Military Career of Napoleon the Great Part 23

The enormous train of artillery which Napoleon brought from Moscow was soon diminished and the roads were blocked up with the spoils of the city, abandoned of necessity, as the means of transport failed. The horses, having been ill-fed for months, were altogether unable to resist the united effects of cold and fatigue. They sank and stiffened by hundreds and by thousands. The starving soldiery slew others of these animals that they might drink their warm blood and wrap themselves in their yet reeking skins! All discipline had vanished.

They were able to keep together some battalions of the rear-guard, and present a bold aspect to the pursuers, the heroic Marshal Ney not disdaining to bear a firelock, and share the meanest fatigues of his brave followers.

The main Russian army, having advanced side by side with the French, was now stationed to the southwest of Smolensk, in readiness to break the enemy's march whenever Kutusoff should choose. Milarodowitch and Platoff were hanging close behind, and thinning every hour the miserable bands which had no longer heart, nor, for the most part, arms of any kind wherewith to resist them. All the reports brought to headquarters by the officers, represented Kutusoff as disposed to oppose the French army and risk a battle, rather than abandon his positions which were on the road he wished to close against the continued retreat of the Emperor.

Napoleon was not convinced by these reports. At daybreak, mounted on horseback, he started out to reconnoitre the camp and disposition of the enemy who was preparing to dispute Kalouga. As the Emperor arrived near Malojaroslawetz a body of Cossacks was seen approaching. Napoleon and his escort prepared to defend themselves. Rapp had scarcely time to seize his chief's bridle and say, "It is the Cossacks, turn back!" ere a fierce band galloped towards them. The Emperor, scorning flight, drew his sword, and reigned his horse to the side of the road. The troop dashed past wounding Rapp and his horse. "When Napoleon saw my horse covered with blood," says Rapp in his "Memoirs," "he demanded if I had been wounded. I replied that I had come off with a few bruises, upon which he began to laugh at our adventure, although I, for my part, found it anything but amusing." The appearance of Marshal Bessieres, who arrived at the head of some squadrons of grenadiers of the Guard, sufficed to stay the disorder and put the Cossacks to flight.

The Grand Army had mustered 120,000 men when it left Moscow. Including the fragments of various divisions which met the Emperor at Smolensk it was with great difficulty that 40,000 men could now be brought together in anything like fighting condition. These Napoleon divided into four columns, nearly equal in numbers; of the first which included 6,000 of the Imperial Guard, he himself took the command, and marched with it towards Krasnoi. The second corps was that of Eugene Beauharnais; the third Davoust's; and the fourth destined for the perilous service of the rear, and accordingly strengthened with 3,000 of the Guard, was intrusted to the guidance of Marshal Ney.

Eugene and Ney at length entered Smolensk. The name of that town had hitherto been the only spell that preserved any hope within the soldiers of the retreat. There, they had been told, they should find food, clothing, and supplies of all kinds, and there being once more a.s.sembled under the eye of Napoleon, speedily rea.s.sume an aspect such as none of the northern barbarians would dare to brave.

These expectations were far from realized. Smolensk had been almost entirely destroyed by the Russians in the early part of the campaign.

Its ruined walls afforded only a scant shelter to the famished and s.h.i.+vering fugitives, and the provisions a.s.sembled there were so inadequate to the demands of the troops, that after the lapse of a few days Napoleon found himself under the necessity of once more renewing his disastrous march. While at Smolensk Napoleon received dispatches from France, informing him that a false report of his death had occasioned an outbreak and which threatened for a brief period the colossal Empire he controlled. On receiving the news he exclaimed, with deep feeling, and in the presence of his generals: "Does my power then, hang on so slender a thread? Is my tenure of sovereignty so frail that a single person can place it in jeopardy? Truly my crown is but ill-fitted to my head if, in my very capital, the audacious attempt of two or three adventurers can make it totter. After twelve years of government,--after my marriage--after the birth of my son--after my oaths--my death would have again plunged the country into the midst of revolutionary horrors.

And Napoleon II., was he no longer thought of?"

Napoleon left Smolensk on the 13th of November, 1812, having ordered that the other corps should follow him on the 14th, 15th and 16th respectively thus interposing a day's march between every two divisions.

It seems to be generally accepted that the name of Napoleon saved whatever part of his host finally escaped from the territory of Russia.

