at the rest. I should have been very glad to follow
them, but my horse had lost a shoe among the stones and was limping, so
that I could not get him into a gallop. I was the more vexed because I
feared that the hussars might let themselves be carried away in the
pursuit and get killed in some ambush. I called them for five minutes;
then I heard the voice of one of them saying, in a strong Alsatian
accent, 'Ah! you thieves! you don't know the Chamborant Hussars yet. You
shall see that they mean business.' My troopers had knocked over two
more Spaniards, a Capuchin mounted on the horse of the poor lieutenant,
whose haversack he had put over his own neck, and a peasant on a mule,
with the clothes of the slaughtered soldiers on his back. It was quite
clear that we had got the murderers. The Emperor had given strict orders
that every Spanish civilian taken in arms should be shot on the spot;
and, moreover, what could we do with these two brigands, who were
already seriously wounded, and who had just killed three Frenchmen so
barbarously? I moved on, therefore, so as not to witness the execution,
and the hussars shot the monk and the peasant, repeating, 'Ah, you don't
know the Chamborant!' I could not understand how an officer and two
privates of Ney's corps could be so near Taragona when their regiments
had not come that way; but most probably they had been captured
elsewhere, and were being taken to Saragossa, when their escort learned
the defeat of their countrymen at Tudela, and massacred their prisoners
in revenge for it.
After this not very encouraging start I continued my journey. We had
gone for some hours, when we saw a bivouac fire of the detachment
belonging to the advance guard which I had left at Taragona. The
sub-lieutenant in command, having no tidings of Ney, was prepared to
return to Taragona at daybreak, in pursuance of his orders. He knew that
we were barely two leagues from Agreda, but did not know of which side
that town was in possession. This was perplexing for me. The infantry
detachment would return in a few hours, and if I went back with it, when
it might be that in another league I should fall in with Ney's column, I
should be giving a poor display of courage, and laying myself open to
reproach from Lannes. On the other hand, if Ney was still a day or two's
march away, it was almost certain that I should be murdered by the
peasants of the mountains or by fugitive soldiers. What was more, I had
to travel alone, for my two brave hussars had orders to return to
Taragona when we had found the infantry detachment. No matter; I
determined to push on; but then came the difficulty of finding a mount.
There was no farm or village in this deserted place where I could
procure a horse. That which I was riding was dead lame; and even if the
hussars had been able, without incurring severe punishment, to lend me
one of theirs, theirs were much fatigued. The horse that had belonged to
the officer of chasseurs had received a bullet in the thigh during the
fighting. There was only the peasant's mule left. This was a handsome
beast, and, according to the laws of war, belonged to the two hussars,
who, no doubt, reckoned on selling her when they got back to the army.
Still the good fellows made no demur about lending her to me, and put my
saddle on her back. But the infernal beast, more accustomed to the pack
than to the saddle, was so restive that directly I tried to get her away
from the group of horses and make her go alone she fell to kicking,
until I had to choose between being sent over a precipice and
dismounting.
So I decided to set out on foot. After I had taken farewell of the
infantry officer, this excellent young man, M. Tassin by name--he had
been a friend of my poor brother Felix at the military school--came
running after me, and said that he could not bear to let me thus expose
myself all alone, and that though he had no orders, and his men were raw
recruits, with little experience in war, he must send one with me, so
that I might at least have a musket and some cartridges in case of an
attack. We agreed that I should send the man back with Ney's corps; and
I went off, with the soldier accompanying me. He was a slow-speaking
Norman, with plenty of slyness under an appearance of good nature. The
Normans are for the most part brave, as I learnt when I commanded the
23rd Chasseurs, where I had five or six hundred of them. Still, in order
to know how far I could rely on my follower, I chatted with him as we
went along, and asked if he would stand his ground if we were attacked.
He said neither yes nor no, but answered, 'Well, sir, we shall see.'
Whence I inferred that when the moment of danger arrived my new
companion was not unlikely to go and see how things were getting on in
the rear.
The moon had just set, and as yet daylight had not appeared. It was
pitch-dark, and at every step we stumbled over the great stones with
which these mountain paths are covered. It was an unpleasant situation,
but I hoped soon to come upon Ney's troops, and the fact of having seen
the bodies of soldiers belonging to his corps increased the hope. So I
went steadily on, listening for diversion to the Norman's stories of
his country. Dawn appeared at last, and I saw the first houses of a
large village. It was Agreda. I was alarmed at finding no outposts, for
it showed that not only did no troops of the marshal's occupy the place,
but that his army corps must be at least half a day further on. The map
showed no village within five or six leagues of Agreda, and it was
impossible that the regiments could be quartered in the mountains, far
from any inhabited place. So I kept on my guard, and before going any
farther reconnoitred the position.
