Book: History of the Expedition to Russia

C >> Count Philip de Segur >> History of the Expedition to Russia




"This then was the bank which they had studded with their bayonets! this
the allied country which had disappeared only five months before, under
the steps of their immense united army, and seemed to them then to be
metamorphosed into moving hills and valleys of men and horses! These
were the same valleys, from which, under the rays of a burning sun,
poured forth the three long columns of dragoons and cuirassiers,
resembling three rivers of glittering iron and brass. And now men, arms,
eagles, horses, the sun itself, and even this frontier river, which they
had crossed replete with ardour and hope, all have disappeared. The
Niemen is now only a long mass of flakes of ice, caught and chained to
each other by the increasing severity of the winter. Instead of the
three French bridges, brought from a distance of five hundred leagues,
and thrown across it with such audacious promptitude, a Russian bridge
is alone standing. Finally, in the room of these innumerable warriors,
of their four hundred thousand comrades, who had been so often their
partners in victory, and who had dashed forward with such joy and pride
into the territory of Russia, they saw issuing from these pale and
frozen deserts, only a thousand infantry and horsemen still under arms,
nine cannon, and twenty thousand miserable wretches covered with rags,
with downcast looks, hollow eyes, earthy and livid complexions, long
beards matted with the frost; some disputing in silence the narrow
passage of the bridge, which, in spite of their small number was not
sufficient to the eagerness of their flight; others fleeing dispersed
over the asperities of the river, labouring and dragging themselves from
one point of ice to another; and this was the whole grand army! Besides,
many of these fugitives were recruits who had just joined it."

Two kings, one prince, eight marshals followed by a few officers,
generals on foot, dispersed, and without any attendants; finally, a few
hundred men of the old guard, still armed, were its remains; they alone
represented it.

Or rather, I should say, it still breathed completely and entirely in
Marshal Ney. Comrades! allies! enemies! here I invoke your testimony;
let us pay the homage which is due to the memory of an unfortunate hero:
the facts will be sufficient.

All were flying, and Murat himself, traversing Kowno as he had done
Wilna, first gave, and then withdrew the order to rally at Tilsit, and
subsequently fixed upon Gumbinnen. Ney then entered Kowno, accompanied
only by his aides-de-camp, for all besides had given way, or fallen
around him. From the time of his leaving Wiazma, this was the fourth
rear-guard which had been worn out and melted in his hands. But winter
and famine, still more than the Russians, had destroyed them. For the
fourth time, he remained alone before the enemy, and still unshaken, he
sought for a fifth rear-guard.

At Kowno the marshal found a company of artillery, three hundred German
soldiers who formed its garrison, and General Marchand with four hundred
men; of these he took the command. He first walked over the town to
reconnoitre its position, and to rally some additional forces, but he
found only some sick and wounded, who were endeavouring, in tears, to
follow our retreat. For the eighth time since we left Moscow, we were
obliged to abandon these _en masse_ in their hospitals, as they had been
abandoned singly along the whole march, on all our fields of battle, and
at all our bivouacs.

Several thousand soldiers covered the marketplace and the neighbouring
streets; but they were laid out stiff before the magazines of spirits
which they had broken open, and where they drank the cup of death, from
which they fancied they were to inhale fresh life. These were the only
succours which Murat had left him; Ney found himself left alone in
Russia, with seven hundred foreign recruits. At Kowno, as it had been
after the disasters of Wiazma, of Smolensk, of the Berezina, and of
Wilna, it was to him that the honour of our arms and all the peril of
the last steps of our retreat were again confided.

On the 14th, at daybreak, the Russians commenced their attack. One of
their columns made a hasty advance from the Wilna road, while another
crossed the Niemen on the ice above the town, landed on the Prussian
territory, and, proud of being the first to cross its frontier, marched
to the bridge of Kowno, to close that outlet upon Ney, and completely
cut off his retreat.

The first firing was heard at the Wilna gate; Ney ran thither, with a
view to drive away Platof's artillery with his own; but he found his
cannon had been already spiked, and that his artillerymen had fled!
Enraged, he darted forward, and elevating his sword, would have killed
the officer who commanded them, had it not been for his aide-de-camp,
who warded off the blow, and enabled this miserable fellow to make his
escape.

