Military Career of Napoleon the Great
by Montgomery B. Gibbs · English · Gutenberg #41220 · 899,659 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Military Career of Napoleon the Great
Author: Montgomery B. Gibbs
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MILITARY CAREER OF NAPOLEON THE GREAT ***
[Illustration: (Coat of Arms)]
[Illustration: (Stylized "N")]
[Illustration: From a Painting by Paul Delaroche
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, "SNUFF BOX" PORTRAIT]
Military Career
OF
Napoleon the Great
An Account of the Remarkable Campaigns
of the "Man of Destiny"
Authentic Anecdotes of the Battlefield as Told by the Famous
Marshals and Generals of the First Empire
BY
Montgomery B. Gibbs
"_He fought a thousand glorious wars,
And more than half the world was his;
And somewhere, now, in yonder stars,
Can tell, mayhap, what greatness is._"
--THACKERAY
CHICAGO:
E. A. WEEKS & COMPANY,
521-531 Wabash Ave.
COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY THE WERNER COMPANY
Mil. Car. Napoleon
To
My Friend
JOHN L. STODDARD
This Volume is
Affectionately
Dedicated.
Preface.
As the closing chapters of this volume were being written, a "Napoleonic
wave" seemed to be passing over the country, an echo, no doubt, of the
furore which Napoleon's name has excited in France during the past three
years. One writer wittily says:
"Where'er I turn, I'm forced to learn,
Some detail of his life,
I read about his sword and hats,
And how he beat his wife."
It seems but fair, therefore, for the author of this volume to declare
that the revival of interest in the career of the man who for fifteen
years had been the glory of France, has in no way caused the hasty
writing, or publication, of this anecdotal military history. It is the
result of years of study, and represents, not only a careful reading of
those authorities which all must have access to who would write
intelligently of the subject, but also of the more recent volumes which
have appeared from time to time, each having something new to reveal
concerning the seemingly inexhaustible fund of information pertaining
to this son of a poor Corsican gentleman, who as his greatest
biographer has said of him, "played in the world the parts of Alexander,
Hannibal, Cæsar and Charlemagne."
There has never been a time, during the last fifty years at least, when
the public was not eager to learn something new concerning the wonderful
career of the man who once held all Europe prisoner in the folds of the
French flag. The world regards Napoleon Bonaparte as a _military genius_
at least, whatever it may think of the political or social side of his
life, and its relation to France. The writer does not believe that they
are inseparably connected, and in offering this work it is his desire to
better acquaint the admirers, as well as the enemies of the "Little
Corporal," with his military career, not technically, but to picture him
as his marshals, generals and soldiers knew him on the battlefield and
around the campfire.
Many of these famous marshals and generals, who shared day by day all
the glories and perils of their chief, and who vied with him in their
activity and daring, have lately given to the world their "Memoirs,"
published many years after their death, for obvious reasons. From them
one gets a much clearer insight into the true characteristics of their
heroic leader. Being men of slight education their writings are confined
largely to the gossip of the campaigns in which they were active
participants, and in reading them one is often tempted to believe that
Napoleon was in command of both belligerent armies, so accurately did
this giant among warriors forecast the movements of the enemy on the
battlefield; and after victory had favored his bold strokes, finding
himself in a position to reshape, at will, the map of Europe; for he
conducted his campaigns with a degree of skill which, it is conceded by
all military authorities, has never been excelled.
No man ever understood how to excite emulation, by distributing praise
or blame, as did Napoleon. Chaboulon well says that the ascendancy
possessed by the Emperor over the minds and courage of the soldiery was
truly incomprehensible. A word, a gesture, was sufficient to inspire
them with enthusiasm, and make them face the most terrible ordeals. If
ordered to rush to a point, although the extreme danger of the manoeuvre
might at first strike the good sense of the soldiers, they immediately
reflected that their general would not have issued such a command
without a motive, or have exposed them wantonly. "He knows what he is
about," they would say, and immediately rush on to death, uttering
shouts of "Long live the Emperor!"
No attempt is here made to give a history of France from the time
Bonaparte first made his entrance into the drama of which he was so soon
to be the leading actor. The successive periods of the Revolution, the
Directory, the Consulate and the Empire are only introduced when found
necessary to explain the rapidly advancing steps of this wonderful
character in history, the worshiped idol of an entire nation, that his
military career may be the better understood; hence it has been thought
advisable to refer briefly, at times, to the relations of France with
other countries, and the cause of his spending, during the ten years of
his reign as Emperor, exactly fifty-four days less in camp, and under
the enemy's fire, so to speak, than he did in his royal residences!
This, then, is the story of the man who personally commanded in 600
skirmishes, and 85 pitched battles, resigning at last his leadership on
the field of Waterloo, a victim of treachery and incompetency exceeding
even his own well-grounded fears; but even after these years of constant
warfare and conquest, after maintaining huge armies in almost all parts
of the world, he left France the richest nation in the universe, and in
possession of a larger amount of specie than the rest of Europe; and
notwithstanding the fact that in 1796, when he was given command of the
Army of Italy, he found his government not only incapable of paying its
ragged and weary troops, but unable, even, to feed them!
M. B. G.
_Chicago, Ill. December 31, 1894._
Contents
CHAPTER I.
Page
BOYHOOD DAYS AND EARLY CAREER 9
CHAPTER II.
BONAPARTE'S CAMPAIGN IN ITALY, 1796-7 45
CHAPTER III.
EXPEDITION TO EGYPT 107
CHAPTER IV.
PASSAGE OF THE ALPS AND BATTLE OF MARENGO 141
CHAPTER V.
ULM AND AUSTERLITZ 175
CHAPTER VI.
THE BATTLE OF JENA 211
CHAPTER VII.
THE BATTLE OF EYLAU 230
CHAPTER VIII.
FRIEDLAND AND PEACE OF TILSIT 241
CHAPTER IX.
WAR WITH SPAIN 253
CHAPTER X.
WAR WITH AUSTRIA. 1809 274
CHAPTER XI.
THE BATTLE OF WAGRAM 288
CHAPTER XII.
CAMPAIGN OF RUSSIA 305
CHAPTER XIII.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1813 347
CHAPTER XIV.
THE INVASION OF FRANCE 373
CHAPTER XV.
EXILE TO ELBA 409
CHAPTER XVI.
THE HUNDRED DAYS. WATERLOO 435
CHAPTER XVII.
CONCLUSION 489
INDEX 507
Illustrations
Page
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE "SNUFF-BOX" PORTRAIT _Frontispiece_
BONAPARTE AT THE SIEGE OF TOULON 11
BONAPARTE ESCAPES CAPTURE AT LONATO 27
BONAPARTE AT THE BRIDGE OF ARCOLA 43
BONAPARTE AT THE BATTLE OF RIVOLI 59
BONAPARTE AND THE SLEEPING SENTINEL 75
BONAPARTE AT THE BATTLE OF ST. GEORGE 91
SIEGE OF MANTUA 107
BONAPARTE AS GENERAL-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMY OF ITALY 123
BATTLE OF THE PYRAMIDS 139
BONAPARTE AT THE SIEGE OF ACRE 155
RETURN OF THE FRENCH ARMY FROM SYRIA 171
NAPOLEON CROSSING THE ALPS 187
FRENCH TROOPS CROSSING THE GREAT ST. BERNARD 203
CAPITULATION OF GENERAL MACK AT ULM 219
BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ 235
MEETING BETWEEN NAPOLEON AND FRANCIS II. OF AUSTRIA 251
NAPOLEON AT THE BATTLE OF JENA 267
ENTRY OF NAPOLEON INTO BERLIN 283
NAPOLEON AT THE BATTLE OF EYLAU 299
THE 14TH LINE AT EYLAU 315
NAPOLEON AT THE BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND 331
REVIEW OF TROOPS IN THE PLACE DU CARROUSEL, PARIS 347
INSURRECTION IN MADRID 363
NAPOLEON AT THE BATTLE OF WAGRAM 379
ARRIVAL OF THE GRAND ARMY AT MOSCOW 395
RETREAT FROM MOSCOW, "1812" 411
DEPARTURE OF NAPOLEON FOR PARIS 427
RETURN OF NAPOLEON FROM ELBA 443
NAPOLEON ON THE HEIGHTS AT LIGNY 459
PREPARATIONS FOR THE ADVANCE OF THE OLD GUARD AT
WATERLOO 475
NAPOLEON AT WATERLOO 491
Military Career
OF
Napoleon the Great
An Account of the Remarkable
Campaigns of the "Man
of Destiny"
I
BOYHOOD DAYS AND EARLY CAREER
When Napoleon was a pupil of the Military School at Brienne, as a
pensioner of the king, he wrote to his mother in Corsica:
"With Homer in my pocket, and my sword by my side, I hope to carve my
way through the world!"
Bonaparte was then a youth of but ten years of age. For nearly
thirty-five years from this time his life was a series of achievements,
the success of which has rarely been equalled,--from a military
standpoint, never.
His infancy was only different from that of most other boys in that he
showed great animation of temper, and an impatience of inactivity, by
which children of quick perception and lively sensibility are usually
distinguished.
It has been said that the name "Napoleon" was given to the new-born
infant of Madame Bonaparte, according to a common custom among
Catholics, of naming the child after the saint on whose festival it is
baptized, and that the 16th of August, the day of young Bonaparte's
baptism, was the festival of St. Napoleon, (Napoleone), a saint then
peculiar to Corsica.
On the confirmation of young Bonaparte at the Paris Military School the
archbishop who officiated, manifesting some astonishment at the name
"Napoleon," said he did not know of any such saint, and that there was
no such name in the calendar.
"That should be no rule," replied Napoleon quickly, "since there are an
immense number of saints, but only three hundred and sixty-five days!"
While an exile at St. Helena Napoleon said to O'Meara, his surgeon,
"Saint Napoleon ought to be much obliged to me, and place all his credit
in the other world to my account. The poor devil! No one knew him once,
he had not even a day in the calendar. I procured him one, and persuaded
the pope to assign to him the 15th of August, my birthday."
It has frequently been said of Napoleon that he was born to command.
From his earliest youth he chose arms for his profession, and in every
study likely to be of service to the future soldier he distinguished
himself above his contemporaries. With the mathematical tutors he was
always a great favorite. His ardor for the abstract sciences amounted to
a passion, and was combined with a singular aptitude for applying them
to the purposes of war, while his attention to pursuits so interesting
in themselves was stimulated by his natural ambition and desire of
distinction in this science.
Even before Napoleon began his systematic training for a military
career, and while but nine years of age, he developed a fondness for
mimic warfare that frequently astonished his older companions, many of
whom were his superiors both in strength and endurance; but none of whom
were able to cope with him in strategy, or whose resources, when put to
test, were so versatile. At Ajaccio, the place of his birth, the city
boys were often engaged in personal encounters with the youths from the
country. At first these contests were but the natural outcome of a
jealousy which is so often found to exist between city and country boys,
who meet upon the same playground. At length this feeling of rivalry
became more bitter, and on some occasions, especially on holidays, when
the country lads were in the habit of "coming to town," as many as a
score of them were often to be found on each side engaged in pitched
battles with sticks and stones.
[Illustration: From a Drawing by F. Grenier
BONAPARTE AT THE SIEGE OF TOULON]
The country youths had for a time been eminently successful in these
encounters, and were disposed to braggadocio manners. They went about
the streets with their heads lifted high, and as a result, the older
folks soon began to take an interest in the outcome of the assaults. On
several occasions, too, the parents of the youths were interested
spectators of the contests, and although the flying missiles were
extremely likely to injure the onlooker, no suggestion of putting an end
to the battles was ever proposed by the older heads.
Young Bonaparte was much chagrined at these defeats, and sought to find
reasons for them. When not an active participant he would often withdraw
to some secluded spot, and there watch the movements of either side,
hoping, no doubt, to detect some flaw in their manner of fighting that
he might take advantage of it at a later date, and thus recover the good
name of his city comrades. It could not be in numbers that defeat lay
for they were almost always equally divided, and besides, there seemed
to be an unwritten law between them that "Man against man" must in
common honor be observed.
Finally Bonaparte hastily gathered about him a few of his chosen
friends, in whom he had the most confidence, and laid before them a
plan, which, if followed, he assured them would not only humiliate their
hated rivals, but would also result in their complete overthrow. With
shouts of approval his plan was at once declared "a tip-top one" and his
lieutenants proceeded to carry out his orders. He directed that a
certain number of boys be formed into a company, whose duty it should be
to supply ammunition. A "defi" was then sent to the conquerors who
promptly replied that they had nothing to fear. It soon became noised
about among the inhabitants of Ajaccio that a "final contest" was to be
fought on a certain day, and hours before the time set, hundreds of
spectators were on hand to witness the contest which was destined to
re-establish the prestige of the city boys. At length the fated hour
arrived and the country boys made their appearance on the battlefield,
armed with short sticks,--their usual weapons,--and full of confidence.
For a short time Napoleon and his followers maintained their position
against these sturdy warriors, although, as heretofore, they found
themselves overmatched by mere force of brute strength.
Napoleon now gave the signal agreed upon to retreat. Slowly his forces
gave way, endeavoring at the same time to keep up an appearance of
fighting to the best of their ability. To reassure the country chaps
that they were overpowering their contestants purely on their fighting
merits, an occasional rally was ordered by the city leader; but this
show of resistance was always followed by him with another retreat more
pronounced than that which preceded it. At length Napoleon found himself
with his followers on the shore of the sandy beach and the country lads
believed themselves conquerors once more. "Victory!" "Victory!" they
cried, as they came rushing up, expecting a complete surrender. In their
haste to make a final assault the pursuers had not noticed that each of
the city boys had laid down his stick and had his hand upon the ground.
In it was grasped tightly a stone which was still partially covered by
the sands of the beach.
"Ready! Fire!" shouted Napoleon, and immediately the air was filled with
swift-flying stones, each of which was followed by a second and that by
a third missile, all landing with terrific force on the unprotected
heads and shoulders of the over-confident country lads. They had cried
victory before the battle was won.
In another moment they found themselves disorganized and the victims of
shouts of derision that came from the spectators who had followed the
retreating forces to see the final outcome of the battle. Sticks at a
distance of 20 or 30 feet were no match for the new weapons of the city
lads, and reluctantly they turned and fled, having themselves no stones
to throw.
Now it was Napoleon's forces who were the pursuers; but the ranks of the
sturdy country lads were sadly depleted and their resistance was brief.
That night Napoleon was a hero in Ajaccio. With the older folks gathered
about him he told and retold how he and his followers had spent the
preceding night burying stones in the sand, that they might have them
for weapons on the morrow when Napoleon's plan, which included retreat
to this point on the beach, might be turned into the victory they had
been assured would follow their arrival there.
The student of Napoleon's military campaigns will detect in this
manoeuvre a striking similarity to more sanguine contests on the
battlefield where human lives were at stake.
Throughout his life Napoleon's stronghold was strategy, and never was it
more clearly illustrated than in this harmless contest of his youth, and
to which he often recurred when passing an hour or two with his marshals
and generals while preparing for contests on which the fate of France
depended.
Up to a few years ago,--it may to this present time,--an interesting
relic of Napoleon's childhood was preserved in his native place. It was
a small brass cannon, weighing about thirty pounds, and it is said he
would leave all other amusements for the pleasure of firing off this
dangerous plaything. His favorite retreat was a solitary summer house,
among the rocks on the sea shore, about a mile from Ajaccio, where his
mother's brother had a villa. The place is now in ruins; it afterwards
came to be known as "Napoleon's Grotto." Nothing interested him more
during these early years, than to hear his mother tell the story of her
exciting hardships as she fled from one part of the island to another
before the conquering French. Thus, unconsciously, she no doubt nurtured
in her second son that warlike spirit which was manifested in him to
such a marked degree in after years.
During the time Napoleon attended school, young men were taught that the
only fame worth striving for was that won by military achievements.
Napoleon's parents, therefore, exerted all the influence they could
command to gain scholarships for the education of their two oldest
sons,--Joseph and Napoleon. Their prayers were at last granted owing to
the invaluable aid of Monsieur de Marboeuf, Bishop of Autun and nephew
of the governor of Corsica. Joseph was to take orders and to be placed
in the college of Autun; Napoleon, intended for the navy, was to go to
the school at Brienne, having previously gone through a course at Autun
so as to learn sufficient French to be able to follow the lectures. They
started on this journey, which was to have so much influence on their
future lives, on December 15, 1778. After a halt at Florence to procure
papers showing the ancient nobility of the Bonaparte family, and which
were necessary to Napoleon before entering the school at Brienne, they
proceeded to Autun. The herald declared that, "Young Napoleon Bonaparte
possessed the nobility necessary for admission into the ranks of the
gentlemen who are educated by his Majesty in the royal schools." Charles
Bonaparte had been able to satisfy the authorities that his patent of
nobility was authentic and privileged him to sign his name "de
Bonaparte."
Napoleon arrived at Brienne, on the 23d of April, 1779, having in three
months at Autun "learned sufficient French to enable him to converse
easily and to write small essays and translations."
At Brienne Bourrienne, whose friendship for him commenced thus early,
describes him as follows: "Bonaparte was noticeable at Brienne for his
Italian complexion, the keenness of his look, and the tone of his
conversation with masters and comrades. There was almost always a dash
of bitterness in what he said. He had very little of the disposition
that leads to attachments; which I can only attribute to the misfortunes
of his family ever since his birth and the impression that the conquest
of his country had made on his early years."
The fact that he was a brave, manly boy, all biographers agree in
recording. His poverty subjected him to mortification among his
comrades, who also ridiculed him on account of his country and twitted
him with the obsolete saint whose name he bore. These taunts he allowed
himself to settle with the offenders openly and never descended to
report them to his tutors. On one occasion, with Bourrienne, who became
his private secretary in later years, he suffered several days'
imprisonment rather than reveal the names of the real offenders who had
neglected their duties.
Napoleon's promptitude of reply was displayed on many occasions during
his attendance at this school. One day as he was undergoing an
examination by a general officer, he answered all the questions proposed
with so much precision, and accompanied by such a depth of penetration,
that the general, the professors and the students, were astonished. At
length, in order to bring the interrogatories to a close, Napoleon was
asked the following question:
"What line of conduct would you adopt in case you were besieged in a
fortified place and was destitute of provisions?"
"So long as there were any in the camp of the enemy, I should never be
at a great loss for a supply," came the answer quickly, amid the
applause of the pupils.
One of the most delightful winters of Napoleon's early life was that of
1782, spent at this military school. He was just at that age when a boy
most keenly enjoys new scenes and new excitements. It was the
thirteenth winter of his life. He was older than most boys are at
thirteen. His mind and his muscles were better developed. But,
nevertheless, he was still a boy.
It happened that this winter was one of the coldest and most severe in
the history of France, so memorable by the quantity of snow that fell
and which accumulated upon the roads in great quantities. The snow came
early and stayed late, and the students could find but little amusement
without doors. Napoleon was the first to suggest that it be used to
develop their practical knowledge, and at the same time to beguile the
weary hours they would otherwise be compelled to spend within doors. He
said one day:
"Let us divide into two hostile forces and battle, while the snow lasts,
for the possession of the play ground."
The proposition was received with favor and was unanimously accepted. By
common consent Napoleon, whose authority no one questioned, was chosen
to command the projected mimic war, the school being divided into two
equal armies. Extensive fortifications of snow were at once erected by
busy hands who then armed themselves for the coming fray. So complete
were the arrangements that even the inhabitants of the village gave up
all other pursuits to witness the battles. For fifteen days, while the
snow lasted, they built forts and counter-forts, dug trenches,
constructed bastions and made or met sallies with snowball battles,
neglecting for the nonce their less interesting studies.
It is related that Napoleon was greatly enraged one day to find that the
other side had tried to get the best of his men by putting a round stone
into each snowball, but when someone advised him to imitate the tactics
of the foe he indignantly refused, saying that he would win without
doing so or be beaten.
The fort of the enemy was at last captured after Napoleon had gone
through the formalities of a siege, in which he displayed much of the
quickness of combination for which he was noted on the battlefield in
after years. His soldierly methods electrified his fellow students and
astonished the professors as well. "This little sham war," says
Bourrienne, "was carried on for the space of a fortnight, and did not
cease until a quantity of gravel and small stones having got mixed with
the snow of which we made our bullets, many of the combatants, besiegers
as well as besieged, were seriously wounded. I well remember that I was
one of the worst sufferers from this sort of grape-shot fire."
