Tom Burke Of Ours, Volume II, Page 2

  CHAPTER II. LINTZ

  As day was breaking, we came up with a strong detachment of the cavalryof the Guard proceeding to join Bessiere's division at Lintz. From themwe learned that the main body of the army was already far in advance,several entire corps having marched from Lintz with the supposedintention of occupying Vienna. Ney's division, it was said, was alsobearing down from the Tyrol; Davoust and Mortier were advancing by theleft bank of the Danube; whilst Lannes and Murat, with an overwhelmingforce of light troops, had pushed forward two days' march in advance ontheir way to the capital. The fate of Ulm was already predicted for theAustrian city, and each day's intelligence seemed to make it onlythe more inevitable. Meanwhile the Emperor Francis had abandoned thecapital, and retreated on Brunn, a fortified town in Moravia, there toawait the arrival of his ally, Alexander, hourly expected from Berlin.

  As day after day we pressed forward, our numbers continued to increase.A motley force, indeed, did we present: cavalry of every sort, from thesteel-clad cuirassier to the gay hussar, dragoons, chasseurs, guides,and light cavalry, all mixed up together, and all eagerly recountingthe several experiences of the campaign as it fell under their eyes indifferent quarters. From none, however, could I learn any tidings ofMinette; for though known to many there, the detachment she had joinedhad taken a southerly direction, and was not crossed by any of theothers on their march. The General d'Auvergne, I heard, was with theheadquarters of the Emperor, then established at the monastery of Molk,on the Danube.

  On the evening of the 13th of November we arrived at Lintz, thecapital of Upper Austria, but at the time I speak of one vast barrack.Thirty-eight thousand troops of all arms were within its walls; notsubject to the rigid discipline and regular command of a garrison town,but bivouacking in the open streets and squares. Tables were spread inthe thoroughfares, at which the divisions as they arrived took theirplaces, and after refreshing themselves, moved on to make way forothers. The great churches were strewn with forage, and filled with thehorses of the cavalry; there might be seen the lumbering steeds ofthe cuirassier, eating their corn from the richly-carved box of aconfessional; here lay the travel-stained figure of a dragoon, stretchedasleep across the steps of the altar. The little chapelries, wherethe foot of the penitent awoke no echo as it passed, now rung with thecoarse jest and reckless ribaldry of the soldiers; parties carousedin the little sacristies; and the rude chorus of a drinking song nowvibrated through the groined roof where only the sacred notes ofthe organ had been heard to peal. The Hotel de Ville was thequartier-general, where the generals of divisions were assembled, andfrom which the orderlies rode forth at every moment with despatches. Theone cry, "Forward!" was heard everywhere. They who before had claimedleave for slight wounds or illness, were now seen among their comradeswith bandaged arms and patched faces, eager to press on. Many whoseregiments were in advance became incorporated for the time with othercorps; and dismounted dragoons were often to be met with, marching withthe infantry and mounting guard in turn. Everything bespoke haste. Theregiments which arrived at night frequently moved off before day broke.The cavalry often were provided with fresh horses to press forward,leaving their own for the corps that were to follow. A great flotilla,provided with all the necessaries for an army on the march, movedalong the Danube, and accompanied the troops each day. In a word, everyexpedient was practised which could hasten the movement of the army;justifying the remark so often repeated among the soldiers at the time,"Le Petit Caporal makes more use of our legs than our bayonets in thiscampaign."

  On the same evening we arrived came the news of the surprise of Viennaby Murat. Never was there such joy as this announcement spread throughthe army. The act itself was one of those daring feats which only suchas he could venture on, and indeed at first seemed so miraculous thatmany refused to credit it. Prince Auersberg, to whom the great bridge ofthe Danube was intrusted, had prepared everything for its destructionin the event of attack. The whole line of woodwork was laid withcombustibles; trains were set, the matches burning; a strong battery oftwelve guns, posted to command the bridge, occupied the height on theright bank, and the Austrian gunners lay, match in hand, beside theirpieces: but a word was needed, and the whole work was in a blaze.