Ney then summoned his infantry, but only one of the two feeble
battalions of which it was composed had taken up arms; it consisted of
the three hundred Germans of the garrison. He drew them up, encouraged
them, and as the enemy was approaching, was just about to give them the
order to fire, when a Russian cannon ball, grazing the palisade, came
and broke the thigh of their commanding officer. He fell, and without
the least hesitation, finding that his wound was mortal, he coolly drew
out his pistols and blew out his brains before his troop. Terrified at
this act of despair, his soldiers were completely scared, all of them at
once threw down their arms, and fled in disorder.

Ney, abandoned by all, neither deserted himself nor his post. After vain
efforts to detain these fugitives, he collected their muskets, which
were still loaded, became once more a common soldier, and with only four
others, kept facing thousands of the Russians. His audacity stopped
them; it made some of his artillerymen ashamed, who imitated their
marshal; it gave time to his aide-de-camp Heymes, and to General Gerard
to embody thirty soldiers, bring forward two or three light pieces, and
to Generals Ledru and Marchand to collect the only battalion which
remained.

But at that moment the second attack of the Russians commenced on the
other side of the Niemen, and near the bridge of Kowno; it was then
half-past two o'clock. Ney sent Ludru, Marchand, and their four hundred
men forward to retake and secure that passage. As to himself, without
giving way, or disquieting himself farther as to what was passing in his
rear, he kept on fighting at the head of his thirty men, and maintained
himself until night at the Wilna gate. He then traversed the town and
crossed the Niemen, constantly fighting, retreating but never flying,
marching after all the others, supporting to the last moment the honour
of our arms, and for the hundredth time during the last forty days and
forty nights, putting his life and liberty in jeopardy to save a few
more Frenchmen. Finally, he was the last of the grand army who quitted
that fatal Russia, exhibiting to the world the impotence of fortune
against great courage, and proving that with heroes every thing turns to
glory, even the greatest disasters.

It was eight o'clock at night when he reached the allied bank. Then it
was, that seeing the completion of the catastrophe, Marchand repulsed to
the entrance of the bridge, and the road of Wilkowiski which Murat had
taken, completely covered with the enemy's troops, he darted off to the
right, plunged into the woods, and disappeared.




CHAP. V.


When Murat reached Gumbinnen, he was exceedingly surprised to find Ney
already there, and to find, that since it had left Kowno, the army was
marching without a rear-guard. Fortunately, the pursuit of the Russians,
after they had reconquered their own territory, became slackened. They
seemed to hesitate on the Prussian frontier, not knowing whether they
should enter it as allies or as enemies. Murat took advantage of their
uncertainty to halt a few days at Gumbinnen, and to direct the remains
of the different corps to the towns on the borders of the Vistula.

Previous to this dislocation of the army, he assembled the commanders of
it. I know not what evil genius it was that inspired him at this
council. One would fain believe that it was the embarrassment he felt
before these warriors for his precipitate flight, and spite against the
Emperor, who had left him with the responsibility of it; or it might be
shame at appearing again, vanquished, in the midst of the nations whom
our victories had most oppressed; but as his language bore a much more
mischievous character, which his subsequent actions did not belie, and
as they were the first symptoms of his defection, history must not pass
over them in silence.

This warrior, who had been elevated to the throne solely by the right of
victory, now returned discomfited. From the first step he took upon
vanquished territory, he fancied he felt it everywhere trembling under
his feet, and that his crown was tottering on his head. A thousand times
during the campaign, he had exposed himself to the greatest dangers; but
he, who, as a king, had shown as little fear of death as the meanest
soldier of the vanguard, could not bear the apprehension of living
without a crown. Behold him then, in the midst of the commanders, whom
his brother had placed under his direction, accusing that brother's
ambition, which he had shared, in order to free himself from the
responsibility which its gratification had involved.

He exclaimed, "that it was no longer possible to serve such a madman!
that there was no safety in supporting his cause; that no monarch in
Europe could now place any reliance on his word, or in treaties
concluded with him. He himself was in despair for having rejected the
propositions of the English; had it not been for that, he would still be
a great monarch, such as the Emperor of Austria, and the King of
Prussia."