Agreda stands in a rather broad valley. It is built at the foot of a
lofty hill, deeply escarped on both sides. The southern slope, which
reaches the village, is planted with large vineyards. The ridge is rough
and rocky, and the northern slope covered with thick coppice, a torrent
flowing at the foot. Beyond are seen lofty mountains, uncultivated and
uninhabited. The principal street of Agreda runs through the whole
length of the place, with narrow lanes leading to the vineyards opening
into it. As I entered the village I had these lanes and the vineyards on
my right. This is important to the understanding of my story.
Everybody was asleep in Agreda; the moment was favourable for going
through it. Besides, I had some hope--feeble, it is true--that when I
reached the farther end I might perhaps see the fires of Marshal Ney's
advance guard. So I went forward, sword in hand, bidding my soldier cock
his musket. The main street was covered with a thick bed of damp leaves,
which the people placed there to make manure; so that our footsteps made
no sound, of which I was glad. I walked in the middle of the street,
with the soldier on my right; but, finding himself no doubt in a too
conspicuous position, he gradually sheered off to the houses, keeping
close to the walls so that he might be less visible in case of an
attack, or better placed for reaching one of the lanes which open into
the country. This showed me how little I could rely on the man; but I
made no remark to him. The day was beginning to break. We passed the
whole of the main street without meeting any one. Just as I was
congratulating myself on reaching the last houses of the village, I
found myself at twenty-five paces' distance, face to face with four
Royal Spanish Carabineers on horseback with drawn swords. Under any
other circumstances I might have taken them for French gendarmes, their
uniforms being exactly similar, but the gendarmes never march with the
extreme advanced guard. These men, therefore, could not belong to Ney's
corps, and I at once perceived they were the enemy. In a moment I faced
about, but just as I had turned round to the direction from which I had
come I saw a blade flash six inches from my face. I threw my head
sharply back, but nevertheless got a severe sabre-cut on the forehead,
of which I carry the scar over my left eyebrow to this day. The man who
had wounded me was the corporal of the carabineers, who, having left his
four troopers outside the village, had according to military practice
gone forward to reconnoitre. That I had not met him was probably due to
the fact that he had been in some side lane, while I had passed through
the main street. He was now coming back through the street to rejoin his
troopers, when, seeing me, he had come up noiselessly over a layer of
leaves and was just going to cleave my head from behind, when, by
turning round, I presented to him my face and received his blow on my
forehead. At the same moment the four carabineers, who seeing that their
corporal was all ready for me had not stirred, trotted up to join him,
and all five dashed upon me. I ran mechanically towards the houses on
the right in order to get my back against a wall; but by good luck I
found, two paces off, one of the steep and narrow lanes, which went up
to the vineyards. The soldier had already reached it. I flew up there
too with the five carabineers after me; but at any rate they could not
attack me all at once, for there was only room for one horse to pass.
The brigadier went in front; the other four filed after him. My
position, although not as unfavourable as it would have been in the
street, where I should have been surrounded, still remained alarming;
the blood flowing freely from my wound had in a moment covered my left
eye, with which I could not see at all, and I felt that it was coming
towards my right eye, so that I was compelled by fear of getting blinded
to keep my head bent over the left shoulder so as to bring the blood to
that side. I could not staunch it, being obliged to defend myself
against the corporal, who was cutting at me heavily. I parried as well
as I could, going up backwards all the time. After getting rid of my
scabbard and my busby, the weight of which hampered me, not daring to
turn my head for fear of losing sight of my adversary, whose sword was
crossed with mine, I told the light infantry man, whom I believed to be
behind me, to place his musket on my shoulder, and fire at the Spanish
corporal. Seeing no barrel, however, I leapt a pace back and turned my
head quickly. Lo and behold, there was my scoundrel of a Norman soldier
flying up the hill as fast as his legs would carry him. The corporal
thereupon attacked with redoubled vigour, and, seeing that he could not
reach me, made his horse rear so that his feet struck me more than once
on the breast. Luckily, as the ground went on rising the horse had no
good hold with his hind legs, and every time that he came down again I
landed a sword cut on his nose with such effect that the animal
presently refused to rear at me any more. Then the brigadier, losing his
temper, called out to the trooper behind him, 'Take your carbine: I will
stoop down, and you can aim at the Frenchman over my shoulders.' I saw
that this order was my death-signal; but as in order to execute it the
trooper had to sheathe his sword and unhook his carbine, while all this
time the corporal never ceased thrusting at me, leaning right over his
horse's neck, I determined on a desperate action, which would be either
my salvation or my ruin. Keeping my eye fixed on the Spaniard, and
seeing in his that he was on the point of again stooping over his horse
to reach me, I did not move until the very instant when he was lowering
the upper part of his body towards me; then I took a pace to the right,
and leaning quickly over to that side, I avoided my adversary's blow,
and plunged half my sword-blade into his left flank. With a fearful yell
the corporal fell back on the croup of his horse; he would probably have
fallen to the ground if the trooper behind him had not caught him in his
arms. My rapid movement in stooping had caused the despatch which I was
carrying to fall out of the pocket of my pelisse. I picked it up
quickly, and at once hastened to the end of the lane where the vines
began. There I turned round and saw the carabineers busy round their
wounded corporal, and apparently much embarrassed with him and with
their horses in the steep and narrow passage.
