Book: History of the Expedition to Russia

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But the marches which he had just made with the array, the fatigues of
the preceding days and nights, so many cares, and his intense and
anxious expectation, had worn him out; the chillness of the atmosphere
had struck to him; an irritating fever, a dry cough, and excessive
thirst consumed him. During the remainder of the night, he made vain
attempts to quench the burning thirst which consumed him. This fresh
disorder was complicated with an old complaint; he had been struggling
since the day before with a painful attack of that cruel disorder[18],
which had been long threatening him.

[Footnote 18: A retention of urine.]

At last, just at five o'clock, one of Ney's officers came to inform him
that the marshal was still in sight of the Russians, and wished to begin
the attack. This news seemed to restore the strength of which the fever
had deprived him. He arose, called his officers, and sallied out,
exclaiming, "We have them at last! Forward! Let us go and open the gates
of Moscow!"




CHAP. IX.


It was half-past five in the morning, when Napoleon arrived near the
redoubt which had been conquered on the 5th of September. There he
waited for the first dawn of day, and for the first fire of
Poniatowski's infantry. The sun rose. The emperor, showing it to his
officers, exclaimed, "Behold the sun of Austerlitz!" But it was opposite
to us. It rose on the Russian side, made us conspicuous to their fire,
and dazzled us. We then first perceived, that owing to the darkness, our
batteries had been placed out of reach of the enemy, and it was
necessary to push them more forward. The enemy allowed this to be done:
he seemed to hesitate in being the first to break the awful silence.

The emperor's attention was then directed towards his right, when, all
at once, near seven o'clock, the battle began upon his left. Shortly
after, he was informed, that one of the regiments of Prince Eugene, the
106th, had got possession of the village of Borodino, and its bridge,
which it should have destroyed; but that being carried away by the
ardour of success, it had crossed that passage, in spite of the cries of
its general, in order to attack the heights of Gorcka, where it was
overwhelmed by the front and flank fires of the Russians. It was added,
that the general who commanded that brigade had been already killed, and
that the 106th regiment would have been entirely destroyed had it not
been for the 92d, which voluntarily ran up to its assistance, and
collected and brought back its survivors.

It was Napoleon himself who had just ordered his left wing to make a
violent attack. Probably, he had only reckoned on a partial execution of
his orders, and wished to keep the enemy's attention directed to that
side. But he multiplied his orders, used the most violent excitations,
and engaged a battle in front, the plan of which he had conceived in an
oblique order.

During this action, the emperor judging that Poniatowski was closing
with the enemy on the old Moscow road, gave him the signal to attack.
Suddenly, from that peaceful plain, and the silent hills, volumes of
fire and smoke were seen spouting out, followed by a multitude of
explosions, and the whistling of bullets, tearing the air in every
direction. In the midst of this noise, Davoust, with the divisions
Compans and Dessaix, and thirty pieces of cannon in front, advanced
rapidly to the first Russian redoubt.

The enemy's musketry began, and was answered only by the French cannon.
The French infantry marched without firing: it was hurrying on to get
within reach of and extinguish that of the enemy, when Compans, the
general of that column, and his bravest soldiers, were wounded and fell:
the rest, disconcerted, halted under the shower of balls, in order to
return it, when Rapp, rushing to replace Compans, again led his soldiers
on, with fixed bayonets, and at a running pace against the enemy's
redoubt.

He was himself just on the point of reaching it, when he was, in his
turn, hit; it was his twenty-second wound. A third general, who
succeeded him, also fell. Davoust himself was wounded. Rapp was carried
to the emperor, who said to him, "What, Rapp, always hit! What are they
doing above, then?" The aid-de-camp answered, that it would require the
guard to finish. "No!" replied Napoleon, "I shall take good care of
that; I have no wish to see it destroyed; I shall gain the battle
without it."

Ney, then, with his three divisions, reduced to 10,000 men, hastened
into the plain to the assistance of Davoust. The enemy divided his fire.
Ney rushed forward. The 57th regiment of Compans's division, finding
itself supported, took fresh courage; by a last effort it succeeded in
reaching the enemy's entrenchments, scaled them, mingled with the
Russians, put them to the bayonet, overthrew and killed the most
obstinate of them. The rest fled, and the 57th maintained itself in its
conquest. At the same time Ney made so furious an attack on the two
other redoubts, that he wrested them from the enemy.