In 1783 Bonaparte, on the recommendation of the inspector of the twelve
military schools, was sent from Brienne to the Royal Military School at
Paris to have his education completed in the general school,--an
extraordinary compliment to the genius and proficiency of a boy of
fifteen. He was one of three to receive that honor, a tribute paid to
the precocity of his extraordinary mathematical talent, and the
steadiness of his application. The entry made at that time in the
military records says:
"Monsieur de Bonaparte (Napoleon) born August 15th, 1769; in height
four feet, ten inches, ten lines; of good constitution, health
excellent, character mild, honest and grateful; conduct exemplary; has
distinguished himself by application to mathematics; understands history
and geography tolerably well; is indifferently skilled in merely
ornamental studies, as well as in Latin; would make an excellent
sailor; deserves to be passed to the Military School at Paris."
The young student did not arrive in Paris in the guise of the future
conqueror of the world. On the contrary, he looked like a "new-comer;"
he gaped at everything he saw, and gazed about in a dazed sort of way.
As a Corsican compatriot who met him as he was getting out of the coach
has said: "His appearance was that of a youth whom any scoundrel would
try to rob after seeing him, if indeed he had anything worth taking!"
However, it should not be forgotten that he was but a youth of fifteen,
felt his poverty keenly, and was about to enter into the noise and
extravagant life of the rich students of this royal military school. As
he himself said in 1811: "All these cares spoiled my early years; they
influenced my temper and made me grave before my time."
At the Paris school Napoleon labored hard, as he had done at Brienne for
five years, being especially proficient, as before, in mathematics.
Everything was very luxurious here, and Bonaparte complained in a
memorial, which he presented to the superintendent of the establishment,
that the mode of life was too expensive and delicate for "poor
gentlemen" and could not properly prepare them either for returning to
their "modest homes," or for the hardships they would encounter in war.
He proposed that instead of a regular dinner of two courses daily, the
students should have ammunition bread and soldiers' rations, and be
compelled to mend and clean their own stockings and shoes. "If I were
king of France," he said one day to a companion, "I would change this
state of things very quickly!" This memorial is said to have done him
no service, for every third boy that looked on him was a duke from his
cradle, while the Young Corsican was still a "pensioner of the king;"
but the schools established by him after he became Emperor were on that
severe plan. "Although believing in the necessity of show and
magnificence in public life," says Meneval, his second private
secretary, "Napoleon remained true to these principles, while lavishing
wealth on his ministers and marshals: 'In your private life' said he,
'be economical and even parsimonious; in public be magnificent.'"
On being reproved one day by an uncle of the Duchess d'Abrantes for
ingratitude as a "pensioner of the king," he broke out furiously with an
expression of indignation. "Silence!" said the gentleman at whose table
he was sitting; "It ill becomes you, who are educated by the king's
bounty, to speak as you do."
"I am not educated at the _king's_ expense," replied Bonaparte, his face
flushed with rage, "but at the expense of the _nation_!"
Young Napoleon made but poor advancement in the German language while at
this school, and by reason of it offended M. Bauer his tutor. One day,
not being in his place, M. Bauer inquired where he was, and was told
that he was attending his examination in the class of artillery.
"Oh! so he does learn something," said the professor ironically.
"Why, sire, he is the best mathematician in the school," was the reply.
"Ah, I have always heard it remarked and I have always believed, that
none but a fool could learn mathematics!"
"It would be curious," said Napoleon, who related this anecdote when he
was Emperor, "to know whether M. Bauer lived long enough to ascertain my
real character, and to enjoy the confirmation of his own judgment."
Napoleon had not been in the Military School of Paris a year,--during
which time his father had died,--and had barely completed his sixteenth
year, when he successfully passed the examination, in August 1785,--for
a commission in a regiment of artillery.
On September 1st the decree was signed which assigned Bonaparte as
Second-Lieutenant in the company of bombardiers of the regiment of La
Fere garrisoned at Valence. At the time of the examination there were
thirty-six vacant places. M. de Feralio, one of the professors of the
military school charged with this examination, is said to have inscribed
on the margin, opposite to the signature of Napoleon, the following: "A
Corsican by character and by birth. If favored by circumstances this
young man will rise high." This professor was very fond of his young
pupil, and when at school is said to have occasionally supplied him with
pocket money. After his death Napoleon granted a handsome pension to his
widow.
Napoleon's corps was at Valence when he joined it. Arriving there he was
an occasional frequenter of the drawing room of Madame du Colombier, and
it is said he made love to her daughter; but when not so engaged, he was
devoted to his military studies, and read frequently from the Lives of
Plutarch, a volume of which he generally carried about him. He also
occupied himself in writing a "History of Corsica" which, when
completed, the Abbe Raynal and other friends praised very highly; but he
was unable to find a publisher for it.
At Valence Napoleon found the officers of his regiment divided, as all
the world then was, into two parties; the lovers of the French monarchy,
and those who desired its overthrow. Napoleon openly sided with the
latter. "Had I been a general," said he, in the evening of his life, "I
might have adhered to the king; being a subaltern I joined the
patriots."
In the beginning of 1792 Napoleon became captain of artillery,
unattached, and happening to be in Paris, witnessed the lamentable
scenes of the 20th of June, when the revolutionary mob stormed the
Tuileries, and Louis XVI. and his family, after undergoing innumerable
insults and degradations, with the utmost difficulty preserved their
lives. As he was strolling about with Bourrienne he saw the mob,
numbering between five and six thousand, ragged and ridiculously armed,
coming from the outskirts and making for the Tuileries. "Let us follow
these scoundrels," he said. They went with the crowd into the garden
before the palace, and when the king appeared at one of the windows on
the balcony, surrounded by Revolutionists, and with the red cap of
liberty, the emblem of the Jacobins, on his head, Napoleon could no
longer suppress his contempt and indignation. "Poor driveller!" said he,
loud enough to be heard by those near him; "how could he suffer this
rabble to enter? If he had swept away five or six hundred with his
cannon, _the rest would be running yet_!" Napoleon always abhorred
anarchy. He said there was no remedy for mobs but grape-shot, and
believed thoroughly in the theory of shooting first and listening to
peace negotiations afterwards.
He was also a witness of the still more terrible 10th of August, in the
same year, when the palace being once more invested, the National Guard
assigned for its defense took part with the assailants. This time the
royal family were obliged to take refuge in the National Assembly, and
the brave Swiss Guards were massacred almost to a man.
Bonaparte was a firm friend of the Assembly, to the charge of a part of
which, at least, these excesses must be laid; but the spectacle
disgusted him. The yells, screams, and pikes with bloody heads upon
them, formed a scene which he afterwards described as "hideous and
revolting." But with what a different feeling of interest would he have
looked on that infuriated populace, those still resisting though
overpowered Swiss, and that burning palace, had any seer whispered to
him: "Emperor that shall be, all this blood and massacre is but to
prepare your future Empire!"
He mingled little in society; but he saw much of the people and took
sides irrevocably with the cause of the nation. At this time he was
without employment and very poor, wandering idly about Paris, and living
chiefly at cheap restaurants. As yet he had been but a spectator of the
Revolution, destined to pave his own path to sovereign power; but it was
not long before circumstances called him to play a part in this tragic
drama which was then attracting the attention of the civilized world.
It was shortly after these stirring scenes in Paris, that Bonaparte
visited his mother in Corsica, arriving there with his sister Eliza on
September 17th, 1792. For the first time in thirteen years the family
was reunited, and their joy would have been complete had their
circumstances not been so sad. Their resources were diminishing day by
day and the recovery of what was due them became constantly more
difficult, owing to civil discords. The only fund upon which they could
rely seems to have been Napoleon's pay as an artillery officer.
The following year, while Bonaparte was still enjoying the leave of
absence from his regiment, an expedition arrived from France to deprive
General Paoli, governor of Corsica, of his control, he having denounced
the National Assembly as the enemy of France. Paoli endeavored to enlist
Napoleon in his cause; among other flatteries he patted him on the back
and said: "You were cast in an antique mould; you are one of Plutarch's
men. The whole world will talk of you," but the young Corsican was loyal
to France, and was not to be deceived by either entreaties or flattery.
He declared his belief that Corsica was too weak to maintain
independence, that she must fall under the rule either of France or
England, and that her interests would be best served by adhering to the
former. Napoleon then tendered his sword to Salicetti, one of the
Corsican deputies to the Convention, and was appointed provisionally to
the command of a battalion of National Guards.
The first military service on which he was employed for his native
country was the reduction of a small fortress, called the Torre di
Capitello, near Ajaccio. He took it, but was soon besieged in it, and he
and his garrison, after a gallant defense, and living for some time on
horseflesh, were glad to evacuate the tower, and escape to the sea.
Paoli was soon reinforced by England, and the Bonapartes were among
those who were banished from the country. During this Corsican
revolution the inhabitants were much divided as to the rights of England
and France in the island. An officer in the French troops, who sided
with England, was much scandalized at the position taken by the
Bonapartes,--Joseph, Napoleon and Lucien. One day, in the hearing of
Napoleon, the officer made use of some very harsh language towards them,
and was especially bitter against Napoleon. At this a friend defended
him with much warmth and finished by saying to the officer: "Sir, you
are not worth a pair of Napoleon's old boots!"
In the year 1800, Napoleon then being First Consul of France, the
officer who had defended him, and who had for some time followed his
standard, and had been raised to distinction by him, happening to meet
Bonaparte among a large party at dinner at the house of the First
Consul's mother, was drawn aside before the company placed themselves at
the table, and with his finger over his mouth, Napoleon said in a
half-joking, half-serious manner: "My dear sir, not a word, I entreat
you, about the old boots!"
As a result of the insurrection in Corsica Napoleon saw Ajaccio in
ashes, and the home of his childhood pillaged and burned ere he took his
departure. His mother and sisters took refuge first at Nice, and
afterwards at Marseilles, where for some time they suffered all the
inconveniences of poverty and exile. At that period nothing was more
deplorable than Bonaparte's prospects; nothing more uncertain than the
future. But he believed that fortune would not always abandon him.
France was in the hands of men who acted largely from self-interest, and
here he apparently saw a chance to carve his way to fame by getting in
the vortex of the Revolution. It was probably on this occasion that he
repeated the well-known words: "In a revolution a soldier should never
despair if he possesses courage and genius."
Napoleon now resolved to rejoin his regiment; he had chosen France for
his country, and ever afterwards it was his home until exiled to St.
Helena.
During the night of August 27th, 1793, Toulon was delivered to the
English, and its subsequent siege and retaking was destined to be the
first incident of importance which enabled Bonaparte to distinguish
himself in the eyes of the French Government, and of the world at large.
The head of Louis XVI had rolled from the block, and a month afterwards
the Convention had declared war against England.
Early in September France was attacked on every side, and a third of her
provinces had rebelled against the government established at Paris,
which enforced its supremacy by a regime carried on under a Reign of
Terror. Among the provinces in open insurrection were all those of the
south. An army corps invested Lyons, while another, after subduing
Marseilles, marched against Toulon, the great arsenal and seaport, and
delivered by the Bourbons into the hands of England. Adjutant Cervoni
was at once dispatched to Marseilles to ascertain if he could find in
that town some artillery officer of distinction to whom might be
intrusted the chief command of the siege batteries before Toulon.
While strolling through the streets Cervoni met with a captain of
artillery who was, like himself, perambulating the thoroughfares. This
captain was a Corsican and a compatriot; his name was Napoleon
Bonaparte. He was covered with the dust of the road along which he had
been walking; for he had just arrived from Avignon, whither he had
escorted a convoy of ammunition, and was on his way to Nice. Cervoni
thought that Bonaparte would be just the man to watch over the
movements of the army before Toulon: he appeared very young,--he was
only twenty-four years of age--but it was stated that a month before the
Republican army was on the point of beating a retreat in front of
Avignon when he, with two field-pieces and eighty men, bombarded the
town in the rear so effectively that the inhabitants and federal troops
were overcome with fright and, convinced that they had been betrayed,
abandoned the place to the Republicans who entered victorious, thanks to
the boldness and foresight of Captain Bonaparte.
[Illustration: From a Painting by Lafit
BONAPARTE ESCAPES CAPTURE AT LONATO]
Cervoni invited him to enter a café; Bonaparte accepted, and the two men
had a chat over a bowl of punch. The young captain doffed his hat, so
that his features were lighted up by the blue flame of the liquor; his
complexion was sallow and his head large, measuring as it did
twenty-three inches round. If the size of his skull was large, the space
between the two cheek-bones was enormous. The hair grew low on his
forehead; the well-arched brows disclosed large eyes, sharp as steel,
cold, clear and piercing; the aquiline nose was of the most delicate
shape, the lower lip strong and receding, while the chin and the jaws
were as well developed as the skull.
After a conference Napoleon departed for Toulon where he was promoted to
the rank of Brigadier-General of Artillery, with the command of the
artillery during the siege. The arsenal was filled with military stores,
and twenty-five English and Spanish battleships were then riding in the
harbor to protect it. Three months had passed, during which time no
apparent progress had been made towards the recapture of the town, and
when Napoleon arrived he was invested with the command of the artillery
train.
A strong fort commanded the harbor, and after a careful examination
Napoleon said the only way to retake Toulon was to neglect the body of
the town, carry "Little Gibraltar," and the city would surrender in two
days. Napoleon's brother Lucien visited him about this time. They went
together one morning to a place where a fruitless assault had been made,
and two hundred Frenchmen were dead upon the ground. On beholding them
Napoleon exclaimed: "If I had commanded here all these brave men would
still be alive!" A moment later he added: "Learn from this example,
young man, how indispensable and imperatively necessary it is for those
to possess knowledge who aspire to the command of others."
Napoleon's own account of his experiences here is extremely interesting,
and was thus related by him during his exile at St. Helena:
"I reported, as I had been ordered to do," he said, "to General Cartaux,
(a portrait painter of Paris) who was in charge of the revolutionary
forces. He was a tall man, all covered with gilt decorations, and a type
of the militia officer. I saw at once that he was utterly incompetent to
the task that had been laid out for him. I said: 'I have been directed
to assist, under your order, in the taking of Toulon.' He replied: 'We
need no assistance in taking Toulon; but since they have sent you here
you may enjoy yourself as best you can and see the siege.' Then he gave
orders to have me treated with courtesy.
"Well, the next morning I went out with the general to look at the
preparations for bombarding the stronghold. He called an aid-de-camp and
asked in a business-like manner: 'Are the red-hot shot ready?' I was
surprised, but said nothing. The subordinate replied: 'Oh, yes, the men
have been busy all night heating them.' I was now more surprised than
ever, but still kept silent. What followed would have made me believe
they were trying to guy me if their manner had not been so serious.
General Cartaux asked how they were going to get the red-hot shot over
to the guns. That seemed to puzzle the aid-de-camp. The General himself
didn't know what to do. After a great deal of speculation, and some
swearing, he asked me what I would do under the circumstances. I said:
"'You will find it an excellent idea to try the range of your guns with
cold shot first. If the range isn't right the hot-shot will be of no
service.'
"He laughed merrily and agreed with me. The order was given to try the
range. The result was that the cold shot didn't carry more than a third
of the distance. The bombarding of the fort was put off another day.
"Luckily Gasparin, the direct representative of the people with plenary
powers, came riding up that night, and I told him what I had seen and
heard. He agreed that the man in command was incompetent, and put me in
charge. You all know the rest. I began the attack on the outlet of
Toulon and was successful. Gasparin consoled Cartaux by telling him that
I was only a subordinate, and that all the glory would go to him
anyhow."
During this siege of the "Little Gibraltar Castle" Bonaparte showed his
extensive knowledge of mankind, and which enabled him to discover and
attach to him those men whose talents were most distinguished, and most
capable of rendering him service. Several who afterwards became marshals
and generals under the Empire, first made Napoleon's acquaintance at
Toulon. Among these were Duroc and Junot. During one of the days of
this long siege Napoleon, in passing one of the trenches, called for
some one to write an order from his dictation, and in obedience to this
request a young and handsome soldier stepped out of the ranks, and
resting his paper on the breastwork, began to write as directed.
Scarcely had he done so when a cannon ball fell at his feet and covered
both commander and private with dirt. The soldier laughingly held up his
paper and said: "Thank you, now I shall need no sand."
Napoleon was so pleased with his bravery, and ready wit, that he
immediately promoted him. The name of this fortunate man was General
Junot; he subsequently became Duke of Abrantes and was one of the most
distinguished generals of the Empire under Napoleon. An apparent total
insensibility to fatigue was observed in the young Corsican officer at
this time. He worked through daylight, and slept nights wrapped in a
blanket under his guns till his batteries were ready to begin
operations.
During the siege Paris was very restless, and after a few weeks had
passed it became almost the sole topic of conversation at the capital;
the newspapers contained innumerable suggestions for the ending of the
siege, and hundreds of letters were addressed to the officers at Toulon,
telling them how to drive the English from the shores of France. One day
fifteen carriages arrived at Toulon containing sixty young men who had
journeyed thither from the capital; they were gorgeously arrayed and
asked to be presented to the commander-in-chief.
Bonaparte received the party courteously and asked what he could do for
them. "Citizen Bonaparte," said the spokesman, "we come from Paris. The
patriots there are indignant at your indecision and delay. The soil of
the Republic has been violated. She trembles to think that the insult
still remains unavenged. She asks, 'Why is Toulon not yet taken? Why is
the English fleet not yet destroyed?' In her indignation she has
appealed to her brave sons. We have obeyed her summons and burn with
impatience to fulfill her expectations. We are volunteer gunners from
Paris. Furnish us with arms. To-morrow we will march against the enemy!"
Early on the following day Napoleon conducted the "volunteers" to the
seashore. During the night he had ordered a number of cannon placed in
position and as he pointed to the black hull out at sea he said: "Sink
that ship!"
At some distance from the shore lay an English frigate, upon whose deck
were to be seen a formidable array of cannon, all pointed shorewards.
"But there is no shelter here!" said the volunteers in chorus. At this
moment a broadside was fired by the gunners on the frigate and the
brilliantly decorated patriots from the capital fled in every direction,
amid the smiles of the commander-in-chief who at once gave orders for
his own gunners to return the fire of the enemy.
Toulon was at last retaken on December 17th, the siege having lasted
four months.
When Bonaparte at last raised the French emblem over the city, and as it
floated with the breezes over a scene of desolation long remembered by
those who witnessed it, he said to Dugommier: "Go to sleep; we have
taken Toulon!"
It was here that Napoleon was first severely wounded. When his body was
being prepared for burial at St. Helena there was found upon his left
thigh so deep a scar that it was nearly possible to place one's finger
in it. This had been caused by a bayonet thrust received during this
engagement, and in consequence of which he nearly lost his leg. In
addition to the wound he had a number of horses shot under him. Another
of the dangers which he incurred was of a singular character. An
artilleryman being shot at the gun which he was serving, while Napoleon
was visiting a battery, the commander took up the dead man's rammer, and
to give encouragement to the soldiers, charged the gun with his own
hands. The gunner had been afflicted with a skin disease which Napoleon
contracted from the weapon, and for a number of years afterward he
suffered from its ravages.
Soon after the retaking of Toulon Bonaparte accompanied General
Dugommier to Marseilles. Some one struck with his appearance asked the
general _who that little bit of an officer was, and where he picked him
up_?
"That officer's name," replied the general, "is Bonaparte: I picked him
up at the siege of Toulon, to the successful termination of which he
eminently contributed; and you will probably see, one day, _that this
little bit of an officer_ is a greater man than any of us!"
Napoleon was now rapidly rising in reputation. His science
as an artillery officer and his valor had saved France from
humiliation--taught her enemies to respect her--had suppressed the
spirit of insurrection in the southern provinces, and had given the
government of the Convention control of the whole army.
