¶ Gravelotte, the bloodiest battle of the campaign, engaged 333,000 men and 1,362 cannon. The King commanded in person, on the right, and Bismarck was with him.
The carnage was frightful. Bismarck busied himself carrying water to the wounded. When the sun went down, German victory was complete, at the loss of every tenth man!
¶ That night, Bismarck bivouacked on the battlefield, amidst serried ranks of the dead. Says one who saw the terrifying scene: “Anon, the watchfires of the Prussians blazed round about; and worn out by incredible exertions at last Bismarck fell asleep, among the living and the dead. He was now to have evidence of the result of his life-long ambition; he had plunged his country into three great wars, with all their dreadful toll of human life; but he slept that night the sleep of the just—because he saw, in the complex blending of his ideas, no inconsistency in paying any price for the glory of his country.”
¶ The whole bloody day at Gravelotte Bismarck had nothing to eat. Finally, he found a hen’s nest with five eggs; giving three to half-starving soldiers near by, Bismarck with his sword broke the shells of the two remaining and sucked the eggs.
Next morning he had some sausage soup, the first warm food that had passed his lips for 36 hours.
¶ While he was standing dismounted, a concealed French battery began a tremendous cannonade; the shells dropping all around, exploded, and plowed up the ground.
¶ Night again. Nothing to eat. A sutler had some miserable rum and wine. Bismarck took that, at once, but there was not a morsel to eat. In the village, a few cutlets were found after a hard search, just enough for the King.
His Majesty decided not to bivouac among the dead again, but took shelter at a little public house.
¶ Bismarck with General Sheridan set off to find a sleeping place. House after house was filled with the wounded.