It was now mid-day; the left Russian line being thus forced, and the
plain cleared, the emperor ordered Murat to proceed with his cavalry,
and complete the victory. An instant was sufficient for that prince to
show himself on the heights and in the midst of the enemy, who again
made his appearance there; for the second Russian line and the
reinforcements, led on by Bagawout and sent by Tutchkof, had come to the
assistance of the first line. They all rushed forward, resting upon
Semenowska, in order to retake their redoubts. The French, who were
still in the disorder of victory, were astonished and fell back.

The Westphalians, whom Napoleon had just sent to the assistance of
Poniatowski, were then crossing the wood which separated that prince
from the rest of the army; through the dust and smoke they got a glimpse
of our troops, who were retreating. By the direction of their march,
they guessed them to be enemies, and fired upon them. They persisted in
their mistake, and thereby increased the disorder.

The enemy's cavalry vigorously followed up their advantage; they
surrounded Murat, who forgot himself in his endeavours to rally his
troops; they were already stretching out their arms to lay hold of him,
when he threw himself into the redoubt, and escaped from them. But there
he found only some unsteady soldiers whose courage had forsaken them,
and running round the parapet in a state of the greatest panic. They
only wanted an outlet to run away.

The presence of the king and his cries first restored confidence to a
few. He himself seized a musket; with one hand he fought, with the other
he elevated and waved his plume, calling to his men, and restoring them
to their first valour by that authority which example gives. At the same
time Ney had again formed his divisions. Their fire stopped the enemy's
cuirassiers, and threw their ranks into disorder. They let go their
hold, Murat was at last disengaged, and the heights were reconquered.

Scarcely had the king escaped this peril, when he ran into another; with
the cavalry of Bruyere and Nansouty, he rushed upon the enemy, and by
obstinate and repeated charges overthrew the Russian lines, pushed and
drove them back on their centre, and, within an hour, completed the
total defeat of their left wing.

But the heights of the ruined village of Semenowska, where the left of
the enemy's centre commenced, were still untouched; the reinforcements
which Kutusof incessantly drew from his right, supported it. Their
commanding fire was poured down upon Ney and Murat's troops, and stopped
their victory; it was indispensable to acquire that position. Maubourg
with his cavalry first cleared the front; Friand, one of Davoust's
generals, followed him with his infantry. Dufour and the 15th light were
the first to climb the steep; they dislodged the Russians from the
village, the ruins of which were badly entrenched. Friand, although
wounded, followed up and secured this advantage.




CHAP. X.


This vigorous action opened up to us the road to victory; it was
necessary to rush into it; but Murat and Ney were exhausted: they
halted, and while they were rallying their troops, they sent to Napoleon
to ask for reinforcements. Napoleon was then seized with a hesitation
which he never before displayed; he deliberated long with himself, and
at last, after repeated orders and counter-orders to his young guard, he
expressed his belief that the appearance of Friand and Maubourg's troops
on the heights would be sufficient, the decisive moment not appearing to
him to be yet arrived.

But Kutusof took advantage of the respite which he had no reason to
expect; he summoned the whole of his reserve, even to the Russian
guards, to the support of his uncovered left wing. Bagration, with all
these reinforcements, re-formed his line, his right resting on the great
battery which Prince Eugene was attacking, his left on the wood which
bounded the field of battle towards Psarewo. His fire cut our ranks to
pieces; his attack was violent, impetuous, and simultaneous; infantry,
artillery, and cavalry, all made a grand effort. Ney and Murat stood
firm against this tempest; the question with them was no longer about
following up the victory, but about retaining it.

The soldiers of Friand, drawn up in front of Semenowska, repelled the
first charges, but when they were assailed with a shower of balls and
grape shot, they began to give way; one of their leaders got tired, and
gave orders to retreat. At that critical moment, Murat ran up to him,
and seizing him by the collar, exclaimed, "What are you about?" The
colonel, pointing to the ground, covered with half his troops, answered,
"You see well enough that it is impossible to stand here."--"Very well,
I will remain!" exclaimed the king. These words stopped the officer: he
looked Murat steadily in the face, and turning round, coolly said, "You
are right! Soldiers, face to the enemy! Let us go and be killed!"