It has been said that Napoleon's fame first came to the knowledge of
Barras, a member of the Directory, through a letter taken by his young
protegé to Paris not long after this siege. It was a commendatory letter
addressed to Carnot in which Barras thus expressed himself: "I send you
a young man who has distinguished himself very much during the siege,
and earnestly recommend you to advance him speedily: _If you do not, he
will most assuredly advance himself!_"
Bonaparte's name was on the list of those whom the veteran Dugommier
recommended for promotion, and he was accordingly confirmed in his
provisional situation of chief of battalion and appointed to hold that
rank in Italy. He therefore proceeded to join the headquarters of the
French army then lying at Nice. Here he suggested a plan by which the
Sardinians were driven from the Coe di Tendi. Saorgio, with all its
stores, soon surrendered, and the French obtained possession of the
maritime Alps, so that the difficulties of advancing into Italy were
greatly diminished. Of these movements, however, Napoleon's superior
officers reaped as yet the honor. While directing the means of attaining
these successes Bonaparte acquired a complete acquaintance with that
Alpine country in which he was shortly to obtain victories in his own
name, not in that of others who were now rapidly acquiring reputation by
acting on his timely suggestions.
One of his favorite methods of planning manoeuvres he originated at this
time while studying his maps and plans of the Alpine country. He had so
familiarized himself with the locality that no point of importance was
unknown to him. With this data before him, Bonaparte would sit for
hours, intent on studying the maps of the country, and upon which he had
stuck pins, the heads of which he had covered with wax of various
shades. One color was used to designate the French, another the enemy,
and by changing the location of the pins on the map he formed various
intricate plans of attack and retreat that some years later were most
valuable to him. This ingenious scheme is often used at the present day
by large wholesale houses to designate the territory of their salesmen
while travelling about the country.
While in Nice Napoleon was suddenly arrested and thrown into prison on
an order sent from Paris by the Committee of Public Safety. He had been
sent there with secret instructions from the government "to collect
facts that would throw light upon the intentions of the Genoese
government respecting coalition, etc.," and although he acquitted
himself with all the care necessary to success, his excess of zeal came
nearly ending fatally to him, for it was a time when it was safe to have
secrets from no one. It was a time, too, when revolutionists owed it to
themselves to arrest their predecessors, and as there had been a change
in the government, Napoleon's secret journey was unknown to Salicetti
and Albitte, who had succeeded Ricord.
Young Robespierre, who received the order of arrest, was much astounded
at it. The document added that the prisoner was to be at once brought
under a strong escort to Fort Carré near Antibes and there imprisoned
and tried "for treason against the Republic." Robespierre asked Napoleon
to come into his room, and showed him the document, which might mean
death. Then he said: "You must not go away yet. I will put you under
arrest, and then I will write to my brother, who has some influence with
the committee. He may be able to get the order rescinded."
Napoleon refused to get agitated over his arrest. Junot, Sebastiani and
Marmont, his young aides-de-camp, had formed a plan of escape and
advised him to choke the guard, steal a small boat, and flee to the
Corsican coast, where he could hide himself in the mountains. Bonaparte,
knowing his innocence, refused to try to escape, but addressed the
following letter to Junot, et al: "I fully recognize your friendship, my
dear Junot, in the proposition you make me: you have long known the
sincerity of mine for you, and I hope that you trust in it. Men may be
unjust towards me, my dear Junot, but for me my innocence is sufficient.
My conscience is the tribunal before which I summon my conduct. This
conscience is calm when I question it. Do nothing, therefore; all
friendly greetings. BONAPARTE.
_Under arrest at Fort Carré, Antibes._"
It was only when told that he was dismissed from the army, and declared
unworthy of public confidence, that he addressed a spirited letter to
Albitte and Salicetti, the committee that ordered his arrest, and which
caused them to reconsider their resolution.
In his dramatic communication to this committee, Bonaparte said in part:
"You have suspended me from my functions, arrested and declared me
suspected. Therein you have branded me without judging,--or rather
judged without hearing. * * * Hear me; destroy the oppression that
environs me, and restore me in the estimation of patriotic men. An hour
after, if villains desire my life, I shall esteem it but little; I have
despised it often."
In a few days the influence of the great Robespierre had made itself
felt; a message was consequently received rescinding the order and
Napoleon was honorably discharged from custody. His papers had been
examined, and as nothing was found in them to implicate him, he was set
at liberty at once. In those stormy times more than one innocent man had
been sent to the guillotine on a less flimsy accusation than this,
and Napoleon had, therefore, good reason to be thankful for the
interposition of Robespierre.
At this time the young warrior was most studious, and is said to have
thus early acquired the habit of taking short snatches of sleep, which
seemed to refresh him fully as much as the longer periods required by
others. While at Nice one of his friends, on a particular occasion, went
to Napoleon's apartments long before daybreak, and not doubting that he
was still in bed, knocked gently at the door, fearful of disturbing him
too abruptly. Upon entering his chamber he was not a little astonished
at finding Bonaparte dressed as during the day, with plans, maps and
various books scattered around him.
"What!" exclaimed the visitor, "not yet in bed?"
"In bed," replied Napoleon, "I am already risen."
"Indeed, and why so early?"
"Oh, two or three hours are enough for any man to sleep!" was the
general's reply.
Some years later, when Bonaparte was forming the "_Code Napoleon_," he
astonished the Council of State by the readiness with which he
illustrated any point in discussion by quoting the Roman Civil Law, a
subject which might seem entirely foreign to him, since the greater part
of his life had been passed on the battlefield. On being asked how he
had acquired so familiar a knowledge of law affairs he replied: "When I
was lieutenant I was put under arrest, unjustly, it is true, but that is
nothing to the point. The little room which was assigned for my prison
contained no furniture but an old chair and an old cupboard: in the
cupboard was a ponderous volume, older and more worm-eaten than all the
rest. It proved to be a digest of the Roman law. As I had neither
paper, pens, ink or pencil, you may easily imagine that this book was a
valuable prize to me. It was so voluminous and the leaves were so
covered with marginal notes in manuscript that, had I been confined one
hundred years I could never have been idle. I was only deprived of my
liberty ten days; but, on recovering it, I was saturated with Justinian
and the decisions of the Roman legislators. _Thus, I picked up my
knowledge of the Civil Law._"
Bonaparte did not resume his functions at Nice, after his release from
imprisonment, but repaired to Marseilles where his mother was living in
distressed circumstances. Before the end of the year he again came to
Paris to solicit employment. At first he met with nothing but repulses.
Aubry, president of the military committee, objected to his youth, at
which Bonaparte replied rather sharply: "One ages quickly on
battlefields, and I have just left one." The president, who had not seen
much actual service himself, thought he was insulted, and treated
Napoleon very coldly in consequence.
Shortly afterwards Bonaparte was offered the command of a brigade of
infantry which he refused, declaring that nothing could induce him to
leave the artillery. Writing to Sucy, a friend, on this subject,
Napoleon said: "I have been ordered to serve as a general of the line in
La Vendée. I will not accept. Many soldiers could direct a brigade
better than I, and few have commanded artillery with greater success."
His refusal was followed by the erasure of his name from the list of
general officers in employment. Some time later he asked for a
commission to Turkey to form a barrier against the encroachments of
Russia and England, but it was not granted. No answer was returned to
his memorial, over which he conversed for some weeks with great
enthusiasm. "How strange it would be," he said to his friends, "if a
little Corsican should become king of Jerusalem." Already he was
contemplating greatness, and firmly believed in his "Star of Destiny."
At length he was nominated to the command of a brigade of artillery in
Holland. The long-deferred appointment was, no doubt, very welcome; but
in the meantime his services were called for in a more important field.
When the National Guard sided with the enemies of the Convention, and
took up arms against the Government, a man of force and decision was
needed to defend them from the insurgents. A collision had taken place
on October 3rd, 1795, when the troops of the Convention were withdrawn
by that body. The insurgents, who represented the forty-eight sections
of Paris, were prepared to attack the Palace of the Tuileries next
morning with upwards of 40,000 men, and take the Government in their own
hands. The nation, and especially the superior classes, aided by the
Royalists, were indignant at the conduct of the members of the
Convention,--who schemed to perpetuate themselves in office,--and formed
a most formidable opposition to the measures of the existing Government.
General Bonaparte was at the theatre when informed of the events that
were passing. He at once hastened to the Assembly where he found the
members in the heat of debate and greatly exercised over their
approaching danger.
Deliberating with Tallien and Carnot, Barras, who had been present at
Toulon during the siege, said: "There is but one man who can save us. I
have the man whom you want; _it is a little Corsican officer who will
not stand upon_ _ceremony!_" Napoleon was sent for and notified that he
had been chosen to defend the Government as second in command under
Barras. Unknown to the Assembly, he had been present at their meeting,
and heard all that had been said of him. He deliberated on the best
course to pursue for more than half an hour, and at last decided to take
up their cause, if allowed to do so in his own way. When Barras
presented Napoleon to the Convention as a fit man to be intrusted with
the command, the President asked:
"Are you willing to undertake the defense of the Convention?"
"Yes," was the reply.
"Are you aware of the magnitude of the undertaking?"
"Perfectly; and I am in the habit of accomplishing that which I
undertake. I accept, but I warn you that, once my sword is out of the
scabbard, I shall not replace it until I have established order."
He refused, however, to accept the appointment unless he received it
free from all interference. The trembling Convention quickly yielded,
and although Barras enjoyed the title of "Commander-in-chief," Bonaparte
was actually in control of the troops.
Upon consultation with Menou, who was then in prison, and whom he
succeeded, Napoleon quickly obtained the information desired. He learned
that the available defense consisted of but 5,000 soldiers of all
descriptions, with 40 pieces of cannon then at Sablons and guarded by
only one hundred and fifty men. Without the loss of a moment Napoleon
began his preparations for the morrow which was to decide whether the
mob was to triumph, and France lose all the fruits of her Revolution, or
law and order be established. His first act was to dispatch Murat, then
a major of chasseurs, to Sablons, five miles off, where the cannon were
posted. The Sectionaries sent a stronger detachment to seize these
cannon immediately afterwards; and Murat, who passed them in the dark,
would have gone in vain had he received his orders but a few moments
later, or had he been less active.
When the reveille sounded on the morning of October 4th, over 32,000
National Guards advanced by different streets to the siege of the
palace; but its defense was in firmer hands than those of Louis
XVI.--the hero of Toulon was now at the helm.
At the Church St. Roche the column which was advancing along the Rue St.
Honoré, found a detachment of Napoleon's troops drawn up in line with
two cannon to dispute their passage. It is unknown which side began the
firing, but in an instant Napoleon's artillery swept the streets and
lanes, scattering grape-shot among the National Guards, and producing
such confusion that they were soon compelled to give way. The first shot
was a signal for opening all the batteries which Bonaparte had
established, the quays of the Seine opposite the Tuileries being
commanded by his guns below the palace and on the bridges.
In less than an hour the action was over. The insurgents fled in all
directions, leaving the streets covered with the dead and wounded. The
troops of the Convention then marched into the various Sections,
disarmed the terrified inhabitants, and before nightfall everything was
quiet. The sun went down as calmly over the helpless city as though
nothing had happened. That same evening the theatres were opened and
illuminated, and there were general rejoicings on almost every hand.
Napoleon's star rose that night above the horizon; all Paris rushed to
catch a glimpse of the young commander, and for many years afterwards
France continued to look to him for protection,--and not in vain.
On the night of the 13th Vendemiaire Napoleon wrote to his brother
Joseph, saying: "At last all is finished and I hasten to send you news
of myself. The Royalists, formed into Sections, were becoming daily more
threatening. The Convention gave orders for the disarmament of the
Lepelletier Section which resisted the troops. Menou, who commanded,
was, it is said, a traitor, and was immediately disgraced. The
Convention appointed Barras to command the armed forces; the committee
named me to command them under him. We placed our troops; the enemy came
to attack us at the Tuileries. We killed many of them, and lost thirty
killed and sixty wounded of our men. We have disarmed the Sections, and
all is peace again. As usual I am unhurt. P.S. Fortune is on my side.
Love to Eugenie and Julie."
Within five days from the defeat of the Sections Napoleon was named
second in command of the Army of the Interior, and shortly afterwards
Barras, finding his duties as director sufficient to occupy his time,
gave up the command to his "little Corsican officer."
After his inauguration as general of the armed force of Paris, Bonaparte
waited on each of the five directors. While on a visit to Carnot a
celebrated writer was there by invitation,--it being presentation
day,--and as the young commander entered, was singing at the piano forte
accompanied by a young lady. The entrance of Napoleon, then a short,
well-made, olive-complexioned youth, amidst five or six tall young men
who seemed to pay him the greatest attention, was a very surprising
contrast, and made something of a stir.
On Bonaparte's entrance Carnot bowed with an air of perfect ease and
self-possession, and as he passed by the author the latter inquired of
the host who the gentlemen were.
The director answered: "The general of the armed force of Paris and his
aides-de-camp."
"What is his name?" said the author.
"Bonaparte."
"Has he any military skill?"
"So it is said."
"What has he ever done to render himself conspicuous?"
"He is the officer who commanded the troops of the Convention on the
Thirteenth Vendemiaire." (Day of the defeat of the Sections).
A shade passed over the visage of the inquirer, who happened to be one
of the electors of the Vendemiaire, and he retired to one of the dark
corners to observe the new visitor in thoughtfulness and in silence.
Carnot then took occasion to predict that the young general would soon
take another step to fame and glory.
It was about this time that a lady asked Napoleon: "How could you fire
thus mercilessly upon your countrymen?"
"A soldier," he replied calmly, "is only a machine to obey orders!"
A few years before, while at a party given in the drawing rooms of M.
Neckar, a celebrated financier, the Bishop of Autun commended Fox and
Sheridan for having asserted that the French army, by refusing to obey
the orders of their superiors to fire upon the populace, had set a
glorious example to all the armies of Europe; because, by so doing, they
had shown themselves that men, by becoming soldiers, did not cease to be
citizens.
[Illustration: From a Painting by H. Vernet
BONAPARTE AT THE BRIDGE OF ARCOLA]
"Excuse me, if I venture to interrupt you;" said Napoleon quickly, "but
as I am an officer, I must claim the privilege of expressing my
sentiments. I sincerely believe that a strict discipline in the army is
absolutely necessary for the safety of our constitutional government and
for the maintenance of order. Nay, if our troops are not compelled
unhesitatingly to obey the commands of the executive, we shall be
exposed to the blind fury of democratic passions which will render
France the most miserable country on the globe!"
The action of the Assembly in placing Napoleon in command of the troops
in Paris had caused his name to appear frequently in the newspapers, and
thenceforth it emerged from obscurity. As commander his first act was to
intercede for and gain the acquittal of Menou, his predecessor, who was
then in prison, principally because of his failure to put down the
rioters.
Bonaparte now began to hold military levees, at one of which an incident
occurred which gave at once a new turn in his mode of life, and a fresh
impetus to the advance of his fortunes. A beautiful boy about twelve
years old appeared before Napoleon and said: "My name is Eugene
Beauharnais. My father, Viscount, and a General of the Republican
armies, has died on the guillotine, and I am come to pray you, sir, to
give me his sword." Bonaparte caused the request to be complied with,
and the tears of the boy, as he received and kissed the relic, excited
the commander's interest. The next day the youth's mother, Josephine
Beauharnais, came to thank Napoleon for his kind treatment of her son,
and her beauty and singular gracefulness of address made a strong
impression upon him. Some time later he offered Josephine his hand; she,
after some hesitation, accepted it, and the young general by his
marriage, which was celebrated on March 5th, 1796, thus cemented his
favorable connection with the society of the Luxembourg, and in
particular, with Tallien and Barras, at that time the most powerful men
in France.
The first meeting with Eugene, and its influence upon Napoleon's
marriage with Josephine, has been sometimes questioned by historians,
many of whom have seemingly neglected the Exile's own verification of
the story at St. Helena, in which, after relating the incident of
Josephine's visit, he said to Dr. O'Meara: "I was much struck with her
appearance (Josephine's), and still more with her _esprit_. This first
impression was daily strengthened, and marriage was not long in
following."
Tranquility was now restored in Paris, and the Directors had leisure to
turn their attention to the affairs of the Army of Italy, which was then
in a most confused and unsatisfactory condition. They determined to
place it under it a new general, and Bonaparte, then but twenty-six
years of age, was appointed to the command of the Army of Italy. It is
said that when the command was given Napoleon by Carnot (grandfather of
the late Sadi-Carnot, president of the present French Republic), the
latter told him it was to the command of men alone that he could be
appointed, the troops being destitute of everything but arms. Bonaparte
replied, that provided he would let him have men enough, that it was all
he wanted; he would answer for the rest, a promise that was soon
fulfilled, for instead of an army wanting everything, it became, at the
enemy's expense, one of the best appointed in Europe.
It was afterwards a matter of dispute between Carnot and Barras as to
which of them had first proposed his appointment to this command. It is
admitted in one of Josephine's letters that Barras had promised to
procure the position for Bonaparte before his marriage took place.
One of the Directors hesitated and said to Napoleon, "You are too
young."
"In a year," he answered, "I shall be either old or dead!"
II
BONAPARTE'S CAMPAIGN IN ITALY, 1796-7
When Napoleon set out from Paris on the 21st of March 1796, to take
command of the Army of Italy, after a honeymoon of but three days, he
traversed France with the swiftness of a courier, turning aside but a
few hours at Marseilles with his mother and family, whom he was now able
to provide for in an adequate manner. His letters to Josephine were full
of passionate expressions of tenderness, and regret at their separation.
But after paying his tribute to the affections, his heart was speedily
filled with exultation and triumph. For the first time he was chief in
command; the power within him was now free to direct his actions,
unhampered by the restraint he had so long felt in the capital. He was
extremely anxious to commence the career to which Fate called him, by
placing himself at the head of the Army of Italy at once.
It would not be difficult to imagine with what delight this young
general--then scarcely twenty-six years old--advanced to an independent
field of glory and conquest, confident in his own powers, and in the
perfect knowledge of the country which he had previously acquired. He
had under his command such men, already distinguished in war by success
and bravery as: Augereau, Massena, Serrurier, Joubert, Lannes, Murat, La
Harpe, Stengel and Kilmaine, all of whom were astonished at the youthful
appearance of their new commander.
It was not without some discontent that the old generals beheld a young
man, lately their inferior, taking the command over their heads,--to
which each supposed he had a prior claim, and reaping the benefits of a
plan of operations they did not imagine to have originated with himself.
As he rode along the ranks the soldiers observed that he did not sit
well on horseback, and complained that a "mere boy" had been sent to
command them. The young general, however, soon obtained that respect for
his character, which had been denied to his physical constitution. The
firmness he exhibited, soon put a stop to the insubordination which had
prevailed in the army; and, even before they had conquered under him,
the troops became as submissive as at any subsequent period, when his
character was fully established.
Some years before, when Bonaparte was conversing at Toulon with M. de
Volney, the well-known Corsican traveler and literary man, at a dinner
given to the two friends by Turreau, then in command of the military
force at Nice, a campaign in Italy was suggested. After the dessert was
brought in Napoleon said to Turreau: "Don't you think it's altogether
too bad to have 10,000 men lying idle here at Nice when the Republic
could make such excellent use of them in Italy?"
"Possibly," replied Turreau, "but we can do nothing; we have no order to
move from the Committee of Public Safety."
"Then," said Napoleon, "it is your duty to make the committee ashamed of
its inactivity."
"What would you do if you could act as you pleased?" asked Turreau.
Napoleon promised to give a reply the next evening. At the time fixed he
came prepared with a complete plan of campaign written out and
classified under seventeen heads. It involved the invasion and conquest
of Italy on almost the same lines that he was now about to undertake,
and the outgrowth partially of that meeting, for Turreau forwarded the
plan to the Committee of Public Safety at Paris on condition that it be
put in the hands of Carnot, in whose judgment Napoleon had confidence.
Carnot looked over the plan and was delighted. He was unable to secure
immediate action, but two years later, when the invasion of Italy was
determined upon, he had sufficient influence to see that Napoleon was
put in charge of it.