Davoust abruptly cut him short. "The King of Prussia, the Emperor of
Austria," said he to him, "are monarchs by the grace of God, of time,
and the custom of nations. But as to you, you are only a king by the
grace of Napoleon, and of the blood of Frenchmen; you cannot remain so
but through Napoleon, and by continuing united to France. You are led
away by the blackest ingratitude!" And he declared to him that he would
immediately denounce his treachery to his Emperor; the other marshals
remained silent. They made allowance for the violence of the king's
grief, and attributed solely to his inconsiderate heat, the expressions
which the hatred and suspicious character of Davoust had but too clearly
comprehended.

Murat was put entirely out of countenance; he felt himself guilty. Thus
was stifled the first spark of treachery, which at a later period was
destined to ruin France. It is with regret that history commemorates it,
as repentance and misfortune have atoned for the crime.

We were soon obliged to carry our humiliation to Koenigsberg. The grand
army, which, during the last twenty years, had shown itself successively
triumphant in all the capitals of Europe, now, for the first time,
re-appeared mutilated, disarmed, and fugitive, in one of those which had
been most humiliated by its glory. Its population crowded on our passage
to count our wounds, and to estimate, by the extent of our disasters,
that of the hopes they might venture to entertain; we were compelled to
feast their greedy looks with our miseries, to pass under the yoke of
their hope, and while dragging our misfortunes through the midst of
their odious joy, to march under the insupportable weight of hated
calamity.

The feeble remnant of the grand army did not bend under this burden. Its
shadow, already almost dethroned, still exhibited itself imposing; it
preserved its royal air; although vanquished by the elements, it kept
up, in the presence of men, its victorious and commanding attitude.

On their side, the Germans, either from slowness or fear, received us
docilely; their hatred restrained itself under an appearance of
coolness; and as they scarcely ever act from themselves, they were
obliged to relieve our miseries, during the time that they were looking
for a signal. Koenigsberg was soon unable to contain them. Winter, which
had followed us thither, deserted us there all at once; in one night the
thermometer fell twenty degrees.

This sudden change was fatal to us. A great number of soldiers and
generals, whom the tension of the atmosphere had hitherto supported by a
continued irritation, sunk and fell into decomposition. Lariboissiere,
general-in-chief of the artillery, fell a sacrifice; Eble, the pride of
the army, followed him. Every day and every hour, our consternation was
increased by fresh deaths.

In the midst of this general mourning, a sudden insurrection, and a
letter from Macdonald, contributed to convert all these sorrows into
despair. The sick could no longer cherish the expectation of dying free;
the friend was either compelled to desert his expiring friend, the
brother his brother, or to drag them in that state to Elbing. The
insurrection was only alarming as a symptom; it was put down; but the
intelligence transmitted by Macdonald was decisive.




CHAP. VI.


On the side where that marshal commanded, the whole of the war had been
only a rapid march from Tilsit to Mittau, a display of force from the
mouth of the Aa to Duenaburg, and finally, a long defensive position in
front of Riga; the composition of that army being almost entirely
Prussian, its position and Napoleon's orders so willed it.

It was a piece of great audacity in the Emperor to entrust his left
wing, as well as his right and his retreat, to Prussians and Austrians.
It was observed, that at the same time he had dispersed the Poles
throughout the whole army; many persons thought that it would have been
preferable to collect in one point the zeal of the latter, and to have
divided the hatred of the former. But we everywhere required natives as
interpreters, scouts, or guides, and felt the value of their audacious
ardour on the true points of attack. As to the Prussians and Austrians,
it is probable that they would not have allowed themselves to be
dispersed. On the left, Macdonald, with seven thousand Bavarians,
Westphalians, and Poles, mixed with twenty-two thousand Prussians,
appeared sufficient to answer for the latter, as well as for the
Russians.

In the advance march, there had been at first nothing to do, but to
drive the Russian posts before them, and to carry off some magazines.
Afterwards there were a few skirmishes between the Aa and Riga. The
Prussians, after a rather warm affair, took Eckau from the Russian
General Lewis; after which both sides remained quiet for twenty days.
Macdonald employed that time in taking possession of Duenaburg, and in
getting the heavy artillery brought to Mittau, which was necessary for
the siege of Riga.