  Such was the state of matters when Sebastiani pushed through thefaubourg of the Leopoldstadt at the head of a strong cavalry detachment,supported by some grenadiers of the Guard, and by Murat's orders,concealed his force among the narrow streets which lead to the bridgefrom the left bank of the Danube. This done, Lannes and Murat advancedcarelessly along the bridge, which, from the frequent passage ofcouriers between the two headquarters, had become a species ofpromenade, where the officers of either side met to converse on thefortunes of the campaign. Dressed simply as officers of the staff, theystrolled along till they came actually beneath the Austrian battery; andthen entered into conversation with the Austrian officers, assuring themthat the armistice was signed, and peace already proclaimed between thetwo countries.

  The Austrians, trusting to their story, and much interested by what theyheard, descended from the mound, and joining them, proceeded to walkbackwards and forwards along the bridge, conversing on the probableconsequences of the treaty; when suddenly turning round by chance, asthey walked towards the right bank, they saw the head of a grenadiercolumn approaching at the quick step. The thought of treachery crossedtheir minds; and one of them, rushing to the side of the bridge, calledout to the artillerymen to fire. A movement was seen in the battery,the matches were uplifted, when Murat, dashing forward, cried aloud,"Reserve your fire; there is nothing to fear!"

  The same instant the Austrian officers were surrounded; the sappersrushing on the bridge cleared away the combustibles, and cut off thetrains; and the cavalry, till now in concealment, pushing forward at agallop, crossed the bridge, followed by the grenadiers in a run,--beforethe Austrians, who saw their own officers mingled with the French, coulddecide on what was to be done,--while Murat, springing on his horse,dashed forward at the head of the dragoons; and before five minuteselapsed the battery was stormed, the gunners captured, and Vienna won.

  Never was there a _coup de main_ more hardy than this, whether we lookto the danger of the deed itself, or the insignificant force by which itwas accomplished. A few horsemen and some companies of foot, led onby an heroic chief, thus turned the whole fortune of Europe; for, bysecuring this bridge, Napoleon enabled himself, as circumstances mightwarrant, to unite the different corps of his army on the right orleft banks of the Danube, and either direct his operations against theRussians, or the Austrians under the Archduke Charles, as he pleased.

  The treachery by which the bold deed was made successful, was, alas!deemed no stain on the achievement. But one rule of judgment existed inthe Imperial army: Was the advantage on the side of France, and to thehonor of her arms? That covered every flaw, no matter whether inflictedby duplicity or breach of faith. The habit of healing all wounds ofconscience by a bulletin had become so general, that men would not trustto the guidance of their own reason till confirmed by some Imperialproclamation; and when the Emperor declared a battle gained and gloryachieved, who would gainsay him? If this blind, headlong confidencetended to lower the _morale_ of the nation, in an equal degree did itmake them conquerors in the field; and thus--by a strange decree ofProvidence, would it seem--were they preparing for themselves theterrible reverse of fortune which, when the destinies of their leaderbecame clouded and their confidence in him shaken, was to fall on apeople who lived only in the mad intoxication of victory, and knew notthe sterner virtues that can combat with defeat.

  But so was it. Napoleon commanded the legions and described theirachievements; he led them to the charge and he apportioned their glory;the heroism of the soldier had no existence until acknowledged bythe proclamation after the battle; the valor of the general wantedconfirmation till sealed by his approval. To fight beneath his eyes wasthe greatest glory a regiment could wish for; to win one word from himwas fame itself forever.

  If I
dwell on these thoughts here, it is because I now felt for thefirst time the sad deception I had practised on myself; and how littlecould I hope to realize in my soldier's life the treasured aspirationsof my boyhood I Was this, then, indeed the career I had pictured tomy mind,--the chivalrous path of honor? Was this the bold assertion offreedom I so often dreamed of? How few of that armed host knew anythingof the causes of the war,--how much fewer still cared for them! Nosentiment of patriotism, no devotion to the interests of liberty orhumanity, prompted us on. Yet these were the thoughts first led me tothe career of arms; such ambitious promptings first made my heart glowwith the enthusiasm of a soldier.

