"Soldiers!" said he, "you will form part of the advance-guard of the third corps. Try to remember that you are Frenchmen. Vive l'Empereur!
All shouted "Vive l'Empereur" till the echoes rang again, while the general departed with Colonel Zapfel.
That night we were relieved by the Hessians, and left Erfurt with the Tenth hussars and a regiment of chasseurs. At six or seven in the morning we were before the city of Weimar, and saw the sun rising on its gardens, its churches, and its houses, as well as on an old castle to the right. Here we bivouacked, and the hussars went forward to reconnoitre the town. About nine, while we were breakfasting, suddenly we heard the rattle of pistols and carbines. Our hussars had encountered the Russian hussars in the streets, and they were firing on each other. But it was so far off that we saw nothing of the combat.
At the end of an hour the hussars returned, having lost two men. Thus began the campaign.
We remained five days in our camp, while the whole third corps were coming up. As we were the advance-guard, we started again by way of Sulza and Warthan. Then we saw the enemy; Cossacks who kept ever beyond the range of our guns, and the further they retired the greater grew our courage.
But it annoyed me to hear Zébédé constantly exclaiming in a tone of ill-humor:
"Will they never stop; never make a stand!"
I thought that if they kept retreating we could ask nothing better. We would gain all we wanted without loss of life or suffering.
But at last they halted on the further side of a broad and deep river, and I saw a great number posted near the bank to cut us to pieces if we should cross unsupported.