Some remarks of a cuirassier officer, 1806-1807 …

Jean de Gouttes recounts his experiences of the Prussian and Polish surroundings and battlefields in his correspondence with his parents …

Schwarzach, 17 August 1806.

Although I cannot put much structure into the details I have provided about Bavaria, I will continue to give you some as they are of interest to you.

The predominant religion here is Catholicism. The churches are not very large, but they are very beautiful and well decorated; although they do not have the majestic appearance that a temple of God should have, one cannot help but find them magnificent. There are many altars; there are organs in all of them, and even the smallest chapels have them. In the villages, and near isolated chapels, there is always a schoolmaster who acts as organist. They have under their command five or six peasants who play the violin, the flute, the clarinet, or blow the horn.

Even the smallest mass is celebrated with music – there is no cantor or lectern – the musicians remain at the organ bench, and one or more girls, chosen because of the gentleness of their voices, are the only ones allowed to sing. The parish priest delivers the service quietly, and only the first word of each hymn out loud. The priests are dressed in the same manner as in France when they perform their duties; outside the church, they have no costume of their own. Children in costume serve mass. There are no longer any convents, not only in Bavaria, but in all the rest of Germany. They were destroyed five years ago. The people of Germany are very superstitious; men, women and small children wear relics to which they attribute various virtues. The Russians do the same (thing).

We have just been sent 120 men from the depot and some very splendid horses, which means that I will have to change mine, although the animal is very beautiful and good, because of the great drawback that it has of gnawing on leather, which is a very inconvenient matter on the march and in the bivouacs.

I think it will not be long before we reach the Prussians, but if they act like the Austrians, we will have little trouble defeating them. Moreover, they are deserting in large numbers.

Berlin, 25 November 1806.

The Prussian army is completely vanquished, and tomorrow we leave for Poland. We did not fight in this campaign, but despite the fine weather, we suffered a great deal, bivouacking continuously from 14 September until 7 October, when we captured the remainder of our foes.

On 14 September, two regiments of the division fought at Guemack, where we joined the enemy. On the 26th (October), we entered Berlin and pursued the enemy as far as Lübeck, on the banks of the ocean between the Elbe and the Oder, where we arrived on 6 November; that day, at that location, Marshal Soult captured 30,000 men from the enemy, the remainder of their forces. The barges were ready to receive them, but a hasty assault prevented them from escaping. From there, without halting, we returned to the outskirts of Berlin, from where I am writing to you after a day’s rest, our first stay since leaving Bavaria. We can apply to the Prussians’ campaign this verse from the Cid: ‘And the battle ended for lack of combatants’.

The war is over and peace has not yet been made. Russia is said to be opposed to our Emperor’s plans to re-establish the former system of government in Poland. Yesterday I saw the Emperor on foot wearing a grey longcoat and a hat with not even a band of velvet on it (surely, it was a new one).

Vonhorthé (sic), near Thorn (Poland), 25 March 1807.

I didn’t have the time to write to you earlier, and even if I had been able to mail letters, I wouldn’t have been able to inform you of my tidings any sooner.

Since my last letter of 20 January, we have been pursuing the enemy who was disrupting our repose. On 6 February, we beat them fairly well; however, on the 8th, we did fight quite well in Prussia at Eylau near Königsberg. I was wounded there by a bullet in the right thigh while charging the infantry, the wound is not very harmful; I wanted to wait for my recovery before telling you about my illness. We have never witnessed a battle as bloody as that of Eylau. Austerlitz was only a game in comparison. We numbered about 40,000 men, and the Russians, together with the Prussians, boasted around 120,000 men. The fire could not have been more vicious. It started at 5 o’clock in the morning and did not end until nightfall. The cuirassiers charged three times, and I was wounded during the second assault. Victory was ours.

At the moment I find myself with a depot of wounded near Thorn, and in eight days (time) I intend to join the regiment to continue my service. General d’Hautpoul was wounded in the same affair by a bullet in the thigh which caused a fracture; he succumbed on 11 February as a result of his injury. With him, the division has lost the finest general in the army.

Eylau (Prussia), 2 July 1807.

I am taking advantage of the moment when a favourable armistice between France and Russia has just allowed us a few days’ rest, to tell you of the hope I have of an beneficial and lasting peace.

I returned to the field where I was wounded, and our brave division, which suffered so many losses there, is now reaping the rewards of the swift successes of our glorious army. The Russians came to disturb the peace we were enjoying in our billets. Marshal Ney suffered some slight setbacks; the army marched on; the enemy fled, but valiantly. The regiment left the vicinity of Reden on 6 June.

On the 9th, we reached the enemy at Guttstadt; that day we came under fire from their guns for a few hours, only our vanguard engaged and captured the town. On the 11th, we were at Heilsberg. On the 12th, my wound, which had not yet completely healed, did not allow me to mount a horse, which prevented me from sharing the glory of my comrades, who, by their composure, after a protracted cannonade and under the orders of Prince Murat, forced the enemy to abandon Königsberg on the 13th. Alongside the regimental crews, I followed the right-hand column commanded by our Emperor.

On the 13th (June) the battle of Friedland took place, where we lost a considerable number of troops; however the battlefield, where I spent the day of the 14th, was covered with the corpses of our enemies. After this affair, (and) the fall of Königsberg, the enemy no longer awaited us, but withdrew to the other side of the Niemen. Alexander asked Napoleon to agree to a truce for a few days. They met on the river, exchanged words and their meeting brought us joyful hopes, which were confirmed by Alexander’s entry into Tilsit, where the two Emperors have established their residences. On 27 June, we received orders to move to the rear and take up billets in the vicinity of Eylau, where we arrived yesterday.

My wound has completely healed, a piece of cloth from my trousers that had remained in my thigh was preventing my recovery. The colonel was keen to reward my zeal; before leaving the billets to pursue the enemy, he appointed me chief quartermaster, and he has just applied for the Cross (of the Legion) of Honour for me.

Source : Maurice de Poitevin, Un revélois dans la Grande Armée (1804-1815), on the website of Les Cahiers de l’Histoire – Société d’Histoire de Revel Saint-Ferréol, 2003.