XI. 1813. hands. This was the second time during a year that this CHAP. had been presented to the world-a spectacle of destruction of which modern times heretofore had presented no example. There remained to him 60,000 men, composed partly of the Guard, partly of the corps of cavalry which had passed the bridge and defile of Lindenau, in the night and during the 18th, together with the corps of Bertrand. These were the only forces that could be called regular, on supported Poniatowski with la Jeune Garde; and Mortier was charged with the care of Leipsic. Now, as to the dispositions and orders of the Grand Army: The first column, under Barclay de Tolly, composed of Wittgenstein's, Kleist's, and Ziethen's corps, and the Russian and Prussian Guards, were to advance to the heights of Wachau. The second column, under the hereditary Prince of Hesse Homburg, a most gallant and distinguished officer, composed of the divisions Bianchi, Alois Lichtenstein, and Weissenwolf, with General Nostitz in reserve, and also Colloredo, was to march on Dolitz, in a direct line to Connewitz. The third column, under Benningen, with the corps of Klenau and Ziethen, was at Holzhausen, and was to act according to circumstances. "While the Grand Army was to commence their attack on the morning of the 18th, from three different points of assembly, on the principal villages situated upon the great road leading to Leipsic, the Armies of the North and Silesia were jointly to attack the line of the Saale and the enemy's position along the Partha road. General Blucher gave to the Prince Royal of Sweden 30,000 men, infantry, cavalry, and artillery; and with this formidable reinforcement the Northern Army was to attack from the heights of Taucha, while General Blucher was to retain his position before Leipsic, and use his utmost efforts to gain possession of the place. In the event of the whole of the enemy's forces being carried against either of the armies, they were reciprocally to support each other, and concert further movements. That part of the enemy's force which for some time had been opposed to the Prince Royal of Sweden and General Blucher, had taken up a very good position on the left bank of the Partha, having its right at the strong point of Taucha and its left towards Leipsic. "To force the enemy's right and obtain possession of Taucha was the first operation of the Prince Royal's army. The corps of Russians, under General Winzingerode, and the Prussians, under General Bulow, were destined for this purpose; and the Swedish army were directed to force the passage of the river at Plozen and Mockau. The passage was effected without much opposition. General Winzingerode took about 3000 prisoners at Taucha, and seven guns; and, General Blucher put his army in motion as soon as he found the Grand Army engaged very hotly in the neighbourhood of the villages of Probstheyda and Stötteritz. The infantry of the Prince Royal's army had not time to make their prescribed flank movement before the enemy's infantry had abandoned the line of the river, and retired over the plain in line and column towards Leipsic, occupying Sellershausen, Paunsdorf, and Schönfeld in strength, to protect their retreat. A very heavy cannonading and some brilliant performances of Winzingerode's cavalry marked chiefly here the events of the day, except towards the close, when General Count Langeron, who had crossed the river and attacked the village of Schönfeld, met with considerable resistance, and CHAP. whom he could reckon. Those who left Leipsic on the XI. 19th when the enemy were entering the town had no 1813. longer any consistence or organisation. The troops which we commanded had had their discipline so completely dissolved by the fatigues and hardships which they had endured, that they abandoned themselves without restraint to every excess. The impossibility of making any regular distribution of provisions for the subsistence of the men, at first was not able to force his way. He, however, took it, but was driven out, when the most positive orders were sent him by General Blucher, to reoccupy it at the point of the bayonet, which he accomplished before dark. "Some Prussian battalions of General Bulow's corps were warmly engaged also at Paunsdorf, and the enemy were retiring from it, when the Prince Royal directed the rocket-brigade, under Captain Bogue, to form on the left of a Russian battery, and open upon the columns retiring. Congreve's formidable weapon had scarce accomplished the point of paralysing a solid square of infantry, which after our fire delivered themselves up as if panic-struck, when that gallant and accomplished officer, Captain Bogue, of the British Royal Artillery, alike an ornament to his profession and a loss to his friends, received a wound in the head which deprived the country of his