Moscow, 20 September 1812.
My dear father, you must have received my letter from Smolensk by now. I hope that it finds you in as good health as I am at the moment, despite the fatigue and hardship we had to endure before arriving in this city.
I spoke to you in my last letter about what had already transpired and about the great battle that we fought and won against the Russian army; but today I have to tell you about a greater and more brilliant affair: the battle of 7 September in front of Mozaik [sic]. Never have the French fought more fiercely and seized entrenchments as they did on that day. It seemed as if there was no danger whatsoever, and canister fire came down and swept through the ranks. On that day we gained great advantages over the enemy army, which has not ceased to withdraw since that time and to abandon their former capital to us. Their loss is at least four times greater than ours, because during their defeat they were completely shattered.
I have only very distressing news to share with you from Moscow. This city, which before and on the very day of our arrival was still in its state of magnificence, has now been reduced to ashes by the Russians themselves. It used to be given a circumference of twelve leagues, and now what remains would not be half that. When His Majesty discovered that they had set fire to it, indignant at such conduct, he ordered the town to be pillaged in order to salvage what could be saved. This lasted nine or ten days, with the result that we were able to obtain a few provisions of flour and wine of all kinds. Among other things, we are supplied for a few days and the Médoc, Barsac, Lafite, Madeira, Malaga, Champagne, Burgundy (Bourgogne), etc., etc., flow into our glasses with the same abundance as water flows from Königsberg to this place; for it was quite impossible with money to find a small glass. The generals themselves spent whole months without tasting it; but I can assure you that we are making up for times gone by.
This fire destroyed the most remarkable features of the city. There were over a thousand palaces, each more magnificent than the last and more lavishly furnished than the foremost in Paris. There were also sixteen hundred churches and splendid promenades and boulevards. In short, the richest city in the world fell prey to the flames.
Our outposts are about thirty leagues away; we fight every day, but it is of little importance. I do not know if we will be sent forward or if we will stay here: I cannot be sure of anything. I will tell you that I encountered General Lanusse at Smolensk, who welcomed me generously and showed me a great deal of friendship. I have spent the whole eight days we have been in this city at his table and I have the pleasure of seeing him here from time to time. I only regret that I have not yet seen my cousin Henri, but I believe that this will be the case soon.
You will also be aware that I received your letters in which you spoke to me of General Roguet. I went to see him; he told me that he had heard from the marshal about me and asked me if I would like to be near him as aide-de-camp. I replied that it would always be a pleasure for me to be close to him and he therefore made a request to the major-général [Marshal Berthier]. I have not yet received a reply, but I have been staying with him for two days.
I am currently looking for horses to mount. It will cost me, but it is a necessary and unavoidable expense.
We have not found in Bruno d’Ast’s service record any mention of him having served on any staff. However, it is possible that he was temporarily seconded from his regiment to General Roguet as a liaison officer. In any case, his inclination was not towards staff service, as he always preferred to be a field officer, and General Roguet’s well-established reputation as an excellent commander, but one who was known to be very strict and even fierce in his conduct, did little to encourage him to assume a post as aide-de-camp to the general.
As we have already mentioned, Bruno d’Ast was not a very punctual correspondent, which was a source of great distress to his family. In his defence, it can be said that most of the letters written to him by his father, his mother or his sisters often reached him very late; this was the fate of the letter we are about to read. It was only given to him on his return from the Russian campaign, in Paris, by his cousin, Madame Lanusse, and this is undoubtedly why this letter from his mother ended up among Bruno’s papers:
Toulouse, 28 October 1812.
It is astonishing, my dear Bruno, that we do not receive any of your letters. I mentioned the marriage of your sister Rosalie. (1) She herself wrote about it, as did your father, but you did not reply. Your sister has been married since the 14th of this month; she is leaving for Naples on the 6th of next month and she is leaving without hearing anything from you; this distresses her, as well as us.
If your cousin, Madame Lanusse (2), had not written to us that her husband had met you in Smolensk itself, while you were ill, we would have heard nothing about you. She told us that you have recovered and that you left with her husband to travel to Moscow, where you are still. She was very happy to write to us; however, as soon as she received news of her husband, why could you not write to us? Please ask Mr. de Lanusse to pass one of your letters to your cousin, who will send it to me.