Kutusoff appears to have exhausted the better part of his daring at Borodino and thenceforth adhered to the plan of avoiding battle. He seems to have been unable to again shake off that awe which had been the growth of a hundred of Napoleon's victories;--had he been able to do so the Emperor would probably have died on some battlefield between Smolensk and the Beresina, or been taken a prisoner in the country which three months before he had invaded at the head of half a million of men. The army of Napoleon had been already reduced to a very small fragment of its original strength, and even that fragment was now split into four divisions against any one of which it would have been easy to concentrate a force overwhelmingly superior.

The Emperor reached Krasnoi unmolested although the whole of the Russian army, moving on a parallel road, were in full observation of his march; Eugene, who followed him, was, however, intercepted on his way by Milarodowitch, and after sustaining the contest gallantly against very disproportionate numbers, and a terrible cannonade, was at length saved only by the fall of night. During the darkness Eugene executed a long and hazardous _detour_, and joined the Emperor at Krasnoi on the 17th; the two leading divisions now united, mustered scarcely 15,000 men. It was then thought advisable to await the arrival of Davoust's and Ney's divisions before proceeding. Kutusoff was again urged to seize this opportunity of pouring an irresistible force on the French position, and although he thinned the ranks of the enemy with 100 pieces of artillery well placed, he ventured on no closer collision than one or two isolated cavalry charges. Napoleon, therefore, held his ground in face of all that host, until nightfall, when Davoust's division, surrounded and pursued by innumerable Cossacks, at length was enabled to rally once more around his headquarters. Ney, however was still at Smolensk.

The Emperor now pushed on to relieve Eugene who was in command of the van with orders to march on Liady and secure the pa.s.sage of the Dneiper at that point.

Davoust and Mortier were left at Krasnoi with orders to hold out as long as possible in the hope of being there joined by Ney. Long, however, before that gallant leader could reach this point, the Russians, as if the absence of Napoleon had at once restored all their energy, rushed down and forced on Davoust and Mortier the battle which Napoleon had in vain solicited. On that fatal field the French left forty-five cannon and 6,000 prisoners, besides the slain and wounded. The remainder with difficulty effected their escape to Liady, where Napoleon once more received them, and crossed the Dneiper.

Ney, meanwhile, having as directed by the Emperor, blown up whatever remained of the walls and towers of Smolensk, at length set his rear-guard in motion and advanced to Krasnoi, without being hara.s.sed by any except Platoff whose Cossacks entered Smolensk ere he could wholly abandon it. Ney continued to advance on the footsteps of those who had thus shattered Davoust and Mortier and met with no considerable interruption until he reached the ravine in which the rivulet Losmina has its channel. A thick mist lay on the ground and Ney was almost on the brink of the ravine before he perceived that it was manned throughout by Russians, while the opposite banks displayed a long line of batteries deliberately arranged, and all the hills behind covered with troops.

A Russian officer appeared and summoned Ney to surrender. "A Marshal of France never surrenders!" was his intrepid answer, and immediately the batteries, distant only two hundred and fifty yards, opened a tremendous storm of grape-shot. Ney, nevertheless, had the hardihood to plunge into the ravine, clear a pa.s.sage over the stream, and charge the Russians at their arms. His small band was repelled with fearful slaughter; but he renewed his efforts from time to time during the day, and at night, though with numbers much diminished, still occupied his original position in the face of a whole army interposed between him and Napoleon. The Emperor had by this time given up all hopes of ever again seeing anything of his rear column.

During the ensuing night Ney effected his escape--an escape so miraculous that the history of war can scarcely furnish a parallel. The marshal broke up his bivouac at midnight, and marched back from the Losmina, until he came on another stream, which he concluded must also flow into the river Dneiper. He followed this guide, and at length reached the great river at a place where it was frozen over, though so thinly, that the ice bent and cracked beneath the feet of the men who crossed it in single files. The wagons laden with the wounded, and what great guns were still with Ney, were too heavy for this frail bridge.

They attempted the pa.s.sage at different points, and one after another went down, amid the shrieks of the dying and the groans of the onlookers.

The Cossacks had by this time gathered hard behind, and swept up many stragglers, besides the sick. But Ney had achieved his great object; and on the 20th of November he, with his small and devoted band of 1500 men, joined the Emperor once more at Orcha. Napoleon, on seeing him received him in his arms, and exclaimed, "What a man! What a soldier!" He could not find words to express the admiration which the intrepid marshal had inspired him with; he hailed him as "the bravest of the brave" and declared with transport: "I have two hundred millions (of francs) in the cellars of the Tuileries, and I would have given them all to save Marshal Ney!"