Bonaparte arrived at the headquarters of the army at Nice on the 27th of
March, 1796. The French Army of Italy, which amounted to 31,000
available men, had endured great hardships and privations, were
destitute of shoes, clothing, and almost everything which their comfort
demanded. The cavalry was wretchedly mounted and they were very
deficient in artillery. To silence their complaints, and reconcile them
to their situation, as well as to endear them to himself, Napoleon lived
familiarly with his soldiers, participated in their hardships and
privations, and redressed many of their grievances. "My brave fellows,"
he said to them on one occasion, while endeavoring to revive their
spirits; "although you suffer great privations, you have no reason to be
dissatisfied; everything yields to power; if we are victorious, the
provisions and the supplies of the enemy become ours; _if we are
vanquished, we have already too much to lose_."
The allies, Austrian and Sardinian, were a greatly superior force,
numbering as they did 80,000 men, were well equipped with supplies, and
occupied in their own, or a friendly country, all the heights and passes
of the Alps. Berthier, then on Napoleon's staff as major-general, took
great pleasure in showing as a curiosity in after years a general order
by which three louis-d'or were granted as a great supply for an outfit
to each general of division, and dated on the very day of the victory at
Albinga.
On the 8th of April Napoleon wrote to the Directory: "I found this army,
not only destitute, but without discipline; their insubordination and
discontent were such that the malcontents had formed a party for
the Dauphin, and were singing songs opposed to the tenets of the
Revolution. You may, however, rest assured that peace and order will be
re-established; by the time you receive this letter, we shall have come
to an engagement."
It was under such circumstances that Bonaparte proposed forcing a
passage to Italy and converting the richest territory of the enemy into
the theatre of war. "Soldiers," said he to his destitute and
disheartened men, "you are naked and ill-fed; the Republic owes you
much, but she has nothing with which to pay her debts. Your endurance
and patience amidst these barren rocks deserves admiration; but it
brings you no glory. I come to lead you into the most fertile plains the
sun shines upon. Rich provinces, and great cities will soon be in your
power; there you will reap riches and glory--they will be at your
disposal. Soldiers of Italy! with such a prospect before you, can you
fail in courage and perseverance?"
This was the commander's first address to the army, and the words of
encouragement which he gave them shot martial enthusiasm through their
veins like electric fire. Under the incompetent management of Scherer
the army, which had obtained some success against the Austrian general,
De Vins, had been without glory, although their battalions were headed
by valiant officers whose leader had neglected to improve his good
fortune. The French soldiers were thirsting for a commander capable of
leading them on to fame and glory, the conquest of Italy, therefore,
seemed reserved for General Bonaparte.
Napoleon's system of tactics, although then unknown even to his
officers, were a fixity with him. They appear to have been grounded on
the principle that "the commander will be victorious who assembles the
greatest number of forces upon the same point at the same moment,
notwithstanding an inferiority of numbers to the enemy when the general
force is computed on both sides." He eminently possessed the power of
calculation and combination necessary to exercise these decisive
manoeuvres.
Napoleon's career of victory began, as it continued, in defiance of the
established rules of warfare, and what distinguished him above all his
contemporaries was his ability to convert the most unfavorable
circumstances into the means of success. He perceived that the time was
come for turning a new leaf in the history of war. With such numbers of
troops as the impoverished Republic could afford him, he soon saw that
no considerable advantages could be obtained against the vast and
highly-disciplined armies of Austria and her allies unless the
established rules of etiquette and strategy were abandoned. It was only
by such rapidity of motion as should utterly surprise the superior
numbers of his adversaries that he could hope to concentrate the entire
energy of a small force, such as he commanded, upon some point of a much
greater force, and thus defeat them. He knew he would have to deal with
veteran soldiers and experienced generals--men who had learned the art
of war before he was born. He therefore resolved that every movement
should be made with celerity, and every blow be leveled where it was
least expected.
To effect such rapid marches as he had determined upon, it was necessary
that the soldiery should make up their minds to consider tents and
baggage as idle luxuries; and that instead of a long and complicated
chain of reserves and stores, they should dare to rely wholly for the
means of sustenance on the countries into which their venturesome leader
might conduct them.
The objects of Napoleon's expedition were to compel the king of
Sardinia, who maintained a powerful army in the field, to abandon the
alliance of Austria; to compel Austria to concentrate her forces in her
Italian provinces, thus obliging her to withdraw them from the bank of
the Rhine where they had long hovered. It was hoped, also, to humble the
power of the Vatican and break the prestige of its Jesuitical diplomacy
forever. He had as yet achieved no fame in the field and not a general
in Europe would have blamed him if he had only succeeded in holding the
territory of Nice and Savoy, which France had already won.
Napoleon's plan of reaching the fair regions of Italy differed from that
of all former conquerors; they had uniformly penetrated the Alps at some
point of access in that mighty range of mountains; he judged that the
same end might be accomplished more easily by advancing along the narrow
strip of comparatively level country that intervenes between those
enormous barriers and the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and forcing a
passage at the point where the last or southern extremity of the Alps
melt, as it were, into the first and lowest of the Appenine range.
No sooner did he begin to concentrate his troops towards this region
than Beaulieu, the Austrian general, took measures for protecting
Genoa and the entrance of Italy with a powerful, disciplined and
well-appointed army. He posted himself with one column at Voltri, a town
on the sea some ten miles west of Genoa; D'Argenteau, with another
column occupied the heights of Montenotte, while the Sardinians, led by
General Colli, formed the right of the line at Ceva. This disposition
was made in compliance with the old system of tactics; but it was
powerless before new strategy. The French could not advance towards
Genoa but by confronting some one of the three armies and these Beaulieu
supposed were too strongly posted to be dislodged.
On the morning of the 12th of April, 1796, when D'Argenteau advanced
from Montenotte to attack the column of Rampon, he found that by
skillful manoeuvres during the night Napoleon had completely surrounded
him--a man who had fancied there was nothing new to be done in warfare.
On the previous day the Austrians had driven in all the outposts of the
French and appeared before the redoubt of Montenotte. This redoubt, the
last of the intrenchments, was defended by 1,500 men commanded by Rampon
who made his soldiers take an oath, during the heat of the attack, to
defend it or perish in the intrenchments, to the last man. The repeated
assaults of the French were without avail, their advancement was checked
and they were kept the whole night at the distance of a pistol shot, 400
men being killed by the fire of their musketry alone.
At daybreak, the following morning, Bonaparte then being at the head of
the French forces, and having introduced two pieces of cannon into the
redoubt during the night, the action was recommenced with great vigor
and with varying success. The contest had continued for sometime, when
Bonaparte, with Berthier and Massena appearing suddenly with the centre
and left wing of the army upon the rear and flank of the enemy, at once
commenced a furious attack, filled them with terror and confusion, and
decided the fate of the day. D'Argenteau, who commanded the rear, had
fought gallantly, but seeing that to continue the battle would only end
in total destruction, he fled, leaving his colors and cannon, a thousand
killed and two thousand prisoners.
Thus was the centre of the great Austrian army completely routed before
either its commander-in-chief at the left, or General Colli at the
right, knew that a battle had begun. It was from this battle, the first
of Napoleon's victories, that the French Emperor told the Emperor of
Austria, some years later, that he dated his nobility. "Ancestors?" said
Napoleon, "I, sir, am an ancestor myself; my title of nobility dates
from Montenotte!"
This victory enabled the French, under La Harpe, to advance to Cairo,
and placed them on that side of the Alps which slopes toward Lombardy.
Beaulieu now fell back on Dego, where he could open his communication
with Colli, who had retreated to Millessimo, a small town about nine
miles from Dego. Here the two commanders hoped to unite their forces.
They were soon strongly posted, and dispatching couriers to Milan for
reinforcements, intended to await their arrival before risking another
battle. It was their object to keep fast in these positions until succor
could come from Lombardy; but Napoleon had no intention of giving them
such a respite; his tactics were not those of other generals.
The morning after the victory of Montenotte Bonaparte dispatched
Augereau to attack Millessimo; Massena to fall on Dego, and La Harpe to
turn the flank of Beaulieu.
Massena carried the heights of Biestro at the point of the bayonet,
while La Harpe dislodged the Austrian general from his position, which
separated him hopelessly from the Sardinian commander and put him to
precipitate flight. By these movements Bonaparte was in such a position,
that, though they had not traversed, his army had at all events scaled
the Alps.
Meanwhile Augereau had seized the outposts of Millessimo and cut off
Provera, with 2,000 Austrians who occupied an eminence upon the mountain
of Cossaria, from the main body of Colli's army. Provera took refuge in
a ruined castle which he defended with great bravery, hoping to receive
assistance from Colli.
The next morning Napoleon, who had arrived in the night, forced Colli to
battle and compelled him to retreat towards Ceva. Provera imitated the
gallant example of Colonel Rampon in his defense, but not with the same
success. He was compelled to surrender his sword to Bonaparte at
discretion, after a loss of 10,000 in killed and prisoners, twenty-two
cannon and fifteen standards. The French found on the summit of the Alps
every species of ammunition and other necessities which the celerity of
their march had prevented them from carrying.
Dego, situated at the summit of the Alps, secured the entrance of the
French into Italy, cut off the communications between the Austrian and
Sardinian armies, and placed the conqueror in a situation to crush them
in succession one after the other. Beaulieu, fully sensible of the
danger of his situation, collected the best troops in his army, and at
break of day on the 15th of April, retook Dego at the head of 7,000 men.
The Austrians stood two attacks headed by Napoleon, but at the third
Causse rushed forward, holding his plumed hat on the point of his sword,
and Dego was soon again in possession of the French. For this piece of
gallantry he immediately received the rank of brigadier-general. Here
also, Lannes, who lived to be a marshal of the Empire, first attracted
the notice of Napoleon, and was promoted from lieutenant-colonel to
colonel. The triumph, however, was purchased with the life of the brave
General Causse. He was carried out of the mêlée mortally wounded.
Napoleon passed near him as he lay. "Is Dego retaken?" asked the dying
officer. "It is ours," replied Napoleon. "Then long live the Republic!"
cried Causse, "I die content."
Hotly pursued by the victors, Colli rallied his fugitives at Mondovi,
where they again yielded to the irrisistible onset of the French, the
Sardinian commander leaving his best troops, baggage and cannon on the
field. The action was a most severe one in which, among others, the
French general, Stengel, a brave and excellent officer, was killed, and
the cavalry would have been overpowered but for the desperate valor of
Murat.
The Sardinians lost ten stands of colors and fifteen hundred prisoners,
among whom were three generals. The Sardinian army had now ceased to
exist, and the Austrians were flying to the frontiers of Lombardy.
Napoleon, following up his advantage, entered Cherasco, a strong place
about ten miles from Turin, as a conqueror. Here he dictated the terms
by which the Sardinian king could still wear a crown. From the castle
where he stood, and looking off on the garden-fields of Lombardy--which
had gladdened the eyes of so many conquerors--with the Alps behind him,
glittering in their perennial snows, Napoleon said to his officers:
"Hannibal forced the Alps--we have turned them." To his soldiers, whom
he addressed in a proclamation, he said: "In fifteen days you have
gained six victories, taken twenty-one stands of colors, fifty-five
pieces of cannon, several fortresses, and conquered the richest part of
Piedmont: you have made 15,000 prisoners, killed or wounded upwards of
10,000 men. Hitherto you have fought for barren rocks, rendered famous
by your valor, but useless to your country. Your services now equal
those of the victorious army of Holland and the Rhine. You have provided
yourselves with everything of which you were destitute. You have gained
battles without cannon! passed rivers without bridges! made forced
marches without shoes! bivouacked without strong liquors and often
without bread! Republican phalanxes, Soldiers of Liberty, only, could
have endured all this. Thanks for your perseverance! If your conquest of
Toulon presaged the immortal campaign of 1793, your present victories
presage a still nobler. But, soldiers, you have done nothing while so
much remains to be done; neither Turin or Milan are yours. The ashes of
the Conquerors of the Tarquins are still trampled by the assassins of
Basseville."
To the Italians Napoleon said: "People of Italy! The French army comes
to break your chains. The people of France are the friends of all
nations--confide in them. Your property, your religion and your customs
shall be respected. We make war with those tyrants alone who enslave
you."
The French soldiers, flushed with victory, were eager to continue their
march, and the people of Italy hailed Napoleon as their deliverer. The
Sardinian king did not long survive the humiliation of the loss of his
crown--he died of a broken heart within a few days after signing the
treaty of Cherasco.
In the meantime the couriers of Napoleon were almost every hour riding
into Paris with the news of his victories, and five times in six days
the Representatives of France had decreed that the Army of Italy
deserved well of their country.
Murat was sent to Paris bearing the news of the capitulation of the king
of Sardinia, and twenty-one stands of colors. His arrival caused great
joy in the capital.
The consummate genius of this brief campaign could not be disputed, and
the modest language of the young general's dispatches to the Directory
lent additional grace to his fame. All the eyes of Europe were fixed in
admiration on his career.
In less than a month's campaign Napoleon laid the gates of Italy open
before him; reduced the Austrians to inaction; utterly destroyed the
Sardinian king's army, and took two great fortresses called "the keys to
the Alps!"
To effect the rapid movements required for such results, everything was
sacrificed that came in the way, not only on this occasion, but on every
other. Baggage, stragglers, the wounded, the artillery--all were left
behind, rather than the column should fail to reach the destined place
at the destined time. Napoleon made no allowance for accidents or
impediments. Things until now reckoned essential to an army were
dispensed with; and, for the first time, troops were seen to take the
field without tents, camp equipage, magazines of provisions, and
military hospitals. Such a system naturally aggravated the horrors of
war. The soldiers were, necessarily, marauders, and committed terrible
excesses at this first stage of the campaign; but every effort was made,
and with much success, to prevent this evil after conquest had put the
means of regular supply within the power of the commander-in-chief. The
wounded were frequently left behind for want of the means of conveyance.
According to one authority, the loss by the disorders inseparable from
this means of war was four times as great as by the fire or the sword of
the enemy.
The army, nevertheless, adored its fortunate general, and it still doted
upon him even when undeceived respecting his providence for it. "To be
able to solve this enigma," says General Foy, "it was requisite to have
known Napoleon, the life of camp and of glory, and, above all, one must
have a French head and heart." With the sufferings of the army, he
never failed to show an active sympathy when it did not tend to the
compromise of his plans. The hours, too, spent by Napoleon on the field
after a battle, endeared him to his followers. He visited the hospitals
in person and made his officers, after his example, take the utmost
interest in this duty. His hand was applied to the wounds; his voice
cheered the sick. All who recovered could relate individual acts of
kindness experienced from him by themselves or their comrades.
It was at this period that a medal of Napoleon was struck at Paris as
conqueror of Montenotte. The face is extremely thin, with long, straight
hair. On the reverse, a figure of Victory is represented flying over the
Alps, bearing a palm branch, a wreath of laurel and a drawn sword. It
was the first of the splendid series designed by Denon to record the
victories and honors of France's great warrior.
Napoleon determined to advance without delay, giving Tuscany, Venice,
and the other Italian States no time to take up a hostile attitude.
After accomplishing so much, a general of less enterprise might have
thought it right to rest awhile and wait for reinforcements before
attempting further conquest, but not so with Napoleon. The French army,
to which recruits were now flocking from every hospital and depot within
reach, was ordered to prepare for instant motion.
It was after one of the successful movements of this period that an old
Hungarian officer was brought prisoner to Bonaparte, who entered into
conversation with him, and among other matters asked what he thought of
the state of the war. "Nothing," replied the prisoner, who did not
know he was addressing the commander-in-chief, "nothing can be worse.
Here is a young man who knows absolutely nothing of the regular rules of
war; to-day he is in our rear, to-morrow on our flank, the next day
again in our front. Such violations of the principles of the art of war
are intolerable sir, and we do not know how to proceed!"
[Illustration: From a Painting by F. Philippoteaux
BONAPARTE AT THE BATTLE OF RIVOLI]
To secure the route to Milan it was necessary to drive the Austrians
from the banks of the Adda, behind which they had retired after a heavy
loss at Fombio. Lannes upon that occasion gave proofs of his astonishing
intrepidity; at the head of a single battalion, he attacked between
seven and eight thousand Austrians, and not content in causing their
flight, he pursued them ten miles, following the trot of their cavalry
on foot.
Having collected an immense quantity of artillery and the main division
of his army at a narrow wooden bridge erected across this stream at the
town of Lodi, General Beaulieu awaited the arrival of the French,
confident of defending the passage of the Adda and arresting their
progress. Beaulieu had placed a battery of thirty cannon so as to
completely sweep every plank of the bridge. Had he removed the
structure, which was about 500 feet in length, when he changed his
headquarters to the east bank of the river, he might have made the
passage much more formidable than even his cannon made it.
Well aware that his conquest would never be consolidated till the
Austrian army was totally vanquished, and deprived of all its Italian
possessions, Bonaparte hastened to pursue the enemy to Lodi. Coming up
on the 10th of May, he easily drove the rear-guard of the Austrian army
before him into the town, but found his further progress threatened by
the tremendous fire of thirty cannon stationed at the opposite end of
the bridge so as to sweep it completely. The whole body of the enemy's
infantry drawn up in a dense line, supported this appalling disposition
of the artillery.
Bonaparte's first care was to place as many guns as he could get in
direct opposition to the Austrian battery. He was determined that no
obstacle should oppose his victorious career, and at once resolved to
pass the bridge.
Exposed to a shower of grape-shot from the enemy's batteries, Napoleon
at last succeeded in planting two pieces of cannon at the head of the
bridge on the French side, and to prevent the enemy from destroying it a
column was immediately formed from the troops that at once appeared,
determined to carry the pass. The French now commenced a fearful
cannonading. Bonaparte himself appeared in the midst of the fire,
pointing with his own hand two guns in such a manner as to cut off the
Austrians from the only path by which they could have advanced to
undermine the bridge.
Observing, meanwhile, that Beaulieu had removed his infantry to a
considerable distance backwards, to keep them out of the range of the
French battery, Napoleon instantly detached General Beaumont and his
cavalry, with orders to gallop out of sight, ford the river, and coming
suddenly upon the enemy, attack them in the rear. When that took place
Napoleon instantly drew up a body of 3,000 grenadiers in close column
under the shelter of the houses, and bade them prepare for the desperate
attempt of forcing a passage across the narrow bridge, in the face of
the enemy's thickly-planted artillery.
A sudden movement in the flanks of the enemy now convinced Napoleon that
his cavalry had arrived and charged the enemy's flank, and he instantly
gave the word. In a moment the brave grenadiers wheeled to the left and
were at once upon the bridge, rushing forward at a charge step, and
shouting: "Vive la République!"; but the storm of grape-shot from the
enemy's guns checked them for a moment. It was a very sepulchre of death
and a burning furnace of destruction pouring out its broadsides of fire
in defense of its position; a hundred brave men fell dead. The advancing
column faltered under the redoubled roar of the guns and the rattle of
grape-shot.
Lannes, Napoleon, Berthier and L'Allemand now hurried to the front,
rallied and cheered the men, and as the column dashed across and over
the dead bodies of the slain which covered the passageway, and in the
face of a tempest of fire that thinned their ranks at every step, the
leaders shouted: "Follow your generals, my brave fellows!"
Lannes was the first to reach the other side, Napoleon himself being
second.
The Austrian artillerymen were bayoneted at their guns before the other
troops, whom Beaulieu had removed too far back in his anxiety to avoid
the French battery, could come to their assistance. Beaumont pressing
gallantly with his horse upon the flank, and Napoleon's infantry forming
rapidly as they passed the bridge, and charging on the instant, the
Austrian line at once became involved in inextricable confusion. The
contest was almost instantly decided; the whole line of Austrian
artillery was carried; their order of battle broken; their troops routed
and put to flight.
The slaughter of Austrians amounted to vast numbers, while the French
lost but 200 men. Thus did Bonaparte execute with such rapidity and
consequently with so little loss "the terrible passage," as he himself
called it, "of the bridge of Lodi." It is justly called one of the most
daring achievements on record.
The victory of Lodi had a great influence on Napoleon's mind. He
declared subsequently that neither his success in quelling the
"Sections," nor his victory at Montenotte, made him regard himself as
anything superior; but that after Lodi, for the first time the idea
dawned upon him that he would one day be "a decisive actor," as he
himself put it, on the stage of the military and political world. That
he was a fatalist is well-known, it being a frequent expression with him
that "every bullet is marked."