[Illustration: Marbot's fight with the Carabineers in the alley]
This fight took less time than I have taken to relate it. Finding myself
rid, at least for the moment, of my enemies, I went through the vines
and reached the edge of the hill. Then I considered that it would be
impossible for me to accomplish my errand and reach the Emperor at
Aranda. I resolved, therefore, to return to Marshal Lannes, regaining
first the place where I had left M. Tassin and his picket of infantry. I
did not hope to find them still there; but at any rate the army which I
had left the day before was in that direction. I looked for my soldier
in vain, but I saw something that was of more use to me--a spring of
clear water. I halted there a moment, and, tearing off a corner of my
shirt, I made a compress which I fastened over my wound with my
handkerchief. The blood spurting from my forehead had stained the
despatches which I held in my hand, but I was too much occupied with my
awkward position to mind that.
The agitations of the past night, my long walk over the stony paths in
boots and spurs, the fight in which I had just been engaged, the pain in
my head, and the loss of blood had exhausted my strength. I had taken no
food since leaving Tudela, and here I had nothing but water to refresh
myself with. I drank long draughts of it, and should have rested longer
by the spring had I not perceived three of the Spanish carabineers
riding out of Agreda and coming towards me through the vines. If they
had been sharp enough to dismount and take off their long boots, they
would probably have succeeded in reaching me; but their horses, unable
to pass between the vine stocks, ascended the steep and rocky paths with
difficulty. Indeed, when they reached the upper end of the vineyards
they found themselves brought up by the great rocks, on the top of which
I had taken refuge, and unable to climb any farther. Then the troopers,
passing along the bottom of the rocks, marched parallel with me a long
musket-shot off. They called to me to surrender, saying that as soldiers
they would treat me as a prisoner of war, while if the peasants caught
me I should infallibly be murdered. This reasoning was sound, and I
admit that if I had not been charged with despatches for the Emperor, I
was so exhausted that I should perhaps have surrendered.
However, wishing to preserve to the best of my ability the precious
charge which had been entrusted to me, I marched on without answering.
Then the three troopers, taking their carbines, opened fire upon me.
Their bullets struck the rocks at my feet but none touched me, the
distance being too great for a correct aim. I was alarmed, not at the
fire, but at the notion that the reports would probably attract the
peasants who would be going to their work in the morning, and I quite
expected to be attacked by these fierce mountaineers. My presentiment
seemed to be verified, for I perceived some fifteen men half a league
away in the valley advancing towards me at a run. They held in their
hands something that flashed in the sun. I made no doubt that they were
peasants armed with their spades, and that it was the iron of these that
shone thus. I gave myself up for lost, and in my despair I was on the
point of letting myself slide down over the rocks on the north side of
the hill to the torrent, crossing it as best I could, and hiding myself
in some chasm of the great mountains which arose on the farther side of
the gorge. Then, if I was not discovered, and if I still had the
strength, I should set out when night came in the direction of Taragona.
This plan, though offering many chances of failure, was my last hope.
Just as I was about to put it into execution, I perceived that the three
carabineers had given up firing on me, and gone forward to reconnoitre
the group which I had taken for peasants. At their approach the iron
instruments which I had taken for spades or mattocks were lowered, and I
had the inexpressible joy of seeing a volley fired at the Spanish
carabineers. Instantly turning, they took flight towards Agreda, as it
seemed, with two of their number wounded. 'The newcomers, then, are
French!' I exclaimed. 'Here goes to meet them!' and, regaining a little
strength from the joy of being delivered, I descended, leaning on my
sword. The French had caught sight of me; they climbed the hill, and I
found myself in the arms of the brave Lieutenant Tassin.
This providential rescue had come about as follows. The soldier who had
deserted me while I was engaged with the carabineers in the streets of
Agreda had quickly reached the vines; thence, leaping across the vine
stocks, ditches, rocks, and hedges, he had very quickly run the distance
which lay between him and the place where we had left M. Tassin's
picket. The detachment was on the point of starting for Taragona, and
was eating its soup, when my Norman came up all out of breath. Not
wishing, however, to lose a mouthful, he seated himself by a cooking-pot
and began to make a very tranquil breakfast, without saying a word about
what had happened at Agreda. By great good luck he was noticed by M.
Tassin, who, surprised at seeing him returned, asked him where he had
quitted the officer whom he had been told off to escort. 'Good Lord,
sir,' replied the Norman, 'I left him in that big village with his head
half split open, and fighting with Spanish troopers, and they were
cutting away at him with their swords like anything.' At these words
Lieutenant Tassin ordered his detachment to arms, picked the fifteen
most active, and went off at the double towards Agreda. The little troop
had gone some way when they heard shots, and inferred from them that I
was still alive but in urgent need of succour. Stimulated by the hope of
saving me, the brave fellows doubled their pace, and finally perceived
me on the ridge of the hill, serving as a mark for three Spanish
troopers.