She also writes me that General Roguet intends to appoint you as his aide-de-camp. Lastly, my dear friend, console us with one of your letters, we are very upset not to receive any news from you. I have no doubt that you have received our letters, but as it is possible that you have not, I am therefore telling you again who Rosalie is married to; Mr de Lanusse knows him well; she is married to Mr. Merliot, a major in the 8th Neapolitan Line Regiment. He is a Frenchman born in Périgord, near Périgueux.
Your uncle the Marshal has spoken very highly of it. He is delighted with this marriage, and awaits them in Naples with the greatest impatience. The Queen of Naples is very fond of the major; she told your uncle that she extends her particular benevolence to Rosalie. Everything augurs well for a happy marriage. The major is a charming man, and handsome; he is madly in love with Rosalie, and Rosalie is also very fond of him. We are all very content, and I am sure you will be as well.
Madame and Mister Carayon are in Toulouse and leave tomorrow for Paris. I am passing this letter on to them so that she can give it to Pérignonnelle (3) and have her husband pass it on to you. Perhaps in this way you will receive it and be able to write to us in the same way.
You must have seen Henri? Let me know. Write to us if you are with General Roguet. Send us your new address if you have changed regiment. In short, write to us! Let us know what has happened to him, about the illness you are suffering from. Inform us of everything. Madame de Lanusse tells us that her husband will give you money if you need it, but I think you will always be careful. Your brother-in-law has to write; he is looking forward to meeting you. He embraces you, Rosalie, your sister and your father. We are all well.
If you are in the same place as General Lanusse, extend to him our warmest compliments on behalf of all of us. I asked our niece to tell her about your sister’s marriage, as I did not know where to send her a letter. Tell her about your brother-in-law Major Merliot. Your uncle writes that he will soon be a colonel.
Farewell, my dear friend, your aunt ‘la maréchale’ who is here sends her regards. Your parents and friends do likewise.
Farewell, a thousand farewells. Your kind and loving mother. The ‘Présidente’ (chairwoman) of Ast.
***
Paris, 7 March 1813.
My dear father, as soon as I arrived in the capital I hastened to share my news with you. I would have done so sooner if I had been certain of arriving, although I only found out about it in Mainz where we first had orders to proceed and where we received orders to go to Paris.
I was delighted with this voyage because it offered me the pleasure of seeing relatives, including my uncle Pérignon (4) who told you that you were very upset about me. I was extremely saddened because it was not my fault. I have written to you four times since Koenisberg [sic] (5), but that does not surprise me and I would have the same reproach for you if I was not aware of your friendship and attachment to me.
Not one of these letters reached me, and it was only in Paris that I learned of my sister’s marriage from my cousins. I am very happy about this union, as it is both pleasant and advantageous for you. My cousin Mélanie has praised my brother-in-law’s qualities. I shall soon be congratulating Rosalie and asking her to send my regards to her husband, whom I look forward to meeting.
I have no intention of commenting on the campaign we have just undertaken, I will only say that I have suffered a great deal but that here I am, ready to start again and as healthy as ever after six months of bivouacking and having eaten nothing but horse or paste for two months. I only regret the loss of my compatriots and friends Loubers and Philip. The latter perhaps is not dead, because I saw him in Vilna in the morning with his feet somewhat frozen, but otherwise in fairly good health. I wanted to have him follow me but I was unable to do so. I think from this that he was taken prisoner because the enemy entered the town two hours after we left.
I did not tell you because I wanted his father to be prepared, considering that he was not receiving any letters. I cannot tell you whether we shall be here for some time. I do not think it will be beyond the end of the month. We are going to reorganise the regiment at Ruel, near Paris. There are not many men there yet, and there have to be, since we have only returned with five, including another officer, my comrade, from the one hundred and fifty we were in the company when we entered the field; but this will be remedied, and I dare to hope so, before long.
Please tell me from where my last letter was dated so that I can find out if you have received it. Also tell me about my brother’s conscription [his name was Othon].
Always write to me at the 4th Regiment, 4th Company, of Voltigeurs.
***
Aix la-Chapelle [Aachen], 26 March 1813.