services. Lieutenant Strangways succeeded in the command of the brigade, and received the Prince Royal's thanks through me for the services they had rendered. I had great satisfaction in witnessing and being present most of the day with this valuable corps, which did most extraordinary service. "During the action 22 guns of Saxon artillery joined us from the enemy, and two Westphalian regiments of hussars and two battalions of Saxons. The former were opportunely made use of in the instant against the enemy, as our ammunition and artillery was not all forward. The Prince Royal addressed the latter by an offer to lead them against the enemy, which they to a man accepted. "The communication being immediately established between the grand attack and that of these two armies, the Grand Duke Constantine, General Platoff, Milaradowitch, and other officers of distinction joined the Prince Royal, communicating the events which had occurred in that direction. It seems the most desperate resistance was made by the enemy at Probstheyda, Stötteritz, and Connewitz; but the differeut columns bearing on those points having at length come up, they carried everything before them-General Benningsen taking the villages on the right bank of the Kentchoe, and General Giulay manœuvering 25,000 Austrians on the left bank of the Elster. General Thielman and Prince Alois Lichtenstein moved upon the same river; and the result of the day was that the enemy lost above 40,000 men in killed and wounded, 65 pieces of artillery, and 17 battalions of German infantry, with all their staff and generals, which came over in mass during the action. The armies remained upon the ground which they had so bravely conquered this night. The Prince Royal had his bivouac at Paunsdorf, General Blucher at Witterest, and the Emperor and King at Roda. "About the close of the day, as it was understood the enemy were retiring by Weissenfels and Naumburg, General Blucher received an order from the King of Prussia to detach in that direction. The movement of the Prince Royal CHAP. XI. 1813. afforded too complete a justification of these disorders. Every one occupied himself exclusively with the care of self-preservation; and as the military spirit was extinct among them, and had been succeeded by the most woeful depression, the most thorough disgust at the service, every one at a little distance from the standards threw away his arms, and marched with a stick in his hand. Out of 60,000 men who remained, 20,000 moved on in this manner, in little bodies of eight or ten each, who roamed over the country on either side of the road in quest of food, and covered it at night with an immense quantity of disorderly fires. These soldiers received from, Marm. v. the army a name become historical; they called them 302, 303. 'fricoteurs,' seekers of food." 1 having completely precluded the retreat on Wittenberg, that upon Erfurth had long since been lost to them, the line of the Saale alone remains. And as their flanks and rear will be operated upon during their march, it is diffi cult to say with what portion of their army they may get to the Rhine. "This morning the town of Leipsic was attacked and carried after a short resistance by the armies of Blucher, the Prince Royal, Benningsen, and the Grand Army. Marmont and Macdonald commanded in the town. They, with Augereau and Victor, only escaped with a small escort. Their Majesties the Emperor of Russia and King of Prussia, each heading their respective troops, entered the town at different points, and met in the great square. The acclamations and rejoicings of the people are not to be described. Handkerchiefs waving from the windows, hands clamorous in applause, and, lastly, but most forcible, tears rolling from the eyes, marked the delightful era of the delivery of the world from the tyranny of a despot to be at hand. The moment was too delicious to an Englishman to describe. I confess myself unequal to it, and claim your Lordship's indulgence. "The multiplicity of brilliant achievements, the impossibility of doing justice to the prowess that has been displayed, the boldness of the conception of the commander-in-chief, Prince Schwartzenberg, and the other experienced leaders, together with the shortness of the time allowed for making up this despatch, will plead, I hope, an excuse for my not sending you an accurate or perfect detail, which I hope, however, to do hereafter. I send this despatch by my aide-de-camp Mr James, who has been distinguished for his services since he has been with this army, and will be able to give your Lordship all further particulars.—I have the honour to be, &c., CHAS. STEWART, Lt.