On the intelligence of his approach, on the 23d of August, the
commander-in-chief at Riga made all his troops march out of the place in
three columns. The two weakest were to make two false attacks; the first
by proceeding along the coast of the Baltic sea, and the second directly
on Mittau; the third, which was the strongest, and commanded by Lewis,
was at the same time to retake Eckau, drive back the Prussians as far as
the Aa, cross that river, and either capture or destroy the park of
artillery.

The plan succeeded as far as beyond the Aa, when Grawert, supported
latterly by Kleist, repulsed Lewis, and following the Russians closely
as far as Eckau, defeated them there entirely, Lewis fled in disorder as
far as the Duena, which he recrossed by fording it, leaving behind a
great number of prisoners.

Thus far Macdonald was satisfied. It is even said, that at Smolensk,
Napoleon thought of elevating Yorck to the dignity of a marshal of the
empire, at the same time that at Vienna he caused Schwartzenberg to be
named field-marshal. The claims of these two commanders to the honour
were by no means equal.

In both wings, disagreeable symptoms were manifested; with the
Austrians, it was among the officers that they were fermenting; their
general kept them firm in their alliance with us; he even apprised us of
their bad disposition, and pointed out the means of preventing the
contagion from spreading among the other allied troops which were mixed
with his.

The case was quite the contrary with our left wing; the Prussian army
marched without the least after-thought, at the very time that its
general was conspiring against us. On the right wing, therefore, during
the time of combat, it was the leader who drew his troops after him in
spite of themselves, while, on the left wing, the troops pushed forward
their commander, almost in spite of himself.

Among the latter, the officers, the soldiers, and Grawert himself, a
loyal old warrior, who had no political feelings, entered frankly into
the war. They fought like lions on all occasions when their commander
left them at liberty to do so; they expressed themselves anxious to wash
out, in the eyes of the French, the shame of their defeat in 1806, to
reconquer our esteem, to vanquish in the presence of their conquerors,
to prove that their defeat was only attributable to their government,
and that they were worthy of a better fate.

Yorck had higher views. He belonged to the society of the _Friends of
Virtue_, whose principle was hatred of the French, and whose object was
their complete expulsion from Germany. But Napoleon was still
victorious, and the Prussian afraid to commit himself. Besides, the
justice, the mildness, and the military reputation of Macdonald had
completely gained the affection of his troops. They said "they had never
been so happy as when under the command of a Frenchman." In fact, as
they were united with the conquerors, and shared the rights of conquest
with them, they had allowed themselves to be seduced by the all-powerful
attraction of being on the side of the victor.

Every thing contributed to it. Their administration was directed by an
intendant and agents taken from their own army. They lived in abundance.
It was on that very point, however, that the quarrel between Macdonald
and Yorck began, and that the hatred of the latter found an opening to
diffuse itself.

First of all, some complaints were made in the country against their
administration. Shortly after, a French administrator arrived, and
either from rivalry or a spirit of justice, he accused the Prussian
intendant of exhausting the country by enormous requisitions of cattle.
"He sent them," it was said, "into Prussia, which had been exhausted by
our passage; the army was deprived of them, and a dearth would very soon
be felt in it." By his account, Yorck was perfectly aware of the
manoeuvre. Macdonald believed the accusation, dismissed the accused
person, and confided the administration to the accuser; Yorck, filled
with spite, thought henceforward of nothing but revenge.

Napoleon was then at Moscow. The Prussian was on the watch; he joyfully
foresaw the consequences of that rash enterprise, and it appears as if
he yielded to the temptation of taking advantage of it, and of getting
the start of fortune. On the 29th of September, the Russian general
learned that Yorck had uncovered Mittau; and either from having received
reinforcements, (two divisions had actually just arrived from Finland,)
or from confidence of another kind, he adventured himself as far as that
city, which he retook, and was preparing to push his advantage. The
grand park of the besiegers' artillery was about to be carried off;
Yorck, if we are to believe those who were witnesses, had exposed it, he
remained motionless, he betrayed it.

It is said that the chief of his staff felt indignant at this treachery;
we are assured that he represented to his general in the warmest terms,
that he would ruin himself, and destroy the honour of the Prussian arms;
and that, finally, Yorck, moved by his representations, allowed Kleist
to put himself in movement. His approach was quite sufficient. But on
this occasion, although there was a regular battle, there were scarcely
four hundred men put _hors du combat_ on both sides. As soon as this
petty warfare was over, each army tranquilly resumed its former
quarters.