On this occasion the soldiers conferred on him the nick-name of "Little
Corporal." The original cause of the appellation, as applied to
Bonaparte, has been related by Napoleon himself. He says that when he
commanded near the Col di Tende the army was obliged to traverse a
narrow bridge, on which occasion he gave directions that no women should
be allowed to accompany it, as the service was particularly difficult,
and required that the troops should be continually on the alert; to
enforce such an order he placed two captains on the bridge with
instructions, on pain of death, not to permit a woman to pass. He
subsequently repaired to the bridge himself, for the purpose of
ascertaining whether his orders were being scrupulously obeyed, when he
found a crowd of women assembled, who, as soon as they saw him, began to
revile him, exclaiming: "Oh, then, _petit corporal_, it is you who have
given orders not to let us pass!"
Some miles in advance Napoleon was surprised to see a considerable
number of women with the troops. He immediately ordered the two captains
to be put under arrest and brought before him, intending to have them
tried immediately. They protested their innocence, asserting that no
women had crossed the bridge. Bonaparte caused some of the females to be
brought before him, and learned with astonishment, from their own
confession, that they had emptied some casks of provisions and concealed
themselves therein, by which means they had passed over unperceived.
After every battle the oldest soldiers convened a council in order to
confer a new rank on their young general, who, on making his appearance,
was saluted by his latest title. Bonaparte, therefore, was nominated
_corporal_ at Lodi, and _sergeant_ at Castiglione. It was "Little
Corporal," however, that the soldiery constantly applied to him ever
afterwards.
The fruits of this splendid victory at Lodi were twenty pieces of
cannon, and between two and three thousand killed, wounded and
prisoners, and the loss by the enemy of an excellent line of defense.
When Europe heard of the battle they named the conqueror "The Hero of
Lodi."
Beaulieu contrived to withdraw a part of his troops, and gathering the
scattered fragment of his force together, soon threw the line of the
Mincio, a tributary of the Po, between himself and his enemy. The great
object, however, he had attained,--he was still free to defend Mantua.
The French following up their advantages at Lodi, pursued the Austrians
with great celerity. They advanced to Pizzighitone, which immediately
surrendered. Pushing on to Cremona they met with like success, and the
vanguard, having taken the route to Milan, entered this city on the 14th
of May, having on their march received the submission of Pavia, where
they found most of the magazines of the Austrian army. The tri-colored
flag now waved in triumph from the extremity of the Lake of Como and the
frontiers of the country to the gates of Parma.
The Austrians having evacuated Milan, when the French prepared to enter
it, a deputation of the inhabitants laid the keys of its gates at their
feet. A few days later, although the archduke had fled from his capital,
overwhelmed with sorrow and mortification, the people collected in vast
multitudes to witness the entry of the French, whom they hailed as their
deliverers. The imperial arms were taken down from the public buildings
and at the ducal palace this humorous advertisement was posted up:
"A HOUSE TO RENT.
Inquire for the keys at
CITIZEN SALICETTI'S,
The French Commissioner."
The entry of Bonaparte into Milan under a triumphal arch and surrounded
by the grenadiers of Lodi, among whom some generals were conspicuous,
was eminently brilliant. The splendid carriages of the nobility and
aristocracy of the capital went out to meet and salute him as the
"Deliverer of Italy," and returned in an immense cavalcade, amidst the
shouts and acclamations of an innumerable multitude, and accompanied by
several bands playing patriotic marches, the procession stopping at the
palace of the archduke, where Bonaparte was to take up his headquarters.
The ceremonies of the day were concluded by a splendid ball at which the
ladies showed their Republican feeling by wearing the French national
colors in every part of their dress. On the same day Bonaparte entered
Milan the treaty with the king of Sardinia and the Directory was signed
at Paris.
Napoleon now addressed himself again to his soldiers, reminding them of
their victories and responsibilities yet to come. "To you, soldiers," he
said, "will belong the immortal honor of redeeming the fairest portion
of Europe. The French people, free and respected by the whole world,
shall give to Europe a glorious peace, which shall indemnify it for all
the sacrifices it has borne the last six years. Then by your own
firesides you shall repose, and your fellow-citizens, when they point
out any one of you, shall say: 'HE BELONGED TO THE ARMY OF ITALY!'"
From that period the Army of Italy was no longer a tax upon France, but
on the contrary was a great source of revenue to her, and assisted in
paying her other armies. Six weeks after the opening of the campaign,
independent of ten million of francs placed at the disposal of the
Directory, Bonaparte sent upwards of two hundred thousand francs to the
Army of the Alps, and a million to the Army of the Rhine, thereby paving
the way to his future greatness.
Bonaparte remained but six days in Milan; he then proceeded to pursue
Beaulieu, who had planted the remains of his army behind the Mincio. The
Austrian general had placed his left on the great and strong city of
Mantua, which had been termed "the citadel of Italy," and his right at
Peschiera, a well-known Venetian fortress. The Austrian veteran occupied
one of the strongest positions that it is possible to imagine, and
Bonaparte hastened once more to dislodge him.
The French Directory, meanwhile, had begun to entertain suspicion as to
the ultimate designs of their young general, whose success and rising
fame had already reached so astonishing a height. That they were
exceedingly jealous of him there seems to be no doubt, and they
determined to check, if they could, the career of a man of whom they
seemed to be in fear. Bonaparte was therefore ordered to take half his
army and lead it against the pope and the king of Naples, and leave the
other half to terminate the conquest with Beaulieu at Mantua, under the
orders of Kellerman. He answered by offering to resign his command. "One
half of the Army of Italy cannot suffice to finish the matter with the
Austrians," said he. "It is only by keeping my force entire that I have
been able to gain so many battles and to be now in Milan. You had better
have one bad general than two good ones!"
The Directory did not dare to persist in displacing the chief whose name
was considered as the pledge of victory, and he continued to assume the
entire command of the Army of Italy.
Another unlooked-for occurrence delayed for a few days the march upon
Mantua. The success of the French and their exactions where victorious,
had fostered the ire of a portion of the populace throughout Lombardy.
Reports of new Austrian levies being poured down the passes of Tyrol
were spread and believed. Insurrections against the conqueror now took
place in various districts, placing thirty thousand men in arms. At
Pavia the insurgents were entirely triumphant; they seized the town and
compelled the French garrison to surrender. This flame, had it been
suffered to spread, threatened immeasurable evil to the French cause.
Lannes instantly marched to Binasco, stormed the place, burnt it and put
many of the insurgents to the sword. Napoleon appeared before Pavia,
blew the gates open, took possession and later caused the leaders to be
executed. At Lugo, where another insurrection took place, the leaders
were tried by court martial and condemned.
These examples quelled the insurrectionists, and the French advanced on
the Mincio. Bonaparte made such disposition of his troops that Beaulieu
believed he meant to cross that river, if he could, at Peschiera.
Meanwhile the French had been preparing to cross at another point, and
on the 30th of May actually forced the passage of the Mincio, not at
Peschiera, but further down at Borghetto. The Austrian garrison at this
point in vain destroyed one arch of the bridge. Bonaparte quickly
supplied the breach with planks, and his men, flushed with so many
victories, charged with a fury not to be resisted. While the French were
laboring to repair the bridge, under the fire of the enemy's batteries,
impatient of delay, fifty grenadiers threw themselves into the river,
holding their muskets over their heads with the water up to their chins,
General Gardanne, a grenadier in courage as well as in stature, being at
their head. The Austrians who were nearest, recollecting the terrible
column at Lodi, fled. When the bridge was repaired the French entered
Vallegio, where Beaulieu's headquarters had been stationed a short time
previous. The latter was obliged to abandon the Mincio as he had the
Adda and the Po, and to take up the new line of the Adige.
The left line of the Austrian force, learning from the cannonade that
the French were at Borghetto, hastened to ascend the Mincio with a view
of assisting in the defense of the division engaged with the enemy. They
arrived too late, however, to be of assistance, as the commander at
Borghetto had retreated before they arrived. They came, however,
unexpectedly, and at a moment when Bonaparte and a few friends,
believing the work of the day to be over and the village safe from the
enemy, were about to sit down to dinner, as they thought, in security.
Sebetendorff, who commanded the division, came up rapidly into the
village, but with no idea what a prize was within his grasp. Bonaparte's
attendants had barely time to shut the gates of the inn, and alarm their
chief by the cry, "To arms!" They defended the house with obstinate
courage while Bonaparte threw himself on horseback and galloping out by
a back passage, effected the narrowest of escapes, proceeding at full
speed to join Massena's forces.
It was shortly after this that Bonaparte met with an experience that
gave him the idea of the "Imperial Guard of Napoleon" and which
throughout his military career he ever afterwards maintained as a
personal guard. It was the duty of this body, consisting of veterans who
should number at least ten years of active service, to remain always
near the person of the commander-in-chief, and who were only brought
into action when important movements or desperate emergencies required
their utmost energies. They were placed under the command of Bessieres
at this time, and were known as "Le Corps de Guides."
During the same campaign Bonaparte again narrowly escaped being taken a
prisoner. Wurmser, who had been compelled to throw himself into Mantua,
having suddenly debouched on an open plain, learned from an old woman
that not many minutes before the French general, with only a few
followers, had stopped at her door and fled at the sight of the
Austrians. Wurmser immediately dispatched parties of cavalry in all
directions to whom he gave orders that if they came up with Napoleon he
should not be killed or harmed; fortunately, however, for the French
commander, destiny and the swiftness of his horse saved him.
In their different engagements, the grenadiers had learned to laugh and
sport at death; they despised the Austrian cavalry and nothing could
equal their intrepidity but the gaiety with which they performed their
forced marches, singing alternately songs in praise of their country and
of love. Instead of sleeping they amused themselves during most of the
night, each telling a tale, or forming his own plans of operation for
the following day.
Sebetendorff was soon assaulted by a French column and retreated, after
Beaulieu's example, on the line of the Adige. The Austrian commander
had, in effect, abandoned for a time the open country of Italy. He now
lay on the frontier, between the vast tract of rich province, which
Napoleon had conquered, and the Tyrol. Mantua, which possessed immense
natural advantages, and into which the retreating general had flung a
garrison of full fourteen thousand men, was, in truth, the last and only
Italian possession of the imperial crown, which, as it seemed, there
might be a possibility of saving.
Beaulieu anxiously awaited the approach of new troops from Germany, to
attempt the relief of this great city; and Bonaparte, eager to
anticipate the efforts of the imperial government, sat down immediately
before it.
Mantua lies on an island, being cut off on all sides from the main land
by the branches of the Mincio, and approachable only by five narrow
causeways of which three were now defended by strong and regular
fortresses or intrenched camps; the other two by gates, drawbridge and
batteries. The garrison was prepared to maintain the position, was
well-nigh impregnable and the occupants awaited the hour to discover
whether Napoleon possessed any new system of attack capable of
shortening the usual operations of a siege as effectually as he had
already done by the march and the battle.
It was a matter of high importance that Napoleon should reduce this
place quickly, for a large army under Field-Marshal Wurmser, one of the
most able and experienced of the Austrian generals, was about to enter
Italy. His commencement gave cause for much alarm to those within the
fortress. Of the five causeways, by sudden and overwhelming assaults, he
obtained four; the garrison was cut off from the main land except at the
fifth causeway, the strongest of them all, named from a palace near it,
"La Favorita." It seemed necessary, however, in order that this blockade
might be complete, that the Venetian territory, lying immediately behind
Mantua, should be occupied by the French, and the claim of neutrality
was not allowed to interfere with Napoleon's plans.
"You are too weak," said Bonaparte, when a Venetian envoy reached his
headquarters, "to enforce neutrality on hostile nations such as France
and Austria. Beaulieu did not respect your territory when his interest
bade him violate it; nor shall I hesitate to occupy whatever falls
within the line of the Adige."
Garrisons were placed forthwith in Verona and all the strong places of
that domain. Napoleon now returned to Milan to transact important
business, leaving Serrurier and Vaubois to blockade Mantua.
The king of Naples, utterly confounded by the success of the French, was
now anxious to secure peace on whatever terms proposed, and Bonaparte,
knowing that it would result in a withdrawal of some valuable divisions
from the army of Beaulieu, arranged an armistice which was soon followed
by a formal peace, and the Neapolitan troops, abandoning the Austrian
general, began their march to the south of Italy. This was followed by
peace arrangements with the Pope of whom Napoleon demanded, and
obtained, as a price of the brief respite from invasion, a million
sterling, one hundred of the finest pictures and statues in the papal
gallery, a large supply of military stores and the cession of Ancona,
Ferrara and Bologna, with their respective domains. The siege of the
citadel of Milan, rigorously pressed, was at length successful. The
garrison capitulated on the 29th of June, and by the 18th of July, one
hundred and forty pieces of cannon were before Mantua.
The French general had stripped Austria of all her Italian possessions
except Mantua, and the tri-color was waving from the Tyrol to the
Mediterranean. Napoleon was now, in effect, master of Italy. Future
success seemed to him to be assured, although the French Directory was
with difficulty persuaded to let him follow the course he had adopted
for himself.
The cabinet of Vienna at last resolved upon sending stronger
reinforcements to the Italian frontier, and Bonaparte was now recalled
from Milan to the seat of war to defend himself against them. What the
Austrian court now feared was that Napoleon, who had already annihilated
her Italian army, and had wrested from her the Italian domains, would
soon march into the heart of her Empire and dictate a peace under the
walls of her capital. All Italy was now subdued or in alliance with the
French Republic except Mantua.
Beaulieu, who had been so thoroughly routed by Napoleon, was to be no
longer trusted. Finding himself incompetent to withstand a general
"whose mistress was glory and whose companion was Plutarch" while
traversing the Tyrol with the wrecks of his army, forwarded a letter to
Vienna which fully displayed the irritated feelings of the veteran
commander at this time. He said: "I hereby make known to you that I have
only 20,000 men remaining, while the enemy's forces exceed 60,000. I
further apprise you, that it is my intention to retreat to-morrow,--the
next day--the day following--nay, every day,--even to Siberia, should
they pursue me so far. My age accords me liberty to be thus explicit.
Hasten to ratify peace, be the conditions what they may!" Wurmser, whose
reputation was of the best, and who was older than Beaulieu but not less
obstinate, was sent to replace him, and 30,000 men were drafted from the
armies on the Rhine charged with restoring the fortunes of Austria
beyond the Alps. Wurmser's orders, too, were to strengthen himself, on
his march, by whatever recruits he could raise among the warlike and
loyal population of the Tyrol.
When he fixed his headquarters at Trent, Wurmser mustered in all 80,000
men, while Napoleon had but 30,000--not 60,000 as Beaulieu had
stated--to hold a wide country in which abhorrence of the French cause
was now prevalent, to keep the blockade of Mantua, and to oppose this
fearful odds of numbers in the field. The French commander was now,
moreover, to act on the defensive, while his adversary assumed the more
inspiriting character of the invader.
Wurmser was unwise enough to divide his magnificent army into three
separate columns, which, united, Napoleon never could have met; but each
of which was soon successively broken and captured. Melas with the left
wing was to march down the Adige and expel the French from Verona;
Quasdonowich with the right wing followed the valley of the Chiese
towards Brescia, to cut off Napoleon's retreat on Milan; Wurmser himself
led the centre down the left shore of Lake Guarda towards the besieged
castle of Mantua.
The eye of Napoleon, who had hitherto been watching with the intensity
of an eagle's gaze all the movements of his antagonist, now saw the
division of Quasdonowich separated from the centre and left wing, and he
flew to the encounter, although he was obliged to draw off his army from
the siege of Mantua, something which very few generals would have done.
On the night of July 31st, he buried his cannon in the trenches and
intentionally marked his retreat with every sign of precipitation and
alarm. Before morning the whole French army had disappeared from Mantua
and by a forced march regained possession of Brescia. Napoleon was
hurrying forward to attack the right wing of the Austrian army before it
could effect a junction with the central body of Wurmser.
A courier could hardly have borne to Quasdonowich the news of his
raising the siege of Mantua before Napoleon had attacked and overwhelmed
him, and he was glad to save his shattered forces by falling back on the
Tyrol.
This ill-omened beginning aroused the ire, and quickened the evolutions
of Wurmser, and falling on the rear-guard of Massena under Pigeon, and
Augereau under Vallette, the one abandoned Castiglione and the other
retired on Lonato. These inconsiderable Austrian successes were obtained
by good generalship, and Wurmser now attempted to open a communication
with his defeated lieutenant. His columns were weakened by extending the
line, and Massena at once hurled two strong columns on Lonato, retaking
it, and throwing the Austrian forces into utter confusion.
The battle of Lonato occurred on the 3d of August (1796). At daybreak
the whole of the French army was in motion, Augereau moving with the
right wing towards Castiglione. General Pigeon, who commanded the French
advance guard, was taken prisoner with three pieces of cannon; when, at
the moment the Austrians were extending their line, Napoleon sent
forward in close columns the 18th and 32d demi-brigades, which being
supported by a strong reserve, broke the enemy's line of battle. The
artillery and prisoners made under General Pigeon, were thus retaken,
and the French entered Lonato.
At Castiglione a firm stand was again taken by the fleeing Austrians,
but Augereau forced the position against a defense double in numbers and
for which he was afterward created Duke of Castiglione in memory of his
exploit.
On that day the Austrians lost twenty pieces of cannon, from three to
four thousand men killed and wounded, and four thousand prisoners,
among whom were three generals. Before this engagement Napoleon suddenly
found himself placed between two armies each of which was more numerous
than his own. In this situation of affairs, no one of his generals
entertained the least hope; but what was the astonishment of the
soldiers, when they first assembled in presence of their chief, to
observe no alteration in his countenance. "Fear nothing," said the
commander to them, "show that you remain unchanged; preserve your valor,
your just pride, and the remembrance of your triumphs; in three days we
shall retake all that we have lost. Rely on me! You know whether or not
I am in the habit of keeping my word."
[Illustration: From a Drawing by F. Grenier
BONAPARTE AND THE SLEEPING SENTINEL]
In this memorable battle Napoleon raised himself to an equality with the
greatest generals. Although the position in which he was placed was
critical to an eminent degree, he contrived to turn all the success
gained by Wurmser to the advantage of the French army, and that by the
mere strength of his genius alone. Junot distinguished himself by
extraordinary efforts of courage in these actions. He was thus mentioned
in the dispatch sent by Napoleon to the Directory after the victory: "I
ordered my aide-de-camp, General-of-Brigade Junot, to put himself at the
head of my company of Guides to pursue the enemy and overtake him by
great speed at Dezenzano. He encountered Colonel Bender with a party of
his regiment of hussars, whom he charged; but Junot, not wishing to
waste his time by charging the rear, made a detour on the right, took
the regiment in front,--wounded the colonel whom he attempted to take
prisoner when he was himself surrounded,--and after having killed six of
the enemy with his own hand, was cut down and thrown into a ditch."
The Austrians, still able to collect 25,000 men and a numerous cavalry,
now fled again in all directions upon the Mincio where Wurmser himself,
meanwhile, had been employed in revictualling Mantua. When Wurmser
reached this point he was utterly astounded to find the trenches
abandoned and no enemy to oppose. One of the defeated Austrian divisions
wandering about without method in anxiety to find their commander or any
part of his army that was still in the field, came suddenly on Lonato,
the scene of the recent battle, and at a moment when Napoleon was there
with only his staff and Guard about him. He was not aware that any
considerable body of the enemy remained in the neighborhood, and but for
his great presence of mind must have been taken prisoner. As it was, he
turned his critical position into an advantage. The officer who had been
sent to demand the surrender of the town was brought blindfolded,
according to custom on such occasions, to his headquarters. Bonaparte,
by a secret sign, caused his whole staff to draw up around him, and when
the bandage was removed from the messenger's eyes, exclaimed to him:
"What means this insolence? Do you beard the French general in the very
centre of his army? Go and tell your general that I give him eight
minutes to lay down his arms; he is in the midst of the French army, and
if a single gun is fired, I will cause every man to be shot." The
officer, appalled at discovering in whose presence he stood, returned to
his comrades with Napoleon's message.