  This gloomy disappointment made me low-spirited and sad. Nor can I saywhere such reflections might not have led me, when suddenly a changecame over my thoughts by seeing a wounded soldier, who had just arrivedfrom Mortier's division, with news of a fierce encounter they hadsustained against Kutusof's Russians. The poor fellow was carriedpast in a litter,--his arm had been amputated that same morning, and afrightful shot-wound had carried away part of his cheek; still, amid allhis suffering, his eye was brilliant, and a smile of proud meaning wason his lips.

  "Lift it up, Guillaume; let me see it again," said he, as they bore himalong the crowded street.

  "What is it he wishes?" said I. "The poor fellow is asking forsomething."

  "Yes, mon lieutenant. It is the _sabre d'honneur_ the Emperor gave himthis morning. He likes to look at it every now and then; he says hedoesn't mind the pain when he sees that before him. _And it is natural,too._"

  "Such is glory!" said I to myself; "and he who feels this in his hearthas no room for other thoughts."

  "Oh, give to me the trumpet's blast, And the champ of the chargerprancing; Or the whiz of the grape-shot flying past, That 'a music meetfor dancing.

  "Tralararalal" sang a wild-looking voltigeur, as he capered along thestreet, keeping time to his rude song with the tramp of his feet.

  "Ha! there goes a fellow from the Faubourg!" said an officer near me.

  "The Faubourg?" repeated I, asking for explanation.

  "Yes, to be sure. The Faubourg St. Antoine supplies all the recklessdevils of the army; one of them would corrupt a regiment, and so, thebest thing to do is to keep them as much together as possible. Thevoltigeurs have little else; and proof is, they are the cleverest corpsin the service, and if they could be kept from picking and stealing,lying, drinking, and gambling, there's not a man might not be a generalof division in time. There goes another!"

  As he spoke, a fellow passed by with a goose under his arm, followed bya woman most vociferously demanding restitution; while he only amusedhimself by replying with a mock courtesy, deploring in sad terms theunhappy necessities of war and the cruel hardships of a campaign.

  "It's no use punishing those fellows," said the officer. "They desert inwhole companies if you send one to the _salle de police_; and so we haveonly one resource, which is, to throw them pretty much in advance, andleave their chastisement to the enemy. And, sooth to say, they ask fornothing better themselves."

  Thus, even these fellows seemed to have their own sentiment of glory,--aproblem which the more I reasoned over the more puzzled did I become.

  While a hundred conjectures were hourly in circulation, none save thoseimmediately about the person of Napoleon could possibly divine thequarter where the great blow was to be struck, although all were inexpectation of the orders to prepare for battle. News would reach us ofmarchings and counter-marchings; of smart skirmishes here, and prisonerstaken there; yet could we not form the slightest conception of where thechief force of the enemy lay, nor what the direction to which our ownarmy was pointed. Indeed, our troops seemed to scatter on every side.Marmont, with a strong force, was despatched towards Gratz, where itwas said the Archduke Charles was at the head of a considerable army;Davoust moved on Hungary, and occupied Presburg; Bernadotte retraced hissteps towards the Upper Danube, to hold the Archduke Frederick in check,who had escaped from Ulm with ten thousand men; Mortiers corps, harassedand broken by the engagement with Kutusof, were barely sufficient togarrison Vienna; while Soult, Lannes, and Murat pushed forward towardsMoravia, with a strong cavalry force and some battalions of the Guard.In fact, the whole army was scattered like an exploded shell; nor couldwe see the means by which its wide extended fragments were to be unitedat a moment, much less divine the spot to which their combined force wasto be directed.

  Had these Russians been fabulous creatures of a legend, instead ofmen of mortal mould, they could scarcely have been endowed with moreattributes of ubiquity than we conferred on them. Sometimes we believedthem at one side of the Danube, sometimes at the other; now we heard ofthem as retreating by forced marches into their native fastnesses, nowas encamped in the mountain regions of Moravia. Yesterday came the newsthat they laid down their arms and surrendered as prisoners of war;to-day we heard of them as having forced back our advanced posts andcarried off several squadrons as prisoners.