M. Tassin and his men were tired, and I was at the end of my strength.
We halted, therefore, for a little, and meanwhile you may imagine that I
expressed my warmest gratitude to the lieutenant and his men, who were
almost as glad as I was. We returned to the bivouac where M. Tassin had
left the rest of his people. The _cantiniere_ of the company was there
with her mule carrying two skins of wine, bread, and ham. I bought the
lot and gave them to the soldiers, and we breakfasted, as I was very
glad to do, the two hussars whom I had left there the night before
sharing in the meal. One of these mounted the monk's mule and lent me
his horse, and so we set out for Taragona. I was in horrible pain,
because the blood had hardened over my wound. At Taragona I rejoined
Lannes' advance guard: the general in command had my wound dressed, and
gave me a horse and an escort of two hussars. I reached Tudela at
midnight, and was at once received by the marshal, who, though ill
himself, seemed much touched by my misfortune. It was necessary,
however, that the despatch about the battle of Tudela should be promptly
forwarded to the Emperor, who must be impatiently awaiting news from the
army on the Ebro. Enlightened by what had befallen me in the mountains,
the marshal consented that the officer bearing it should go by Miranda
and Burgos, where the presence of French troops on the roads made the
way perfectly safe. I should have liked very much to be the bearer, but
I was in such pain and so tired that it would have been physically
impossible for me to ride hard. The marshal therefore entrusted the duty
to his brother-in-law, Major Gueheneuc. I handed him the despatches
stained with my blood. Major Saint-Mars, the secretary, wished to
re-copy them and change the envelope. 'No, no,' cried the marshal, 'the
Emperor ought to see how valiantly Captain Marbot has defended them.' So
he sent off the packet just as it was, adding a note to explain the
reason of the delay, eulogising me, and asking for a reward to
Lieutenant Tassin and his men, who had hastened so zealously to my
succour, without reckoning the danger to which they might have been
exposed if the enemy had been in force.
The Emperor did, as a matter of fact, a little while after, grant the
Cross both to M. Tassin and to his sergeant, and a gratuity of 100
francs to each of the men who had accompanied them. As for the Norman
soldier, he was tried by court martial for deserting his post in the
presence of the enemy, and condemned to drag a shot for two years, and
to finish his time of service in a pioneer company.
_EYLAU. THE MARE LISETTE_
GENERAL MARBOT, one of Napoleon's most distinguished soldiers, thus
describes his adventures at the battle of Eylau. 'To enable you to
understand my story, I must go back to the autumn of 1805, when the
officers of the Grand Army, among their preparations for the battle of
Austerlitz, were completing their outfits. I had two good horses, the
third, for whom I was looking, my charger, was to be better still. It
was a difficult thing to find, for though horses were far less dear than
now, their price was pretty high, and I had not much money; but chance
served me admirably. I met a learned German, Herr von Aister, whom I had
known when he was a professor at Soreze. He had become tutor to the
children of a rich Swiss banker, M. Scherer, established at Paris in
partnership with M. Finguerlin. He informed me that M. Finguerlin, a
wealthy man, living in fine style, had a large stud, in the first rank
of which figured a lovely mare, called Lisette, easy in her paces, as
light as a deer, and so well broken that a child could lead her. But
this mare, when she was ridden, had a terrible fault, and fortunately a
rare one: she bit like a bulldog, and furiously attacked people whom she
disliked, which decided M. Finguerlin to sell her. She was bought for
Mme. de Lauriston whose husband, one of the Emperor's aides-de-camp, had
written to her to get his campaigning outfit ready. When selling the
mare M. Finguerlin had forgotten to mention her fault, and that very
evening a groom was found disembowelled at her feet. Mme. de Lauriston,
reasonably alarmed, brought an action to cancel the bargain; not only
did she get her verdict, but, in order to prevent further disasters, the
police ordered that a written statement should be placed in Lisette's
stall to inform purchasers of her ferocity, and that any bargain with
regard to her should be void unless the purchaser declared in writing
that his attention had been called to the notice. You may suppose that
with such a character as this the mare was not easy to dispose of, and
thus Herr von Aister informed me that her owner had decided to let her
go for what anyone would give. I offered 1,000 francs, and M. Finguerlin
delivered Lisette to me, though she had cost him 5,000. This animal gave
me a good deal of trouble for some months. It took four or five men to
saddle her, and you could only bridle her by covering her eyes and
fastening all four legs; but once you were on her back, you found her a
really incomparable mount.
