heard a Frenchman groaning under a cannon, where he was lying
on a quantity of straw. I thought he was badly wounded, and perhaps as
hungry as myself, so I went to him and told him as well as I was able
to stop till our supper was cooked, and then I would bring him some;
but when it was ready and I had cut off some bread, fowl, and ham, and
taken it to the place where I had seen him, he had gone. For one
reason I was not sorry, for he left his straw, which made a very good
bed for us three sergeants, the ground itself being unpleasantly wet.
I think perhaps this Frenchman must have been a skulker, or he would
not have ventured to escape.

We sat down ourselves, however, and made a very good meal off our ham
and poultry, and I can safely say we enjoyed our mess as much as men
ever did, for I, for one, had had nothing to eat since early in the
morning up to that time. After that, as the general did not want us
for anything, we retired to rest on our straw, but I was too tired to
go to sleep for a long time, and lay contemplating the scenes of the
day. I was merely scratched on the face myself during the whole day,
besides being a little shaken by the bursting of the shell I
mentioned; but this scratch had been terribly aggravated by a private
who had been standing next to me having overprimed his musket, with
the consequence that when he fired, my face being so close, the powder
flew up and caught my wound, which though only originally a slight one
soon made me dance for a time without a fiddle.

Of the general loss on that blood-stained day I am unable to give an
exact account, but it must have been enormous on both sides, for three
hundred of my regiment alone were missing; and this was not so great a
loss as that of some regiments, for the one on our right lost six
hundred, chiefly from the continual fire of shot and shell that the
French cannon had kept up between the charges. But now there was very
little delay; and early next morning we were again put in motion, to
prevent our enemy, if possible, from getting any breathing time. The
Prussians were at least twelve hours in advance of us, so that we
really had not much to fear; but still some doubt was entertained as
to whether the enemy would make another stand in their own territory,
and in all probability such would have been the case if Blucher had
not been pushing so close on their heels. I very much doubt, too, if,
had not the Prussians come up when they did, b