While this was going forward, word was brought that the enemy was furiously attacking the village which Massena had carried; that the left had advanced about three thousand yards; that a heavy cannonade was already heard at Gross-Aspern, and that the interval from Gros-Aspern to Wagram appeared covered by an immense line of artillery. It could no longer be doubted: the enemy had committed an enormous fault, and it only remained to profit by it. The Emperor immediately ordered General Macdonald to dispose the divisions of Broussier and Lamarque in attacking columns; they were supported by the division of General Nansouty, by the horse guards, and by a battery of sixty pieces of the guard and forty pieces of different corps. General Count de Lauriston, at the head of this battery of a hundred pieces of artillery, galloped towards the enemy, advanced without firing to within half cannon-shot, and then commenced a prodigious cannonade which soon silenced that of the enemy, and carried death into their ranks. General Macdonald marched forward to the charge. And such a charge had never before been witnessed upon the field of battle. Macdonald advanced, as it were, in the face of a volcano pouring forth a red tide of death. Whole squadrons were swept to the earth, but, led by a man without fear, the guards never even faltered; but on, on—still on—they advanced, like a decree of fate, which nothing could check. To sustain them, Bessieres charged with the cavalry of the old guard, but was hurled from his horse by a cannon-shot, which damped the enthusiasm of his troops, and rendered their onset weak. Napoleon, who, riding on a splendid white charger, was a conspicuous mark for the balls of the enemy, seeing his faithful Bessieres fall, turned away, saying, “Let us avoid another scene!” alluding to the incidents attending the death of the illustrious Lannes. But Macdonald continued his rapid advance, attacked and broke the centre of the Austrians, and captured their guns. But here he was compelled to halt; the column which he had led to the charge had been reduced to between two and three thousand effective men. Its path was piled with the slain. But the centre of the enemy was broken. Their right, seized with a panic, fell back in haste, and Massena then attacked in front, while Davoust, who had carried Neusiedel and Wagram, attacked and penetrated the left. It was but ten o’clock, and yet the victory already clung to the eagles of the French. From that time until noon, the Archduke only fought for a safe retreat. The French continued to gain ground; until, when the sun had reached the meridian, the dispirited Austrian general gave the order for retreat. The French pursued. But Murat, to Napoleon’s regret, was not at the head of the cavalry, and many of the advantages of such a glorious victory were lost. Long before night’s shadows descended, the Austrians were out of sight, and the French encamped upon the field of their victory, although the cavalry had posts advanced as far as Soukirchen.
At dark, the Emperor could sum up the results of this terrible battle, in which between three and four hundred thousand men, with from twelve to fifteen hundred pieces of artillery, did the work of death. Ten flags, forty pieces of cannon, twenty thousand prisoners, of whom three or four hundred were officers, were the trophies. Besides these, the Austrians left upon the field about nine thousand men wounded, and an immense number of slain. The Archduke himself was wounded in this bloody struggle. The French had suffered a severe loss. Besides a great number of brave men who had been swept into the sea of death by the storm of the Austrian artillery, there were six thousand wounded, among whom were Marshal Bessieres, and the Generals Sahuc, Seras, Defranc, Grenier, Vignoble and Frere.
It was a fitting time to do honor to the unrivalled commanders of the army. Macdonald had been in a kind of disgrace. But the Emperor now forgot all but his unequalled charge. He advanced to that intrepid general, and said, “Shake hands, Macdonald; no more animosity between us: let us henceforth be friends!” That night, by the camp-fire of Wagram, three new marshals of the empire were created, viz.:—Macdonald, Oudinot and Marmont.
The troops were excessively fatigued, and were glad when they received orders from the Emperor to cease the pursuit, and bivouac on the plain of Wagram. The Emperor then entered his tent to seek repose. But he had not tasted its sweets more than half an hour, when an aid-de-camp came in hurriedly, crying, “Up! up! to arms!” This cry was caught up and repeated throughout the whole army, startling the quiet night. “In five minutes,” says the author of Travels in Moravia, “the troops were in position and ready for action, and the Emperor was on horseback, with all his generals around him. This rapid and regular movement was unparalleled. And certainly it was an astonishing display of perfect discipline and promptitude. The cause of this alarm was the approach of an Austrian corps, numbering three thousand men, under the Archduke John. But that body, having failed in an attempt at surprise, retreated, and the French returned to their bivouacs, much amused with the incident of the night. In a short time, all was silent again upon the bloody plain of Wagram.
Then followed the treaty of Schœnbrunn, which once more prostrated the coalition, and secured Maria Louisa, a daughter of the proud house of Hapsburg-Lorraine, in the place of the beloved Josephine, as Empress of France. Thus the child of the people had conquered an alliance with the daughter of emperors.
MURAT.