Meanwhile, Murat had just sent back Borelli to the emperor to ask for
assistance; that officer pointed to the clouds of dust which the charges
of the cavalry were raising upon the heights, which had hitherto
remained tranquil since they had been taken. Some cannon-balls also for
the first time fell close to where Napoleon was stationed; the enemy
seemed to be approaching; Borelli insisted, and the emperor promised his
young guard. But, scarcely had it advanced a few paces, when he himself
called out to it to halt. The Count de Lobau, however, made it advance
by degrees, under pretence of dressing the line. Napoleon perceiving
it, repeated his order.

Fortunately, the artillery of the reserve advanced at that moment, to
take a position on the conquered heights; Lauriston had obtained the
emperor's consent to that manoeuvre, but it was rather a permission
than an order. Shortly after, however, he thought it so important, that
he urged its execution with the only movement of impatience he exhibited
during the whole of that day.

It is not known whether his doubts as to the results of Prince
Poniatowski and Prince Eugene's engagement on his right and left kept
him in uncertainty; what is certain is, that he seemed to be
apprehensive lest the extreme left of the Russians should escape from
the Poles, and return to take possession of the field of battle in the
rear of Ney and Murat. This at least was one of the causes of his
retaining his guard in observation upon that point. To such as pressed
him, his answer was, "that he wished to have a better view; that his
battle was not yet begun; that it would be a long one; that they must
learn to wait; that time entered into every thing; that it was the
element of which all things are composed; that nothing was yet
sufficiently clear." He then inquired the hour, and added, "that the
hour of his battle was not yet come; that it would begin in two hours."

But it never began: the whole of that day he was sitting down, or
walking about leisurely, in front, and a little to the left of the
redoubt which had been conquered on the 5th, on the borders of a
ravine, at a great distance from the battle, of which he could scarcely
see any thing after it got beyond the heights; not at all uneasy when he
saw it return nearer to him, nor impatient with his own troops, or the
enemy. He merely made some gestures of melancholy resignation, on every
occasion, when they came to inform him of the loss of his best generals.
He rose several times to take a few turns, but immediately sat down
again.

Every one around him looked at him with astonishment. Hitherto, during
these great shocks, he had displayed an active coolness; but here it was
a dead calm, a nerveless and sluggish inactivity. Some fancied they
traced in it that dejection which is generally the follower of violent
sensations: others, that he had already become indifferent to every
thing, even to the emotion of battles. Several remarked, that the calm
constancy and _sang-froid_ which great men display on these great
occasions, turn, in the course of time, to phlegm and heaviness, when
age has worn out their springs. Those who were most devoted to him,
accounted for his immobility by the necessity of not changing his place
too much, when he was commanding over such an extent, in order that the
bearers of intelligence might know where to find him. Finally, there
were others who, on much better grounds, attributed it to the shock
which his health had sustained, to a secret malady, and to the
commencement of a violent indisposition.

The generals of artillery, who were surprised at their stagnation,
quickly availed themselves of the permission to fight which was just
given them. They very soon crowned the heights. Eighty pieces of cannon
were discharged at once. The Russian cavalry was first broken by that
brazen line, and obliged to take refuge behind its infantry.

The latter advanced in dense masses, in which our balls at first made
wide and deep holes; they still, however, continued to advance, when the
French batteries crushed them by a second discharge of grape-shot. Whole
platoons fell at once; their soldiers were seen trying to keep together
under this terrible fire. Every instant, separated by death, they closed
together over her, treading her under foot.

At last they halted, not daring to advance farther, and yet unwilling to
retreat; either because they were struck, and, as it were, petrified
with horror, in the midst of this great destruction, or that Bagration
was wounded at that moment; or, perhaps, because their generals, after
the failure of their first disposition, knew not how to change it, from
not possessing, like Napoleon, the great art of putting such great
bodies into motion at once, in unison, and without confusion. In short,
these listless masses allowed themselves to be mowed down for two hours,
making no other movement than their fall. It was a most horrible
massacre; and our brave and intelligent artillerymen could not help
admiring the motionless, blind, and resigned courage of their enemies.