The Emperor was once more at the head of his united "grand army"--a sad remnant of its former glory and power. Between Smolensk and the Dneiper the Russians had taken 228 guns, and 26,000 prisoners. At leaving Smolensk Napoleon had mustered 40,000 effective men--he now could count only 12,000, after Ney joined him at Orcha. Of these there were but one hundred and fifty cavalry; and, to remedy this defect, officers still in possession of horses, to the number of 500, were now formed into a "sacred band," as it was called, commanded by General Grouchy, under Murat, for immediate attendance upon the Emperor's person.

The Russians were now uniting all their forces for the defense of the next great river on Napoleon's route,--the Beresina. The Emperor had hardly resolved to cross this river at Borizoff, ere, to renew all perplexities, he received intelligence that by a combat with Dombrowski there the enemy had retained possession of the town and bridge. Victor and Oudinot advanced immediately to succor Dombrowski and retook Borizoff; but the Russians burned the bridge before re-crossing the Beresina.

Napoleon now decided to pa.s.s the Beresina higher up, at Studzianska, and forthwith threw himself into the huge forests which border the river, adopting every stratagem by which his enemies could be puzzled as to the immediate object of his march. His 12,000 brave and determined men were winding their way amidst these dark woods, when suddenly the air around them was filled with sounds which could only proceed from the march of some far greater host. They were preparing for the worst when they found themselves in the presence of the advanced guard of the united army of Victor and Oudinot, who, although they had been defeated by Witgenstein, still mustered 50,000 men, completely equipped and hardly shaken in discipline.

Napoleon now continued his march on Studzianska, employing, however, all his wit to confirm the belief among the Russians that he meant to pa.s.s the Beresina at a different place, and this with so much success that the Russian rear-guard abandoned a strong position commanding the river, during the very night which preceded the Emperor's appearance there.

Two bridges were erected, and Oudinot had pa.s.sed over before Tchaplitz, in command of the Russian rear-guard, perceived his mistake, and returned again toward Studzianska. Discovering that the pa.s.sage had already begun, and that in consequence of the narrowness of the only two bridges, it must needs proceed slowly, Tchichagoff and Witgenstein now arranged a joint plan of attack. Platoff and his indefatigable Cossacks joined Witgenstein arriving long before the rear-guard of Napoleon could pa.s.s the river. The French that had made the pa.s.sage were attacked by Tchaplitz, and being repelled by Oudinot left them in unmolested possession, not only of the bridges on the Beresina, but of a long train of wooden causeways extending for miles beyond the river over deep and dangerous mora.s.ses which but a few sparks were needed to ignite and destroy.

Victor with the rear division, consisting of 8,000 men, was still on the eastern side when Witgenstein and Platoff appeared on the heights. The still numerous retainers of the camp, crowds of sick, wounded, and women, and the greater part of the artillery were in the same situation.

When the Russian cannon began to open upon this mult.i.tude, crammed together near the bank, and each anxiously expecting the turn to pa.s.s, a shriek of utter terror ran through them, and men, women, horses and wagons rushed pell-mell upon the bridges. The larger of these, intended solely for wagons and cannon, ere long broke down precipitating all that were upon it into the dark and half-frozen stream. "The scream that arose at this moment," says one that heard it, "did not leave my ears for weeks; it was heard clear and loud over the hurrahs of the Cossacks, and all the roar of artillery."

The remaining bridge was now the only resource, and all indiscriminately endeavored to gain a footing on it; exposed to the incessant shower of Russian cannonade they fell and died in thousands. Victor stood his ground bravely until late in the evening, and then conducted his division over the bridge. Behind was left a great number of the irregular attendants besides those soldiers who had been wounded during the battle, and guns and baggage-carts in great quant.i.ties. The French now fired the bridge and all those were abandoned to their fate. The Russian account states that when the Beresina broke up in the Spring 36,000 bodies were found in the bed of the river.

