The Camp-fires of Napoleon / Comprising The Most Brilliant Achievemnents of the Emperor and His Marshals

by Henry C. Watson

The Russians, under General Bennigsen, were pursued and harassed by the French Marshals after the passage of the Narew, until the evening of the 7th of February, 1807, when they halted beyond the village of Eylau, and evinced a determination to give battle on the following day. The French army was worn with fatigue, reduced in number by rapid marches and rear-guard actions, pinched with hunger and suffering from cold. But they were now to fight a great battle against a superior number of brave and disciplined troops.

Napoleon, losing no time, dispatched the same evening several officers to Marshals Davoust and Ney, to bring them back, the one to his right, the other to his left. Marshal Davoust had continued to follow the Alle to Bartenstein, and he was not more than three or four leagues off. He replied that he should arrive at daybreak upon the right of Eylau (the right of the French army) ready to fall upon the flank of the Russians. Marshal Ney, who had been directed upon the left, so as to keep the Prussians at a distance, and to be able to rush upon Konigsberg, in case the Russians should throw themselves behind the Pregel—Marshal Ney was marching for Krentzburg. Messengers were dispatched after him, though it was not so sure that he could be brought back in time to the field of battle, as it was that Marshal Davoust would make his appearance there.

Deprived of Ney’s corps, the French army amounted at most to fifty and some thousand men. If Marshal Ney were to arrive in time, it would be possible to oppose sixty-three thousand men to the enemy, all present under fire. No expectation could be entertained of the arrival of Bernadotte’s corps, which was thirty leagues off.

Napoleon, who slept that night but three or four hours in a chair in the house of the postmaster, placed the corps of Marshal Soult at Eylau itself, partly within the town, partly on the right and left of it, Augereau’s corps and the imperial guard a little in rear, and all the cavalry upon the wings, till daylight should enable him to make his dispositions.

General Bennigsen had at last determined to give battle. He was on level ground, or nearly so, excellent ground for his infantry, not much versed in manœuvres, but solid, and for his cavalry, which was numerous. His heavy artillery, which he had directed to make a circuit, that it might not cramp his movements, had just rejoined him.

His army, amounting to seventy-eight or eighty thousand men, and to ninety thousand with the Prussians, had sustained considerable losses in the late battles, but scarcely any in marches, for an army in retreat, without being in disorder, is rallied by the enemy that pursues it, whereas the pursuing army, not having the same motives for keeping close together, always leaves part of its effective force behind. Deducting the losses sustained at Mohrungen, Bergfried, Waltersdorf, Hoff, Heilsberg, and at Eylau itself, one may say that General Bennigsen’s army was reduced to about eighty thousand men, seventy-two thousand of whom were Russians, and eight thousand Prussians. Thus, in case General Lestocq and Marshal Ney should not arrive, fifty-four thousand French would have to fight seventy-two thousand Russians. The Russians had, moreover, a formidable artillery, computed at four or five hundred pieces. That of the French amounted to two hundred at most, including the guard. It is true that it was superior to all the artilleries of Europe, even to that of the Austrians. General Bennigsen, therefore, determined to attack at daybreak. The character of his soldiers was energetic, like that of the French soldiers, but governed by other motives. The Russians had neither that confidence of success nor that love of glory which the French exhibited, but a certain fanaticism of obedience, which induced them to brave death blindly.

Since debouching upon Eylau, the country appeared level and open. The little town of Eylau, situated on a slight eminence, and topped by a Gothic spire, was the only conspicuous point. The ground gently sloping, on the right of the church, presented a cemetery. In front it rose perceptibly, and on this rise, marked by some hillocks, appeared the Russians in a deep mass. Several lakes, full of water in spring, frozen in winter, at this time covered with snow, were not distinguishable in any way from the rest of the plain. Scarcely did a few barns united into hamlets, and lines of barriers for folding cattle, form a point d’appui, or an obstacle on this dreary field of battle. A gray sky, dissolving at times into thick snow, added its dreariness to that of the country, a dreariness which seized upon both the eye and heart.

During the greater part of the night Napoleon was employed in learning the force and position of the enemy, and drawing a plan of the battle, as he reclined on the snow by his dreary camp-fire. The four hours of sleep in a chair was quite sufficient to refresh his energies, and prepare him for the great struggle of the next day. The troops who bivouacked in the vicinity of Eylau, suffered severely from the cold. They had but few fires, as fuel was scarce. Most of these gallant soldiers, who had been marching and fighting for several days, dared not trust themselves to slumber on the ground for fear of freezing to death.

At break of the day, the position of the Russians was discovered. They were drawn up in two lines, very near to each other, their front being covered by three hundred pieces of cannon, planted on the salient points of the ground. In the rear, two close columns, appuying, like two flying buttresses, this double fine of battle seemed designed to support it, and to prevent its breaking under the shock of a charge from the impetuous French. A strong reserve of artillery was placed at some distance. The cavalry was partly in the rear, and partly on the wings. The Cossacks kept with the body of the army.