The general of the enemy's column now made his appearance, stating his
willingness to surrender and capitulate. "No" replied Bonaparte with
energy, "you are all prisoners of war." Seeing the Austrian officers
consulting together Napoleon instantly gave orders that the artillery
should advance and commence the attack. On observing this the general of
the enemy's forces exclaimed, "We all surrender at discretion!" The
shortness of time allowed prevented the truth from being discovered, and
they gave in to a force about one-fourth of their own. They believed
that Lonato was occupied by the French in numbers that made resistance
impossible. When the four thousand men had laid down their arms they
discovered that if they had used them nothing could have prevented
Napoleon from being taken as their prize!
Wurmser, whose fine army was thus being destroyed in detail, now
collected together the whole of his remaining force, and advanced to
meet the Conqueror. He had determined on an assault and was hastening to
the encounter. They met between Lonato and Castiglione, and Wurmser was
totally defeated, besides narrowly escaping being himself taken a
prisoner. He was pursued into Trent and Roveredo, the positions from
which he had so lately issued confident of victory. In this disastrous
campaign he had now lost forty thousand soldiers--half his army--and all
his artillery and stores, while Bonaparte placed his own loss at seven
thousand. The French soldiers have called this succession of victories
"the campaign of five days." The rapid marches and incessant fighting
had exhausted the troops, and they now absolutely required rest.
During the exciting days while the campaign with Wurmser lasted,
Napoleon never took off his clothes, nor did he take the time to sleep
except at brief intervals of less than an hour. His exertions, which
were followed by such signal triumphs, were such as to demand some
repose, yet he did not pause until he saw Mantua once more completely
invested. The reinforcement and revictualling of the garrison were all
that Wurmser could show in requital of his lost artillery, stores and
forty thousand men.
While Napoleon was giving some respite to his wearied army and rendering
the subjugation of Italy complete, Austria was hurrying a new army to
the relief of its aged but not disheartened marshal. The reinforcements
of twenty thousand fresh troops at last arrived, and Wurmser was again
in the field with fifty thousand men--an army vastly larger than
Napoleon's. But once more he divided his forces and again each division
was to be cut to pieces. He marched thirty thousand men to the relief of
Mantua, and left Davidowich at Roveredo with twenty thousand men to
protect the passes of the Tyrol. The two Austrian divisions were now
separated and their fate was sealed.
On September 4, by the most rapid marches Europe had ever seen,
Napoleon, having penetrated the designs of the Austrian general, reached
Roveredo where Davidowich was intrenched in a strong position before the
city, covered by the guns of the Calliano castle overhanging the town.
The camp was yielded on the same day before the terrific charge of
General Dubois and his hussars. The latter, though mortally wounded,
cheered his men on with his dying words, and as he fell pressing the
hand of the general-in-chief, said: "Let me hear the shout of victory
for the Republic before I die." These words fired his troops with deep
ardor, and they drove the Austrians through the town and carried the
frowning heights of the castle at the point of the bayonet, as they had
carried the batteries of Lodi. The French pursued the fleeing Austrians
throughout the night and Wurmser was cut off from the Tyrol.
Scarcely had the Austrian commander recovered from his surprise at
hearing of the overthrow of his lieutenant at Roveredo before Napoleon,
by a march of sixty miles in two days, descended in front of his
vanguard at Primolano and cut it to pieces, taking four thousand
prisoners. The same night Napoleon's army advanced on Bassano where on
Sept. 8 Wurmser made his last stand with the main body of his army.
While Augereau penetrated the town on his left, Massena entered it on
his right, seizing the cannon that defended the bridge on the Bretna and
overthrowing the old grenadiers who attempted to cover the retreat of
their general. Five thousand prisoners, five standards, thirty-five
pieces of cannon with their caissons fell into the hands of the French,
and Wurmser himself narrowly escaped being taken. Lannes seized one of
the standards with his own hands; and, in consequence, Bonaparte
demanded for him the rank of general of brigade. "He was," he said, "the
first who put the enemy to rout at Dego, who passed the Po at Plaisance,
the Adda at Lodi, and the first to enter Bassano."
The number of the dead near the latter place was considerable. Curious
to ascertain the loss of the enemy, Bonaparte in the evening rode over
the field with his staff, when his notice was attracted by the howlings
of a dog that seemed to increase as they approached the spot whence the
yells proceeded. "Amidst the deep silence of a beautiful moon-light
night," said Napoleon some years later, "a dog, leaping suddenly from
beneath the clothes of his dead master, rushed upon us, and then
immediately returned to his hiding-place, howling piteously. He
alternately licked his master's hand, and ran toward us, as if at once
soliciting aid and seeking revenge. Whether, owing to my own particular
turn of mind at the moment, the time, the place, or the action itself, I
know not, but, certainly, no incident, on any field of battle, ever
produced so deep an impression on me. I involuntarily stopped to
contemplate the scene. This man, thought I, has friends in the camp, or
in his company, and here he lies forsaken by all except his dog. What a
lesson Nature presents here, through the medium of an animal. What a
strange being is man! And how mysterious are his impressions! I had,
without emotion, ordered battles which were to decide the fate of the
army; I beheld, with tearless eyes, the execution of those operations by
which numbers of my countrymen were sacrificed; and here my feelings
were roused by the howlings of a dog! Certainly, at that moment, I
should have been easily moved by a suppliant enemy. I could very well
imagine Achilles surrendering up the body of Hector at the sight of
Priam's tears."
In these terrible marches Napoleon endured the same privations as his
men;--baggage and staff appointments were unable to keep up with such
rapid movements. He shared his bread with one of his privates who lived
to remind him of this night when the Republican general had become the
Emperor of France. It was during Napoleon's progress through Belgium in
1804, while reviewing a division of the army that he was visited in one
of the towns by a soldier of the fourth regiment of infantry who
stepped forward and thus addressed him: "General, in the year Five of
the French Revolution, being in the valley of Bassano, I shared with you
my ration of bread when you were very hungry. You cannot have forgotten
the circumstance. I request, in return, that you provide bread for my
father who is worn with age and infirmity. I have received five wounds
in the service and was made corporal and sergeant on the field of
battle. I hope to be made a lieutenant on the first vacancy." Napoleon
recollected the soldier and immediately acknowledged the reasonableness
of both his demands, which were speedily complied with.
After the most heroic resistance Wurmser again fled. Six thousand
Austrians laid down their arms, and the commander with his fleeing
forces took refuge about the middle of September in Mantua, whither they
were pursued by Napoleon's cavalry.
Wurmser was now strictly blockaded within the citadel of Mantua with
sixteen thousand men. These, with ten thousand dispersed in the Tyrol,
were all that remained of his army of 60,000 men with which he was to
reconquer Italy. He had also lost seventy-five pieces of cannon, thirty
generals and twenty-two stands of colors. Marmont, one of Napoleon's
aids-de-camp, was sent with these latter trophies to the Directory at
Paris. Perceiving that Wurmser now intended to avoid a general action
Napoleon returned to Milan, leaving General Kilmaine to conduct the
blockade.
While at Milan, Napoleon had just mounted his horse one morning, when a
dragoon, bearing important dispatches, presented himself.
The commander gave a verbal answer, and ordered the courier to take it
back with all speed.
"I have no horse," the man answered; "I rode mine so hard that it fell
dead at your palace gates."
Napoleon alighted. "Take mine," he said.
The man hesitated.
"You think him too magnificently caparisoned and too fine an animal;"
said Napoleon. "Nothing is too good for a French soldier!"
Again a call was made on Vienna to send a new army and a greater general
to restore the Hapsburg dominion in Italy. In reply another powerful
armament was dispatched to the Italian frontier and this, the fourth
campaign against Napoleon, was intrusted to the supreme command of
Alvinzi, an officer of high reputation.
Field-Marshal Alvinzi was placed at the head of an army of forty-five
thousand men to which he joined eighteen thousand under Davidowich in
the Tyrol. His object was to raise the blockade of Mantua, release
Wurmser and, with a force which would by the accession of the garrison
of the latter amount to an army of eighty thousand men with which to
oppose only thirty thousand. With these he expected to reconquer
Lombardy.
Three large armies, advancing with similar prospects, had already been
destroyed by Napoleon; a fourth now prepared to pour down upon him,
under still more terrible circumstances. The battle of St. George and
the strict blockade of Wurmser in Mantua took place in the middle of
September. Alvinzi's army commenced its march in the beginning of
October.
Napoleon instantly ordered Vaubois and Massena to advance to the attack
of Davidowich, whose forces were collected in the Tyrol, before he
could form a junction with Alvinzi. Both failed. Vaubois, after two
days' fighting was conquered; lost Trent and Calliano, and was forced to
retreat. Massena in consequence had to effect a retreat without
attempting an engagement, and Alvinzi approaching fast gained possession
of all the country between the Brenta and the Adige and the command of
the Tyrol. The two Austrian generals might now have effected a junction,
but they neglected their opportunity. Napoleon hastened to Verona,
Alvinzi having taken the same route.
It seemed likely that Austria, in this new campaign, was destined to
recover her immense losses. Napoleon was now contending against an enemy
vastly superior in numbers and most completely appointed. But twelve
battalions had been sent to him from France to recruit his exhausted
regiments, and nothing but the employment of the highest military skill
could now save him from destruction.
"The army" said he, in writing to the Directory, "so inferior in
numbers, has been more weakened by the late engagements, while the
promised reinforcements have not arrived. The heroes of Millessimo,
Lodi, Castiglione, and Bassano, are dead or in the hospitals. Joubert,
Lanusse, Victor, Lannes, Charlot, Murat, Dupuis, Rampon, Menard,
Chabrand, and Pigeon are wounded; we are abandoned at the extremity of
Italy. Had I received the 103d, three thousand five hundred strong, I
would have answered for everything. Whereas, in a few days, 40,000 men,
perhaps, will not be sufficient to enable us to make head against the
enemy."
His men too, were becoming dispirited at the failure of the government
to send reinforcements, and no longer fought with their accustomed vigor
and enthusiasm. The retreating forces came before him with dejected
looks. But the genius of Napoleon was not yet exhausted; with him
discouragement was not despair. He ordered Vaubois' division--which had
abandoned Calliano--drawn up on the plain of Rivoli, and thus addressed
them: "Soldiers, I am not satisfied with you: you have shown neither
bravery, discipline, nor perseverance. No position could rally you: you
abandoned yourselves to a panic terror; you suffered yourselves to be
driven from situations where a handful of brave men might have stopped
an army. Soldiers of the 29th and 85th, you are not French soldiers.
Quartermaster-general, let it be inscribed on their colors: 'They no
longer belong to the Army of Italy!'"
The effect of these words was electric. The veteran grenadiers who had
braved the terrific charges at Lodi sobbed like children and broke their
ranks to cluster round their commander to plead for one more trial.
Several of the veteran grenadiers, who had deserved and obtained badges
of distinction, called out from the ranks: "General! we have been
misrepresented; place us in the van of the army and you shall then judge
whether we do not belong to the Army of Italy."
They were at last forgiven by their indignant commander, and when they
were again arrayed against the enemy they quickly redeemed their lost
reputation and gained new laurels. But a spirit of discontent pervaded
the French army. "We cannot work miracles," said the soldiers. "We
destroyed Beaulieu's great army, and then came Wurmser with a greater.
We conquered and broke him to pieces, and then came Alvinzi more
powerful than ever. When we have conquered him Austria will pour down on
us a hundred thousand fresh soldiers and we shall leave our bones in
Italy."
Although much dispirited, Napoleon was by no means disposed to abandon
his campaign; to his soldiers he said by way of encouragement: "We have
but one more effort to make and Italy is ours. The enemy is no doubt
superior to us in numbers, but not in valor. When he is beaten Mantua
must fall, and we shall be masters of all; our labors will be at an end,
for not only Italy but a general peace is in Mantua. You talk of
returning to the Alps, but you are no longer capable of doing so. From
the dry and frozen bivouacs of those sterile rocks you could very well
conquer the delicious plains of Lombardy; but from the smiling flowery
bivouacs of Italy you cannot return to Alpine snows. Only beat Alvinzi
and I will answer for your future welfare."
Ere long the French forces were once more ready for battle. Alvinzi had
occupied the heights of Caldiero and by the middle of November
threatened Verona. Massena attacked the heights but found them
impregnable. The French were repulsed with considerable loss. Napoleon
found it necessary to attempt taking the heights by other means in order
to prevent the junction of Davidowich and Alvinzi. Pretending,
therefore, to retreat on Mantua after his discomfiture, he returned in
the night and placed himself in the rear of Alvinzi's army. When his
columns advanced on Arcola the enemy thought at first it was only a
skirmish and that the main army of the French was in Verona. The
position of Arcola rendered any attack upon it so extremely hazardous
that scarcely anyone would have conceived the idea of making the
attempt. The village is surrounded by marshes intersected by small
streams, by ditches and by three causeways or bridges, across which
alone the marshes are passable. Arcola and the bridge leading to it were
defended by two battalions of Alvinzi's army, and two pieces of cannon
which commanded the bridge. The other two causeways were unprotected.
Napoleon ordered a division to charge the bridge of Arcola at daybreak.
The attempt seemed even to the intrepid Augereau to be courting death,
but he was a true soldier and obeyed orders.
On November 15 a column advanced on each of the three causeways.
Augereau's division occupied the bridge of Arcola which was swept by the
enemy's cannon and assailed in flank by their battalions. Even the
chosen grenadiers, led by Augereau with a standard in his hand, faltered
and fell back under the destructive fire, fleeing over the corpses of
nearly half their comrades. It was a most critical situation, and one in
which a false step or the loss of a few moments meant ruin. Napoleon,
who knew that the moment was decisive, dashed at the head of the column,
snatched a standard, and hurrying onwards planted the colors with his
own hands on the bridge amidst a hail of balls from the enemy's
artillery and musketry. As he did so he cried out: "Soldiers! are you no
longer the brave warriors of Lodi? Follow your general!"
His soldiers rallied and rushed with him till they grappled with the
Austrian division, but the sudden arrival of a fresh column of the enemy
made it an impossibility to maintain their ground. The French fell
back, and Napoleon, being in the very midst of the fight, was himself
seized by his faithful grenadiers who bore him away in their arms
through smoke, the dead and dying, as they were driven backwards inch by
inch with dreadful carnage. Mounting a horse the commander once more
prepared to make a charge at the head of his heroic troops, when his
steed became unmanageable and plunged headlong throwing its rider into a
morass up to his waist.
The Austrians were now between Napoleon and his baffled column. As the
smoke rolled away the army at once perceived the critical position of
their general. During this crisis Lannes pressed forward through the
marsh and reached his commander as also did the gallant Muiron, the
friend and aide-de-camp of Napoleon. Almost at the same moment a shot
was fired at Napoleon. It was received by Muiron, who had interposed
himself, and he died covering Napoleon's body with his own. But still
the person of the commander remained in the utmost peril.
The grenadiers now formed in an instant, and with the cry, "Forward,
soldiers, to save your general!" threw themselves upon the enemy,
rescued their "Little Corporal" from his critical position and overthrew
the Austrian columns that defended the bridge. Napoleon was quickly at
their head again, rallied the column, struck terror through the ranks of
the enemy, and Arcola was soon taken. Two other engagements followed at
this point, in each of which the French were victorious, Massena
pursuing the enemy until darkness compelled him to desist. The Austrians
lost twelve thousand men killed, six thousand prisoners, eighteen pieces
of cannon and four stands of colors. The loss of the French was less
considerable in numbers than in the importance of the prominent
individuals who fell during those three days, when the generals acted as
soldiers, continually fighting at the heads of their columns. The great
art of Napoleon, on that occasion, he having but 13,000 to oppose 40,000
men, was to maintain the combat in the midst of a morass where the enemy
could not deploy. Upon such a field of battle, only the heads of the
columns could engage; whereas, on a plain, the French army would in all
probability have been surrounded.
Napoleon said at St. Helena that he considered himself in the greatest
danger at Arcola.
When too late Davidowich made an advance upon Verona, but retreated
quickly on hearing of Alvinzi's defeat at Arcola. Wurmser, too, made a
desperate sally and was repulsed. He still held out, however. The horses
of the garrison had long since been killed and salted for use; the men
were reduced to half rations, and their numbers were being rapidly
reduced by disease.
This fourth attempt of Austria to conquer Napoleon ended, therefore, as
did the previous ones, in failure. It was one of the most memorable
campaigns in history, in the course of which all the resources of
skilled warriors were exhibited, not in a contest of a few hours but a
succession of memorable battles. As yet, however, the young commander
was but a temporary victor; the weakness of the Army of Italy did not
permit him to draw all the advantages he had promised himself from
Arcola. Alvinzi was now thoroughly beaten, his losses were very great,
and like his predecessors he sent to Vienna for reinforcements to
continue his contest against Bonaparte, who had repaired to Verona which
he fixed upon as the central point of operations.
Once more the Austrian general's preparations were completed for a fresh
campaign, and on January 7, 1797, at the head of sixty thousand
soldiers, consisting of volunteers from the best families in Vienna and
battalions from the Army of the Rhine, Croats, Hungarians, Tyroleans,
etc., Alvinzi descended from the northern barriers of Italy to release
the brave Wurmser from his prison at Mantua, and again attempt to
"overwhelm the French invaders." A messenger dispatched to Wurmser from
the imperial court was captured by the French, and dispatches concealed
in wax balls recovered. From these Napoleon learned the present designs,
signed by the emperor's own hand, of the Austrian government:--Alvinzi
was once more placed at the head of sixty thousand men, and was again to
march into Lombardy and to raise the siege of Mantua: Wurmser was
directed to hold out to the last extremity: If the army of Alvinzi could
be reunited with the garrison, the destruction of the French seemed
undoubted; if not, and if, in the course of hostilities, he found it
best to abandon Mantua, he was directed to cut his way into Romagna and
to take command of the papal troops, the pope having broken the treaty
of Bologna, and raised an army of seven thousand men to act in concert
with Wurmser, when he should be released from Mantua.
Again the Austrian army,--the fifth--was divided, one column under
Alvinzi for the line of the Adige; the other for the Bretna under
General Provera, who was to join the marshal under the walls of Mantua.
When Napoleon learned this at his headquarters at Verona he posted
Joubert at Rivoli to dispute Alvinzi's passage, and Augereau to watch
the movements of Provera, knowing that within a few hours he could
concentrate his own forces on either column.
At sunset on the 13th of January Joubert's messenger brought the news
that he had met Alvinzi and with difficulty held him in check through
the day. Napoleon examined with the utmost attention the maps and
descriptions of the places, the reports of the generals, and those of
his spies and light troops and passed a part of the night in a state of
uncertainty and indecision. At length on receiving fresh reports he
exclaimed: "It is clear--it is clear: to Rivoli!" and, quickly giving
his orders to his aides assigning the troops to their different routes,
he left a garrison at Verona and with General Massena and all the
disposable troops he repaired to General Joubert. By one of his
lightning marches he reached the heights of Rivoli two hours after
midnight. Below in the valley five separate encampments of the Austrian
army were visible in the moonlight. Napoleon quickly decided to force
Alvinzi to battle before he was ready. Joubert, confounded by the
display of Alvinzi's gigantic force was in the very act of abandoning
his position when the French commander checked his movement, and,
bringing up more battalions, forced the enemy from a position they had
seized on the first symptoms of the French retreat.
From the eminence on which he stood Napoleon's keen eye soon penetrated
the secret of Alvinzi's weakness,--that his artillery had not yet
arrived. To force him to accept battle, Napoleon took every possible
means to conceal his own arrival and prolonged, by a series of petty
manoeuvres, the enemy's belief that they had to do with a mere outpost
of the French. Alvinzi was fully deceived, and instead of advancing on
some great and well-arranged system, suffered his several columns to
endeavor to force the heights by insulated movements which the real
strength of Napoleon easily enabled him to baffle. Two field-pieces had
been abandoned by their drivers and which were seized by the enemy, when
an officer whose name is not recorded, advancing, cried out:
"Fourteenth, will you let them take your artillery?" Berthier, who had
purposely suffered the enemy to approach, then opened a terrible fire,
which leveled men and horses round the guns, and upon which the
Austrians immediately fell back.
[Illustration: From a Drawing by F. Grenier
BONAPARTE AT THE BATTLE OF ST. GEORGE]
A moment later the bravery of the enemy resulted in their nearly
overthrowing the French on a point of pre-eminent importance, but
Napoleon himself, galloping to the spot, roused by his voice and action
the division of Massena who, having marched all night, had laid down to
rest in the extreme of weariness. They started up at the commander's
voice and the Austrian column was speedily repulsed.