CHAP. VII.


On the receipt of this intelligence, Macdonald became uneasy, and very
much incensed; he hurried from his right wing, where perhaps he had
remained too long at a distance from the Prussians. The surprise of
Mittau, the danger which his park of artillery had run of being
captured, Yorck's obstinacy in refusing to pursue the enemy, and the
secret details which reached him from the interior of Yorck's
head-quarters, were all sufficiently alarming. But the more ground there
was of suspicion, the more it was necessary to dissemble; for as the
Prussian army was entirely guiltless of the designs of its leader, and
had fought readily, and as the enemy had given way, appearances had been
preserved, and it would have been wise policy in Macdonald if he had
appeared satisfied.

He did quite the contrary. His quick disposition, or his loyalty, were
unable to dissemble; he burst out into reproaches against the Prussian
general, at the very moment when his troops, satisfied with their
victory, were only looking for praise and rewards. Yorck artfully
contrived to make his soldiers, whose expectations had been frustrated,
participators in the disgust of a humiliation which had been reserved
solely for himself.

We find in Macdonald's letters the real causes of his dissatisfaction.
He wrote to Yorck, "that it was shameful that his posts were continually
attacked, and that in return he had never once harassed the enemy; that
ever since he had been in sight of them, he had done no more than repel
attacks, and in no one instance had ever acted on the offensive,
although his officers and troops were filled with the best
dispositions." This last remark was very true, for in general it was
remarkable to see the ardour of all these Germans for a cause completely
foreign to them, and which might to them even appear hostile.

They all rivalled each other in eagerness to rush into the midst of
danger, in order to acquire the esteem of the grand army, and an
eulogium from Napoleon. Their princes preferred the plain silver star of
French honour to their richest orders. At that time the genius of
Napoleon still appeared to have dazzled or subdued every one. Equally
munificent to reward as prompt and terrible to punish, he appeared like
one of those great centres of nature, the dispenser of all good. In many
of the Germans, there was united with this feeling that of a respectful
admiration for a life which was so completely stamped with the
marvellous, which so much affects them.

But their admiration was a consequence of victory, and our fatal retreat
had already commenced; already, from the north to the south of Europe,
the Russian cries of vengeance replied to those of Spain. They crossed
and echoed each other in the countries of Germany, which still remained
under the yoke; these two great fires, lighted up at the two extremities
of Europe, were gradually extending towards its centre, where they were
like the dawn of a new day; they covered sparks which were fanned by
hearts burning with patriotic hatred, and exalted to fanaticism by
mystic rites. Gradually, as our disaster approached to Germany, there
was heard rising from her bosom an indistinct rumour, a general, but
still trembling, uncertain and confused murmur.

The students of the universities, bred up with ideas of independence,
inspired by their ancient constitutions, which secure them so many
privileges, full of exalted recollections of the ancient and chivalrous
glory of Germany, and for her sake jealous of all foreign glory, had
always been our enemies. Total strangers to all political calculations,
they had never bent themselves under our victory. Since it had become
pale, a similar spirit had caught the politicians and even the military.
The association of the _Friends of Virtue_ gave this insurrection the
appearance of an extensive plot; some chiefs did certainly conspire, but
there was no conspiracy; it was a spontaneous movement, a common and
universal sensation.

Alexander skilfully increased this disposition by his proclamations, by
his addresses to the Germans, and by the distinction which he made in
the treatment of their prisoners. As to the monarchs of Europe, he and
Bernadotte were as yet the only ones who marched at the head of their
people. All the others, restrained by policy or feelings of honour,
allowed themselves to be anticipated by their subjects.

This infection even penetrated to the grand army; after the passage of
the Berezina, Napoleon had been informed of it. Communications had been
observed to be going on between the Bavarian, Saxon, and Austrian
generals. On the left, Yorck's bad disposition increased, and
communicated itself to a part of his troops; all the enemies of France
had united, and Macdonald was astonished at having to repel the
perfidious insinuations of an aide-de-camp of Moreau. The impression
made by our victories was still however so deep in all the Germans, they
had been so powerfully kept under, that they required a considerable
time to raise themselves.

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