My dear mother, His Majesty reviewed us (6) on the morning of the 16th. That day he appointed me captain in a regiment of the line with orders to leave immediately for my post to take command of my company. I wanted to give you immediate notice, but the work I had to do in Paris to prepare for my departure and the errands I was obliged to make to collect all my papers did not leave me a moment’s rest to be able to tell you.
I would still have liked not to delay for so long, but as we have marched day and night up to now I have not been able to fulfil my duty; moreover I am not yet able to provide you with any information or tell you what regiment I am in, because I am instructed to proceed directly to Hanau where I will find the Prince of the Moskva [Marshal Ney] who is to designate to me the place and the regiment to which I am to belong. Then, once I have seen him, I will be able to let you know so that you can send me your letters. At the same time I am writing to one of my comrades to ask him to collect any letters you might write to me and to keep them with him until I have told him my new destination.
I will also tell you that I had been recommended for the decoration [Legion of Honour] on my return from this campaign but that it was not granted to me as I had already received a favour from His Majesty by being promoted to captain. This upsets me a little but I live on hope, and this campaign will not be over without Captain d’Ast wearing it on his chest at the first battle the regiment engages in. The change of uniform obliged me to borrow a sum of 400 francs from Mr. Carayon in order to be able to make repairs and changes of epaulettes, etc., etc.
It is already two after midnight and we are setting off at four, so I will not discuss anything further with you.
D’Ast, Captain.
***
Leipzig, 5 May 1813.
My dear father,
We are entering this city in triumph, where we are only passing through to follow the enemy, although as I have not yet been able to give you any news of myself or inform you of the regiment to which I belong, I hasten to take advantage of a moment’s rest to assure you that I am in very good health and that I am assigned to the 144th Regiment, 4th Battalion, 4th Company, 4th Division of III Corps. I am delighted to be part of this regiment because all the soldiers, as well as all the officers, are from my homeland (7) and several of us were members of the 4th Voltigeurs.
We were pleased with the way the regiment conducted itself in the affair of 3 May, the first time it had faced the enemy. I also hope that in a few days we will have to distinguish ourselves again.
***
Lintz, 20 May 1813.
My dear father,
I have had the good fortune to receive one of your letters, the only one I have read written in your hand since last September in Smolensk. However, I have heard from you several times from Madame Lanusse and Madame Carayon and also from my uncle Pérignon whom I saw in Paris.
I am in excellent health; it is beyond reproach, for the greatest hardships have not been able to diminish the strength of my disposition.
You tell me in your letter that it was through Mr. Pomés that you learned that I had joined the 144th Regiment. I would have told you about it as he did, but it was not yet very certain that I would remain in this regiment where I had been placed temporarily while waiting for the Prince of the Moskva’s reply, which was not long in arriving.
At the time we were near Wurzburg and were marching to commence this campaign and to attend the battle of Lützen where the regiment fought all day at the position which offered the most resistance, which meant that we suffered more than the others. We had thirty-two officers hors de combat that day, but we completely defeated the enemy, which compensates us greatly for our losses. I belong to General Ricard’s Division, which arrived at Leipzik [sic] two days later, where I found the only opportunity to share my news with you.
Since that day we have continued to follow the enemy, who attempted to resist us at Bautzen, where we fought a battle and where the regiment engaged as it did the first time and seized two superb positions supported by artillery. I was again fortunate in these two battles not to suffer any injuries, although there were plenty for everyone. We were very pleased with the regiment, and although they are recruits, they performed beyond our expectations and at the moment they are as dependable as the veterans.
We are continually making progress as we march, and I hope that before long the enemy will have crossed the Oder again and that we will soon enter Breslau. I will tell you that the day after the battle of Lützen I was promoted to captain of voltigeurs in the 4th Battalion, which pleased me to learn that I was immediately handed an elite company.
I was pleased to learn that my uncle the Marshal had arrived in Paris. I am going to write to him one of these days, as well as to my sister Rosalie in Naples. I am in bivouac and do not possess all my commodities to write to you.
D’Ast, captain of voltigeurs.