The French artillery was soon in position, while that of the Austrians,
as Napoleon had guessed, had not yet come up, and this circumstance
decided the fortune of the day. The batteries of the French made havoc
of the broken columns; the cavalry made repeated charges; four out of
the five divisions were thus broken and utterly routed. The fifth now
made its appearance in the rear of the French. It had been sent round to
outflank Napoleon and take higher ground in his rear according to the
orders of the Austrian general before the action. When Lusignan's
division achieved its destined object it did so,--not to complete the
misery of a routed, but to swell the prey of a victorious, enemy.
Instead of cutting off the retreat of Joubert, Lusignan found himself
insulated from Alvinzi and forced to lay down his arms to Bonaparte.
Had this movement been made a little sooner it might have turned the
fortune of the day: as it was, the French soldiers only exclaimed: "Here
come further supplies to our market!" and very soon the Austrians,
exposed to a heavy fire from the artillery, were forced to surrender.
"Here was a good plan," said Napoleon, "but these Austrians are not apt
to calculate the value of minutes."
Had Lusignan gained the rear of the French an hour earlier, while the
contest was still hot in front of the heights of Rivoli, he might have
aided in the complete overthrow of Napoleon instead of being defeated on
one of the brightest days in the young commander's career.
In the course of the day Bonaparte had remained in the hottest of the
fight, which lasted during twelve hours, and had three horses shot under
him, and although much fatigued, hardly waited to see Lusignan surrender
ere he set off with reinforcements to the Lower Adige to prevent Wurmser
from either housing Provera or joining him in the open field and so
effect the escape of his own formidable garrison. The flying troops of
Alvinzi were left to the care of Massena, Murat and Joubert.
Marching all day and the next night Napoleon reached the vicinity of
Mantua late on the 15th. He found the enemy strongly posted and
Serrurier's position highly critical. A regiment of Provera's hussars
had but a few hours before established themselves in the suburb of St.
George. This Austrian corps had been clothed in white cloaks resembling
those of a well-known French regiment of hussars, and advancing towards
the gate would certainly have been admitted as friends but for the
sagacity of an old sergeant, who could not help fancying that the white
cloaks had too much of the gloss of novelty about them to have stood the
wear and tear of three Bonapartean campaigns. He instantly closed the
barriers and warned a drummer who was near him of the danger. These two
gave the alarm and the guns of the blockading force were instantly
turned upon their pretended friends who were forced to retire.
Napoleon himself passed the night in walking the outposts, so great was
his anxiety. At one of these he found a grenadier sentinel asleep from
exhaustion and taking his gun, without waking him, performed a
sentinel's duty in his place for about half an hour. When the man,
starting from his slumbers, perceived with terror and despair the
countenance and occupation of his general, he fell on his knees before
him. "My friend," said Napoleon mildly, "here is your musket. You had
fought hard and marched long and your exhaustion is excusable; but a
moment's inattention might at present ruin the whole army. I happened to
be awake and have held your post for you. You will be more careful
another time!"
Such acts of magnanimity endeared Napoleon to his soldiers, and, while
he rarely relaxed in his military discipline, he early acquired the
devotion of his men who told and retold anecdotes of his doings in camp
and on the battlefield, and as the stories spread from column to column
his followers came to regard him with a veneration that few older
commanders have been able to instill in their men. Another anecdote is
related of Bonaparte, when upon the point of commencing one of his great
battles in Italy. As he was disposing his troops in order of attack, a
light dragoon stepping from the ranks, requested of the commander a few
minutes private conversation to which Napoleon acquiesced, when the
soldier thus addressed him: "General, if you will proceed to adopt such
and such measures, the enemy must be defeated."
"Wretched man," exclaimed the commander, "hold your tongue; you will
surely not betray my secret" at the same time placing his hand before
the mouth of the dragoon.
The soldier in question was possessed of an inherent military capacity
and appreciated every arrangement necessary to insure victory. The
battle terminating in favor of Napoleon, he issued orders that the poor
fellow should be conducted to his presence; but all search for him
proved fruitless, he was nowhere to be found: a bullet had no doubt
terminated his military career.
The next morning there ensued a hot skirmish, recorded as the battle of
St. George. The tumult and slaughter were dreadful and Provera with his
whole force were compelled to lay down their arms. Wurmser, who had
hazarded a sortie from Mantua to join his countrymen, was glad to make
his way back again, and retire within the old walls, in consequence of a
desperate assault headed by Napoleon in person, who threw himself
between Wurmser and Provera and beat them completely one after the
other. Provera now found himself cut off hopelessly from Alvinzi and
surrounded by the French; he was disheartened and defeated. He and his
five thousand men laid down their arms on the 16th of January, and
various bodies of the Austrian force scattered over the country followed
their example. This latter engagement was called the battle of La
Favorita from the name of a country house near which it was fought. The
75th at this battle refused cartridges: "With such enemies as we have
before us," said they, "we must only use the bayonet."
The battles of Rivoli and La Favorita had disabled Alvinzi from
continuing the campaign. Thus had the magnificent army of Austria ceased
to exist in three days.
Such was the prevailing terror of the enemy at this time that in one
instance René, a young officer keeping guard of a position with about
one hundred and fifty men, suddenly encountered and took prisoners a
small body of Austrians. On advancing to reconnoitre, he found himself
in front of a body of eighteen hundred more, whom a turn in the road had
concealed from his sight. "Lay down your arms!" said the Austrian
commandant. René answered with boldness, "Do you lay down your arms! I
have destroyed your advance guard;--ground your arms, or no quarter!"
The French soldiers joined in the cry, and the whole body of the
astonished Austrians absolutely laid down their arms to a party, which
they found to their exasperation when too late, was in numbers one
twelfth of their own.
Wurmser was now thoroughly disheartened in not receiving relief, and as
his provisions were by this time exhausted, found himself at length in
dire straits. Napoleon sent him word of the rout and dispersion of the
Austrian army and summoned him to surrender. The old soldier proudly
replied that "he had provisions for a year," but a few days later he
sent his aide-de-camp, Klenau to the headquarters of Serrurier with an
offer of capitulation. General Serrurier, as commander of the blockade,
received the bearer of Wurmser's message in which he stated that he was
"still in a condition to hold out considerably longer, unless honorable
terms were granted."
Napoleon, who had been seated in a corner of his tent wrapped in his
cloak, now came forward and addressed himself to the Austrian envoy, who
had no suspicion in whose presence he had been speaking, and taking his
pen, wrote down marginal answers to the conditions proposed by Wurmser.
He granted terms more favorable than might have been exacted in the
extremity to which the veteran was reduced. "These," said he, "are the
conditions to which your general's bravery entitles him if he opens his
gates tomorrow. He may have them to-day; a week, a month hence, he shall
have no worse: he may hold out to his last morsel of bread. Meantime
tell him that General Bonaparte is about to set out for Rome."
The envoy now recognized Napoleon, and on reading the paper perceived
that the proposed terms were more liberal than he had dared to hope for;
he then owned that only three days' provisions remained in Mantua.
The capitulation was forthwith signed and on the 2d of February, 1797,
Wurmser and his garrison of 13,000 men marched out of Mantua: 7,000 were
lying in the hospitals. When the aged chief was by the fortunes of war
to surrender his sword, he found only Serrurier ready to receive it.
Napoleon was unwilling to be a witness to the humiliation of the
distinguished veteran, and had left the place before the surrender, thus
sparing the conquered veteran the mortification of giving up his sword
to so youthful a commander. This delicate generosity on the part of the
French general was never forgotten by Wurmser.
The terms of surrender agreed to by Bonaparte were not readily accepted
by the French Directory, who urged him to far different conduct. "I have
granted the Austrian," he wrote in reply, "such terms as were, in my
judgment, due to a brave and honorable foe, and to the dignity of the
French nation." The loss of the Austrians at Mantua amounted altogether
to not less than 30,000 men, besides innumerable military stores and
upwards of 500 brass cannon.
The conquerer sent Augereau to Paris with the sixty captured standards
of Austria, and his arrival at the capital was celebrated as a national
festival. Thus it was that Napoleon, with a total force at the utmost,
of 65,000 men, conquered, in their own country, and under the
eye and succoring hand of their own government, five successive
armies, amounting, in all, to _upwards of 300,000 well-appointed
well-provisioned soldiers_, under old and experienced commanders of
approved courage. Such was the conquest of Lombardy.
Some time later Wurmser sent Napoleon a letter by special messenger
acknowledging the generosity and delicacy of conduct of the French
commander at Mantua, and at the same time apprising him by his
aide-de-camp of a conspiracy to poison him in the dominions of the pope,
with whom he was about to wage war.
A few brief engagements with papal troops followed the capitulation of
Wurmser, the pope fearing that the conqueror would enter the "Eternal
City;" but Napoleon, by a rapid movement, threw his infantry across the
river Senio, where the enemy was encamped, and met with but a brief
resistance. Shortly afterwards the pope entered into negotiations with
the French commander, and the treaty of Tolentino followed on the 13th
of February, 1797, conceding to the French one hundred of the finest
works of art, several castles and legations, and about two millions of
dollars.
Napoleon was now master of all Northern Italy with the exception of the
territories of Venice, which announced that it had no desire but to
preserve a perfect neutrality.
More than a month had now elapsed since Alvinzi's defeat at Rivoli; in
nine days the war with the pope had reached its close; and, having left
some garrisons in the town on the Adige to watch the neutrality of
Venice, Napoleon hastened to carry the war into the hereditary dominions
of the Austrian Emperor. Twenty thousand fresh troops had joined his
victorious standard from France, and at the head of perhaps a larger
force than he had ever before mustered, he proceeded towards the Tyrol
where, according to his information, the main army of Austria, recruited
once more to its original strength, was preparing to open a sixth
campaign under the orders,--not of Alvinzi, but of a general young like
himself, and hitherto eminently successful, the Archduke Charles, who
had defeated the courage and skill of Jourdan and Moreau on the Rhine,
and was now to be opposed to Napoleon.
The story of this sixth campaign is but a repetition of the five that
preceded it. The archduke, a young prince of high talents, and upon whom
the last hopes of the Austrian Empire reposed, compelled by the council
of Vienna to execute a plan he had the discrimination to condemn, was
destined to lead but a short campaign, although he had the best army
Austria could enroll. This army once more proceeded to begin operations
on a double basis, and Napoleon permitted him to assume the offensive.
On the 9th of March, 1797, the French commander's headquarters were
fixed at Bassano, and he proceeded vigorously on his career of conquest.
He issued one of his stirring proclamations, in which he told his
soldiers that a grand destiny was still reserved for them, and then
advanced to attack the archduke. He found the latter posted upon the
plains bordering on the banks of the river Tagliamento in front of the
rugged Carinthian mountains which guard the passage in that quarter from
Italy to Germany. Detaching Massena with a division of cavalry to effect
the passage of the Piave where the Austrian division of Lusignan was
posted, Napoleon determined to charge the archduke in front. Massena was
successful in driving Lusignan before him as far as Belluno, where he,
with a rear guard of 500, surrendered, and thus turned the Austrian
flank.
On the 16th of March, the two armies headed by Napoleon, and the
Archduke Charles in person, were drawn up on opposite sides of the
Tagliamento, face to face. Bonaparte then attempted to effect the
passage of the river, but after a formal display of his forces, which
was met by similar demonstrations on the Austrian side of the river, he
suddenly broke up his line, retreated, and took up his bivouac. The
archduke concluded that, as the French had been marching all the night
before, their leader wished to defer the battle until another day, and
in like manner withdrew to his encampment. About two hours later
Napoleon rushed with his whole army, who had merely laid down in ranks,
upon the margin of the Tagliamento,--no longer adequately guarded,--and
had forded the stream ere the Austrian line of battle could be formed.
In the passage of the Tagliamento Napoleon was so nearly drowned, by
the submersion of his carriage, that he for some moments gave up all
thoughts of being rescued.
This affair was the first in which the division of Bernadotte had borne
a part. He arrived upon the borders of the Tagliamento at the very
moment of the combat: throwing himself into the river he exclaimed to
his followers, "Think that you are the Army of the Rhine, and that the
Army of Italy is looking on you!"
In the action which followed the troops of the archduke displayed much
gallantry, and charged the French repeatedly with the greatest courage,
but every effort to dislodge Napoleon failed; at length retreat was
deemed necessary, and eight pieces of cannon and some provisions were
left behind, the French following in close pursuit.
Adjutant General Kellerman distinguished himself at the head of the
French cavalry and received many wounds in executing the manoeuvres that
decided the success of the day; he was subsequently charged with
carrying the trophies taken from the enemy to France.
The pursuers stormed Gradisca, where they made 6,000 prisoners; and the
archduke continuing his retreat, occupied in the course of a few days
Trieste, Fiume and every stronghold in Carinthia. In the course of a
campaign of twenty days the Austrians fought Bonaparte ten times; but
the overthrow on the Tagliamento was never recovered. Their army was
melting away like the snows of the Tyrol.
At last the Austrian leader decided to reach Vienna by forced marches,
there to gather round him whatever force the loyalty of his nation could
muster, and make a last stand beneath the walls of the capital. The
archduke expected to reap great advantage from enticing the French army
into the heart of Austria, where, divided by many wide provinces and
mighty mountains and rivers from France, and with Italy once more in
arms behind them, he hoped to cut off their source of supplies and
compel them to retreat from a greatly reinforced imperial army.
From the period of the opening of the campaign the archduke had lost
nearly 20,000 men made prisoners, so that the Austrians could make no
stand except upon the mountains in the neighborhood of the Capital.
Vienna, however, was terror-stricken on hearing that Napoleon who was
only sixty leagues distant, had stormed the passes of the Julian Alps.
The imperial family--embracing little Marie Louise, then scarcely six
years old, afterwards Napoleon's wife--fled with their crown jewels and
treasures into Hungary; the middle classes became clamorous for a
termination of the six years' war, and the archduke was ordered to avail
himself of the first pretense which circumstances might afford for the
opening of a negotiation. Napoleon wrote to the archduke suggesting
peace: "While brave soldiers carry on war they wish for peace;" he said,
"Has not the war already lasted six years? Have we not killed men
enough, and inflicted sufficient sufferings on the human race? Europe
has laid down the arms she took up against the French Republic. Your
nation alone perseveres; yet blood is to flow more copiously than ever.
Whatever be the issue, we shall kill some thousands of men on both
sides, and after all we must come to an understanding, since all things
have an end, not excepting vindictive passions. * * * For my part,
general, if the overture I have the honor to make to you should only
save the life of a single man, I should feel more proud of the civic
crown, I should think I thereby merited, than of all the melancholy
glory that the most distinguished military successes can afford."
The archduke replied within two hours after the receipt of the letter
and a series of negotiations followed, which with Napoleon's rapid
advance on Vienna, finally brought about the provisional treaty of
Leoben, signed April 18, 1797. Napoleon, without waiting for full power
from the Directory to complete the treaty, took the responsibility upon
himself and signed it on the part of France on the 19th of April. The
Austrian plenipotentiaries had set down as a primary concession that
"the Emperor acknowledged the French Republic."
"Strike that out!" said Napoleon; "the Republic is like the sun that
shines by its own light; none but the blind can fail to see it. We are
our own masters and shall establish any government we prefer." "If the
French people should one day wish to create a monarchy," he afterwards
remarked, "the Emperor might object that he had recognized a Republic."
This treaty was followed by a complete surrender on the part of the
Venetian Senate which had violated its pledges of neutrality, and a
democratic government was formed, provisionally, on the model of France.
Venice consented to surrender to the victor large territories on the
mainland of Italy; five ships of war, $600,000 in gold and as much more
in naval stores, twenty of her best works of art and 500 ancient
manuscripts. Napoleon took possession of the city, and the history of
the Venetian Republic was ended. In their last agony the Venetian
Senate made a vain attempt to bribe Napoleon with a purse of seven
millions of francs for more favorable terms, reminding him of the
proverbial ingratitude of all popular governments and of the slight
attention which the French Directory had hitherto paid to his personal
interests. "That is all true enough," he replied, "but I will not place
myself in the power of this duke." To a larger tender on the part of
Austria he replied: "If greatness or richness is to be mine, it must
come from France."
Among the works of art sent by Napoleon to Paris was the celebrated
picture of St. Jerome from the Duke of Parma's gallery. The duke, to
save this treasure, offered Napoleon two hundred thousand dollars, which
the conqueror refused to take, saying: "The sum which he offers us will
soon be spent; but the possession of such a masterpiece at Paris will
adorn that capital for ages, and give birth to similar exertions of
genius."
The fall of Venice gave Napoleon the means of bringing his treaty with
Austria to a more satisfactory conclusion than had been indicated in the
preliminaries of Leoben. After settling the affairs of Venice and
establishing the new Ligurian Republic he took up his residence at the
palace of Montibello, near Milan, with Josephine, whom he had not seen
since his departure from France a year before. The final settlement with
Austria's commissioners was purposely delayed by that Empire, it being
the universal belief that the government of France was approaching a new
crisis, and Austria hoped from such an event to derive considerable
advantage. Napoleon was becoming weary of the protracted negotiations
and threats of the Austrian ambassadors. One day in the latter's
chamber, he suddenly changed his demeanor. "You refuse to accept our
ultimatum," said he, taking in his hands a beautiful vase of porcelain,
which stood on the mantelpiece near him. The Austrian bowed. "It is
well," said Napoleon, "the truce is broken, war is declared, but mark
me,--within three months I shall shatter Austria as I now shatter this
brittle affair!" So saying he dashed the fragile piece furiously to the
floor, breaking it into a thousand pieces, and left the room. The
ambassador followed him, and finding him preparing to march on Vienna,
made submissions which induced him to once more resume negotiations, the
result of which was the treaty of Campo-Formio, so called from the
humble village at which it was signed on the 17th of October, 1797.
Bourrienne relates that while Napoleon was occupied with the
organization of Venice, Genoa and Milan, he used to complain of the
want of _men_. "Good God!" said he, "how rare _men_ are! There are
eighteen millions in Italy and I have with difficulty found two real
ones,--Dandolo and Lelzi." These two actual "men" were immediately
employed in important services, and justified his estimation of them.
It was from the palace of Montibello, five leagues from Milan, that
Napoleon wrote to the Directory: "From these different points (the
islands of the Mediterranean, which he proposed to seize) we can command
that sea, keep an eye on the Ottoman Empire, which is crumbling to
pieces, and we can render the supremacy of the ocean almost useless to
Great Britain. _Let us take possession of Egypt_, which lies on the road
to India, and there we can found one of the mightiest colonies in the
world. It is in Egypt we must make war on England."
To perfect the treaty with Austria Napoleon received orders from the
French Directory to appear at a congress at Rastadt, all the German
powers being summoned to meet there for that purpose. He took an
affecting leave of his soldiers, in which he said in closing: "Soldiers,
when you talk of the princes you have conquered, of the nations you have
set free, and the battles you have fought in two campaigns, say: 'In the
next two we shall do still more.'" He then proceeded by way of
Switzerland, carrying with him the unbounded love and devotion of one of
the finest armies that the world had ever seen.
A person who saw Napoleon at this time described his impressions of him
in the following letter, which appeared in one of the Paris journals in
December 1797: "With lively interest and extreme attention, I have
observed this extraordinary man, who has performed such great deeds, and
about whom there is something which seems to indicate that his career is
not yet closed. I found him very like his portraits--little, thin, pale,
with an air of fatigue, but not of ill-health, as has been reported of
him. He appears to me to listen with more abstraction than interest, and
that he was more occupied with what he was thinking of than with what
was said to him. There is a great intelligence in his countenance, along
with which may be marked an air of habitual meditation which reveals
nothing of what is passing within. In that thinking head, in that bold
mind, it is impossible not to believe that some daring designs are
engendering _which will have their influence on the destinies of
Europe_!"
"My extreme youth when I took command of the Army of Italy," Napoleon
remarked afterwards, "made it necessary for me to evince great reserve
of manners and the utmost severity of morals. This was indispensable to
enable me to sustain authority over men so greatly superior in age and
experience. I pursued a line of conduct in the highest degree
irreproachable and exemplary. In spotless morality I was a Cato and must
have appeared such to all. My supremacy could be retained only by
proving myself a better man than any other man in the army. Had I
yielded to human weakness I should have lost my power."