On the 3d of December Napoleon reached Morghoni, and announced to his marshals that the news he had received from Paris at Smolensk concerning Mallet's attempt to overthrow his government by announcing the death of the Emperor, and the uncertain relations with some of his allies, rendered it indispensable for him to quit his army without further delay and return to Paris with all possible speed. They were now, he said, almost within sight of Poland; they would find plenty of everything at Wilna. It was his business to prepare at home the means of opening the next campaign in a manner worthy of the great nation.

At Morghoni, on the 5th, the garrison at Wilna met the Emperor and then, having intrusted to these fresh troops, the protection of the rear, and given the chief command to Murat, he finally bade adieu to the rulers of his host. He set off in a sledge at midnight, accompanied by Caulaincourt, whose name he a.s.sumed. Having narrowly escaped being taken by a party of irregular Russians at Youpranoni, the Emperor reached Warsaw at nightfall on the 10th of December. Here he met his amba.s.sador, the Abbe de Pradt, to whom he said, "I quit my army with regret; but I must watch Austria and Prussia, and I have more weight on my throne than at headquarters. The Russians will be rendered fool-hardy by their successes. I shall beat them in a battle or two on the Oder, and be on the Niemen again within a month--Monsieur L'Amba.s.sadeur, from the sublime to the ridiculous there is but a step."

Resuming his journey, Napoleon reached Dresden on the evening of the 14th of December, where the King of Saxony visited him, and rea.s.sured him of his fidelity. He then resumed the road to his capital and arrived at the Tuileries on the 18th, late at night, after the Empress had retired.

The remnant of the Grand Army meanwhile moved on towards France in straggling columns. They pa.s.sed the Niemen at Kowno, and the Russians did not pursue them into Prussian territory. Here about 1000 men in arms, and perhaps 20,000 more utterly demoralized, were received with compa.s.sion. They took up their quarters and remained for a time unmolested, in and near Konigsberg. The French army crossed the Niemen on the ice, on the 13th of December, defended still by Ney, who had to fight with the Russians in Kowno. He now fought at the head of only thirty men and was the last individual of the French army who left Russian territory, as he did so he threw his musket into the river defying the enemy with his last breath. When he came up with General Dumas in Prussian Poland he was scarcely recognizable, and on being asked who he was replied, with eyes red and glaring, "I am the rear-guard of the Grand Army; I have fired the last musket shot on the bridge of Kowno!"

The few who survived all these horrors, men who had fought in all Napoleon's campaigns, and wore the cross of the Legion of Honor on their b.r.e.a.s.t.s, were now so wasted with famine that they wept when they saw a loaf of bread!

The total loss in this terrible campaign was somewhere near 450,000 men; fatigue, hunger and cold had caused the death of 132,000; and the Russians had taken prisoners of 193,000--including forty-eight generals and three thousand regimental officers. The eagles and standards left in the enemy's hands were seventy-five in number and the pieces of cannon nearly one thousand.

[Ill.u.s.tration: From a Painting by H. Bellange

REVIEW OF TROOPS IN THE PLACE DU CARROUSEL, PARIS]

XIII

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813

To the premature cold, and burning of Moscow, Napoleon attributed the failure of his campaign in Russia. His arrival at the Tuileries had been preceded by the 29th bulletin in which the fatal events of the campaign were fully and graphically recited. While he had not been able to conquer the elements he found the Senate and all the public bodies full of adulation and willingness to obey his commands. However, what had been foreseen by almost every person of discernment, except Napoleon, soon followed, viz., an alliance against France by Prussia, Russia and Austria.

New conscriptions were now called for and yielded; regiments arrived from Spain and Italy; every a.r.s.enal resounded with the preparation of new artillery. "The wonderful energies of Napoleon's mind," says Scott, "and the influence which he could exert over the minds of others, were never so striking as at this period of his reign. He had returned to the seat of his Empire at a dreadful crisis, and in a most calamitous condition. His subjects had been ignorant for three weeks whether he was dead or alive. When he arrived it was to declare a dreadful catastrophe.

* * * Yet Napoleon came, and seemed but to stamp on the earth, and armed legions arose at his call: the doubts and discontents of the public disappeared as mists at sunrising, and the same confidence which had attended his prosperous fortunes, revived in its full extent, despite of his late reverses."