This voltigeur company that Bruno d’Ast was so proud to command, he was soon to leave to be appointed to a better and more enviable regiment, the 1st Regiment of Tirailleurs of the Imperial Guard, where he was promoted to captain on 3 June 1813. One of his comrades in the same situation wrote him the following letter on this occasion:
To Mr. d’Ast, captain of voltigeurs in the 144th Regiment, 4th Division of the 3rd Army Corps, at his billet.
Liegnitz, 17 June 1813.
You must admit, my poor d’Ast, that you are devilishly lazy to spend six days without coming to see me in Liegnitz or even replying to my letter in which I asked you about my intention to travel with you to our new regiment.
You seem to be telling me by your silence that you do not really care, because after my letter you were in a hurry to come or at least to answer me and to give us an appointment for when we were to set off; I still have the same intention and if you deign to answer me, write me a simple note and tell me the day we are to meet.
We cannot yet decide anything on this subject as our letters of appointment have not yet arrived, but this is what I think we should do as soon as they arrive: we should get ourselves in order and be ready to leave on the same day for Leignitz, as I think we will necessarily have to travel to this place to look for departure orders. It is therefore understood that on the day we receive our letters, we will proceed to Liegnitz from where we will not leave until the following day, but that is the last thing we will do. When we arrive in the town we will find a place to stay and we will wait there.
The first to arrive will leave his address with the commandant of the place or will make frequent visits to the café situated on the square opposite the guardhouse, and once we have met, we will discuss how to continue our journey. It is better to travel as a pair than on your own, is it not, Gascon? If you want to agree with my way of thinking, you can approve it by writing to me straight away or your silence will answer for you, but I do not expect that from you. I am leaving the town; my health having recovered slightly and allowing me to return to my military duties, I am going to resume command of my company. I hope to hear from you there.
I am really astounded at the delay we are experiencing in receiving our appointments and if I were completely blind I would fear that I had misread matters, but I must have no such fear because I can read and I still have, thank God, a good eye and a good foot, as they say. The corps of foot grenadiers has been informed that Misters Vivent, captain in the 141st Regiment, Albert, captain in the 134th, d’Ast, captain in the 144th, and Richard, aide-de-camp to General Roguet, have been appointed by decree of the Emperor, signed on 3 June at Neumarkt; the first three captains in the 1st Regiment of Tirailleurs and the fourth captain in the 2nd Regiment. Therefore there can only be an oversight on the part of someone and we will lose nothing by waiting.
Tell me if you are well at your billet and if you have any [word missing, torn]. My respects to Mr. [tear], it is a pity that I am not [tear] the merry band.
Farewell, you lazy writer, I look forward to seeing you. Your good friend and comrade,
Vivent, still captain in the 141st Regiment, 3rd Division, III Corps of the Grande Armée.
Notes
(1) Marie Germaine-Rosalie was Bruno’s second sister.
(2) She was one of the daughters of Marshal Pérignon. General Lanusse had married her in Naples, under the auspices of the King and Queen of Naples.
(3) This nickname, which the family attributed to Madame de Lanusse, was derived from the land of La Pérignonne, located in the municipality of Grenade (Haute-Garonne). The Marshal had acquired it from one of his cousins in Year V and presented it as a dowry to his daughter.
(4) He was the brother of the marshal who had had him appointed director of the mint at Toulouse.
(5) None of these four letters could be found in Bruno’s papers.
(6) This review has been mentioned by Bruno’s fellow members of the Imperial Guard, such as Bourgogne (Mémoires du Sergent Bourgogne, Hachette, 1900, p. 244), Bourgoing (Souvenirs militaires, pp. 243-245) and Adjutant NCO Frix Dupouy (Footnotes in Jean Barada, ‘Correspondance et vie militaire du commandant Bruno d’Ast (1807-1838)’, in Le Carnet de la Sabretache, 1930, pp. 58-60).
(7) In other words, from the Midi and the Toulouse region.
Source : Jean Barada, ‘Correspondance et vie militaire du commandant Bruno d’Ast (1807-1838)’, in Le Carnet de la Sabretache, 1930, pp. 50-64.
Other accounts to read :
> The Military Life of Bruno d’Ast … (I)
> Braving the elements in Poland, 1807 …
> Reports prior and concerning the battle of Bautzen, 1813 …
Jonas De Neef's Napoleon Chronicles 