At the first interview between Napoleon and the veteran generals whom he
was to command, Rampon undertook to give the young commander some
advice. Napoleon who was impatient of advice, exclaimed: "Gentlemen, the
art of war is in its infancy. The time has passed in which enemies are
mutually to appoint the place of combat, advance hat in hand and say:
'_Gentlemen will you have the goodness to fire_!' We must cut the enemy
to pieces, precipitate ourselves like a torrent upon their battalions
and grind them to powder. Experienced generals conduct the troops
opposed to us. So much the better! Their experience will not avail them
against me. Mark my words, they will soon burn their books on tactics
and know not what to do."
Arriving at Rastadt Napoleon found that the multiplicity of details to
be arranged was likely to require a long stay, and as his personal
relations with the Directory were of a doubtful kind, he abandoned the
conduct of the diplomatic business to his colleagues and reached Paris
after a triumphal march, on the 20th of November, 1797. During his
absence he had been the salvation of France, and his arrival created a
great sensation in the capital. He was hailed with the most rapturous
applause by the people, the streets through which he was expected to
pass were thronged, and wherever he was seen the air was filled with
shouts of, "Long live the General of the Army of Italy!"
[Illustration: From a Drawing by Ch. Chasselat
BONAPARTE AT THE SIEGE OF MANTUA]
III
EXPEDITION TO EGYPT
On the 2nd of October, 1797, during Napoleon's absence in Italy, the
Directory announced to the French people its intention of carrying the
war with England into England itself. The immediate organization of a
great invading army was therefore ordered, and "Citizen General
Bonaparte," the Conqueror of Italy, was designated to command the
forces.
It was some months before this decision was acted upon, however, and in
the meantime Napoleon lived quietly in a small, modest house in the Rue
Chantereine, which he had occupied before he set out for Italy. Shortly
after his return, on going home one evening, he was surprised to find
workmen engaged in changing the sign bearing the name of the street to
"Rue de la Victoire," in commemoration of his Italian campaign. He
seemed to avoid as much as possible at this time the honors of popular
distinction and applause that the people heaped upon him. One morning he
sent his secretary to a theatre manager to ask him to give that evening
two very popular pieces, "if such a thing were possible."
"Nothing is impossible for General Bonaparte," replied the courtly
manager; "the Conqueror of Italy has long ago erased that word from the
dictionary!"
This flattering answer afforded Napoleon a hearty laugh. He went to the
performance and although endeavoring to maintain his usual privacy, was
discovered and loudly called upon to come forward. The honor which he
esteemed most was his nomination as a member of the Institute. He
frequently attended its meetings and was also fond of appearing in the
costume worn by the members.
When congratulated by Bourrienne on some noisy demonstration of popular
favor, he answered in the words of Cromwell; "Bah! they would crowd as
eagerly about me if I were on my way to the scaffold!"
Wherever he went he was still the Bonaparte of Lodi, Arcola and Rivoli.
Meanwhile the government gave him no adequate reward for his important
services in Italy. He had not when he returned to France, three hundred
thousand francs in his possession, though he had transmitted fifty
millions to the State. "I might easily," he said to Las Casas, "have
brought back ten or twelve millions; I never made out any accounts, nor
was I ever asked for any." On the eve of his departure for Egypt he
became possessed of Malmaison and there deposited nearly all his
property. He purchased it in the name of his wife, older than himself,
and consequently, in case of his surviving her, he must have forfeited
all right to the same. The fact, as stated by himself, was, that he
never had a taste or desire for the acquirement of riches.
He willingly accepted the new appointment now pressed upon him by the
government, who seemed anxious that he should not remain in Paris to
take part in the civil business of the State. In this latter direction
he had no desire for continued service. In Napoleon's own language, "the
pear was not yet ripe," and, like Cæsar, he would have preferred being
first in a village to being second in Rome. The first scheme of the
French Directory was to make a descent upon England and to place
Napoleon at the head of the invading army, but their counsels
continually fluctuated between this project and the Egyptian expedition.
Napoleon said to Bourrienne on the 29th of January: "Bourrienne, I shall
remain here no longer; they (the Directory) do not want me; there is no
good to be done; they will not listen to me. I see, if I loiter here, I
am done for quickly. Here everything grows flat; my glory is already on
the wane. This little Europe of yours cannot supply the demand. We must
move to the East. All great reputations come from that quarter. But I
will first take a turn round the coast to assure myself what can be
done. If the success of a descent upon England appears doubtful, as I
fear, the army of England shall become the army of the East, and I am
off for Egypt." He at length resolved to bring the question of the
invasion to a decision by a personal survey of the coast opposite
England. While there he busied himself for a time in suggesting
improvements in fortifications and in selecting the best points for
embarking an invading force. Many local improvements of great
importance, long afterwards effected, were first suggested by him at
this period; but the time had not come for invading England.
Napoleon had suggested to Talleyrand, minister of foreign affairs, some
months before, the propriety of making an effort against England in
another quarter of the globe; i. e., of seizing Malta, proceeding to
Egypt, and therein gaining at once a territory capable of supplying to
France the loss of her West Indian colonies, and the means of annoying
Great Britain in her Indian trade and empire.
The East presented to him a field of conquest and glory, and to this he
now again recurred. "Europe is but a mole hill," he said; "All the great
glories have come from Asia where there are six hundred millions of
men." He soon returned to Paris and made his views known to the
Directory, declaring that an invasion of England was a wild chimera. To
Bourrienne, his school companion, who asked him concerning his
contemplated invasion after he had been on the coast a week he said:
"The risk is too great; I sha'n't venture it. I don't want to trifle
with the fate of France."
The temptation of the Directory was great, and as it would find
employment for Napoleon at a distance from France, the Egyptian
expedition was finally determined upon; but kept a great secret.
While the attention of Great Britain was now riveted on the coast, it
was on the borders of the Mediterranean that his ships and the troops
really destined for action, were assembling. Everyone wished to
accompany Napoleon to the East--civilians, scholars, engineers, artists,
all wished to make the journey. Napoleon selected and equipped the army,
raised money and collected ships. He was employed night and day in the
organization of the armament which was to be under his command
absolutely.
In April and May 1798 the various squadrons of the French fleet were
assembled at Toulon, and everything was soon in readiness. The main body
was assembled at Toulon but the embarkment was to take place at Civita
Vecchia. When asked if he should remain long in Egypt, Napoleon replied:
"A few months, or six years; it all depends upon circumstances."
When all was in readiness Bonaparte called his vast army together and in
sight of the ships which were to carry them from the shores of France,
said to his followers: "Rome fought Carthage on sea as well as on the
land; England is the Carthage of France. I have come to lead you, in the
name of the Divinity of Liberty, across mighty seas, and into distant
regions, where your valor may achieve such life and glory as will never
await you beneath the cold skies of the West. Prepare yourselves,
soldiers, to embark under the tri-color for achievements far more
glorious than you have won for your country on the blushing plains of
Italy."
He agreed to give each soldier seven acres of land, and as his promises
had not hitherto been violated, the soldiers heard him with joy, and
prepared to obey him with alacrity. They answered his address with loud
cheers and cries of, "Long live the Republic!" The English government
vigilantly observed the preparations that were going on, and kept a
fleet in the Mediterranean under the command of Nelson. It was highly
important that the French squadron should sail without delay, in order
to avoid the risk of being discovered by the English cruisers, but
contrary winds detained it for ten days. This interval was employed by
Napoleon in attention to the minutest details connected with the finely
appointed force under his command.
On the evening of the 19th of May, 1798, fortune favored him, and the
troops were all embarked, while the English fleet, under Nelson, "the
Neptune of the Seas," was compelled to go into port to repair ships
disabled in a violent gale. The French fleet, which was supplied with
water for a month, and with food for two months, carried about 40,000
men of all sorts, and ten thousand sailors. In the army were many
veteran soldiers, selected from the Army of Italy and commanded by the
first generals of France. Kléber, Desaix, Berthier, Regnier, Murat,
Lannes, Andreossi, Junot, Menou, and Belliard all served in this
campaign.
Josephine had accompanied her husband to Toulon, and remained with him
to the last moment; their farewell was most affecting. As the last of
the French troops stepped on board, the sun rose with great brilliancy
on the mighty armament--one of those dazzling suns which the soldiers
often referred to with delight as "the suns of Napoleon," and sails were
immediately set for the East.
On the 8th of June the convoys from Italy joined the squadron out at
sea; on the 10th the whole fleet was assembled before Malta. The first
object of Napoleon was to take possession of that island. He had
already secured a secret party among the knights, and a very slight
demonstration of hostilities spread consternation among them and they
opened their gates to the French without delay. Nearly all the knights
entered the ranks of the French army. As the French troops passed
through the almost impregnable fortifications General Caffarelli dryly
remarked to Napoleon that it was fortunate there was some one to open
the gates for them; had there been no garrison at all, it would have
been terrible hard work.
Leaving a sufficient garrison in Malta the French squadron was again
under sail on the 16th. While the officers and savants devoted much time
to the discussion of military and scientific topics the great object of
excitement and solicitude was to elude the English fleet. The French
vessels were encumbered with civil and military baggage, provisions,
stores, etc., and densely crowded with troops. Napoleon was anxious to
avoid such an encounter: "God grant that we may pass the English
without meeting them," he remarked to Admiral Brueyes.
Nelson was now in full pursuit. At Naples he heard of their landing at
Malta and that their destination was Egypt. He arrived at Malta just
after they had left the island and missed overtaking them by an
accident. During a hazy night, on which they lay off Candia, the French
were alarmed by the report of guns on their starboard, and it afterwards
proved that those were signals between the ships of Nelson's fleet, so
close were the two hostile squadrons to each other without being aware
of it. Napoleon received positive information of this proximity the
following morning and ordered Brueyes to steer at once for Cape Aza,
about twenty-five leagues distant from Alexandria. This precaution
foiled Nelson who crowded sail for Alexandria.
Napoleon finally reached his destination on the first of July
undisturbed, the tops of the minarets of Alexandria announcing that his
point was gained. As he was reconnoitring the coast at the very moment
that danger seemed over a strange sail appeared on the verge of the
horizon: "Fortune!" exclaimed he, "I ask but six hours more,--wilt thou
refuse them?" The vessel proved not to be English, but French and the
disembarkation, near a structure called the tower of Marabout, three
leagues to the eastward of Alexandria, immediately took place in spite
of a violent gale and a tremendous surf. Egypt was then nominally a
province of the Porte, and governed by a Turkish Pasha who was at peace
with France.
Bonaparte met with no opposition in landing, and by 3 o'clock in the
morning commenced his march upon Alexandria with three divisions of his
army. He had little difficulty in entering Alexandria, although he met
with resistance and General Kléber, who commanded the attack, was
wounded. The French lost about two hundred men.
Bonaparte exacted of his troops, under penalty of death, consideration
of all the laws and religion of the country, and to the people of Egypt
he addressed a proclamation in which he said: "They will tell you that I
come to destroy your religion; believe them not: I come to restore your
rights, to punish the usurpers, and I respect, more than the Mamelukes
ever did, God, his Prophet and the Koran. * * * Thrice happy they
who shall be with us! Woe unto them that take up arms for the
Mamelukes!--they shall perish."
The Mamelukes were considered by Napoleon to be, individually, the
finest cavalry in the world. They rode the noblest horses of Arabia, and
were armed with the best weapons which the world could produce:
carbines, pistols, etc., from England, and sabres of the steel of
Damascus. Their skill in horsemanship was equal to their fiery valor.
With that cavalry and the French infantry, Bonaparte said it would be
easy to conquer the world.
Napoleon himself remained some days in Alexandria and left on the 7th of
July, leaving Kléber in command, being anxious to force the Mamelukes to
an encounter with the least possible delay. General Desaix was sent
forward with 4500 men to Beda. The commission of learned men remained at
Alexandria, until Napoleon should reach Cairo, with the exception of
Monge and Berthollett who accompanied the commander.
The march over the burning sands of the desert brought extreme misery
and unheard-of sufferings to the troops; the air was full of pestiferous
insects, the glare of the sand weakened the men's eyes, and water was
scarce and bad. Even the gallant spirits of Murat and Lannes could not
sustain themselves, and they trampled their brilliant cockades in the
sand in a fit of rage in the presence of the troops. The common soldiers
asked, with sarcastic or angry murmurs, if it was here the general
designed to give them their "seven acres of land." "The rogue" said
they, "he might, with safety, have promised us as much as we pleased; we
should not abuse his good nature." They, however, bore a grudge against
Caffarelli, who they thought had advised the expedition, and used to
say, as he hobbled past with his wooden leg, "He does not care what
happens; he is sure to have one foot at least in France."
Napoleon alone was superior to all these evils. It required, however,
more than his example of endurance and the general influence of his firm
character to prevent the army from breaking into open mutiny. "Once,"
said he at St Helena, "I threw myself amidst a group of generals, and,
addressing myself to the tallest of their number with vehemence, said,
'You have been talking sedition; take care lest I fulfill my duty; your
five feet ten inches would not hinder you from being shot within two
hours.'"
On the 10th of July, 1798, the army reached the Nile at Rahmanié: "We no
sooner saw the river," says Savary in his memoirs, "than soldiers,
officers and all rushed into it; each, regardless whether it was
sufficiently shallow to afford security from danger, only sought to
quench his burning thirst, and stooped to drink from the stream, the
whole army presenting the appearance of a flock of sheep." "We
encamped," says Napoleon, "on immense quantities of wheat, but there
was neither mill nor oven in the country." The men bruised the grain
between stones and baked it in the ashes or parched and boiled it.
The army soon moved on towards Cairo, but the men were unable to leave
the ranks for a single instant without certain death from the spears or
scimitars of those matchless Mameluke horsemen; and, therefore, although
so near the Nile, several fell dead from thirst. But the worriment of
their minds was their worst evil. They began to say there was no great
city of Cairo; that they believed it would prove only a collection of
wretched huts. In this state they came up, on the 13th, with the
Mamelukes at Chebreis. They were drawn up in battle array under Mourad
Bey, one of their most powerful chiefs, and were a magnificent body of
cavalry, glittering with gold and silver and mounted on splendid horses.
The battle commenced without a moment's hesitation on either side. Each
Mameluke, feeling in himself the valor of a host, rushed in the
singleness of his purpose, as if alone against the opposing mass; and
with repeated charges, endeavored, by every means of unbridled fury or
consummate skill, to break the solid squares of the French army. They
were at length beaten back with the loss of about three hundred.
After the action at Chebreis the French army continued to advance during
eight days without opposition of any enemy except the hovering Arabs who
lay in wait for every straggler from the main column. The order of march
towards Cairo was systematically arranged; each division of the army
moved forward in squares six men deep on each side; the artillery was at
the angles; and in the centre the ammunition, the baggage, and the
small body of cavalry still remaining. Napoleon himself when he rode
always made use of a dromedary, though he at first suffered a sensation
resembling seasickness from its peculiar motion. "I never passed the
desert," said he sometime later, "without experiencing very painful
emotions. It was the image of immensity to my thoughts. It showed no
limits. It had neither beginning nor end. It was an ocean for the foot
of man."
On the 19th of July the soldiers' eyes were gladdened by the sight of
the grand pyramids on the horizon. Still advancing towards Cairo, the
distant monuments swelling upon the eye at every step, the army reached
Embabé on the 21st and found the Mamelukes in battle array to dispute
their further progress.
While every eye was fixed on these hoary monuments of the past, Napoleon
sighted with his glass a vast army of the Beys spread out before him,
the right posted on an intrenched camp by the Nile, its centre and left
composed of that brilliant cavalry with which they were by this time
acquainted. Napoleon perceived, too, and what had escaped the
observation of all his staff, that the 40 pieces of cannon on the
intrenched camp of the enemy were without carriages, and consequently
could be leveled in but one direction. He instantly decided on his plan
of attack by preparing to throw his forces on the left, where the guns
could not be available. Mourad Bey, who commanded the Mamelukes,
penetrated the French commander's design, and his followers at once
advanced gallantly to the encounter.
"Soldiers, you are about to fight the rulers of Egypt," said Napoleon,
as he raised his hands high in the air and formed his troops into
separate squares to meet the assault; "from the summits of yonder
pyramids forty centuries behold you." These imposing and mysterious
witnesses were not appealed to in vain, and the great battle began at
once at the foot of the ancient and gigantic monuments, the French
advancing in five grand squares, Napoleon heading the centre square. In
an instant the Mamelukes came charging up with impetuous speed and loud
cries. They rushed on the line of bayonets, backed their horses upon
them, and at last, maddened by the firmness which they could not shake,
dashed their pistols and carbines into the faces of the French troops.
The first manoeuvre of the French army disconcerted the plans of the
Mamelukes; still they continued to charge. The places of the dead and
dying were instantly supplied by new warriors, who fell in their turn.
They daringly penetrated even between the spaces occupied by the squares
commanded by Regnier and Desaix, so that the desperate horsemen were
exposed to the incessant fire of both faces of the divisions at the
distance of fifty paces. Many of the French fell from each other's fire
in the resistance to this act of desperation.
Those who had fallen wounded from their seats crawled along the sand and
hewed at the legs of their enemies with their scimitars; but nothing
could move the intrepid French. Bayonets and the continued roll of
musketry by degrees thinned the host around them. When Bonaparte at last
advanced with his battalions upon the main body, and divided one part
from the other, such was the confusion and terror of the Mamelukes that
they abandoned their works and flung themselves by hundreds into the
Nile. The carnage was prodigious, thousands were left bleeding on the
sands, and multitudes more were drowned. It was the custom of the
Mamelukes to carry their treasures with them on their bodies when they
went to battle, and every one that fell made a French soldier rich for
life, as the bodies of the slain were all rifled. In his report of the
engagement, Bonaparte said: "After the great number of battles in which
the troops I command have been opposed to superior strength, I cannot
but praise their discipline and coolness on this occasion; for this
novel species of warfare has made them display a patience contrasting
oddly with French impetuosity. If they had given way to their ardor,
they would not have gained the victory, which was only to be obtained by
great calmness and patience. The cavalry of the Mamelukes evinced great
bravery. They defended their fortunes; for there was not one of them
upon whom our soldiers did not find three, four or five hundred gold
pieces."
Savary, who fought in Desaix's division, which had to stand the first
attack of the Mamelukes, has given a striking description of the
impression produced by their furious onset. "Although," he says, "the
troops that were in Egypt had been long inured to danger, every one
present at the battle of the Pyramids must acknowledge, if he be
sincere, that the charge of the Mamelukes was most awful, and that there
was reason, at one moment, to apprehend their breaking through our
formidable squares, rushing upon them, as they did, with a confidence
which enforced silence in our ranks, interrupted only by the word of
command. It seemed as if we must inevitably be trampled in an instant
under the feet of this cavalry of Mamelukes, who were all mounted upon
splendid chargers, richly caparisoned with gold and silver trappings,
covered with draperies of all colors and waving scarfs, and who were
bearing down upon us at full gallop, rending the air with their cries.
The whole character of this imposing sight filled the breasts of our
soldiers with sensations to which they had hitherto been strangers, and
made them vividly attentive to the word of command. The order to fire
was executed with a quickness and precision far exceeding what is
exhibited in an exercise or upon parade."
More than fifty pieces of cannon and four hundred loaded camels became
the spoil of the conquerors.
Mourad and a remnant of 2000 of his Mamelukes retreated on Upper Egypt.
These were all that escaped with life out of the matchless body of men
who in such superb array had bid scornful defiance to the European
invaders only a few hours before. Cairo surrendered; Lower Egypt was
entirely conquered. Such were the immediate consequences of the "Battle
of the Pyramids."
Many of the promiscuous rabble of infantry reached Cairo in advance of
the French and there they spread realistic accounts of the dreadful
power of Napoleon and his army.
The name of Bonaparte now spread panic through the East, and the victor
was considered invincible. The inhabitants called him "King of Fire,"
from the deadly effect of the musketry in the engagement at the Pyramids
which decided the conquest of the country. By the earliest dawn the
victor prepar
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