'However, since while in my possession she had already bitten several
people, and had not spared me, I was thinking of parting with her. But I
had meanwhile engaged in my service Francis Woirland, a man who was
afraid of nothing, and he, before going near Lisette, whose bad
character had been mentioned to him, armed himself with a good hot roast
leg of mutton. When the animal flew at him to bite him, he held out the
mutton; she seized it in her teeth, and burning her gums, palate, and
tongue, gave a scream, let the mutton drop, and from that moment was
perfectly submissive to Woirland, and did not venture to attack him
again. I employed the same method with a like result. Lisette became as
docile as a dog, and allowed me and my servant to approach her freely.
She even became a little more tractable towards the stablemen of the
staff, whom she saw every day, but woe to the strangers who passed near
her! I could quote twenty instances of her ferocity, but I will confine
myself to one. While Marshal Augereau was staying at the chateau of
Bellevue, near Berlin, the servants of the staff, having observed that
when they went to dinner someone stole the sacks of corn that were left
in the stable, got Woirland to unfasten Lisette and leave her near the
door. The thief arrived, slipped into the stable, and was in the act of
carrying off a sack, when the mare seized him by the nape of the neck,
dragged him into the middle of the yard, and trampled on him till she
broke two of his ribs. At the shrieks of the thief people ran up, but
Lisette would not let him go till my servant and I compelled her, for in
her fury she would have flown at anyone else. She had become still more
vicious ever since the Saxon hussar officer, of whom I have told you,
had treacherously laid open her shoulder with a sabre-cut on the
battlefield of Jena.
'Such was the mare which I was riding at Eylau at the moment when the
fragments of Augereau's army corps, shattered by a hail of musketry and
cannon-balls, were trying to rally near the great cemetery. You will
remember how the 14th of the line had remained alone on a hillock,
which it could not quit except by the Emperor's order. The snow had
ceased for the moment; we could see how the intrepid regiment,
surrounded by the enemy, was waving its eagle in the air to show that it
still held its ground and asked for support. The Emperor, touched by the
grand devotion of these brave men, resolved to try to save them, and
ordered Augereau to send an officer to them with orders to leave the
hillock, form a small square, and make their way towards us, while a
brigade of cavalry should march in their direction and assist their
efforts. This was before Murat's great charge. It was almost impossible
to carry out the Emperor's wishes, because a swarm of Cossacks was
between us and the 14th, and it was clear that any officer who was sent
towards the unfortunate regiment would be killed or captured before he
could get to it. But the order was positive, and the marshal had to
comply.
[Illustration: Lisette catches the thief in the stable]
'It was customary in the Imperial army for the aides-de-camp to place
themselves in file a few paces from their general, and for the one who
was in front to go on duty first: then, when he had performed his
mission, to return and place himself last, in order that each might
carry orders in his turn, and dangers might be shared equally. A brave
captain of engineers named Froissard, who, though not an aide-de-camp,
was on the marshal's staff, happened to be nearest to him, and was
bidden to carry the order to the 14th. M. Froissard galloped off; we
lost sight of him in the midst of the Cossacks, and never saw him again
nor heard what had become of him. The marshal, seeing that the 14th did
not move, sent an officer named David; he had the same fate as
Froissard: we never heard of him again. Probably both were killed and
stripped, and could not be recognised among the many corpses which
covered the ground. For the third time the marshal called, "The officer
for duty." It was my turn.
'Seeing the son of his old friend, and I venture to say his favourite
aide-de-camp, come up, the kind marshal's face changed and his eyes
filled with tears, for he could not hide from himself that he was
sending me to almost certain death. But the Emperor must be obeyed. I
was a soldier; it was impossible to make one of my comrades go in my
place, nor would I have allowed it; it would have been disgracing me. So
I dashed off. But though ready to sacrifice my life I felt bound to take
all necessary precautions to save it. I had observed that the two
officers who went before me had gone with swords drawn, which led me to
think that they had purposed to defend themselves against any Cossacks
who might attack them on the way. Such defence, I thought, was
ill-considered, since it must have compelled them to halt in order to
fight a multitude of enemies, who would overwhelm them in the end. So I
went otherwise to work, and leaving my sword in the scabbard, I regarded
myself as a horseman who is trying to win a steeplechase, and goes as
quickly as possible and by the shortest line towards the appointed goal,
without troubling himself with what is to right or left of his path.
Now, as my goal was the hillock occupied by the 14th, I resolved to get
there without taking any notice of the Cossacks, whom in thought I
abolished. This plan answered perfectly. Lisette, lighter than a swallow
and flying rather than running, devoured the intervening space, leaping
the piles of dead men and horses, the ditches, the broken gun-carriages,
the half-extinguished bivouac fires. Thousands of Cossacks swarmed over
the plain. The first who saw me acted like sportsmen who, when beating,
start a hare, and announce its presence to each other by shouts of "Your
side! Your side!" but none of the Cossacks tried to stop me, first, on
account of the extreme rapidity of my pace, and also probably because,
their numbers being so great, each thought that I could not avoid his
comrades farther on; so that I escaped them all, and reached the 14th
regiment without either myself or my excellent mare having received the
slightest scratch.