The victors were the first to be tired out. They became impatient at
the tardiness of this battle of artillery. Their ammunition being
entirely exhausted, they came to a decision, in consequence of which Ney
moved forward, extending his right, which he made to advance rapidly,
and again turn the left of the new front opposed to him. Davoust and
Murat seconded him, and the remnants of Ney's corps became the
conquerors over the remains of Bagration's.

The battle then ceased in the plain, and became concentrated on the rest
of the enemy's heights, and near the great redoubt, which Barclay with
the centre and the right, continued to defend obstinately against
Eugene.

In this manner, about mid-day, the whole of the French right wing, Ney,
Davoust, and Murat, after annihilating Bagration and the half of the
Russian line, presented itself on the half-opened flank of the remainder
of the hostile army, of which they could see the whole interior, the
reserves, the abandoned rears, and even the commencement of the retreat.

But as they felt themselves too weak to throw themselves into that gap,
behind a line still formidable, they called aloud for the guard: "The
young guard! only let it follow them at a distance! Let it show itself,
and take their place upon the heights! They themselves will then be
sufficient to finish!"

General Belliard was sent by them to the emperor. He declared, "that
from their position, the eye could penetrate, without impediment, a far
as the road to Mojaisk, in the rear of the Russian army; that they could
see there a confused crowd of flying and wounded soldiers, and carriages
retreating; that it was true there was still a ravine and a thin copse
between them, but that the Russian generals were so confounded, that
they had no thought of turning these to any advantage; that in short,
only a single effort was required to arrive in the middle of that
disorder, to seal the enemy's discomfiture, and terminate the war!"

The emperor, however, still hesitated, and ordered that general to go
and look again, and to return and bring him word. Belliard, surprised,
went and returned with all speed; he reported, "that the enemy began to
think better of it; that the copse was already lined with his marksmen:
that the opportunity was about to escape; that there was not a moment to
be lost, otherwise it would require a second battle to terminate the
first!"

But Bessieres, who had just returned from the heights, to which Napoleon
had sent him to examine the attitude of the Russians, asserted, that,
"far from being in disorder, they had retreated to a second position,
where they seemed to be preparing for a fresh attack." The emperor then
said to Belliard, "That nothing was yet sufficiently unravelled: that to
make him give his reserves, he wanted to see more clearly upon his
chess-board." This was his expression; which he repeated several times,
at the same time pointing on one side to the old Moscow road, of which
Poniatowski had not yet made himself master; on the other, to an attack
of the enemy's cavalry in the rear of our left wing; and, finally, to
the great redoubt, against which the efforts of prince Eugene had been
ineffectual.

Belliard, in consternation, returned to the king of Naples, and informed
him of the impossibility of obtaining the reserve from the emperor; he
said, "he had found him still seated in the same place, with a suffering
and dejected air, his features sunk, and a dull look; giving his orders
languishingly, in the midst of these dreadful warlike noises, to which
he seemed completely a stranger!" At this account, Ney, furious and
hurried away by his ardent and unmeasured character, exclaimed, "Are we
then come so far, to be satisfied with a field of battle? What business
has the emperor in the rear of the army? There, he is only within reach
of reverses, and not of victory. Since he will no longer make war
himself, since he is no longer the general, as he wishes to be the
emperor every where, let him return to the Tuilleries, and leave us to
be generals for him!"

Murat was more calm; he recollected having seen the emperor the day
before, as he was riding along, observing that part of the enemy's line,
halt several times, dismount, and with his head resting upon the cannon,
remain there some time in the attitude of suffering. He knew what a
restless night he had passed, and that a violent and incessant cough cut
short his breathing. The king guessed that fatigue, and the first
attacks of the equinox, had shaken his weakened frame, and that in
short, at that critical moment, the action of his genius was in a manner
chained down by his body; which had sunk under the triple load of
fatigue, of fever, and of a malady which, probably, more than any other,
prostrates the moral and physical strength of its victims.