Ere many weeks had elapsed Napoleon found himself once more in a condition to take the field with not less than 350,000 soldiers. Such was the effect of his new appeal to the national feelings of the French people. Meanwhile the French garrisons dispersed over the Prussian territory were wholly incompetent to overawe a nation which thirsted for vengeance. The king endeavored to protect Napoleon's soldiers but it soon became manifest that their safety must depend on their concentrating themselves in a small number of fortified towns. Murat now resigned command of the troops, being succeeded by Eugene Beauharnais who had the full confidence of the Emperor. The new commander found that Frederick William could no longer, even if he would, repress the universal enthusiasm of the Prussians who were clamorous for war. On the 31st of January, 1813, the king made his escape to Breslau, in which neighborhood no French were garrisoned, erected his standard and called on the nation to rise in arms. Eugene, thereupon, retired to Magdeburg and shut himself up in that great fortress, with as many of the troops as he could a.s.semble to the west of the Elbe. When Napoleon heard that Prussia had declared war against France he said with perfect calmness, "It is better to have a declared enemy, than a doubtful ally."

It was now six years since the fatal day of Jena, and in spite of all of Napoleon's watchfulness the Prussian nation had recovered, in a great measure, its energies. The people answered the call as with the heart and voice of one man. Youths of all ranks, the highest and the lowest, flocked indiscriminately to the standard. The women poured their trinkets into the king's treasure, the gentlemen melted their plate,--England poured in her gold with a lavish hand. The thunder of the cannon of the Beresina had raised the hopes of the House of Bourbon until Louis XVIII. finally caused to be published in England, and distributed throughout the Continent, a proclamation in which he addressed himself to the people adroitly supporting the common opinion which attributed to Napoleon the prolongation of the war, and promising, among other things, "to abolish the conscription."

The Emperor of Russia was no sooner aware of this great movement, than he resolved to advance into Silesia. Having masked several French garrisons in Prussian Poland, and taken others, he pushed on with his main army to support Frederick William. Evidently he did not intend to permit the Prussians to stand alone the first onset of Napoleon, of whose extensive arrangements all Europe was aware.

The two sovereigns met at Breslau on the 15th of March. Tears rushed down the cheeks of Frederick William, as he fell into the arms of Alexander; "Wipe them," said the Czar; "they are the last that Napoleon shall ever cause you to shed."

The aged Kutusoff having died, the command of the Russian army was now given to Witgenstein; while that of the Prussians was intrusted to Blucher, an officer who had originally trained under the great Frederick and who, since the battle of Jena, had lived in retirement. The soldiers had long before bestowed on him the t.i.tle "Marshal Forwards" and they heard of his appointment with delight. Blucher hated the very names of France and Bonaparte, and once more permitted to draw his sword, he swore never to sheathe it until the revenge of Prussia was complete.

Bernadotte, now the Crown Prince of Sweden, and an ingrate,--owing not only his position but his very existence to Napoleon,--now landed at Stralsund, and advanced through Mecklenburg while the sovereigns of Russia and Prussia were concentrating their armies in Silesia. It was announced and expected that German troops would join Bernadotte, so as to enable him to open the campaign on the lower Elbe with a separate army of 100,000 men. Wellington, too, was about to advance once more into Spain with his victorious armies. Three great armies, two of which might easily communicate with each other, were thus taking the field against Napoleon at once.

Ere the Emperor once more left Paris, he named Marie Louise Empress-Regent of France in his absence. As the time approached when he was expected to a.s.sume the command of his army in the field his devoted subjects again and again expressed their loyalty to him and to France.

He quitted Paris in the middle of April.

On starting to join his youthful and inexperienced army at Erfurt, Napoleon said, "I envy the lot of the meanest peasant in my dominion. At my age he has fulfilled his duties to his country, and he may remain at home, enjoying the society of his wife and children; while I--I must fly to the camp and engage in the strife of war. Such is my fate."

"My good Louise" he said at the same time, "is gentle and submissive, I can trust her. Her love and fidelity for me will never fail(!). In the current of events there may arise circ.u.mstances which decide the fate of an Empire. In that case I hope the daughter of the Caesars will be inspired by the spirit of her grand-mother, Maria Theresa."

In three months an army of 350,000 men was raised, equipped and brought together, and General Segur says: "At any hour of the day or night the Emperor, whatever he was doing, could have told the numbers, the composition, the strength of every one of the thousands of detachments of every branch of the service which he set in movement from every part of the Empire, the way they were uniformed or equipped, the number of marches each one had to make, the day, the place, even the hour at which each was to arrive."