[Illustration: 'I regarded myself as a horseman who is trying to win a
steeplechase']
'I found the 14th formed in square on the top of the hillock, but as the
slope was very slight the enemy's cavalry had been able to deliver
several charges. These had been vigorously repulsed, and the French
regiment was surrounded by a circle of dead horses and dragoons, which
formed a kind of rampart, making the position by this time almost
inaccessible to cavalry; as I found, for in spite of the aid of our
men, I had much difficulty in passing over this horrible entrenchment.
At last I was in the square. Since Colonel Savary's death at the passage
of the Wkra, the 14th had been commanded by a major. While I imparted to
this officer, under a hail of balls, the order to quit his position and
try to rejoin his corps, he pointed out to me that the enemy's artillery
had been firing on the 14th for an hour, and had caused it such loss
that the handful of soldiers which remained would inevitably be
exterminated as they went down into the plain, and that, moreover, there
would not be time to prepare to execute such a movement, since a Russian
column was marching on him, and was not more than a hundred paces away.
"I see no means of saving the regiment," said the major; "return to the
Emperor, bid him farewell from the 14th of the line, which has
faithfully executed his orders, and bear to him the eagle which he gave
us, and which we can defend no longer: it would add too much to the pain
of death to see it fall into the hands of the enemy." Then the major
handed me his eagle, saluted for the last time by the glorious fragment
of the intrepid regiment with cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" they were
going to die for him. It was the _Caesar morituri te salutant_ of
Tacitus,[32] but in this case the cry was uttered by heroes. The infantry
eagles were very heavy, and their weight was increased by a stout oak
pole on the top of which they were fixed. The length of the pole
embarrassed me much, and as the stick without the eagle could not
constitute a trophy for the enemy, I resolved with the major's consent
to break it and only carry off the eagle. But at the moment when I was
leaning forward from my saddle in order to get a better purchase to
separate the eagle from the pole, one of the numerous cannon-balls which
the Russians were sending at us went through the hinder peak of my hat,
less than an inch from my head. The shock was all the more terrible
since my hat, being fastened on by a strong leather strap under the
chin, offered more resistance to the blow. I seemed to be blotted out of
existence, but I did not fall from my horse; blood flowed from my nose,
my ears, and even my eyes; nevertheless I still could hear and see, and
I preserved all my intellectual faculties, although my limbs were
paralysed to such an extent that I could not move a single finger.
'Meanwhile the column of Russian infantry which we had just perceived
was mounting the hill; they were grenadiers wearing mitre-shaped caps
with metal ornaments. Soaked with spirits, and in vastly superior
numbers, these men hurled themselves furiously on the feeble remains of
the unfortunate 14th, whose soldiers had for several days been living
only on potatoes and melted snow; that day they had not had time to
prepare even this wretched meal. Still our brave Frenchmen made a
valiant defence with their bayonets, and when the square had been
broken, they held together in groups and sustained the unequal fight for
a long time.
'During this terrible struggle several of our men, in order not to be
struck from behind, set their backs against my mare's flanks, she,
contrary to her practice, remaining perfectly quiet. If I had been able
to move I should have urged her forward to get away from this field of
slaughter. But it was absolutely impossible for me to press my legs so
as to make the animal I rode understand my wish. My position was the
more frightful since, as I have said, I retained the power of sight and
thought. Not only were they fighting all round me, which exposed me to
bayonet-thrusts, but a Russian officer with a hideous countenance kept
making efforts to run me through. As the crowd of combatants prevented
him from reaching me, he pointed me out to the soldiers around him, and
they, taking me for the commander of the French, as I was the only
mounted man, kept firing at me over their comrades' heads, so that
bullets were constantly whistling past my ear. One of them would
certainly have taken away the small amount of life that was still in me
had not a terrible incident led to my escape from the _melee_.
[Illustration: Lisette carries off the Russian officer]
'Among the Frenchmen who had got their flanks against my mare's near
flank was a quartermaster-sergeant, whom I knew from having frequently
seen him at the marshal's, making copies for him of the "morning
states." This man, having been attacked and wounded by several of the
enemy, fell under Lisette's belly, and was seizing my leg to pull
himself up, when a Russian grenadier, too drunk to stand steady, wishing
to finish him by a thrust in the breast, lost his balance, and the point
of his bayonet went astray into my cloak, which at that moment was
puffed out by the wind. Seeing that I did not fall, the Russian left the
sergeant and aimed a great number of blows at me. These were at first
fruitless, but one at last reached me, piercing my left arm, and I felt
with a kind of horrible pleasure my blood flowing hot. The Russian
grenadier with redoubled fury made another thrust at me, but, stumbling
with the force which he put into it, drove his bayonet into my mare's
thigh. Her ferocious instincts being restored by the pain, she sprang at
the Russian, and at one mouthful tore off his nose, lips, eyebrows, and
all the skin of his face, making of him a living death's-head, dripping
with blood. Then hurling herself with fury among the combatants, kicking
and biting, Lisette upset everything that she met on her road. The
officer who had made so many attempts to strike me tried to hold her by
the bridle; she seized him by his belly, and carrying him off with ease,
she bore him out of the crush to the foot of the hillock, where, having
torn out his entrails and mashed his body under her feet, she left him
dying on the snow. Then, taking the road by which she had come, she made
her way at full gallop towards the cemetery of Eylau. Thanks to the
hussar's saddle on which I was sitting, I kept my seat. But a new danger
awaited me. The snow had begun to fall again, and great flakes obscured
the daylight when, having arrived close to Eylau, I found myself in
front of a battalion of the Old Guard, who, unable to see clearly at a
distance, took me for an enemy's officer leading a charge of cavalry.