Still, farther incitements were not wanting; for shortly after Belliard,
Daru, urged by Dumas, and particularly by Berthier, said in a low voice
to the emperor, "that from all sides it was the cry that the moment for
sending the guard was now come." To which Napoleon replied, "And if
there should be another battle to-morrow, where is my army?" The
minister urged no farther, surprised to see, for the first time, the
emperor putting off till the morrow, and adjourning his victory.




CHAPTER XI.


Barclay, however, with the right, kept up a most obstinate struggle with
Prince Eugene. The latter, immediately after the capture of Borodino,
passed the Kologha in the face of the enemy's great redoubt. There,
particularly, the Russians had calculated upon their steep heights,
encompassed by deep and muddy ravines, upon our exhaustion, upon their
entrenchments, defended by heavy artillery, and upon 80 pieces of
cannon, planted on the borders of these banks, bristling with fire and
flames! But all these elements, art, and nature, every thing failed
them at once: assailed by a first burst of that _French fury_, which has
been so celebrated, they saw Morand's soldiers appear suddenly in the
midst of them, and fled in disorder.

Eighteen hundred men of the 30th regiment, with general Bonnamy at their
head, had just made that great effort.

It was there that Fabvier, the aid-de-camp of Marmont, who had arrived
but the day before from the heart of Spain, made himself conspicuous; he
went as a volunteer, and on foot, at the head of the most advanced
sharp-shooters, as if he had come there to represent the army of Spain,
in the midst of the grand army; and, inspired with that rivalry of glory
which makes heroes, wished to exhibit it at the head, and the first in
every danger.

He fell wounded in that too famous redoubt; for the triumph was
short-lived; the attack wanted concert, either from precipitation in the
first assailant, or too great slowness in those who followed. They had
to pass a ravine, whose depth protected them from the enemy's fire. It
is affirmed that many of our troops halted there. Morand, therefore, was
left alone in the face of several Russian lines. It was yet only ten
o'clock. Friand, who was on his right, had not yet commenced the attack
of Semenowska; and, on his left, the divisions Gerard, Broussier, and
the Italian guard, were not yet in line.

This attack, besides, should not have been made so precipitately: the
intention had been only to keep Barclay in check, and occupied on that
side, the battle having been arranged to begin by the right wing, and
pivot on the left. This was the emperor's plan, and we know not why he
himself altered it at the moment of its execution; for it was he who, on
the first discharge of the artillery, sent different officers in
succession to Prince Eugene, to urge his attack.

The Russians, recovering from their first surprise, rushed forward in
all directions. Kutaisof and Yermoloff advanced at their head with a
resolution worthy of so great an occasion. The 30th regiment, single
against a whole army, ventured to attack it with the bayonet; it was
enveloped, crushed, and driven out of the redoubt, where it left a third
of its men, and its intrepid general pierced through with twenty wounds.
Encouraged by their success, the Russians were no longer satisfied with
defending themselves, but attacked in their turn. Then were seen united,
on that single point, all the skill, strength, and fury, which war can
bring forth. The French stood firm for four hours on the declivity of
that volcano, under the shower of iron and lead which it vomited forth.
But to do this required all the skill and determination of Prince
Eugene; and the idea so insupportable to long-victorious soldiers, of
confessing themselves vanquished.

Each division changed its general several times. The viceroy went from
one to the other, mingling entreaties and reproaches, and, above all,
reminding them of their former victories. He sent to apprise the
emperor of his critical situation; but Napoleon replied, "That he could
not assist him; that he must conquer; that he had only to make a greater
effort; that the heat of the battle was there." The prince was rallying
all his forces to make a general assault, when suddenly his attention
was diverted by furious cries proceeding from his left.

Ouwarof, with two regiments of cavalry, and some thousand cossacks, had
attacked his reserve, and thrown it into disorder. He ran thither
instantly, and, seconded by Generals Delzons and Ornano, soon drove away
that troop, which was more noisy than formidable; after which he
returned to put himself at the head of a decisive attack.

It was about that time that Murat, forced to remain inactive on the
plain where he commanded, had sent, for the fourth time, to his
brother-in-law, to complain of the losses which his cavalry were
sustaining from the Russian troops, protected by the redoubts which were
opposed to Prince Eugene. "He only requested the cavalry of the guard,
with whose assistance he could turn the entrenched heights, and destroy
them along with the army which defended them."

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