  At length came the positive information that the allied armies were incantonments around Olmutz; while Napoleon had pushed forward to Brunn,a place of considerable strength, communicating by the highroad with theRussian headquarters. It was no longer doubtful, then, where the greatgame was to be decided, and thither the various battalions were nowdirected by marches day and night.

  On the 29th of November our united detachments, now numberingseveral hundred men, arrived at Brunn. I lost no time in repairing toheadquarters, where I found General d'Auvergne deeply engaged with thedetails of the force under his command: his brigade had been placedunder the orders of Murat; and it was well known the prince gave littlerest or respite to those under his command. From him I learned thatthree days of unsuccessful negotiation had just passed over, and thatthe Emperor had now resolved on a great battle. Indeed, every moment wascritical. Russia had assumed a decidedly hostile aspect; the Swedes weremoving to the south; the Archduke Charles, by a circuitous route, wason the march to join the Russian army, to whose aid fresh reinforcementswere daily arriving, and Benningsen was hourly expected with more. Underthese circumstances a battle was inevitable; and such a one, as, by itsresult, must conclude the war.

  This much did I learn from the old general as we rode over the fieldtogether; examining with caution the nature of the ground, and where itoffered facilities, and where it presented obstacles, to the movementof cavalry. Such were the orders issued that morning by Napoleon to thegenerals of brigade, who might now be seen with their staffs traversingthe plain in every direction. As we moved along we could discover in thedistance the dark columns of the enemy marching, not towards us, but ina southerly direction towards our extreme right. This movement attractedthe attention of several others, and more than one aide-de-camp wasdespatched to Brunn to carry the intelligence to the Emperor.

  The same evening couriers departed in every direction to Bernadotteand Davoust to hasten forward at once; even Mortier, with his mangleddivision, was ordered to abandon Vienna to a division of Marmont's army,and move on to Brunn. And now the great work of concentration began.

  Meanwhile the Russians advanced, and on the 30th drove in an advancedpost, and compelled our cavalry to fall back behind our position. Thefollowing morning the allies resumed their flank movement. And now nodoubt could be entertained of their plan; which was, by turning ourright, to cut us off from our supporting columns resting at Vienna, andthrow our retreat back upon the mountainous districts of Bohemia. Inthis way five massive columns moved past us scarce half a league distantfrom our advanced posts, numbering eighty thousand men, of which fifteenwere cavalry in the most perfect condition.

  Our position was in advance of the fortress of Brunn; the headquartersof the Emperor occupied a rising piece of ground, at the base of whichflowed a small stream, a tributary to some of the numerous ponds bywhich the field was intersected. The entire ground in our front wasindeed a succession of these small lakes, with villages interspersed,and occasionally some stunted woods; great morasses extended aroun
dthese ponds, through which led the highroads or such bypaths asconducted from one village to another. Here and there were plains wherecavalry might act with safety, but rarely in large bodies.

  Our right rested on the lake of Moeritz, where Soult's division wasstationed; behind which, thrown back in such a manner as to escape theobservation of the enemy, was Davoust's corps, the reserve occupying acliff of ground beside the convent of Eeygern. Our left, under Lannes,occupied the hill of Santon,--a wooded eminence, the last of a longchain of mountains running east and west. Above, and on the crest of theheight, a powerful park of artillery was posted, and defended by strongintrenchments. A powerful cavalry corps was placed at the bottom ofthe mountain. Next came Bernadotte's division, separated by the highroadfrom Brunn to Olmutz from the division under Murat, which, besides hisown cavalry, contained Oudinot's grenadiers and Bessiere's battalionsof the Imperial Guard; the centre and right being formed of Soult'sdivision, the strongest of all; the reserve, consisting of severalbattalions of the Guard and a strong force of artillery, being underthe immediate orders of Napoleon, to be employed wherever circumstancesdemanded.

  These were the dispositions for the coming battle, made with all theprecision of troops moving on parade; and such was the discipline of thearmy at Boulogne, and so perfectly arranged the plans of the Emperor,that the ground of every regiment was marked out, and each corps movedinto its allotted space with the regularity of some piece of mechanism.