The whole battalion at once opened fire on me; my cloak and my saddle
were riddled, but I was not wounded nor was my mare. She continued her
rapid course, and went through the three ranks of the battalion as
easily as a snake through a hedge. But this last spurt had exhausted
Lisette's strength; she had lost much blood, for one of the large veins
in her thigh had been divided, and the poor animal collapsed suddenly
and fell on one side, rolling me over on the other.
'Stretched on the snow among the piles of dead and dying, unable to move
in any way, I gradually and without pain lost consciousness. I felt as
if I was being gently rocked to sleep. At last I fainted quite away
without being revived by the mighty clatter which Murat's ninety
squadrons advancing to the charge must have made in passing close to me
and perhaps over me. I judge that my swoon lasted four hours, and when I
came to my senses I found myself in this horrible position. I was
completely naked, having nothing on but my hat and my right boot. A man
of the transport corps, thinking me dead, had stripped me in the usual
fashion, and wishing to pull off the only boot that remained, was
dragging me by one leg with his foot against my body. The jerks which
the man gave me no doubt had restored me to my senses. I succeeded in
sitting up and spitting out the clots of blood from my throat. The shock
caused by the wind of the ball had produced such an extravasation of
blood, that my face, shoulders, and chest were black, while the rest of
my body was stained red by the blood from my wound. My hat and my hair
were full of bloodstained snow, and as I rolled my haggard eyes I must
have been horrible to see. Anyhow, the transport man looked the other
way, and went off with my property without my being able to say a single
word to him, so utterly prostrate was I. But I had recovered my mental
faculties, and my thoughts turned towards God and my mother.
'The setting sun cast some feeble rays through the clouds. I took what I
believed to be a last farewell of it. "If," thought I, "I had only not
been stripped, some one of the numerous people who pass near me would
notice the gold lace on my pelisse, and, recognising that I am a
marshal's aide-de-camp, would perhaps have carried me to the ambulance.
But seeing me naked, they do not distinguish me from the corpses with
which I am surrounded, and, indeed, there soon will be no difference
between them and me. I cannot call help, and the approaching night will
take away all hope of succour. The cold is increasing: shall I be able
to bear it till to-morrow, seeing that I feel my naked limbs stiffening
already?" So I made up my mind to die, for if I had been saved by a
miracle in the midst of the terrible _melee_ between the Russians and
the 14th, could I expect that there would be a second miracle to extract
me from my present horrible position? The second miracle did take place
in the following manner. Marshal Augereau had a valet named Pierre
Dannel, a very intelligent and very faithful fellow, but somewhat given
to arguing. Now it happened during our stay at La Houssaye that Dannel,
having answered his master, got dismissed. In despair, he begged me to
plead for him. This I did so zealously that I succeeded in getting him
taken back into favour. From that time the valet had been devotedly
attached to me. The outfit having been all left behind at Landsberg, he
had started all out of his own head on the day of battle to bring
provisions to his master. He had placed these in a very light waggon
which could go everywhere, and contained the articles which the marshal
most frequently required. This little waggon was driven by a soldier
belonging to the same company of the transport corps as the man who had
just stripped me. This latter, with my property in his hands, passed
near the waggon, which was standing at the side of the cemetery, and,
recognising the driver, his old comrade, he hailed him, and showed him
the splendid booty which he had just taken from a dead man.
'Now you must know that when we were in cantonments on the Vistula the
marshal happened to send Dannel to Warsaw for provisions, and I
commissioned him to get the trimming of black astrachan taken from my
pelisse, and have it replaced by grey, this having recently been adopted
by Prince Berthier's aides-de-camp, who set the fashion in the army. Up
to now, I was the only one of Augereau's officers who had grey
astrachan. Dannel, who was present when the transport man made his
display, quickly recognised my pelisse, which made him look more closely
at the other effects of the alleged dead man. Among these he found my
watch, which had belonged to my father and was marked with his cypher.
The valet had no longer any doubt that I had been killed, and while
deploring my loss, he wished to see me for the last time. Guided by the
transport man he reached me and found me living. Great was the joy of
this worthy man, to whom I certainly owed my life. He made haste to
fetch my servant and some orderlies, and had me carried to a barn, where
he rubbed my body with rum. Meanwhile someone went to fetch Dr. Raymond,
who came at length, dressed the wound in my arm, and declared that the
release of blood due to it would be the saving of me.