-Genl." This very interesting despatch for the most part appeared in the public newspapers, but many passages were omitted which are now supplied from the original draft in the Londonderry Papers. A copy was intrusted to Mr Jolly, a Prussian gentleman connected with England, who, at great personal risk, carried it through Germany and Holland, and in an open boat to London, where he arrived on the 27th October—an incredibly short space of time at that period. "The original," says Lord Londonderry, as above given, was written on a stone on the field of battle."-MS. Londonderry Papers. CHAP. XI. 1813. 64. New distribution of the Allied armies. The Allied army underwent a great dislocation after the battle of Leipsic. Bernadotte, with the Army of the North, was to move by Cassel towards Hamburg, to watch the powerful army, 35,000 strong, which Davoust commanded in that city, and which it was of great importance to prevent getting back to the Rhine. Benningsen was despatched down the Elbe by Magdeburg to the same point. Klenau was detached towards Dresden, to aid in the blockade of St Cyr, who, with an equal force, lay in that fortress, and was soon expected to surrender. Blucher, with the corps of Langeron and Sacken, and a large body of Cossacks under Platoff, was charged with the pursuit of Napoleon on the road to Mayence, and he effected the passage of the Elster, below Leipsic, on the 20th. D'York, by crossing at Halle, had already preceded him; Giulay, with his Austrians, moved by Pegau on Naumburg; but the great body of the Grand Army remained in Leipsic, reposing itself, restoring order in that city, and burying the dead in its environs, a task of no small labour, for above 20,000 corpses all nations encumbered the ground and spread a pestilential air around. These movements, in particular that of Bernadotte, to whose headquarters Sir Charles Stewart continued attached, were dictated even more by political than military considerations. The backwardness of the Crown Prince in bringing up his troops, especially the Swedes, during the preceding eventful campaign, was well known at headquarters, and as much to the Emperor Alexander and Prince Schwartzenberg as to Lord Castlereagh and Sir Charles Stewart.* But he was too important a person in the confederacy for his aid to be dispensed with. The sovereigns, therefore, took the wise part of dissembling in the mean time, and of * "The Crown Prince was still at Leipsic when I went away, dressed like an opera-master. Stewart is outrageous with him: he says he not only did nothing, but avoided doing anything, although he might, by co-operating with Blucher, have crushed a great part of the enemy's forces.”— WILSON, ii. 186. XI. 1813. 1 Fain, ii. Charles doing nothing which might evince a distrust in his sin- CHAP. cerity. They gave him, accordingly, the command of the powerful army destined to observe and blockade Davoust, in which duty, as it concerned his own immediate in- 449, 450; terests, it was not likely he would be deficient. This Mem. de direction of his forces was highly agreeable to Bernadotte, Jean, ii. 100; who, by his own confession, felt himself not unnaturally Chron. i. in a false position, distracted between his attachment Lond. 147; to the land of his birth and his hopes of ascending its 367. throne, and his duties to that of his adoption.1 i "Die Grosse 947-950; Cath. 366, 65. the Rhine, losses in course of it. The retreat of the French army to the Rhine was attended by disorganisation as complete, and losses as Disastrous great while it lasted, as that from Moscow had been. retreat to Nothing could exceed the disorder and confusion which and great everywhere prevailed, and which soon came to infect curred in the Guards and corps-d'élite cavalry themselves. The Emperor, who stood a few days afterwards at a window in Erfurth to see the troops passing through, said to those around him, "Now, only see what a set they arethey are going headlong to the devil-I shall lose eighty thousand men from this to the Rhine in this manner." He never abated, however, in his self-confidence, and immediately added, "However, between the Rhine and this, I shall have two hundred and fifty thousand men in spring." Meanwhile, as the great road to the Rhine had been cut by Giulay's march on Naumburg, the army, to gain the Freiburg road to Erfurth, crossed the Saale at Weissenfels, and rolled incessantly on, horse, foot, and cannon tumultuously together, like a torrent which had broken its bounds. The officers, despairing of the possibility of doing so, abandoned all thoughts of preserving order, and, like the rest, thought only of self-preservation. Prisoners were taken in great numbers by the Cossacks * “The Prince Royal lost no time in quitting Leipsic, and moved in the direction of Hamburg. The fact is, that at Leipsic he was in a false position. The sight of every dead body, of every wounded man, of every French prisoner, awakened in his breast the most cruel feelings.”—Memoires de Charles Jean, ii. 100. |