[Illustration: 'Guided by the transport man he reached me and found me
living']
'My brother and my comrades were quickly round me; something was given
to the transport soldier who had taken my clothes, which he returned
very willingly, but as they were saturated with water and with blood,
Marshal Augereau had me wrapped in things belonging to himself. The
Emperor had given the marshal leave to go to Landsberg, but as his wound
forbad him to ride, his aides-de-camp had procured a sledge, on which
the body of a carriage had been placed. The marshal, who could not make
up his mind to leave me, had me fastened up beside him, for I was too
weak to sit upright.
'Before I was removed from the field of battle I had seen my poor
Lisette near me. The cold had caused the blood from her wound to clot,
and prevented the loss from being too great. The creature had got on to
her legs and was eating the straw which the soldiers had used the night
before for their bivouacs. My servant, who was very fond of Lisette, had
noticed her when he was helping to remove me, and cutting up into
bandages the shirt and hood of a dead soldier, he wrapped her leg with
them, and thus made her able to walk to Landsberg. The officer in
command of the small garrison there had had the forethought to get
quarters ready for the wounded, so the staff found places in a large and
good inn.
'In this way, instead of passing the night without help, stretched naked
on the snow, I lay on a good bed surrounded by the attention of my
brother, my comrades, and the kind Dr. Raymond. The doctor had been
obliged to cut off the boot which the transport man had not been able to
pull off, and which had become all the more difficult to remove owing to
the swelling of my foot. You will see presently that this very nearly
cost me my leg, and perhaps my life.
'We stayed thirty-six hours at Landsberg. This rest, and the good care
taken of me, restored me to the use of speech and senses, and when on
the second day after the battle Marshal Augereau started for Warsaw I
was able to be carried in the sledge. The journey lasted eight days.
Gradually I recovered strength, but as strength returned I began to feel
a sensation of icy cold in my right foot. At Warsaw I was lodged in the
house that had been taken for the marshal, which suited me the better
that I was not able to leave my bed. Yet the wound in my arm was doing
well, the extravasated blood was becoming absorbed, my skin was
recovering its natural colour. The doctor knew not to what he could
ascribe my inability to rise, till, hearing me complaining of my leg, he
examined it, and found that my foot was gangrened. An accident of my
early days was the cause of this new trouble. At Soreze I had my right
foot wounded by the unbuttoned foil of a schoolfellow with whom I was
fencing. It seemed that the muscles of the part had become sensitive,
and had suffered much from cold while I was lying unconscious on the
field of Eylau; thence had resulted a swelling which explained the
difficulty experienced by the soldier in dragging off my right boot. The
foot was frost-bitten, and as it had not been treated in time, gangrene
had appeared in the site of the old wound from the foil. The place was
covered with an eschar as large as a five-franc piece. The doctor
turned pale when he saw the foot: then, making four servants hold me,
and taking his knife, he lifted the eschar, and dug the mortified flesh
from my foot just as one cuts the damaged part out of an apple. The pain
was great, but I did not complain. It was otherwise, however, when the
knife reached the living flesh, and laid bare the muscles and bones till
one could see them moving. Then the doctor, standing on a chair, soaked
a sponge in hot sweetened wine, and let it fall drop by drop into the
hole which he had just dug in my foot. The pain became unbearable.
Still, for eight days I had to undergo this torture morning and evening,
but my leg was saved.
'Nowadays, when promotions and decorations are bestowed so lavishly,
some reward would certainly be given to an officer who had braved danger
as I had done in reaching the 14th regiment; but under the Empire a
devoted act of that kind was thought so natural that I did not receive
the cross, nor did it ever occur to me to ask for it. A long rest having
been ordered for the cure of Marshal Augereau's wound, the Emperor wrote
to bid him return for treatment to France, and sent to Italy for
Massena, to whom my brother, Bro, and several of my comrades were
attached. Augereau took me with him, as well as Dr. Raymond and his
secretary. I had to be lifted in and out of the carriage; otherwise I
found my health coming back as I got away from those icy regions towards
a milder climate. My mare passed the winter in the stables of M. de
Launay, head of the forage department. Our road lay through Silesia. So
long as we were in that horrible Poland, it required twelve, sometimes
sixteen, horses to draw the carriage at a walk through the bogs and
quagmires; but in Germany we found at length civilisation and real
roads.
'After a halt at Dresden, and ten or twelve days' stay at Frankfort, we
reached Paris about March 15. I walked very lame, wore my arm in a
sling, and still felt the terrible shaking caused by the wind of the
cannon-ball; but the joy of seeing my mother again, and her kind care of
me, together with the sweet influences of the spring, completed my cure.
Before leaving Warsaw I had meant to throw away the hat which the ball
had pierced, but the marshal kept it as a curiosity and gave it to my
mother. It still exists in my possession, and should be kept as a family
relic.'